SAVING THE PAST FOR THE FUTURE

She had never seen a picture of her mother at such a young age - so the image was gifted to her.

He had no tangible evidence of his great-great-grandfather - so the letter was gifted to him. 

Several items have been gifted to family members in a relative's direct line. 

Mary Ann Freeman, Hester Freeman Meehan's older sister, married Arthur Thomas in 1873. They settled in Wheaton, Illinois, where they raised a family of ten children. Mary shared many pictures with Hester, which were passed down to me. 

In 2013, my Wheaton collection was donated to the DuPage County Historical Museum., located at 102 E. Wesley, Wheaton, IL.

William Meehan and other families from Maywood, Illinois, were members of the Booker T. Washington Progressive Club of Zion, Il. Memorabilia from William's collection were donated to the Museum for inclusion in their BTWP Club collection. 

The Dunn Museum periodically exhibits items from the collection. The Museum is located at 1899 W. Winchester Road, Libertyville, IL.

In 2016, the Nebraska State Genealogical Society issued a Certificate of Recognition to Charles and Hester Freeman Meehan as a Century Family of Nebraska for their contribution to the state's development. 

A letter from Charles to his son, Bill; a note from Hester written after a death; letters from the Meehan children and grandchildren; and, letters from Meehan friends from Nebraska. All are being scanned and some will be shared. 

Original copies of William Meehan's poetry, written from about 1909 to the 1930s, are being scanned. The documents were damaged during a house flood and are very fragile. Because of mold, it is uncertain how many can be salvaged. The scanned copies will substitute for the originals if they must be distroyed.

The sermons were written between the mid-late 1940s and 1965. After Bill's death in 1965, many of the sermon notes were gifted to his nephew, George Brown, a lay preacher. Those that remain are being scanned.

Many of the Meehan family pictures have been scanned and shared several times. All are being rescanned for consistency and documentation. The group related to the family's life in Nebraska were scanned first, then all other pictures with known subjects, and finally, images of unknown subjects.

This group includes William Meehan's 1914 diploma from School District 113 in Cherry County, Nebraska; a legal notice about the sale of Charles Meehan's last forty acres of land in Cherry County; a telegram from Ed Meehan to his brother, Bill, telling of their father's death.

My maternal grandmother, Sarah Handsor Boswell, her sisters, sisters-in-law, and her aunts were prolific letter writers. I am blessed to have these letters and to be given the gift of learning a little about the lives and character of these ladies. Pictured here is the last page of a letter from my grandmother's sister, Burrel Handsor Davis.