So How DID I End Up Here?

[seedcorn]

Dad left south after returning from WWII, met mom who never left from where she was born/raised. Both retired in southern KY while work took me from Illinois to Indiana.

Seedo, don't get frustrated as family histories can be remembered differently by different people. My a Dad remembered his dad as saint-in some ways he was. Yet didn't remember his dad's history which I found out was a combination Payton Place/Hatfield-McCoys/shawshank redemption.

 

[so lucky]

Super fascinating discussion, thanks everyone for sharing such personal stuff.

Speaking of north and south, i found it interesting that @Ridgerunner's great great grandfather joined the Union army from Tennessee. Any thoughts on the decision making process there?!

Missouri was a divided state, as well. There are lots of confederate flags still flying around here.

 

[TheSeedObsesser]

Seed, I've only ever heard of one of those movies, Shawshank Redemption. I haven't seen it by the way, it supposedly inappropriate. It was filmed about 5 miles away from were we live. We've driven past that prison a number of times.

I haven't found out much yet. I've been to a few websites and have sought out old relatives that we have lost contact with for a long while. I'll try not to get frustrated, I'm not there yet!

 

[TheSeedObsesser]

Yuk, Yuk! I resemble that remark, digitS! Big feet RUN in my family. My ancestors came from Patagonia, "Land of the Big Feet". I have a BIG understanding. Add to those truths, my maiden name contains the word "shoe". One might think I'd have a hard time falling, uh?

Goes way back to my youth. Uncle Doug had size 14 feet. All the younger cousins admired what he told us was a special advantage in life. We had a contest to see who could grow big feet like Uncle Doug. (Sigh) I won! At least I stopped at women's size 13 rather than going all the way to men's 14.

Now my 12 year old Maverick can wear Grandpa's shoes and my 11 year old Gypsy is almost outgrowing her mother's shoes. They got their poor teeth from Grandpa and their big feet from . . . er. . . um. . . my side of the family.

I was going to reply to this post but kept forgetting!

Don't worry about your big feet,Smart Red. Big feet run in the family here to! My dad wears men's size 15, me men's size 14, and my sister outsized my mom when she was 11! My mom has small feet, women's size 9. We do not have any Patagonian heritage... that I know of.

Tallness and a lot of body hair also run in the family. My dad's 6'6'', me 6'3'', and my mom is 5'3''. My sister is up to my shoulder. I seem to be the hairiest one in the family. (except grandpa, he beats me there) I could run through somebodies yard completely naked and they'd probably bevel me to be a Sasquatch!

Interesting that you have Patagonian heritage by the way. I've always wanted to go to southern Chile. Especially around the Towers of Pain, beautiful area. And windy and cold, and barren.

 

[so lucky]

Seed, I've only ever heard of one of those movies, Shawshank Redemption. I haven't seen it by the way, it supposedly inappropriate. It was filmed about 5 miles away from were we live. We've driven past that prison a number of times.

I haven't found out much yet. I've been to a few websites and have sought out old relatives that we have lost contact with for a long while. I'll try not to get frustrated, I'm not there yet!

SeedO, it's a really good movie, and I don't think it would be inappropriate for you now, as a teenager. It is still shown on cable TV pretty regularly. That, and Sling Blade are both worth seeing.

 

[Smart Red]

Interesting that you have Patagonian heritage by the way. I've always wanted to go to southern Chile. Especially around the Towers of Pain, beautiful area. And windy and cold, and barren.

I inserted Patagonian genes into my heritage back in school when I first read about the area. Only in my dreams do I have real Patagonian blood running through my feet. I was immediately impressed by the early European reports of this tribe of folks with BIG FEET even though I realize that the large size was more related to the insulation stuck around their hide shoes that actual foot length.

Hey, SeedObsesser, we could be related? Or at least share the rare big feet gene? Six of my mother's seven brothers were between 6'4" and 6'7". A family reunion gave my poor DH a crick in the neck from all the looking up he did. Dad's side of the family were midgets compared to Mom's. Dad, the oldest, was also the tallest at 5'11". I beat him by half an inch.

It was tough being the tallest one in high school. Few HS boys wanted to look up to their date. I never did get to wear a pair of saddle shoes that were all the rage. Back in those days, my only choice of shoes were penny loafers or nurses' shoes. Bleeck! Dad was so happy when (relatively non-sexed) tennis shoe came on the market. They were so much cheaper he was able to quit the part time job at a shoe store he had to keep me in shoes.

 

[seedcorn]

ShawShank redemption was about a man wrongfully jailed--My g'pa's adopted father.
Hatfield-McCoy's--famous for feud, same man-g'pas's adopted father- was put in jail and then coal companies sent assassins to kill him-2X.
Payton place as g'pa's mother had one illegitimate son by Confederate general, then by g'pa's father?, then married the man who adopted my g'father.

While not sure of any redeeming values of Payton Place, the other 2 are somewhat history movies of how life was.

 

[TheSeedObsesser]

So Lucky, Shawshank Redemption is one of my parents favorite movies. We watch a lot of movies and they haven't watched it in a while, so they might consider it appropriate after watching it again. I'll also look into Sling Blade and Payton Place. I still have to look into Overboard, I think that it was Thistle that recommended that one.

That's pretty need Seedcorn! How you are connected to the inspiration for the main character in Shawshank Redemption, that is. I'm not sure if I worded that quite right.

Hey, SeedObsesser, we could be related? Or at least share the rare big feet gene? Six of my mother's seven brothers were between 6'4" and 6'7". A family reunion gave my poor DH a crick in the neck from all the looking up he did. Dad's side of the family were midgets compared to Mom's. Dad, the oldest, was also the tallest at 5'11". I beat him by half an inch.

Haha, I guess it possible that we could be related! Looking at your avatar you kind of look like my Aunt Ginger!

My mom always has a crick in the neck.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Super fascinating discussion, thanks everyone for sharing such personal stuff.

Speaking of north and south, i found it interesting that @Ridgerunner's great great grandfather joined the Union army from Tennessee. Any thoughts on the decision making process there?!

My computer had virus so I've been down a while. I just got back up and running. It's good to be back.

Heather the decision making process was pretty easy. East Tennessee favored the Union, Central and West Tennessee favored the South. The ironic thing is that for most of the war, the Union controlled Central and West Tennessee and the South controlled East Tennessee, exactly opposite of what the population wanted. If the South had not controlled East Tennessee we'd probably have 51 states today instead of 50. East Tennessee would be a separate state, same as as West Virginia did.

 

[journey11]

My computer had virus so I've been down a while. I just got back up and running. It's good to be back.

Heather the decision making process was pretty easy. East Tennessee favored the Union, Central and West Tennessee favored the South. The ironic thing is that for most of the war, the Union controlled Central and West Tennessee and the South controlled East Tennessee, exactly opposite of what the population wanted. If the South had not controlled East Tennessee we'd probably have 51 states today instead of 50. East Tennessee would be a separate state, same as as West Virginia did.

Like we need anymore confusion either, lol. You'd not believe the number of people I've encountered who don't realize WVa is an entirely separate state.