For this last blog entry, I’ve decided to focus on gender roles within my family.

My grandmother and her sisters had high school diplomas and went to cosmetology school.  She got married to my granddad when she was 25 and continued working as a cosmetologist after she got married. Both of my Grandma’s sisters also worked after they got married, doing the same thing.

As for my mom, she had a high school degree and took some college courses.  She also got married at the age of 25 and has worked as long as I can remember.

When I asked my dad if wartime had changed anything among any women in the family, he assumed not.  During his lifetime, no one in the family that was involved in wars really affected anything at home.  He did say, however, that his Granddaddy Howard worked on Camp Davis as a civilian and two of his uncles fought in World War II.

And now here’s some nice pictures:

                                                       My Granddaddy                                                                         

My grandma and granddaddy (on the right)        From L>R:Gene, Grandma,Dean,Granddaddy,Dad

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My Granny & GreatGranddaddy Howard                                           My GreatGranddaddy Howard

I’m going to focus this blog entry on geographic mobility in my family.

According to my dad, both of my grandparents were born in North Carolina.  Apparently, my Granddaddy’s family used to live in Fayetteville but they moved to Holly Ridge (Where he lived until he died) back in the 1940s due to the economic situation. 

My grandparents

I found some pictures in my dad’s photo box of him as a baby.  Their family actually lived in the “projects” until they got the house that my grandparents lived in until they died.

 My dad as a baby with projects in the background

When my dad went to college, he lived in Raleigh, North Carolina. Then, when he got a job he moved to Virginia Beach, and has been in the area ever since. In the 27 years that my parents have been married, they have only lived in two houses.  The first one was in Green Run in Virginia Beach and then they moved to Chesapeake after my sister was born to have a better house.

My mom and dad on their wedding day.

Based on the things that my dad told me, I’m thinking that no one in my family moves very much. The only economically affected move that I really see here is that of my grandfather’s family back in the forties.

                For this blog entry, I’ve decided to focus on the social class status of my family by explaining their situations with education, jobs, and their homes.

                In terms of education, we don’t really know what level of education my great grandparents had, although my dad says that they all knew how to read and write, at least.  My grandfather, or as we call him, Granddaddy, had an eighth grade education.  My grandmother (Grandma) had a high school diploma and she went to cosmetology school.  My dad has a high school diploma and an Associate’s degree.  My mom has a high school diploma and has taken some college courses.  As for the last generation, so far, my sister has a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice and I am working on my bachelor’s degree.  From this, it was kind of interesting to see that our family went from just being able to read and write to my sister and I having college degrees.

                I then took to learning about the jobs that members of my family pursued.  The only job that I am aware of for any of my great grandparents was of my Granny Howard.  She worked on the farm that she and her husband owned. I found out that my granddaddy was a carpenter and my grandma was a cosmetologist with her two sisters.  These days, my mom is a secretary for the Tidewater Detention School and my dad works for the government at the naval base (although I’m not quite sure what he does). My sister is also a secretary at a law firm, and I’m currently just a full-time student.  It seems that the women in my family had more interesting jobs a long time ago, and now we’re destined to be secretaries.

  My grandma is the second one from the right.

Apparently my great Granddaddy had a large farm , and when he died, a smaller piece of it went to my grandparents.  However, when my Granddaddy died and my Grandma was hard-pressed for money, she leased some of the land to various people.  Today, my parents own a very small plot of land that our house is on. 

Our family’s social status has increased over time, but I think my grandparents worked hard in their lives, and were fine people.

I have decided to research my father’s side of the family as it provides the most in depth information. Since my grandparents and great grandparents are deceased, I had to go to my dad to find documents from them.  I found a lot of interesting pictures of them and even an obituary clipping for my dad’s grandfather on his father’s side.

I did manage to find some useful information on Ancestry.com, thankfully.  I researched my grandmother’s father (Lewis Howard) in the 1930 United States Federal Census.  I found out that he was a farmer who lived near Topsail in North Carolina.  When I looked back at the 1910 census, I found that he lived with his parents (Willie and Mary) and his eight brothers and sisters at Stump Sound. 

 This is the Howard Family.  In the front row are my Great-granfather, Lewis Howard, and my Granny, Lula Mae Howard.  The back row consists of my Great-Aunt Doris, My Grandmother (Thelma Johnson) and my Great-Aunt Martha.

For my grandfather’s side of the family, I had a hard time finding anything about him or his parents on Ancestry.com. I know that I am right when I search for Lonnie Johnson from North Carolina in the databases, but still come up with no results.  This seems to be the more mysterious side of the family anyway.

Basic Family Info

Thelma’s parents were Lula Howard and Lewis D. Howard. Lula was born on December 26, 1906 and died on June 9, 1999. Lewis was born on November 27, 1902, and died in June of 1978. I am not sure when they were married.

Not much is known about my grandfather’s parents, except that his father, Lonnie T. Johnson, was born in North Carolina but died in Florida.

No one knows much about my mother’s side of the family past my grandparents. My mother’s parents are Shirley Cowan and Allon Cowan. Shirley was born on October 17, 1938 and Allon was born on June 27, 1935. They were married on January 8, 1955 and have four children: Barbara, Wanda, Whitney, and Wesley. 

I know the names of all of my great grandparents from this side of the family, but none of their birth, death, or marriage dates. My grandmother’s parents were Audrey and Rupert Davis from North Carolina and  my grandfather’s parents were Ada and Raymond Cowan from Oklahoma.

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