Saturday, April 4, 2015

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - The "When I Was Young" Genea-Meme, Part 1

It's Saturday Night, 
time for more Genealogy Fun!!


For this week's mission (should you decide to accept it), I challenge you to:


1)  Geneablogger Alona Tester has devised a new meme called the "When I Was Young" genea-meme on her blog, LoneTester HQ.


2)  Since the genea-meme is 25 questions, let's do them five at a time.  This week, answer questions 1 to 5.

3)  Share your answers on your own blog post, in a comment on this blog post, or in a Facebook post or a Google+ post.

Here's mine: 

1)  Do you (or your parents) have any memorabilia from when you were a baby? (ie. baby book, lock of hair, first shoes etc.)

I have not found any memorabilia, except for lots of photographs, from my years as a baby.  My grandfather took most of the photos in the first two years of my life since my mother was working and my father was in the U.S. Navy.  

2)  Do you know if you were named after anyone?

My understanding is that they debated between "Randy" and "Ranny" and "Randy" (actually "Randall" was selected.  Ranslow Smith was my third great-grandfather and my great-grandmother probably lobbied for "Ranny."  I have no clue where my middle name, "Jeffrey" came from.

3)  And do you know of any other names your parents might have named you?

See the above.

4)  What is your earliest memory?

My earliest vivid memory is of my baby brother coming home from the hospital in September 1946.  We lived at 2114 Fern Street and I recall seeing my mother hold the door and my father enter holding baby Stan.  My live changed!

5)  Did your parent/s (or older siblings) read, sing or tell stories to you? Do you remember any of these?

I am sure that my mother, grandmother and grandfather read books to me from an early age.  The Carringers were a literate family with a bookcase of educational books.  The Seavers not so much.

I know that my grandmother sang to me and my brothers all while we were growing up, especially at Christmas time.  That was special.   The only ones I recall are the popular Christmas carols.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2015/04/saturday-night-genealogy-fun-when-i-was.html

Copyright (c) 2015, Randall J. Seaver


10 comments:

Lynn David said...

Q1: I have my first pair of shoes - bronzed - on a plaque hanging on my bedroom wall.

Q2 & 3: I was originally named Allen. It was on the hospital forms. The name would not have been after anyone. But my dad got to talking about the name with his siblings and somehow the idea that the name would get me teased in school (never worked that way with my friend Allen). So dad went to the hospital and changed my name to Lynn, which was from the last name of the man dad bought his diesel fuel from for his bulldozer business. My middle name of David comes from my cousin who is also my godfather.

Q4: There were probably earlier memories, but one of the most vivid was catching my first fish just before I turned 4.

Q5: My mother used to read to me. I remember a few of the books that were on the shelf which she later told me she bought to read to me. Both mom and dad were the ones who told me all the family stories. In later years when my family history obsession really kicked in and mom wondered why, I told her it was her fault! Plus there was that one story about our one of mom's immigrant ancestors who might have been a European count that I had hoped to prove his ancestry before mom died (people had been trying to find his ancestry for over 100 years). I finally did in 2012 when I proved that he had changed his surname. But that was two years after mom's death at the age of 96.

Dorene from Ohio said...

Randy - Here is mine:

http://graveyardrabbitofsanduskybay.blogspot.com/2015/04/saturday-night-genealogy-fun-when-i-was.html

Carrie Smith said...

Here's Mine:
http://underthenuttree.blogspot.com/2015/04/saturday-night-genealogy-fun-when-i-was.html

Alex Daw said...

A sensible suggestion Randy - 5 at a time - only I read it too late!!! I did mine altogether!

Nancy said...

Thanks for the Saturday Night Genealogy Fun, Randy. This is a good one. Here's my post:
http://www.indianaties.com/2015/04/saturday-night-genealogy-fun-i-was.html

Lois Willis said...

Thanks for this challenge - I enjoyed it as well. This is my post:
http://loiswillis.com/?p=3908

Unknown said...

1. No memorabilia, except for photographs.

2. I don't think so. I have never found anyone in my tree with the same or similar name.

3. When I was young my mother told me I did not have a middle name because my parents could not agree on Ann or Joan. Years later she said no, it was between Ann and Jean that they couldn't agree.

4. Crying because our dog had to be put to sleep, and happiness over getting a new puppy.

5. I don't remember anyone reading or singing to me. I do remember always having books to read.

Elise Ann Wormuth said...

My post is here: http://ortburg.blogspot.com/2015/04/when-i-was-young-saturday-night.html

Bill West said...

Running a bit late (again) but here's mine:
http://westinnewengland.blogspot.com/2015/04/the-when-i-was-yoiung-genea-meme-part-1.html

Unknown said...

Thanks for including my Geneameme in your SNGF posts - I am really honoured.

While I had great fun thinking up the questions, and answering them myself, I'm also really enjoying reading everyone else's responses - and they're sparking more memories. Thanks for sharing some of yours.

- Alona (aka www.lonetester.com)