I was named for my Great Grandmother on my dad's side. Since his mom never married he carried her maiden name and was raised by his grandparents. Yup, he was a bastard. His mother was an alcoholic and back in the thirties that was not a good thing. I get the impression his mother kind of floated in and out of his life and maybe lived a bit in the gutter.
His Grandparents owned a large house in which they rented out rooms and apparently his mother got impregnated by one of the boarders. Of course the man took off when the pregnancy was revealed or maybe even before.
Dad wasn't proud of his family story, he didn't talk about it much. I just remember a few times if ever he ever spoke of them. Both of my great grandparents died before I was born. His mother - my grandmother lived until I was three or so.
I think my Mom was the one who really filled us in on all of it. Great Grandma was from Russia and Great Grandpa was from Germany and they lived in Detroit near Hamtramck.
Now here is the spooky thing - a gravestone with my maiden name on it!
Posts
