Another Genealogy Project Completed

I've finally finished the genealogy project I was doing for Art's mom's family.  It was truly a journey.  For one thing, his mom, his aunts and uncles have all passed away.

All of my mother's siblings are still alive and were able to tell the stories that the photos were trying to document when I worked on their genealogy project.

Art's grandparents with his newborn mother 

Luckily, Art's Uncle Richard who was the oldest son was very interested in learning about his family.  He sent away for family records called koseki which are kept by the Japanese government.  Unfortunately, he couldn't read what it said.  Fortunately, my mother could.  She and I spent long hours in front of the computer enlarging the scanned documents and figuring out the family history.

Eventually, Art and I contacted cousins and had them send photos to add to the ones kept by his uncle as well as the box full that his mother had carefully stored.

Uncle Richard had also written a three page autobiography which was a tremendous help to date a lot of photos that we couldn't place.  He also had his parents' passports, travel records, shipping statements, etc.  It took almost a year, but we've finished this project.

This photo, by the way was probably taken by a traveling sugar plantation photographer.  I love how you can see the dark sheet that the photographer nailed up on the back wall.

A couple of Art's cousins were super helpful in editing and finding photos.  We are having a pot luck this coming Saturday and Art has made DVDs containing all the photos with explanations as well as a digital photo album to tell the story.  I was so excited to finally be able to finish this project.

What really surprised us and added to the joy was hearing that a cousin from California and one from Kauai will be coming to the potluck also.  They are Uncle Richard's children and know how important it was to their dad.  Uncle Richard wasn't able to finish the project, but I'm so glad we were finally able to help get the story told. 

This is going to be a huge pot luck.  What a feeling it's going to be to give out the DVDs and to show them a hard copy album of what it contains.  Art's mom was the oldest daughter and wanted to make sure her family would remember their beginnings.  I think what I found most remarkable about this family was how they stuck together and cared for their nieces and nephews.  Even though they lived on different islands, they kept close ties with each other.  This is the legacy that I hope will live on.

This Saturday, I'm thinking Art's mom, Uncle Richard, and their siblings will be smiling and happy that their family is together and know how much they are loved.  It just occurred to me that this is the Obon season when spirits of our ancestors are supposed to be coming back to visit.  It can't get more perfect than this!