Descend

While I sipped my morning coffee, I clicked on the Ancestry icon.  I had not visited the site in some time and found a blinking leaf in the corner of the header bar.  The leaf revealed a hint to my great-grandmother, May Laura Stevenson.  The suggested hint led me to a variety of family trees that included May Laura.

May Laura died less than a month after I was born, so I have no memories of my own.  She was my father’s maternal grandmother.  Her daughter Helen, my grandmother, died of tuberculosis in a far away sanatorium when my father and aunt were very young.  Helen made my grandfather promise not to take the children away so May and her husband Robert and May’s sister Maude raised my Dad and Aunt.  My grandfather stayed close by even living with them until he remarried and moved down the street.

My Dad loved his Grandma and Granddaddy very much and recalled many fond memories over the years.  By all accounts he had a happy, indulged childhood. My brothers have memories of Grandma Minor, the farm and the big house on High Street (they lived there for a while too).  My Mother always smiles when she talks of Grandma and that says a lot.  At May’s funeral, my brother Dick shinnied up a graveside tent pole.  While probably mortified at the time, Dad would grin and say that would have been okay with Grandma because Dickie could do no wrong in her book.

The picture was taken after my parents wedding ceremony.  In front are my grandfathers.  In the second row, my maternal grandmother, my Dad’s aunt, my parents (I just realized my mother may have been Princess Leia) then the matron of honor and best man.  In the back row, my mother’s sister, my step-grandmother and May Laura in the fancy hat.

 

 

Here is a photo of May, the shinnier Dick and my Dad.

 

Even though I did not know May Laura, I am proud that I descend from her.  So thanks Ancestry for the hint today.

 

Descend