April 1. April fools days. To most people a day to pull pranks on the unsuspecting. I enjoy that custom as well, but April first is more to me. That was my Great Grandfather's birthday. I'm not very good at remembering anyones birthdays, except my own and his. He was born in 1878 and the only Grandfather I ever knew. The others had all passed before my birth. He raised my father, as my paternal Grandfather had passed in 1934. I knew him well and visited with him often. He died in 1968 when I was just fifteen. He was ninety.
Floyd Parker Lester. That was his name and his father was Charlie. There were a few things he had in common with my father other than being his Grandfather. His mother passed away when he was an infant. My Grandmother, my father's mother also died when my father was an infant. Great Grandfather was raised by a sister and my father by this man. Both of them had living fathers that chose not to raise them after their wives passed. Both of these people later remarried. None took their children back into their homes. And both still lived in the same town as their children.
I wasn't aware of all this as a child. Children seldom pay attention to things like that. No one talked about it much either. I just knew him as " Gramp " and that he was my father's grandfather. I knew that he sic [my father] was raised by him and lived in his house growing up. I don't remember Grandmother Lucy, Floyds' wife, but my sister does. I have many fond memories of him. He was a kindly old man, although somewhat grumpy, and had tales to tell. He chewed his cigars, seldom did he light them, and always wore a three piece suit. White shirt buttoned at the neck and carried a cane. He cooked on a coal stove and didn't have television or radio in his house that I was aware of. It was always real warm and kinda dark in there, but in a cozy sort of way.
Many years after his passing I began work on the family tree. It was during this that I became aware of much of what I know of his life. This quest for knowledge began after the passing of my own father. What a shame because he certainly could have told me a lot more. I can search records but you don't always get the true story from that. How much will go unrecorded and unknown ?
I have a few things of his that I cherish very much. I do have photographs and one old postcard. On the postcard he is standing next to a horse drawn wagon. The card says. " Maidstone Taxi ". It was his business but alas it failed. Exactly what went wrong I don't know. I do know he had mortgaged his home for the horses and wagon and lost it all. Following that he lived in the home of his wifes' family. The home was deeded to her as a sort of admonishment to him. That was done to ensure he could not borrow money against that property and lose it. A harsh penalty that must have been difficult to swallow.
I think of Gramp often.
Happy Birthday Gramp !
Floyd Parker Lester. That was his name and his father was Charlie. There were a few things he had in common with my father other than being his Grandfather. His mother passed away when he was an infant. My Grandmother, my father's mother also died when my father was an infant. Great Grandfather was raised by a sister and my father by this man. Both of them had living fathers that chose not to raise them after their wives passed. Both of these people later remarried. None took their children back into their homes. And both still lived in the same town as their children.
I wasn't aware of all this as a child. Children seldom pay attention to things like that. No one talked about it much either. I just knew him as " Gramp " and that he was my father's grandfather. I knew that he sic [my father] was raised by him and lived in his house growing up. I don't remember Grandmother Lucy, Floyds' wife, but my sister does. I have many fond memories of him. He was a kindly old man, although somewhat grumpy, and had tales to tell. He chewed his cigars, seldom did he light them, and always wore a three piece suit. White shirt buttoned at the neck and carried a cane. He cooked on a coal stove and didn't have television or radio in his house that I was aware of. It was always real warm and kinda dark in there, but in a cozy sort of way.
Many years after his passing I began work on the family tree. It was during this that I became aware of much of what I know of his life. This quest for knowledge began after the passing of my own father. What a shame because he certainly could have told me a lot more. I can search records but you don't always get the true story from that. How much will go unrecorded and unknown ?
I have a few things of his that I cherish very much. I do have photographs and one old postcard. On the postcard he is standing next to a horse drawn wagon. The card says. " Maidstone Taxi ". It was his business but alas it failed. Exactly what went wrong I don't know. I do know he had mortgaged his home for the horses and wagon and lost it all. Following that he lived in the home of his wifes' family. The home was deeded to her as a sort of admonishment to him. That was done to ensure he could not borrow money against that property and lose it. A harsh penalty that must have been difficult to swallow.
I think of Gramp often.
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