Week 5: At the Library #52Ancestors

Week 5’s assignment was pretty wide-open: Write about “an ancestor that you discovered while researching at the library; an ancestor who was a librarian or an author; an ancestor who had a large book collection; an ancestor who you picture being in a library; or maybe a relative who took you to the library.”

I have two “Library” thoughts this week.

First, is how fortunate I am to have the Midwest Genealogy Center a mere 35-minute drive from my house. The Center is part of the Mid-Continent Public Library System and is the largest free-standing genealogy library in the US! It has a vast collection of books, magazines, and manuscripts as well as free browsable databases, printable genealogy forms, online learning, and a plethora of genealogy classes for both the beginner and advanced researcher. All in my own backyard! I am truly a fortunate genealogist.  If you want to be really jealous of me, go to https://www.mymcpl.org/genealogy!

My second “Library” thought is about my mom. Born Mary Regina Maier in 1923 in Newark, New Jersey, she was the first of her family to graduate from college (specifically, the College of St. Elizabeth, Morris Township, NJ). Her degree was in home economics, but I’m not sure she ever taught school. If she did, it wasn’t for too long; she married my dad in 1953 and proceeded to have five kids over the next seven years. 

One of the many things my mom taught me was the love of reading. I recall having a library card at an early age and was super fortunate to grow up in a town with TWO libraries! Mom encouraged us to read mostly by example. There was never a time when my mom didn’t have a stack of books from the library – usually 4-5 books. And she would visit the library twice a week! How in the world she got all that reading done with the chaos caused by five poorly-behaved children and all their friends, I’ll never know. I remember many times flying through the kitchen with my friends, especially during the summer when we were on the hunt for ice cream, soda, or anything to keep us cool. And, there would be my mom, eating her lunch (usually way after everyone else had eaten) with her head buried in a book. She would be completely oblivious to the bedlam around her! I suppose she might have intervened if one of us got into a fight, but otherwise, she was not bothered by us in the least.

At night it was the same. After dinner was eaten and the kitchen cleaned, all of us would head elsewhere in the house, usually to a T.V. or unfinished homework. Mom would stay in her chair in the kitchen reading until it was time to go to bed. One year, my dad decided to surprise mom with a color television for Mother’s Day. We kids were all thrilled, as it was our first color T.V. As I recall, mom was gracious and thanked my dad appropriately. However, it wasn’t lost on me that this was a gift she could not be bothered to enjoy. No, she was happy that we were all happy but preferred her evenings in the kitchen with her books. Many a time in high school or college I would come home late in the evening and there she was in the kitchen reading. A warm memory of a beautiful lady.

Mary Regina (Maier) Glacy - 1953 Engagement photo