A is For Ancestor

The bank mom “robbed.”

It’s serendipitous that the theme I have chosen for my 26-day A-Z Challenge starts with the first letter of the alphabet. As you may have learned from some previous posts, one of my passions is genealogy and family history. I recently gave a presentation to a group of DAR members. Their reasons for doing their genealogy may be far different from someone who was adopted, or someone trying to understand their place in the world. Lorine over at Olive Tree Genealogy posed the question, “Why do you do genealogy?” and got some very insightful comments. I hope over the course of the next 26 days, you will come to understand why “Ancestor Hunting” is such a passion for me, as I share some helpful hints for those who would like to find their own royal link or horse-thief and “alphabetize” some vignettes from my own family’s history.

Personal Vignette

A is for Annie. My mom. You have already been introduced to her here and here. The story I’ll share today is one from when I was oh, about 8 years old, and was home from school, feeling sick. Mom worked in the High School cafeteria and was making a stop at the bank before dropping me off at the babysitter, then heading to work. Because of the extra stops, she was running late. Oh, and by the way, it was Halloween…I think I’ll just turn the time over to her as my “guest blogger” today, and let you hear it “in her own words.”

“We had to report in costume, so I went as a hobo: dirty face, torn ragged clothes and a plastic black derby hat.  I was carrying a burlap purse that looked like a sack, popular at that time…..I left the motor running, (you were in the front seat waiting) while I ran into bank.  I came running out shortly thereafter, jumped into the car and drove to Lorraine’s to let you out, then took off for North Middlesex Regional  School, a bit too fast, so I wouldn’t be late.  Meanwhile one of the old ladies who lived across from the bank had seen it all, called the cops and said a hobo had robbed the bank! She described the “get away” car and said it had a midget in the passenger seat (you!) and drove up a side street, then took off down Main St. I noticed a police cruiser behind me halfway to school so I slowed down, got pulled over and the cop didn’t recognize me, although we lived next door to the police station at the time and we knew all the police well [this was a very small town]. I explained the situation; he checked my “loot” and found my work apron and wallet stuffed in the bag, which I am sure made it appear to be stuffed with money. He laughed and let me go. I got to work and my lady boss asked me to go into the walk-in freezer and take the stuff out of the brown sack on the shelf so she could prepare it for lunch.  I didn’t know she was playing a joke on me, put my hand in the bag and felt something soft and feathery and started screaming! It was a pheasant, freshly killed, that someone had given her to take home for her own use. Needless to say it was an exciting morning for yours truly!”

Part of the A-Z Blogging Challenge