Hi. Welcome to ‘Oma’s Attic Treasures.’ I chose this name because I thought it sounded better than ‘Oma’s Basement Bootie’ or ‘Oma’s Closet Clutter,’ although, if your mother is anything like mine, you can find all sorts of goodies all over the place, and not just in the attic.

I started cataloging my ancestors when my children were small, back in the 1980’s, but quickly found that it was more time- and space-consuming than I could afford with a young family and limited living space, so I rolled up all of my research into a box and put it on a shelf in the closet. Now, 30 years later, with the time and space available, almost all of my people resources have taken their stories with them into the next realm, so I have to rely on visits to the attic, rummaging in the basement, notes found taped to various pieces of furniture and other tidbits.

I have sorted through boxes of photos, discovered letters, histories and eulogies written by long-gone relatives, uncovered dollar bills and stamps from the civil war and earlier, located tintype photos and savored travel albums fraught with treasures of history and lore. I have chauffeured Oma to various old cemeteries which she remembers visiting as a child. As we drive, she speaks of her memories of her aunts and uncles. ‘Uncle Charlie was in the Spanish-American War.’ ‘Aunt Maud had diabetes.’ ‘Uncle Sterling ran away from home and married a Russian dancer.’ ‘Uncles Bert and John were twins, shared a bicycle and had curly hair.’

It is an ongoing task. Why am I doing it? Mostly for me. I had very few relatives when I was growing up, but I understood from my mother that when she grew up the family was quite extensive. I wanted to find out what happened to everybody. I also want to do it for my children and grandchildren so that they will know where they came from. Once all of the old timers are gone with their memories, it is kind of hard to visualize that part of your history. And if you, dear reader, happen to benefit from this chronicle also, then so much the better.

So here is my pilgrimmage, as it were, revealed through the family items that were saved and passed from mothers to daughters, and then from those daughters-become-mothers to their daughters, and so on, and saved, cherished, and hoarded for future generations.

P.S. A note on recent history. This site was formerly at www.OmasAtticTreasures.com. I decided to move it here to my blog site for the sake of simplicity and my sanity. Hope it works out. I know you do too.