"I am..."

As I open this most precious, sacred-to-me gray plastic file box of family artifacts--letters, maps, pictures, news articles, and books-- I am instantly in a reverent state. Every time I open this file box to reminisce, explore and discover I find I am always affected by the amazing contents. The cool part is I always find something I missed previously.

This letter written by Erna Kirk (in 1975), is one of the pieces I recently "found." I have been through this family treasury box at least 20 times and somehow missed this until now. As I pick up the faded mint green pages to read it, the first sentence strikes me in a manner I find so compelling, I sit down to fully digest it. I linger and ponder on her words. "I am Erna Evangeline Aldredge Kirk." I am....to me, this is a sentence so surprisely beautiful in it's simplicity but there is a strength with it. I read the sentence penned on the faded pages over and over, taking it in before preceeding down the page. The penmanship is beautifully trained, a forgotten art in our modern time. As I glance at my haphazzard penmanship, I am reminded how true this is; my penmanship resembles a 1st grader learning cursive. Her language is well thought; her recall is set in story telling fashion intermixed with history. I read and I learn epic details of her life. For example, I didn't know that my great-great grandfather (Edgar Aldredge) died in the flu epidemic in 1918; I didn't know her mother's name is one of my personal favorites (Kate); I didn't know that my great grandparents (George E. and Erna Kirk) shared a date very familiar to me--Sept 4th--which was their wedding anniversary in 1915. This was also Grandma Ginny's birthday (1921), and the wedding anniversary of my maternal grandparents, Ed and Margie Cole.

As I read these pages, I feel connected to her. I imagine what it would be like to have her read this to me. I picture her sitting calmly at the dining room table at 2803 in Moline, dressed in her pretty blue dress with her glasses and hair maticulously curled. In the quiet disposition that I knew of her, I picture her telling me the story of her life, her family and of the events that transpired during her years. Even though it's not all on paper, I think about everything she lived through, what she experienced, what she saw, what she felt. I wish I had been more mindful years before to ask her questions. But I was 9 years old then...

And so, I share this first. It is completely out of historical order, yet I hope you are as touched by this as I was. Do share your Erna stories. And of course, there is much more to follow....

Cheers!

Ginny's Legacy

Two of Ginny Kirk's many legacies are the geneologies behind the Kirk and Christofferson families. She passionately pursued our family histories so we could have a better understanding of our heritage. Ginny's pursuits led George and her to many public libraries and cemetaries in Pennsylvannia, Ohio, Scotland and the Quad City area. She spent countless hours researching, writing letters, making phone calls and exploring possibilities. During this time she shared her discoveries and information with us. I remember many dinner time discussions at 2803 involving her research, findings and family stories (told in tandem with George). My memories of these times around the table with Ginny, George and other family members are incredibly valuable to me. While I remember many of these stories, it is with an unfortunate vagueness of details (when did I get old?). I wish I had a better memory. I am looking forward to hearing them again through you all. Please post some of your favorites.

With Ginny's passing in 2004, I was bestowed the wonderful honor of continuing with her geneology archives. I had agreed to continue with this a few years before her passing. This responsibility is one I am so honored to have and wholeheartedly accept, as I have an unbelieveable admiration for my grandmother; it makes me feel connected to her even in her absence. As part of the responsibility, I received an file box of amazing photos, historical information, stories, letters, newspaper clippings, maps, lineage tracings, and more. It's all truly more than I imagined. I have contemplated many ways to share this data with our family and a website seemed like the best way since we are all separated by many miles. I have also decided that I will add some personal journaling to each posting so you all can get a feel of the amazing content this file box holds.

Lastly, above all I hope you enjoy the culmination of years of Ginny's work. I hope the content of what I am setting up to share will make you laugh, cry, reminisce, discover, and pass along stories. I am looking forward to sharing this with you all.

Cheers!