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| My grandmother Kathryn Jackson when she was 24 years old. | My grandfather Joseph Jackson Sr, when he was 38 years old. |
Joseph Jackson Sr
My grandfather was born in 1878 in Fitchburg, Massachusetts and died in 1951. He had only a grade school education since he had to go to work early. He worked in a slaughter house in Fitchburg until he was 16 years old.
At age 16, he jumped a freight train and was on his own. He rode the freights for several years looking for his niche in life. One of his earliest jobs was selling Ivory Soap on the new western frontier (Geronimo was a renegrade Indian at this time evading the Feds).
He got into the automobile business in the early 1900's and became pretty well off with his own business.
He married at 38 to a beautiful 24 year old Ukraniane girl named Kathryn Smith {prior Stepkavich}. They worked side-by-side nuturing their business in Milwaukee,Wisconsin. They sold their business at a handsome profit and soon started another in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
He had the first of four children at the age of 49. He retired at about 55 in Wildwood, NJ. He was 73 years old when he died.
Here is a rare photo of Joe
Jackson Sr. at age 69 or 70. He is standing in the front yard of
his home at 209 East 16th Street in North Wildwood, New Jersey.
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My Grandmother was born in 1892 in the Ukraine and died of cancer in the summer of 1945 at the age of 53. She entered the United States when she was 6-8 years of age. She had six brothers and three sisters.
My Grandmother had a green thumb and loved to garden both vegetables and flowers. She especially loved Dahlias and Cannas. She adorned the neighbors flower gardens and she shared her crop of vegetables too. She also loved to bath herself in sunshine.
Here is a photo of her in front
of her gardens in the backyard of her North Wildwood, New Jersey home
She was in her mid to late 40's in this photo. In the far background
you can see her large vegetable garden. The foreground has
a small array of flowers.
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