Paper Announcements

As an avid genealogist, when I have time, I appreciate the old tradition of mailing out announcements to family and friends. Having announcements posted the local newspapers was also a way of relaying information about life's events. Announcements like, births, graduations, marriages, military service or other milestones in someone's life that may be noteworthy. It seems people do not do the old mailings like they did years ago. That's o.k.. Often digital media is the currency of family information.

 As the older generation (my parents) are disappearing, the contacts of the "cousins" is certainly not what it was for the "brothers and sisters". I try to keep up with some cousins but as they become parents and grandparents their family lines become more focused on their particular branch. That is also understandable. For someone that is not a genealogist, those more distant branches become more and more blurred and less important

As my nephew and his fiancé were preparing to get their wedding announcement  mailing list put together, I realized that there are probably many of my 1st cousins that have no idea who my nephew is. Likewise he has no idea who some of the people I suggested for his mailing list are. His Grandmother's brothers family, his Grandfather's sisters kids, his (deceased) dad's cousins are included on this list.

There are many cousins that I realize I do not know much about their lives. Mom always got the wedding, graduation and birth announcements from her brothers families. After I became and adult and moved away, I only heard about these events if mom remembered to tell me about what mail she had received or I had any sort of close connection with a particular cousin. I guess it is inevitable that each generation moves farther and farther apart.

Now that I have moved back to Grants, NM, a small town, I hear stories of how this person found out after being neighbors for years that they were actually related. Cases like this one's grandmother was sister to that one's grandmother. Being far removed from most of my parents families that is not going to happen here. Also, most of my husband's family is far away. His son's maternal family is around central and eastern New Mexico so could possibly run into an unknown relative on his tree.

I guess I am just on my little rant because I do not receive announcements and now that mom is very advanced in age, she does not either. I am also ashamed that our little family has not been a bigger part of my parents extended families. Time, distance, education and economics make a difference in how people stay in touch it seems.