By Caron George Stillmunkes, Plainfield Historical Society
Two events recently combined to bring the phrase “History Matters” closer to home for me, and were the inspiration for the following article.
First, as I was searching for something to listen to on the car radio the other day, for whatever reason, I stopped at a program about estate planning. Along with the usual advice on preparing a will, choosing an executor and power of attorney, the host spent a good deal of time on the idea of having a family meeting. The purpose of the meeting would be to let family members know of your decisions, where they could find important papers and to convey your final wishes. But the host also stated that if you were planning on leaving family heirlooms to specific people, that the meeting would be a good time to tell the stories behind those family treasures.
Secondly, March 4 marked the passing of one of my favorite authors, Pat Conroy. Conroy left a long list of bestselling novels, including “Prince of Tides,” “My Losing Season,” “South of Broad” and “Beach Music.” In his book “My Reading Life, he expressed his belief that the most powerful words in the English language are “tell me a story.”
At a family reunion several years ago, someone gave me a large container full of mostly unidentified photographs. It contained presumed family members with their stories waiting to be told. How I wish I knew exactly who they were! Many of us have hundreds, if not more, photographs stashed away in boxes in our homes. Have you taken the time to identify the people in those photos? I’m sure there are some great stories behind some of those pictures – have you written those stories down?
If you were to look at photos from my daughter’s afternoon outdoor wedding, you would think that it took place on a beautifully sunny day. But among the stories you wouldn’t know are that the day began with thunderstorms and pouring rain; or that when the minister pronounced them man and wife, a small white butterfly lazily fluttered in front of them, seemingly putting God’s final blessing on the newly married couple.
The host of the radio show told how at their family meeting, his dad told him he was leaving him his watch and then told the story behind how he came into possession of the timepiece. But how many items have been left to us by family members for which we don’t know the story that goes with them?
I recently came across a blue velvet bunny that I’ve had since childhood. I need to write down the fact that it was made by my great-grandmother out of the fabric used by my aunt to make the bridesmaids dresses for my parents’ wedding back in the 50s. And I have been given a large shadowbox which contains a wedding photo from 1915 lying atop the bride’s wedding veil. Another task to be added to my to-do list – find out all I can about the bride and groom and their life together.
If you have items that have been handed down through the generations, it might be a good idea to take a photo of the item, put it in some sort of album and then go one step further – write down who it belonged to, how they were related to you and any other interesting facts pertaining to the person or the item itself. Tell the stories that will bring the items to life for years to come.
And for that large box of unidentified photos that I have? That side of my family has a family group page on Facebook. Every so often, I post a few of the photos and ask for help in identifying them. While we have successfully identified only a few people so far, the added benefit has been the stories the photos have generated about our large family. Telling these stories make our family history matter!