Interesting.
Your family history has a lot of similarity to mine.
My ancestors arrived in North (rural) Florida in the 1840’s.
When my great grandfather bought the family farm (1000 acre +/-) after the war, one former slave had remained (his family had all moved to other states), and asked to be allowed to live out his days in the only home he had ever known. He said he would continue to work the fields, and contribute to the farm, as he had always done. My great grandfather and grandfather told him he was welcome to stay.
When my dad was born in 1902, Paps (that’s what they called him) was already an old man, and no longer worked the fields. As dad grew up, one of his and his older brother’s chores was to walk down the little dirt lane taking food to Paps. Whenever Paps got sick, dad’s family would care for him, and fetch the doctor.
Dad was around 14 when Paps died, and he said Paps was family and they cried at his passing.
Blacks who live in this area today, are largely ancestors of former slaves, and whites who’s families settled here back in the 1800’s, have close friendships. There are a number of black females I will hug whenever we see each other. So far we have been able to escape the hate so prevalent in cities.
For my kids/grandkids its just really normal behavior, as it’s all they have ever known.
Very similar.
The important part of this is the reality of the times was nothing like “Gone with the Wind”. People who have deep roots in Rural America are different. And will be until they extinguish US.
Some of my ancestors we can trace back to early 1800’s in South Carolina others go all the way back to the American Revolution.
Life runs it’s own course. We do not control our future. We can only deal with it. But rural America has an understanding of life that urban dwellers cannot comprehend.
To them, we are back woods hill billies. I’ve never known one, but I have friends who worked in the Kentucky running the machine shop at Peabody Coal. He previously spent his life in a similar job at Kennecott Copper in NM. (I left NM in 1986)
My friend told me some interesting stories about those employees in KY. I could live around those people, and I think I could be comfortable around them. And am sure they would accept me.
I spent almost 40 years in the wholesale hardware distribution industry. With 2 privately held family owned distributors (started as a “Drummer”, smile). Our customers were the greatest people in the world. We sold some chain operations, but most were 1 or 2 store operations. Many of them quite successful, but still humans who were respected in their communities.
Am 76, value those friends.
My wife of 47 years died in 2018, it was a great marriage. I loved her family and she loved mine. She had diabetes a long time. Had 2 stints put in her heart, she died of a heart attack in my arms, waiting for the ambulance.
Married again 3 years ago, God blessed me again with a great woman. Neither one of us had any thought of a relationship, she lived 2 doors up the street. But a misunderstood conversation at the bank where she worked, kept rolling over in my mind. I called her and asked her to have Sunday dinner with me. It went from there.
Spent 20 years caring for sick or elderly family members. My Dad and my brother died since my wife died, I’m the last of the immediate family still here, this will be the first year since 1889 that all of the land is rented. I’ve got lots of work to do at the farm. Our shops, barn in pasture and seed cleaning operation need a lot of TLC. I spent 3-1/2 months with 2 young contractors last year updating the house there, waiting (a long time) for the excavator company to replace the 2nd septic tank. When that is done we will move there.
Most of the land is rented to a cousin of mine, still family. 2 farms are rented to old family friend and his son.
I would like to spend my life in peace enjoying my Amateur Radio friendships and working on my “projects”. smile. And keeping abreast of the events in the world on the web. Here, on Twitter (as @TX_1) and a firearm forum. I have lots of interests and lots of old friends.
It probably won’t play out that way, but I am preparing to do all possible to make it continue past me.
And prepared to physically protect what we accomplished here. The Davos crowd can stick their crap “where the Sun don’t shine”.