Living Connections To The Past - Napa Borchers Research

Visiting family members in-person at their homes is really the best way to find family treasures.  Not only do you get the opportunity to see people you don't necessarily see everyday, you get to see what family information they have held onto. 

Recently, I stopped by my aunt and uncle's home in Napa.  I had not seen them since Christmastime and want my children to know who they are.  They are my connection to my past, my grandparents, my childhood, and my family. 

My Borchers side of the family in Napa is the family that I grew up with and spent many a day with enjoying the holidays, family and fun together.

I have never been too pushy or insistent (as I could be) on retrieving family tree information about my Borchers side of the family because I know that I can have access.  Finding time to review the information, photograph and make copies or scans of the information is another story.  The time issue is on me though and I realize that I do need to make the time.

History truly is within my reach for my Borchers family.  Below is yet another photo that my aunt discovered recently.  It is a photo of my great grandfather whom I knew personally.  

Herbert Borchers, Sr.

He is so young (Circa 1918) in this photo.  In fact, my aunt (his daughter) indicated that the diary she has belonging to him indicated a note, at the time, that he had received the photos that were taken and mailed to him.

Mary Borchers
Born:  Maria Luise Katharine Vienop

The second photo above is of my great grandmother, Herbert's wife.  These photos were taken before they were married (Circa 1918).  I could not get this photo out of the frame and was fearful that I might break the glass.  My only choice was to take the photo through the glass.  At some point, I might be able to carefully open this frame someday.

I love this photo of my great grandma.  I am fortunate to have many photos of her and to have known her well.  I was 18 years old when she passed away.  She is young here and it was before she was married.

Marie's Piano

I have written about the above piano previously.  It is a Franklin New York Baby Grand Piano circa 1930 and appears to be made of maybe walnut.  While many pianos may be collecting dust in people homes, this piano has seen more use than many.

My grandma (Dorothy Borchers Flanagan) was the original person who played this piano.  Herbert and Mary Borchers bought it because she learned to play piano in the 1930s and was quite good.  But Dorothy's interest waned and she did not continue to play.  Her younger sister also took up piano during this time.  She, of course, stuck with it.

The above piano was originally housed  in the living room of my great grandparents home but it has been with my aunt since she probably got married and moved out of her parents' home.  While she has played this piano many times over, so have hundreds of her piano students.  This piano has seen regular use by many budding students and some accomplished pianists since the 1930s. 

Until 2012, students were learning to play everyday on this piano during the regular school year.  Upon her retirement from teaching, she indicated over 47 years of teaching piano.  From the neighbor friend that my aunt taught in the late 1930s, to her niece (my mother as her student in the 1950s), she taught many to play.  In fact, I count closer to over 60 years of piano instruction.

The value of this piano can only be measured in my family by its intrinsic value which makes it priceless.

Again, only by visiting my family in-person would I have been so lucky to have access to the above information from the past and get to experience the living connections to my family line.  I am very grateful and fortunate.