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Vintage content about families throughout history; all about ancient ancestors, heirlooms, royal families and beyond.
Weathered and Watchful
We passed it every Saturday, the old weathered barn sitting just off the winding driveway down the hill to my grandparents' farmhouse. I thought nothing of it, until now. What words, what stories would an old barn have to tell about? It is in our nature to hear and then tell of the places we've been and how they make up the days and years that shape our lives.
By Brenda Haberman5 years ago in Families
A Father's Day Tale
He was born in Sulphur Louisiana, approximately 17 miles from Lake Charles, LA between 1825 and 1830. The attached photo depicts the kind of slave (Quarters) home that he lived and grew up in. He and his wife along with their 10 children were Slave Cotton and Tobacco Sharecroppers. After being freed he was able to obtain about 13 acres of land for him and his Family to live off of. However around 1874 he was told by the local Klu Klux Klan chapter that the land he owned was really not his, although he had certified proof of ownership. He and his family were harassed both physically and verbally for many years in order to scare him into giving up the land that he acquired during Reconstruction after the Civil War. On one occasion he and his oldest son went into town to buy feed for their chickens, but was threatened and soon thereafter attacked by the locals, leaving the area injured and without their needed chicken feed. When they finally arrived back to their home, his wife told him while they were away that a large group of Ku Klux Klan men and women were there with handguns, rifles and shotguns, outside taunting and threatening them to leave or be killed. Soon after, they left without further incident. At this point the man told his three oldest sons to go to the shed out back and get their rifles to protect themselves. The night came and went without any further incident. The next day however he and his son were headed back to the feed store when they were intercepted about a mile from home by two men who begin to shout them down. When finally one of them opened fire with a handgun and wounded his son in the shoulder. As he began to turn his wagon around to get away another shot was fired and he too was hit by a bullet in his buttocks. It was then that he reached down found his rifle (in the small front well of the wagon) and fired back in stance of self defense. Though neither of the men were hit, they immediately turned and ran down the road and disappeared around a sharp bend. When he and his son (both wounded and bleeding) arrived back home he told his wife and other children that they had to hurry up and get a few belongings, hitch up their other horse and wagon and they all high tailed it out of there! Which they accomplished in less than 30 minutes. They made their escape with hardly any clothes and/or food.
By Dudley McZeal5 years ago in Families
Lives in Perspective
These items didn’t sell. They sit on dusty shelves and tables, marked with low-priced stickers. I feel odd as I pull clothes from the closet and fold them: shirts, pants, dresses. Some clothing is worn out, some items are fresh with store tags still attached, revealing unfulfilled plans. As I take the dolls out of their glass display cases and stuff them into plastic bags, I feel as if I’m invading a space once occupied by love, strife, laughter, and tears. We have permission to be here, though, and while we're here we learn, little by little, about the owner of these things and how they lived their lives.
By Robert G Shaffer5 years ago in Families
Origin of Antique Chairs
The antique chairs have not always been popular. The lower and middling classes sat on benches and stools throughout the mediaeval era and before. The chair did not become a symbol of high rank or privilege until the Renaissance in Europe, when it became a common piece of furniture for the expanding middle class. With the "luxury" associated with the chair removed, it quickly became popular across Europe, and it quickly became a symbol of the time's trends.
By Kevin Taylor5 years ago in Families
SOMETIMES (part 3 of 8)
SOMETIMES-3 41-Neighbors Closer to the Holidays, a woman came in to the pharmacy to drop off a prescription on this one Saturday. It was a coded script, so I had to ask for ID. The woman showed me her license and I took note that it was a NY Drivers License. She told me she was visiting friends.
By Christine Garza5 years ago in Families
SOMETIMES (part 2 of 8)
SOMETIMES-2 21- The Dirty Dozen club (for kids only) In 1989, I started an after school creative program for school aged kids, called The Dirty DozenClub (for kids only) and became licensed for twelve children. We did everything creative under the sun..including, you guessed it, videoing/recreating old commercial jingles. I had a CD that had all the old commercial jingles on them, and the kids acted them out as I played them and videod them. …So much fun, because they added their own little twists.
By Christine Garza5 years ago in Families
SOMETIMES (part 5 of 8)
SOMETIMES-5 81- People and Places Boulder City’s population of 4,000 was a small, tight community. The local bar gave out free beers if the sun didn’t shine any day in Boulder City. In the eight months we lived there, they gave away beers only once.
By Christine Garza5 years ago in Families
SOMETIMES (part 6 of 8)
SOMETIMES-6 101-I am W-O-M-A-N We rolled into town and took an upstairs apt in a house on Tillman street. The owners lived downstairs and there was an inside stairway that separated the two living quarters between the two floors. It was a nice one bedroom apt, with a folding bed set up in the living room for me. I had to make my bed every morning before I left the room, a practice that I keep to this day.
By Christine Garza5 years ago in Families
