SECOND COUSINS

Some years back I had phone contact with a genealogy researcher representing second cousins of mine. Our common ancestors were our great-grandparents, Lafe and Lucy Dickson. These cousins – three of them – were the grandchildren of Ida Jane Dickson Patchen while I, of course, am the granddaughter of Ida’s sister, Ina Rose Dickson Dobson. They were surprised to find me. According to the genealogy they were consulting, written in 1937, my dad was unmarried and they assumed that he had never married. So, the email messages flew for a couple of months and then we lost touch again.

But I found in Grandma Ina’s trunk a small pillowcase appliquéd with a southwestern design. Pinned to the pillowslip was a Christmas gift tag – “To Ina from Idy Jane.” Clearly it had never been used, just cherished. I decided my second cousin, Jan, who resides in Oregon, should have it. I sent a Christmas card to which she responded, and we traded current email addresses and renewed acquaintance. “I have something for you,” she wrote. “Me, too!” I said; “I have something for you.” So I mailed off the pillowcase and she sent me a toothpick holder from her dad’s things, etched with the words, “Orofino Ida Fair 1913.” It was a fun exchange and seemed to brighten the dreary January days. KW