Sunday, October 19, 2008

How well do you know your ROOTS?

Just a few questions to stimulate your interest in genealogy which is now called family history because no one could spell it correctly. Tell me about your:

1. Parents: Dad died in 1945, was a dispatcher on the railroad, loved photography, ham radio operating, fishing, hunting, flying and new adventures. My mom was a widow at age 28, worked as a telephone operator, loved traveling, dancing, playing the organ and her family. 

2. Father's parents or your paternal grandparents: Grandpa Vernon was a railroad worker all his life, loved to hunt, fish, garden, read and have family visit. Auntie was my Grandma Vernon who felt too young to be called grandma when I came along-she was probably 40 or so, was a very hard worker, meticulous house keeper, excellent cook, loved to watch TV and do handwork. She became my babysitter after my Dad was killed in an airplane crash when I was five. We had many happy hours putting together puzzles. (My Vernon grandparents are standing by me in the photo below.)

3. Mother's parents or your maternal grandparents: My Grandpa Johnson died when my mom was 4 years old, he was a miner and died of stomach cancer-don't know much about him. My Grandmother Johnson babysat me after we moved in with her a year or so after my dad died. GMJ was fun to be with, happy, great cook, always had time to listen and play with me. (She's sitting in the photo on the right.) 

4. Do you remember any of your great grandparents? Tell us about them. I knew two of my paternal great grandpas. One was a farmer Joseph Vernon and lived in rural Utah, he was a widower. The other was also a widower George Stevens and lived in Los Angeles. He had remarried and was very wealthy working in real estate. I only saw them a couple of times but have written about them in my family history webpage.

6 comments:

  1. Great prompts, Lin. My parents and grandparents and great-grandparents were hard-working, good people, too. I was blessed to know my father's mother's mother (paternal great-grandmother) and my mother's grandparents. Delightful people, all. They lived in their homes until they passed. Keeping them home kept them close in many ways.

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  2. I know some of my geneaology but not as well as yod do so I really need to ask Mom and Dad.

    I never got to meet either of my grandfathers because both had died before I was born. But both my grandmothers were wonderful women.

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  3. My mom knows a a great deal of her roots because so much of it is recorded. Her mother's life is recorded in a book. My father's side I have heard from stories. It's always interesting to hear the different perspectives.

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  4. Both of my father's parents [from Ireland] died before I was born. I knew both of my mom's parents. My grandfather[ from Vermont] was a butcher, kind of a quiet man. My grandmother quite a wonderful person. I am named after both grandmothers.

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  5. Great grandparents..No. My maternal grandparents were teachers, my paternal grandfather worked for the railroad. Both sets of grandparents were older when they had children, so they were much older when I was born...

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  6. I'll have to come back and do this when I have more time, these are great questions to get the 'juices flowing'. My dad's parents died before I was born (waaaay BEFORE).

    I did get to know my mama's step-grandpa, he died when I was somewhere in elementary school - that was 'Big Pappa or Big Daddy'. 'Big Mama, my great-grandma (Mama's grandma)died???...ummm. I'll look it up so I won't get it wrong. I was grown, married and had the older two kids I DO remember.

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