Remembering Aunt Florence Hosch

Maybe it's the 4th of July Holiday, but this week, I've been thinking alot, more so than usual, about some of the ancestors, primarily the ones that I had an opportunity to meet in my lifetime. One ancestor, aunt Florence, my granddad Hosch's aunt, is the one I've thought of the most this week.

I'm not sure how we, the family, reconnected with aunt Florence after granddad and his older brother, Will, moved to NC. (I think it had been years since granddad and Aunt Florence had seen each other.) I just remember as a child, the trips down to Georgia that always seemed to include going by to see Aunt Florence. There is one trip I will always remember because looking back now, it seems like she knew this grandchild of her nephew would be the one. The trip that I always recall is the one where she called me aside and gave me a box full of old Christmas cards. I remember being so proud of my box and couldn't stop looking at all the cards as we journeyed back to North Carolina. Unfortunately, mom hadn't been bitten by the genealogy bug, yet, so the cards never even made it into our house. All these years later, ever so often, I like to remind my mom about the cards, which always elicits I'm sorry I didn't know they meant that much to you.

I really wish Aunt Florence could have lived long enough to be able tell me more about my great-great grandmother, Matilda Hosch, as well as my great-grandfather, Barto. Better yet, I wished I had been old enough (I was 13 when Aunt Florence died) to fully understand the torch that was being given to me so that I could have asked her tons of questions. I can imagine that I would have worn her out as I now probably wear my mother out on a daily basis with new tidbits of information or questions. Remembering Aunt Florence as I do, I'm sure she would have kept up.

Hopefully, next year, I can return to looking for additional ancestors on granddad Hosch's line. I wish I could figure out a way to work on all my lines simultaneously. But with so much to do (at least it feels that way) and so little time and now, officially being up to fretting over 7 g-grandparents, 9 g-g-grandparents, 1 g-g-g-grandparent, as well as all the ancestors waiting to be discovered, I doubt that it can be done. Every time I try, names and dates start overlapping and my head starts spinning. So my goal is to try to focus on two lines per year (one at a time).

Till Next Time!