A Legacy for the Eight of Us
The Story of our Early Family Life
by
Book Cover & Preview Text
"Our perception of past events changes as our lives change. Some events lose importance as time goes on; other events become an important and integral part of our life." "During the depression, we survived on the monthly checks from Litchfield Creamery for the milk that we shipped. When our milk production was down, so was the meager amount we could spend at Kroger’s..."
Formats
Book Details
About the Book
This book is about our early family life. But the story is much more. It is about life itself — the life experiences that all of us share.
"A Legacy for the Eight of Us" begins with a look back at some of our ancestors, next describes Daddy and Mama's early lives and continues with their marriage in 1925. It then focuses on the early life of their family –– my seven siblings and myself -- concentrating on our life during the 1930s and 40s.
This life took place in another era on a farm in central Illinois. You will read vivid details of that life. You will share in our family’s interactions, our heritage, our faith, our love of the land; but you also will share in our challenges and shortcomings.
As I wrote this book, I kept in mind the admonition heard at a series of Barn Lectures at the Carson Valley Museum: "We cannot know where we are going as a people until we know where we have been."
It can be beneficial for each of us to discover our own individual legacies. From the memories captured in these pages, I hope you discover more about our family’s legacy.
About the Author
Catherine Cavanaugh’s first publication, in her early grade school years, was a letter to the Junior Journal Page in the Sunday edition of the Illinois State Journal. Catherine does not profess to be a professional literary writer; indeed she states that more often than not, she has been a scribbler, not a scribe. However, Catherine has been involved in some mode of writing most of her life. As examples, she developed a nurse aide manual, helped write nursing care projects, updated parent/teacher organizational data, collaborated on a constitution for a family investment club, and made many, many family ‘to do’ lists. The genesis of A Legacy for the Eight of Us came in part from a family cookbook published by Catherine, The Murphy Family Cookbook. The cookbook contained historical data that was well received. This affirmation reinforced the author’s determination to work on her goal of writing about her early family history. Catherine is next to the oldest in a family of eight. Her younger brother and sisters have no memory of the early family life. She wrote the Legacy primarily for them; but the author has come to realize that it is also written for her own children and succeeding generations in the Murphy family. Catherine and her husband retired to the Carson Valley in Nevada. She is now widowed. Catherine’s life has been and again continues to be happy and fulfilled, productive in many ways.