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Family Traits When my Mom moved from her farm at Lead Hill, I was faced with the daunting task of cleaning out the house that had been home to two generations. Dad and his brother Walton built the house at Lead Hill in 1949 when they came back from California. It was part of the farm that had been in my Mom's family since the early 1800's. After Mom and Dad moved to Springfield, Missouri her parents moved from the "old place," where Mom was born and raised into the new house. The move was simply across a couple of 40 acre fields, but it was a different world than they had ever experienced. It was 1952 and they had never lived in a house with indoor plumbing. Hard to imagine, huh? It wasn't the expense that kept them from modernizing the old house, it was stubborness on my Grandpa's part. HE WAS RELUCTANT TO CHANGE, I put that in caps so that you would see how stubborn he was!!

The first picture above is his Grandpa Abel Keeling (seated front row, 3rd from the left) with his family.  The second picture is my Grandparents, Clay and Selva Keeling. Abel Keeling was born in 1823 and died in 1911. My Great-Grandpa Thomas Weldon Keeling is seated on his father's left and was born in 1860 and passed the year my Mom was born, 1924. Not only do I know their birthdates, I know siblings, cousins, second cousins...even third cousins twice removed! How? Because my Grandma in her ultimate wisdom and precise penmanship, wrote down family history. (click on document to enlarge)
My Grandmother loved geneaology. She was an only child who lost both her parents before she was 16. Her family was one of Boone County's oldest and she was diligent in journaling facts and memories to share with future generations.

Since I am now the keeper of the history, I have a new found interest in the information that Grandma felt compelled to guard so carefully. It's like a big puzzle when you first start looking at all the pieces... Homestead Certificates signed by then President William McKinley Tax receipts going back to 1898, WWII Rationing Coupons... Even a letter Grandma's father had written to his parents in 1892! You can click on the document to enlarge, but I'm not sure you can read the text. He was travelling in the Choctaw Nation, before Oklahoma was even a state...headed for the Cherokee Nation. He signs it C.W. Milum Checotah Indian Territory! That blows me away!! Genealogy may not be your thing, but these are treasures... Mom's dog Fido in the top picture (precious because Mom was an only child and she loved that dog so), Mom's grade card 1936 and a picture at age 12. Grandma was a saver of memories, and I am a writer of memories. She'd be happy I shared these today!
Posted by Joy Tilton at Monday, September 27, 2010 Labels: Family, Genealogy, Green Living

