52 Ancestors: Resolution - Top 10 Genealogical Finds of 2020

2020 has been a very difficult year for so many.  I don't want to dwell on the pandemic and have tried to find the positive but it's been hard on so many levels.  But one thing I've tried to do - albeit not always so successfully - is to continue with my research and blogging.  I had some really good weeks and some "I don't want to do a thing" weeks but through it all, I kept the end in sight and resolved to work through it so that at the end of the year, I just might be able to come up with my annual top 10 genealogical finds of the year.  So with that, I'll step back and reflect on what I've learned over the past year. [cue the David Letterman music].

You can read my previous year's discoveries here.  2019  2018  2017  2016  2015  2014  2013  2012  2012.5 2011

Number 10:  I was not quite 14 when my paternal grandfather, Sig Levy, died.  Looking back, I don't know that I really "knew" him.  But that changed when I put together a post about him in costume.  Quite the Character - Sig in Costume

Number 9:  My great grandfather, Abe Gunzendorfer, was a photographer.  I have lots of his original photos in my collection which I wrote about here.  Labor - Abe's Photos.  What's been really fun is to have members of the "Monterey" Facebook group share other photos that Abe took.  It takes a village for sure.

Number 8:   Speaking of taking a village, I'm hoping that next year the mystery of Marks Schwartz will be solved.  Labor - Marks Schwartz.  Thanks to a suggestion from one of my most faithful readers, I am on the waiting list to have an expert help me determine if the mystery child is Marks.  

Number 7:  Seeing our ancestors in swim suits can be fun!  And boy was it when I put this post together!  Water - Swimsuits.  How many of us can say they've seen their grandparents in a swimsuit?

Number 6:  I think by now my readers know that my grandfather was small - so small, in fact, that he had to sit on a pillow when he flew a plane.  So this tuxedo must have belonged to him.  Small - Tuxedo

Number 5:  It breaks my heart when I hear of a young child passing, but especially so when it was my husband's older sister who lived to be just 54 minutes old.  Nearly Forgotten - Pamela Jean

Number 4:  I've had many favorites discoveries but the most recent is always my favorite.  This was no exception.  Favorite Discovery

Number 3:  Along with favorite discoveries comes favorite photos.  It was hard for me to pick a favorite - isn't that like picking a favorite child - but I finally came up with one.  Favorite Photo - Birdie Schwartz

Number 2:  While I love it when a photo or other tidbit drops into my lap, there is nothing more rewarding than making that happen for someone else.  It only took a moment of my time to find someone who was so filled with gratitude over a picture of his grandfather.  Gratitude

Number 1:  The post that generated the most activity this year actually surprised me - I was having a hard time coming up with something for the Blog Prompt Multiple and decided to just put to use the multiple letters I had between my grandparents as they were courting from 1916-1919.  Of course this was during the Spanish Flu and since I was in the process of transcribing the letters from late 1918, the similarities to what we have faced this year was astounding.  Multiple - Love Letters

It was slim pickings this year but I'm happy to say that I kept at it, although it was much slower than usual.  So I'll continue with the resolution to keep at it and, hopefully, have a much more robust Top 10 list in 2021!

52 Ancestors: Witness to History - My Memories

Over the years, I've often thought about all that my grandparents saw in their lifetimes.  One of my favorite memories is my grandmother writing to my grandfather about taking a ride in "the machine" which was how she described the automobile.  How things have changed in just over a century - cars in every garage, airplanes, jets, rockets, space shuttles!

This prompt reminded me of this and also of what my parents experienced in their lives throughout the 20th century - so much change it is almost incomprehensible.  And that made me think about all that I have lived through with, hopefully, more to come.

The first memory I have is a parade or rally for John F. Kenney in 1960.  I have very few memories of my early years but that event made quite an impact on a not quite 6 year old little girl.  I don't remember too many details but I imagine it was something like this.

My most vivid memory of that day was shaking his hand - I think his car was meandering through the streets and as people reached out to him, he shook their hand.  I was a lucky little girl and remember thinking I would never wash my hand.  HA!

And then just 3 short years later, the unthinkable happened and this time while his motorcade was meandering through the streets of Dallas, shots rang out.  That day was one of those where you know exactly where you were when you heard the news.  I was in the 4th grade at Willow Glen Elementary and when we returned to our classroom after recess, we were told that the president had been shot.  I don't know how many of my classmates comprehended what had happened but I remember thinking "why would anyone shoot the principal of our school?"  And after a few moments, I realized it was the president, not the principal.

As anyone who was alive at that time can attest to, the country was captivated for the next four days.  We saw on live TV Jack Ruby shoot Lee Harvey Oswald and the following day, the procession and burial in Arlington National Cemetery.  And who can forget his young son saluting his father as the procession passed by.

In 1964, the book Four Days arrived at our house and over the years I spent hours upon hours pouring through the book learning all of the details of one of the most historic events in American history.  And all those years later as we cleaned out the home I grew up in and my parents lived in for more than 50 years, I searched and searched and sure enough, there it was.

I don't have vivid memories of the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy but I do remember the horror of the times.

And then, just a year later, another historic event occurred, this time on a much more positive note - MEN WALKED ON THE MOON!

"That is one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind".  I remember riding in the car while my sister drove us home from the beach and hearing those words on the radio.  What a day!

Fast forward to 1989 when one October morning my dad called me at work and said "I have 2 tickets to the World Series game tonight - can you fly to San Jose and go with me?"  That was based on a promise he made in 1962 when he had 2 tickets to the Giants/Yankees World Series game and took my older sister to the game and said that day "I promise the next time the Giants get in the World Series I'll take you".  And 27 years later he (with the help of the Giants) was finally able to fulfill his promise.  Although I couldn't get there in time, I let him off the hook and it was then that he decided to not attend the game.  October 17, 1989 brought a magnitude 6.9 earthquake to the area and, thankfully, we were both safe and sound in our houses rather than at Candlestick Park.  So many lives changed that day.

August 31, 1997 - Special Report.  I heard the words while in the kitchen completing some mundane task.  Princess Diana has died.  Another time we were riveted to the TV watching the news and then not quite a week later, the funeral.  

But nothing has etched a memory in my brain more than September 11, 2001.  Early morning on the west coast and as I turned on the TV while getting ready for work, I wondered why they were showing a replay of people evacuating the World Trade Center from 1993.  Why was there so much panic in the reporters' voices?  And then I learned that a plane had crashed into the tower.  And we gasped as we saw the second plane hit.  I will never, as long as I live, forget that day.

I may not have been an actual witness to history but I have memories of these events and think it's important to remember how they changed our lives.