I never knew my maternal Grandpa. And I rarely heard stories about him as I was growing up. All I knew was that he died in Bilibid Prison in Manila, PI during World War II.
Most of what I’ve learnt about my Grandpa was from reading old records and from my Aunts before they died. But through his collection of books, I have found a man that was well educated and well read on a variety of subjects. 
My Grandpa had joined the Army in Philadelphia, PA as a young man and had gone to fight in the Spanish American War. During that time, he fell in love with being in the military, living in the Phillippines and with Inay, my grandmother. They had four daughters and three sons which they raised near Naval Base in the Phillippines.
When the war came to the Phillippines, my Grandpa went to fight with the Americans even though he had already retired from the Army. My Uncle Henry followed him. Both were captured by the Japanese on Corregador Island. Grandpa spent the last years of his life in Bilibid Prison. Uncle Henry survived the war though he was shipped to Japan on one of the Hell Ships to work in the mines.
My grandmother and her daughters left their home to hid out from the Japanese. And somehow, I was never told how, his four bookcases with all of his books survived the war even though the family home had been burnt down just as the war was ending.
Through my mother, I inherited one of the four bookcases and all its contents. What happened to the other three bookcases and the books I don’t know. But I do know that the majority of my 20+ cousins don’t owned one of Grandpa’s books.
His books are a legacy that each of us should have if we so desire. His collections of books ranged from medical, fiction, non-fiction, classics, biographies, history to military. Most of them have his bookplate in them and a few had his own name written in ink, in what I suspect, his ow
n handwriting.
Though it has been hard to ship these treasures to my cousins who want a book or two, I’m pleased I am able to share them. But I must admit that each time I have had to go through his collection of books, I find a new treasure that I just can’t part with.
Do you have a legacy from your family? Is it something that can be shared with your extended family? And did you have a hard time parting with it?
Almost sad to see the collection broken up. Another way to do it make a list of all the books and disseminate that. Like a library. They can check one out and when they return it they can get another. probably too much work I am guessing. Time Time Time.
Talently…
cool