It could be that Martha (Harris) Parsons was a personal friend of “Anonymous.” After all, we know she liked to quote that author, who wrote the saying:

Count that day lost whose low descending sun views from thy hand no worthy action done.

James Bobart signed a different version of it in 1697, but I like this one because Parsons passed it on to her daughter, Elizabeth Harris (Parsons) Campo.

And Elizabeth’s son, Charlie Campo, our librarian here at the Bangor Daily News, carries the saying in his wallet and recites it easily when NEWS staffers need something soothing and inspirational.

He also quotes another line Elizabeth Campo often said, “Use your energy to make light, not heat.”

We don’t know the origins of that saying, but it reminds me of how we can come to appreciate not only our own roots, but those of others.

Were you to ask me about the Rev. Erma Keniston, a minister I knew growing up, I’d recite for you her favorite Bible verse, Matthew 6:33:

But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you.

My own favorite, printed on a plaque which I cherished before passing it on to a dear friend, is the last line from Isaiah 43:1, with God saying:

I have called you by name: you are mine.

That even has genealogical connotations, but my point is that we should write down for future generations the things we like to say, the passages that mean something to us, and those we recall hearing from our relatives.

Of course, it’s even better when we have something in writing from our loved ones.

I keep a letter written to me more than 30 years ago by my paternal grandmother, Ione Bennett Moore, outlining our family history.

That treasure was added to recently when my friend Carolyn Brown Amos of Abbot sent along some notes and cards my grandmother had sent to her grandmother, Millicent Tompkins, during the 1970s.

On one Christmas card, my grandmother mentioned her first great-grandchild, my older son.

She started off a birthday card this way:

My dear old friend Millicent, Each year, of late, you send my birthday card in the cold of winter, when we are eagerly reaching out for spring. And I send yours in the heat of summer …

I think I know where my grandmother developed her talent for faithful letter writing. My dad says she wrote to him every single day he was in the Navy during World War II – a period of more than two years. Sons Carroll and Roddy were in the service as well.

We don’t have those letters, but we have these cards because Millicent Tompkins saved them, and her granddaughter was kind enough to pass them along.

Save it, share it.

And write it down.

That’s what they’ve been doing in Hampden. The response to the first “Echoes from the Past” was so positive, the Hampden Historical Society has just published volume II of memories written by people who have lived in that town.

Celia McCafferty Gray and Linda Gray Martin have done a fine job compiling these stories.

The ’20s, the ’30s, the ’40s, the ’50s – if you know someone who lived in Hampden then, you’ll be interested in these memories.

Phyllis Carmichael Bartlett and Judy Carmichael Craig wrote about the class that walked, one cold day, to Helen Pinkham’s house to bring back heated bricks to warm their feet.

Margaret Spaulding Brooks remembers skipping school one day, and telling the principal she did so because thought she needed to say she had done that at least once before graduating.

Daryl Couillard told wonderful stories of basketball games involving Couillard’s Barn and the Peanuts All Stars.

And Jo Snare Dwyer recalled how after her family moved, her father had to keep driving back to the former home to fetch the “old gray cat” that didn’t want to move.

The McKinley School, the Longfellow School, the farms, the stores are mentioned by several of the writers. Pictures include not only the Kinsley House and a class at the Longfellow School, but the Hampden Center Sewing Circle of 1936 or so.

And, a few pages have been reproduced from the Academy Herald of 1872.

You can order the book by mail for $20, plus $4 shipping, from Hampden Historical Society, 73 Ruth Ave., Hampden 04444, or call 862-2233.

Membership in the society, which meets at 7 p.m. the fourth Monday of the month, is $10 for an individual, $20 for a family, $25 supporting, $75 corporate. Write Hampden Historical Society, P.O. Box 456, Hampden 04444, or call 862-2027.

3158. SILVA. Seeking vital statistics, photo for Marilyn Silva, who lived in Milo about 1949. Also for her parents. Will reimburse costs upon request. D.M. Redman, 18 First St., No. 4, Bangor, ME 04401.

Send queries to Family Ties, Bangor Daily News, P.O. Box 1329, Bangor, ME 04402; or e-mail familyti@bangordailynews.net.