The life of a sailors knife.

silenthunterstudios said:
I'm a little choked up after reading that. Always great to hear some tales from the old country, and of the eastern shore. My heart has always lied with the eastern shore, jackknife, but this story really touched me. I especially like the backstory on your grandparents and their life in Ireland. I think you should be writing in Knife World, and that these stories should be collected. The only complaint is that I want a more detailed account, which I think might hurt the folksy style of your writing. It sounds like your grandparents lived a very full life.

I want to hear more!

I think this is your best one yet. My Irish ancestors came to the eastern shore in much the same way. I know barely anything about my Lithuanian ancestors, I have been checking on my Polish, Irish, Austrian and American Indian ancestry recently. Speaking with the old relatives cannot equal looking through a dark old dusty library.
Click to expand...

I've always counted myself lucky, in that my family has been here only a couple of generations of recent history. When I was growing up, I had the wonderfull chance to hear the stories from the people who lived them in our time. One of my best childhood memories is of the old farmhouse overlooking the Choptank river, and grandad sitting on the edge of my bed, telling me bedtime stories of the poverty and violence in Ireland, night smuggling runs off the coast carrying guns for the I.R.A., or French brandy in past the British revenue patrols. Other times there would be barrels of Irish whiskey outbound. It was a poor country and anything for a few dollars extra was worth the risk.

Grandad told me how his own father was lost at sea when he was a young boy, and his mother had to work at the cannery to support them. When he turned 16, he went to sea himself on the cod trawlers going out in the North Atlantic. In that time if you were born with little in Ireland, the best you could hope for was to someday go someplace else to try to get ahead. Several million Irish came to America seeking a better life, my grandad and his family among them.
 
jackknife said:
Yes, thats me.
Click to expand...

Wow, thank you for sharing that with us.....I am with Paraglock on gettin all teary eyed. Do you have a picture of the knife? I work and travel in and around the eastern shore so i could really visualize what you were saying.
 
silenthunterstudios said:
It sounds like your grandparents lived a very full life.
Click to expand...

What do you mean, a very full life!? :eek: They probably never had MP3 players or a PlayStation, or a hot tub, or a microwave oven, or a high def TV.

They probably bought their clothes and shoes at Sears and patched and mended them as they wore thin.

They probably drove their cars for more than three years before moving up to something newer.

They probably lived in a small house without a mortgage and ate simple meals at home, together around a table without a TV to stare at.

And speaking of food, they probably grew a good bit of it themselves and wasted time pickling and preserving vegetables and fruits.

Without the convenience of credit cards, they probably had to save up and pay cash for their things.

They probably had to keep their kids in line with little more than hugs and a hickory switch ...... no therapists or A.D.D. meds for them!

They probably got up and went to church every Sunday morning, rather than watching football on the satellite dish.

They probably limited their Christmas gift-giving to one or two heartfelt gifts rather then a truckload full of stuff.

............... Hmm. Sounds like a very full life indeed. ;)
 
barrabas74 said:
Wow, thank you for sharing that with us.....I am with Paraglock on gettin all teary eyed. Do you have a picture of the knife? I work and travel in and around the eastern shore so i could really visualize what you were saying.
Click to expand...

My Karen and I have yet to aquire a digital camera, and figure out how to post photos. Karen is more computer literate than I, and I am just computer savy enough to get online and talk with you guys. I just have to bite the bullet and do it, but I'm a borderline techno-phobe. I'm the old fart who still drives a car with roll up windows and manual door locks.

But I should get a digital camera.
 
Just a plain sweet story. Thanks for sharing it. The really meaningful things that can't be bought. With today's 365, 24/7 world the pace and schedules does everything to keep people from having, and appreciating that familial continuity.

Best to you and yours,
Amos
 
I reread what I wrote, and should amend it. Speaking with the old relatives is worth more than perusing over old newspapers and city records in a dark dusty library basement.
 
silenthunterstudios said:
I reread what I wrote, and should amend it. Speaking with the old relatives is worth more than perusing over old newspapers and city records in a dark dusty library basement.
Click to expand...

No, speaking with the old relatives is not worth more because it is a priceless experiance. No written record will ever tell you as much as the look in their eyes as they relate the life stories they tell you. The emotion in my grandmothers eyes as she told me of the horrible working conditions of the cannery, or my Uncle Mike telling me of the terror of having his PT boat shot out from under him by a German E-boat off Lyme Bay and surviving in the cold waters of the English Channel, and then the amazement of having the crew of the E-boat render them aid so they would be allright till the other American boats got to them. To watch their faces as they told of this, and listen to the emotions affecting the voice, is absolutly priceless.
 
jackknife said:
No, speaking with the old relatives is not worth more because it is a priceless experiance. No written record will ever tell you as much as the look in their eyes as they relate the life stories they tell you. The emotion in my grandmothers eyes as she told me of the horrible working conditions of the cannery, or my Uncle Mike telling me of the terror of having his PT boat shot out from under him by a German E-boat off Lyme Bay and surviving in the cold waters of the English Channel, and then the amazement of having the crew of the E-boat render them aid so they would be allright till the other American boats got to them. To watch their faces as they told of this, and listen to the emotions affecting the voice, is absolutly priceless.
Click to expand...

Re reading what I wrote, I thought I originally came off as saying you would get more from old records, which is not what I meant at all. What I meant to say in my first post is that you not only get more knowledge from the older relatives, but you get what you stated above, the experience. The fact that they are telling you these stories firsthand. The events as they witnessed it.

:foot: :D

Basically, thanks for the experience that you have given us.
 
Great story Jackknife! I somehow missed it when it originally posted.

I'm an American of Cuban descent born and raised in Florida. For some inexplicable reason I've always been attracted to Ireland and all things Irish. even my wife is a first generation Irish American. We've spent several months in Ireland over the last decade or so and this story just makes me want to visit again.

Below are a few pictures I took on our last visit. I thought they would be appropriate visuals to go with the story.

Dingle
Dingle.jpg

Inis Mor (Aran Islands)
InisMor.jpg

Slade Castle County Wexford
SladeCastle.jpg

Slade Harbour County Wexford
SladeCountyWexford.jpg
 
Jackknife - Yopu may want to look into something like this:

http://www.mybiographer.com/index.php/home/index

Welcome To My Biographer

Here is where we take the stories of ordinary (and not-so-ordinary) people, and create a book which contains a narrative biography. This book will become a treasured legacy for their descendants.

Through My Biographer, you’ll never have to worry that you, your parents or grandparents will fade into history, forgotten except for a few foggy memories.

Take a few minutes, and see how we make it all happen.
 
Thanks for that great story!
Ever have been thinking about writing books???
Now, after all that history, I really would like to see that knife!

kind regards
surfer
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top