![\"\"](\"https:\/\/iaintjustmusic.bobleafe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/1-IMG_5094-12-12-20-min.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The is the fourth – and probably the last – post to come out of this box of old family\u2026\u2026\u2026..stuff<\/em> (Leafe on the left, Kibbe on the right):<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n These Three Little Pigs<\/span>\u2026\u2026.uh, I mean Books<\/em>, are courtesy of Nana (Dad\u2019s Mom), though I\u2019m not very sure about the first one, which is about 3\u201d x 4 \u00bd\u201d x 1.25\u201d:<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n On the very first page, you can see something that looks like a handwritten 1860. I can\u2019t read what\u2019s under it:<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Turning the page brings us to the inscription, which says \u201cTo my mother from her son James \u00a0 Christmas 1882\u201d:<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n I have absolutely NO idea who James was. Perhaps he was an ancestor in the Dunbar line (Nana\u2019s maiden name was Dunbar), but I have zero proof of that. All I know is that I found this book with another similarly-small religious book that was definitely Nana\u2019s.<\/span><\/p>\n However, there\u2019s one little monkey wrench in the mix: the book, titled, \u201cManual of Piety\u201d says that it\u2019s \u201ca collection of Catholic prayers and devotions with the epistles and gospels\u201d and Nana wasn\u2019t Catholic:<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n This thick little book has 488 pages (!) and contains a fair amount of Latin (with translations), but only ONE other picture:<\/span><\/p>\n So don\u2019t buy this book if you only wanna look at pictures.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Both this book (bottom) and the smaller second one (2.74\u201d x 3.75\u201d x 1\u201d) have shiny gilt-edged pages and golden clasps from back-to-front to keep the books closed:<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n This is Nana\u2019s First Communion book (created in 1899):<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n The inscription (from 1904) – is all in French:<\/span><\/p>\n Nana spoke French, but I don\u2019t know how that came to pass nor do I know why her Communion Book is all in French.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n The first two pages (separated by an attached – and ripped – piece of something like tissue paper):<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Here\u2019s Google\u2019s title page translation:<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cPiety flowers collection of own prayers to each Christian\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n (There are no pictures in its 348 pages.)<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n The bishop\u2019s imprimatur:<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n There\u2019s an interesting loose item inside the back cover. It appears to be some sort of latticework paper with what I guess is a young female first communicant attached to it:<\/span><\/p>\n There appears to be a missing piece on the bottom, but that piece is actually sitting sideways on the left side near the bottom. I only noticed it after having completed the photography:<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n The grand finale is the big boy of the bunch: 4.75\u201d x 6.25\u201d and it also came in a plastic bag, a la Nana\u2019s red rot Pilgrim\/Alden lineage book:<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n The front and back:<\/span><\/p>\n It\u2019s my father\u2019s 1921 baby book.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Inside the front cover:<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n I have no idea who Mrs. M. A. Farrington is, but here\u2019s the envelope and its contents:<\/span><\/p>\n What does a B&W negative of an adult have to do with my father\u2019s birth?<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Absolutely nothing. I scanned and inverted it to W&B. It\u2019s my father. The palm trees indicate that it was probably taken at Nana\u2019s home in St. Petersburg, FL in the early 1950s:<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n These 6 double-images and 2 single ones are all pretty self-explanatory:<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n What? Dad never had a first party? Oh, baby! <\/p>\n He walks! He talks!<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Besides the ribboned curl, there was this little fold of paper that says, \u201cNormy Leafe\u201d(?) NORMY? I\u2019ve NEVER heard that before. It must have been before Nana decided to call him \u201cSpence\u201d to differentiate him from his father. Good thing – I don\u2019t think he would have lasted 5 minutes in kindergarten as \u201cNormy\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n Anyway, the fold contained a lock of some dirty-blondish hair that\u2019s not as yellow as the picture would have you believe (Who made this crummy scan? Let\u2019s blame Normy.):<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Look at all the gifts Normy scored!<\/span><\/p>\n<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n
\n<\/span><\/p>\n<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n