Keeping Grandma Alive...and all the others, too (including yourself)
Last Friday we had a snake encounter. I smiled as my grandmother, mother, and sister came to mind. They had snake encounters, too. Florrie and the snakes My grandmother, Florrie THOMAS MARTIN (1894-1979) was the wife of a tenant farmer. They moved from farm to farm, sometimes only staying for one growing season at a time. One swampy farm…
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The prompt this week is to write a frightening story about an ancestor. Well, I have a scary story where my ancestor did the scaring instead of being the one scared. Read on! Trick-or-Treat was a favorite thing in my suburban Vienna, Virginia neighborhood in the 1960’s and 70’s. My dad took me out when I was young, and my…
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Conflict is this week’s prompt. Conflict makes novels interesting, but sometimes it makes real life scary. My mom, Gladys MARTIN HEISER (1921-1999) had seven siblings. The oldest one was Carlisle E. MARTIN (1915-1977). Carlisle’s wife, Millie, loved Chihuahuas. She had as many as three at one time, and they went with her wherever she went. One time when I was…
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My dad, Charles Leroy Heiser (1913-2001), loved the Washington Redskins. I don’t think he ever went to a live game, but he always watched their games on TV. It was our family’s Sunday afternoon activity, and I cherished that time together. Watching the Redskins play now still brings back the feeling of all being right with the world. One particular…
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I’ve been quiet the past few weeks, since right before Hurricane Florence began dropping buckets of rain on North and South Carolina. The aftermath of the storm at my house consists of several downed trees (none hitting any buildings), groundwater flooding into the basement, a power outage of less than a day, and a fried hot water heater from a…
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The prompt for 52 Ancestors this week is Work. Most my ancestors were farmers, stone masons, railroad laborers, and preachers. Some were turpentine farmers. I have written about this before, but it fascinates me so I am writing about it again. My great-grandfather, Jeremiah Daniel Thomas (1858-1946); my 2nd great-grandfather, Daniel B. Grant (1846-1900); and my 3rd great-grandfather, Jeremiah Grant…
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