A New Endeavor

So this is another foray into blogging for me. Hopefully I can come up with something interesting. Looking forward to digging up some family history with this thing as well.

I first became interested in family history research because my Mom had an interest. I didn’t really get into it until about ten years ago. I took a genealogy class at the Fort Wayne library and have been hooked ever since. It is amazing what you can dig up if you simply grab a shovel. One of my favorite things I have unearthed is a family "chain letter." This chain letter was written over a ten year period from 1942 through 1952 by the O’Connor clan of Lima, Ohio. These ten brothers and sisters (one of which was my grandmother) had scattered to all parts of the US and had devised a chain letter to keep in touch. As each sibling wrote a letter, they would send it on to the next sibling, who would write their own letter and forward all letters on to the next sibling. This would continue through each sibling and after it eventually make it back to the original author, they would take out their old letter, write a new one and send the packet on its way again.

What is truly amazing is that they had the forethought to KEEP these letters and so it has compiled an interesting family history that starts in the thick of World War II and continues on through post-war years and the new found prosperity following times of war rations. Through their eyes, we get to experience the advance of airline travel, something we absolutely take for granted these days.

I will be sharing these letters and other family history tidbits in this blog. Hopefully, I will be able to discover more information as a result.

Comments

[kilax]

That is so cool. How did you acquire the letters?

[Robin]

Kilax: I started doing family history research about ten years ago. I put the word out to all my immediate family members that I would like any photos or information pertaining to any branch of the family. Within a couple of months I received a box with all these letters from one of my aunt’s cousins. Actually, it was Janice (daughter of Irene) who was about 80 yrs old at the time.