Great Grandmothers

                                     
                                       

     My great grandmother's name was Ella Conant Black. She was born in Maine in the late 1800's. While she was still a teenager her family decided to move to North Dakota. Ella moved with them, but she hated North Dakota so she would move back to Maine. When she came back to Maine she met and married my great grandfather, Thomas Black. They had four children, all girls, my grandmother, Sadie, was one of those girls.
     I don't remember my great grandmother, I was only 2 years old when she died. But my mother and grandmother told me stories about her. Here are a couple of those stories about her and me.
When I was born my mother and father was living with my grandmother and grandfather, also dwelling in the house was my great grandmother, Ella.
     From the day my mother brought me home from the hospital my great grandmother assumed the care of me. I doubt that she got up at night with me, but her days were spent holding me and feeding me. She loved me, but as I grew she also spoiled me. I was told that at Christmas, the first Christmas I could walk, I toddled over to the tree and tried to take a glass bulb off the tree. My great aunt, Lou, reached out to slap my hand. My great grandmother took her cane and hit Lou with it for slapping my hand. Being an old woman pays off, you get to hit people with canes and get away with it.
     I was also told I called my great grandmother Mama and called my grandmother and mother by their first names. When my great grandmother passed away there was nobody to save me from punishment when I was naughty. The first time I did something bad my mother came after me. I ran to my great grandmother's bedroom door, which was closed, started kicking it and said, "Help Mama, Camilla and Sadie are after me. "Mind you, these stories are complete hearsay, but I have no reason to believe my mother or grandmother would make these things up.
     Having recently lost my mother, it will now be up to me to carry on the family tradition and tell Jack stories about him and his great grandmother, Camilla. Due to the modern age of technology, not only do I have pictures, but also videos of him and his great grandmother. Heaven help the little nipper.