As 2020 wraps up (thankfully), the Rochester Historical Society is once again sending out a plea for people to tell us about some aspect of this decidedly unusual and fraught year. You could send a picture, a cartoon, a paragraph, a few sentences, or a story that sums up or tells about some event or feeling that speaks to this 12-month journey that we have been on.
Below is part of a letter written by Abraham Holmes that he wrote to his daughters, Bathsheba and Rosalinda, from his memoirs.
“Not to know what took place before we were born is always to remain a child. It must be a great satisfaction to a person of sensibility and reflection to look over and contemplate the situation, the conduct, and the circumstances of those from whom he is descended, the various incidents that took place with regard to them, the trials they met with and their conduct under those trials. It is a matter of regret that people generally have neglected to leave no notes or memoranda behind them which would throw any light on those subjects for the benefit and amusement of their posterity so the great body of the present generation know nothing of their ancestors any farther back than their respective grandfathers, and in many instances, nothing more of them than their names.
“According, as I have had leisure, I have attempted to prevent my posterity from being deprived from such luxury and have left a variety of reminiscences from which may be gleaned a great part of the transactions of my life, and also my ancestors for nearly two centuries back…”
Please, help us at the Historical Society to chronicle this year and, thereby, prevent future generations from being deprived of knowledge of the past.
Items may be sent to RHS P.O. Box 322 Rochester, MA, 02770 or emailed to eshbach2@aol.com.
By Connie Eshbach