what did people do.........

[Gail T AGAIN]

My dad is 85, I have been talking about the yrs past. he was telling me how cars didn't have heat, he was born in his house, supported his family when his dad died. I am sure he has told me more but I have a bad memory. what are some of the stories you have heard from an older person whether it is a family member or not.?

 

[Tony-NJ]

Grandmother, age 95 tells me stories! She lived in VA when she was born, when she was 16, A man who just came over from Italy came to live with her family and worked in the area. My Grandmother 16 at the time fought with her sister 14 who was going to get him!! LOL! Well my Grandmother won and dropped out of school to get married at age 16! I never met my grandfather but heard lots about him. When my Mother and siblings were young, the girls shared one bed, for heat my Grandfather used to put a heated stone wrapped in towels at the foot of the bed at night. My Grandgather worked on building the NY State Thruway!! It also used to freak me out when my Mother when she was young, used to go to the store to get a chicken for dinner and they would kill it right there!!

Great Thread!

 

[Kermit]

My dad isn't very old--he was born in 1950--but he was born at home a month early. My grandparents put him in a shoe box on the oven door to keep him warm. It's funny that Jacob was also born one month early, but we decided to keep him warm a different way. We moved all of the baby "stuff", like the rocking chair, bassinet, and changing table, into the master bedroom and got a ceramic heater to keep the room nice and toasty.

 

[nkjzmom]

My grandfather is 75. He grew up in rural Alabama and has all kinds of stories. When he was 8-9 he would go out hunting, just him and his dogs...if it got too late he'd put the dogs and himself up in a tree somewhere and spend the night there. My favorites are the ones that go like this..."I used to hunt right where the mall is now....it was nothing but woods." And "My family planted those trees they took down to build the KFC." He also tells all about wandering around town without shoes. He was the second to youngest of 11 children, so he followed his older bros and sisters around all the time. Usually he'd have to sneek because they didn't want him to come.

We once made a list of questions we wanted to ask Gma and Gpa (great Gma and Gpa for my kids) and went to their house, set up the videocamera, and "interviewed" them. It was so much fun. The kids had great questions like what kinds of toys they had, what color was their real hair (love that one), what did they learn about in school.

I honestly can't imagine what it will be like when they're gone, what a wealth of knowledge and experiences. I wonder what kinds of stories I'll have to tell my great grandchildren...

 

[Robinrs]

My Dad is 83. The stories he tells me of being the oldest child of 14 are amazing!

He had 7 sisters and 6 brothers. Every morning the food was served in a big bowl in the middle of the table and it was a mixture of whatever they had. You ate it and liked it because there was nothing else until evening, when they got another portion of another big bowl!

After breakfast, my Dad's job was to wash out baby's diapers. After a change, his Mom would throw them in a huge vat in the back yard with EVERYTHING still in them! He would tell me about the stench and how the "little" surprises would be floating on the top of the water... !!!

Then he had to help get the kids ready for school. He knew how to do hair and dress a child like a pro. THEN he went to school.

My Dad always loved animals but was not allowed to keep one because his Dad wouldn't allow another mouth to be fed in the house. He would tell me how he kept dogs out in the wood and how he would keep food under his shirt to feed them. He told me he got plenty whippings for doing that but didn't care. He once kept a dog for 10 years that way! I know I inherited my love for animals from him!

My Dad's experience as an oldest child continues to this day. He always knew how to be a "Daddy" and still is the best!

My favorite story is how he would tell us how he laid in bed and counted the stars!

 

[Mishetta]

My mother was born in North Africa in the 20's. I get to hear about how they had to sew by lantern, how they all not only shared a room but all the sisters (5 of them) slept in one bed (I still wonder how they did that), since there were 7 kids altogether, there were no Christmas presents, aside from a fresh orange ~ which they all cherished, how my mom was DD#4 so she wore hand me downs which were handed down 4 times, how they had to walk to the well to get water to wash dishes (I hear that one over & over & over ), how they used to have to walk a mile to school, but how they all seemed more fulfilled & had more time than we do nowadays.

Unfortunately, my DM also has memories of living through the war & how they had to jump in the trenches when they heard the whistling of a bomb being dropped. How all these American Soldiers used to stop by my grandparents farm & asked for fresh milk since it had been ages since they had had some. My grandmother would invite the soldiers in & feed them whatever they happened to have (if anything) at the time & the soldiers in turn would leave a can of some sort of veggie or tuna behind, or the biggest thrill would be if one of them had chocolates! Mind you none of them spoke the same language. My family only spoke Italian & French & here come American Soldiers, only speaking English! But my Mom says they were able to communicate just fine with pointing to things. Naturally, my grandfather used to make sure the soldiers knew that if they laid a hand on one of his daughters, it was "curtains" for them. How they went places in a horse & buggie (& she can't understand why sometimes on vacation my DH will splurge & "buy" us a 15 minutes horse & carriage ride) & now to do that here, it costs an arm & a leg!

My DM is 78 now. She still continues to tell me stories that I haven't heard yet. Some days something will happen that may spark a memory of something she lived through when her & her siblings were younger.

I will continue to treasure all those memories since now my DM has advanced cancer & I don't know how much longer I'll be able to hear her facinating stories.

(This is a super thread!)

 

[snoopy]

What a neat thread.

For all of you still lucky enough to have your parents and grandparents to share with you these wonderful stories, write them down! I feel so lost sometimes since both of my parents are dead, and my grandmother, who was the key to my mother's family history, died last year without me writing down all of her great stories. I've tried to recapture them in a journal, but I am sure there are many I've forgotten about. Luckily, my paternal Grandmother is still alive, and I've videotaped her, had her write letters to my kids to open when they come of age, and have also kept a journal of her stories.

 

[Tony-NJ]

Idea Snoopy. I never thought of doing that. I may start to write things down on my plane ride tomorrow.