Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Who remembers Gypsies in your neighborhood ??

Did you have Gypsies come through your town as a Kid ? Seems like most summers they would come to town running scams like Asphalt repair and roofing scams. Who were these People and do they still exist ? My memory is not real clear since I was really young. Anyone ??

Travelers, and yes they are still around.

Yup, 100%... We got them running around in Maryland.....

Thieves thieves tramps and thieves... Heard it from the people in town they call us...

Still common.
Google them, they are interesting.

Dirty, nasty, theiving/scamming, but interesting.

My towns major graveyard has a gypsy section, was a bunch of em way back on edge of the burg

To add.....they lived on edge of town.

Not that the locals killed em as they passed through and planted em LOL

Travelers are still around. They use to come thru about once every year or two and most of the work was shoddy, at best.

However, Dad (95) tells a different story of the gypsy's that use to come around, when he was younger. He said they camped up the road about 1/8 mile from my house. There would usually be from 3-5 wagons, pulled by horses. They would do odd jobs throughout the community, shoe horses, swap and trade horses/mules, carpentry work, etc, and did a good job. He said they refused to cut fire wood, except for themselves. All-in-all, he said most were good folks and nobody had stuff missing, when they left. For the most part, it was the same bunch coming thru each year and people kinda looked forward to it.

He did say that one time a bad bunch came thru and were told not to come back. He didn't say who told them or how they were told, but they never showed up again.

Time frame for this was mostly in the '30's and after WWII, up until the early '50's.

Never really saw/had them around us but I did see some in southern Croatia. They were not well received there.

Never looked into what ethnic group(s) could be considered gypsies.

Around here they seemed to be a cross of italians and mexicans.

Beanians? 😂

Dont remember any in the South

There is a difference between what we traditionally think of as gypsies (Romani) and the Irish gypsy trash (travelers) that run the driveway etc scams.

Yep. I remember them

They were more common here in rural WI when my mother was young. She used to tell stories about where they set up camp and watching them closely when they were in her dad's store.
When we were young and got out of line a bit, she used to threaten to, "give us to the gypsies if we didn't behave"!

There seems to be a new influx here that came in with the Syrians a few years back........running all sorts of scams with donations/ sending the woman out to panhandle, ect.

Down the hill from my Grandparents' plots at Spring Grove Cemetery is the Williams' plot. The Williams are Gypsies.

Charlie Miller Funeral Home has been around since forever. It's a Northside institution. Grandpa Whitey used to golf with Charlie Junior. The story goes back to Charlie Senior. Way back a little girl died. She was in a family that was passing through Cincinnati. The family was penniless, but Charlie heard about the situation and buried the little girl free of charge. He even provided a nice dress for her. The little girl was part of the Williams Clan, a family of Gypsies. The patriarch of the clan vowed that from that time on, all the Gypsies of his clan would bury their dead in Cincinnati at Charlie Miller's Funeral Parlor.

It's a once-a-year affair. The Gypsies come to town with their frozen loved ones and for a brief time that end of Spring Grove Cemetery is packed. The Williams clan has a thing for elaborate floral arrangements. I've seen a 4'X6' pack of Kool Cigarettes down there along with . . . well, you name it. Birds, unicorns, professional team logos-- whatever was dearest to the departed. It's a big celebration. Family members come from all over the country.

Spring Grove is the largest cemetery in Cincinnati and the 2nd largest in the world. I've got most of my family and friends buried in there. My ex's family are all buried about 50 yards from the Williams. If you ever get to town, you need to take a ride through.

Everything I know about gypos I learned from snatch.

Bb

Wouldn't normally quote oneself, but...


Don't bother with Google unless you like to dig.
I'd do. Geek out on things I don't know.
Can remember looking into this year's ago, took another peak.

I went to Wikki.
Romani (Gypsies) are not criminals. Not even mentioned.

You won't find any of the common allegations.
Not even being rebutted.

What you find, are white washed papers.
And articles describing how they have been persecuted forever. (True-ish)
And how it's so bad, that police commonly discuss "Gypsie" crime openly.
In ways which would be unheard of if it were Blacks or Latinos that were
being discussed.



Google Tina and David Costello for a one off story that reflects on how
they really work.

Obviously, it's stereotyping.
I'm sure every single one is not crooked.
Just as no group is 100% anything.

I'm sure, on a cold day, some Romani' would gladly give you the jacket
they took of someone else's back.😉

Houston has plenty

They used to come through ABQ (at least our section) every year.
Have no idea where they came from. or went to, but they apparently went back another way.