It is one of my favorite pictures. An old black and white. The subject is two ladies sitting side by side. One seems to be speaking as the other is listening intently. They seem to be resting from their labors. They are my Great Grandmother and her mother. I have been unable to determine just when Great Great Grandmother Agnes left this world, so far it is a mystery. Hours on Ancestry.com have failed to provide that answer. Hours spent on other genealogy sites have yet to uncover the answer. Her husband, Abraham, was a 'round the world whaler. He made seven trips around the horn, as it is proudly recorded in the records. His sons were whalers too and brothers to my Great Grandmother. Great Grandmother Lucy, whose father was a veteran of the civil war. A man who served proudly with the 127th New York volunteers. He was there when the union flag was again raised at Fort Sumter. He was there for the grand parade down fifth avenue after the war. He was a lifelong member of the Grand Army of the Republic, the precursor to the Veterans of Foreign War. It was he and his companions that lobbied for and secured a pension for all the widows of that war. My own Great Grandmother was a recipient of that benefit at the rate of three dollars a month.
All these thoughts go through my mind as I look at that picture. Great Grandmother Lucy raised my father after the death of his own parents. Dad told me she was the only mother he ever knew. Great Grandmother Lucy passed away when I was three. I, of course, do not remember her but mt sister does. I am told that she did hold me in her arms. So I guess you could say I knew her. She does look like a kindly old lady. That she was religious I know well. I have her Bible and the pages are well worn and dogged eared. I was told she read it everyday.
This picture hangs on the wall above my desk. I will look at it at times and imagine what conversation they may be having. What they talk about in the first person would all be history to me. The thing is what history they could speak of. Their lives and times were full of new adventures and exploration. They may have been home, waiting for their men to return, but they were there. Just as we today look at yesterdays news and shrug our shoulders , so must they have. I can imagine mother telling daughter, when I was your age we had to do this or that, you have it pretty easy with all these modern conveniences. Or perhaps they are talking about the days of the first world war. Great Grandmother Lucy was born in 1880 and so saw the first world war and the second world war. She lived to see the Korean war as well. In fact she lived three years past the end of that war. Oh what the two of them could talk about. The triumphs and tragedies that were their lives. And somehow I feel that one picture has somehow captured all of that. It is an amazing thing. I do need to write the entire back story to accompany that photo for future generations to understand. One picture and a thousand words. Isn't that the saying ?
All these thoughts go through my mind as I look at that picture. Great Grandmother Lucy raised my father after the death of his own parents. Dad told me she was the only mother he ever knew. Great Grandmother Lucy passed away when I was three. I, of course, do not remember her but mt sister does. I am told that she did hold me in her arms. So I guess you could say I knew her. She does look like a kindly old lady. That she was religious I know well. I have her Bible and the pages are well worn and dogged eared. I was told she read it everyday.
This picture hangs on the wall above my desk. I will look at it at times and imagine what conversation they may be having. What they talk about in the first person would all be history to me. The thing is what history they could speak of. Their lives and times were full of new adventures and exploration. They may have been home, waiting for their men to return, but they were there. Just as we today look at yesterdays news and shrug our shoulders , so must they have. I can imagine mother telling daughter, when I was your age we had to do this or that, you have it pretty easy with all these modern conveniences. Or perhaps they are talking about the days of the first world war. Great Grandmother Lucy was born in 1880 and so saw the first world war and the second world war. She lived to see the Korean war as well. In fact she lived three years past the end of that war. Oh what the two of them could talk about. The triumphs and tragedies that were their lives. And somehow I feel that one picture has somehow captured all of that. It is an amazing thing. I do need to write the entire back story to accompany that photo for future generations to understand. One picture and a thousand words. Isn't that the saying ?
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| Agnes Terry on the right, her daughter Lucy Lester on the left. Great Great Grandmother and Great Grandmother |
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