Sunday, March 8, 2015

Alexander Fletcher Summons, my grandpa!


Alexander Fletcher Summons, my paternal grandfather, was born to Monroe Baysellon and Virginia L. (Davis) Summons in 1914 in Richmond, Virginia.  His dad was born in Spencer, Powhatan, Virginia and his mother was born in West Virginia.

Grandpa Alexander was not the type to hug all over and kiss all over you, but my siblings and I knew he loved us; I get warm fuzzies just thinking about him.  He was well known in the community for his kindness and his adult-sized tricycle.  He would ride it around town in the various communities running errands, mostly, for my grandmother, Adele (Anderson) Summons.

My grandfather migrated to Baltimore around 1946 in search of construction work to continue to support his wife and three sons.  Alexander made the trek up to Maryland by himself, then he sent for my grandmother; she left the children in Virginia.  Before leaving Virginia grandma sent my one uncle to Philadelphia to live with her sister Ophelia Anderson, and my dad and his brother Carlton Summons were left with my grandmother’s parents James and Cornelia (Anderson) Towles in Goochland, Virginia.  After my grandparents secured a place to live they sent for my dad (he was about eight years old) and Carlton, the youngest brother came later to Baltimore.

My encounters with my grandfather were at his home on Duncan Street in Baltimore.  Grandpa would give us a loving pat on the head and ask us how we were doing.  The conversations were not long since he was either fixing dinner or going outside for a smoke in the backyard.  I do not know what possessed us to do this, but we would poke around their house looking for nothing in particular.  My grandparents had a homemade bar-stand at the bottom of the steps leading upstairs.  In our searching, we found our grandpa’s Lucky Strikes stash.  He rushed to instruct us to not tell my grandmother about his hiding place; this makes me chuckle as I think about it.

To a fault, my grandmother kept a clean house.  My mom kept a clean house, but grandma’s was SUPER clean.  I watched my grandfather prepare himself a plate of food for dinner; he would have to roll back the layers of covering on the dinner table which included the clear plastic and tablecloths.  He then had to put newspaper on the table to catch crumbs that fell from his plate.  He was so meticulous, grandma trained him well.  

Grandpa was much like the rest of my older relatives, they never spoke about family.  I had no idea that his father (Monroe) was still living up to 1970.

I had a conversation with my oldest brother about three years ago.  I am speaking to him with all this excitement about my ancestry finds, telling him about my great-grandfather Monroe, then my brother breaks in and states that he met him.  I look at my brother cross-eyed and asked, “How long have I known you and you are just telling me this?”  My brother went with my dad down to Richmond, Virginia to Monroe’s funeral in the summer of 1970.

Grandpa Alexander was the ONLY grandfather I had the pleasure to know because my mother’s dad died in 1954 before I was born.  As I look back, Grandpa Alexander died too soon in 1987; I needed more time to get to know such a KIND man.

12 comments:

  1. I enjoyed reading about your Grandpa Alexander. Also had to chuckle when you mentioned your brother having a piece of information and not sharing it. Had a similar experience with my brother; it never occurred to him to mention that his grandmother had moved from Arkansas to Los Angeles, where he had met her on trips with his father. I was still looking for her in Little Rock! To be fair to my brother, it had also never occurred to me to ask him about his grandmother. Rookie mistake!

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    1. Dawn...LOL. Is it possible we have the same brother! Thanks for taking the time to read my post.

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  2. Love your grandpa's dapper picture. It seems that most elders had a "don't ask, don't tell" policy -- but now it makes our finds even more rewarding.

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    1. Thanks Sandra, he is dapper! Yes, it is rewarding to finally uncover their histories and we can now tell their stories.

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  3. Do you know much more about Virginia L Davis? Some of my husband's relatives from Virginia settled in Ohio also. I love how you make each person in your tree personal!

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    1. Hi Cheryl...I do not know much about Virginia Davis...I just recently researched her some more and cannot find a thing. I have her parents names, but nothing for them either. I like telling stories while giving family info. A few weeks ago a relative's wife found my blog by typing something in about my Westmoreland family. They live in Freedom, PA, hope to meet them soon!

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  4. I loved this blog post! Especially the part about being SUPER clean!!

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    1. Hi Wayne...glad that you enjoyed my blog! There is more to come.

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  5. Beautiful family Delores, thanks for sharing them with me. Love your page and photos. Thank You Again. Carol

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  6. Hey Carol...thanks for dropping by! You are so welcome!!!

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  7. I would swear that my grandfather had the same suit as yours! Wow, you talking about how your grandmother kept the house super clean, reminds me of my paternal grandmother. She lived for cleaning. Something about that older generation. Sweet post!

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  8. Andrea you are too funny! My grandmother would get new carpet, then put throw rugs on it, then put a plastic runner on the throw rugs; she was protecting her new carpet. I am glad that I did not get that gene. Thanks for reading my post!!!

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