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.
