[photo of the front cover of the
scrapbook]
The Scrap Book cover has almost
completely fallen off. Many of the first pages and several of the later ones
have become detached from the two brads that originally held the scrap book
together. Inside I find a variety of newspaper clippings: front page articles,
sequential articles about one man's death, obituaries, wedding and travel
announcements, stories of local events, national events. There are some
magazine clippings and poems. There’s even a personal item or two including two
hand-crafted paper figures with movable limbs. All of these are items of such
importance that someone took the time to carefully insert them in this Scrap
Book. The newspaper clippings are now as brown as the scrapbook pages
themselves. Some clippings have become detached from their original page, some
are stuck tight to the page, and some appear to be missing altogether. But inside
this Scrap Book are stories, connections, information and evidence of my
ancestors and the lives they lived. Friends, among whom they lived, are
present, as are associates from church and workplace, and neighbors, both next
door and within the community. Join me as I begin my journey to discover all
that this Scrap Book contains.
