How nice to start off the new year with an uplifting story like this.

Very cool.

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My Grandfather's Sister was this woman's Godmother.

Great story. I had to read the part above about three times to get it though. Not your fault.

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Originally posted by architect:
I find, as I am getting old(er), that I am getting more interested in my genealogy, and relatives that have passed. Every generation, something is lost from generations past, the OP might want to consider figuring out a way to leave family information to the following generations, kids, grand kids, nephews/nieces, etc. I sure wish someone would have done that for me.

The information now available on the Internet is astounding. Several agencies offer access to literally millions of records about persons, and tools to build family trees. One should start now while there may still be some living souls who know and remember who your ancestors were. Given a few good leads, it is amazing how far one can proceed back.

The photo of your grandfather is terrific, as well as the information provided with it. You should definitely thank the person who went to so much trouble for you.

flashguy

That's awesome! What an amazing thing to happen. You will always treasure this gift, this info, and the generosity of those who helped make this happen.

About a year ago my sister received some communication that some distant relative, that we did not know at all, or even existed to us, that they were cleaning out one of their deceased elderly relatives when they found a box in their home.

It was letters and post cards, and photos, of my Dad when he was a young man in College at Oklahoma A&M (now known as Oklahoma State University) during the early to mid 1930's.

The question to my sister was, is this your Dad, and if so, do you want this box?

Of course the answer was YES!!!

So the box arrived a few days later.

It was absolutely amazing to read the letters, the original letters my Dad wrote to his parents from College. They were fairly well detailed of many things, including his budget, his studies, his part time jobs, etc.

There were original photos, too !! Wow!

It was just so special to read the actual letters and postcards that my Dad wrote almost 90 years ago.

Almost everything was in great condition. The actual paper and the ink that was used, and the photographs, were stored all these decades in safe conditions.

On a funny note, a few of the letters from Dad to his parents were about his new girlfriend. This was the girlfriend before Dad met my Mother. Awesome!

I know almost every time someone dies, the survivors don't time to deal with the belongings and just toss almost everything in the dumpster, and irreplaceable family info is lost forever. Forever! To think that, in our case, someone decided to make an effort to find the right person and the right place to send them to, well that's just fantastic.

Congratulations on your precious finding. I know you are thrilled, and will treasure this the rest of your days, and will make an effort to make sure it survives you and goes to your offspring for them to know this too.
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That's a pretty cool piece of family history to have

That's amazing. I'd make it a point to go visit her at the museum and talk to her just to see what else you can learn about your family.

Very cool, and super nice of the lady to take the time to do that for you.

Several years ago, after my MIL passed about 10 months after my FIL, my wife and her sisters had to go through everything. We have a box of pictures of people and places that none of them could identify. We held onto the box anyway.

My grandfather came from Spain in the early 1900’s, and I have a box of letters from his family in Spain that would be great to read, but I don’t speak/read Spanish. He never taught my father Spanish because Gramps came here to “be an American” and eventually opened a restaurant. One of these days I will find someone to translate the letters for me. Or maybe after I retire in a few years I’ll take Spanish classes or use an online translator.

Another project that your post reminds me of is that Mrs. SigFan and I need to go through all our phots and jot down the who/where/when on each so our girls will know what they’re looking at someday.

So cool. I don't have any pictures of my grand parents.

Thanks for sharing this, Steve. Great story and good that people still care about searching things out.

Great story, kudos to the woman to take the time to track you down.

Wowy, too neato!!!

My dad and I are into our genealogy, and we will find some cool images of our long lost every now and then. Love it!!!

This is so cool! Thanks for sharing. How great it is that the lady took the time to track you down.

Thanks for sharing - that is a great story!

It's always cool to find out something about family history. Nice find ....

I have a pic of my mom's , mom and dad , in front of a log cabin in ohio .

The cabin was his grandfathers, the pic was taken in the mid 1950's.

that would have made grandma and grandpa in their mid 60's, at the time

Good story. It was very nice of her to track you down.

Nice pic.

When I first saw the pic I thought it was going to be a USMC photo until I saw the badge. He doesn't look like someone I would have wanted to tangle with.

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He doesn't look like someone I would have wanted to tangle with.

I think the #1 on his lapel is the number of cops like him you'd need to quell a riot.