Wednesday, October 24, 2012

A Man I Never Met, My Grandfather

I never got to meet or know my grandfather on my moms side of the family as he died shortly after I was born. This is a reason why photos are so important. Just as important is putting information on them or, if digital, you keep the real metadata file.

My grandfather in his early days as a railroad worker.


My grandfather on the left. The guy on the right may have been some sort of conductor. He's wearing a watch and looks like he's carrying papers, maybe train routes and times in a terminal or yard.


 This is my grandfather with his youngest daughter, my aunt Zoe. This was taken in front of their house in Knoxville, TN. Looks like they had a pretty heavy snowfall that year.The house had a wood cooking stove in the kitchen and one in a front room for heating. I was only in the house one time before my step grandmother died but I remember it well. Very plain with little furnishings. My grandfather had moved  up to conductor by this time of his career. He 7 kids of which 3 were sons. One was a full time railroad man. The other two were part time conductors making weekend runs.

3 comments:

Michelle said...

I love seeing history like this. Always interesting to see photos of relatives and wonder about their lives.

Birdman said...

He musta had some stories. Old train stories can be spellbinding.

Anonymous said...

Your grandfather looks great in the outfit he is wearing. Thanks for the visit and comment.