Those funeral, baby, wedding, and other books: Who are those people? Connected genealogically?

Have you thoroughly checked through family baby books, wedding books, anniversary books, old address books, and funeral books. These are the books that list guests and sometimes in their own handwriting. I have several of these items.

If you are fortunate to have some of these books, do you know who each person is who attended an event or sent a gift or card? Have you abstracted any dates or middle names that might be in these?

I have my own two baby books and those of my three children. Why did I have two baby books? I don’t have a clue. Neither is totally filled in, but I did note some nice things. I have a couple names I previously overlooked and now need to investigate. I will be surprised if there is a blood connection rather than only being family acquaintances. I got my first tooth at 8 months, walked at 10 months, and had two first birthday parties!

My maternal grandma’s birthday book is one of my prize possessions. It’s filled with names, birth dates and birth weights, middle names, death dates, and even her own birth date in several places. I wish I had this little book when I began my family history research. Grandma was still with us until 17 years after I began my trek. One page has her maiden name Cook written several times in her own hand and probably that of one of the grandchildren or great grandchildren. One of those kids did some superb scribbling on the outside back cover. I see a couple nicknames I did not have in my notes.

Ask relatives if they have any such books in their possession and if you can borrow them to abstract information. I hope some surprises await, better than this one from one of my baby books that didn’t even have one spot filled in!