Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Meeting the Grands...

Donna Pointkouski has an interesting post, Meeting Great-Grandma, in which she discusses longevity and over-lapping generations. Her post prompted me to take a look at my database. Even though I knew some of my “grands” had lived long lives, I was surprised at how many were alive during my lifetime.

My Dad knew 3 of his 4 grandparents but all of his great-grandparents were long gone before he was born.

Mom was in her late teens when her grandfather, Charles Brubaker, passed away though she says she never met him (he moved to Mississippi before she was born). She was in her mid to late 20s when the other three grandparents died and she knew each one of them. She met two of her great-grandmothers and one great-grandfather but would have only been 4-8 years old when they died. However, she says she remembers them.

Although one of my great-grandfathers and all four of my great-grandmothers were living when I was born, I don't personally have any memory of any of them. I would have been between the age of two and ten when they died. They all lived within 15 miles of where we lived.

Dad's mother's mother (i.e., my Great-Grandmother) Nancy Jane (Lavering) Shuder died January 2, 1954. I was not quite six years old when she passed away at the age of 99.

His father's mother, Amanda (Alexander) Wiseman was also still living when I was born. I was two years old when she died June 2, 1950 at the age of 89.

Mom's mother's mother, Maude (Wise) Brubaker died February 14, 1953, aged 75; I was almost 5 years old. Maude is in the middle, her granddaughter Phyllis (Phend) Mitchell is on the left and her daughter, Hazlette (Brubaker) Phend is on the right.

Mom's father's mother, Susie (Yarian) Phend died April 29, 1956 at age 84; I was 8 years old.

Of my great-grandfathers, only Mom's father's father, Henry A. Phend was still living when I was born. He passed away July 10, 1958 at the age of 92; I was 10 years old.

Henry and Susie (Yarian) Phend with their great-grandchildren at their 60th Wedding Anniversary Celebration in September 1952. I'm sitting on the ground on the left side of the picture.

4 comments:

Kathy Reed said...

Great post. I enjoyed reading it.

Anonymous said...

Your post intrigued me so I did a little digging tonight. I was very lucky to have a close relationship with my grandparents. Even though they all lived in Missouri and we were in Illinois, we visited them at least 4 times a year. While my paternal grandfather died when I was 8, I was 19, 23, and 32 when the other three died. Only my paternal grandmother and John's maternal grandmother were alive when my children were born and we have pictures of my kids with each of them.

As far as my great-grandparents go, of the 8, there were only 2 alive when I was born. One died two months after I was born, the other, Dan Hutcheson, died when I was 7. Great-grandpa Hutcheson lived the last few years of his life with my grandmother, so I have vague memories of him, and we also have pictures of him with me. Of John's 8 great-grandparents, only 2 were alive when he was born. One died when he was 3 and he never met him, the other died when John was 6 and he met her once - don't know if any pictures were taken at that time.

Thanks for getting me to look at some of my family files :). I really need to get my stuff organized! Hope your mom is doing okay. Babs

Coloring Outside the Lines said...

Nice post- thanks for sharing!

Barbara Poole said...

I loved looking at the pictures and reading how long your ancestors lived. Too bad that you can't remember your great-grandmothers, but at least you have photos of them, and one with you in it.