Hi I saw this poem in my mail box this morning and sent it along to some other lists I am on; Here is one response I recieved; Hi Dee, Since finding my family (I was adopted and found my birthfamily about 3 years ago)...I have been struck by the genealogy bug and have also put together several family albums. The most frustrating part was getting family relatives, who are still among the living, to identify the much earlier photos. One of the photos was of my mother and my cousin didn't know who that person was in that particular photo...I knew her right away. My mother died in 1975 long before I got the chance to meet her. This poem is very good. I hope it gets passed along to all the lists and people start identifying the pictures in their photo albums. When I first met my cousin, Nancy, she showed me her albums and, of course, there were no names below the pics. She had trouble telling me who some of these people were and had to get her step-mom to help out. Even she wasn't sure about some of them. Thanks for posting that poem. Linda > Listers, > thought this might be fitting since I am doing family photo's right now > > > "Notes on a Family Album" > > I sit before some photographs > of people I don't know. > Mom said, "They are your relatives," > But that was long ago. > > She used to get the album out > And put me on her knee: > Then pointing, with a story line > Tell family history. > > The captions used were all her own, > Each time developed new. > We never thought to write them down > Before her life was through. > > I see some family features now: > I have begun to care. > Since Mom is gone, I cannot ask, > "Whose picture is that there?" > > If you have photo's in a book > Without a caption, too. > Go get a pen and label them, > Or you may wonder, "Who?" > > by Mary F. Heisey > > I have found a cousin with an album of family photos which include about > 100 tintypes and we have no idea who these people are. So there is truth > in this poem. > Harold Hooper