BECKY (September 2016)
I have been trying to write a booklet about my paternal grandmother, Rebecca Free, for years to no avail. None of you ever knew her and yet all of you need to know the influence she had on your lives. I never knew her but I am able to write about her through a cousin who was told about her through her grandmother, Alwilda. I know that she had auburn hair and blue eyes and many freckles and that everyone called her Becky, but her name was Rebecca. I know that she died from the same thing my father had, and which I have, arteriosclerosis which I learned from her death certificate. All these physical attributes she passed on down through her genes..
Rebecca Jane Free was born in 1848 the youngest of ten. She only lived to be 61. According to her sister Alwilda, who used to brush her beautiful hair, everyone called her Becky. Becky married James Durland in Flora, Illinois in 1872. Her mother was Mary Elizabeth Elson. Do you get the connections now? Much ensued during her life but I may never get to telling you all of it, so this message will have to suffice for the time being.
I know she lived through much pain and sorrow in her life because I have a copy of her favorite quotation from The Ladies Aid Society of the First Methodist Episcopal Church, "Laugh, and the world laughs with you; Weep, and you weep alone" (from the poem "Solitude" by Ella Wheeler Wilcox)
I felt her pain when her third son died at age six. Fortunately another was born and he was my father, Harry Elson Durland. So she had three sons but none of them stayed in Flora, IL. They all left because there was nothing for them in that little town in southern Illinois. So in essence, although she still had only her husband, she had been left alone. There would be no grandchildren close by for her to enjoy. Her parents were long gone and, besides her sons all leaving, all her siblings left Flora also. You can understand now the reason for her favorite quotation.
But for all of you and particularly for me, she was a blessing, for I thanked her many times for her thoughtfulness. I would not have had any hints of the Frees or the Elsons if Becky had not felt so strongly about her family. In the Dorland book of 1898 was a small scrap of paper with her siblings' birth dates. Not only that, she also made note of her father’s siblings which would have been very difficult to trace. Plus she wrote that Grandma Elson Stewart was Scotch Irish. How wonderful that was. I thanked her a million times.
However, that wasn’t her most incredible gift to all of us. She saved all the ambrotypes and tintypes of the family. I can’t begin to tell you what a heritage she gave to us all. Pictures of her mother, of her father, of her siblings, of other relatives. Priceless pictures of our lineage, our history. Pictures of hundreds of years past, to cherish for those who will come into our family in the future. Becky, we are so grateful and honor you for your love of family so that we may know our roots.
Rebecca Jane Free was born in 1848 the youngest of ten. She only lived to be 61. According to her sister Alwilda, who used to brush her beautiful hair, everyone called her Becky. Becky married James Durland in Flora, Illinois in 1872. Her mother was Mary Elizabeth Elson. Do you get the connections now? Much ensued during her life but I may never get to telling you all of it, so this message will have to suffice for the time being.
I know she lived through much pain and sorrow in her life because I have a copy of her favorite quotation from The Ladies Aid Society of the First Methodist Episcopal Church, "Laugh, and the world laughs with you; Weep, and you weep alone" (from the poem "Solitude" by Ella Wheeler Wilcox)
I felt her pain when her third son died at age six. Fortunately another was born and he was my father, Harry Elson Durland. So she had three sons but none of them stayed in Flora, IL. They all left because there was nothing for them in that little town in southern Illinois. So in essence, although she still had only her husband, she had been left alone. There would be no grandchildren close by for her to enjoy. Her parents were long gone and, besides her sons all leaving, all her siblings left Flora also. You can understand now the reason for her favorite quotation.
But for all of you and particularly for me, she was a blessing, for I thanked her many times for her thoughtfulness. I would not have had any hints of the Frees or the Elsons if Becky had not felt so strongly about her family. In the Dorland book of 1898 was a small scrap of paper with her siblings' birth dates. Not only that, she also made note of her father’s siblings which would have been very difficult to trace. Plus she wrote that Grandma Elson Stewart was Scotch Irish. How wonderful that was. I thanked her a million times.
However, that wasn’t her most incredible gift to all of us. She saved all the ambrotypes and tintypes of the family. I can’t begin to tell you what a heritage she gave to us all. Pictures of her mother, of her father, of her siblings, of other relatives. Priceless pictures of our lineage, our history. Pictures of hundreds of years past, to cherish for those who will come into our family in the future. Becky, we are so grateful and honor you for your love of family so that we may know our roots.