Death-related family heirlooms that are worth saving are featured in an article by Robbie Gorr in the September/October issue of FamilyTree magazine. Mourning cards, mass cards and memorial cards are one type of item to always save.
I know in my grandmother’s family, they had several memorial cards, where one copy was published with the deceased’s name, dates of death and age, and sent to the family in hopes of their purchasing other copies. This was similar to the later practice of sending the family a laminated obituary. These memorial cards fit nicely into the photo albums of the 1890s.
Another category is hair wreaths and jewelry which were popular over a century ago and may be hard to preserve. Sometimes the lock of hair was encased with a photo of the deceased.
Funeral guest books are important items and my family saved many of those. They can give you names of relatives you might not have been aware of. My grandmother Thomas even created a scrapbook of all the sympathy cards she received when her husband died in 1940. These cards provided some good clues to relatives in North Carolina.
Some people even had post-mortem photographs of the dead made, some actually in their coffins. The author also points out that some families saved the metal coffin plates with the name of the deceased on them which they would have removed before the burial.
Think about what your family may have, or ask about, and whatever you find, be sure you save the items or get copies for your own collection.
Arab-American Genealogy Society
The National Society for Arab and Arab American Genealogy has been created and can be found at arabamericangenealogy.com. They host various discussion groups on research, DNA and other genealogy topics, with past webinars and other features in their members-only section. If this is your ancestral heritage, this should be a helpful organization to check out.
Artificial intelligence Q&A
If you want to know more about how artificial intelligence is being used in genealogy and how it may further help things in the future, check with the National Genealogical Society’s AI program director, Steve Little, at aigenealogyinsights.com.
Contact Kenneth H. Thomas Jr., P. O. Box 901, Decatur, GA 30031 or kenthomasongenealogy.com.
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