Jump to content

Where did your grandparents live?


Airehead

Recommended Posts

My Dad's parents lived in the US their entire life. My Mom's parents were born in Poland, married in Germany after the war, then came to he US by ship to Ellis Island. Then to Michigan (they had relatives here). Became citizens (the real way), and the rest is history. Her father went back to Poland once to visit, but her Mom never did.

  • Heart 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

My paternal grandmother was an orphan growing up in NYC during the Depression. I believe my PGF also grew up in NYC, although I am not certain. They lived there most of their adult lives. 
 

my MGF was from Texas. English family that came to Jamestown. My MGM’s family were Scottish, settled in Virginia and North Carolina, then somewhat scattered with the Civil War. I don’t recall where she grew up, however.

  • Heart 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

My maternal grandparents moved to Dallas from East Texas.  They were from share cropping families.   My maternal grandfather worked for Dallas Fire Department for his entire career after returning from World War II and my maternal grandmother worked in the library for the Dallas School District.

My paternal grandparents lived most of their lives in Corpus Christi Texas where they moved during World War II so that my grandfather could work for the Naval Air Station as he was unable to enlist due to to having his pelvis crushed in a train coupler while working for the railroad.  He was born in Indian Territory in 1905 and worked for the railroad until his accident.  He met my grandmother while he was in the hospital.  She was a nurse.  Story goes she walked in and he told her he was going to marry her.

Between the accident and the war they ran a grocery store in Waco Texas which they sold to move to Corpus when the war broke out.  My grandfather taught himself the math to become a machinist and used that skill to support the war effort and after the war worked in the refineries in Corpus.  My grandmother worked as a nurse in area hospitals.

  • Heart 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

My maternal grandfather died when I was young, but we never lived more than 3 blocks from my grandmother.  She'd take care of us after school when we were young (and our school had half days for younger classes)  and my Mom was working.  Even when we got older, my Mom would visit her mother almost every weekday (my Mom was a teacher and would go visit after school let out).

My Dad's mother lived about a 20 minute drive away.

  • Heart 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Both sides were non-travellers.  My paternal grandparents lived a mile from where I grew up, on a street named after my family in an area in middle New Brunswick where the family has lived since the early 1700s.

My maternal grandparents lived about an hour from me.  They had moved there so my grandfather could work in the coal mines in the early 1900s.  Their family had come from 2 hours farther east, when that Acadian family had settled there in 1680.  Other than being deported to Louisiana in 1775 (Cajuns are technically my peeps) and returning to home area 55 years later, the family has always been in that area

  • Heart 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

My Dad's dad came from outside Glasgow. His dad died pneumonia & he went to his Mom's family. Reading between the lines i don't think it was great. He came to ellis island in 1922 or so. I looked on Ellis island register & it was right in that time frame. My Mom's dad was from Kansas where the (free labor) was lots of kids. All through Moms cousins it was 10-12 kids in a family. Grandpa moved to Portland to work in the shipyards. Bought a small farm outside Portland & ran a dairy route before going to work at his day job. 

I have 2 tapes of Scotland Grand dad. But it was made near the end of his life & he never got to the Coming to America part. I would have really liked to hear that part

  • Heart 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Both maternal and paternal grandparents were in southern Chinese villages..maternal in Toishan and paternal in Hoiping which in next door. Approx. 100 north of Guangdong (Canton).  It is the 4 district area where most of the Chinese immigrants came from to Canada and U.S.  For Canada from 1800's to  1960's this was where most of the railway workers, restaurant and laundry workers came from.  It was a poor area of China where land was not arable.  

Both my maternal and paternal great-grandfathers came by ship and worked in laundries and restaurants in 1900's -1930's in Canada and U.S. Each guy didn't know each other at all.  They returned to die in China. The federal law in Canada and U.S. (Chinese Exclusion Act) and head tax federal legislation in both countries, didn't allow them to bring their wives/children and later the law in both countries severely limited immigration. The law was specific to keep out the Chinese because of paranoia.

My grandparents never came nor visited Canada.  Just too expensive.  So immigrating to Canada...was saying good-bye to their parents in their 20's.....forever.

I speak..... Toishanese (a rural /village dialect)..which truly reflects long line of Chinese-Canadian history which pre-date Mandarin speakers and Hong Kong folks. And did I tell you, my mother was a picture bride..

  • Heart 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

My mother’s side were old money Atlanta. My grandfather was a corporate lawyer for Coca-Cola, and NAPA. 
Pop’s father was a country doctor and they lived in Mansfield (blink and you’ll miss it sized town). 
Both sides have been in Georgia for generations now. Antebellum for my mother’s side and colonial for my dad’s family. 
And both sides have been in America since the 1600s. My direct paternal ancestor, Thomas, landed in Jamestown in 1619 on the boat, George. 
My direct maternal ancestor Roger has his own Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Clapp. He came over from England on the Mary and John in 1629. 

  • Heart 1
  • Awesome 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

My mother’s parents lived in Elmira, NY their entire life. 
 

My Dad’s parents were vagabonds, started in Troy, NY. My Grandpa was a Ceramics professor, later a Ceramics executive in brick and tile companies. They lived in Hornell, NY, State College, PA, Cincinnati OH, Marshall TX and finally San Angelo TX. I think there were more towns in between Hornell and State College. 

  • Heart 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Boston. Paternal GF (Norman) was a bookkeeper. He died of a stroke at the age of 41. Leaving his wife, Mary (Mac Dougall) a widow with three kids. Dad, the youngest, was six. Mary Delaney worked for BG&E until she retired. 
Mom’s father, John O’Hara was a teacher and a principal of the elementary school in Belmont. He died from a heart attack in his 40s. His widow, Melania Ford raised their four kids (1 boy and 3 girls) Mom was #2 behind Frank. Melania worked as a teacher at the same school until she retired. The Boston lines came over from Ireland during the famine, some by way of Nova Scotia.

  • Heart 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

With both sets of grandparents they immigrated at least one generation prior, both then settling in Florida, making me a multi-generational native Floridian - which is very rare. It is all those transplant/retirees that ruined it!

Paternal grandparents were from St Petersburg which had limited contact with. Maternal grandparents were from Jacksonville where I was raised for the first 13 years...and feel like I am related to half the city. Not certain how my parents met, assume his entering and post WWII  discharge at Camp Blanding, but think they had a relationship prior to that introduced by mutual friends. Mom never discussed it and dad dies when I was 4 during the polio pandemic. At any rate, 2 brothers married cousins (as I like to say) making my aunt also my 2nd cousin.

  • Heart 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

My great grandparents on my mom’s side immigrated from Norway to Lyon Mt . NY, a small iron ore mining town. My grandfather and his three brothers all worked in the mines. They also all served in WW II and all were part of the D- day invasion.

My Great grandmother on Dads side was a Lakota Sioux from, i think either Kansas or Nebraska. G grandfather was French and Sioux. Not sure how my grandfather ended up in NNY. I do know my father had a half- sister in KS. My Dad’s mother was from northern Ontario and they were French and Cree. They relocated to the Tupper Lake region of the Adirondacks. Her father was a timber cruiser for Rich Lumber Co. There main mill was originally located in Wanakena NY, where i went to forestry school. 

  • Heart 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Paternal GF grew up in Holland and went to Indonesia in the early 1900’s as part of the Dutch Military. He met a local girl, stayed in Indonesia and died there during the Japanese occupation.  Paternal GM lived in Indonesia.

Maternal GF was Dutch but was born in Indonesia, married a mixed Dutch Indonesian lady.  MGF also died during the Japanese occupation.  

My parents, MGM, her 3 other kids & my dads siblings all fled to Holland as it was not safe for mixed Dutch to remain in Indonesia after Indonesia became an independent state.  Maternal GM being 100% Indonesian stayed behind.

My PGM died before I was born but my MGM visited often and I went to Holland several times while she was alive.  Awesome woman, I miss her. 

  • Heart 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

My maternal grandparents grew up on the South Dakota prairie just east of the Black Hills. They struggled as rancher. It was a hard scrabble life but it was what they knew. My mom talks of 5 of the kids all sharing a bed at one point. They moved to several locations in the region trying to get better land for their cattle. My mom. And the other 2 older sisters boarded at a convent in Hot Springs so they could complete high school. They worked as aids at the hospital for their other living expenses. My grandparents moved into Hot Springs before the next round of kids were old enough for high school. Grandpa got a job at the VA but always had some cattle. His last ranch owned land on Battle Mountain. The telephone company and later the cable company paid to place towers and dishes atop the mountain on his land. They basically paid for his retirement. 
My paternal grandfather was born in Iowa. They homestead in Nebraska and Northeast Colorado as well before he joined the Navy in WWI. He went to business college, bronco busted and other jobs. He eventually homesteaded in Northeast Wyoming and married my grandmother. He was nearly 40 when my dad was born. She was much younger and not a great person. Dad remembered seeing her in their bed with another man. They divorced and my dad lived with Grandpa. They moved to Newcastle, WY and grandpa delivered mail. He once got trapped in a blizzard for 4 days in a half track Model T delivery truck! 
I only met my grandmother once. My mom took me to the Woolworth in Rapid City. She was working the lunch counter. She was just an old lady to me. I had no connection. 

  • Heart 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

From a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity. A middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and lying between the pit of man's fears and the summit of his knowledge. That was the dimension of imagination. It is an area which we now call the 'Twilight Zone'.

  • Haha 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

There is a headstone in cemetery in Toronto for my paternal grandfather even though my grandfather has never been to Canada and is buried somewhere in his village area in China.  My father had it mounted as memorial.

My father is buried beside it...as planned.

Grandfather has a dedication ....who believed in education to better oneself and understanding of the world.  My father was sent to a boarding school in China...which was incredibly rare in 1930's, with alot of civil unrest, then Japan attacking.  My grandfather raised money and volunteers in his village to build a school for the kids.  

My father learned himself English when he had 5 young children, and achieved reading fluency to read Globe and Mail daily...since ESL in city west of Toronto didn't have classes for adults. After each night, working in a hot restaurant kitchen as a cook.

Grandpa got his wish.....all 6 grandchildren are Canadian university graduates with most of us employed in related jobs.

  • Heart 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I never met any of my grandparents. I was always told that they all died prior to my birth.  But doing my genealogy work, I found that my paternal grandparents, who lived in Stafford County, VA most of their lives, had moved to and died in the town I grew up in. And I discovered that I was 5 at the time they passed. I know my maternal grandparents lived in Warren County, VA all their lives. 

  • Heart 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, shootingstar said:

There is a headstone in cemetery in Toronto for my paternal grandfather even though my grandfather has never been to Canada and is buried somewhere in his village area in China.  My father had it mounted as memorial.

My father is buried beside it...as planned.

Grandfather has a dedication ....who believed in education to better oneself and understanding of the world.  My father was sent to a boarding school in China...which was incredibly rare in 1930's, with alot of civil unrest, then Japan attacking.  My grandfather raised money and volunteers in his village to build a school for the kids.  

My father learned himself English when he had 5 young children, and achieved reading fluency to read Globe and Mail daily...since ESL in city west of Toronto didn't have classes for adults. After each night, working in a hot restaurant kitchen as a cook.

Grandpa got his wish.....all 6 grandchildren are Canadian university graduates with most of us employed in related jobs.

My grandmother and to a lesser extent my mom had a hard time grasping the benefits of higher education and didn’t really push it on us. Hard work however was an emphasis as well as  doing your best.

After I left the PD and got into Security Management my mom just couldn’t wrap her head around what I did.  I remember one visit my Oma asked what I did for work. My Dutch is OK but I couldn’t answer that question in Dutch and my Oma spoke zero English. As I’m thinking what to say, my mom says, Chris has an office job!   My Oma, oooohhh an office job! 

That look was good enough for me, I have an office job!

  • Heart 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

43 minutes ago, ChrisL said:

My grandmother and to a lesser extent my mom had a hard time grasping the benefits of higher education and didn’t really push it on us. Hard work however was an emphasis as well as  doing your best.

After I left the PD and got into Security Management my mom just couldn’t wrap her head around what I did.  I remember one visit my Oma asked what I did for work. My Dutch is OK but I couldn’t answer that question in Dutch and my Oma spoke zero English. As I’m thinking what to say, my mom says, Chris has an office job!   My Oma, oooohhh an office job! 

That look was good enough for me, I have an office job!

Yes, my mother (who has gr.10 high school education level) and father (gr.12 high school which is the highest in China before college) don't really know what I do in current job.  Their understanding of a librarian's job (past career) is....probably same as everyone else in this forum. No concept of business cases, presenting to senior managment,etc. :flirtyeyess: I agree to them, an office job, or working in a non-labour is preferred (forgetting the folks in oil well drilling were earning tons of money in shitty weather during boom times).

But in the end, even they would have been happy we each were gainfully employed in any job, with no threat to our personal safety and health on the job.

Dearie's immigrant stepfather didn't want him to go to university. He had his own insecurity issues. His mother was mixed. Dearie at 16 yrs., was offered to inherit a bakery business from uncle in Germany. Dearie turned it down. Oh life destiny...may we make good positive choices in life!

Dearie worked at the grocery store for several years..to pay for university engineering education.  He and I  share some common things...at different times of life and what built our each of personalities/values...before we met.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My Dad's family...Eastern Tennessee..but earlier family members Russell County, VA...came to the US in 1740something....

My mom's  family....Came to the US in the early 1900's..from "The Kingdom of the Serbio Croats" borders changed a lot in those days..Slovenian and Croatian are what I have been told.

I grew up living with my Grandfather in Northern MN...where my mom returned after leaving my father.

  • Heart 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

My father's father was born in Williamsport, NW Pennsylvania of Irish Immigrant parents. He lived his adult life in Altoona, PA then Baltimore from WW2 on.

My father's mother was born in Altoona (Central) Pennsylvania of Alsatian/German Immigrant parents. She also later lived in Baltimore.

My mother's mother was born in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania of Polish Immigrant parents and lived her whole life there.

My mother's father was born in Warsaw, Poland, came to the USA at Philadelphia, had friends who played a joke on him and dropped him off good and drunk in 2-hour distant Wilkes-Barre, where he met my grandmother and spent the rest of his life there.

My ancestry.com DNA results show approx. 1/4 Irish, 1/4 German, and 1/2 Polish, so there are no genetic surprises for me except for 1% Jewish. My Polish grandfather's last name, Gryskiewicz, originated near Suwalki, Poland, which welcomed a large number of Jewish refugees from the Russian Czars persecutions from the 1700's on.  I'm guessing one of them is an ancestor of mine.

 

  • Heart 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 minutes ago, petitepedal said:

My Dad's family...Eastern Tennessee..but earlier family members Russell County, VA...came to the US in 1740something....

My mom's  family....Came to the US in the early 1900's..from "The Kingdom of the Serbio Croats" borders changed a lot in those days..Slovenian and Croatian are what I have been told.

I grew up living with my Grandfather in Northern MN...where my mom returned after leaving my father.

If it wasn't for changing borders, my ancestors wouldn't have been in the right place to eventually produce me!

My paternal grandmother, who baby-sat me when I was a kid, was the daughter of Wilhelmina and her husband John Hartzer. They fled Alsace in 1871 when it became a German territory after France lost the Franco-Prussian War.  They moved to Altoona, PA, had my grandmother, she met my grandfather, etc. etc. World War II brought my parents to the same place.  There went those Germans again!

  • Heart 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

My mom’s maternal grandparents lived in Ludlow and then Trinidad, Colorado. Her paternal grandparents lived in Villanueva, NM,  then Trinidad, Colorado. 
My dad’s maternal grandparents lived in London, Ohio. His paternal grandparents lived in Columbus. 
My grandparents lived in Pueblo, CO, and Columbus, OH. 

  • Heart 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

21 hours ago, Allen said:

My direct maternal ancestor Roger has his own Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Clapp. He came over from England on the Mary and John in 1629. 

Did a little digging. Found Roger’s childhood home in England. https://goo.gl/maps/ZgJ2oQpg2WWejLTR6
Also found a list of the names of his 14 children. Wow, he saddled his kids with some doozies. 
 

  • SAMUEL Born 11 Oct 1634 Died 16 Oct 1708
  • WILLIAM Born 5 July 1636 Died 22 Sept. 1638
  • ELIZABETH Born 22 June 1638 Died 25 Dec. 1711
  • EXPERIENCE Born 23 Aug. 1640 Died 1 Nov. 1640
  • WAITSTILL Born 22 Oct 1641 Died 9 Aug. 1643
  • PRESERVED Born 23 Nov, 1643 Died 20 Sept. 1720
  • EXPERIENCE Born December, 1645
  • HOPESTILL Born 6 Nov. 1647 Died 2 Sept. 1719
  • WAIT Born 17 March 1649 Died 2 May 1717 
    Married Jonathan Simpson
  • THANKS Born July 1651
  • DESIRE Born 17 Oct 1652 Died December 1717
  • THOMAS Born April 1655 Died 1670
  • UNITE Born 13 October 1656 Died 20 March 1686
  • SUPPLY Born 30 October 1660 Died 5 March 1686

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

44 minutes ago, Allen said:

Did a little digging. Found Roger’s childhood home in England. https://goo.gl/maps/ZgJ2oQpg2WWejLTR6
Also found a list of the names of his 14 children. Wow, he saddled his kids with some doozies. 
 

  • SAMUEL Born 11 Oct 1634 Died 16 Oct 1708
  • WILLIAM Born 5 July 1636 Died 22 Sept. 1638
  • ELIZABETH Born 22 June 1638 Died 25 Dec. 1711
  • EXPERIENCE Born 23 Aug. 1640 Died 1 Nov. 1640
  • WAITSTILL Born 22 Oct 1641 Died 9 Aug. 1643
  • PRESERVED Born 23 Nov, 1643 Died 20 Sept. 1720
  • EXPERIENCE Born December, 1645
  • HOPESTILL Born 6 Nov. 1647 Died 2 Sept. 1719
  • WAIT Born 17 March 1649 Died 2 May 1717 
    Married Jonathan Simpson
  • THANKS Born July 1651
  • DESIRE Born 17 Oct 1652 Died December 1717
  • THOMAS Born April 1655 Died 1670
  • UNITE Born 13 October 1656 Died 20 March 1686
  • SUPPLY Born 30 October 1660 Died 5 March 1686

 

very interesting names....

Those with other family languages, may have as equally interesting lst names.

  • Heart 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

12 hours ago, Allen said:

Did a little digging. Found Roger’s childhood home in England. https://goo.gl/maps/ZgJ2oQpg2WWejLTR6
Also found a list of the names of his 14 children. Wow, he saddled his kids with some doozies. 
 

  • SAMUEL Born 11 Oct 1634 Died 16 Oct 1708
  • WILLIAM Born 5 July 1636 Died 22 Sept. 1638
  • ELIZABETH Born 22 June 1638 Died 25 Dec. 1711
  • EXPERIENCE Born 23 Aug. 1640 Died 1 Nov. 1640
  • WAITSTILL Born 22 Oct 1641 Died 9 Aug. 1643
  • PRESERVED Born 23 Nov, 1643 Died 20 Sept. 1720
  • EXPERIENCE Born December, 1645
  • HOPESTILL Born 6 Nov. 1647 Died 2 Sept. 1719
  • WAIT Born 17 March 1649 Died 2 May 1717 
    Married Jonathan Simpson
  • THANKS Born July 1651
  • DESIRE Born 17 Oct 1652 Died December 1717
  • THOMAS Born April 1655 Died 1670
  • UNITE Born 13 October 1656 Died 20 March 1686
  • SUPPLY Born 30 October 1660 Died 5 March 1686

 

Interesting names.  I'd love to know more--- keep digging.

  • Heart 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 minutes ago, Airehead said:

I'd love to know more

Given the number of times my parents have been married, I calculate the number of my grandparents to be somewhere between 24 and 44. Of course some of those have also divorced and remarried. You can't get much more than that.

  • Confused 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, donkpow said:

Given the number of times my parents have been married, I calculate the number of my grandparents to be somewhere between 24 and 44. Of course some of those have also divorced and remarried. You can't get much more than that.

You understand how biology works, don't you???  You're pretty much stuck with a max of 4 and a min of 2 grandparents.

  • Awesome 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

My paternal grandparents immigrated from Windsor, Ont. Canada when my dad was 3.   I guess they were a founding family of some town near Stratford.

My maternal grandparents were in Michigan most of their lives.  They moved to Arizona when my youngest aunt graduated high school

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My paternal grandparents both were from western PA.  Not far from LJ.  After WWI my grandfather worked as a lineman stringing wire for the newfangled phones.  My grandmother worked as a telephone operator.  The rest is history.  Actually her parents didn't like him so they stole away to western NY State (Ferdonia area) and eloped one weekend.  My grandfather died the same year I was born.  My grandmother was a very mean old woman and we had very little to do with her while I was growing up.

On my mothers side, her father's family was from Bradford PA (home of the Zippo lighter).  Her mothers family was from the Baltimore area.  I don't know the story as to how they met but as soon as they were married, they moved to Detroit (Highland Park - a city inside Detroit).  He was a machinist at Ford and was fortunate to work during the depression.  He died when my mother was about 10 and then her mother died when she was a young teen.  Her and her sister were sent to live with aunts in Bradford and the boys were sent to live with an aunt and uncle in Elmira NY.  My mother and sister were sent to a boarding school in Erie and it was there that she met my father shortly after he returned from WWII.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My dad's parents were both born in the States. He grew up in Albany, NY and she was from Worcester, MA as I understand it. I don't know if i ever heard how they met. 

I never knew my mom's father; he died when she was 17, sadly. 

My mom's mother's story is interesting - she was the youngest of three daughters. Her two older sisters were born in the US, then they went back to Poland to visit family. I'm not sure they knew my great-grandmother was pregnant when they left - this would have been 1921 and they ended up not being able to leave Poland because of the Soviet war. So my grandmother was born in Poland and i think they were able to come back (to Schenectady NY) when she was 1. 

So based on the timing (and the kids' exposure to language), my grandma's older sisters had Polish accents even though they were born in the US - while my grandma, born in Poland, never had an accent. At least that's the story i was told.  Last Thursday would have been my grandma's 100th birthday. 

  • Heart 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...