An attic cleanout and a genealogy disaster averted

Last week, my mother stopped by with some papers after cleaning out the attic. They were annotated printouts with family tree information that had been compiled by my late aunt.

Aunt Ann was the keeper of the genealogy flame on that side of the family. Over the phone nearly 20 years ago, she had passed down some important oral history concerning one branch that was not recorded anywhere else. I had not known about the printouts, which had ended up in my parents’ house after she passed away. I was grateful.

“What else did you find in the attic?” I asked.

“Some letters and old photos,” she said. “There were letters your father had written home when he lived in Scotland. And some from my father to me. And old photos from our wedding.”

“Wow, that must have been fun to look through. Where are they?”

“Oh, I just threw them out.”

Upon hearing those words, time slowed to a crawl. I shuddered, remembering the time I almost threw away a priceless handwritten tree from Nicole’s side of the family. Or the commenter on the EasyGenie Facebook page who trashed all of her mother’s genealogy research.

My mother noticed the horrified look on my face. 

“What's wrong?” she asked. “Did you want them?”

The public often equates “genealogy” or “family historian” with focused research to verify lineage and places of origin. Relatives know that we seek out birth certificates and fraying obituaries. We make elaborate family charts.

At reunions, we ask weird questions about great-aunt Ophelia’s second husband, where uncle Willie went to boot camp, and the precise location of the farmhouse where the McHenry cousins raised their family. We know the difference between a first cousin and a first cousin once removed.

But they may not appreciate that we’re also after the stories. Those can sometimes be teased out of a vital record or newspaper clipping. But where they are more likely to be found is in handwritten letters or the memories triggered by an old photo.

Fortunately, it wasn’t too late to save the letters and photos from the rubbish. I retrieved them a few days ago, along with other items from the attic including old diplomas and Army records. I took them home in the back of my car.

The aerograms and postcards that my father wrote to his parents in 1961 are a window into his past: the friends he made on the ship that crossed the Atlantic, the places he visited in Europe and North Africa, and the beginnings of a long career as a medical researcher.

The photos of my mother on her wedding day were different than the portrait I had already seen. There were photos of my grandparents, including the only photo of all four of my grandparents together. Looking at an old snapshot, my father exclaimed, “There’s Smitty standing behind us!” It was one of his best friends from high school.

Attic cleanouts and what to save 

Retrieving these materials was also an opportunity to let my parents know what sort of records are worth keeping. They both appreciated what I was trying to do. 

My mother in particular remembered that after my grandfather had passed away in 1992, a sibling who inherited the house had thrown out most of the old photos and letters in the attic. She didn’t blame her brother – it’s hard to deal with clearing out a house after a loved one dies – but she regrets not retrieving some of the photos and other mementos.

The moral of the story: Communicate the types of documents and records that you seek for your research. Let relatives know the importance of stories and small details that may be present in old letters or a shoebox of forgotten photos. Plant the seed next Thanksgiving, or at the next reunion, so that the next time they are downsizing or cleaning out a closet, these old treasures will find a good home.