Not a Day Goes By

Got a picture of you I carry in my heart
Close my eyes to see it when the world gets dark
Got a memory of you I carry in my soul
I wrap it close around me when the nights get cold
- Lonestar

Pictures are so important. They capture moments in our lives, in our histories. The truly good photographs capture personalities. I have always been interested in history. I think that came from reading Laura Ingalls' books. From that, it was a short leap to wanting to know about my own history. And the Thomas family was rich in that history.

Grandma Helen had a wonderful treasure trove of old papers and documents and photos that have all been passed on to me. I have indenture agreements from the 1700s. I have property deeds that pre-date the American Revolution. I have family bible records and wills. I have business IOUs that give me insight into my ancestors' business transactions, and diaries that share private thoughts, and personal correspondence that document romances and family feuds. As I delved into the genealogies of the various family branches, I found church records and census records and cemetery records. I traveled to places to get first-hand information, and watched as the internet offered an explosion of scanned records.

The most fascinating have been the photographs. The earliest I have are the silhouettes and the pencil sketches that were done at the time of the Revolution, long before the invention of photography. But they clearly show me who our Dutch ancestors were - the Van Schaicks. And then I have some treasured daguerreotypes that were taken before the Civil War that show me what my Thomas ancestors looked like, including Moses Thomas who was born in 1779. Over time, the photographs change from sepia to black and white to color.

There are hints in these photographs too. In multiple photographs of the same individual, some show nothing but seriousness. Others show a twinkle in their eyes. Others have a hint of sadness. Some have very plain clothing while others have jewelry or a pocket watch or a mason's pin. As I've taken up scrapbooking, I'm looking at how I can pull together the information I have with the photos I have and preserve the memories of these ancestors. It is important to know our past - who they were, the world that they had to live in, and the legacy that they left us that we will, in turn, leave our children.

For Christmas, Theresa gave me a flat "family tree" metal sculpture that is about 3x3' and hangs on the wall. It has several small picture frames that you can hang among the leaves on the tree, of family members. She started with my mother in the center and branched out from there. It's beautiful, and it made me cry. It's full of all the pictures I carry in my heart...