And so to start. Dale Carnegie says to start by telling them what you're going to tell them. That's fair enough, but since "them" may well equal nobody except me and possibly my lovely wife Melissa I think we'll skip that part for now. Suffice it to say I'm a better story teller than I am an author and since the oral tradition doesn't translate well to the printed word except to those more gifted than I, I've dismissed writing till now. But perhaps a blog to start. Makes sense to me, so here goes !
I live in the US; Tennessee in point of fact. Nothing odd about that these days; 300 odd million came to this country before me and I'm sure many more will follow. However, unlike most of them here today, I didn't make my start here. No sir. I'm from Canada. Just like Mounties, beaver, really cold weather and Red Rose Tea. Interestingly, I am the third generation of my family emigrate south so I suppose at this point it counts as a somewhat normal thing to do if one's last name is Webb !
My grandfather started the trend. A couple of years after my biological grandmother died and one year before I was born, he remarried and moved with his new bride to her hometown of Elmira NY. After 30 years of marriage, they both passed away within weeks of one another in and they are buried in a cemetery on Jerusalem Hill in Horseheads, NY together.
Something of our many trips to the States to visit my grandparents and to take our vacations must have rubbed off on my dad. After many years of working in a variety of occupations in Ontario he got his Green Card and spent the remainder of his life commuting to work in various parts of the US. He died while at a job in Chicago; a date which is forever engraved on my memory.
So to me. For certain, I was at one time the least likely of anyone in my immediate family to consider emigration. I was (and in point of fact I remain) a very proud, flag-waving, tear up and SING when O Canada is played, back bacon, hockey playing, beer drinking conservative rural Canadian! When Canada won the hockey gold at the Vancouver Olympics earlier this year I was so proud you'd have though I won the damn gold myself ! Yet here I am today...this least likely Canadian-cum-naturalized-American.... proudly flying Old Glory and proudly singing along when the Star Spangled Banner is played ! I'm even thinking about running for the county commission ! An Elected Official ! Ha !
I have a great wife and great in-laws. Got a pretty great mother and brother up north too ! I enjoy my life very much. This blog will be a place to collect a random sampling of my musings on whatever topic floats my boat or gets under my skin enough to start me to typing.
Welcome, thanks for reading, and hope you enjoy !
Cyber Monday
1 day ago
4 comments:
Glad to see you starting anew. While it is sad for me, as a Canadian, to hear about your family tradition of emigrating to the US, I think it also gives you an interesting and unique perspective. Melissa is obviously a very amazing person, so I can understand why you'd leave to build a life with her. Our loss!
Ah but that's only one side of the family ! The other side...my mother's...is the eptiome of the definition of "Canadian" ! She lives in our family home place; deeded to her family from the King in 1829. Nobody else except them has ever lived or farmed on that land.
Jason, did any of your family end up in eastern Pennsylvania? One of my friends, whose last name is also Webb, has a father who resembles you. She has mentioned that their family is originally from Canada.
-Cyg
Gryph;
My grandfather Webb was born to a poor family in England as one of 16children. His family gave him and several of his siblings over to the Barnardo Orphanage for Boys. In 1921 he was shipped to Canada at the age of 12 and was domiciled with a family (a distant cousin on my mother's side) near Bowmanville, Ontario as a farm labourer. He and his siblings were young and sadly they lost touch with one another, so we really don't know much about the Webb family history.
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