Saturday, January 26, 2008

Family Portraits


We have a date set for a family reunion in August. A couple of us are already focused on preparations. One of my cousins is hard at work collecting family photos and has set up a website to share them. He often emails me old pictures I have never seen. Our grandmother died young at 40 before any grandchildren were born. I am touched seeing pictures of her I had never seen. One of my deceased aunts was the image of her mom. It is all a lovely nostalgic trip. Future generations will appreciate this collection as well.
With today's digital cameras we tend to take a lot of pictures. Some will look like the coco"nuts" in the picture above. Most of the old photos we have were posed carefully in a studio. It is fun to imagine them gathering and having their portrait taken. They dressed in their finery and even the baby boys wore dresses. I wonder if Dick Cheney and Barack Obama have any old photos of their common ancestors. Strange bedfellows. Do you suppose they call each other and share stories of great-great-grandpa? Do you think they will have a family reunion when the election dust settles?
When people do geneological searches they may be hoping to be descended from royalty. Our family's claim to fame is ancestor Charles Parnell. The world can thank him for the Irish Republicans. He fought politically for the Irish and is considered the "George Washington" of Ireland. We aren't taking credit for the Irish Republican Army. Strange bedfellows.

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