Found some stuff I hadn’t seen in a long time. A lot more appreciation for them at 49 than I did at 29.
Very well used old dexter.



Also a cigar box with his last pipe, last tin of tobacco, his razor, a pocket watch strap, couple old pics of him with a rifle and dog from ‘66 and grandmas watch. Granny gave it all to me instead any of his three sons, my uncles. Pretty cool she thought that much of me. I got his Remington 121 pump and a revelation .410 too.


He died in ‘81 in a car crash when he was 63. Logged with a team of horses a large portion of his life, had a log truck and hauled timber later, then bought and operated an Exxon station for a long time. I used to spend saturdays there and he kept a milk crate under the pinball machine for me and always a big handful of quarters to feed it.
He taught me how to fish. Raised meat rabbits, taught me how to chop a chickens head off with a hatchet, shoot a pig behind the ear with a .22lr, had a bunch of bench leg beagles for rabbits, a huge garden and an orchard of fruit trees.
Had a pipe in his mouth at all times. Never drank a drop of alcohol because his dad was a drunk. His dad, my great grandfather had 27 children by two wives, his last when he was 84yo. and most of his income was from moonshine. Got a pic of him with his foot up on the bumper of a willys jeep and a pistol in his right hand.

I have his tackle box and worn out zebco 404 too. Thinking a lot of this needs to go on the wall at the cabin with the pics I have of him.

He was a hell of a man. Told me he could never work for another man and always said “if a man has a 3/4 ton pickup he’ll always have work”. Served in the navy in WWII. They don’t make em like him anymore….. wish I’d had time to spend more time with him. I was 9 when he died.

Cool!!!

Yes it is...that old Dexter saw a sharpening stone a few times! Makes me think of my grandpa, too. Thanks for that.

Treasures.

Cool stuff jack, thanks for the write up. 👍

Very nice Jack..superb post and accolades well deserved I’m sure

Sounds like a hell of a man.

Thanks for the pics and story, very cool.

Pretty neat razor. You should post the old pics with the dog.

Nice write up!, Hell now I'm the old guy.

I’ve got most of GrandDad’s knifes and his Pipes too.
None of the other useless grandkids gave a schitt about them.
Grandad always smoked Prince Albert tobacco in the cans like that one pictured.
Back when I smoked, I’d buy a pack of it every once in a while and use his pipes. Always loved that smell when I was a kid.

Razor is a Gillette.
Top pics are grandad, bottom is his brother-in-law Uncle buck. Killed thrown by a horse. Grandad had a studebaker pickup but the road into the cabin ran along a river that often came up over the road. Mom said a lot of their travels between neighbors (mostly family) was by horseback.

This is my favorite.

Thats great stuff JM, where was your Granddad's homeplace?

Red Creek near Harman. 20 minutes from Canaan Valley.
Dads family was near Fort Seybert, Dale Hill. There’s a book that talks about a place called “wizard’s clip” in the early 1800’s. The same area still has a road called Clip rd.

First ancestor in the country is buried there in Dale Hill cemetery. Hessian that landed in 1776.
Moms people, they’ve traced back to at least 1725. Germanic on both sides.

Looking at an old photo album with pics back into the 19 teens tonight. They were some hard ass people living in the mountains.
Moms family cemetery there’s a grave with 5 kids in it. Grandma said they died in the winter and the ground was too froze to bury them so they stuck them in a snowbank til spring thaw and buried them in one grave. So many children in the cemetaries.

Rotary dial phone call to the local market: Do you have Prince Albert in a Can?

Merchant" Yes we do!

Us kids pulling pranks: Well let him out!

ya!

GWB

JM, looks like our people were near neighbors. We were in Raven, Richlands, Tazewell, Bluefield and Rural Retreat. Our folks came out of Austria and Bavaria, moved to the Colonies in the 1750s.

Great pics. Second pic reminds me of the terrain around our place in West Virginia. Actually the first reminds me of the outbuildings we had in various states of collapse lol. Love old pics with dogs in them.

Thanks for the post JM. I live in Elkins. Harmon is 20 miles away. Spent alot of time in the "Sinks" hunting ground hogs with my grand-dad. Caught a lot of trout in Canaan Valley. I remember when you could hardly give land away in that end of the county. Now the ski resorts have caused a boom in the real estate market.
That whole area was were the virgin timber was cut to build the railroads across this country. Fascinating stories and times for sure.

Case on bottom from 1966. Done more critters than many can fathom...


Little .22 on top killed TONS and TONS of meat...

Nice photos and analogies

Thanks for posting