By Tiffany Amber Stockton
Last month, the family from the famous book, Misty of Chincoteague, came to life in living color here on this blog, with facts you likely had never heard before, especially if you only read the book or saw the movie. I also asked you two questions about your own family history or other fictionalized accounts of real life that you might have read.
If you missed last month's post, you can view it here:
http://www.hhhistory.com/2016/05/the-life-of-beebe.html.
This month, it's time to get a little personal in sharing some of the tidbits from my family history. I'll also be giving away not one, not two, but THREE different books. Haven't done a giveaway in a while, so I'm making up for lost time. *winks* Read through the post to the bottom for further details.
MY GRANDFATHER, DANIEL WESLEY GAULT, JR.
When I was a little girl, my mother read me the story of Misty of Chincoteague, then regaled me with stories of her father and how he knew Grandpa Beebe, Paul, and Maureen. She also showed me a picture of her standing with Misty! You can imagine my wonder and awe at seeing my mother and her father as "famous." At least to a little girl, anyway. *grins*
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Daniel W. Gault, Sr. &
Carrie (Jester) Gault |
But let's go back a few years to 1919, when my grandfather (Pop-pop as I called him) was born on Chincoteague Island. His parents, Daniel W. Gault, Sr. and Carrie Jester Gault had both been married before but lost their respective spouses and brought one child each to their marriage. Pop-pop was the first of seven children to follow, nine altogether.
When Pop-pop was 6 years old, the very first official Pony Penning Day occurred. I can just imagine him as a young lad eager and anxious to race to the island's beach area where the water from the channel which separated Chincoteague from Assateague lapped against the sand. That very beach would be where the saltwater cowboys would drive the wild herd across the channel and onto Chincoteague to be sold at auction. The events surrounding that day will be a key highlight in the first book of my proposed trilogy for Harlequin. Stay tuned for 2017 for more information on that.
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Daniel W. Gault, Jr. &
Esther Mae (Seiple) Gault |
Through the 1920's and most of the 1930's, Pop-pop remained on the island with his family. As with everyone, times got extremely difficult during the Depression. My mother remembers stories told to her of how her grandfather would cut up old car tires to use the rubber in order to re-sole the shoes of his children. Talk about ingenious! I admire the true survivors from that era, the ones who did whatever it took to survive and never gave up. And from the time Pop-pop was thirteen, he took a position behind a barber chair in his father's barber shop to bring in additional money for the family, cutting hair like his father before him.
After Pop-pop graduated high school in 1937, the barbershop on the island was sold and his family moved to Washington, D.C., where he met Esther Mae Seiple, my future grandmother. Two years later, WWII began, and in 1941, Pop-pop enlisted in the Army, only to be sent to the Panama Canal. When he returned after 5 years, he married Esther and joined his father in business at the Father & Son Barber Shop on Pennsylvania Avenue, just south of Capitol Hill.
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| Galt Jewelers stamp on packages |
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| Galt & Bro, Inc. Jewelers, est. 1802 |
Together, they cut the hair of many senators, congressman, and Washington elite. Their clientele was quite the "who's who" list in D.C. Makes sense, as another part of my family is Galt (name spelled without the "u") and they owned Galt & Bro, Inc Jewelers, which opened in D.C. in 1802, and served numerous presidents among other society members. The business was the "oldest business in the District" and remained open always near the White House for nearly two centuries before quietly closing its doors in 2001. Oh, the stories I could tell about President Abraham Lincoln's watch being repaired there when the first shots were fired on Fort Sumter, or Edith Galt taking over ownership after her husband died then going on to marry President Woodrow Wilson while he was president. But those are stories for a whole other series. *grins*
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| Senator barbershop |
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| my older brother's first haircut |
Back to my Pop-pop. Around 1952, not long after a barbershop for senators and representatives was opened in the basement of the Capitol building in the late 1940s, my great-grandfather retired and returned to Chincoteague island, leaving Pop-pop to run the barbershop alone. He did that until 1966 when the Safeway grocery around the corner decided they wanted to expand with a new loading dock and bought out the entire block where that barbershop sat. That's when he moved with his wife and daughter (my mom, born in 1950) out of the city to Suitland, Maryland, then rented a chair in a barbershop in Fairfax Village. That chair was where my older brother received his first haircut at about 2 years old.
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| Pop-Pop with me and older brother |
Pop-pop remained there and worked until 1979 when he left Maryland and returned to Chincoteague Island, where he took over ownership of a barbershop there and rented an apartment across the street. That apartment holds very fond memories for me, as I remember visiting him and sitting on his knee making up stories about how my older brother and I were in danger in some way and he came to the rescue. See? I was telling stories even at the early age of 4. *winks* Unfortunately, that time together was short-lived, as a heart attack took Pop-pop's life in 1982. I was only 6 years old, but the memories have lasted, and now his legacy lives on through this blog as well as the upcoming books I'm writing.
NOW IT'S YOUR TURN:
I don't yet have any books on my family published, but I *do* have books celebrating family connections and generational stories. So, that's what I'm offering in the giveaway today.
For your chance at one (1) of three (3) FREE books from my Brandywine Brides trilogy (Bound by Grace, Stealing Hearts, Antique Dreams), answer one of the questions below in the comments and leave your email address as a way to get in touch with you if you win. Good luck!
* Select one unique fact from the post above that stood out to you and share why it appealed to you.
* What stories do you have of your own family surviving through the Depression? What did they do to feed themselves and their children or to avoid being evicted from their home?
* Is there anything in your family which has been passed down through the generations? Perhaps a skill, a trade, a legacy, a house, or a building?
Leave answers to these questions or any comments on the post below. Next month, I'll be sharing about how my great-grandfather provided clams and oysters to the White House and received personal thanks from the President himself. Come back on the 9th of July to find out more.
BIO
Tiffany Amber Stockton has been crafting and embellishing stories since childhood, when she was accused of having a very active imagination and cited with talking entirely too much. Today, she has honed those childhood skills to become an
author and
speaker who has partnered with
Nerium International in the anti-aging and personal development industry, helping others become their best from the inside out.
She lives with her husband and fellow author,
Stuart Vaughn Stockton, in Colorado. They have one girl and one boy, and a Retriever mix named Roxie. She has sold twenty (20) books so far and is represented by Tamela Hancock Murray of the Steve Laube Agency. You can also find her on
Facebook,
Twitter,
Pinterest, and
LinkedIn.
