Quite Close - Yet Neither of Us Knew

 This Just Shows Who I Didn't Know

                Since my family had lived in the same area for around 100 years, I thought I knew every possible relative no matter how far “removed’ a cousin might be. At least, that is what I thought until earlier this year.

                Last year I posted a blog about my great-great grandfather on my paternal grandmother’s side. Grandma’s father had died when she was only five years old. Little seemed to be known about the Tripp side of her family. My father often said when his father, Edmund Gates, Sr., began telling stories and asked Grandma about a detail, she would retort, “Oh, I don’t care about those old stories.”

One of the most challenging blogs I ever researched centered on a photograph postcard signed to “Mamie.” Mamie Irene Tripp Gates was my paternal grandma so I knew this given to her. After a couple of years of research, I identified the subjects of the photograph as half-cousins of my grandma on her father’s side. The details of my research appeared in the blog post entitled Solving a Photgraphic Century-Old Cold Case. To access this blog go to: bernadeanjgates.blogspot.com/2014/03/solving-photographic-century-old-cold.html

She never mentioned her paternal grandfather. I began researching and discovered that he was a Union Civil War casualty. My grandmother descended from Horace Baron Tripp. With curiosity fueling my research, I located his burial place in the National Military Cemetery in Little Rock, Arkansas. Horace Baron Tripp’s story seemed perfect for Veteran’s Day so I posted a blog featuring him on November 8, 2015.

What a surprise to receive a phone call from a couple who thought, after stumbling onto the blog about Horace Baron Tripp, that we might have a familial connection. As we talked, it became apparent that Carol was a great-great granddaughter of Horace Baron Tripp just as I am. Her great grandfather, James Preston Tripp, was the only full brother of Rufus Tripp, my great grandfather. Carol’s grandfather and my grandmother were first cousins. Carol grew up in Kay County here in Oklahoma. She and her husband still live in the same county just north of Osage County where I have lived most of my life. I thought I knew every relative that lived within a 100-mile radius! What a terrific surprise!

Since we have found each other, she and her husband have shared priceless photographs with me. What a rare glimpse into the past to see Horace Baron and Elizabeth Tripp and their sons, Rufus and James! Each of us who descended from this Tripp family realized upon viewing their likenesses the powerful connective thread we share with these.

The only vision of the face of my great great grandfather was depicted in the carte de visite, a small visiting card immensely popular during the Civil War era. Looking at me, as he appeared from over a hundred years ago, I saw a noble man with kind eyes who enlisted, to serve for one year in the Union army. He departed from Quincy, Illinois, the very place both of the CDVs were taken. Horace Baron Tripp never returned.

Possibly one of the last photographs of Horace Baron Tripp

As I studied the face of my great grandfather, Rufus, I saw a young boy determined to step into the role of the “man in the house” as his father marched away with the Illinois infantry. His comforting hand assured his mother that even as her heart broke, she still had little James and him to love and support her. I understood why one of Grandma’s last, yet strongest memories reached back to the day, at age five, when she told her father good-bye just before his death. Even though she conveyed this, I think she exuded the same strength that her father demonstrated when his father did not come home from the war. His example and influence buoyed her through the loss of her father. No wonder she retained that time-tested connection with the dear man even though she only had him for five years of her life!

Rufus Tripp, Elizabeth Wood Tripp, James Preston Tripp

Yet somehow, an overarching virtue in this blog is the self-sacrificing act of sharing. Carol and her husband offered freely and willingly to share the precious, invaluable photographs that I didn’t even realized existed. Foundational to a good family is sharing. A father of today, like Horace Tripp over a century and a half ago, works long hours so he can provide for his family financially and devotes in his “leisure time” instruction in activities his child wants to learn. Mothers in the 21^st century, much as Elizabeth Tripp did, give time, effort, and creativity to create an environment for her family to thrive, no matter what situation they may find themselves. In a loving family, members from the youngest to the oldest share together in making their family an example of cooperation, consideration, and love. Isn’t sharing what Carol, the newly-found cousin, and her husband have illustrated? We never know when a blessing will show up in our lives.