I am going to start my family tree with my Grandparents, each side is sort of a mystery to me, as you will see.
Great Grandparents on Mothers side,
My Mother's grandparents were an elderly couple who adopted her, and her younger sister at a very young age, I am not sure exactly of the age. I do know they were a very privileged couple and they provided so much for my Mother and her sister. My mother has told me a few stories about her life with them. She said they had a butler, several maids, nannies, stables of horses and lived in a mansion. I recall at young age seeing all of my mothers trophy's from horses she showed, specifically a Palomino horse she showed, and he was a champion American Saddle bred, show horse. There are so many things relating to my Mother's childhood that I now can recall in just writing this, that I had forgotten all about. I remember now the first Communion photos, in which she looked like a beautiful little girl in a gorgeous wedding gown and veil, and my Mother explained to me all about her Catholic upbringing. She had gone to Catholic school and I believe she had attended boarding school for a time. She had pictures of her with her horses and the many shows she had shown her favorite horse the Palomino I even recall his name it was Destry. He was so pretty, I as a child was so horse crazy and remember envying my mothers childhood. She described it to us children from time to time. She had a doll, it was called a "Chatty Cathy" and her favorite story to tell involved that doll. She had an argument with a Nannie and she ran into her room and slammed the door and she said she threw the doll that was in reach against the wall and when it hit the floor the doll said "Ouch, I hurt myself.". My mother said the doll had not worked, or "spoken" in years. Funny that this is going to be so much more than I imagined. My memories are flooding back every time I start writing. These were lost memories and but for me writing this they would be lost forever. Now my children and everyone else can see them. There is so much to be said in this family tree history that I will have to make it more than one day of writing.
Continuing with my Great Grandparents on my mothers side, I can tell you I don't have much. I am told they were German born, and that my Grandfather, who was my Mother's father was American born and raised, and he was an only child. They spoiled him terribly and that I believe led to who he became. I am not sure of exactly when they passed away but I can say that it must have been before my Mother reached adulthood.
I have the most limited information about my Mother's Mother's, parents. They were definitely Russian born, and brought my Grandmother Ann who was also Russian born with I believe 2 siblings to America. I only know that they left Russia during a time of upheaval and they were required to have a sponsor in America. I have no idea what happened to them and my Grandmother's siblings. I believe my Grandmother had many problems with her family and in her life growing up, because she refused to share anything about her family and her history at all. She even refused to tell her age. I think she had a brother with some disabilities, and I don't know anything else about my Grandmother's family, not without really trying to find out either. We often joke that my Grandmother is the famous Anastasia Romanov, whom legend says may have escaped her families execution. I don't have any information to the contrary and her name was Anne. I am joking of course but it is fun to imagine. I do want to try to find out more if it is possible though. Maybe in this process of writing all of this down, I can find out how to get that information.
This is the extent of my info on my Great Grandparents on my mother's side, and now to the info on my father's side.
Great Grandparents on my Father's side,
I have nearly as limited information on my Father's parents, as I do my Mother's parents. In some ways it seems more limited. And this information is actually easier to come by, as I have relatives alive and well in Indian that can tell me a lot. I have an Aunt +Janelle peters, that lives in Indiana whom I recently met. She came to visit with my Brother's family this past fall, and I spent a very short time talking with her and I honestly wish I had taken a notebook and wrote down as much as I could. As it was I bombarded her with questions. I welcome all the info anyone can provide. I love knowledge and the more I can get the better, and I will try to share more if I find it.
My Father's parents are nearly the opposite of my Mother's. My Great Grandfather was a fairly tall man with platinum colored hair, this is significant because I wound up being the only other person in the entire family with blond hair. I am the only one with blue eyes as well. He died before I was born I am not sure of exactly when, and I don't know much about him other than he was a hard working man and was pretty laid back and nice. But seems as though he may have been so laid back he ignored the abuse their 8 children endured from their Mother.
As for my Father's mother. What I know about her is that she was a woman who seemed to have suffered many health issues. I was told she was abusive to her children and she was a mother who lost a couple of children in her lifetime. She passed when I was a child. I only know this because I can actually remember getting cards from her when I was a child. And one year she sent us kids some sort of commemorative coins. I remember being told that she had passed away when I was a child but don't remember how old I was and did not remember her personally. She had very dark hair and brown eyes, and it seems that was the dominant traits in my Father's family because they all have dark brown nearly black hair and brown eyes. Their physical features seem to be shared by the majority of my Father's family, including my little sister and brother, they look exactly like our Father. I am by far the most different in appearance out of the entire family. I also don't know much about their heritage, other than the majority is Irish and there is some German I believe. I know they are at least a couple of generations of Americans.
I feel like this was not the productive day I wanted but in a way it was. I have memories flooding in every time I start writing. I know this will be scary sometimes. As I started this I titled it Fear... because when I tried to think of how to title this I could only think of one driving force or constant in my life and that is fear. I hope that I can conquer a lot through this process. I know that memories will continue to come back and I will have so much more to share with you all.
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