My maternal grandmother was Elizabeth Barnwell Alston who was always called Bessie.. She passed on when my mother was only two so mother never had the chance to know her nor did I. When she was 14 her father gave her a small journal which she kept from February to October 1906. I don't know if she kept other journals before or after but this little journal has made it's way into my hands along with a box of old family photographs. Reading it has been a way of finally getting to know her after all these years.
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| Bessie married Amos Lee Franks in 1910 |
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| Bessie (standing) with her sister Susan |
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Swimming in Grand River
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| Horseback riding - side saddle like a proper lady |
Old family photographs reveal Bessie to be a very pretty and vivacious young woman. She was married to Amos Lee Franks and left two small children, my mother Ina Mae, age 3, and my uncle Billie Lee, an infant. Bessie died at age 24, and like my daughter Catharine who died at 17, she will be young and pretty for all eternity.
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4 comments:
I keep Journals and have for most of my married life (57 years) so when I saw your post for today I had to stop and read what I could. I enjoyed your blog and decided to become a follower.
Bill, do you have a Flip-Pal scanner? It's perfect for doing books, diaries etc. Scanning your Grandma's journal would then give you backups in case something dire happened.
What a lovely memento to savour. Those photographs are delightful and such a joy to share. What will future generations have to pass along with all this high technology? The one thing that will be missed is the hand-written word - it shows up the character of the writer.
What treasures these things are. My father and I transcribed my uncle Matthews diary that he kept during his service in WWII. He was a pharmacist so he didn't have too many harrowing stories to tell but interesting nonetheless.
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