Family Health History

When I recently went to get my eyes checked and get a new prescription for glasses, I thought it was going to be a routine eye exam. I was quite shocked when the doctor got all serious and started telling me that because of the shape of my eyes, I am at higher risk for “acute closed angle glaucoma”. It is a congenital thing, having to do with the actual shape of my eyes and the fact that I am far sighted. He had actually told me this two years ago and I blocked it out of my mind. This time, he felt my eyes looked a little worse and scheduled some very intensive tests. My mind was spinning when I left his office because I kept remembering the stories my grandmother (Margaret Howes) told me about her mother (Margaret Peters) going blind: “She cried and cried and cried and then her tears dried up and she went blind.” I asked my mother if she remembered this, but her grandmother died before she was born and she did not remember the stories. She called her last surviving aunt to see what she remembered and Aunt Franny (Frances Hugleman) said her mother was living with her (Fran’s) sister Sal (Sally Ennis) in Medford, Massachusetts, and one morning Sal went in to wake her up. She said “Ma, are you going to get up?” and her mother said, “Why? It’s the middle of the night!” Sal said, “No, it’s bright daylight!” and that is when they knew she was blind. My mother also called her sister Kay (Catherine Reinold) who might be old enough to remember the event, and she said she remembered the same stories as I. The doctor told me that if I had an attack, I would be in excruciating pain and then within hours I would go blind. Since neither of these stories mentions being in pain, maybe my great grandmother had a totally different condition, and in 1940 it might not have been fully diagnosed. However, the doctor did tell me to put warm compresses on my eyes twice a day to “save what is left” of the little pores that allow tears and oil to be secreted and create a film over my eyes when I blink. I think this problem is more related to excessive viewing of computer screens than anything genetic. However, since the risk of glaucoma is a genetic factor and I know of at least one possible case in the family, I was glad to have that knowledge.
I found some interesting articles on the web about recording one’s family history for health reasons. Here is a short and simple 5 step article to explain how to do it: http://amberskyline.com/treasuremaps/family-history/why-you-should-research-your-family-history-and-your-family-health-history.html
I am going to read through the information I have available for my family and see what health conditions show up as trends in the family tree. I want to record this information for my children and grandchildren so they have as much information available to them as they might need.

The Hunt Room at Nashua Public Library

I went to the Nashua Public Library today to use their computers. They have Ancestry.com and Newspaperarchive.com subscriptions, so they are a good local resource for research. I also decided to look for some information about Nashua's history and the computer showed that they had books of Vital Statistics for City of Nashua from about 1875 to 1935. They are kept in the Hunt Room and unfortunately, I could not find any index, so I looked through chronologically, page by page until my parking meter ran out and I had to stop. This is a resource that I did not know existed and I will go back another day to spend more time on it. They also have a book about the history of Nashua's neighborhoods, which I would also like to read. I used the microfilm to look up an obituary in the Nashua Telegraph and was able to eliminate a possible family member. The Telegraph is not really indexed, so I would need to have approximate dates to look up any events or special interest stories, but it is good to know it is available at the library.

Spring in New England

I have decided to make a concerted effort to write in this blog more often. It was a very long, difficult winter for me, but I am feeling the renewal of Spring and have started doing historical research again. First, a friend bought an old house near downtown Nashua, NH, and was wondering about it's true age. I have been researching the house and it's former residents in order to write a little history book for her. Then, I went to a "ghost hunt" at the Country Tavern in Nashua, NH (http://www.countrytavern.org/), hosted by CC the Huntress (http://www.ccthehuntress.com/index.htm) and hearing her presentation on how she researched the history of the tavern was really fascinating. She did the same research a genealogist would do and then compared her notes to the local myths about the property, finally explaining how some of the truths could have morphed into the myths. Very interesting! Also, it gave me some ideas about how to fill in the gaps in the record about my friend's house in order to write a story about it, in the manner of the American Girl stories - historical fiction.

The snow is almost gone and now I can once again go to cemeteries to do research and also get around more easily to facilities that have limited parking. My goal for Monday is to create a "to do" list of research that I want to work on, so that when I have the opportunity, the list is there.

BTW, if anyone has the chance to dine at the Country Tavern, the food is excellent and if you only have time for a drink, the tavern section is very atmospheric! And, CC the Huntress is a total professional, worth every penny for such a nice evening!