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Bashing two houses together


Thimble Hall

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So many views of grandmothers, I did have grand parents on both sides until I was 6, and have memories of them although there was a language barrier there,  neither spoke much English only Italian.  My mother’s side my grandmother lived until I was in my early 20’s.  She was a typical grandmother, always trying to get me to eat more!  Her native language was German, so there was a lot of that mixed with the English.  She taught me to knit, crochet and tat, although we did not see her often.  When I think of grandmothers I think of her.

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My  mother worked with my stepdad in his business so I spent weekends and most other days with my maternal grandparents, who also lived in West Palm Beach.  My grandma taught me needlearts and basic cooking (my poor mother was a dismal/ indifferent cook) and my grandpa read to me.  My mother's divorce from my father meant I never got to see or know my paternal grandparents.

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5 hours ago, Jeannine said:

I shall try and portray Grandma encouraging RRH to be creative

 

It all Sounds like a LOT of fun and it Will be a joy to follow along where your build and settings Will take you/us.

 

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Thank you,[t is fun wrapping a story round the house, I find the occupant sort of tells me who they are, I think mostly they are pulled from memories of people , movies , books etc but a lot comes from personal "would likes" if that makes any sense.

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My Maternal Grandmother was a contradiction, she was very feisty and not afraid to aim a gun with intent :eek:... or kill a chicken for dinner. However she was the most talented crocheter I've ever seen and used to make the most delicate and intricate tiny dolls clothes along with doilies and other decorative items, she also trimmed out all her hankies. Sewing was second nature, she had a shed full of preserves of every type imaginable and she collected buttons and spoons. 

She lived in a very isolated place called Rocky River in the New England ranges, in a house she built herself from corrugated iron and wood scraps (think shanty hut), the walls were papered with newspaper and other scrap paper, I don't remember what the floors were, but they weren't dirt, maybe loose planking. (My Mum's Dad died while he was out dingo trapping when she was 4 so Grandma was left a single parent with 3 children in the 1940's, before any Government assistance was available for people in her situation. She used to sell her crochet work and sewing for funds. She also panned for gold in the river, I found her panning equipment in the shed when we were cleaning out after she died. Clearly she never hit the motherlode :))

Prior to this tragedy, they were quite well off and she lived the life of a country lady (hence the crochet skills).. I am so amazed that she was able to transition from that life to the hand to mouth existence she led after and marvel at her survival skills. I am sure that this life altering event definitely contributed to her gruff nature. She never remarried and preferred to live alone.

She did literally dress like Granny from the Beverly Hillbillies. Long skirt and apron with army boots.. lol.. But she wasn't slightly built like Granny she was tall and big boned, and she wore her greying black hair short.

She had no plumbing & no electricity, only oil lamps right up until she died. She had a wood burning stove for which she chopped the wood herself. Of course the awful outhouse that I've mentioned before. Baths were taken in a tin bath in the kitchen. She refused to move into "town" even though her children tried to get her too. Her one concession to modernity was a telephone that my Mum insisted she get installed when she turned 80. For emergency calls only. :D  

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Wow, what a fabulous old gal she was and the memories she left you, I am certain I can work a bit of your Gran into mine, It is bit too hard to pan for gold in the UK countryside though  LOL. I did plan on giving my Gran either a tight bun like  the Hillbilly Granny or very wild hair  to go with her earrings and colorful character.

I wish I had some Gran memories of my own and didn't have to make them up but who knows maybe by the time I have finished I will have filled a void in my life and have a Gran after all. Thank you so much for sharing your very special one XX

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My maternal grandmother had the most gorgeous hair, she wore it braided up on top of her head in a kind of braided bun, I remember watching her unbraid it at night and it was coal black until she was well into her 60’s and reached her knees, she would let me brush it for her.   I always thought her hair was so elegant like a crown on her head, and just as elegant when it turned gray.

i always thought it odd that her hair stayed black like that and she never dyed it, she had such a rough life, fleeing Germany with her younger brother in a sealed boxcar, where several people died on the way, they were packed in there for a couple weeks.  She worked on the docks in Boston until she married into an abusive marriage.  My grandfather was in the navy in submarines, rarely home and never sent money, so they didn’t have much in the way of clothing or food.  My grandfather died first and I never saw my grandmother as happy as the last 15 years of her life.  She was a hard worker bring up 3 girls mostly alone, but always had a beautiful smile and happy outlook on life.

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Barb, this is the sort of story one sees in movies but rarely does one come across the folks in real life. I have tried very hard  for a few minutes to put myself in her place but of course it is impossible, however I would perhaps think the awful experiences in the box car would in some way make her stronger and more able to deal with what was to come. They say bad things either kill you or make you stronger. I don't think I have ever really thought about it before but maybe it is right. Was it just her brother and her, may I ask how old they were.. What I find truly amazing is her outlook on life, we could all learn something from that.

My hair is maybe bra strap length but it is very fine and really doesn't get any longer than that these days. I have always wanted silver grey hair but of course mine didn't turn. My sister was white at 50, mine started to turn about maybe two years ago at aged about 73  but is still dark although it has lost it's red color.. I will have to try and give  my homemade Grandma a special smile.

Thank you for sharing. I can see my Grandma is going to have to fill some big shoes.

Oh and talking of shoes,,Samantha I just realized when I was ordering some stuff yesterday there was a  lovely old bashed about pair of boots on the website that I bought because they looked sort of special. I did intend using them for Joe's house  but I am going to use them in Grandma's .She can no longer wear them sadly but  I will place them near the door or maybe even plant geraniums in them..

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What is with this hair not going gray?  Even my mother's hair went salt & pepper before she died at 60; I'm going to be 76 next month and my hair still looks like this:

another cuddle

PS:  The baby I now a young lady of 10 with a younger brother.

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I love reading about everyones Grandmothers.  My gosh they had a hard life back then.  A life we can only imagine.  My grandmother was a Scottish "orphan". She was given to Quarriers Home.  Her and her 2 brothers and 2 sisters were all eventually given to the home by their mum.  My great grandfather died 4 moths before Grandma was born.  All children came to Canada for "a better life".  Grandma lived with a pastor and his family.  Mum said they were good to her.  Grandma never had indoor running water or a bathroom.  She heated her little home in the country with wood. For about the last 10 years of her life, she would live with my aunt in the city.  My grandfather was very hard on her, mum said. He died about 20 years before her, as he was a lot older than her.  She was a tiny little lady, and always laughing.  I can always remember when we gave her anything, she would say, Oh that's too good to wear. :)  She taught me how to knit.  Every Christmas when I was young, she would give me a small bottle of Evening in Paris.  In my mind I can still smell it.   I would love to have one more day with that special little lady. 

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14 minutes ago, Beulah said:

Evening in Paris.

Oh, memories! A favorite aunt kept me supplied with Evening in Paris. I didn't have the heart to tell her I wasn't really fond of the fragrance.

My paternal grandparents died before Mom and Dad married. My maternal grandmother was a step-grandmother. I never felt close to her. She was a glass-half-full kind of person who seemed ancient to my teenage point of view. She rarely left the couch and spent a great deal of time droning on about her infirmities, both real and imagined. I thought she must have been in her late 80s when she passed but was surprised to learn she was only 66. Sad.

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Due to a spread of TB in the early part of the 1900’s Buffalo, NY set up a number of orphanages run by charities. Both my grandmother and her sister were raised in the Catholic one. It was a place where single parents could place their children when they couldn’t afford to keep them. Since their mother sent monthly payments, the sisters were non adoptable. They stayed there until they turned 18. They were taught how to be exquisite seamstresses. When they left the orphanage they had made enough of their own clothing so the could present themselves as well educated, well dressed ladies capable of taking care of themselves.  

The strange thing about this story; It wasn’t until recently that we found out this information. It was some kind of family secret. Even her own daughter, my mother had no idea! 

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Oh Joanne thank you so much for the reminder,my Mum always had a bottle of Evening in Paris "for best", she used Devon Violets all the rest of the time. I have a couple of empty dark blue bottles somewhere I wonder if I can recreate one.

I remember she had a bottle of California Poppies and another called Endearing but it was the above two she used.

That's too good to wear was a common phrase back then. I was lucky as my parents were reasonably well off but my Mum had friends that weren't..

I think I am going to enjoy creating my Grandma from everyone's bits of info, she has been so much on my mind I found myself saying God Bless Grandma in my prayers last night.

Thank you so much for sharing

 

Sable family secrets are sometimes really surprising. I made a boo boo when I contacted someone during my genealogy searches, I tracked a lady who I thought was my Uncles daughter as she was registered to my aunt in the  family name. It turned out her father married my aunt 6 weeks after my Uncle was lost at sea, the new bridegroom was indeed her father but she was born two years before the marriage,,oops, she didn't know. It taught me a very big lesson on genealogy..tread gently.

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I joined 23&Me a couple of years ago and this past year had a rather sad contact from one of my 3rd to 5th cousins looking for his birth mother.  I had to let him know I had no luck with my surviving paternal cousin because, as she reminded me, out-of-wedlock pregnancies back then were too scandalous to acknowledge.

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Sable, I remember my mum saying, Home Children were fround upon, and thought to be the lowest of class of people. So when they came here they rarely talked about their life.  And speaking of TB.  My mum contacted TB while looking after her aunt who eventually died of it.  Mum was in the sanatorium for 5 years.  They tested a drug on her and some of the other patients. It ended up being a cure.  Mum was saved.  She was never healthy but we had her for a good long time.  

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