Thought about my Grandpa today.

[gspren]

 In preparation for moving this summer I built some removable side boards for a utility trailer and today I had them on saw horses to paint, something I find boring. I was brushing the paint on and trying to go a couple inches farther than I should without re-dipping and I quoted my grandpa to myself "Boy you can't paint without dipping the brush", he was a house painter back when everybody's house got painted and he was good at it. He has been gone since the mid 70s, from the moment I thought about him I remembered rabbit and squirrel hunting with him and helping with his beagles and so on. I smiled the rest of the way through my paint job.

[samandothers]

Great story!  Thanks for sharing.   Both of my grandfathers died before I was born, one before my mother was born!   It is good to have those memories to relate to.  They are dads with more experience!

[mike_belben]

I remember my gandfather saying when the brush stops sliding you need more paint. 

[moodnacreek]

Gspren, never loose those memories, they will keep you sane in bad times. My grandfather was the best man I ever met and I have known some very good men. A neighbor mentored me for 50 years. He got me interested in sawmills and we trapped, hunted and fished. He also got me into beagles. How I miss these men who shaped my life.

[firefighter ontheside]

My grandpas were very different, but both important to me.  One died when I was 13.  He taught me to play chess.  My other grandpa died when I was about 26.  My fondest memories of him were riding on the International Cub and learning to cut grass with it.  He was a WW2 prisoner of war in Germany and he told me all about it.  Ironically we would watch Hogan's Heroes together.  He loved that show.  

[barbender]

I'm fortunate to still have one of my grandpas, Grandpa Alvy is 85 and still as sharp as ever. I started out working for him right out of high school, we did septic installation and some asphalt paving. We had a lot of good times together, and we still do every time I stop to see him. I think it's been 4 years since I lost my Grandpa Al, he was a WWll vet, he was pulled into the service at the end of the war, by the time he got across the Pacific they were going to do clean up in Japan after the truce. I can't remember which city they came into port at, it was one of the cities that had been hit with the atom bomb. He said the destruction was just unimaginable. Anyhow, I feel blessed to have gotten to spend so much time with them both!

[thecfarm]

Memories are all we have at times.    
Both of mine was gone by the time I was 3.  :(  I live at The Farm my Grand Father had. I hope he is happy with what I am doing here now.

[Tacotodd]

The only memory that I have of any Gpaw (moms side died 9yrs before I was born) was he took me & dad fishing and talked the entire time. Well, I started off hunting with dad and that requires near silence. So I said to dad when he asked me if we could go again and I said "yes, but next time can we not take him" referring to GP. Well, they both got a huge belly laugh from my comment and it was years after GP died before I was reminded of that moment. In retrospect I felt bad about it, but then I remembered them both laughing like crazy. 

I occasionally still think about that day. That was about 45yrs ago. Cloudy memory and all.

[WV Sawmiller]

   I think I am like Moody with a neighbor who was a mentor and probably closer to me than either of my grandparents. I loved both my grandparents but they were light years apart in their thinking. One was more laid back, never learned to drive anything after a Model T, and just worked a small farm and never left home. My other grandfather was more aggressive, a gator hunter, early game warden, worked on building ships and construction during the war and was much more outgoing than the other.

   My old mentor was my grandparents age, lived half a mile away, farmed the land behind our place and I grew up with him and his wife. He taught me how to fish for catfish (although I have greatly improved his techniques which he would approve of), then taught me the fast way to clean a squirrel, etc. I learned to clean deer by helping him butcher his goats, learned to clean big alligator snapping turtles, trap quail, etc. from him. He used a special quick release knot he claims to have invented but has no doubt been around thousands of years but is critical to using limblines when catfishing. He and his wife were very special people and I miss them both and think of them often especially when I teach my kids or grandkids something they taught me.

[Ben Cut-wright]

My Dad died when I was in the third grade.  My grandpa and his son, Uncle Clifton, were my role models.  Unc was not much older than me and we were pals.  I lived with my grandparents when mom got remarried and moved to San Antonio for a few years. 

Grandpa was the reason I became infatuated with timber, saw milling, and wood construction.  We fell, skidded, and hauled hardwood logs to a small privately owned circle mill not far from grandpa's farm.  It was hard labor for a skinny grade school kid, but I loved every minute of it.  Much harder than farming, but an adventure in all aspects, rewarding in that you could see what the labor became. Grandpa never owned a chainsaw, his mules were experienced and skilled in this work, and grandpa knew timber work as well as he knew how to farm.

Got the addiction to sawdust the first time I was part of labor at the circle mill.  Many decades later I bought my first circle mill.  Took me awhile to switch to the WoodMizer LT40, but I never regretted it.

Grandpa worked himself too hard and died much younger than I am now.  A product of the depression era, he taught me most of what I know about basic labor and techniques.  If I had known those days were finite, I would have.....

He had a tune he whistled when he was most happy with his work and his day.  Only one tune and only a brief few moments at a time.  It comes back to me in times I am most satisfied, but rarely at any other times.  Usually I'm operating the LT40HD, thinking about nothing in particular, and catch myself whistling that short tune.  Grandpa would have been very proud of what this machine can do.  

[sawguy21]

I never knew dad's father, he abandoned the family at the end of WWI. I didn't see a lot of mom's parents as they lived in Ontario but were wonderful people. Dad and his fil got on very well and shared a love of woodworking both were real craftsmen. I now wish I had taken the time to learn from them but was more interested tearing apart bicycles and later cars much to dad's consternation. :D

[moodnacreek]

My Dad died when I was in the third grade.  My grandpa and his son, Uncle Clifton, were my role models.  Unc was not much older than me and we were pals.  I lived with my grandparents when mom got remarried and moved to San Antonio for a few years.  

Grandpa was the reason I became infatuated with timber, saw milling, and wood construction.  We fell, skidded, and hauled hardwood logs to a small privately owned circle mill not far from grandpa's farm.  It was hard labor for a skinny grade school kid, but I loved every minute of it.  Much harder than farming, but an adventure in all aspects, rewarding in that you could see what the labor became. Grandpa never owned a chainsaw, his mules were experienced and skilled in this work, and grandpa knew timber work as well as he knew how to farm.

Got the addiction to sawdust the first time I was part of labor at the circle mill.  Many decades later I bought my first circle mill.  Took me awhile to switch to the WoodMizer LT40, but I never regretted it.

Grandpa worked himself too hard and died much younger than I am now.  A product of the depression era, he taught me most of what I know about basic labor and techniques.  If I had known those days were finite, I would have.....

He had a tune he whistled when he was most happy with his work and his day.  Only one tune and only a brief few moments at a time.  It comes back to me in times I am most satisfied, but rarely at any other times.  Usually I'm operating the LT40HD, thinking about nothing in particular, and catch myself whistling that short tune.  Grandpa would have been very proud of what this machine can do.  

Ben, you are bringing back memories. My grandad whistled a few tunes. They where old revolutionary fife tunes you still here in a fourth of july parade. And yes I find myself doing that sometimes but not as often as I should.

[Corley5]

  My Grandpa hated painting or staining with a brush to the point he got paint everywhere he shouldn't hurrying to get the job done.  No one asked him to paint anything  :D ;D :D  He didn't mind spray painting and did his outbuildings including the roofs as well as tractors and vehicles with good results  8) 8)  

[Corley5]

  One time he bought a partial barrel of green paint at an auction.  Waiting for the paint to go across the block made him late for his birthday party.  Grandma wasn't happy at all.  She eventually got over it and they had green buildings ;D ;D 8) 8)

[Ed]

My grandfather was a tool maker by trade...started when everything was lineshaft driven, before he passed I took him to the shop I worked at.
All he did was laugh when he saw a cnc machine run for the first time....

He also farmed 30 acres of our farm....wood hopper grain drill on steel. I know he would laugh again if he was here to see the autosteer Steiger and 24 row planter or the 40' pro-til work what took him days to do in less than 2 hours.

Ed

[dgdrls]

This is a really nice thread,
My maternal G'pa passed before I was born.  immigrated from Switzerland to Canada.
Was a craftsman and build many houses in Montreal,
My paternal G'pa was a 6th Gen. Canadian and  graphic artist, he hand painted
store window advertisements and general advertising for businesses
across Montreal and eastern Canada.  Not a very handy guy
but he kept stuff in good shape and tidy.

D

[Raider Bill]

My Maternal GF lived quite a ways away so I only saw him twice. He passed before I turned 6. Didn't know him but what I remember and what people say he was a nice guy, a barber.
My Fraternal GF was a violent drunk. Nothing warm and fuzzy about him at all. I think I was 9 when he passed from cirrhosis of the liver.

[gspren]

Glad I started this. My maternal grandpa was killed in an accident about 1930 when mom was only 2 so even her memories of her dad were stories, I wish I could have known him, he had an Indian Motor Cycle and painted water towers and other tall structures but got hit by a car while he was walking. My paternal grandpa that I wrote about in opening post was quite a character and we do have some similarities. I never saw him hold a baby and he had bunches of grandkids and I also don't care much for infants so my nieces and nephews don't get much attention from me until they're ready to go fishing.

[mike_belben]

Ben, i just wanted to say that i reckon youve done your daddy proud.  I often wonder what my boy will turn out to be if i punch out early, and often tell him how proud i am just incase of that. 

[Texas Ranger]

My fraternal grandfather came down from Canada to  be a hard rock miner in Colorado, died from lung disease before I was born.  My maternal grandfather was 1/2 Cherokee, a carpenter all his life, taught me about carpentry, first job I had was hauling cement blocks for him while he built the basement to his future house.  Short, stocky, quite, black hair tell he died.  I fished with him, he would not lose his temper with me, even when I cut his fishing line with my .22 while shooting at a turtle.  He called himself black Irish, or black Dutch, I did not find out till much later that is what some half bloods called them selves.  He died while I was overseas, and I came home to find his distant "nephews" had pilfered most of his carpentry tools. I have posted some his tools I "pilfered" to preserve them, I have posted pictures of some of them else where here on the FF.  Used to ask him if he was of Indian blood and he would not comment, nor any member of the family.  They may have thought it a stigma, I always thought it was/would be cool.

[pineywoods]

Both my grandpa's were farmers/blacksmiths, no doubt I got some good genes. One died before I was born, and I did something stupid with the other. By the time I became old enough/smart enough to be interested in things he could teach me, he was gone also. Thankfully, dad filled the void where he could.

[barbender]

TR, my paternal Grandpa is half Native, (so was my pat. Grandma) very dark and handsome guy, he used to be in "country swing" bands, he sang and played guitar. I think it was kind of hard to keep the ladies off that dark and handsome smooth voiced Alvah Alger😊 Even at 85, he still has that same voice, prior to Covid he worked at one of the local Native Casinos. He did announcements, and all of the staff just called him, "The Voice"😊 He is a whistler as well, I can't remember specific tunes because he was always whistling something different. 
  The Tribes my Grandpa descended from were native to the East Coast, New England area. Stockbridge, Oneida, and Brotherton. They all banded together in the mid-1700's, they were all in contact with a Native missionary named Samson Occum. The Oneida gave the other tribes land on their reservation in New York. They ended up being part of the Underground Railroad, and took in both runaway slaves and free blacks. I have never gotten any of the genetic testing done, but I've always strongly suspected our family has some African blood (just by Grandpa and his siblings physical features). Like you TR, I just think it's neat and an interesting part of our family history, but Grandpa gets upset at people if they suggest that. But I have to remember, when he was growing up, it was tough enough being Indian. You got treated even worse if you were black🤷🏽‍♂️

[Raider Bill]

TR, my paternal Grandpa is half Native, (so was my pat. Grandma) very dark and handsome guy, he used to be in "country swing" bands, he sang and played guitar. I think it was kind of hard to keep the ladies off that dark and handsome smooth voiced Alvah Alger😊 Even at 85, he still has that same voice, prior to Covid he worked at one of the local Native Casinos. He did announcements, and all of the staff just called him, "The Voice"😊 He is a whistler as well, I can't remember specific tunes because he was always whistling something different.
 The Tribes my Grandpa descended from were native to the East Coast, New England area. Stockbridge, Oneida, and Brotherton. They all banded together in the mid-1700's, they were all in contact with a Native missionary named Samson Occum. The Oneida gave the other tribes land on their reservation in New York. They ended up being part of the Underground Railroad, and took in both runaway slaves and free blacks. I have never gotten any of the genetic testing done, but I've always strongly suspected our family has some African blood (just by Grandpa and his siblings physical features). Like you TR, I just think it's neat and an interesting part of our family history, but Grandpa gets upset at people if they suggest that. But I have to remember, when he was growing up, it was tough enough being Indian. You got treated even worse if you were black🤷🏽‍♂️

We were always told we had Oneida Indian in us by my maternal Grandmothers side. There are pictures showing him back in the day. Give him a feather and tomahawk and he was spitting image to an Indian. My middle name was his first name.

We were also told we have some Jew in us from Dad's Great Grand parents who immigrated here from Germany in the 1800's.
I did a DNA test. I have neither. Another old family tale.

I grew up in Oneida. Well to the extent I ever grew up..

Stockbridge was the next town south on Rt 46. I used to hunt and fish there as I could ride my bicycle.
The trout stream that ran behind our house originated just a bit further south in Munnsville, NY
My step mom graduated from Stockbridge valley school in 1933. I believe she said there were 13 in her class.

Went to school with and hunted/fished with many Oneidas.
They were dirt poor.
Now they own casinos, gas stations and banks.

BTW the Oneida land is not a reservation it is a sovereign nation.

[barbender]

Bill, that's very interesting. I knew those towns were still out there. My ancestors were under pressure to move, they all resettled in Wisconsin where there are still Stockbridge-Munsee and Oneida reservations. The Brothertown were kind of a model tribe for the government assimilation program. They were given a reservation in Wisconsin as well, but they were soon under pressure to give up that land as well. They thought if they became Citizens, perhaps they would have more right so they got U.S. citizenship in 1837 I think? Each head of household got a homestead and title to it. Basically the Allotment Act but about 70 years early. Over time the farms got sold, and Brothertown intermarried with white folk. I don't remember what presidential administration it was, but sometime in the first half of the 1900's there was a big push to no longer deal with tribes as seperate entities. During that time the Brothertown were stripped of their tribal status, among many other tribes. Nearly all of the other ones had their tribal status restored over the years. But the Brothertown ran into a roadblock- because they were given U.S. citizenship through an act of Congress, the long and short of it is that it will take an act of Congress to restore their tribal status. All this to say, all of these things have led to the current generation of Brothertown looking, well, like myself, you wouldn't realize they were Native unless they told you. The Brothertown reunion held every summer looks pretty much like a Forestry Forum Pigroast but a few folks are wearing feathers😁

[Sedgehammer]

My grand pa (us kids called him papa) on my dad's side was a pillar of the community. Was on the town board and on the welfare board, plus several county boards. He had an immaculate farm. Was bought from the rail road in 1867 and his dad built all the buildings except the calf shed my uncle built. People came to just see it, as it was always so neat and clean. When my dad graduated from high school my grand pa bought the neighboring farm. We continued the neatness and upkeep/building up of that farm where i grew up. People came by our place also to take pictures even. on our farm there was a small patch of woods that didn't get logged, as our are was usually burnt by the indians. Anyways, when we cleared that woods for farming, there were tress in it that were bigger around at the base as our rear tractor wheels were. I remember the biggest pine was the tallest tree and as they were clearing it, it was in a valley, yet it was taller than the rest. Then we spent the next 4 years or so picking up roots every spring. 

In retirement they built a home up on a hill over looking the 2 farms and a retirement home in Florida. My uncle took over the home farm and trashed it. It sits in almost total ruin now. My grand pa's full time job when they got back from Florida in April was fixing and painting all the mess my uncle had created. I had a plan of going back up after I had built up the trucking business and repair everything back to the way it was and open it up to the public for farm tours and school kids, but that to was cut when I got hurt.

I was the closest to him and my grand ma of us grand kids. I wood go up to their house when they were home and she'd have fresh baked bread twice a week. Either round molasses cookies with sugar on top or home made chocolate cake with home made chocolate frosting and of course fresh, ice cold milk straight from our farm. I remember not wanting to come in the house at times because I had cow pooh on my shoes or pants and she wood go "oh that's ok, it just smells like money".   

As they got older and my grand pa couldn't make the long drive to Florida, so i wood either tow their car down with my truck or drive them down and greyhound bus back. He wood tell me stories about his growing up and his life. Memories now almost all gone since I hit my head in my accident. 

[moodnacreek]

Raider, your from O&W country, Me too.

[Raider Bill]

Bill, that's very interesting. I knew those towns were still out there. My ancestors were under pressure to move, they all resettled in Wisconsin where there are still Stockbridge-Munsee and Oneida reservations. The Brothertown were kind of a model tribe for the government assimilation program. They were given a reservation in Wisconsin as well, but they were soon under pressure to give up that land as well. They thought if they became Citizens, perhaps they would have more right so they got U.S. citizenship in 1837 I think? Each head of household got a homestead and title to it. Basically the Allotment Act but about 70 years early. Over time the farms got sold, and Brothertown intermarried with white folk. I don't remember what presidential administration it was, but sometime in the first half of the 1900's there was a big push to no longer deal with tribes as seperate entities. During that time the Brothertown were stripped of their tribal status, among many other tribes. Nearly all of the other ones had their tribal status restored over the years. But the Brothertown ran into a roadblock- because they were given U.S. citizenship through an act of Congress, the long and short of it is that it will take an act of Congress to restore their tribal status. All this to say, all of these things have led to the current generation of Brothertown looking, well, like myself, you wouldn't realize they were Native unless they told you. The Brothertown reunion held every summer looks pretty much like a Forestry Forum Pigroast but a few folks are wearing feathers😁

Interesting enough I believe we're talking about two different Oneidas and two different stockbridges.
 I'm talking about the original Oneida in NY  where the Oneidas and the Iroquois  nation originated.
Maple flats, can correct me if I'm wrong but I believe that after the Oneidas and the Iroquois Nation sided with the British during the Revolutionary War when it came to the War of 1812 the Americans or Washington or whoever was in charge at the time did not want to fight the Iroquois Nation again because they were such a fierce fighting unit that they gave them tens of thousands of acres in central New York state area.  The geographic center of New York state it's a really  big area.
They wrote a treaty giving the land if they remained neutral. Which the Oneidas did. 
I believe was challenged all the way to the Supreme Court where it was upheld that the Oneida Indian land was a sovereign nation.
I remember when I was in school learning about some kind of split in New York and how some went to Michigan and Wisconsin and started new clans of Oneidas. 

[farmfromkansas]

I was 7 or 8 when Grandpa died, he had cancer.  Remember him coming over to help my dad with work, one time we went to look at the cows, and Grandpa stood there holding the hot wire.  I did not try it. One thing that really blew my mind was when he walked into the house, and picked up a harmonica that I would blow, but not really make music, but Grandpa shook it out, and played a tune I did not know, but seemed like an orchestra playing.  He could really make a harmonica sing.

[barbender]

Bill, it's the same Oneidas, there may be more than one town of Stockbridge as they were originally in Stockbridge, MA. They moved to the Oneida New York lands at the urging of Samson Occum, who had worked with them and the Oneidas both. 
  The Oneida either stayed neutral or even fought on the American side in the Revolutionary War, to my understanding. They paid a heavy price since all the other Iroquois sided with the British and their land was in the middle of the fighting. 
  All these tribes I've mentioned were what were known back then as "Praying Indians", they were people that had converted to Christianity and basically lived as the surrounding European culture. They built comparable towns with a church, blacksmith shop, etc. Due to that, my Grandpa's family was I guess you could call it "culturally assimilated". Best way I can describe what that means is my Dad got picked on in school by other natives, they called him "apple"- red on the outside white on the inside. We never completely fit in with the Natives here (Ojibwe) even though my Dad is 1/4 Ojibwe and a Leech Lake Band member. Me, I have ancestry from so many tribes but not much of any- no one really wants to claim me and I just look like a big white guy anyways😁 I just miss when I used to be able to get Reservation deer licenses before they cut me off on that too🤷🏽‍♂️

[WV Sawmiller]

Texas Ranger,

   I posted some tales about my paternal grandfather whose grandmother was a Seminole Indian but he always hated Indians because during the second Seminole Indian wars his grandpa was off fighting the Indians and a  bunch raided and raped and scalped his grandmother. She survived the attack but Grandpa never wanted to admit he was 1/4 Seminole.

[Ed_K]

 I pressed the like button on a lot of y'all's remembering stories. My home life is better not remembered, but there was two mentors in my life that mean a lot to me. One lived across the brook from the town farm I lived at, he had a chicken farm were he raised capons. Him and his wife let me help out some that a small young kid could do and even took me an another girl boating some times. I learned how to make maple syrup from them. My other mentor rented the land at the town farm and that's how I met Rita, he was a mentor, father and father in law. In reality Rita and I have been together since I was 8 yrs old. I lived a lot of my younger yrs at her farm, mother sent me to them every summer. I'm so glad to have Rita with me still.