Along with the names, dates and facts on paper that come with creating our family tree and researching our ancestors are the memories that were made along the way. It is important to preserve memories as well.
As a gift for each member of my family, my grandmother did something very special to preserve the memory of my grandfather, who passed away several years ago. She took his clothes and used the pieces to quilt blocks of Overall Bill.
Instead of quilting the blocks together in a quilt, she put each Overall Bill on a canvas. She then had my aunt mount them in frames and gave them to each family member as gifts for Christmas.
Everyone loved their framed Overall Bill and each one had its own sentimental value for the recipient. My Overall Bill has a green shirt, made from the green coveralls that my granddaddy wore the majority of the time I was around him.
This is something I will always treasure and will be passed down to my son, and hopefully to his children and grandchildren. I plan to put the story behind the overalls on the back of the frame, so that the story will be passed down through the generations.
I inherited an old family portrait in a handmade cherry frame. It is important to me as well but I never knew the person in the photo. I feel my great grandchildren will cherish my Overall Bill picture the same as I do.
I am a very sentimental person. I know some people are not. I don’t think it matters if you are or you aren’t, as long as there is one person in the family who is. In our family we call this person the family historian. He or she is the person who maintains the genealogical records, photos and objects of sentimental value to be passed down to future generations.
I believe that everyone needs to know where they came from. Some people may not realize it but I have seen firsthand how our ancestry affects our genetics and personality. Many of my ancestors were German and some were Choctaw Indian. I can distinguish very clearly family traits that are shared by all of my relatives of German descent, and also of those of the Choctaw Indians.
I think it is great that my family kept newspaper clippings, obituaries, photographs and important heirlooms. I would strongly recommend doing the same, so you have something to pass down to future generations.
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