Was your Grandpa cool ?
- Thread starter leftywoody
- Start date
I wasn't referring to your grandad falling out of a train. It was your ending comment that I found funny
Tom
Well, I don't know if my grandfather was that cool. He smoked like a chimney. He worked in a factory I think. He was an excellent photographer and had a darkroom setup in his basement. But he mostly kept to himself.
But my great-grandfather seems to have been the upscale tailor in the town of Mansfield. He came from Bavaria with nothing. Inside of five years he had a tailoring shop for high-end suits right on main street and a separate house on 4th street. And in 1905 he had a phone at BOTH home and office! And a listing in the directory. And fire insurance on both. He had a car, not sure what kind though; some relative has the photo and I'm still trying to find out who. Great grandpa had serious money and status in Mansfield Ohio. Today, one of his suits is in a museum in (I think) Galion, and others turn up still on vintage clothing sites. Later in his life, suddenly he caught diphtheria and died. Long before I was born.
Coming to America with nothing, working your butt off, and making it big - my whole family dreamt of that and kept on coming here. He was kind of a hero to us. I feel like he was pretty cool.
But my great-grandfather seems to have been the upscale tailor in the town of Mansfield. He came from Bavaria with nothing. Inside of five years he had a tailoring shop for high-end suits right on main street and a separate house on 4th street. And in 1905 he had a phone at BOTH home and office! And a listing in the directory. And fire insurance on both. He had a car, not sure what kind though; some relative has the photo and I'm still trying to find out who. Great grandpa had serious money and status in Mansfield Ohio. Today, one of his suits is in a museum in (I think) Galion, and others turn up still on vintage clothing sites. Later in his life, suddenly he caught diphtheria and died. Long before I was born.
Coming to America with nothing, working your butt off, and making it big - my whole family dreamt of that and kept on coming here. He was kind of a hero to us. I feel like he was pretty cool.
I ran across this picture of Grandpa Wood age 40, standing by the tree , next to his Blacksmith shop . This was taken in the very early 1930's . My grandma is fixing her hair on the porch , perhaps getting herself presentable for this photo . My dad is at the front steps of the house being curious . Grandpa looked young , strong and tough as nails , like a blacksmith should . When I knew him many years later , he was very aged and rested a lot . I remember him as a happy kind and slightly deaf fellow that was delighted to have us come to visit him on his farm . He would stay close to his overstuffed chair and jingle change in his pockets to settle his nerves . When my grandsons come to visit I sometimes grab a little change and put it in my pockets to play with . I can still clearly hear him jingle change as if it were yesterday .
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Yeah, that is good.
The cars, the houses, the (look out!) leaning over power poles that look like they were trees yesterday and about to attack the house.
The cars, the houses, the (look out!) leaning over power poles that look like they were trees yesterday and about to attack the house.
That's a marvellous photo Woody. I must have a look amongst the old family photos and try and find the photo of my great grandad's blacksmith shop
That picture was taken in a small ancient town called Mongo Indiana . It is located in the north east section of the state about 10 miles south of the Michigan line and 20 miles west of the Ohio line . It looks like it could be taken anywhere in the U.S. . That area has a huge section of land owned by the Indiana Department of Natural Resources to this day .The area has great hunting and fishing because of the many lakes , rivers , and woods . Where I grew up was just 5 miles north of Mongo , I was told , when Grandpa's shop caught on fire and was still burning , he went in to the fire and rescued his forge . The tar paper on the roof was melting from the heat and tar dripped on the top of his shoulders , burning them . Years later , I used to go out in the shop at his farm and play with that forge because it had a crank on it and it made a neat whirring sound . This is a picture of a forge that would have been just like the one I played with .
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I've heard of Mongo. I'm up in Indy here, and at first I thought it was a Flash Gordon reference. But people told me it was a little town. We've had people come through our building from LeGrange too. I love the old photo. I should scan my great grandpa's tailor shop too, and post it. It's not the greatest photo; it's from a couple days after he first opened. I like looking into the past through old photos like this. Thanks for sharing.
I would love to see old photos from anyone , in this conversation , who can provide them . It really is helpful in understanding the stories told .
Funny you should mention this Woody because I was thinking about starting a thread with a title, something like "Old Photos". I know there must be a lot of them out there, stashed in drawers or in old photo albums. Everyone seems to enjoy seeing old pictures, no matter the subject.
Would there be any interest from the members? I'll open a thread in 'The Tavern' and see what happens.
Tom
I never new my grandfather he died before I was born. He and my Grandmother had thirteen kids and made it on very little money. At some point in his life he drove street cars in San Jose Calif. I think it was around the 1920s. Later in his life he was a supervisor of a prune orchard, thats what they were called back then. San Jose was know as the prune capital of the world and if you were a native of San Jose you know as a prune picker.
The really neat thing about me and my Grandfather was that in the 1980s I worked for the Light Tail system in San Jose and we had gotten six trolleys that were restored to their original condition one of them was an original San Jose trolley. After the Trolleys were restored at Kelly Park by volunteers they given to the Light Rail system to drive around town. I use to drive these trolley for seventeen years and enjoyed every minute of it, and to think that my Grandfather probably drove one of the same cars 70 yeas earlier is unbelievable I wished I could have met him.
The really neat thing about me and my Grandfather was that in the 1980s I worked for the Light Tail system in San Jose and we had gotten six trolleys that were restored to their original condition one of them was an original San Jose trolley. After the Trolleys were restored at Kelly Park by volunteers they given to the Light Rail system to drive around town. I use to drive these trolley for seventeen years and enjoyed every minute of it, and to think that my Grandfather probably drove one of the same cars 70 yeas earlier is unbelievable I wished I could have met him.
Very cool story, Ron.
Would there be any way to trace the history, maybe the original routes of the trollys that were restored? It's possible you might be able to put your granddad's routes and the ones of the trollys together. Would take a lot of research.
But then, maybe it's better just to imagine that he drove one that you did. Too cool.
Thanks for sharing.
Tom
Would there be any way to trace the history, maybe the original routes of the trollys that were restored? It's possible you might be able to put your granddad's routes and the ones of the trollys together. Would take a lot of research.
But then, maybe it's better just to imagine that he drove one that you did. Too cool.
Thanks for sharing.
Tom
Tom I don't have any knowledge of the routes or years he drove the street cars it was too many years ago. I do have a few pictures of him in his uniform but I can't find them right now. I found these two pictures of one of the oringal street car in the early day and one with me and my friend in it posing the same way they did in their picture. We took this picture for Light Rail. I use to dress like this everyday.
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Marvellous pictures! I'm just old enough to remember the trolleys (we called them trams here in NZ) when they were still in service. I was really disappointed when the tram tracks were lifted and the trams were replaced by trolley buses and then finally diesel buses. Trams were much more fun
Intrepid I don't know if you know the story about the trolley's the United States? In the 30s Standard oil GM and Firestone bought almost all the trolley's in the United States and burned them all up there were very few left when they were done. They were sued and lost the case and were find 5000 dollars a piece for their conspiracy. Now some 80 years later were putting them into service and it's costing a lot of money.
Both my Grandpa's were more than cool! Now as of yesterday I became a Grandpa for the second time of yet another Grandson. I've got 4 Son's and now 2 Grandson's! My Dad is the Best! If it weren't for him and them, there would be no "us".
Boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy and on and on
Boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy and on and on
Yes I did hear about that dastardly plot Ron. I suppose in our case it was a modernisation drive as the trams were replaced with English built trolley buses which were in service for some years before the diesel buses took over.
In Auckland we have the Museum of Transport and Technology (MOTAT) and fortunately they have worked to save a considerable amount of old tramway infrastructure as well as a good number of the trams themselves. They have both Auckland and Wellington (our capital city) trams running on dual gauge track because Auckland used 3ft 6" gauge and Wellington used 4ft 8 1/2" gauge. Unlike Auckland, Welllington has retained a trolley bus system and I think in the present economic climate the gnomes who run Auckland city are now regretting changing to diesels.
When the long extension tramway trackwork to the Auckland Zoo was completed it was my great delight to take both my children on a tram ride so they could share my childhood memories too.
Christchurch City went to a great deal of trouble to relay vintage tram tracks around the city centre, - only unfortunately it was all destroyed in the recent Christchurch earthquakss. However I did get to ride on the restored tramway system before then which is a bittersweet memory for me. I have no idea if the tramway system is going to be reinstated as the whole fate of the city centre area is still very much an unknown at the moment.
