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Amazing How Quickly We Age

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ChanceMcCall

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My wife and I were going through an old box today and found things that triggered our memories:

My paternal grandfather was born during the Civil War, and his father had brought a troop of men from Germany to fight for the British in the Revolutionary War;
Both of our fathers were born before the first airplane flight in Kitty Hawk;
Both of our fathers took their first flights in bi planes;
Both of our fathers remember the Titanic disaster;
My father's family's first car was a 4 cylinder Great Arrow made by Pierce Arrow;
Their first tractor on our farm was from Waterloo Gasoline Traction Engine Company;
Both of our fathers could have fought in WWI, but they were busy on family farms- My father sought a special exemption for his age (too old) and fought in WWII;
My wife in Girl Scouts and myself in Boy Scouts both marched in Memorial Day parades with Spanish American War veterans (one of whom was in the Rough Riders);
The phones my wife and I grew up with were crank phones and made our calls through our Central Station Operator;
We had a Jr. High and High School Rifle Team whose range was in the attic of the school;
My wife invited me to a Sadie Hawkins dance in Jr. High and I bought her box lunches and dinners all through Jr. High and High School at the box lunch/dinner socials thanks to her younger brother informing me as to which lunches and suppers were hers.

What about you? How many years do your family memories go back?
 
ChanceMcCall said:
My wife and I were going through an old box today and found things that triggered our memories:

My paternal grandfather was born during the Civil War, and his father had brought a troop of men from Germany to fight for the British in the Revolutionary War;
Both of our fathers were born before the first airplane flight in Kitty Hawk;
Both of our fathers took their first flights in bi planes;
Both of our fathers remember the Titanic disaster;
My father's family's first car was a 4 cylinder Great Arrow made by Pierce Arrow;
Their first tractor on our farm was from Waterloo Gasoline Traction Engine Company;
Both of our fathers could have fought in WWI, but they were busy on family farms- My father sought a special exemption for his age (too old) and fought in WWII;
My wife in Girl Scouts and myself in Boy Scouts both marched in Memorial Day parades with Spanish American War veterans (one of whom was in the Rough Riders);
The phones my wife and I grew up with were crank phones and made our calls through our Central Station Operator;
We had a Jr. High and High School Rifle Team whose range was in the attic of the school;
My wife invited me to a Sadie Hawkins dance in Jr. High and I bought her box lunches and dinners all through Jr. High and High School at the box lunch/dinner socials thanks to her younger brother informing me as to which lunches and suppers were hers.

What about you? How many years do your family memories go back?
Click to expand...
Hey Chance, I took my Hunter's Safety course in 1980, and we practiced and tested out shooting .22LRs (Those vinyl-stocked semi-autos) in the basement of an active public grade school. Yes, a public grade school had a shooting range as recently as 1980. I can't come close to anything else you got there...
 
On my Father's side, we're Scots/Irish and English that settled in Virginia, on my Mother's side, we're Ukrainian.
Dad's side was dirt poor, Mom's side wasn't much better off, coal miners in Pennsylvania and West Virginia.
Outside of those vague details, I don't have much more to go on.
Of the relatives I know of, my Maternal grandfather, my Dad, a great uncle and uncle on my Dads side, and myself are the only ones that have worn a uniform. My Maternal Grandfather was in the Navy in WWII, on my Dads side Uncle Johnny was an Army veteran who fought in the Pacific, Uncle Lyle was an electrician in SAC, my Dad is a Marine, just like me.
 
Scots Irish and English on my mother’s side. They came from County Cork over to Canada in the 1850s. Settled in south central Ontario, Canada. They were farmers.
I never knew my biological father, but his family came from Czechoslovakia. Farmers as well, settled in Lethbridge, Alberta. I don’t know much about my father’s family, but my mother’s side has a long line of military and law enforcement. My grandad served in the Algonquin Regiment during WWII and became a police officer in Ontario. He retired an Inspector.
 
I think what struck my wife and I the most was looking at pictures of relatives that fought in the Revolutionary War and the Civil War. Then we looked at pictures of us marching with and talking to Spanish American War vets.

For me, the idea that my great grandfather fought in the Revolution, or that my grandfather was alive in the civil war is just amazing. 😵‍💫

Then all the technology changes even in our lifetime as well as the social changes. I bet most of the younger ones don't know what a Sadie Hawkins dance or a box social even is, let alone participated in one.
 
Hi,

My father was a Navy SeaBee (CB) and saw combat in Korea. He was in the reserves for several years after he returned. I was just a little shaver when he took me on base to the armory and put a Colt 1911 in my hand. It was HEAVY. Later in grade school the NRA came to teach us all basic safety and marksmanship, mostly hunting related. We used BB guns. We had little black and white TV sets with 12" round screens in large furniture cabinets that took five minutes to warm up. We had party lines on our telephones. A call for our number (four digits for a local call) would be a long and a short ring. Sometimes we'd pick up on the "two short rings" and listen in on the neighbor's call. My town had one caution light on the "major" intersection downtown. It flashed yellow on the "main" road and red on the cross street. Every other intersection had stop signs or was uncontrolled. We walked to school uphill, both ways, in the snow. ;)


Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff
 
Depends on where the info came from, but most reliable info was from my dad as his BIL is usually full of it and not sure when to believe him! My mother's maiden name is Norris (like Chuck's after the z was replaced with an s). This was done after 3 brothers came to America from Norway. Supposedly 1 brother is my great-great (or great) grandfather. My uncle is a story teller and will have you believing him. Not sure about my dad's side when his Deutsch side came over, but possibly in late 1800's as my grandfather was born in 1900 in America. His uncle (if iirc) was held hostage by Machine Gun Kelly. In the 80's there was only 300 families in America with our last name. My mother's side is mainly English, dad's is mainly Deutsch w/his mother being 1/2 (on her father's side) American Indian/NAI. She always said that's where she gets her temper from :ROFLMAO: .
 
Earliest known maternal-side relative fought in the French & Indian War and an officer in the Revolutionary War, so roots go back to at least the first 1/2 of the 1700's.

Subsequently various relatives in the Civil, WW1, WW2 & the Korea War.

Male paternal-side came over from Europe in the late 1800's, unknown about paternal grand mothers side but likely arrived in the mid-1800's.

Both settled west of the Appalachian Mtns in the SE Ohio, W. PA & N. W. Virginia area.

Main Euro heritage from southern Germany & Switzerland, and might have some N. American Indian on my paternal grand mothers side but not confirmed (so won't do a Elizabeth Warren) so need to do an in-depth DNA test for that.

Basically, we're all mutts.

My .02
 
that is some interesting backgrounds
mine....adopted but parents are irish on one side and texan german on the other
plus my mom was adopted and her dad was blackfoot indian, oil field welder in longview tx and his wife german settler from arkansas
so we are a real mixed pot of peoples

explains why i am so weird
 
I’ll elaborate on the adopted part:

I do not know my biological parents. I was put up for adoption at birth by my birth mom. Adopted straight from the hospital several days old. A newborn.
My current parents could not have children as dad has cancer at 22 upon leaving the Marine Corps when he was married to mom.
Since they could not have children, they put in for an adoption agency.
I was “selected”.
My parents never met my birth mom. Part of the “contract” back then for adoption.

Since I was old enough to remember or understand , my parents explained adoption and told me that my brother and I were adopted .

I have never, ever wanted to know more about my biological mother. She gave me up for a reason. May have been best for her at the time. Who knows. She had her reasons.
She would be happy knowing it was possibly for the best.
My parents are well educated and supported my brother and I as their own biological. We have a close family unit, and we all see each other regularly, and I am 53.
I love my parents. I hope my biological mom would know I’ve had a wonderful life that she may not have been able to provide, and my adopted parents are “my biological parents”. Provided me everything a son could hope for with love and compassion.
 
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