Page 11 - letmetellyou

The Beginning
My ffatther’’s ffamiilly arriived iin tthe Uniitted Sttattes ffrom Engllandasiindentturedservantts.. Twoyoungboysandagiirllllanded as orphans,, ttheiir parentts haviing diied iin stteerage.. One off tthe boys was iindenttured tto a nortthern ffamiilly and tthe otther and tthe siistter were iindenttured tto a soutthern ffamiilly.. My ffatther’’s ffamiilly cllaiims lliineageffromtthenortthernrellattiiveandttheffamiillymiigrattedttoOhiio as tthe resulltt off lland grantted tto Ciiviill War vetterans.. Iniittiiallly,, my ffatther’’s ffamiilly was ffarmers butt,, ullttiimattelly,, lliike many who were unsuccessffull or jjustt ttoo poor tto maiinttaiin tthe lland,, tthey graviittatted tto tthe ciitty and became ffacttory workers.. By unsciienttiiffiicallly samplliing ttellephone diirecttoriies when I ttravellled as a young man,, I dettermiined tthatt tthere are nott as many Pembertton’’s iin tthe nortth as iin tthe soutth,, parttiicullarlly,, Tennessee;; and,, tthe onlly hiisttoriicallly promiinentt Pembertton’’s I’’m aware off are Generall Pembertton,, who surrendered Viicksburg tto Presiidentt Grantt when Grantt was a Uniion Generall,,andJeffffersonDaviis’’ffavoriittesllaveoverseer.. Thesecoulld be soutthern rellattiives butt we’’ve never cllaiimed tthem.. The onlly Pembertton ffamiilly whom I have known iin my ffatther’’s generattiion,, otther tthan my ffatther,, were bllue colllar uniion members who spentt ttheiir lliives workiing tthe producttiion lliines off tthe gllass ffacttoriies and autto pllantts off Tolledo,, Ohiio.. My ffatther,, who atttended a year off a semiinary-colllege,, rose tto become a llow-llevell producttiion manager,, a jjob ffrom whiich he ullttiimattelly rettiired.. Nott unlliike many Ameriicans off my generattiion,, my rootts,, my begiinniings,, are ffiirmlly esttablliishediinttheAmeriicanworkiingcllass..
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