One of the many great things about writing a blog about your ancestors, is you sometimes find family members who have something to share with you. And every time it happens, it fills me with delight. If you’ve been following me since the beginning you might remember my article about the 8 Payne children who were living without their parents: How Eight Children Ended Up Living Alone In 1930
I wrote that article almost 6 years ago. And this year, courtesy of a newly found cousin, Robert Payne, I received this:
From left to right, in order of age: Otto, Eva, Daisy, Robert, Thomas, Floyd, Jennie, Jack and Lela.
Sadly, Eva passed away two days ago at the age of 98, the last of this generation. The expressions on their faces make me smile. And I’ve never seen a picture of my Grandmother Jennie when she was so young.
And then Robert sent me this picture of James Robert Payne and Georgia Eva Baxter Payne, the parents of the 9 children above.
I’ve never seen any pictures of my great grandparents. If you belong to the group of us who have very few pictures to pour over and catalog, you know how delightful and meaningful these two pictures are to me.
Some days are better than Christmas. 🙂
cluster genealogy 
What a blessing to have such incredible pictures!
Some days are certainly better than Christmas! Happy for you regarding these wonderful finds.
Several years ago I was able to visit with a cousin I had never meet before. Her mother was my grandmother’s oldest daughter. She took care of grandma during her final years, thus inheriting the family pictures. There was only one daughter and she (my cousin) had all of these wonderful family pictures of parents and grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. I spent two days scanning pictures. Another family member also brought me some pictures of a younger generation. Upon my return home I spent the next year name photos, arranging photos, studying the genealogy. A year later I had a book put together of my grandfather and grandmother’s families with many pictures. It was a long year but well worth the effort I put in to organizing all those pictures and adding the ones of my family. I felt like I had Christmas everyday for a year.
That’s a beautiful story!
What wonderful photographs! Congratulations on connecting with your cousin and receiving these precious photos!
I’m grinning.
You should be! Thank you again for sending me the pictures!