tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2540124574202762417.post5233353602162506809..comments2024-03-17T16:20:18.072-06:00Comments on Lex Anteinternet: How did the average person celebrate Memorial Day in 1916?Pat, Marcus & Alexishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13097254988446524947noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2540124574202762417.post-79207528683790283022016-05-31T13:26:46.841-06:002016-05-31T13:26:46.841-06:00Everyone might have.
I can think of two people wh...Everyone might have.<br /><br />I can think of two people who were referred to as relatives when I was a kid even though they were not blood relatives. They were actually relatives of relatives, by marriage. Indeed, I'll attend the funeral of one later this week.<br /><br />This, of course, in a community where I had a lot of relatives. We're constantly told we live in a "mobile society", with little thought into whether that's good or bad, and I wonder if that would know mean that such references are a thing of the past for many people. Indeed, we loose track of our actual blood relatives pretty easily now, sadly.Pat, Marcus & Alexishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13097254988446524947noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2540124574202762417.post-71390685328366455452016-05-31T11:38:42.943-06:002016-05-31T11:38:42.943-06:00"...I take it that Uncle Dave was not a blood..."...I take it that Uncle Dave was not a blood relative then?..."<br /><br />No, he wasn't blood-related. He lived until he was about 95, used to watch me and my brother when he was in his eighties, and until I got older, I just assumed that everyone had an Uncle Dave in their family.Richhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11412944120622315804noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2540124574202762417.post-54886176942927640792016-05-31T11:06:57.845-06:002016-05-31T11:06:57.845-06:00One minor thing I'll note is that it's bec...One minor thing I'll note is that it's become really common in recent years for people to give price discounts to veterans for these holidays on one thing or another, or to otherwise honor them, even as the military has become increasingly smaller.<br /><br />Yesterday I stopped by the grocery store and the clerk asked me if I had ever been in the service. I said yes, but that this didn't entitle me to a discount on milk. "Too late" she stated, she'd already given me one. Odd experience.Pat, Marcus & Alexishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13097254988446524947noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2540124574202762417.post-86032122231120573842016-05-31T11:04:23.684-06:002016-05-31T11:04:23.684-06:00I take it that Uncle Dave was not a blood relative...I take it that Uncle Dave was not a blood relative then?<br /><br />FWIW, I've noted the conferring of "uncle" and "aunt" titles here in rural communities, where there is no blood relationship. It's confusing for outsiders. Because of that I actually received the comment "well you are all related" from a town person about an extended rural family here that I have no blood relationship with at all. However, as my wife comes from the same rural community and that "aunt" and "uncle" title are used fairly commonly it must be the case that believe that we are related. Indeed, it's not the first time I've run across that.Pat, Marcus & Alexishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13097254988446524947noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2540124574202762417.post-25591362816696363222016-05-31T11:01:32.392-06:002016-05-31T11:01:32.392-06:00Very interesting Rich, thanks for posting that.Very interesting Rich, thanks for posting that.Pat, Marcus & Alexishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13097254988446524947noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2540124574202762417.post-40737827879347471652016-05-31T10:54:30.970-06:002016-05-31T10:54:30.970-06:00I'd suspect that Memorial Day was a whole lot ...I'd suspect that Memorial Day was a whole lot different in the past than what it is today.<br /><br />When I was a little kid (9 or 10?), I remember going with my grandparents and Uncle Dave to the cemetery on Memorial Day. To understand the story, you'd have to know who Uncle Dave was. Uncle Dave was born sometime around 1890 and was originally from Arkansas before he moved to OK. <br /><br />My grandparents were a generation or so younger than he was, grew up in the same area as he lived, and ended up living on the farm neighboring his. By the time my mother was born, Uncle Dave's wife and children had died (it seems like there were a number of influenza deaths in the '20's), and Uncle Dave had been "adopted" into the extended family (that might be another regional thing). <br /><br />But the point of all that explanation is that he was actually alive in 1916 and some of what he did in later life might have been what he was doing as an adult back then. <br /><br />The way I remember it, when we went with him to the cemeteries (there were more than one) on Memorial Day there was a detailed process of cleaning up around the family graves, followed with a picnic type of lunch with fried chicken, potato salad, coleslaw, and pie.<br /><br />If I had to guess, I'd think that at least in rural farm country, Memorial Day would have been a similar event in 1916, with the a sort of family reunion type of gathering at the cemetery followed by a simple picnic lunch. Richhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11412944120622315804noreply@blogger.com