Family History

I come from a family of wonderful historians, story tellers, and collectors.  It makes me so happy to be able to read journal entries made by my great, great grandfather,  to cook using favorite recipes from my Grandmother, or to hold the steamer blanket used by our relatives on the ship as they sailed to Canada.  We have hand written copies of family genealogy going back many generations, and a lot of things that reflect our history. 

Unfortunately, after all of these generations, those wonderful things have tended to accumulate into more than can be kept and still have room for ourselves in family homes.

Recently, in preparation for a move, my mother had the great idea of donating some of our family heirlooms to a small museum in the town of Otterville, where my grandfather and aunt were born.  Their family was very involved and well connected to that little town so many years ago, and the little rural museum was thrilled to have some more artifacts for their collection.

Today the boys and I went on a little road trip with my mother to see the museum and their family history now on display.

We also stopped at the town park, which my great grandparents were instrumental in building.  The boys' favorite story was hearing about their great grandfather Papa (my mothers father) being the first one into the river in the spring.  

Lastly, we stopped by the home where Papa was born. What a beautiful day, and a beautiful way to give the kids a real sense of how important their heritage is.