One Hundred Thirty

Amazing as it sounds, but today is my Grandpa Green's 130th birthday! I've always remembered his birthday because it is close to mine.

He died on July 8, 1973 at 93 years, 1 month, 22 days old. They use to put the exact age on grave markers but for some reason that went out of style. I've seen some that didn't have the date of birth at all but only the age in years, months and days.

Grandpa was 76 years old when I was born so he was always an old man to me. I've often wished I had an opportunity to sit down and talk to him. Many of the questions I have about my Green ancestors he probably could have answered.

He enjoyed keeping up with politics and seemed to be well read. He also enjoyed poetry. I have several poems he wrote and sent to either my Dad or an uncle while they were away from home during WW II.

I'm still learning about him as I continue my family research. In 1910 he was a census enumerator and I've got copies of several census forms in his handwriting.

I found a Taylor County Florida business license for him dated 1913 saying he had a general store. A few years later, in 1918 when he filled out a WW I draft registration card he listed his employment as a clerk at Faulkner Brothers General Merchants in Perry, Florida. The 1920 census listed his occupation as School Attendance Officer.

A Rowell cousin told me he remembered a story from his father that Grandpa sold Singer sewing machines back in the 1920s and had the distribution rights for all of north Florida. They were the old pedal powered model of the singer sewing machine.

I obtained a copy of his social security application dated April 28, 1939 that showed he was working at City Billiard Parlor in Perry. On the 1930 and later census he was listed as a farmer. That is what I knew of him, although I would not have called it a farm. In his old age, he grew vegetables on several acres of land in back of his small house. He sold them to the local grocery store. He would gather what he could carry, put them in a sack and walk to the store with them. For as long as I knew him he never owned a car.