My Grandparents

Here are my grandparents as I remember them. They'd moved from their big house to this little cottage. My grandma had to give up her grand piano and was so sad about it. None of her grown children had room for it either and so she had to sell it. They don't look thrilled, do they?

I remember my grandfather was dour and stern and so I rmeember he always looked grumpy. My grandma, though, usually smiled for pictures.

This is more the way I remember my grandma. She loved her garden! Grandma is a mixture of heritages. One side of her family has lived on Long Island almost from the beginning. She was related to the Smiths and Ketchams, two prominent Long Island famillies.

She is also descended from a French Huegenot, Ruel Rulon. His brothers smuggled him out of the country by hiding him in a wine barrel headed for "the colonies". He landed in Barnegat NJ and went on to found a family that eventually included my great-grandfather, a lighthouse keeper.


Here Grandma looks very serious again but she's in her kitchen. I thiink she loved this room best of all. You can't tell it from this picture though!


I don't know a lot about my grandfather except that:
He was from Arendal, Norway; was a fisherman and a carpenter (hmmm); was a Seventh Day Adventist and read from his Bible daily; was totally against guns; had two deaf sisters, was hearing impaired and suffered from diabetes; and raised sunflowers. He just loved them. I learned from my grandma's diary that he was an abusive man, beating on not only Grandma but his own children as well.

I'll write more stories as I remember them.

Beginnings

I started this blog with the idea that I'd go back and find pictures to blog about...pictures from my life.

I used to have pictures of my great-grandparents but those old photos have fallen apart and are gone. I think that's why I want to do this blog.



Here are my maternal grandparents at Seagate in 1915. They were married the following year on October 21, 1916. When this picture was taken, my grandmother was around 19 and grandfather was around 21. They were so young!

My grandmother was born here in the United States. Her family had been around since before the Revolutionary War. My grandfather emigrated from Norway. I still have family living there.




By 1927, Grandma was the mother of five children. I can't even imagine that! When I was her age, I hadn't even had Billy yet! My mother was born in 1930 and so she isn't in this picture. The baby is my aunt Betty and the four boys are (starting from behind Grandma's head) my uncles John, Russell, Gilbert and Bjorn.



Here is my grandfather with the kids. He doesn't look so terribly stern does he? Yet he was and he used to scare the dickens out of me! He was always gruff and cold. I don't remember him ever hugging me. On the other hand, my grandmother was always warm and loving.



This is a picture of my grandfather's younger sister, Ruth. She still lived in Norway and was in touch with us for many years.





Here is my grandmother on my dad's side of the family and her brother. I'm not sure where or when the picture was taken. My grandmother may have been as much as 10 years older than my other grandmother. I'm not sure where her brother ended up but my grandparents emigrated here from Ireland during the turn of the century. My grandmother was a super in her apartment building in the Bronx. I'm not sure about my grandfather; he was blinded by glaucoma. Sounds like A Tree Growns In Brooklyn, doesn't it?

Of all four grandparents, I know the most about my maternal grandmother thanks to her stories and thanks to members of the family interested in geneaology!