Jan.23, 2019

Fact: More old letters from over 100 years ago.  These were written to Grandpap Spragg when he was out of town working on pipeline.

Here are two written from Uncle Lawrence and One from Dad.  I would have to say dad was about 10 when he wrote his and if that is his hand writing he had really good hand writing. .  It appears by the letters that dad was a good student and he only went to 8th grade but he was a wiz in Math.  You could give him columns of numbers and he could add them in his head. 

 

Jan. 22, 2019

Fact: Getting to far ahead with the facts so going to post pictures today. 
Pictures: More letters that are over 100 years old.  Some you have to read from right, go to next on and read from left to right and then back to page one on left to read.  Some are in order.  These three letters were written to Grandmaw Spragg in the late 1800's. First one is two pages, 2nd one is two pages but have to read as above, 3rd one is two pages.  I believe these were all written before she married grandpap.I believe the person writing the 2nd letter must have run a boarding house. 

  These letters was written by Lydia to Grandpap when he was out of town and state working on pipelines.

Here is another letter from Lydia to grandpap.

Jan.19,2019

Fact: After we moved from Berthel Ave. we moved to the first house that mom and dad bought. It was back on Wayne St.  I was about 12 years old when we moved there.  I went to Wolfdale school and then on to High School at Trinity already mentioning that I did not move but mom and dad moved to Bridgeville when I was a Jr. and Bill and Louise moved into this house.  Guess I was like the monkey earlier.  I went with the house.  When mom and dad came back to Washington, we still moved to a place off Baird Ave. and then to Baird Ave.  I was along on there moves as I could still go to Trinity.  We then moved back into the house at Wayne St. and I lived there until I was married.  
Memories: I do not remember too much about the days of Goat Hill but Wolfdale I do.  I was getting old enough to start running around with friends.  I do remember a couple earlier things, but do not remember where we lived at the time.  I was 10 and Bill and Louise lived in York, Pa. at the time.  They had come home and I went back to York with them.  I remember a couple things that stood out in my mind about this trip.  I was over at Louise's mom's and dad's and Bill and some of Louise"s brothers were messing around and got into a water fight.  Louise's dad came home and he had been drinking and he got angry about what the boys had done and it was the first time I ever heard the F word and it scared me to death. Another thing I remember about this trip was I came home alone.  I got a bus and had to change buses in Gettysburg and then change to streetcar in Pittsburgh to get to Washington.  My first job was babysitting and I started doing that when I was about 10 and I remember going to Canonsburg and staying with some relatives children for a few days by myself.  Had to cook and wash while I was there.  My first public job was working at Len's restaurant on Jefferson Ave.  I was 14 and made 35cents a hour.  
Reflections: Changed world isn't it?  I can not imagine letting someone who was 10 watching my kids even when they were little, or taking a trip like I did.  I do think it would not hurt kids to have more responsibility and working at a young age was not a bad thing.  It let me be able to buy some things I wanted and we knew our parents did not have money for.  I have never regretted these things.  I think these things get young people ready for life.  It is not always easy, it is not always fun, but if you work you can reach for things and enjoy life.  
  
Pictures and articles.  

Here are two of the aunts that Dad and Uncle Lawrence stayed with.  I am not sure which is Lydia and which is Priscilla.

  Here is one of the letters Lydia wrote to Grandpap Spragg.  They must have meant alot to him as he kept them for a lot of years.  

 

Jan. 18, 2019

Fact: We next moved back into Washington on Berthel Ave.  I went to Hayes Ave. School and  Goat Hill from here.  Aunt Daisy and Uncle Ward lived up over the hill from where we lived at this time and it was in this house Bayardie stayed while we lived at Grandpap's. 
Memories: We walked to school at Hayes Ave.and Goat Hill.  I remember stopping at Aunt Daisy's house almost every day on our way home from school.  If you never had Aunt Daisy's bread you missed a real treat.  When we stopped she would ask if you wanted a slice of bread and you soon learned that you did not say " I do not care." as she would say "I don't either" and keep on doing what ever she was doing.  Grandmaw Ward had a stroke by this time and was bed fast and Aunt Daisy took care of her.  It was not like it is now a days when they work with those who have stokes, back then you just lived your life out that way.  Grandmaw could not talk but seemed to understand and she would get frustrated when she could not make them understand and she would say "OH, shit". That you could understand.  
Reflections: Yes these were my good old days and I am so thankful for the memories I have from this time, but there are also lots of things I am so thankful for that are better now, so if you are younger and most of you are, remember this is your good old days and I pray when you get older you can look back on them and be able to have good memories and even be able to be thankful for the things that are better.  I am most thankful for days like today that I do not have to go out to a outhouse.  
Pictures: This is a picture of Uncle Lawrence and dad when they were just little boys.  Uncle Lawrence was the oldest.  I can still see dad in there. 

 

Jan. 18,2019

Fact: When we moved from grandpap Spragg's we moved out in the country south of Washington and we lived in a 2 story farm house and when the wind blew hard the furniture upstairs would move away from the walls as the house swayed that much.  A couple of times we went to the spring house down back of the house as it was built into the hill when the wind was really bad.  Johnny and I attended a 1 room school house there that had all 8 grades in it.  There was a big coal stove in the middle that they heated it with.
Memories: I remember going into the school one day and a couple of the bigger boys who took care of the stove had the door open on it and was swinging Johnny back and forth like they were going to throw him into the stove.  Guess they would be called bullies today.  I also remember Johnny throwing a orange at me in the house as I ran up the steps and it stuck on the wall. He also threw one at me on the school bus at Grandpap Spraggs and it stuck on the front window. 
Reflections: Wonder if Johnny got over throwing things at people.  LOL.  I am sure I did not do a thing to have this happen.  
Pictures and articles:

Here is a couple articles that were in the papers.  The 50th anniversay of Grandmaw and Grandpap Ward is dated Nov. 1941 and the death notice of Grandad had to be the next year as he died in 1942.The other is Grandmaw Spraggs death notice.

    

Jan 14,2019

Fact: When we lived in Strabane I remember there were things you could not buy at the store without having stamps to buy them because of the war.  When we lived there Bill came home from the service after being in Germany one day  and Fred left the next day for the service.  He spent his overseas time in Panama and worked in a hospital.  Bill was married and he and Louise lived a few places up from us.  Margaret also lived there but she lived down over the hill from us.  It was called a project where several of the houses were joined together.  
Memories: One memory I have while living in Strabane is someone predicted the world was going to end and it seemed several bought into that. Seemed like some were in a panic.  I also remember a neighbor across the way from us had tried to commit suicide and had his wrist cut and inside the house you could see the blood smeared on the walls as he came out of the house to get help after he had tried.  On the lighter side back at Grandpap Spragg's farm I remember all the fun times I had playing in the creek.  Mom would bend a straight pen and tie it on a string and the string on a stick and I would fish.  The fish I caught were about 2 to 3 inches long.  
Reflections: I have not thought about what happened in Strabane in many of years.  I like to think I remember the good times and do not dwell on the bad.  I am so thankful that I do not have a lot of bad things to remember.
Pictures:  Here is a picture of my grandpap Spragg.  He is the one sitting in the middle.  I was told this was taken when he was working out of state when he worked on the pipelines.  

 Here it is cropped:

       a picture of Grandmaw and grandpap Ward,

   

Jan.11,2019

Fact: My internet has been mostly off for three days.  Grrrr.
My dad and Uncle Lawrence spent a lot of their younger years with their Aunt's and I think the Aunts still  lived with their parents.  Pricella and Lydia Brant was their names.  I have pictures of them but do not know which is which. They were Sudie's sisters.  Grandpap worked on gas lines at the time and was away from home.  These Aunt's did not live to be very old. I have letters written to grandpap by one of them and also from dad and Uncle Lawrence.  I will post them soon.  I also have one written to grandma Spragg by a friend before she was married, which I found amusing.  
Memories: I think one of the reasons I do not like snakes as I remember when we lived at grandpa's and Bayardie was there for a week-end that he caught a big black snake and was chasing me with it.  To me the only good snake is a dead one.  Another memory I have of Bayardie and I was we went to get a ground hog.  Bayardie had chased it into it's hole and he told me to get down and pull it's nest out and when it run out the back hole he would get it.  Dumb kid that I was I did and the ground hog tried to bite me but we kept after it and he did run out the other hole and Bayardie got it with a shovel. 
Reflections: Some things do not change that much and others really do.  The letter from Grandma's friend and the ones from the boys to Grandpap are not that much different. One thing I think has really changed is what kids do for fun.  I think I remember living at Grandpap's because it was a fun time. I always liked older people and liked to listen to them tell their stories.  We did not have all the things that young ones have today and sometimes I think with what all they do have, it takes a lot away from the memories they will have when they get older.  Good memories are worth their weight in gold.  

Jan.8, 2019

Fact: 31 years ago today my favorite grand daughter was born in San Antonio, Texas.  She always tells me she is my only grand daughter but I tell her I am sure she would be my favorite if there were more.
Back to history.  I guess I remember living at my  Grandpap Spragg's the most of the places we lived at growing up pre-teen years. We had no electric, nor gas.  We used the lamps that you had to fill up and had a wick that burned.  We did have water that came into the kitchen sink that was gravity feed by a spring.  I remember they kept a rag tied on it so a lizard did not come in with the water.  We had a wood cook stove that had 4 burners and a large well that held water so you could dip hot water out and along the top was a warming oven to keep the food warm after being cooked.  We also had a path  to the outhouse.  While we were there they did bring gas through and we had gas lights after that. We lived about two miles or so from town and we either walked or went in horse and wagon, if they were going to buy more than could be carried. 
Memories: I remember when we lived at Grandpap Spraggs, he had a team of horses.  One was named Doc and I do not remember the other ones name.  Of course they were used for everything, doing the hay to pulling the wagon to town and back.  I remember when they made hay they would put it in shocks and then use one of the horses and they would put a long pole under the shock and it had a rope on it that they would loop over the hay and it would pull tight to hold it together and they would drag it to the wagon and load it on to take to barn.  I remember getting to ride the horse while they were doing this.  It would be taken by wagon to the barn and the wagon was put it the barn and there was a big hook that they could lower and grab the hay and they would pull it up into the hay loft. 
Reflections: It is hard to believe today that they could make enough money with a few milk cows and what they could get off the farm to feed a family.  I do not remember ever going hungry, or not having clothes to wear. I do not remember having toys to play with but we did not need them when we had a creek to play in, a pet ground hog and so any things to keep a kid busy.  Happy memories, money can not buy.
 

Jan. 7, 2019

Fact: I remember that we lived in at least 13 different places while I was growing up and mom and dad lived in at least 14, as I lived in mom and dad's house with my brother Bill and his wife Louise while I was a Junior in high school so I could go to the same high school for all 4 years.  This is counting where ever we lived when I was born and the at least another 12 places I remember living in after I was four.  The first place I actually remember living was in Wolfdale, then we moved to a farm where blind people had lived and mom really had a job of cleaning, then to the road by Log Pal (that is where we had the monkey), then we lived in two different houses on Wayne St., then we moved to Strabane, then to Grandpap Spragg's farm, then out in the country out of Washington, then to Berthel Ave., then to Wayne St. (Mom and Dad bought this house and owned it until they retired, but did not always lived there. I think most of the time some of the family lived in it then.) We also lived in the alley off Baird Ave., and then on Baird Ave., then back into the house at Wayne St. We lived there when I got married, but Mom and dad still moved.  LOL.  They also lived in Bridgeville, the year I 
stayed with Bill and Louise
Memories: It was at the Morningside school house that Mrs. Stevenson was the teacher and I was in first grade that they learned that I was deaf in one ear.  They never knew if I was born that way or if a childhood disease caused it.  I remember that we had a cow named Toby that we rode, or at least Johnny and I did.  She moved several of the places with us.  At the log pal house a monkey came with it.  The only way the people would rent it was if the monkey stayed.  If it got in the house the first place it went was up the stairs and would slide down the banister.  He would take my doll baby and wrap it in it's blanket and take it up in the tree with him.  The monkey was the one who found out Bayardie had head lice.  Mom seen him picking something out of Bayardie's hair.  We also had a pet ground hog when we lived at Grandpap Spragg's.  Dad had shot the mother for meat and seen that she had been feeding a little one, so he dug it out of the hole and brought it home.  We feed it with a baby bottle and when it got bigger he lived under the house.  I remember taking oatmeal out in a pan to feed him and when he would start to eat I would pull it back from him.  This went on until I made him mad and he came after my toes.  I learned you do not want a mad ground hog coming after your bare toes. 
Reflection: I never felt that I was hurt in anyway from all the moving we did.  I think if you were shy that may have been different, not that I was real out going but I always seemed to have friends and I was not the only one in the family that lived with someone else as Bayardie stayed with Aunt Daisy and Uncle Ward the year we were at Grandpap Spragg's so he could stay in Trinity too.  I am so Thankful to have wonderful memories. I will be posting some pictures along the way to and I hope I do not ramble too much and not sure I will never repeat myself or get out of order, so it will be what it is. 

Jan. 6, 2019

Fact:  Harry took me out to lunch today at Bob Evans and then to Wal-Mart, so no daily posts. 

Jan.5, 2019

Fact:  The first place I remember where we lived was in Wolfdale in a double house.  It was also the first whipping I remember getting.  Some of us kids were in the yard kicking cans and dad came out and told me to stop and of course I had to do it again after he went into the house and I kicked it through the neighbors window.  It only took two whippings from my dad to know when he told you not to do something or said no he meant it.  When I got older and asked him about doing something and he said "No.", that was it but if he said " Ask your mother " It meant he was ok with it as long as mom said ok.  You could talk mom around sometimes though.
Memories:I do not remember my grandfather Ward.  I have pictures of him but do not remember him.  Most of what I remember of Grandmother Ward is she had a stroke and was bed fast and she was at Aunt Daisy's and she took care of her.  It is the only funeral I ever remember that was held in the home. I remember my Grandfather Spragg the best. We lived with him and Lizzy when I was in 2nd Grade on his farm in Waynesburg. He always took time after lunch and would sit on the porch and he would tell me stories about Dad, Uncle Lawrence, and Uncle Willis.  I also remember that he never used a fork when eating.  He ate mostly with a knife. My Dad did not even remember his mon as she died young.  My last time I remember seeing Lizzy, was after Harry and I were either going together or married but Uncle Lawrence wanted to go see her when he visited so we took him to see her where she lived after grandpap died. 
Relections: Be ever so thankful if you knew your grandparents.  There is lots of things I would love to know about them now.  I know my Grandpap Spragg was a farmer but I do not even know what my Grandfather Ward to make a living.  Here is a drawing I did about the can.

 

01/04/2018

Fact: My mother Mary was one of three girls, Daisy and Pearl were her sisters.  I never knew Pearl.
My father was one of  three or four boys.  According to ancestary there was a forth boy but never knew this before my parents died.  My father Bayard was one of  three boys born to his father, Thomp Spragg. His mother was Sudie Bradth  Spragg and she died when dad was less than 6 months old when she died on April 1, 1900.  He had a brother Lawrence and Willis was the son of Grandpap Spragg's 2nd wife Lizzie.  
Memories: I remember my Aunt Daisy well. She was one of my favorite people. I also remember my Uncle Lawrence and Uncle Willis also.  Uncle Lawrence lived most of the time I knew him in Detroit, Michigan and Uncle Willis lived up there and then later when he retired he lived in Florida. I remember when Uncle Lawrence came to see us when we were young he always gave us money and he and dad always drank.  They both gave that up in their older years.  Uncle Willis I remember him more when I was a teenager and older. Uncle Lawrence was always crippled as long as I knew him.  Dad said that happened when he was trying to jump over a barrel of whiskey. I think he may have been married once but I am not sure.  He never had any children, but seems to me he brought  a step-son to our house once. Uncle Willis was married 3 times I think.  He had one son Gary to his 2nd wife. He lives in Michigan and has 3 girls.

Reflections: When I am writing these things it makes me think about a lot of things I normally would not be thinking much about. Harry always says " I am the trivia collector." , but I realize there is a lot of things I would like to know now that I did not ask.  I guess this blog is more for me than anyone else, but maybe some day someone in the family will want to read it.  

Jan. 3, 2018

fact:  Missed doing this day.

Jan.2, 2019

Fact: I was the last child born in the family and there were 4 living siblings at that time.  Mom had been married to John Smith and had 5 children, having lost her first two, John and Clarese, she had Margaret, who at the time I was born was already married to John Piatt and had a son Johnny who was almost 2 months old when I was born.  Bill and Fred were children to her first husband and Bayardie and I were to my father.  
Memories;  Of course I have no memories of this time, but Mom told me that we lived out in the country and I was born at my Aunt Daisy and Uncle Ward's house in Bucktown, which was part of 
Waynesburg, Pa. She said Dad took care of the other kids and even baked bread.  
Relections: Now that I am older and look back on my parents life, they did not have a easy row to hoe.  I can not imagine what it would have been to lose your first two children and get a divorce in that age with 3 children to raise.  My father was a good dad to all of us and we were a family. We never had alot but then neither did others around us.  We always had a roof over our head, clothes to wear, and food to ear, so I feel we were blessed. 







 
























 

Reflections, memories and facts.

Reflection, memories and facts is something I have been thinking of doing as I wish I had thought to ask questions of those who are now no longer here in hopes that someday maybe some questions you did not ask might be answered.  I do not know  what all I want to include in this so going to just start
with the year I was born which was Jan.1938.  My parents were Mary Elizabeth Spragg and Bayard Henry Spragg .
 Fact: In 1938 there was 48 states in the United States and Franklin D. Roosevelt was President. 

• Harvard Tuition: $420 a year.
• A gallon of gas: 10 cents.
• Movie ticket: 25 cents.
• Postage stamp: 3 cents.
• Average income: $1,731 per year.
• House: $3,900.

 Reflection:       2018 prices
                 
                    Harvard Tuition 1918 46,340.00
                    Gallon of gas in US $2.19 but Ohio is a little less.
                    Movie ticket $9.12 This even surprised me as I have not been to a movie in ages. 
                     Postage stamps 55 cents 
                     Average Income:56,561  
                     House $222,800 
 Some of these prices are higher then in Monroe Co. Ohio where we live, but according to information found on Google these were the average in the USA. 

Fact: This is not what this will be every day but thought it would be ok to put in and compare 2019 with what was going on in 1938.