Uncle Delbert's Stories

You know how it goes: you lose direct contact with a couple of relatives over time. People have busy lives and move all over the place and it's hard to keep up. Their name comes up in conversations and you hear news of them and their extended family but direct contact is kinda' missing. You might feel like you're in touch but you really aren't.

And so it was with my Uncle Delbert, my Dad's brother and one of Grandma's six kids. He's 91 and I always get news about him and his son Kevin but I just didn't think to pick up the phone and call him. Until just last week. I asked myself: What am I waiting for??!!

Well, first off I had to explain to him who I was!! He got me confused with my sister, which I realized when he asked about my 3 kids. Oh crap, it's been so long that I'm off his family radar! But then we got that situated and on to memories. Actually I was prompted to call him because Mom had seen him at Cousin Cynthia's Cinco de Mayo party Derby Fest... so many drinks, so little time;)

Anywho, Uncle Delbert remembered that Mom is the family genealogist and archivist and asked for copies of old photos she might have, "and whatever else you have on the history of the family." Now you don't have to ask Mom twice for stuff like that! She told me about it and was wondering how to get the pictures to Uncle Delbert and I piped up and said, "I'll do it!"

Next thing I know I have a stack of picture album pages done up in Word weighing in at 40 pages, along with a chart and ancestor report, the former almost 30 pages and the later almost 40 pages. I'm thinking that if I send this to Uncle Delbert and a strong winds blows up he'll never make heads or tails out of it! So off to the local UPS store to see what they could do for me in the way of binding it all together.

It was beautiful, if I do say so my own self:) There was the entire known history of the family in one document.

Uncle Delbert phoned me when he got it and said that he'd been looking at it for the last three hours straight. The next day he called Mom and Mom told me that it was the first time he'd ever called her in the entire time they've known each other! "How did you do this?" he wanted to know. He was blasted away by Mom's research prowess. He knew Mom all those years but never stopped to inquire about her genealogical research. But he will now!!

And I'll be calling Uncle Delbert to listen and write down his stories. I have two really good ones already!

Mom and Uncle Delbert, June 1942

The URL for this post is: http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2012/05/uncle-delberts-stories.html

Reading Grandma Kelly's Will

Before we left Cousin Cynthia's home she brought out a copy of Grandma Kelly's will. She found it in a box in her basement, as we all seem to stumble into treasures hidden in plain sight. I remember the reading of the will after Grandma passed. We gathered in her old kitchen (she had two kitchens, too long a story to explain now but maybe later) and her will was read. We laughed, we cried. We remembered Grandma.

In the days ahead I'll transcribe it as Cousin Cynthia did, for safekeeping. I'm guessing that the original is much faded as my copy is just a ghost of a document now. I do know that it was written in ball point pen (prone to fading) and on sheets of notepaper that Grandma used for everything from shopping lists to her will. After all, she had raised six kids during the depression so she knew a thing or two about practicality. With equanimity she left something of importance to her to each of those six children. So here for your interest is the last part of her will which just about brings me to tears whenever I read it.

Now I have written this as fairly as I know how and hope that each and every one of you are satisfied.

I have one last, and I add my most important request that all of you regardless of circumstances that will arise (altho unseen or unspoken to me) promise from the time this will is read to you, first never argue with one another and second to help one another in every humanly possible way, and third love one another as you did when you were being raised by your daddy and me.Good-bye and always remember how much I and dad always loved you.

P.S. If there is anything you don't want give it to one of the family - No outsiders.

As Cousin Cynthia rounded the corner to this last part there wasn't a dry eye in the house. That was Grandma all the way... loving one another, and No Outsiders! Then we had a good laugh too!

Grandma Kelly (Helen Zeller Kelly 1894 - 1969)
center, surrounded by all six children, about 1981.

Ireland By Proxy

Cousin Cynthia is still in Ireland and sending delicious emails to taunt me with her adventures... wish my own self was there!

She was at Clonmacnois (see post below). Here's a picture I took and it says 1986 on the back so that must have been when I was there.

That's the River Shannon you see in the mid distance.
Our GGGF was born in Shannonbridge not too far from here.

Yesterday she wrote:
We went to Temple Kelly and I got an inscription of a Patrick Kelly and his wife Winefred. He died in 1870 and his daughter Kate Kelly died at age 13. His son William was also buried with him with his wife Anna. That cemetery has become very famous and had 5 tour buses from Germany there when we were there. I could not find a Catholic cemetery in Shannonbridge. Having a blast and now in Galway at the G hotel. Will let you know if I find anything and let me know if you want me to look into anything further.

Then I wrote back:
Please tell me you took pix of those stones!!! Bet they are somehow related;) Have fun!!!

Then later she wrote:
Oh yeah, I took pics of the stones. Were you there? You know I have always loved poppies and rolling land with sparse trees. As we rolled into Shannonbridge, there were TONS of poppies lining the streets and a lot of rolling knolls. It was so strange; like I have been here before. As we walked to the cemetery, I just couldn't stop the tears from rolling; it was like I was back after a super long journey. Can't figure out what that means. Oh, well, having a great time discovering.

What it means is that, as two rank newbies, she is way smarter than I at this genealogy game and had her wits about her enough to take pictures! When I was there in the 1980s I was all about the tourist snapshots. Bummer. I sure am glad that if I can't be there my own silly self at least Cousin Cythia is there putting her camera to good use!

Grandfather John Lee Kelly and his Mother,
Christiana Eckhart Kelly, date unknown.

Like Trying to Find a Kelly in Ireland

My cousin Cynthia is in Ireland with her husband. Before she left she called Mom and asked for some information on ancestors so she might personalize her trip. Mom told he what she knew and what we'd found out so far.

Once o'r the pond, Cynthia email me for more information. I got out one of my spiral notebooks that are always handy when Mom and I have our morning phone chat. Sure enough, one morning we started remembering that trip we all took to Ireland and there  in my notebook was recorded our memories. From then on it was easy to direct cousin Cynthia.

Here's what happened in Ireland in about 1981 when Mom, Dad and I went. What we knew was from GGGF F. John Kelly's tombstone. It said that he was born in Shannonbridge in the parish of Clonmacnois on 22 June 1829. We found our way to the historical site of Clonmacnois and chatted up the lovely ladies who worked there. We also found that a feature of Clonmacnois is Temple Kelly.

We were directed to the Historical Society of Tullamore. I vaguely remember that it was housed on the second floor of a building in town... and the pub lunch was spectacular;)

We were told that what we sought were church records and that we'd need a note from the priest. We found the priest and asked if we could see the records and he chuckled and said, "Ya could now but they are not here." After a good laugh, he gave us the permission note which Mom still has.

The next morning we went back to the Historical Society and as the luck of the Irish would have it, the people working there to automate the records were just then working on the Kellys! Amazing.

They printed out a sheet with GGGF's birth record and marriage record as well. Older records were likely burned in a church fire. But maybe not.

At Clonmacnois there were graves of Kellys as well but we were not sharp enough to take photos or at least record any information for later use. If we only knew then what we know now....

Am anxious to see if Cousin Cynthia comes back with new information about our shared Kelly family history.

Grandfather John Lee Kelly in Hollywood Florida in 1944.