The Maternal 2 x 4 Family History

"...I write to keep in contact with our ancestors 
 and to spread truth to people."
 
Sonia Sanchez
 

Written in 2007        Revised in November 2016

Cathern Harrison

 "In all of us there is a hunger, marrow deep, to know our heritage - to know who we are and where we came from. Without this enriching knowledge, there is a hollow yearning. No matter what our attainments in life, there is still a vacuum, an emptiness, and the most disquieting loneliness."
Alex Haley

My Nanny Abbott

A young Viola Ida Ross

 I have a few cherished mementos that once belonged to my maternal grandmother such as china teacups and a some of the plates from her best china .

However, Nanny lives on in two that came from other things that she had started.

One is a Christmas cactus; it has its own story to tell...

 (Maybe others still have their plants but I managed kill mine  in the fall of 2015)

My Christmas Cactus a few years ago

   Nanny's cactus on left of photo and her friend's on the right

  
       There is a reason her friends is in the mix and I will share that in another story. Nanny’s Cactus is on the left side barely visible  and one of her gorgeous Africa Violets that did so well for her in the silver dish on table. Noticed another treasure I have of Nanny’s, the embroidered  table cloth In fact I have a gut feeling the friend , a neighbor, that the other cactus belonged to may have given it to Nanny – cannot find out now as both are no longer with us…

The other is something I used pretty well on a daily bases when I first started putting together my mother's side of my family tree and have shared with others too or the idea, at least.

In 1994 when my mother passed away her brother’s wife, asked if we had found Nanny’s maroon booklet.  Aunt Bunty told me my maternal grandmother had a little booklet that she recorded births, deaths - that sort of thing in for many years. 

One of my sisters and I set out to find that booklet. If anywhere it would be in my dad’s house because Nanny had lived with my parents after granddad died.

Mom had inherited almost anything that Nanny brought to our family home with her after her death.

We found that booklet and were astonished that she had started writing in it in 1916, the year the bank had given the booklet to its clients, we assumed…

 Through it. we found out things about our cousins, such as birth dates where they lived at the time, and where, or when they were married, when great-grandchildren were born. 

Nanny Abbott had also recorded the dates that mail was first delivered door to door; when a neighbor had a birthday; the day my uncle left to go live out west, when my other uncle went off to WW II. That was news in itself as I was not aware he had gone to war.. There was a notation on the date Mitsy was killed,  (a dog my older siblings have fond memories of). There were also some puzzles such as the name JARVO who was that we were confused? which took awhile to figure out but did through working on my family tree and the Jarvo family will be shared in my Merging Roots blog. Something else we did not know about was the second marriage of Granddad Abbott's father  but that too took a bit of time to solve and because it was after official records are available to us, it is not a proven fact other than the tiny notation  in Nanny's book.

  

Nanny recorded in that tiny little booklet until 1972, shortly before my grandfather passed away. It is very revealing for a person that often kept her cards hugged tight to her chest.

The booklet was sent to my Uncle Edward, Aunt Bunty’s husband, as he was Nanny’s only surviving child.  Before hand it was copied and shared with my siblings. Not sure how far they took it from there but I started my own book of dates of things that I want to remember, now 11 years later it is filled to the brim with history.  And is much bigger than Nanny’s little bank booklet ;o)

Our two sons and their wives have been given date books to fill with memories and reminders.   Not sure they appreciate the wealth the gift can become however, I have done my part and it is up to them to carry it on or not from there.

Note the wear and tear on my book - seems it is not going to hold up as well as Nanny's did.


Not so sure Nanny Abbott would be pleased with that I have found  via her little booklet plus research and like the opening quote have spread to others  (shared is my prefered word)