Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Just Kind of Jumpin' Around


Howdy, dear Readers,

The reason this is titled "Just Kind of Jumpin' Around" is that rather than continue where I left off yesterday, I thought I would tell you something about my family's early history, (in case anyone is interested) My grandmother, on my mother's side, was half-Cherokee Indian and came from North Carolina. Apparently she was descended from those Cherokee who hid out in caves during the Removal to Oklahoma on the Trail of Tears, and thus were not sent out there. Even though I have searched for her roots, I don't have enough information to really trace them. My grandmother's mother was white, and her father was Cherokee, thus making my mother's mom (my grandmother) what was called a "half-breed".

My grandmother and grandfather were first cousins, but were not aware of it until some time after they were married. In 1908, the family all moved to Lorena, Texas, where my grandfather died from Pneumonia. That left my grandmother, Margaret, (for whom my sister was named) a widow with 7 children to care for. and she could neither read or write. They returned home to Loudon, TN, from where they had moved to Texas.


My grandmother took in washing and ironing to provide for her children. Also, each of her children, once they reached the age of 11, and had finished 5th grade, went to work in the knitting mill in Loudon. They turned their check over to her at the end of each week. Everyone worked. The youngest, Edith, was the only one who finished high school. She went to New York to live and work in the garment district.


Included here is a picture of the family made just before they went to Texas. I apologize for the poor image. I had to take a picture of the original to store on my computer. The original is now in the possession of my oldest daughter, Carol, who lives in Texas.
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We, my husband and I, spent a really nice day today in Knoxville with my brother and his wife, and my oldest brother's widow. We went to breakfast at the Cracker Barrel, and then took my oldest brother's widow, Mae, home so that she could spend some time with her daughter. Then we dropped off my brother and husband at my brother's house, and my sister-in-law, and I went shopping.
We had a lovely time and after coming back to their home and having some good cool watermelon, we said our goodbye's and traveled back to our home in New Market.
Time soon this evening to do our Bible Reading and spend some time in prayer, thanking God for safety in our travels and for all the kindnesses He provides for us, and to ask His forgiveness for our sins and shortcomings, and also to pray for others.
More tomorrow, dear friends. Love and grace to you all.
This is Blabbin' Grammy signing off for the evening.

4 comments:

Judy said...

Hi Grammy, I love the picture of your family and also love to eat breakfast at Cracker Barrel. Breakfast is my favorite meal. I have been making sour dough bread today. I either have to use my starter every five days or throw out a cup of it. I am enjoying reading your blog.

Grammy said...

Hi, Judy,
Thanks for the comment. I used to make sourdough bread (absolutely love it!). I am afraid if I made it now, I would just eat too much of it. I could live on hot bread and butter! Yum!
Grammy Ruby

Clara....in TN said...

Hi Grammy, it's me again. I like reading about your family. And I love to eat breakfast at Cracker Barrel. That doesn't happen very often, but I remember.
I went to Knoxville today too. Well, not Knoxville, but Blaine...about 12 miles North of Knoxville. My daughter lives about 2 miles off 11W.
After my treatment this morning, I decided I didn't want to stay at home. So what better place to go that to see your daughter. We had a good time. She has a new embroidery machine and she put the pink ribbon on a jacket for me. My grandson got a new game for his birthday. It's called a Wii (WE). Whoever came up with a name like that? We played with it for a while. He beat me in tennis and I showed him up in baseball. I hit two home runs!
And on the way home, we stopped at a road side market and bought cabbage, canalope, sweet potatoes and peaches. I cooked the cabbage when I got home and made cornbread. It was good.
Well, I didn't mean for my comment to be so long. Sorry!!!

1coolgranny said...

Hi grammy, I am glad you found my blog. I will ad yours to my blog roll also. I just wanted to say that I have Cherokee great, great grandmothers from 3 different sides. Dad said that makes me about 1/8 Cherokee. It does't show in me as much as my sister. She has beautiful black/silver hair and high cheekbones.I will be reading more of you blog . Thanks for visiting mine.