  Ray1936 Member Username: Ray1936 Post Number: 3862 Registered: 01-2005 |
Well, Great grandpop died 100 years ago Friday. He had quite a life. Drop in and leave a flower for him at the lower right. http://tinyurl.com/6fjzk5 | ||
Kathleen Member Username: Kathleen Post Number: 3079 Registered: 10-2003 |
It's always awesome to think about milestone anniversaries of our ancestors....100th anniversary of the birth of a grandparent or great-grandparent...100th anniversary of the death of their parents and before them...and what was life like for them and where in the context of our city's or country's history did they fit!! That so makes me wish I could have talked with them, or that they had left a diary or letters or such. Thanks for the post, Ray!! | ||
Blueidone Member Username: Blueidone Post Number: 406 Registered: 03-2007 |
My father will be 93 in April. I keep praying that he makes it to 100. He would be so thrilled to get that letter from the President that I plan to make sure arrives! I love listening to his stories about how he grew up in Highland Park and worked at all the major theaters downtown at one time or another to help make money for the family. A really great story that just happened: Dad has had to go see several medical specialists in the last couple of years. About 3 months ago he went to a new cardiologist in Grand Rapids (which is where my dad lives now). Dad is sitting on the "bed" when the doc walks in and says, "Bill? I think we've met. Did you used to play golf at Detroit Golf Club?" Dad says he did...many, many years ago. Doc says..."I used to be your caddy sometimes!" So, after the exam is over and they chat for a while, the doctor sets a date to take my dad out to lunch at some exclusive golf club there in GR. How cool is that? | ||
Ray1936 Member Username: Ray1936 Post Number: 3865 Registered: 01-2005 |
That is cool, Blue. Hey, ask him about his grandparents. They've got to go back to the 1800s.....see what he remembers about them and how they lived. Would be a most interesting conversation! | ||
Grumpyoldlady Member Username: Grumpyoldlady Post Number: 274 Registered: 06-2005 |
ASK QUESTIONS OF YOUR OLDER RELATIVES NOW!!! My mom was born in 1912 and dad in 1902. I was born when they were 37 and 47 respectively. When they talked about their childhoods, I wasn't interested. NOW I wish I had listened. I wonder what the old farmhouses they grew up in in Kentucky were like. How many rooms? How far to the outhouse? Details on their one-room schools and their teachers. Did they bury "treasure boxes" in the yard? What chores did they have to do? How did they meet? How did Dad propose? Those things may not seem like much, but they add a lof of insight into who they were. SO ASK NOW! And for your children and grandchildren etc. Please write down these simple things that will mean a lot to them later. They may never ask you, but will be glad at some point in their lives that you took the time to write it down for them. | ||
Kathleen Member Username: Kathleen Post Number: 3080 Registered: 10-2003 |
Isn't that the truth!! I was extremely interested in the family history when I was about 12-13 years old, and my grandfather was happy to share the family history, it was all names and dates and places. Boy, I wish I had had the foresight to ask him what he remembered about the early days of the automobile in downtown Detroit. When King and Ford first put their "cars" on the streets of Detroit in 1896, Grandfather was about 5 years old, living on Hastings St. between today's Monroe and Lafayette streets (on the block where the Greek Orthodox church stands today), which turned out to be right around the corner from where the Dodge Brothers garage was located 5-10 years later. There are so many questions I would have asked, if only... Hence, I have asked our parents to share details and memories of their lives in writing so that more info can be passed along to future generations. | ||
Lferg Member Username: Lferg Post Number: 39 Registered: 07-2008 |
My Grandparents passed away before I was interested in the family history. You would think somebody would remember how my Grandparents met, when, and where they were married, etc. Nope...nobody knows. On the other side, I have family history dating back to the 1700's for my GGF, and just recently, was emailed a memoir that my GGGM's Niece wrote. Unfortunately, it doesn't offer much information about my GGGM, but it gives me a ton of information about her parents, where they came from, what it was like to grow up in Chicago at the turn of the century, etc. It is a fabulous piece of history and I am so thankful to have found someone from that side of the family as previously, we didn't know anything about them. | ||
Mashugruskie Member Username: Mashugruskie Post Number: 237 Registered: 09-2006 |
Ray, I noticed that your great grandfather was born in Chester, PA. I don't know if you've begun tracing your tree back but Chester is so frigging OLD and their documents and archives are wonderful. I have family that arrived with William Penn that settled there. It is definitely worth checking out your history. I was completely overwhelmed when I started working on my Chester ancestors and never thought I'd find anything. What a great place to do research! | ||
Rickinatlanta Member Username: Rickinatlanta Post Number: 205 Registered: 07-2006 |
My experience is very similar to those above in that, while interesting, I didn't make an effort to "save" what history I heard. I do still have memory of some of what Mom & Dad told me through the years but not enough. As I've mentioned here before, I'm researching my Dad's pro boxing career from the 1930's and REALLY wish I could ask questions about what I'm finding! One idea that worked really great for me was this. About five years ago on a visit to Detroit I went to see one of my last remaining Aunt's from my Dad's side. She's since passed but was in her early nineties then. I took my video camera, sat it on the floor without her knowing and filmed for the three hours that we talked. I learned so much about that side of my family and how she would go watch Dad box, how she and her new husband would have Joe Louis stay at their house as he had nowhere to stay while fighting as well. I have those memories and our talk captured now!!  | ||
Lferg Member Username: Lferg Post Number: 45 Registered: 07-2008 |
Rick, that must be fascinating! If your Father was a boxer in Detroit, you may want to check the archives of video tapes on Wayne States site, you just may find your Father in one of them. | ||
Rickinatlanta Member Username: Rickinatlanta Post Number: 207 Registered: 07-2006 |
That's the first I've heard of an archive of old video tapes! I've looked at over 3,000 days of individual sports sections from the 1930 - 1934 News and Free Press on microfilm over the past five years but I'll definitely check out that site. May just require a Christmas trip back up | ||
Mashugruskie Member Username: Mashugruskie Post Number: 239 Registered: 09-2006 |
Rick, you need to contact Chuck Hassan in Philadelphia. He is a boxing collector/writer. He found info on my great great uncle who was a boxing promoter from the 1920's. | ||
Rickinatlanta Member Username: Rickinatlanta Post Number: 208 Registered: 07-2006 |
REALLY appreciate the input and I will look him up! | ||
Ray1936 Member Username: Ray1936 Post Number: 3871 Registered: 01-2005 |
Mashugruskie, I'm 'way ahead of you. Got the family records back to our immigrant, Thomas Downing, who arrived in Chester county in 1717 from Devon, England. Have copies of all their wills, also, thanks to the CCHS. The borough of Downingtown, PA, is named for Thomas (6x gt grandfather). | ||
Rickinatlanta Member Username: Rickinatlanta Post Number: 209 Registered: 07-2006 |
Mashugruskie, do you have any contact info as I just Googled him and found nothing. I've been in contact with BoxRec and Cyber BoxingZone for several years but don't find his name. Thanks for your interest! | ||
Mashugruskie Member Username: Mashugruskie Post Number: 242 Registered: 09-2006 |
I know Hassan and Tracy Callis are part of this organization. Try them. http://www.ibroresearch.com/ | ||
Mashugruskie Member Username: Mashugruskie Post Number: 243 Registered: 09-2006 |
Ray, glad you knew. If ever there was a great place for research, it's Chester. Have you been to oldchesterpa.com? You may find some ancestors there, also. | ||
Ray1936 Member Username: Ray1936 Post Number: 3874 Registered: 01-2005 |
"Have you been to oldchesterpa.com? " That's a new one on me, Mash. Heading there right now. Thx!! | ||
Jiminnm Member Username: Jiminnm Post Number: 1864 Registered: 02-2005 |
Ray, your leading comment sent me to my photo files. This is a photo of my grandfather and family taken in front of the old homestead in middle of small farms Kentucky. Oh yeah, my grandfather (my mother's father) is the baby in the arms of my great grandmother, circa 1898-1899. I spent a few summers in that house when I was a kid, although it was added to a couple of times and got running water (from a cistern) in 1957.  | ||
Ray1936 Member Username: Ray1936 Post Number: 3875 Registered: 01-2005 |
Super photo, Jim. Every time I see a house like that with the gingerbread trim, I shudder when thinking about painting such a place. Scraping and sanding all those doo-dads to even PREPARE it for painting would be a bear! I'd suspect that home is long gone....sigh. And for the life of me, I don't know how the ladies of turn of the century survived in those long dresses. On a hot day, they must have darn near died. | ||
Django Member Username: Django Post Number: 2151 Registered: 10-2003 |
Grumpy Im with you on asking questions. Ive slowly been interviewing my family members starting with the oldest. I plan on making a dvd of the interviews after some editing if I can figure out how to do that. when I go to tape someone I ask them to pull out a selection of their photos of members that have already passed on. I take stills of the pics and will create a little montage. Im so angry at myself for not asking more questions of my Grandfather. He wasnt much of a talker but he taught me so damn much. Wish I had the family history as far back as Ray has, impressive. | ||
Ray1936 Member Username: Ray1936 Post Number: 3878 Registered: 01-2005 |
"Wish I had the family history as far back as Ray has, impressive." Thanks, DJ. Actually, it goes back further than 1717 (when "we" arrived in America). Thanks to the archives in a church in Devonshire, my paternal line documents back to 1530. | ||
Lferg Member Username: Lferg Post Number: 46 Registered: 07-2008 |
Hi Rick, Here is the link for Wayne State. http://dlxs.lib.wayne.edu/v/vm c/topic.html | ||
Cambrian Member Username: Cambrian Post Number: 2012 Registered: 08-2006 |
I was blessed to have had my great grandma around until I was 14, I was reminded of her the other day when "rain drops keep falling on my head" came on the radio. She had a little Jiminy Cricket doll at her house that would play that tune when I wound it up, I told my daughter of this, whom was born nearly 100 years after my great grandma....she smiled, and asked me about her. With people living longer my 14 y/o child still has two great grand parents around. | ||
Mikeg Member Username: Mikeg Post Number: 2100 Registered: 12-2005 |
In 1980, my 3rd cousin conducted a 90 minute interview of his grandmother (she was born in 1897 and was the granddaughter of my great-great grandmother) and taped it on a cassette. He has given me a copy of it that he burned onto an audio CD. I's fascinating to hear her recount her childhood experiences and also her memories about visiting with my g-g grandmother. It seems that whenever she went to visit her, my g-g grandmother would always take her aside, pull open the bottom drawer in her chest of drawers and show her the dress she intended to be buried in. She probably experienced this quite a few times since my g-g grandmother lived until 1917. My g-g grandmother is sitting on the porch of the circa 1886 photo below. It looks like it could have been taken by the same itinerant photographer as Jiminnm's old photo!  |
