My mother was born in 1923. She had a great uncle, Robert, who was born in Buffalo NY around 1854-55.
She remembers Uncle Robert telling a tale of when Lincoln’s funeral cortage passed through Buffalo, and his coffin was taken into city hall. Uncle Robert, being a boy, climbed a telegraph pole to watch the proceedings from across the street. Mom always though it a fanciful story, the kind that old relatives keep repeating....
Many years later (probably in the 1980s) Mom and I visited the Buffalo History Museum, and at the time, it had a large exhibit on Lincoln, part of which was photographs of the funeral cortage as it arrived in Buffalo
And in one photo, it could be clearly seen that on a telegraph pole across from city hall, was the figure of a boy, about 10 years old....
Jumping up and down! MARVELOUS STORY!!!!
BRILLIANT!!!!
I’ve been in that museum. They have photos of my 3rd great grandfather’s house and garden, as well as gardener. My 2nd great grandfather’s house wasn’t far from there but is now gone.
We only had one family story that came down. Mother corresponded with father’s mother before they married and heard them from her. One was that the family had entertained Lafayette and they still had the wine glasses unwashed, though no one knew anymore which one he’d drunk from. Later research showed the story was true. Two different direct ancestors and one uncle had ALL separately entertained Lafayette, so have no idea which entertainment generated the family story goblets. Nor where they ended up.