A Southern Belle with Northern Roots/Junkflirt

It's time once again for Story Tellers.  By the way this is also post 100!!

 So Gather around
      grab a cup of coffee
            lend me you ear

   I have a story to tell you.

Uncle Paw Paw's grand parents were Leonard and Anna Almy.
I never met either of them but have the privilege of knowing their story from his memoirs.


 Uncle Paw Paw thought well of his grandfather, many saw him as gruff and hard, he saw his good side. Leonard loved wrestling, firearms and horses. He let my dad (uncle paw paw) shoot up ammunition and whittle with a knife. He and dad shared a package of sunflower seeds once...he had never heard of them and had quite good time laughing at the way they would get caught under his false teeth. He picked on my dad or so it seemed, others thought he was really being mean but dad saw him wink and knew he really wasn't too serious.
He did however treat his wife poorly.

Her name was Anna, or nanny. Dad thought, grandpa'n nanny, was one word most of his childhood.
She was kind, a good cook and a gardener. She worried over the children and always wanted them to feel equally loved. She waited hand and foot on her husband yet, he did not appreciate it.


I think she was beautiful and I think I would have liked her a lot.


 Much later in life.....
Grandpa and his ability to harness 6 horses abreast and plow was quite a feat!


 Well it so happened that  a woman named Hettie Green was a relative....distant, but a relative none the less.
 She was rich! Even by the standards of that day.
She was named in the Guinness book of records as the world's stingiest miser.(1988)
 There was even a book written about her.
Written by Arthur H. Lewis in 1963 the back cover states these comments on Hettie and her two children.
Hetty Green
the witch of Wall Street, she lived in a squalid slum. Through forgery, ruthlessness and perjury she amassed one of the greatest fortunes in the world.
Colonel Ned Green, the son, known as the world's most lovable profligate, a crippled giant, that squandered millions on the wildest bouts of debauchery this country has ever seen.
Sylvia Green, the daughter, remained a complete mystery to the world, forced to be her mother's servant, dominated and completely crushed, she became a dowdy timid recluse.

It was Sylvia that retained some of the fortune.  And what a fortune it was. Approximately 100 million!

  
 Hettie Green 1835-1916
Hettie's claim to fame wasn't her mere fortune but her reputation. Her son was a cripple because she could not find a free clinic, therefore his leg was amputated. She controlled everything, even the smallest details like..  not heating her oatmeal to save money,  collecting soap shards rather than buying a bar. Any large decision was hers also, her son could not make a decision in the stock market without consulting her. She ruled ruthlessly and completely.

 Hettie's fortune was divided between her children, only Sylvia had any remaining at her death.
 It's hard to read in the above article, but the "farmer" listed.....he was Leonard, and he along with several other distant relatives, each got $100,000.
 He bought a farm, with an indoor bathroom.....and everyone came to their house to take a bath! He also bought a new headstone for his parents, he did not throw away the old one but instead incorporated it into the mailbox stand.
I guess frugal ran in the family.

You can imagine how big a story this was for small town Oklahoma folk. I guess you could say it was what they were known for.


I hope you have enjoyed this limb of my family tree.




blessings and thanks for visiting