Thank you all very much for the input. Several folks contacted me offline as well.
I have found several cousins who I didn't even know existed, and some of them didn't know each other. They are grand children or great grand children of my grandfather. There was a common thread in our conversations that my grandfather's four children.from his first marriage all left home as soon as they reached adulthood and had little contact with him after that. Their mother, my grandfather's first wife died young, when the oldest child was 22 and the youngest only 10. He was not a criminal or anything like that, but rather a successful barber, highly regarded in the community, but not so much at home. I have decided that when the time comes to write the narrative, I will include that information. Thanks again, Len Silva On Monday, September 10, 2012 2:36:16 PM UTC-4, Leonard Silva wrote: > > I have been researching my grandfather in the hopes of writing a history > for the coming generations and to satisfy the curiosity of my family about > their heritage. > > After some research, I find that the kindly old man that I knew as a child > may not have been all that nice. Stories are starting to arise of abuse, > excessive drinking, and estrangement of his children. > > My father was a product of his second marriage and cared a lot for his > parents. Vovoo was an old man of 75 when I was born, and I only knew a > sweet, kind old man who loved me. Now, I am finding that the children of > his first marriage did not hold him in such high esteem. > > So, my question for the group is: If you were putting together a family > history for the generations to come, how would you handle this? > > Most of the stories are hearsay as there is no one alive with direct > knowledge, but there must be something to them. > > I am inclined to be very honest in relating family stories, but I wonder > how some of you might handle this. > > Thanks for your input, > > Len > -- To unsubscribe from this group, send email to azores+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. Follow the confirmation directions when they arrive. For more options, such as changing to List, Digest, Abridged, or No Mail (vacation) mode, log into your Google account and visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/Azores. Click in the blue area on the right that says "Join this group" and it will take you to "Edit my membership."
