Thursday Thirteen #81: Family

October being Family History Month, here are thirteen things I know about my grandparents and great-grandparents.

1. One of my maternal great-grandfathers came to the US from Tromsø, Norway with his family when he was two years old, in the late 1800's. He worked in the mines at Darlington and Livingston, and worked for A.Y. McDonalds in Dubuque for 30 years and supposedly invented a pump for them.

2. My other maternal great-grandfather worked at a candy factory and is the sole reason my mom cannot stand black licorice, which she once loved as a little girl. Something about an accident after devouring a pound of it.

3. My maternal grandfather died before I was born. All I really know about him is that he served in the Coast Guard during WWII and was later a plumber. I have never seen a picture of him. My mother only remembers two photos of him, and both disappeared after my grandmother died--family vultures.

4. My maternal grandmother was born in Iowa. She was a housewife and waitress, and never learned to drive until the death of her husband, in her late 30's.

5. She loved to do needlepoint and taught me when I was about 8 years old. I never completed the project as I ran out of the color yarn needed to finish it. She died not long before my tenth birthday, in late December. The new year began with snow and a funeral that year. Though I never developed her love of needlepoint, she is no doubt where I get my skills with counted cross-stitch.

6. I have few pictures or anything else of my grandparents--only a locket and two needlepoints stitched by my maternal grandmother, and two old songbooks and a heavy cast-iron skillet from my paternal grandmother. I love that skillet.

7. My paternal grandfather came over from Walsall, England in 1914, aboard the Carmentia. He travelled with a friend, and later helped his father and sisters come over.

8. My paternal GF was a "jack of all trades." Among other occupations he was a bus driver, sold fish during the Great Depression, was a Fuller Brush Man, raised beagles, cleaned the inside of the Capitol Rotunda, and owned a resort with several cottages he and my father built together.

9. Paternal grandfather died the day before my 3rd birthday. His wife of more than 50 years died nine months later. My only memory of her is of one of my older half-sisters lifting me up to see her as she lie in her casket. Popcorn also somehow played into that day.

10. Not much is known about my paternal grandmother's family, other than that they came from Wales via Canada.

11. According to my dad, his mother was an accomplished organist and pianist, and loved to sing. She was also an expert canner.

12. My paternal grandmother is also said to have had "the gift." Although my sister P is believed to be the most receptive (as a teen she apparently had a vision of an accident our dad was in, hundreds of miles away, as it happened), but we all seem to possess her gift to some degree.

13. Both paternal grandparents are buried in Grant County, WI; my maternal grandparents in Dubuque, IA. My paternal great-grandfather is buried here, though I've not yet found his grave.



Paternal Grandparents (1971) and Maternal Great-grandparents (1957)


LINKS TO OTHER THURSDAY THIRTEENS:

Alice Laudan * Mel * Alice Audrey * Shelley Munro
Ms. Menozzi * Nina * Debbie Mumford * Jana
Stephanie Adkins * Paige Tyler * Jennifer McKenzie
Janice Seagraves * Tempest Knight * Dayle
Eaton Bennett

(leave your link in comments, I’ll add you here!)

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!