The Silvan story continues to develop

This week, I have spoken with two other descendents of the Silvan cluster of relatives to listen to new stories about my great grandparents that have given more life to these people. So often, we see the name, date of birth, date of marriage, children, siblings and date of death without feeling we have actually met them. As I dig deeper into the family history, they come alive through the stories, the food they ate, the songs they sang, the places they lived and before long, they aren't just names anymore.

Some stories are great to hear, others not so much. There were quite a few womanizers in the family who 'made' children, only to leave them, tossing them out of their lives. Others clung to their families and hugged children close. However, in the older days of the early 1900 generation, the hugging was not as abundant as the later generations enjoyed. I am curious about it and wonder if it was because they worked so hard earning food for the table? Because their parents didn't hug them close? Huh. I can't quite understand it and maybe more of these stories will surface to answer my curiosity. Until then, I am fleshing out the family and find I like most of them!

In two weeks, I will be at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. and hope to find documents for the Hubbard and Chubb families. These ancestors are on my mother's side of the family and I am proud to say they included men and women who walked that extra mile by heading up the Underground Railroad during the civil war and others who fought and died in the Civil War and the Revolutionary War before that. I find that everyone has some wonderful heritage to learn about once you dig in and just look. And I am looking ~