Stories I wish I knew about my family
Were any of my Irish relatives trapped in steerage as the
Titanic sank?
Was one side of my mother’s family really related to the
Lloyd’s of London?
How did my parents—my Catholic father and Lutheran
mother—convince their parents that it
was OK for them to marry. Especially in 1934, when marrying outside of one’s
faith was not only rare, but often marginally accepted.
How did my upper middle-class maternal grandparents get on
with my working class paternal ones?
What about my aunts and uncles and their stories? My parents
moved from Philadelphia to Chicago before I was born, so I grew up seeing
those relatives only once a year, twice if there was some special occasion.
And what about all those great-uncles on my father’s
maternal side—the Sullivan boys? I knew only one of them—Vincent. He’d remained
a grieving bachelor his entire life—his fiancé dying young of TB—and ended up living
with my widowed grandmother until she died.
At her funeral, my father invited Uncle Vince—now somewhere in his 70’s—to come live with us in Hillside, Illinois. Now I was only 14 or 15 at the time, and he seemed to me more stranger than kin, someone I didn’t warm to, let alone want to know much about.
At her funeral, my father invited Uncle Vince—now somewhere in his 70’s—to come live with us in Hillside, Illinois. Now I was only 14 or 15 at the time, and he seemed to me more stranger than kin, someone I didn’t warm to, let alone want to know much about.
Of course, now that I myself am his age, I so wish I knew his
stories. Because he was my kin, my
father’s uncle, my grandmother’s brother. What could I have learned from him?
Not only about my grands and greats, but about the times he grew up in? And the places?
Somewhere in Uncle Vince’s story I believe there is a part of my own. And around the holidays, I find myself especially missing his.
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If
you have stories you’d like to pass along to your family, consider coming to my
workshop Writing Family Stories: The Holiday Version. It takes
place at the Rogers Park Library, 6907 N. Clark St., on Monday,
December 18, 2-4 pm.
Here's
the link to the Library's website, including a description of the workshop
and how to register. There is no charge for attending.
Any
questions about the workshop, please feel free to email me directly at madmoon55@hotmail.com.
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