The Past in the Present

I was looking at my picture folders on my computer today with the thought of getting them a little better organized. While going through them, I came across one of my mom, her sisters Grace, Madge and Teet (actually Annie Pearl but we never called her that)  and her brother Leslie Franklin (L.F. was what we always called him). I believe it was taken in 2007. Uncle Kenny wasn't in the picture, he had died in 2005. There was another brother, Uncle Bud, that I don't remember very well. He had passed away in the late 80s in California I think. 

Mom, Teet, L.F., Madge and Grace

The picture got me thinking about the fact that my mom Norma is the only one left now. She will be 82 in December. The next thing I know I am spending several hours searching online obituaries and cemetery listings for other family members. I have a family tree that I have worked on here and there over the last couple of years but I must admit I mostly used the features on Ancestry.com to import information others had already put together. Today, I was doing the work myself and looking up the names online to see what I could find out about the May family line. It was interesting to note that my aunt, Grace May married a man named Lawrence Haight. While looking around I discovered a John May in Texas (may or may not be related) who married a woman whose last name was Haight. Sort of nice touch of symmetry there. 

Reading through the lists of names of ancestors and looking at the dates was fascinating. It amazed me to see the numbers of children that some of my relatives had. One had 16 children in his first marriage and 7 more in his next. I think I know what might have contributed to his first wife's early demise! It also saddened me to see how  many had children that never made it through their infancy. My mother was the youngest of 7 children herself, but there were 3 others that did not survive birth. There is something truly poignant about looking at a grave marker where the birth and death dates listed are the same day.

On a lighter note, Mom always told me to be careful about shaking up the family tree because all the nuts might fall out. She was right in a way. While I haven't found anyone too famous in my heritage, there were a few well known (in their time) individuals. My great-grandmother was a Morgan and if I traced the Morgan family line correctly, it seems there was an Evan Morgan, 4th Baron, 2nd Viscount Tredegar who was, shall we say, eccentric. He was a Chamberlain to the Pope for 15 yrs and married twice, yet he was gay and was very involved in black magic and the occult. He loved to do things to shock people. Of course his mother Lady Katherine thought she was a bird so maybe "normal" just wasn't in the cards for him. Somewhere along that part of the Morgan line was a pirate by the name of Captain Henry Morgan. Mind you, I was following the leads of others and can not say for sure that I didn't follow someone else's mistake. But I do know that rum is very popular among my family so maybe it's in the genes. 

Until next time...