Jesse Edwards was my great-grandfather- my mother's father's father.
Jesse had a mother, Edith, a father, Fred, and three or four siblings- Fred, Caroline, Ethel, and probably one other. Fred and Ethel were older than he was, and Caroline was younger.
Grampa was talking about Great-Grampa today. This post is rough and lacks transitions, mainly because these things were not said in this order or even all at once. But here are some of the things Grampa told us:
Jesse was probably 5 when his mother died. He and his sister Caroline probably lived with the Walkers (their mother's parents) for a couple of years after that. Later, they lived with their father, and Jesse, in Grampa's words, "would tend the fires and such, and Caroline would take care of the house, and their father would go off to work."
More of Grampa's words:
"Fred Edwards was a small man, smaller even than my father. He used to wear Caroline's [his daughter's] shoes- he would break them in for her. [Mom and Aunt Gail tell me that my great-great-aunt Caroline wore no bigger than a woman's size six shoe). He would walk to work every day. Someone said once that they remembered lying awake in bed every morning as a child and listening to Fred Edwards singing or whistling on his way to work."
"He (Fred) worked in a hay barn. One day he scraped his back on a rusty nail that was sticking out of the wall, and it became a cancerous [cankerous? It's sometimes difficult to understand Grampa] wound that killed him."
"My father was 14 when Grampa died. My father was probably a fairly wild boy, and Aunt Ethel [married by then] sent a letter after their father died saying that Caroline could come live with her, but she wouldn't take my father.
"Pa was not a terribly forgiving man. He probably never spoke to Ethel again. She would come visit, and he would say 'Get out of my way. You get back in that car right now.'"
I don't know the specifics of this situation. I assume it was when Jess was an adult. I don't know whether it happened once or multiple times. But the whole situation must have been such a heartache for everyone!
Grampa Jesse went to work right after his father died.
Grampa, eyes filling with tears, told us that "Pa's boss said that when Pa was 14 years old, he was a better worker than most men."
Grampa Jesse married Edith Fields, my Grampa's mother. His brother Fred married Edith's sister Elsie, and then Grampa Jesse's sister Caroline married Edith and Elsie's brother Clinton.
Clint and Jesse worked at the same company- Chandler Mill. Grampa Jesse used to give Clint a ride to work every day. Eventually, Clint got a car of his own- a new one. He then told Jesse "I'll never ride in that old rattle-trap of yours again!" And Grampa Jesse said "You sure won't!" At some later date, Clint came to Grampa Jesse needing a ride. Grampa Jesse gave him one- and a very hard time of it.
Back on the note of Grampa Jesse's hard work: "You know, back when A & P was king, my father had a job where he made five dollars a day. That was really big money to make back then. We used to go to the grocery store, and five dollars would fill the back of the car to overflowing."
Disjointed, but (to me) worth thinking about and posting.
