Is There a Baby Book in the Family?
Once a very popular family custom was the filling out and keeping a baby book on each child born into the family. Unfortunately, it was usually the first born for sure that got a completely filled out baby book; the second baby, maybe a partial filled book and children 3 or 4, etc. no baby book at all.
No matter who had a baby book, that is one treasure you need to track down, if there were any and where are they now. Usually, the person who the baby book was for has it as an heirloom and could be passed to their children.
If you locate one, first thing scan each page or have the person owning it, do the scanning and send you the digital copies. Then look for some of the following information that might be in the book.
There can be birth notice and baby’s first photograph. Also date of birth, and hospital name/location. As well as extras like height/length, eye color, time of the delivery weight, hair color. Especially for the first born, parents kept notes on everything and it all went into the baby book. Things like: baby’s first outing, feeding and sleeping habits, when they took their first steps, and what was their first words said.
Various photos will also be in the book, many with captions about the baby. Alos listed are the baby gifts received and wh0 they were from. Here could be names of relatives you did not even know about.
A great resource was the listing of vaccinations and inoculations and any medical conditions (good and bad) the baby may have had.
The information in a baby book could even include about other siblings, if the book is about the 2nd or 3rd child.
It is worth locating any family baby book. You might have an aunt who has in her possession your grandmother’s baby book. Now that would be a fined for sure.
Photos: 1957 Baby Book, 1926 Baby Book listing gifts and 1963 Baby Book.
Related Familytree.com Blogs:
Make Your Ancestor’s Birth Interesting
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