Some of my ancestors were involved in business in one way or another.
My adoptive maternal grandfather, Perry Wilmer Reed (1885-1938), was a railroad freight agent, having to do with the business of shipping goods for all sorts of commercial enterprises by rail. After retiring from railroad work, he became the Executive Secretary of the Pensacola, Florida, Chamber of Commerce.
My paternal grandfather, Walter Hetherington Packard (1879-1937), had his fingers in all sorts of pies relating to business. He was a builder and developer in California during the early 20th century boom. He was a stock broker. He sold real estate. He had mining interests. Whatever fortune he may have accumulated from these enterprises up to that point vanished in the Crash of 1929. He managed to rebuild some of that by the end of the Depression. It was on his way to sign a mining contract that he was killed in an automobile accident.
My paternal great-grandfather, Oscar Merry Packard (1849-1932), began his professional life as a builder and developer in the Chicago area, but moved to California at the end of the 19th century. He settled in the Los Angeles area at the beginning of a real estate boom.
With my father Arden Packard (1911-1954), the apple didn't fall far from the tree, as he had some projects relating to business after retiring from the Navy after World War II. The Navy was his primary and most-loved occupation, being graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1934. I've already posted about his brief adventure in advertising with his brother, John Creighton "Jack" Packard (1909-1987). After their advertising partnership dissolved, Uncle Jack continued in advertising, with his sole proprietorship, Jack Packard Advertising, until his retirement. My father also sold insurance in California and in Florida, and used his degree in engineering on a project in Pensacola, Florida.
Francis A. Packard (1833-1911), brother of my great-great grandfather Mathew Hale Packard, was a merchant in Bloomington, Illinois. His career also was interrupted by the Civil War, in which he served in a unit of Illinois volunteer infantry. After the war, he returned to Bloomington, where he sold insurance and real estate.
Some of my ancestors got up to business of a different kind -- monkey business! I've blogged about that in the past, and as soon as I find out about any more monkey business on the part of my ancestors, I'll blog about that too. It's the mischievous who are most interesting.
5 comments:
I definitely agree that the mischievous are the most interesting!
Debbie
#AtoZChallenge
Any relation to the Packards? William and James?
@Debby: Which William and which James? If they descended from Samuel Packard (c. 1610-1684), who emigrated from Suffolk, England to Hingham, Plymouth Colony (Massachusetts), then most likely I am related to them. Almost all the Packards in the U.S. are descendants of Samuel. I found one Packard who originated in Germany, and who entered the U.S. from Mexico with a Mexican wife and a son born in Mexico.
Such a great idea to share ancestor stories. Will you be sharing some stories of "Monkey Business" during the challenge?
Those wayward ancestors make for good reading.
@GeniAus: None of my ancestors got up to "Monkey Business" in their occupations or professions. Or, at least, none of us still here know about that! My great-great grandfather's monkey business was chronicled in my blog post that you can find here: https://karenaboutgenealogy.blogspot.com/2009/05/blacksheep-sunday-mystery-of-nelson.html. In a way, our Black Sheep ancestors are easier to research, as their monkey business tends to generate a lot of paper in newspaper coverage, court cases, prison records, and a whole host of other documentation.
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