It would be nice to know how my Father’s parents ( My Grandparents ) met. That information was never passed down. They didn’t meet at Church because they went to different churches. They must have met at some neighborhood function…they lived about a mile or two apart. They were married in 1911.
I unearthed a few old photos.
My Grandfather Sam, Grandmother Hilda, Great Uncle Ike and the rest of the people are unknowns. Visitors posed in front of the car they came in.
My Aunt Anna, Grandma Hilda and Grandpa Sam. Anna was their youngest child she was born in the Fall of 1935…Grandma would have been 46 years old and Grandpa was 45 years old. All together they had fourteen children; twelve sons and two daughters. My Aunt looks maybe about 12 years old..so that would date this photo to 1947 or so.
My grandmother wore a scarf or a huivi ( who VEE). I can almost smell the mothballs on my grandfathers wool clothing. Inside those pockets are where he kept the mints…large pink or white mints about the size of a quarter but thicker. After you greeted him in Finn Paivaa Paivaa ( PIE- Vah) and shook his hand you would get a mint…but just one.
He looks half dressed, no belt, no tie. Was he going to church, I wonder? I would have been five years old in 1947. That was a long time ago, huh? Enjoy the Roots series, I hope there's more. :-)
ReplyDeleteYou make me realize I don't even know how MY parents met, yet I do know how my Mom's parents met. I guess I am going to have to ask now!
ReplyDeleteThese are delightful. My mother told me that my grandparents would hang up their clothes after church and the men would wear the same suit Sunday after Sunday. Mothballs were always in the closets, I can almost smell them when you describe your grandfather. My grandpa always had buckeyes in his pocket for good luck.
ReplyDeleteMy dad says "Wow! that car looks like a 1947-8 Studebaker Commander!" His neighbor used to have one (when he was a little boy.) He thinks the pickup truck is also a Studebaker.
ReplyDeleteMy Mom & Dad met at a box social; perhaps that was the case with your grandparents.
ReplyDeleteLovely picture of your family. Your grandmother was in darn good shape for having that many children! Bless her heart! Amazing how hard they worked back then.
ReplyDeleteHad to have boys to help work on the farm, but good for her to have two girls to help her.
ReplyDeleteMy hubby's mom was in her 40s when he was born, too. He was quite the surprise, as I take it.
ReplyDeleteI wish my grandparents had taught my dad a few words of Polish, but unlike today, that was not the way then. They were in America, you spoke English.
Thanks for post and pictures.
The clothing style brings back many memories as the same thing was worn here. We had the same old guys with mints or nickels.
ReplyDeleteFourteen kids! And 12 of them sons! Quite a family.
ReplyDeleteJust one is the way it is to be. I like that. I only know on my father's side as my grandparents' parents were the ones who helped build the church. That was a church in Union County Iowa with a door for the men and a door for the women. I think it was Lutheran. One family was German, Burgus and the other English, Turner. That is the one I would like to have figured out.
ReplyDeleteGreat photos :-)
ReplyDeleteSuch big family's back then, could not imagine...great pictures, Francine.
ReplyDeleteHave you ever noticed how all the ancestors lined up in front of the vehicles...all of our black and white photos look just like yours. It's darling.
ReplyDeleteJen
Did the mints taste a little like moth balls?
ReplyDeleteI don't know how my folks met, let alone my grandparents. Maybe that's why I love hearing stories about people's families...because I know so little about my own. ;)