I don’t have any diaries or journals from any of my ancestors. However, one of my aunts—my father’s sister, Anna who was a Roman Catholic nun (her name changed to Sr. Mary Camilla) and lived in Victoria, Texas, always wrote our family letters. I have stacks of them. Many were handwritten, while some were typed. This same aunt also compiled a one-page typed family narrative back in the 70s that I was able to use to trace many of my paternal ancestors. Auntie also kept a scrapbook and she wrote dates and caption, (see sample page below).
Copyright 2010 Lisa Alzo
What a treasure. My husband's mom was one for captions and they are cherished now that she is gone. They give a sense of her personality still.
You are so fortunate to have had ancestors who notated their photo albums. o, how I wish mine had done so, t'would make my life so much easier.
BTW, thanks for the Fearless Female series. Even tho I was out of commission for the first part of the month, I am going to "catch up" — great idea.