A Field Trip to the Farm

Cousin Debra and I spent a wonderful day at the farm in Seymour on Monday, November 18th with cousin Danielle gathering material for the blog.  I captured almost 100 pictures from family albums archived there with my iPhone, and came away with 2 large shopping bags of additional albums and documents on loan to keep us busy with material for future posts.  In addition to the work my father Bill has done over many decades painstakingly charting the ancestral genealogy and history, many of our relatives have taken it upon themselves to capture their stories.  Some of these have already been recorded on this blog, and many more are now in my possession to be transcribed and shared as time allows.

As I have discussed this project with friends and colleagues, I am reminded how rich we are to have such an amazing archive at our disposal.  I have not yet encountered anyone, even among all these yankees who have been born and raised here in New England who have access to the sheer volume and quality of detail describing the every day life of our parents, grandparents, great-grandparents and beyond.  It may be true that most people of Western European descent can trace their ancestry back to Charlemagne, but how many have the charts to prove it?  And how many can reach back in time to show their relationship to a Civil War general or a Colonial Era convicted witch?

Having said that, as I write this I realize that I was so wrapped up in spending every possible minute capturing history, that I neglected to take one single shot of Debra, Danielle, and me together.  The lesson I have learned is that I will not spend so much time reveling in the richness of the past that I forget to document the magic we are making in the present, for these are the stories we will pass to the next generations!

Belleek "Sterling" Shaving Mug on the mantle of fireplace at the farm.  It was given as a wedding gift from Amelia Jennie Gressot to Harry Healey.