Volume 9 , Issue 13

Wishful Thinking

Have you ever wished that you could go back in time? You know - take a time travel adventure back to a certain period to ask, listen, learn, and be more attentive to your grandparents -- learning more about the ancestral family stories. Or . . . is it only wishful thinking!
[Photo on the left is a picture of my grandma Constance Warwick McGill (standing) and another young lady (seated) in the early 1900s somewhere in Colorado.]

I am assuming there are lots of people out there that have grownup with regrets of not taking the time to learn the family stories from their parents, grandparents while they were alive.

When we were teenagers we were so involved with trying to fit in with our peers that we failed to ask, learn of how our grandparents faired during the depression and their covered wagon journey westward for a new start and territory.

Now it is too late and our grandparents are deceased. We rummage through old photos, diaries, notes, etc... to learn their past. BUT... we still search for what life was like in 1907 as Oklahoma became the 46th State, November 16, 1907.

AND . . . do not let us forget our ancestral stories of the civil wars, depression, world wars, prohibition, suffrage movement and much more.

Since I have been working on my OkieLegacy, I have come across dates, old photos, mysteries and other pioneer stories that leave holes and unanswered question. I know grandpa and grandma could shed some light on a few of Oklahoma's past mysteries.

What I do have though are old photos, diaries, newsclippings, scrapbooks of grandpa's minor and major league baseball with the South Texas League (Austin Senators) and St. Louis Browns. Grandpa played with the St. Louis Browns for only a season in 1907. It was during the time period when the fast, lefthanded pitcher could pitch a shutout. AND... Grandpa did a few of those. It was also a time when baseball players played the game for the enjoyment of the game - not for the outrageous salaries they receive today.

I know it is only wishful thinking on my part to want to go back in time - putting myself in my grandparents shoes - looking through the looking glass -- listening to grandpa's and grandma's family stories of their journey westward by covered wagon at a young -- settling in Oklahoma Territory, where they both taught school in the early 1900 one-room schoolhouses before settling down to marriage, March 23, 1910.

Go! Grab those ancestral family stories while your grandparents are alive to talk about them. AND... jot them down on paper, recordings, or whatever is handy! Thanks for everything!
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