What did your Grandparents do for a living ?

hollydolly said:
Did any of you follow your grandparents occupation or trade ?
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No, but my paternal grandfather was a well driller and I did a lot of work with contaminated groundwater. Came across one of his records once for a municipal well he had drilled in New Jersey, quite contaminated, like a lot of New Jersey wells I guess.
 
My paternal grandfather owned a gas station in a small rural town in Texas. He died before I was born .
Paternal grandmother was housewife.

Maternal grandfather was head of security for Neiman Marcus headquarters although I still don't know what that would entail back then.
Maternal grandmother was housewife and then showed homes for real estate company. She was murdered showing an apartment in 68 so don't remember her very well.
 
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My maternal grandfather was a master welder, first for the railroad and then for the naval shipyards. Maternal grandmother never worked outside the home, but she did teach piano for several years in her home.

My paternal grandfather had a variety of professions. He was a cave guide in his youth, then a projectionist. He owned and operated movie theaters. He was Electro the Amazing Electric Man in the circus. He owned carnival rides. He was the lighting manager in a large burlesque house. Finally and for the rest of his life he was a house painter, inside painter and a paper hanger, all of which he did with great skill. Paternal grandmother worked a couple of years during the war assembling airplane radio sets and then many years selling quality costume jewelry at "home parties". Oh, yeah, and she was Electro's pretty assistant.
 
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Maternal grandmother was housewife.
Maternal grandfather worked for the railroad. I do not know specifically what he did.

Paternal grandmother sewed for a clothing manufacturer.
Paternal grandfather had bank, then grocery store during depression. Ended up traveling to buy and sell crops.
And no, nobody followed in their footsteps.
 
My maternal grandfather was one of 25 children born on a Greek island; his mother had him late in life (I heard she was in her 50s). He was second to the last child. I am lucky to have been born. He was an entrepreneur, and had several businesses throughout his lifetime. He ended up going back to the island and died there aged 91.
My maternal grandmother was a homemaker on the Greek island, and died during the second world war in her mid-30s. My mother was 12 years old with five siblings at the time, and grandfather remarried.

My paternal grandfather became the mayor of the same Greek island. He traveled a lot (by ship) to America, and his final voyage sent him to Australia where he died of pneumonia in his late 30s; my dad was eight years old at the time. Never met my grandfather.
My paternal grandmother was a homemaker and died while traveling to Australia in her 60s by ship.

I did not follow in their footsteps (except for the traveling part!).
 
My maternal grandfather was some type of security guard at a school and drove a bus as well. He retired in his 50's or 60's. My paternal grandfather owned a feed and seed store. When he retired, he painted houses and used to take me along with him. Both lived in small towns in NC, and both grandmothers were housewives.

They all lived a very simple life.
 
PamfromTx said:
My maternal grandfather was a tailor.
My maternal grandmother was a maid.

My paternal grandfather was a farmer.
My paternal grandmother was a housewife; I don't think she ever did hold a job.
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Our grampa's did the same things. Mom's dad was a tailor, but his wife didn't work. Dad's dad was a farmer and his mom worked at the a huge cannery.

My first real job was at my grampa's tailor shop, as his assistant. He wanted me to eventually take over the business, but I wanted to play professional baseball. I wound up getting married and becoming an average worker bee.
 
My paternal grandfather had a brain injury from WWI and illness while in the army, on his death certificate (that I found while cleaning out my parents papers before I sold my house) it said he was a 'farmhand'.
My paternal grandmother was probably a homemaker for a while, but she divorced my grandfather and married someone else, and later she worked selling candy at a counter in a department store in Chicago.

My maternal grandfather was a carpenter/contractor.
My maternal grandmother was presumably a homemaker while her kids were young, and later in life she did sewing in a garment factory.

No one followed in their career paths, but my mom liked to build stuff from wood, which she'd learned to do from her dad.
 
We had what in today's world would be consider a small farm. We had mostly beef cattle we raised for butchering and most of the beef was already sold to our repeat customers. We had a few milking cows that we sold the whole milk to a local dairy that did all the processing and then some of the fields were used for pasture and the rest used to raise grain, mostly corn and soybeans. Gramps had one man that would help with running things and me that took care of the light duty stuff, except on weekends and when the hay, corn and beans had to be harvested and put away. We had two silos, which for the size of our farm was pretty big. We sold some of the grain that we knew we wouldn't be needing. We would buy our beef steers in the spring and butcher them 2-3 years later in the early fall. There is always something to do on the farm.

My Grandparents raised me from the time I was 9 after my mom and dad were both killed. I enjoyed my time living and working on the farm and even thought of making it a career, except Gramps always told me I was too smart to be a farmer and I could do better.
 
hollydolly said:
Did any of you follow your grandparents occupation or trade ?
Click to expand...
No, I learned accounting/bookkeeping and started as an accounting clerk in a local bank. Thirty years later when I was made redundant I worked in the IT department of a major bank.

My father worked for my grandmother on her farm for most of his life and his older brother was a farmer and packer for most of his. They both eventually transitioned out of farming and into local government jobs to earn retirement benefits.
 
My maternal grandfather drove a taxi and did construction work off and on. Plus hauled moonshine as well as had a speak easy that he managed for the local mob. Spent some time in jail for that.

My maternal grandmother had six children and worked at Endicott Johnson Shoes in the tannery. She knew how to garden and support her family. My grandfather drank and he would spend his money in a bar right after getting paid and she would never see a penny of it. He once told her he was going out for a pack of cigarettes and came back two years later. Good thing she knew how to support herself and her children. After she separated from him she bought a farm with 100 acres of land and lived there by the time I was born.

My paternal grandparents immigrated from Poland around 1917 or so. They had a farm but were not experienced farmers and were very poor. Eventually when their four children got married they lived with each of them at different times. My grandmother, who died before I was born died at 62 from Leukemia.
 
My Maternal Grandfather had been a cook in the war. Then after he worked in hospitals mainly as a chef until he retired. He did carry on baking/cooking afterwards much to my Grandma's delight - Saved her a job.

My Maternal Grandmother didn't work - although she sure did bringing up their 9 children. She was a seamstress for most of her working life.

My Paternal Grandfather was injured during the war. Once he recovered the best could be he worked in some factory, can't remember what he did though, also he worked as a car mechanic until he retired.

My Paternal Grandmother brought up her 5 children, she also was an accountant.

I remember my dad eventually trained to be an accountant too, but then decided to leave that, much to the annoyance of his family. He went on then to join the Merchant Navy.
 

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