Approximate Years 1956-1959
Ages 20-23
It’s amusing to me to read my grandfather’s autobiography and his time in the Army. It was peacetime, that period after Korea before Vietnam that he was in the service. He spent his days in Germany, and battled seasickness to get there and back again. This tall behemoth of a fisherman, laid low by time on a boat. 🙂
Year: 1936
Sometimes, family history is passed down to those who merely want it or to the eldest, etc–but these heirlooms of human history are best served when it engages with genealogy, not merely ones personal genealogy, but the global genealogy. Shared.
I remember a feeling of gratitude when I stumbled upon a great great uncle’s eldest son’s eldest son’s ancestry page. He being the eldest of the eldest of the eldest had inherited all of the family photos. I as the eldest of the third, of the second, of the sixth, had nothing. But here he was, this distant cousin of mine, having scanned, dutifully attached, and shared this information out into the world. My information, his information… so many distant cousins able to SEE their great great grandfather because of his contribution to his far flung genetic and digital family.
This long ramble is to say, I’m the eldest of an eldest, and now I’m uploading my dearly missed grandfather’s baby book out into the world of current cousins, and the future second of fifth cousins who may become family genealogists, so that they might not be left in the dark.
Approximate Years 1952-1959
Ages 16-23
If someone wanted to know my grandfather’s hobby, every member of my family could answer “fishing” without skipping a beat. One year my grandfather had caught over 1,000 fish. He’s not a man to hyperbole, so he had given me the precise figures, cataloged by species in a letter written in his delicate cursive. He explained what he had done with what fish–and which ones he preferred baked to fried. It was a letter, but he smacked his lips, I could hear it.
I’m posting in five-page segments. It’s relatively short five pages since it was hand-written–but it gives me time to do a little research. And, to fit more pictures in. 🙂
This section jumps pretty quickly from 16 years old to Germany in the army, so it clips along.
The VanNostrand Homestead – Dalton, New YorkApproximate Years 1946-1952
Ages 10-16
This is a continuation of the previous post of my grandfather VanNostrand’s autobiography.
Dalton Main StreetApproximate Years 1942-1946
Ages 6-10
This is a continuation of the previous post of my grandfather’s autobiography.
Approximate Years 1940-1942
Ages 4-6
There is never enough to satisfy genealogy, which seeks to fill in every hole in time even when there is no putty to fill the gaps. An autobiography to a family genealogist is a great slather of plaster, a wall of history (from one perspective) smoothed.
My grandfather died in April, and we haven’t reached the first anniversary of the event. Like I usually do, I wrote a blog post to work through it on my writing blog. Around Thanksgiving my husband and I and our son flew out to visit my grandmother…and she bestowed upon me the items of greatest value (to me), photos, diaries, marriage certificates to Great Great grandparents, and… my grandfather’s autobiography.
My grandfather always had a sharp memory, recalling the exact reel make and model he used to catch what size and species of fish in what river in what year, and the first and last name of the dummy friend who told him to use some cockamamie bait vs the bait he had chosen (as you might guess, he was more successful–but he was a master fisherman). So it comes to no surprise to me that he recalls the street, people, and school names when recalling what would be nearly six to seven decade old memories. I was blessed with a similar memory, but not nearly his proficiency for name recall.
I’m posting in five-page segments. It’s relatively short five pages since it was hand-written–but it gives me time to do a little research. And, to fit more pictures in. 🙂
This is the second part of a recording done by my great grandmother LuElla Rice, about 10 years before she passed away.
LuElla Frame Rice (1919-2005):
Download (.mp3, 14.5Â mb):Â Audio File
— Side 1 —
Author’s Note: My sister found these tapes after my grandmother Carol passed away, and gave them to me to preserve. My great grandmother LuElla is 75 years old when she recorded this in 1994, and I found the process cathartic, re-listening to the warbling voice of my great grandmother while the familiar sound of their wind-up clock ticked on endlessly in the background.
Download (.mp3, 25mb):Â Audio
Speaker: LuElla Frame Rice (1919-2005):
“I was 75 years old yesterday. Jan 15 1994. I was born in Portland, Oregon during the big flu epidemic. Born at home while father was out trying to find an available doctor. Married Thomas Fredrick Rice April 4th 1936 on McCoy Street, Hollywood District, in Salem, Oregon at Aunt Ruthie’s house. Honeymoon at the Rices’ Cabin on the Little North Fork. I was a homemaker–I AM a homemaker.”
Great Grandma (LuElla Frame) and Grandpa Thomas Rice
Of the North Shore 