Reading the post by "crobtex" in the moon map thread got me this idea / question to ask:

Who has / had the good fortune to know their great grand parents or somone of that generation, born in the 1800s? What have you learned from them? The way they saw the changing world?

I only knew my grandfather on my mother's side, he was born in 1905, lived most his life in a small vilage in Northen Trasylvania, (Romanina now) Had the good fortune to have him wisit here in the US in the late 80s. He was amazed at New York, at flying over the ocean to get here. It was interesting to see what was and was not "normal" to him. For instance TV, radio was ok, he saw that evolve. Even flight, but not transoceanic in a 747. How does it stay up there? How does it find its way without land references? Sky scrapers. How do they stand up? Although as I said, TV was ok, he just could not grasp the notion of a fax machine or a pc.
As a kid I loved his war stories, WW II cavalry man, he shared his love of horses, and land.

Peter

 

I had a great grandmother and a great aunt who were half Cherokee indians. They lived in KY and when they were babies they had to be hidden in the woods when the soldiers came through driving the indians to the Oklahoma territory. One lived to be 104 and the other lived to be 106. They lived in a tar-paper shack in a coal camp in KY and never had running water or electricity. They carried coal for heat and cooking on a cast iron stove.

Edwin

 

I never knew of the "great" grandparents or further up the chain ... but I am a decendant of Charles Curtis who was Vice President under Hoover. His great grandfather was an Chief of the Royal Osage Indians and his mark is on several of the Indian Treaties.

Still doing the research to find the actual lineage ... kinda neat to find out about these people.

PISTOL

 

I am 23 and have listened to my dad tell me how hard things were through the depression. He was born in 1925, and my grandmother has told me stuff that makes you thankful for what you have regardless if it is little of nothing. She was born 1900. She passed away in 1996, but pops is still going very strong. He hauls scrap iron daily and still farms about 80 acres. I make my way back home about every 2 weeks to do the things for him that are a little to strenuous. I admire that man. Want to be just like him.

 

knew my great grandfather until he died at 104. (1999)

many stories about hunting, fishing, and life is a less hectic (but not as comfortable) time.

 

My greats are all from coal crackin country, heck their hous is on top of a spoils mountain and their setic is an abandoned shaft. Well up there, not too far from centralia, the winters are long hared and deep. a combination of that and them having lived through the depression makes them hoarders of sorts. In the spring it starts with gathering wild mushrooms which are used fresh and a lot are dried for use later. then in goes the garden, the little one bihind the house is about 100 feet long by 40 wide. The big patch is about an acre. Every last bit is saved, be it canned or dried for the lean months. Their house is what used to be a section of row houses, now they own the whole building and uses what was 5 units as one with conneciting basements. Come fall you can hardly move down there with all the items canned and hanging. Still a tough area to eek out a living and you don't realize how different it is until you go out with them, I see prices and say to myself how cheap and hear them grumbling outloud about how expensive.... To think that the same level of changes can happen in my lifetime is obscene, no way we can make as big leaps and bounds of progress like the last 100 years.

 

I agree...........

All here are great stories.

I could tell a lot of stories. My grandparents all lived into their early nineties. My family has a habit of having kids at a young age, so I was able to know them after I was grown.

One about my grandfather: During the depression, he worked on the railroad repairing track for 50 cents a day. He said it wasn't too bad at all, he had enough for sugar and flour, and since they grew their garden they had plenty of canned foods for the winter, and they had a milk cow.
Notice I said "had" a milk cow. Well, ole' Bessie had a mean streak and sometimes would rather fight then be milked. One day when he went out to bring her in, she made a charge at him and hung a horn in the ground and broke her neck. No waste here! He went and got his brother to help get her strung up and cleaned. They didn't have a freezer..heck, they didn't even have ice! So, they done something we would never think of today. My grandma and her mother "canned" the meat. Nothing but the bones went to the ground. I guess it might have been some of the first potted meat.

The old saying about, "When the going gets tough, the tough get going" was true about a lot of mine and your ancestors.

I sure do miss them and envy some of the things about the way they lived.

Some day I'll tell you about my great-grandfather and his attempt to make it to California in a Model T Ford.

 

I wish I was a little older before my great grandma died, I remember her, but dont remember any of her stories. My grandpa, on the other hand, has told me quite of few stories of his youth.

He was born before the depression, and he had something like 9 brothers and sisters. He quit school in the 6th grade, to farm with his dad. He said he always loved farming. He did some logging for awhile with his closest brother, and once his brother passed away, he still farmed.

A couple of weeks ago, when I was home, me and him got started talking about cars. He told me he used to run moonshine. He would buy it from the maker, then transport it to where it needed to go, in his 41 ford, and later, a 53 chevy or something like that. Comes to find out, a few quarrels got started over whos car was faster, and they took the cars to the airport, and started drag racing(he said he won, but you know how older people are). That was the first time there had ever been an organized drag race in the area, and it lasted for a few years, even after he quit, then somebody was killed when a car left the track, and the county stopped that. I wish I could have seen it.

He is going strong at 78 still farming 300+ acres, by himself(I drive the farmtrucks for him when I'm home, but he wants to do everything else). He could outwork me ANY day of the week, and I'm 19. He's a tough guy, seen a lot of hard times.

And they wonder why I'm so crazy driving and wanting to race, I just tell my folks its in my blood now.

 

My dad's father was a real pal. He liked old tractors, steam traction engines and sawmills because that's where he spent his childhood....his dad was with a traveling sawmill company.
We used to go to junkyards, work on his and his friends old tractors and sawmills.
Grandad would have absolutely been a CTD Dodge man if he were still here.

 

My great grand mother died a couple of years ago. She was 93 I believe. I didn't really get to talk to her cause she was bed ridden and had serious problems. My grandpa (bomber pilot during WW2) and grandmother on my mothers side died when I was about 7 or 8. My grandmother on my dad's side is senile and is hard to talk to. My grandpa on my dad's side is a WW2 vet and actually was one of the troops that took the beach on D-day. I've never really had the courage to ask him about it though. I don't know how he feels about it. He doesn't say much.

 

The greatest thing about those old time farmers is they can fix nearly ANYTHING. My grandpas rebuilt all kinds of engines, fixes and welds his own farm equipment, and all that stuff. I've helped him do some incredible stuff, like welding some weird combos of metals with a stick welder, which I wasnt thought possible, but he showed me.

I need to go help him and hang out with him more, but its kinda hard being 2 1/2 hours away at college.

 

i remember my grandad telling me that the more things change the more they stay the same (or something like that)
he said the only difference in generations is that when his grandparents went to the store they bought their needs for their pocket change and by the time my grandchildren are going to the store for their needs they will need a wheelborrow full of money to get the same things thay got for their pocket change

 

Wow.......these sure bring back memories. My grandpa taught me to tinker, fish and hunt. He was still working on lawnmowers at almost 90 and working on cars and pulling engines and trannys at about 80.
He had to be a good mechanic. We were so poor, if he couldn't fix what we had, we walked. We done very little walking.

My how times have changed. I hope there are still kids out there growing up and learning life the way I did.

 

You all might have thought of this, but if you could get a digital recorder (or a regular one for that matter) and every chance you get, visit with these family members and record the conversations and stories. Even ask about a story that you might have heard a hundred times before to get it on tape. You will wind up with a pricless narrative of your ancestry that will be able to be passed on to your children and theirs as well.

BTW your stories were great to read.

 

We have some, but didn't get near enough.