SNGF: Where I'm From

The little town of Frostburg, Allegany, Maryland:

Where I'm From.

 

 

Randy Seaver has fun every Saturday night and invites the rest of us to come along and paly with his ongoing series, "Saturday Night Genealogy Fun", or SNGF. This last Saturday night's challenge was a goodie and so I played. Had a hole in the week's line-up of blog posts so thought to plunk it down right here on Tursday.

The challenge is to write a poem entitled "Where I'm From" and you can find the link to the origins of this challenge here. We are, each of us who work to discover ancestors, discovering ourselves along the way, and this poem challenge sets it out in a lovely art form. It's easy and fun to do and you might want to try it:) So here's mine.

WHERE I'M FROM

I am from front porch swings and back porch swings from Ivory Snow and big Jell-o molds with fruit cocktail shimmering inside.

I am from jam in the pantry and a rocking chair in the corner and a pie cooling.

I am from the land of big rhododendron growing wild, lilacs so fragrant, orange day-lilies wild along narrow back roads that get you blessedly lost.

I am from whistlers, and gardeners, from Cutie and Chrissie and Ginny, GranMa and Pop-Pop.

I am from coal country and hills so soft and green it will make you cry and break your heart.

From war vets and war wives, from thse who served.

I am from Irish Catholic / German Lutheran, Democrats, pro-union all the way. And a living wage fairly earned (because so many who worked the coal mines didn't get one.)

I'm from Welsh, Irish, German, Dutch, and English, baking and candy-making, desert freaks.

From baseball on the radio (because Grandpop’s brother played pro ball in Texas), fruit trees in the yard, sitting on that front porch (that got a good sweeping every morning) waving to all who came by cause you knew ‘em real well.

I am from a treasury of old photos, that are loved and cherished.

I’m from a family that will drive you crazy, but in the best way possible.

 

Some of the ancestors from Frostburg:

The Williams family during the Great Depression.

The Kelly family during the Great Depression.

Two of the Kelly brothers served during WWII.

One of our coal miners.

The Kelly family, 1942.

 

The Kelly house with the front porch swing on Main Street. "Yoo-hoo neighbor!"

 

 

The URL for this post is: http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2013/04/sngf-where-im-from.html