Is Meets Was

Don and Grete (Downing) Goodwin, Cape Neddick, Maine, 24 October 2002. About twenty years ago, knowing my love of family history, my cousin Grete's husband sent me an album that he found in a box in his garage. I determined that the album had belonged to my great-grandmother Maggie (Carroll) Merrill (1861–1945).  Most of the photographs had been taken in the late 1800s in Franklin, New Hampshire. If you have an ancestor with the surname of  Carroll, Cunningham, Cushing, Dwyer, Hanley, Killigrew, Lynch, Meneghin, Merrill, Morrison, Munson, Rand, Roberts, Wall, or Wheeler, you may find a picture of them in  Grammy Merrill's Album . © 2023, Cathy H Paris

Mystery Photo A few years ago, I met a second cousin, and we shared old photos. We both had a copy of the same photograph of an elegant, old New England home. His photograph was inherited from his mother. Mine came from my grandparents' album which had been passed to my aunt and then to me. Naturally, neither photograph is labelled, and the significance of this old house to our family history remains a mystery. My cousins grandfather, Harry Merrill, and my grandfather, Fred Merrill, were brothers. The brothers were both born and raised in Franklin, New Hampshire. Their mother's maiden name was Carroll.  If you recognize the house in this photograph, please contact me . Thanks goes to the Franklin Historical Society for posting a copy of this mystery photo on their website. © 2012, Cathy H Paris

Merry Christmas. For me, Christmas is a nostalgic time as well as a joyous time. It is a time in which I remember the people who have touched my life. One such person is my paternal grandmother, Mary (Fitzgerald) Merrill. My life was touched by her absence. Mary holding Gil, Lib, and Dot, and Fred Merrill, 1913 Christmas Tree, 1913 In December 1913, my grandparents celebrated Christmas with a tree and a new camera. Fred and Mary were living in Franklin, New Hampshire with their three children: Dorothy Margaret (age 6), Elizabeth Mary (age 2), and Gilbert James Merrill (6 months). I wonder: "Were there presents under the tree for the children to open on Christmas morning? Did Santa stuff special treats in stockings hung by the chimney?" I do know that  there was plenty of snow to enjoy that winter.  Uncle Dan Fitzgerald c. 1913 Mary, Lib, Gil, and Dot, Winter 1913 Above is the only photograph I have of Uncle Dan. Two years later, at the age of 18,...