Prelude

HOW I CAME TO WRITE THIS BOOK

It was not the courses for a doctoral degree, or the years of teaching mathematics, or the years writing software for Hallmark Cards, or the classes in history at Glendale Community College that caused me to become the author this small book. It was the scrapbook made by my Grandmother Sydenstricker that set the precedent for preserving memories of the past for younger generations.

She believed that it was important to keep a history of the family. Early in her adulthood she began saving pictures, clippings, documents, and letters. She wrote about her work as an English teacher and as a church organist. Her diary described the courtship of a young man named Millard. She married this young man and eventually gave birth to their only child, Cecil.

As Cecil’s Mother, she kept records of his schoolwork through grade school and high School. She saved correspondence from him while he served as a corporal in the United States Army in the First World War. She sensed the importance to later generations of the portrait of Thomas Lewis Sydenstricker, an ancestor who served as a corporal in the Civil War. Also in the scrapbook is the Land Grant awarded to her father that carries the signature of President Martin Van Buren.

She started with a scrapbook that she bought from a Woolworth Store. The rest of her equipment consisted of glue, a pair of scissors and pencils that she sharpened with a paring knife. She included the 1907 Public Auction of their farm equipment, the 1918 Federal Income Tax Return for individuals earning more than $5,000 per year and Thank You letters from the two granddaughters who were still learning to write.

Some years ago I came into possession of this aged scrapbook. By this time the paper had rotted to the point that it became necessary to establish a new place to store its contents. I took this as my challenge and while reworking the scrapbook, I realized that this was what she wanted all of us to remember about her life. This was her autobiography!

I am now in my 89th year and it has occurred to me that she has been expecting me to do what she did so many years ago. She was an influential lady and I am proud to carry on the family tradition.

Martha Sydenstricker Bunch Dunwoody, GA