At 05:53 PM 10/12/01, Petchey432@aol.com wrote: >Graham, don't I wept buckets over the chapter about your Gran, what a lovely >brave lady she must have been, keep up the good work. Regards Doreen Yes, she was Doreen. I have a beautiful photo of her taken in South Yarra, Melbourne, circa 1886 before her marriage, when she would have been about 19, and I think almost any man in those days could have fallen in love with her - such fine Welsh features, gently arched eyebrows, firm forehead with her hair brushed back and braided at the top. Very expressive eyes, a delicate nose, small but gentle looking mouth, strong Welsh cheekbones, and finely pointed chin. She is wearing a high-necked dark-coloured dress, fastened at the top with what appears to be a cameo brooch. The dress has frills at the top and underneath is a "soft" white collar. She came from a family of two boys and five other girls, but looking at other photos I have, I am very pleased to say :)) that she was the best looking of the lot! It was taken from one of those old glass negatives. My aunt described her mother's nature as being a very wise and gentle person. She gave me a lock of her mother's fair hair, which I have since given to one of my nieces. I am sure that my grandfather was extremely blessed to have found this lovely woman. He was 31 at the time of their marriage and apparently had not shown much interest in other ladies in earlier times. After her passing he wrote a letter to her sister and brother-in-law in Burnie, Tasmania, where they owned a drapery business. I am fortunate to have this letter, which he seems to have written the day after the funeral. I included it in my saga; in fact it did help me considerably in knowing and feeling the atmosphere of the day. I would like to share part of it with listers, because reading between the lines, things become a lot clearer. I hope it won't upset you too much. There had, apparently, been a problem earlier with one of the doctors. "I received your kind letter this morning and appreciate the expressions of sympathy from you and Maggie. Two doctors attended in the afternoon; one having been in the morning and the day before. They decided upon a slight operation, which I asked did one in four die from, & was answered - no, hardly that. They used chloroform - and in a few minutes death was in her features, a great change from the smile with which she bade me Good Bye, lest anything should happen. She recovered for a while consciousness and bade us all "Good Bye" with good advice to the boys in particular. I am inclined to think it was an operation likely to be successful in some similar cases. The funeral was in the Eastern Cemetery and the service was read by Mr. Barber a Wesleyan Minister. Lena having expressed a wish to that effect some time before in private conversation." He then talks about the future, etc. And so, life goes on. But, as my aunt told me: he would, late at night, take his violin down to his workshop away from the house where he worked during the day building flour milling machinery, and he would play. Often it would be the old Welsh tune "All through the Night." - "Ah Hyd Y Nos," and possibly he would have even sung the words "Holl am-rant-au'r ser ddy-wed-ant (Love fear not if sad thy dreaming) Ah hyd y nos (All through the night)." I cannot hear that tune, even this day, without a being overcome with emotion, knowing how he must have suffered the great loss of his one and only real love. And when I look at his violin sitting in its glass cabinet, which again I am so fortunate to have, I can see it all before me again, and I can see the happy times - the Sunday music afternoons and evenings that they must have had at his father-in-law's home in South Yarra, with all the family gathered around. Lena's (Helena) sister Maggie (Margaret) on the piano, her fiancee at the time also on violin, and sister Sarah's beau very handy with the flute. Mother and father sitting, watching, and the younger children there listening attentively. None of this is fiction, it is all fact, taken from letters and talks with my aunt. Makes me a little jealous not to have been there! Impossible, I know, but yes, it would have been good to have had that chance in time. And yes, it all comes together as real family history. I can easily visualize my youthful grandmother and grandfather saying goodbye after a musical evening at her parents house - just standing in the garden by the picket gate on a summer's evening, and just yearning to kiss before he had to go off to his lodgings. I can almost smell her perfume and see his starched collar and buttoned waistcoat in the moonlight. And I think that these words sent to me by Ray Ann Alt sum things up for all of us: "How can we, as TRUE genealogists, not endeavor to find out more about that special love that brought forth ourselves, our parents, grand parents, great-grandparents? How can there be people out there whose only interest is in names, dates, and places to fill in blanks on a piece of paper??" Blessings Graham