When my grandfather immigrated to the United States from Italy in 1895 he carried all his earthly possessions in the wicker suitcase below. When my uncle died it was offered to my dad and it came with a treasure trove of papers inside, all of which have been posted on in this blog. The suitcase itself now has a new home with my oldest niece who has it on displace at the family cottage. Her mission, I told her, is to figure out
who should get it next when the time comes---who, in the newest crop of babies in the family grows up caring the most about genealogy
and family trees. I need to put a note inside with a list of those of us who the suitcase has passed through. It will contain the names of my grandfather, my uncle, my dad (for about a minute and a half) then me and now my niece.
