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Thursday, May 14, 2009

Revisiting my Grandfather

Grandpa Ellsworth died more than 40 years ago, but I am re-living his early years by re-typing his autobiography (published in 1982) so it can be published on the Internet. He wrote down many details and episodes. I have so far followed him from his birth in 1884 in Show Low, Arizona through his family's move to Mesa, Arizona in 1885, and then through his upbringing in Mesa, his education in Utah, a summer in Alberta, Canada, and now to his mission in the South and Central States (Ohio, Tennessee, Kentucky).

It has been most enlightening. The strongest impression is that he was fun-loving in an era that often provided more opportunities to sweat and worry than chances for fun. Another impression gained in the re-typing is that the many relatives he names and whom he knew intimately are completely unknown to me. His aunts, uncles, and cousin's are just names that I can't keep straight. That's sad. He knew them well. Another impression is that life before cars was lived much more by nature than by the clock. The saying, "We'll get there when we get there," must have been uttered first by someone driving a team of horses before a wagon. It's clear that Grandpa Frank considered himself and his peers boys until he was well into his twenties. I'm not talking about the sense of "me and the boys", which could be uttered of men at any age, but about snowball fighting mischief makers. There seemed to be no hurry to grow up, no matter how real and threatening and difficult life may have been daily.

I can't wait to see what comes next.