I grew up hearing stories about my ancestor, Captain Samuel Brockelbank, from my father and mother. In my small town of Georgetown, Massachusetts, he was famous. His former home, one of the oldest houses in town and now entitled “The Brocklebank Museum”, bore a sign during the 1970’s that read,…
This is a real gravestone in Georgetown, Massachusetts at Harmony Cemetery. David Brockelbank was my father, and he was a pretty funny guy. He was also eternally young… and had kind of a Peter Pan outlook on life. He left our family when I was 10 and I didn’t see…
In a cemetery in Danvers, Massachusetts there is a tombstone that bears the name of my grandfather, Herbert. Etched on the line underneath him is listed my grandmother, Alice as “his wife”. This is an old-fashioned tradition that dates back centuries, but I take great issue with listing my spunky…
As a child I spent parts of my summer vacation with my mother’s relatives, mostly her sister. My Aunt Jo had two daughters my age, and since my own sister was five years my senior and wanted nothing to do with me, having two playmates who actually wanted my company…