Interviewing Mother-in-Law

Roy Stockdill's note re his Mother-in-Law reminds me of my own experience.

Not long after I married I had a long chat with my Mother-in-Law: She was around 55 years old at the time and quite keen to tell me all she knew about her family and ancestors. I was able to make quite a set of notes.

She was a lovely lady: In the 1911 census: born in 1906 and died at the age of 96. I would have sworn that she was always very alert and intelligent right up to the end, but I had quite a shock when at the age of about 90 she suddenly said to me "I must tell you more about my family". I fetched my notes, including the original set I had taken thirtyfive years before. It soon became apparent that sadly she had completely forgotten about several incidents and branches of her family. In fact I knew far more than she could remember and she was unable to tell me anything new.

This certainly contradicted the view that old folk can remember many things that happened in their youth even if they cannot recall more recent events.

Best regards Gordon +Z


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