WHY oh why did DM save?

[dyna]

I spent the afternoon going thru a shoe box of mostly obituaries from my great Aunt who passed in 1985. This was DM's aunt an DM had this stuff since 1985 WHY did she save all these old obituaries for me to go thru.......BTW I have several more large boxes to go thru from this same great Aunt.

 

[Mizzoufan]

I spent the afternoon going thru a shoe box of mostly obituaries from my great Aunt who passed in 1985. This was DM's aunt an DM had this stuff since 1985 WHY did she save all these old obituaries for me to go thru.......BTW I have several more large boxes to go thru from this same great Aunt.

My grandma saved everything from her life and all through my life growing up I thought it was so weird and hoarding big time, but when she passed I was so happy to have so many items to remember her by. All those obit that your aunt saved were people that meant something to your aunt they held special places in her heart read the obit I bet you will read about some very interesting people.

 

[jevs]

I spent the afternoon going thru a shoe box of mostly obituaries from my great Aunt who passed in 1985. This was DM's aunt an DM had this stuff since 1985 WHY did she save all these old obituaries for me to go thru.......BTW I have several more large boxes to go thru from this same great Aunt.

Why are you going through them?

 

[NYCgrrl]

So that when you get to the point in your existence where you care about your genealogy you have essential data and can use it to track down a 3rd cousin or 2.

 

[Sabeking]

We recently went through my MIL's house to help her get it cleaned up and on the market. She had somewhere over 250 obituaries. Stacks everywhere and some were copies of the same obituaries over and over again. I mentioned that many of these could probably go in the trash. She about kicked me out of the house! I asked her what she needed all these for?! She said in a very serious voice , " when your FIL dies I need to know what to write!!"
I said, "well for starters I would make it about him!!" Lol!!!

 

[Southernmiss]

My Granny saved letters from her brothers and other family members. I am so glad we have these.

One special letter was from my grandfather's 1st cousin and written in 1938 when they were about 18 and 20.

It is 10 pages long written at Christmas time when they were in the prime of their lives. His cousin was in an apprenticeship program for an occupation that made him a successful businessman and he passed that business on to 2 of his kids who in the last 2 years just retired and closed the business. The man in the letter became a local judge and ran for mayor of our town.

Amazing family history in that box of stuff and such a gift now to us to have a glimpse into their young lives. And see how they turned out (in spite of themselves) and the legacy of family left behind.

 

[tarheelmjfan]

I wish I had stuff like that from my parents & grandparents. Unfortunately, I moved out of state. My sisters went through everything, before I could get back up there. After their funerals, that was the last thing on my mind. When they were going through stuff, one sister took most of what my parents had. Another sister took most of what my grandparents had that had been passed down to my parents. Although, I would have loved to have had that stuff to look through, I'm glad that someone has it. I'd hate for it to go in the trash.

 

[maddiel]

You might want to donate the obituaries to a local genealogical society rather than dump them. Somebody might find their missing link in your great aunt's shoebox.

M.

 

[yoopermom]

I had an elderly relative who used books, magazines, file folders full of clippings, etc as her "bank". When she died, we literally had to handle every single item in her house because she had money (bills of various denominations) tucked away *everywhere*. I shudder to think if we would have used one of those estate services, we would have lost thousands of dollars in cash....

When my DGM died, the person who was taking her dresser from the bedroom removed the glass top on it to reveal every single card and love note that DGF had ever sent to her. He was not a demonstrative man (in our eyes), so this brought tears to my eyes, and I had to keep some of them, as a reminder of how much he loved her.

Terri

 

[RangerPooh]

I had an elderly relative who used books, magazines, file folders full of clippings, etc as her "bank". When she died, we literally had to handle every single item in her house because she had money (bills of various denominations) tucked away *everywhere*. I shudder to think if we would have used one of those estate services, we would have lost thousands of dollars in cash....

My great grandmother was like this. She had a library in her cottage that unknown to us, money scattered throughout the books. Books that she brought on trips, books that she was casually reading, random books. My parents/grandparents/aunt didn’t know it was there until the books were placed in the yard sale pile and a customer commented on it.

 

[Micca]

Why are you going through them?

I think you just sift them for any loose currency...the rest--BYE BYE

 

[jevs]

I think you just sift them for any loose currency...the rest--BYE BYE

My thought exactly.

 

[QueenIsabella]

I would bet that everyone on the DIS saves something that would make others scratch their heads. Obituaries CAN be helpful to those who study geneaology, as others have mentioned. I'm not personally into it, but DH is, and he's forever chasing down census reports and marital records, stuff like that--he would be thrilled to find a treasure trove of obituaries.

OTOH, my mom died of dementia. Before we realized how bad it was, she threw out or ruined every memento she had. Literally, we lost a book about my (now deceased) father's life, photo albums, Christmas ornaments--absolutely everything. My sister literally had to rescue a framed photo from the dumpster--it was of my father's family when he was a teen, the picture hung in my grandmother's house when I was growing up. So now, I have virtually nothing from my childhood. It was kind of funny--a sort-of uncle (my mother's mother fostered him as a child) sent me a couple photos of my mom's family, earlier this year. One was my parents wedding, the other was some formal occasion. I cried--those are the only two photos I have of my mom's side of the family.

I guess my point is, do what you like with the obituaries, but try to be a little more understanding.

 

[Nohal]

DSis and I had to clean out DM house (my niece bought the house) when she passed. She was 91 and starting with dementia. She had saved EVERY birth announcement, invitation, thank you, card, Dads pay envelopes, and obituary just to name a few. She lived in a 3 bedroom house which was so stuffed you couldn't get in any of the bedrooms. Plus stuff from my Grandmother and her brother which is still in the basement of the house that we have to go through. Since grew up during the depression I attribute a lot of the hoarding due to that and holding on to the memories. I sometimes wonder if she even remembered that she had some of this stuff.

 

[tvguy]

I am my mom's only child.
She saved my school work from elementary school.....all of it. All my report cards through the end of college (no privacy laws in the 1970's, if your parent paid the tuition, they got a copy of your college grades). And.....drum roll......my baby teeth. My wife kept those, quote "in case I ever need a sample of your DNA"

Also found about $1,000 in free food coupons to the Reno and Lake Tahoe casinos.

 

[QueenIsabella]

See, I'm guilty of saving baby teeth. Of course, after two moves since my oldest started losing them, who knows which teeth go with which kid (I have 4 kids and who knows how many teeth).

My MIL didn't save every school paper of DH's, but she did have a "School Record" book that had all his old report cards. My kids really enjoyed looking at those and seeing what a bad student he was. The thing is, DH has a learning disability that wasn't diagnosed until he was 28, so he DOES have mediocre report cards. But really, the lesson there is that he persevered, and is currently looking at getting a second masters in a different branch of engineering (he has a BSME and an MSME). It's important that the kids see the record of his childhood struggles.

 

[MIGrandma]

I am an only child, and I had to clean out my Mom's apartment after she went into a nursing home. I only live about 15-miles from where she lived, so I drove up almost every afternoon for about 6 weeks to go through her things. I had piles for save, give to the kids if they wanted it, donate to Goodwill, and trash. I remember many times sitting cross-legged on the floor going through boxes of cards/letters, etc. She had saved a lot of those things from my Grandmother, so I had double stuff to go through and I actually enjoyed it and saved most of it myself. So my kids will either save it or pitch it someday.

So many things I sorted through brought back wonderful memories, I was glad she saved so much.

 

[smiths02]

My in-laws don't through things away. My DH is an only child. I dread helping him go through their stuff. And a lot of it isn't sentimental...tax returns from 1970 (and they are just average people who had jobs with major companies...not their own business or anything like that). Every bad photo that didn't even make a photo album (photos of the ground or a thumb, etc.).

But I know that some of what I save, I'm just too busy to have gone through it or it wasn't time to throw it out/donate when I did encounter it.

 

[mousefanmichelle]

My dad passed away last year and as we went through the papers in the house we found that my dad kept the cards from funerals of family, friends, etc. He kept cards that people gave to my mom when she was dying from cancer. He was way more sentimental than any of us thought. He has all of his mothers papers as well and some of his grand parents. It's neat to have and I will keep it until I die as it's a part of my family history. What my kids do with it once I am gone won't matter to me I guess.

 

[Hikergirl]

I spent the afternoon going thru a shoe box of mostly obituaries from my great Aunt who passed in 1985. This was DM's aunt an DM had this stuff since 1985 WHY did she save all these old obituaries for me to go thru.......BTW I have several more large boxes to go thru from this same great Aunt.

She saved them for herself because for some reason they meant something to her.