Meet my grandparents part V #FlashbackFriday

Good-morning, kittens & dawgs! Piecing my family tree together is a fun, interesting venture. It would be wonderful to knit a story collection (tale tales, truth, and the in-between) of my ancestors. Perhaps with my digging, I’ll find family willing to share. Meanwhile, this morning in Meet my grandparents, part V allow me to introduce my paternal grandmother’s parents.

Meet my great-grandmother Missouri Baker (3rd from left in the back row).

The photo above is the earliest picture I have of Grandma Missouri. Born February 14, 1891 in Buchanan county, Virginia to James “Jim” Baker (pictured in front row; first on left) and Matilda Jane Stacy.

At 16, she married William Harvey Roberts (August 1879- February 1914). Sadly, I do not have a single photo of Grandpa Will to share. They had five children: Nancy “Nannie” (Jun 19, 1908-Sept 21, 1980), Linnie Mae (abt. 1910-1981),  James (abt. 1910-1981), Molly (1913-1913), & Hannibal (Nov 8, 1914- Jun 1985). Nancy is my daddy’s mother.

At the time of Grandpa Will’s death, they lived in a backwoods holler called Estep Ridge and he worked on the railroad in Iaeger, West Virginia. That’s roughly 20+ miles. That’s about a 30-minute drive today, but life in the early 20th century meant traveling by foot or horse. Grandpa Will died from exposure. I’m told Grandpa got word that his family didn’t have fire wood. He feared they would freeze to death and headed home after work by foot. Somewhere along the way, he stopped to rest and have a drink of whiskey, a common drink many old-timers used to warm the body in the cold, unfortunately, he didn’t get back up again.

On July 21, 1916 Grandma Missouri married Elige “Lige” Estep (1893-1970).

In those days a widow or widower married quickly for the sake of their children. With this new union came more children: Laura “Laurie” (1918-1997), Harvey (1919-1992), Myrtle (1922-2013), & Lonnie (1925-1948).

All of my great aunts & uncles I recall only by name, except for for one. I vividly remember visiting with aunt Myrtle.

This is more of the way I remember old man Lige, except he almost looks pleasant in this photo. When I was little, he wore a grumpy face all the time. He frightened me, but I was easily scared as a kid, so what do I know?! Maybe, he had a nice side after all.

Grandma Missouri and Lige separated at some point. The 1940 census show them living apart. There is no record of divorce on file.  However, if you read Meet my grandparents, Part II then you can sorta read between the lines. I can guess what went wrong, but that’s about it and I don’t know if anyone knows the truth now.  It doesn’t matter. I say let sleeping dogs lay, take the good from the past, and leave everything else far, far, behind.

Grandma Missouri died June 9, 1953 and although Lige is not a blood relative I will share that he passed in 1970. There definitely is a story there that’s worth knowing more about, if nothing else for inspiration for writing my fictional story loosely based on Grandma Nannie (Missouri’s daughter). Yeah, I really need to do something about that, but procrastination keeps wining out every time.

Note: if you have photos or stories to share of these family members, please contact me. I would love a picture of my great-grandpa William Harvey Roberts!

Now it time to  celebrate the small things in my life.

I celebrate

• having running water in my home
• modern conveniences ~ washer & dryer, microwave, refrigerator, and AC to name a few
• having a car
• plenty to eat, good health, medical advances, and more clothes & shoes than I will ever wear,
• living in the 21st century

What are you celebrating?

Let’s celebrate making new friends together and we can begin by joining Friendship Friday and Follow Who? Social-Weekend blog hops. Thanks for visiting. Don’t forget to stop by tomorrow for a little boogie session with Saturday Songsuasion!

^{For more day specific blog hops, click here.}