My Great Grandparents (plus one)

Arguably the biggest perk of being the eldest child of a generation, especially when your parent is also the eldest and if your family has good longevity, you get to know not only your grandparents quite well but also your great grandparents.  In my case I was 12 years old when the first of my four great grandparents passed away and roughly 30 years old when the last of them passed (which as an aside, it created the opportunity to have five living generations -- I'll have to try to find that photo and add it later.)
The point of this piece though was to share the obituaries of all four of them that I found in this amazing tin box that Grammy (Geneva) had, as well as a bonus older one.  Going through this box motivates me to share and preserve (at least digitally) some of this stuff while it's still around.  And I'm thinking some of you have never seen these and would appreciate it.  The bonus one I'll leave as a surprise until you see it.

When I look at this file on my computer, I'm able to zoom in and see and read it quite clearly.  If you're unable to see it well enough and want a copy of the file, just let me know and I can email it.

 

UPDATE:  Reviewing this again, I'm not getting a better look at this when you click on the picture of these obits.  So I'm going to write here what the top obit says because it's very hard to read:  "The entire community at North Troy were saddened Sunday morning on learning of the sudden death of  Fernando Basford at the home of his sister, Mrs Ernest Young, Saturday night.  Mr. Basford was in his usual health but expired shortly after retiring for the night.  He leaves a widow and son, Stanley, two brothers and two sisters to mourn their great loss.  They have the heartfelt sympathy of a large circle of friends."  Since this is a clipping, there is no date or indication of which paper it was in.

Going even farther back

Traipsing through the woods again today, followed up with a conversation with my mother has me thinking about what the farm and land were like back during the time that Stanley Sr and Hannah lived here.  Mom's told me some about which fields and pastures were used for which purposes, and that Stanley Sr is the one who started the apple orchard; but I was hoping someone could help fill in a lot more detail and add their individual memories of "Great Grampy and Great Grammy Basford."  Obviously the generation older than I would have more memories of them to share.
I have more memories of Hannah (pink peppermints, for example) since she was around longer into my lifetime than Great Grampy, though I certainly do have memories of him (the garden, for example) but I didn't really know either of them.  So I at least would love to hear some personal stories about them that would help the rest of us know them better.
What did he do doing WWI?  What kinds of things did she like to do before arthritis made those things impossible?  Where did they live in New York and what did they do there, same thing regarding Springfield, MA?

(Note:  If there are those of you who would love to share some stories or memories but aren't interested in writing, I can be had for the price of a couple of cold beers.  I'm sure I'm not the only one willing to ghost write.  Speaking of beer, I remember Great Grampy was a fan of beer)

Little Memories

Just some short snippets of the things that always pop in my mind when I'm thinking back to growing up around the farm:

Climbing up into the rafters of the barn (and on the roof to the cupola shhhh)
Playing in the "milk room" like it was a playhouse or something
I always loved that falling-down section between the house and the barn, from the egg room to the upstairs of it. To me it was like a step into the past.
Getting a switch off "the apple tree" and using it to throw apples through the barn windows. How far back could you do it?
Always looking forward to haying season, in part because I liked watching the process but also because I loved the newly hayed fields. As much as I loved the woods around the farm, I think I loved the open fields even more.
Always pickup baseball games.
Hitting rocks from the driveway into the field across the road.
Sledding down the hill.
Going over to visit "Great Grammy" and peppermint candies
Sunday night baths and watching "Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom" and "The Wonderful World of Disney" at Gram & Gramp's.
And of course, walking in the woods

Maybe another time I'll go into specifics incidents but these are more enduring memories, things that were always there about the place.