Photo #2 Wedding of Grandparents

Large Archival Photo Box, a photo by midgefrazel on Flickr.

Photo # 2
The Wedding Photo of my Paternal Grandparents

Thomas and Annie (Aiken) Broadfoot, John Broadfoot and his first wife Jane Hannah, Brothers James, Thomas and John Broadfoot, and their father, John Broadfoot, monument maker in Dalbeattie, Scotland

After all these years of research, I still don't know how my paternal grandparents met. I remember how excited I was to find my grandfather arriving at Ellis Island and how frustrating it was to have to track his wife back and forth to Scotland. But, I learned a lot from the experience of this research and no, I did not listen to bagpipe music while I worked!

At my uncle's birthday party at his house in Providence one year while my family sat eating and talking in lawn chairs or taking turns trying to beat my uncle at croquet, I went inside the house to use the bathroom. When I came out, something caught my eye. Across the hall in the den, near the front door was a framed photograph. I was drawn to it. I am sure, I didn't notice it before. As I got closer, I felt pulled back in time. This was a photo of the grandparents I never knew!

I must have stood there a long time because someone went outside and told my aunt where I was. That's when a shadow fell behind me blocking out the light and July heat from the nearby window because she was standing behind me. "How did they know?, I asked her. "Yes, that's my parents", she responded not answering my question. "How did they know to name their first son and daughter, Tom and Annie? You and Dad look just like them!" I whirled around to face her. She nodded. I couldn't believe it.

Thomas and Annie had four children. Their other children, my red-haired uncle and his sister, a dark blonde did not look exactly like them. It was my first lesson in genetics.

We went back outside because she was cooking clam fritters and didn't want anyone to do it but herself! I didn't ask any more questions but I did spend time that day with the aunt and uncle who didn't physically look exactly like their parents. I learned to study their speech patterns and their gestures that made them so like their siblings.

That day, I met my grandparents through their children. From that time on I spent more time listening and asking questions to learn what I could about my ancestors. It was a defining day in my family history. When we went home, my dad wordlessly gave me his copy of that photo. It had been in his bureau drawer all along!

I made a collage of that photo and some other family photos that my father and his siblings never saw because my grandfather's brother took them to California when he settled there.

I understand. My Rhode Island family had my grandmother's Aiken family and other Broadfoot family members to visit and talk to whenever they wished. It was only right for my grandfather's brother to take the photos that linked him to the old country since he was moving so, far away from siblings here and in Scotland.

It was meant to be for me to discover my family through sharing with those descendants. Sharing photos and memories has given me reasons to keep researching.

 

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