3 January, 1996

My Memoirs by Douglas Prickett, Recent Octogenarian, A Sequel

I say a sequel instead of The Sequel because there might be more.  There are those who think I could be making too big a deal out of it.  Big deal, they say.  People become 80 years old every day.  Well, not I.  This is my first time so indulge me a little.  Oh, I’ve come close a couple of time, like 78, then one time I made 79, but the big EIGHT-OH is something very new to me and there have been a couple of times when it didn’t seem like it was an attainable goal.  If I don’t write my memoirs now, when will I?  Maybe this is not all that important that I even do it, but what else do I have to do?

Some of this stuff is what I remember and some is a little family history, as much as I have been able to gather from various sources. 

On Christmas Day I talked to both of my grandsons and both indicated that they did, in fact, have an interest in their family history and also their ethnic backgrounds.  I can help them a little as far as my side and their grandmother’s side.  My mother was strictly of Irish extraction, my father’s family came from England.  But all of this was many generations ago and the blood has been through many mixtures but I think it didn’t stray far from the English-Irish mix.  These were my grandson’s great-grandparents on my side.  Their grandmother, whom I married on Nov. 28, 1937, is of German and French extraction; German on her mother’s side (Dettman), and French on her father’s (Althen).  The name doesn’t sound too French but they claim French blood.  Now the grandsons have to go to their mother’s side.  Stewart is a Scottish name and Holtz sounds German to me.  So I’ll bet they have more Anglo-Saxon blood then any other one strain. 

Now the boys are married -one to a girl of Polish-German heritage, and one to a girl of Italian-Swedish extraction.  This should add a little spice to the mix.  I think we are ALL real Americanos.  Mix ‘em up, that’s what this country is all about.  Actually, I think Althen, Grandma Prickett’s maiden name, is more rare than Prickett.  Any Althens I know are Grandma’s own brothers.  There are Pricketts in almost every state and every foreign country, but mostly in English speaking countries, including Australia and New Zealand.  I already touched on some family history but I only hit the high spots.  There is more and I’ll go into that at a later time if anyone is still listening.