Among the items my aunt left to the family when she died in 1982 was a small, leather bound ringed notebook simply titled “Family Data”. Over the years she researched and recorded much of her mother’s family history including dates of birth, death and marriage. She also included change of residence and other significant life events all the way back to my maternal great great great grandmother. (Born in England, died in Brooklyn, buried in Brooklyn’s Calvary Cemetery.)
When my mom passed away in 1996 I rediscovered this little treasure trove locked away in a strongbox. Dolly, the woman on this page, is my great grandmother.
Trask Avenue 
I have one almost identical from my Grandfather. Unfortunately, there was nothing written in it.
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I bet he used invisible ink just to mess with his descendents.
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I noticed her beautiful handwriting, too!
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Write on!
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How lucky you are to be able to hold a piece of your history in your hands.
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I better give it to my sister before I lose it. lol
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You know what stuck me? How gorgeous her penmanship is. They really used to do a great job teaching (and practicing) handwriting. I love what great shape this little book is in.
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I can’t even write in cursive. I print everything and even that is tough to read.
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I love this! I always keep things like this. Even when I worked at my bookstore and people would leave stuff in their used books, I would keep all that stuff too. I plan to make a collage of everything I kept some day..
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Yeah, this was a really cool discovery. And it was before the interwebs and ancestry.com!
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