A Pennsylvania man came across something unexpected and utterly heart-wrenching while reading his great-grandfather’s diary.
Like many Americans, Liam James, from Philadelphia, has always taken a keen interest in his family history. “Learning from our forefathers is the way we map our paths through life,” he told Newsweek. A 2021 IPSOS survey of 1,026 adults found 70 percent of Americans believe that knowing about their family’s history is important.
James just so happened to be lucky enough to grow up with someone in his life who was able to provide him with insight into where he came from. “My grandma passed away earlier this year at 95. I’m so grateful for the time I got to spend with her and hear the stories she shared,” James said. “She was the only grandparent I knew, the last tether to a soon-to-be bygone era.”
James was helping sort through his late grandmother’s belongings when he came across something intriguing: a journal that belonged to his great-grandfather Frank.
Frank was the father of James’ late grandpa Jim. “I never knew my grandfather,” James said. “He passed away a few months after I was born.” Eager to find out more about what lives of the family he never knew, James began reading through Frank’s entries.
“Frank was a urologist; the journal mostly just contained names and numbers of bygone folks,” James said. “In the margins, he’d remark about the weather or things Jim had done, like passing a test or moving up a grade. I was struck by the normalcy of a man I never knew, separated by generations.”
James read on until he reached the final entry in the diary, written in different handwriting, which read simply:
“Frank, my adored husband, died April 17th 1932 at his home after an attack of Grippe. The best boy in the world. May he be happy in Heaven forever and may I carry out all his instructions to the best of my ability and join him again in another and better world. -Mary.”
James knew his great-grandfather passed away around that time. Frank died from tuberculosis, which he is thought to have contracted from one of his patients.
“I had known that, upon Frank’s death, all his patients’ debts were forgiven, given the circumstances of the Depression. I knew he was a good man,” James said. “I knew of my grandpa likewise. He was only 9 years old when he became the man of the house and had to take care of his mom and sister.”
Jim would go on to pass the bar, marry and have his own family. For years, though, James and his family have wondered if his great-grandfather Frank’s passing played a role in that.
“My grandpa served in Brazil during World War II, and our family has always wondered if the fact he took care of his mom and sister was the reason he was sent to a non-combat theater,” James said.
What caught him off-guard, though, was the sudden appearance of that final entry from his great-grandmother Mary, which added color to the story of his family’s life in a way that the journal had not done before.
“The lachrymose entry by Mary humanized both Frank and my grandpa in ways oral history can’t,” James said. “On the last page, I felt the despair Mary only hoped to find reprieve from by doing anything. She was literally turning the page on the lives they would have to live.”
Reddit/u/PureValLiam
Eager to share his discovery, James posted a picture of that final journal entry to Reddit under the handle u/PureValLiam. It struck a chord, amassing over 10,000 upvotes, with users offering up some subtle observations on the text.
“The fact that her handwriting deteriorates so heavily toward the end really hits hard,” one wrote. “Yes, and it looks like she pressed the pen harder into the page towards the end as well,” another posted.
Reflecting on the diary’s newfound viral fame, James said: “Mary simply found a way to express her exposed and hurting soul.
“She wrote for herself; to Frank, sure. But she wrote to him as much as me or you, which is why I think it struck a personal chord for everyone.”