Hi Cliff, Jan & All What Great Idea's these are. My Mother left such a Gift to me. As Jan knows I recently lost my beloved Mother and my youngest sister who was living nearest Mom at her last home in New Hartford NY had the job of going through mother's personal items and distributing them as per mother's direct instructions (all written out). Connie saved mine for my recent Birthday (and we won't mention which one) and I have never had such a wonderful Birthday in my entire life. I sit for hours going over and over the gifts of love with tears in my eyes thinking how wonderful it is that Mom took the time to do this. . Mother had saved pictures for almost a Century (one could tell she had been in a Historian Office) and labeled each one with the Date, Place and Age and names of who was in the pictures and made a scrapbook for each of her children. Included in mine were pictures of my father at a young age (they were divorced), my Paternal Grandfather, Paternal G Aunts & Uncles, Grandpa's Cottage at Sackets Harbor NY, his family home in Westfield NJ. She had that wonderful picture of me on the blanket on the lawn with "???" on, at 4 1/2 months, pictures at 9 mo, 1 yr., and also photographs of family members done professional and made copies for each one of us. An Ancestor of ours who visited another cousin in Colorado who was associated with a mining company in the late 1890's had returned with several Amethyst Stones and after his death (1940's) they were sent to my mother. They were still in the box she received them in. My Sister knowing this was my Birth Stone (and per Mom's instructions) took them to a custom jeweler in New Hartford NY and had a beautiful ring made for my Birthday. A Gift of love from her, Mom and our G Uncle who brought them back Included in all this was the newspaper article in the Watertown Daily Times of my 5th Birthday Party with my lst Grade Class members all named who attended (I even had to invite the ones I didn't like). My high school days and college days were all included. I have the photograph of her adopted mother's graduation from Katherine Hepburn Hospital Nursing School (we believe to be the first class) and many other wonderful pictures of other family members. Included were letters from WW 2 from her brother, letters from lher Bio Mother in NB Canada and other family memento's. Mother did all this without the knowledge of any of her children so we would remember her. She left me a treasure that money is unable to buy and I will always cherish it and reward my children with such. Regards Pat R

Pat, This is a great way to share family history with our children. It keeps family history personal and private [I'm referring to personal information one wants to keep from prying eyes of outsiders so to speak] at the same times as giving a family legacy and identity for our children and so on down the line. Thank you! marilyn PNUTREG@cs.com wrote: >Hi Cliff, Jan & All > >What Great Idea's these are. My Mother left such a Gift to me. As Jan knows >I recently lost my beloved Mother and my youngest sister who was living >nearest Mom at her last home in New Hartford NY had the job of going through >mother's personal items and distributing them as per mother's direct >instructions >(all written out). Connie saved mine for my recent Birthday (and we won't >mention which one) and I have never had such a wonderful Birthday in my >entire life. >I sit for hours going over and over the gifts of love with tears in my eyes >thinking how wonderful it is that Mom took the time to do this. . > >Mother had saved pictures for almost a Century (one could tell she had been >in a Historian Office) and labeled each one with the Date, Place and Age and >names of who was in the pictures and made a scrapbook for each of her >children. >Included in mine were pictures of my father at a young age (they were >divorced), my Paternal Grandfather, Paternal G Aunts & Uncles, Grandpa's >Cottage at >Sackets Harbor NY, his family home in Westfield NJ. She had that wonderful >picture of me on the blanket on the lawn with "???" on, at 4 1/2 months, >pictures at 9 mo, 1 yr., and also photographs of family members done >professional and >made copies for each one of us. > >An Ancestor of ours who visited another cousin in Colorado who was associated >with a mining company in the late 1890's had returned with several Amethyst >Stones and after his death (1940's) they were sent to my mother. They were >still in the box she received them in. My Sister knowing this was my Birth >Stone >(and per Mom's instructions) took them to a custom jeweler in New Hartford NY >and had a beautiful ring made for my Birthday. A Gift of love from her, Mom >and our G Uncle who brought them back > >Included in all this was the newspaper article in the Watertown Daily Times >of my 5th Birthday Party with my lst Grade Class members all named who >attended >(I even had to invite the ones I didn't like). My high school days and >college days were all included. I have the photograph of her adopted mother's >graduation from Katherine Hepburn Hospital Nursing School (we believe to be >the >first class) and many other wonderful pictures of other family members. >Included >were letters from WW 2 from her brother, letters from lher Bio Mother in NB >Canada and other family memento's. Mother did all this without the >knowledge of >any of her children so we would remember her. She left me a treasure that >money is unable to buy and I will always cherish it and reward my children >with >such. > >Regards >Pat R > > >==== NYOTSEGO Mailing List ==== >To unsubscribe from this list in digest mode send an email with >the word, unsubscribe,in the subject field & body of the message >to the following address: NYOtsego-d-request@rootsweb.com > >============================== >Gain access to over two billion names including the new Immigration >Collection with an Ancestry.com free trial. Click to learn more. >http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=4930&sourceid=1237 > > > >