When we usually read something like that we see an article about some famous person: Abe Lincoln, Thomas Edison, etc. I contend that is is a much different class of men and women that make this country great. It is just the man that goes to work each and everyday that provides for his family day in and day out. The guy that is just a bus driver that makes sure that his riders get to work/school. It is just a whole army of these people doing their part to make this country work.
I am going to tell you about one of these men. He was not famous or rich. He worked long and hard. This man was my maternal Great Grand Father. He was born the youngest of twelve kids in 1872. He did go to school until he graduated from the eighth grade at the age of thirteen. He then apprenticed to become a black smith. He did this until he was eighteen years old. He then Started his own shop. He ran this shop for the next 76 years.
He married when he turned twenty. They had three children: two sons and a daughter. My Grand Father was the oldest and was born in 1899. My Great Grand Mother lived until 1936 when she passed at the age of 62. He lived until 1966 when he died at the age of 94.
Some of the lessons in life he taught me:
1) Dead men owed no bills to him. He would never think about trying to collect an unpaid bill from a widow or child. He just would just send a statement marked "Paid in Full".
2) You lived your life honestly. You can not control how your fellow man acts but you can be honorable in all of your dealings.
3) You work to better your way in life. Whether this is physical work or spiritual. You always try to better yourself.
4) You work hard BUT rest on the Lord's day. His Black Smith shop was open 7 am to 5 pm Monday through Sat. Never worked a Sunday. (This one I don't follow like I should. Too many Sundays spent working)
5) Do the best work you can in what ever you do. Sloppy work is never to be accepted. Learn to do better.
6) Make time for the children in your life. He took us kids fishing many evenings after supper. Sundays he wanted to see the kids.
This man showed me how to do many things in life. One of them was how to do black smith work. He could turn a piece of steel into about just about anything you wanted. His hands where so callused that he had to watch handing you a piece of steel as it might blister you but not him. I have seen him make springs for guns that where not more than an 1/4 wide and a few thousand thick. I have helped him bend wood for log sleds. I have helped him make wooden wagon wheels from scratch.
In his later years he still kept working in his shop. He still shoed horses on Fri. and Sat. He did not keep the forge fire the rest of the week. It was a tradition to bring your horses to be shoed on Sat. He talked about his younger days of having horses lined up clear out to the road waiting to be worked on(30-40 horses). He had two hired smiths and my Grand Father working at the peak of using horses.
On his last day on this earth he had shoed eight horses on July 2nd, 1966. That was 81 years of black smithing. He had been complaining about having a touch of the flu for a few days. They had finished all that they had to do by mid afternoon. He got a glass of lemonade and was setting in the shade of a big maple tree in the back yard. They found him when he did not come in for supper. He had a massive heart attack. In my opinion a good way to go. Able to due what you wanted until the end.
He was respected in his community. His was one of the largest funerals around here. The funeral home is three miles from the cemetery. When the first car got top the cemetery the lasts ones where just leaving the funeral home. There where hundreds of people there. Many of them stopping to tell us of how he had fixed some thing for them and charge them just a dollar or two. They realized that he was just trying to help them out because they did not have much. So he did not leave a big moneyed estate but I still have people comment on him yet today. He has been dead for over forty years and people still remember him out side of the family. So I would say he died a rich man.
I am going to tell you about one of these men. He was not famous or rich. He worked long and hard. This man was my maternal Great Grand Father. He was born the youngest of twelve kids in 1872. He did go to school until he graduated from the eighth grade at the age of thirteen. He then apprenticed to become a black smith. He did this until he was eighteen years old. He then Started his own shop. He ran this shop for the next 76 years.
He married when he turned twenty. They had three children: two sons and a daughter. My Grand Father was the oldest and was born in 1899. My Great Grand Mother lived until 1936 when she passed at the age of 62. He lived until 1966 when he died at the age of 94.
Some of the lessons in life he taught me:
1) Dead men owed no bills to him. He would never think about trying to collect an unpaid bill from a widow or child. He just would just send a statement marked "Paid in Full".
2) You lived your life honestly. You can not control how your fellow man acts but you can be honorable in all of your dealings.
3) You work to better your way in life. Whether this is physical work or spiritual. You always try to better yourself.
4) You work hard BUT rest on the Lord's day. His Black Smith shop was open 7 am to 5 pm Monday through Sat. Never worked a Sunday. (This one I don't follow like I should. Too many Sundays spent working)
5) Do the best work you can in what ever you do. Sloppy work is never to be accepted. Learn to do better.
6) Make time for the children in your life. He took us kids fishing many evenings after supper. Sundays he wanted to see the kids.
This man showed me how to do many things in life. One of them was how to do black smith work. He could turn a piece of steel into about just about anything you wanted. His hands where so callused that he had to watch handing you a piece of steel as it might blister you but not him. I have seen him make springs for guns that where not more than an 1/4 wide and a few thousand thick. I have helped him bend wood for log sleds. I have helped him make wooden wagon wheels from scratch.
In his later years he still kept working in his shop. He still shoed horses on Fri. and Sat. He did not keep the forge fire the rest of the week. It was a tradition to bring your horses to be shoed on Sat. He talked about his younger days of having horses lined up clear out to the road waiting to be worked on(30-40 horses). He had two hired smiths and my Grand Father working at the peak of using horses.
On his last day on this earth he had shoed eight horses on July 2nd, 1966. That was 81 years of black smithing. He had been complaining about having a touch of the flu for a few days. They had finished all that they had to do by mid afternoon. He got a glass of lemonade and was setting in the shade of a big maple tree in the back yard. They found him when he did not come in for supper. He had a massive heart attack. In my opinion a good way to go. Able to due what you wanted until the end.
He was respected in his community. His was one of the largest funerals around here. The funeral home is three miles from the cemetery. When the first car got top the cemetery the lasts ones where just leaving the funeral home. There where hundreds of people there. Many of them stopping to tell us of how he had fixed some thing for them and charge them just a dollar or two. They realized that he was just trying to help them out because they did not have much. So he did not leave a big moneyed estate but I still have people comment on him yet today. He has been dead for over forty years and people still remember him out side of the family. So I would say he died a rich man.
