Monday, November 28, 2011
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Friday, November 25, 2011
Douglas Prickett, His Memoirs - 18 December, 1995
Recently I turned 80 years old. Ever since, I found myself reflecting on the past. I don't know if that is good or bad but I find it entertaining. Because all of my memories seem to be good ones. I am SO lucky to have been born in 1915. What a great time to grow up. If I could have picked the time period I could not have made a better choice. The 20's, 30's and 40's were the best time in history in my opinion and I attribute much, maybe most of it to the music of that era which we were privileged to grow up with. Those songs are still around today. At least they can still be found if one is interested. How many songs being written today will we still be humming in 2045? ALL of my life has been good though, and I don't think I would ever change any part of it. I never made much money and I never accomplished much but I could die a happy man any time, whenever they are ready for me up there. I never set my sights too high. For me, just not being unhappy is enough to make me happy.
I am proud of the pioneer stock I come from. My orphan grandfather came across the prairies in a covered wagon after he grew up and married. They had seven children, all born in different parts of Nebraska, so it must have taken years to find the spot he was looking for. When he did, this orphan boy raised pure bred cattle and became well off and well known. According to the archives, my grandfather on the other side was a bugler with the 8th Illinois Cavalry, and he was chosen to play Taps at Gettysburgh when Lincoln gave his address. These are my only claims to fame and I had nothing to do with any of it, but I am proud of my heritage and I feel compelled to say so here in my memoirs.
I am also very proud of my children, my grandchildren, and my great grandchildren. All of them have been and are good, worthwhile people. Many people may have similar or better or more exciting memoirs, but these are mine. I may ramble or jump around a lot as I am jotting these things down but I am just saying them as they come to mind. For instance, I have a class picture of the 3rd grade room at Sheridan School and I don't know who all the people are. There is no one I can ask either, because so many of them are dead.
In the 6th grade I discovered girls. There was this one in particular who I was attracted to and as it turned out she liked me too. Now I am getting back to the music of the times as she asked me what my favorite song was. I liked all the music and didn't have one, but hers was "Little White Lies." That was 1928. That song is stull around. I hear it every day on KABL 960 on the AM dial (San Francisco). When I married Dorothy Althen in 1937 the most popular song was "Nice Work if You Can Get It." That song is still here too. Cybill Shepherd uses it as her theme song on her TV show. We listened to it on the car radio on our honeymoon. Yes, we had car radios in 1937 but if you parked and tried to listen to it without the motor running for any length of time the battery went dead and you might have to push the car to get it started. These radios had tubes which took a lot of juice. Today's radios have transmittors which take very little.
The name "Prickett" is not common and if most people had a choice it is not the one they would choose. But, according to records I have seen, the first ones came to America in 1610 from England. I don't know how far back the name goes in England. The other side is harder to trace because of the grandfather who was an orphan. His father was John Howard and mother's name was O'Neal, but we never learned her first name. Both were Irish immigrants and were not married so the baby was out into an orphan home. This was in New York City in the 1850's. There were so many of these orphan kids who nobody wanted that an "Orphan Train" was started in order to try and get rid of some of them. Grandpa was one of them.
The train traveled west and stopped at every small town and farming community to try to get somebody to adopt these kids. Grandpa was "adopted" by a family named "Wood" and he became Charles Wilson Wood. By the time he was 16 he realized he was not really one of the family, but more of an indentured servant, so he "got the hell out." My mother, who was the number 3 child was born in 1877 and by the time she was 8 her mother died and grandpa was left with 7 kids to raise by himself. He shipped 2 of them back to Huntley, IL to relatives who lived on a farm near there. I don't know how he decided which ones to get rid of.
My mother was Alice Wood and her sister's name was Flora. Anyway she grew up there and in 1899 she married my dad, Guy Prickett. Dad was born in Crystal Lake, IL where they lived for many years. I was born there on Dec. 13, 1915 and the family moved back to Elgin in 1918, just befire I was 3. I grew up there, went to Sheridan School and Elgin High School class of 1934. It was a good place to grow up and as I think back it was a good, safe, clean town where any one could walk around any time of day or night and know they were safe. I worked at the Elgin Post Office for 22 years, until I got tired of Illinois winters and decided that if I was going to do that kind of work until I retired I had better go someplace warmer, so we came to California in 1969. It always seemed like it was a good move.
One reason I threw in a little family history along with memories of my youth and childhood is so that if my grandchildren ever want to know anything about who they are or where we all came from this is what I know about it. Most young people don't concern themselves with such mundane things as family trees but sometimes they do when they get older. As far as I know there were no black sheep and we can all be proud of who we are.
I am proud of the pioneer stock I come from. My orphan grandfather came across the prairies in a covered wagon after he grew up and married. They had seven children, all born in different parts of Nebraska, so it must have taken years to find the spot he was looking for. When he did, this orphan boy raised pure bred cattle and became well off and well known. According to the archives, my grandfather on the other side was a bugler with the 8th Illinois Cavalry, and he was chosen to play Taps at Gettysburgh when Lincoln gave his address. These are my only claims to fame and I had nothing to do with any of it, but I am proud of my heritage and I feel compelled to say so here in my memoirs.
I am also very proud of my children, my grandchildren, and my great grandchildren. All of them have been and are good, worthwhile people. Many people may have similar or better or more exciting memoirs, but these are mine. I may ramble or jump around a lot as I am jotting these things down but I am just saying them as they come to mind. For instance, I have a class picture of the 3rd grade room at Sheridan School and I don't know who all the people are. There is no one I can ask either, because so many of them are dead.
In the 6th grade I discovered girls. There was this one in particular who I was attracted to and as it turned out she liked me too. Now I am getting back to the music of the times as she asked me what my favorite song was. I liked all the music and didn't have one, but hers was "Little White Lies." That was 1928. That song is stull around. I hear it every day on KABL 960 on the AM dial (San Francisco). When I married Dorothy Althen in 1937 the most popular song was "Nice Work if You Can Get It." That song is still here too. Cybill Shepherd uses it as her theme song on her TV show. We listened to it on the car radio on our honeymoon. Yes, we had car radios in 1937 but if you parked and tried to listen to it without the motor running for any length of time the battery went dead and you might have to push the car to get it started. These radios had tubes which took a lot of juice. Today's radios have transmittors which take very little.
The name "Prickett" is not common and if most people had a choice it is not the one they would choose. But, according to records I have seen, the first ones came to America in 1610 from England. I don't know how far back the name goes in England. The other side is harder to trace because of the grandfather who was an orphan. His father was John Howard and mother's name was O'Neal, but we never learned her first name. Both were Irish immigrants and were not married so the baby was out into an orphan home. This was in New York City in the 1850's. There were so many of these orphan kids who nobody wanted that an "Orphan Train" was started in order to try and get rid of some of them. Grandpa was one of them.
The train traveled west and stopped at every small town and farming community to try to get somebody to adopt these kids. Grandpa was "adopted" by a family named "Wood" and he became Charles Wilson Wood. By the time he was 16 he realized he was not really one of the family, but more of an indentured servant, so he "got the hell out." My mother, who was the number 3 child was born in 1877 and by the time she was 8 her mother died and grandpa was left with 7 kids to raise by himself. He shipped 2 of them back to Huntley, IL to relatives who lived on a farm near there. I don't know how he decided which ones to get rid of.
My mother was Alice Wood and her sister's name was Flora. Anyway she grew up there and in 1899 she married my dad, Guy Prickett. Dad was born in Crystal Lake, IL where they lived for many years. I was born there on Dec. 13, 1915 and the family moved back to Elgin in 1918, just befire I was 3. I grew up there, went to Sheridan School and Elgin High School class of 1934. It was a good place to grow up and as I think back it was a good, safe, clean town where any one could walk around any time of day or night and know they were safe. I worked at the Elgin Post Office for 22 years, until I got tired of Illinois winters and decided that if I was going to do that kind of work until I retired I had better go someplace warmer, so we came to California in 1969. It always seemed like it was a good move.
One reason I threw in a little family history along with memories of my youth and childhood is so that if my grandchildren ever want to know anything about who they are or where we all came from this is what I know about it. Most young people don't concern themselves with such mundane things as family trees but sometimes they do when they get older. As far as I know there were no black sheep and we can all be proud of who we are.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)