The most interesting story I heard was that my grandma's brother knocked up someone in high school (In 1921/1922) and then married the girl he knocked up. Their wedding gift was actually a house. Not bad. They only had the one child that brought them together, and it actually turned out well. He was apparently an almost perfect son who would end up being a chemical engineer. The funny part about the knocked up part is that apparently my grandmas brother and wife were very conservative, well behaved, quiet, perfect "pitch fork picture" people who you could never imagine conceiving a child before marriage.
It's stories like these that you don't want to lose. (Although some in my family might be embarrassed to talk about it..but I think most of them are LONG LONG dead...and if they are alive, they certainly don't know google) They help bring the people in the family trees alive. Plus it's a great story. I learned this while traveling through Ridgefield today. We also stopped at a few cemeteries in Ridgefield and I took notes of who is buried where and why they are important.
Also found out my grandmother was scared and uncomfortable around one of her cousins because he was apparently quiet and sneaky...and maybe a little too touchy feely.
My grandmother also didn't appreciate that one of her cousins would sit on my grandpas lap at family gatherings, sometimes with a drink in hand. Some relatives thought my grandmas cousin had a crush on my grandpa.
My father uncle and I also toured around the old Family Farm that we know nothing about. Absolutely nothing. We still know nothing, other than that there are a lot of HUGE houses currently there. Too bad our family was never really going to inherit it.
I am searching for grave information on several relatives that we don't know about, but recently found out about. I wonder if any were buried by the old family farm. We can't really walk around the old farm to see old buildings or structures and just explore because it's all private driveways and roads. Roads with gates. This is an exclusive place now. It probably wasn't quite as exclusive when family had it.
At the time you could have been cash poor and land rich.
Family (way way back) also had land by Round Hill Rd in Greenwich, CT which is one of the most expensive places in the country. However, no family we ever knew owned it and when they did it was probably not worth anything close to what it is worth now.
The land that family owned, especially the one with the Hill named after us in Stamford/Greenwich border became valuable when New York and the U.S. economy became really powerful. Powerful people would commute in to New York from our part, or have summer homes. That is where the expensive property comes from.
One of our relatives apparently sold a family farm in Pound Ridge (my grandmas cousin) for peanuts. She was no good with money. It is rumored however, that the house that was in the families possession at one time served as a place that took care of wounded Revolutionary War veterans, and I had heard, Red Coats.
Apparently my paternal grandpas side of the family may have had two New York City Police Officers in its history. Definitely one according to a census.
My dad's side of the family, especially the Irish side seemed to have lots of roots in the Catholic Church in various capacities. I learned that at the time, when Irish were immigrating into the country, that Irish people would gravitate to the church and would adore priests because priests were the only educated people that the Irish knew. The church served as a great resource to Irish people.
No comments:
Post a Comment