Family history Friday: Grandpa Newland

Istiqlál (Independence), 7 Jamál (Beauty), 169 BE – Friday, May 4, 2012 about 6:45 PM Pacific Time

I remember many things about my Grandpa Newland. Grandpa was bald and he would let us rub his baldhead. My mother said that when she was a child she remembered sitting on his lap and rubbing his baldhead.

Grandpa drank coffee. Every day he would make a pot of coffee and when he finished the one pot of coffee, he would make another. Grandpa poured the first cup of coffee I ever drank; at least I think he poured it. Anyway, the cup contained a little bit of coffee with a lot of cream and sugar.

Another thing I remember about Grandpa was that he smoked cigarettes. I remember Grandpa telling me that he began smoking at 13 years old. I also remember Grandpa rolled his own cigarettes. I remember his sitting at the kitchen table rolling cigarettes. I also remember sitting by Grandpa’s hospital bed when he was dying of cancer.

Family History Friday: Fragments of Conversations

Istiqlál (Independence), 3 Bahá (Splendor), 169 BE – Friday, March 23, 2012 about 3:15 PM Pacific Time

I remember some of the conversations I had with my mother and my Grandparents. I wish now that I had ask more questions and written down some of the information, but at the time I was not thinking ahead.

My mother mentioned a high school class she had. Mom said called the class hygiene. She did not say much about the class and I did not ask, but I do know that part of the instruction had to do with brushing teeth.

I remember the

Fragments of conversations

About history

When I was a child, Grandpa would take us to visit some of the graves on Memorial Day. As we drove through the Oklahoma countryside, he would point out empty fields where a house he and my grandmother lived in once stood.

Another time, Grandpa told us a story about a Halloween prank. I remember Grandpa saying this incident occurred when he was a teenager. Anyway, Grandpa and some of his friends got together and they put a buggy on top of a neighbor’s house. I think he said it was the type of buggy drawn by a single horse.

Memory fragments

Are family history

Written for others

I think I will use these fragments as inspiration for some stories or poems. When more fragments come to mind I will make another entry on this subject.

Family History Friday: My Grandmother’s electric washer

Istiqlál (Independence), 8 ‘Alá (Loftiness), 168 BE – Friday, March 9, 2012 about 11:35 AM Pacific Time

I remember the first electric washing machine I ever saw. It sat in my Grandma Newland’s laundry room. It was not like the automatic washer I use today; Grandma’s washer agitated the dirty clothes, but did not rinse the clothes. Instead, Grandma would take the clothes out of the wash water, put them in a wringer, squeeze the water out, and then put the clothes through the first rinse.

Grandma rinsed her clothes in huge aluminum tubes. Grandma put her clothes through two rinses. After taking the clothes out of the washer and wringing the soapy water out of them, she put them in hot water to rinse the rest out the rest of the soap. After that, she put the clothes through the wringer a second time to squeeze water out of them and then put them in the second rinse.

In the second rinse, Grandma added several drops of “bluing”. She did this to make the clothes whiter, I am not sure how the bluing worked; however, it did work because the white shirts looked nicer and whiter after they came out of the second rinse. After Grandma took the clothes out of the second rinse and put them through the wringer again, she would hang them on the clothesline to dry.

I helped Grandma with the laundry sometimes, especially on Saturday. Grandma would stand right beside me when I went to use the wringer. She always cautioned me not be careful about getting my hand caught in it. I never did get my hand caught.

Family History Friday: Searching for my roots

Istiqlál (Independence), 16 Sultán (Sovereignty), 168 BE – Friday, February 3, 2012 about 4:50 PM Pacific Time

I am searching for my roots, so I suppose the first thing to do is to write down what I know and work from there. My mother was born Marie Pearl Newland on a farm in Oklahoma on March 19, 1921. Mom’s dad was Frank S. Newland, I am not sure of his birth date or what the S. stood for. Mom’s mother was Mary Florence Chaplin, I do not remember her birth date or where she was born.

My father’s name is Melvin Fay Darbe and he was born in 1921, somewhere in Oklahoma or Kansas. My grandmother on my father’s side was named Belva and I think her maiden name was Lancaster, but I am not sure and I do not know where she was born.

My father served in World War II in the Army Air Core and was stations at Nellis Air Force Base in Las Vegas, Nevada. My parents lived in Las Vegas right after they were married and Mom was a maid at what is now University Medical Center.

My grandfather on my mother’s side was too young to serve in World War I and too old for World War II. Grandpa Newland’s brother Roy Newland served in World War I. That is all I know at this time, so I will have to do some research to see what I can find.

Family History Friday: Morning Routines

Istiqlál (Independence), 2 Sultán (Sovereignty), 168 BE – Friday, January 20, 2012 about 5:45 AM Pacific Time

For about fifty year, my Grandpa Newland worked at the Zink Smelter in Blackwell, Oklahoma. Monday through Friday, Grandpa would get up, shower, eat breakfast, and then go to work. Monday through Friday, the routine was the same.

Jalál (Glory), 3 Sultán (Sovereignty), 168 BE – Friday, January 20, 2012 about 5:54 PM Pacific Time

As you can see, I started this entry early this morning; unfortunately, I had to stop in the middle of the entry and did not get back to it until now. I had intended to compare my grandparent’s morning routine with mine, but I have forgotten what I was going to write. Therefore, I will post what I have and go on to the next project and interruption.

Photos in My Closet

Jamál (Beauty), 5 Jalal (Glory), 165 B.E. – Sunday, April 13, 2008 about 4:37 PM PDT

I looked in my closet today and found three boxes of photos setting on the floor. I'm going to have to go through them and find out all I can about them. Ask my mother what she remembers, then scan them onto my hard drive and burn them onto CDs. Perhaps compose a document about the photos to go on the CD.

Most of the photos are of family members; my grandparents, siblings, aunts, uncles and cousins. There is no use having photos if you don't know the history surrounding them. My mother is 87 and if I don't get the information now, I'm afraid I'll never get it. Then what do I do with the photo, just throw them away if there isn't any information to accompany them.

Don't get me wrong, I have destroyed photos before. I found the photo of a ex-boy friend and destroyed it. Actually, what I did was tear it up into small pieces and put it in the cats litter box, but that was a different situation. I don't like throwing family photos away because there is a history behind them that needs remembering.