If This Old Dough Board Could Talk

My Granny Ott's dough board and my Aunt Ethel's rolling pin.

It's holiday time and for me that includes a lot of baking.  This morning I grabbed cookie dough out of the fridge, my dough board, and rolling pin and got down to business.  As as I rolled out the dough I began to think of the stories that this old dough board could tell.  You see, this is my Granny Ott's dough board.   She was born in 1888 and married in 1906 so this dough board is more than likely over 100 years old.  I thought about all the pie crusts, dumplings, bread, and cookies that have been rolled out on this board.  I remember a story that Granny used to tell about a boy that lived near them.  He was always dirty and his hands were especially filthy.  One day my aunts had made a batch of cookies and the neighbor boy came to visit. He would pick up a cookie and rub his hands all over it and say, "These cookies sure do look good.  He would lay that cookie down and then pick up another."  My aunts stood by horrified and finally one of them said, "Why don't you just take those cookies home with you." 

I recently took a DNA test and when I got my results back I was contacted by a young woman who said that I showed up as her closest DNA relative.  We have been messaging back and forth.  It turns out that her grandpa was my Granny Ott's brother.  Sadly, she didn't even know her grandparents' names until I told her.  She has no knowledge of her dad's paternal side of the family.  My mom and I are putting together a packet of information for her. It made me so sad to think that she didn't realize that she had this huge extended family that she has never gotten to know.  Here I have the old dough board that her grandpa and dad probably enjoyed foods rolled out on and she doesn't even have a picture or copy of a marriage license.  I am making it my Christmas act of kindness to give her the family history.

I didn't need to take a DNA test.  Our family history is well documented but I just wanted to see if there was ancestry that I hadn't known...and there was.  I had no idea that I had descended from Iberians, Balkans, and Ashenazi Jews.  That is exciting and interesting but I didn't need to know that to feel that I know who I am. I grew up in an area what there are a lot of large families and most families passed their stories and heirlooms down to successive generations (like the dough board). 

I hope that if you don't know your family history you will take a DNA test and see who pops up on your connections.  It can be a wonderful experience and you make get acquainted, as I did, with a relative that you can share information and stories with.