For Mother's Day, I'm retelling the stories of generations of moms in my family tree. Not just in writing (here, and on many genealogy websites) but also in person, as I attend the first family gathering since the pandemic began.
My goal is to have future generations recognize the faces and retain the stories of ancestors who are gone but not forgotten.
My maternal grandma Hermina "Minnie" Farkas (1886-1964) was a talented seamstress who almost certainly made the dress she's wearing in the photo above. The photo was taken in New York City, when Minnie was in her early 20s. This was a few years before she married my grandpa Theodore "Teddy" Schwartz (1887-1965). Both were immigrants who came through Ellis Island when they were young teens.
I didn't see this photo or hear this story until decades later, when a cousin explained that Minnie's parents wanted her to marry someone they considered more suitable. When this man came to the apartment with an engagement ring, Minnie threw it out the window! Supposedly, her brothers scrambled down the stairs to retrieve the ring, but that part of the story is a bit murky.
Grandma finally convinced her parents to let her marry Grandpa Teddy, who was then working as a runner for steamship lines in lower Manhattan. Family story is that he arrived late to the wedding because his horse had run away. Later, after Grandpa opened a small dairy store in the Bronx, New York, Grandma worked beside him while raising three children.
Retelling stories like these will keep Minnie and Teddy alive as three-dimensional people with hopes and dreams, not just names and dates on faded photos.
Happy Mother's Day to my Grandma, who married Grandpa nearly 110 years ago.
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For more ideas about keeping family history alive for future generations, please see my best-selling genealogy book, Planning a Future for Your Family's Past. Available on Amazon and through the bookstore at AmericanAncestors.org.
