Mike Parker: Looking through a ‘window’ into the past
When I visited my mother recently, she gave me a photograph of a good-sized group of her family members. I picked out my granddaddy with ease, even though he was probably somewhere in this mid-30’s at this time. My best guess for the date of the photo is around the early 1930s. The names of those in the photo were inscribed on the back.
When I knew granddaddy, he was already ancient in my preteen mind, not the young man looking out from that photo. I did not him well because we infrequently visited my mom’s parents. Still, certain memories are firmly lodged in my mind. Granddaddy ate oatmeal for breakfast every morning. Although Granny made wonderful biscuits and gravy when we came to visit, Granddaddy still ate oatmeal.
The first time I ever ate groundhog was at their house. Granny cleaned the critter, fried him up, and made gravy from the drippings. Eating groundhog is not much different than eating squirrel or rabbit.
My great-grandfather Jack is also in the photo. He was born in 1868, about three years after the Civil War. One oddity of his life is that he was born and died on the same date – Oct. 25. He was 81 when he passed away.
My great-great grandfather was Caperton – “Cape” for short. Cape was born in September 1845. After serving in the Confederate Army with Thurmond’s Partisan Rangers, he received his parole at Charleston, WV, in 1865. This partisan ranger group formed in Monroe County. Before the war, Monroe County was in Virginia. During and after the war, that same county was in West Virginia. Cape lived until April 1943, so he was nearly 98 years old when he passed away.
I can only wonder at how these men, all born in the 19th century, reacted to the advancements they saw as their lives moved toward the mid-point of the 20th century. For Jack and Cape, they entered a world without cars, without telephones, without airplanes, without televisions or even radios. I doubt any generation of people saw more technological advances than they did.
They were all farmers. When Granddaddy farmed, he still uses a horse to break up the 87 acres he planted. Granddaddy and Granny raised sheep, pigs, and cows. The first time I saw butter rendered was when Granny sat on her veranda and worked the churn.
They had a good-sized house, but the bathroom was a path to the privy. They drank water from a spring. The only running water they had was when one of us ran back from the spring toting two buckets. They collected water for washing their clothes in rain barrels.
Their lives were different than the one I lived just across the mountains in Virginia. Visits to their house taught me not to take running water and an inside bathroom for granted.
They were truly people who lived on the land. A trip to the grocer in Union allowed them to buy flour and sugar. Most everything else they ate, they raised.
Mom told me they never experienced much of the hard times of The Great Depression. The stock market crash in 1929 had little impact on that part of “Almost Heaven” because self-sufficiency was a way of life passed from generation to generation.
I am so grateful my mother shared the photo of her family with me. I am thankful she taught me a little about the people who came before her and shaped her life.
Sometimes when my grandkids are visiting, I show them the old family photos and tell them some stories about their ancestors. Believe it or not, they find the experience enlightening and entertaining.
Mike Parker is a columnist for Neuse News. You can reach him at mparker16@gmail.com.
