I will share with you my favorite picture of young Grandma and Grandpa .  The day they got married they went to Town Hall in Franklin, New Hampshire and about 2 o’clock on February 28th, 1933.  So in a tan silk dress, Muriel and John became man and wife… Friends gathered at my Aunt Dot’s house and a lovely handmade wedding cake.  And Gram’s cousin “Whitie” have put tons of straight pins in their “Wedding Bed”.  After that night’s elopement they traveled back to Connecticut to John’s family home / by command of his Father and Mother, to try to explain everything.  The next day there was a new car in the driveway, a gift from John’s parents…Their first apartment ,was a three floor walkup, 5 room flat in Brooklyn, New York, where they resided in for 18 months. Because of the quickness of the City, Muriel found it difficult.  Being from the country she really had a hard time with city life.  My Grandfather was working for the Schaffer Brewing Company in Brooklyn.  After my Mother was born they moved.   Back to West Haven, in the Family home next to Grandma’s beloved ocean.  My Grandmother was a stay-at-home Mom during these years…

Martha’s parents Charles and Ellen were Canadian Indians who moved to  Vermont where he was a Harness Maker and Farmer. She was one of 9 children. Martha met her husband Rodney sliding and were married in Vermont in 1884.  His parents, Rodney Merrill Sr. and LeAnn Austin lived in Franklin, New Hampshire where the library is now and he was a Blacksmith…When my grandmother was born she was the twelfth of thirteen children. Muriel was born in 1913 when her mother was 41, in Franklin, New Hampshire.  So let’s get to my grandmother’s story since that’s about all I know of my Great Grandparents. She went to a one room schoolhouse grades 1-8, she loved History hated Math, and wanted to be a singer on the radio or actress.  From age fourteen, she had to help at home and get a small job to help with household money.  She didn’t get to go to dances or High School with all the other kids. Which she said was “No Fun At All”.  And that it wasn’t a very happy time to remember.  Her favorite things were Spring and the ocean. Her favorite flower was a Gardenia and her favorite color… Dusty Rose.  She left New Hampshire and moved to Connecticut and lived with her sister Dot.  She worked as a Maid and Babysitter for a family that lived right across from the ocean.   She was 17 and started dating my Grand Father, John.   One of her favorite memories at that time was riding in a big open car with a group of friends singing as loud as they possibly could.   My grandmother grew up poor, and  my Grand Dad’s family was privileged.  She liked him because he was so handsome,  kind and polite. He took her to his prom and had hung around with all their other friends, dating for a little over a year.   She was married at the age of 19 to John, on February 1933.  He was 21.  They lived in the Family home in Woodmont, Connecticut, right across the street from her beloved ocean.  They spent the next couple of years happy… Swimming and fishing in that ocean…XO

She in all her “elder beauty”… A hand-painted portrait of what I will perhaps look like a 80 or older.  I believe my Grandmother painted the black and white picture to give it more personally, to adorn this lovely picture of a woman who I proudly call my Great Grandmother.

This is Rodney Andrew Merrill and Martha Tatro Merrill somewhere in New Hampshire…Springtime maybe?  He was a Train Engineer on the Canadian Pacific Railways…It’s the little girl from picture #1…So far back to look.

I have decided to delve back into family history to help me with medical answers to questions I don’t have answers for… So we must start with Grandparents…This is my Grandmother on my Mom’s Side…Muriel Evon Merrill.   Born in 1913 in Tilton, New Hampshire. Posing with her sister Pauline…Sweet little girls… Muriel is standing…She’s the one smiling about who knows what???

So this is how it has been told to me so many years ago. It’s just the way stories have been remembered and retold…Now one claims it to be the truth… Just remembered family Memories… This is a picture of my great, great, Grand Family on my Mom’s side…My great grandma is the little girl standing next to her Dad with her sister on his lap…Her name is  Martha Tatro, she lives in Swanton, Vermont.   Her dad with a Blacksmith…