My paternal Grandfather was Fred Birch. He was born August 11th, 1890, to Henry Cornelius Birch and Christina May Jones Birch. He was the youngest of eight boys and four girls!
He and his siblings had hard childhoods, as did many children in those days. His was a poor farming family, and the boys started being "farmed out" at about 8 or 9 years old. They lived in someone else's home, and helped work their farm. Most of their pay would be sent home.
He swore he wouldn't be a farmer because of that, and shortly after his marriage he got a job with the village. It would be like working for the electric and public utilities companies nowadays. He did that until he retired,in about 1955.
I grew up across the field from he and my step-grandma, and spent many happy days with them. My fondest memories are of him doing a jig for us, and singing "Meet Me In St.Louis, Louie".
As a newly married man, he lived right next door to Judy Garland, who was about 2 years old and named Frances Gumm at the time.
He married Dovvie Floretta Worden in 1913. They had nine children; Golda, Fred Earl,Noble, Floretta, Gene, Ellen, Ray, Walter, and Arthur. Dovvie died in 1947 of kidney disease, and Grandpa remarried Emma Fuller. I was almost 20 years old when he passed away, and miss him still so much!
Thank you so very much Sharon M., for sponsoring my Grandpa's page! It means more than you will ever know!
He and his siblings had hard childhoods, as did many children in those days. His was a poor farming family, and the boys started being "farmed out" at about 8 or 9 years old. They lived in someone else's home, and helped work their farm. Most of their pay would be sent home.
He swore he wouldn't be a farmer because of that, and shortly after his marriage he got a job with the village. It would be like working for the electric and public utilities companies nowadays. He did that until he retired,in about 1955.
I grew up across the field from he and my step-grandma, and spent many happy days with them. My fondest memories are of him doing a jig for us, and singing "Meet Me In St.Louis, Louie".
As a newly married man, he lived right next door to Judy Garland, who was about 2 years old and named Frances Gumm at the time.
He married Dovvie Floretta Worden in 1913. They had nine children; Golda, Fred Earl,Noble, Floretta, Gene, Ellen, Ray, Walter, and Arthur. Dovvie died in 1947 of kidney disease, and Grandpa remarried Emma Fuller. I was almost 20 years old when he passed away, and miss him still so much!
Thank you so very much Sharon M., for sponsoring my Grandpa's page! It means more than you will ever know!
My paternal Grandfather was Fred Birch. He was born August 11th, 1890, to Henry Cornelius Birch and Christina May Jones Birch. He was the youngest of eight boys and four girls!
He and his siblings had hard childhoods, as did many children in those days. His was a poor farming family, and the boys started being "farmed out" at about 8 or 9 years old. They lived in someone else's home, and helped work their farm. Most of their pay would be sent home.
He swore he wouldn't be a farmer because of that, and shortly after his marriage he got a job with the village. It would be like working for the electric and public utilities companies nowadays. He did that until he retired,in about 1955.
I grew up across the field from he and my step-grandma, and spent many happy days with them. My fondest memories are of him doing a jig for us, and singing "Meet Me In St.Louis, Louie".
As a newly married man, he lived right next door to Judy Garland, who was about 2 years old and named Frances Gumm at the time.
He married Dovvie Floretta Worden in 1913. They had nine children; Golda, Fred Earl,Noble, Floretta, Gene, Ellen, Ray, Walter, and Arthur. Dovvie died in 1947 of kidney disease, and Grandpa remarried Emma Fuller. I was almost 20 years old when he passed away, and miss him still so much!
Thank you so very much Sharon M., for sponsoring my Grandpa's page! It means more than you will ever know!
He and his siblings had hard childhoods, as did many children in those days. His was a poor farming family, and the boys started being "farmed out" at about 8 or 9 years old. They lived in someone else's home, and helped work their farm. Most of their pay would be sent home.
He swore he wouldn't be a farmer because of that, and shortly after his marriage he got a job with the village. It would be like working for the electric and public utilities companies nowadays. He did that until he retired,in about 1955.
I grew up across the field from he and my step-grandma, and spent many happy days with them. My fondest memories are of him doing a jig for us, and singing "Meet Me In St.Louis, Louie".
As a newly married man, he lived right next door to Judy Garland, who was about 2 years old and named Frances Gumm at the time.
He married Dovvie Floretta Worden in 1913. They had nine children; Golda, Fred Earl,Noble, Floretta, Gene, Ellen, Ray, Walter, and Arthur. Dovvie died in 1947 of kidney disease, and Grandpa remarried Emma Fuller. I was almost 20 years old when he passed away, and miss him still so much!
Thank you so very much Sharon M., for sponsoring my Grandpa's page! It means more than you will ever know!
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