Anna Bruton and Anna Rodriguez

Recorded January 7, 2010 Archived January 7, 2010 40:11 minutes
0:00 / 0:00
Id: ATL000150

Description

Anna Rodriguez (37) interviews her grandmother Anna Bruton about being raised by her grandmother, having TB and raising a big family with 7 children, 19 grandchildren 13 great-grandchildren and counting

Subject Log / Time Code

Anna B was raised by her grandparents- Frederick from TN and Anastasia from Poland
Anna B. once said she wished she could have a big family, which her husband found funny since she had 7 children
Anna B. says her husband was a great father
She had Tuberculosis as an adult and spent a year in the hospital
Anna B. spent a week in the hospital with a “covered wagon” over her belly to help her have healthy twins.
She thinks she has 19 grandkids and 13 great-grandkids, “unless they’ve had another since we’ve been here she jokes.”
on their walks, her grandmother use to pick up sticks that were laying on each other forming a cross and kiss them, so Anna B would run ahead and lay the sticks out that way
Anna R. tells Anna B that she too has a great grandmother

Participants

  • Anna Bruton
  • Anna Rodriguez

Venue / Recording Kit


Transcript

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00:18 My name is Ana Rodriguez. I am 37 years old today is January 7th 2010.

00:27 I'm in Atlanta, Georgia, and I'm speaking with my grandmother.

00:34 My name is Anna Bruton 80 years old and today is January 7th, and we're in Atlanta and I'm a grandmother. I'm Anna's grandmother.

00:52 Grandma wanted to start off just by asking where you were born. And when I was born in 1929 January 2nd in a little. It was a little town then Lawrenceburg, Tennessee. So that makes you how old I 80 you just turned 80 years old last week.

01:22 So I wanted to start off by asking you about your parents and your grandparents. How many children are in your family? How many brothers and sisters? Do you have some 12 12 and where did you fall? What number were you going to number to? Okay, here is the second oldest War II? Okay, and

01:50 Tell me about your parents and about your grandparents and what it was like for you growing up in Lawrenceburg, Tennessee at that time when I was born, my mother had them a baby. That was just not a year old and she gave me to my grandmother and I'm for raised by my grandmother and grandfather and I had the most wonderful childhood you could ever dream up and I just learned so much from her and we just walked everywhere. I kind of tribute 80 years. I've lived longer than any of my brothers and sisters are my mom and dad but my grandmother we walked everywhere in the woods over the fields until them everywhere to visit people. I think that's why.

02:43 And her beautiful garden to

02:47 Etsy it again and see what is she live to be a hundred and two. That's what I asked. Okay, Anastasia, Anastasia, okay, and so you grew up with her and also with your grandfather for his name was Fredrik Fredrik from Poland also know he was from, Tennessee from Tennessee.

03:24 I don't know how they they meant at them.

03:31 She went off to the convent, but her mother got sick and she had to go home to take care of her and that she met my grandfather and then

03:41 I married.

03:44 I rebelled can I guess in their twenties? Okay, was she from Poland or was okay. She was she was born there and her

03:57 Parents they lived in they moved to Tennessee. Her father came over first and made a home for him. And then when she came over it without Rocky ride on a boat. They got lost in them think one kid fell over in one of her children fell and fell over but they got it out. And then I finally got there in the farm the land for

04:31 Years and years and years. That's where I grew up on that phone and had my happy childhood their know your grandmother was also

04:43 The major

04:45 Influence in your face. I don't guess you want she wasn't in the condo aren't you the young girl?

04:53 But when she went home to take care of her grandmother her mother she met my grandfather and they got married.

05:01 It was he was from Tennessee, but was he polish? No. Okay. What was he I never heard him mention another know anybody else. Okay, and so then

05:21 That was your mother's parents right now. That was my dad's mother and father dead of Indian American Indian and her mother was from Mom.

05:39 Welcome back to the Germany know I told you Irish.

05:49 I don't know how they mad. They were just my grandfather was a Indian.

05:56 It was really interesting to I met him over but this quite a bit of longevity and your family. Oh, yeah, he live to be a hundred and two of my grandmother was 105.

06:10 What do you remember about him. My grandfather my Indian grandfather. He could tell good Tales until the stories and

06:20 He's just such a beautiful person.

06:23 So that would be my great-great-grandfather was alive until I was in college. That's a huge. He live to be a hundred and two and he was in his head is good mind.

06:38 Gender is your grandmother. You said she had she lived to be a hundred and five.

06:45 And I think it's partly though her lifestyle. She never sit down. She was always going and going.

06:53 I Met Your Mother lived to be quite old also right when she was 79 degrees outside and then so when you were growing up in Lawrenceburg, you live with your grandmother.

07:18 Tell me about what things were like then for the two of you and you mostly stayed with her. Did your grandfather work?

07:27 He's Farm some but he was semi-retired on his lot.

07:35 He was lots of fun, but he just let us.

07:39 Run around and do our things and he worked in an office part of the time it done.

07:45 You're the one that had elections and voting and all that stuff. And I think this is interesting. He was signing up people to go off to war.

07:59 I think it was in the one man that come in done. He signed up my future husband's father. Oh, wow. That was interesting. Okay McKayla founded on them.

08:14 You know when he looked up some stuff and also her grandson.

08:23 I'm sorry, go ahead with the end of the story.

08:29 I meant my husband.

08:33 I know it's a young girl and we didn't find out that it was his father that him up to go to the war and then my husband was in the Second World War.

08:49 So how old were you when you met Grandpa Grandpa 9 years old? I liked him. This little kids had to sit up in the front and I had my own in the day. He came home from the war. I had grown up. And the first day I didn't even give his little mother on a minute loan with he coming my uncle brought him down. He just come home from the war and they were good friends. And also we were Off to the Races.

09:25 That was in January we met at and we got married in October to the same school together on the bus. Okay, and we had a most wonderful marriage. We only had seven kids. I told Dad I said, I wish we could have had a big family over here the most wonderful father and a you loved him. Didn't you? I love them so much. He was such a sweetheart. He was severe but he was so kind doing it that the kids would automatically you can talk to each one of them they each love him so much.

10:24 He was he was strict strict, but he would always let them have their tongues.

10:33 Change it to slow them. Didn't your mom all of them dead?

10:38 And now they all went to college he saw something. So I'm all through college and the last the last boy time was about a week or two before I graduated it. He died his dad died.

10:55 In the town just come home and it's time to take all those exams and we had the nicest nun that worked in. This is a non-catholic school, but she just worked to

11:07 Take money home to the other nuns to make a living in she had all the kids come and get him and bring him back and he took all the testing.

11:18 Sound just went through.

11:21 Everything fun but it was hard for him. It was so hard for him to keep going in on I know it was I remember cuz he wanted his dad there for his graduation.

11:35 That was hard for everybody. Well, cuz it was unexpected. He had never been to the doctor. I have never been sick in his life. And I remember then okay, but

11:50 So you had seven children, how is it possible to take care of stuff? I don't even conceive of that but especially during that time because my mom was born in 1948 when your mom helped me raise all the others and she really I don't think I could have done it with that. She will always want a baby was born she would claim it. Like when I had the twins, I think she picked gym then she she just helped me so much. I still think she's

12:32 And she's close to all of them in sheana. Absolutely. She helped me so much.

12:40 Now at some point though after was it after she had three children and then you is that when you caught tuberculosis and okay, so that was it. What year about?

12:54 I was

12:56 Must have been about 20 years, maybe 15 15 or 20 and I don't remember the exact year. They had tuberculosis.

13:08 Well, that was how old was mom she was about 9, right? Oh, yeah, that would have been about 57 or something. I think that's about right Anna. So I don't even know what was the story of that. I know that you had to I had to leave home for a whole year when weather in but them their dad took such good care of them. He found good babysitters and he still worked every day and still come to see me on the weekends. I don't know how he did that either. So it was mom was about 9 and I was like a man that knows about Chile wasn't in school yet. That was okay. So they were around that age and then

13:55 You did not marry any yet. No.

13:58 So we went to Albuquerque after I got out for my health Ryan while we were there. We had Mary and she's she's well, I'm sure she looked at your spirits. But so you spent a year in the hospital when you were still in Tennessee. I didn't know that. I thought you moved to Albuquerque right away. Oh, no, we went to he thought it would be better for us to live there. Cuz this here was dry. And it's just so beautiful there. Have you ever been there? Ariana went back on a trip now the kids loved it.

14:44 So then after you came back, why did you move back his mom got sick? That's when we move back and we moved or how then cuz that's where you're wrong.

15:00 Well, there's other brother. We have to take care of her then.

15:04 And she moved in with you part time. I have to wait with us and half with her other son, okay?

15:20 So but after you eat so you moved to Ohio and that's where you

15:26 Had what you had Marion in Albuquerque, and then you move to Ohio had twins and Tom so they were all born in Toledo. Talk about

15:41 I think the twins are.

15:43 The 49 years old now, so they were born in.

15:50 1960 okay. So how is that to be pregnant with and deliver twins in 1960? And I didn't know that's going to have them till about a month before and I just got Square. I wasn't around to visit school here and the doctor left a little paper land on when I was four check up one time and it says here her stomach up here School much fun trying to outdo each other at what point did you learn that you were going to have twins just a few weeks before they were born? Okay, cuz they didn't do ultrasounds back then right now, but didn't know it.

16:40 But I had a real good doctor and he had me scheduled to come in on Sunday morning. You know what film it wouldn't be so much traffic and many other people he had an assistant that was such a wonderful guy to and they deliver them in the they were just perfect. He told me about a week before they were born that a boy about 4 past since they weighed 15 lb together. They were normal baby you spend time in the hospital before they were born about a week.

17:22 And you're telling me about some sort of medical contraption that they had you in while you were like a covered wagon over most strongly. That's what they called it a covered wagon, and I don't know what it was for just put some kind of light on me as light or heat. I think it was both a little light was on all the time and it stays a certain.

17:46 Temperature but I don't know what them.

17:49 I don't know what the reason was for but it might help me carry him another week. I guess that's what he wanted me to do. He already told you. I'm 24 lb taking care of them. But you already had my all my head were they were helpers or what because they were four children already my mom. Well, no wonder she did a good job. She'd had so much experience.

18:35 Then we had single one more Bowl Wayne.

18:39 He was laughing at his bedtime.

18:43 Text Tom Tommy. He's still special. Lewis, Indiana. Absolutely.

18:55 So how many grandchildren do you reckon you have 19 I think counted but they also fish on I didn't know you could love them so much and it's just like you're having a baby all over yourself sometime. I like some of them a little bit. I'm sure and you're too just captured my heart. I just love them. They are the sweetest babies on their their little boys now.

19:30 Are just sweetest time. Thank you. Do you know how many great-grandchildren you have? 13?

19:40 Okay, and your oldest great-grandson is older than your youngest granddaughter. Alex is older than

19:52 Sydney and my grandson just with the Peace Corps. How old is he?

20:04 30 I think he's about to turn 39 and I forgot to tell you you made me seeing his name in the paper. They have picked him to be in charge of the Peace Corps and one other country your cousin Guatemala or a little place. Twist Guatemala. I'll tell you when we get home. Okay, but I wanted you to say a little prayer to heal be safe. We will be but I will.

20:39 So but your oldest grandson is he's almost 40 your youngest granddaughter is

20:47 Not too. Is she now Sydney has the youngest granddaughter is I don't know what she's about fourteen. I was thinking of the new baby grand the great grandchildren.

21:01 Ages Alex is almost 17 and then little Margaret's baby. Hold each other Gabe is the youngest. So he's younger than he's only 100 only one year and they'll be many more. I'm sure I'm sure how do you keep track of all of them? I know when you say a little prayer for each one of them at night. It kind of sticks in and you see each little face.

21:37 What is the prayer you say for them on? Just tell God to watch over them and help them make the right decisions the right decisions and in so far they're all good kids, aren't they? Really? Thank you think they're all they're all got their own. Good wise. Absolutely. Absolutely.

22:10 But you know, there's something that I wanted to go back to you.

22:14 When you were talking about growing up with your grandmother that you started to tell me an interesting story.

22:22 About how she was

22:25 In the Great Chicago Fire that she said she was there and she decided she told me how it happened and everything so I know she was there. So I was she there when she was in them.

22:42 She was annoying when she was young. I don't know if she was there with that or what but I know she got called home to take care of her mother before she made her final Valance, you know, and no.

22:57 I don't know how.

23:00 Plus she was in Chicago, but she told me about that a lot of time. So she knew a lot of details. I know it was I don't know if it's something that I Cal kicked over that might have just been on.

23:15 You know, I don't know if it was true or not, but she told me a lot of things about it and she never told him that I wanted to ask you about her and about that time of your life was but you told me

23:36 That you used to

23:40 Kerry used to tell take care of sick people or she did and she she delivered babies and she was always going and going and going but she took first she took such good care of her own family that she was older lady when my mom gave me to her and she had to take care of a little kid 2 + but I try to get there we go everywhere in the shootout to walk from my house to visit the sick and they weren't there other weren't roads really that were know a lot of of the woods in the hole and she live to be a hundred and two

24:27 And but she would also the part I wanted to you to talk about a little bit more is about.

24:36 Going to church and also helping to deliver the holy water and various sacraments to people who couldn't and they would have to go in a wagon with no hardly anybody had a car. I don't know if they were even then it nobody had him much in that part of the country in that go in a wagon and they have to fix their lunch. She get up early and make food in Rapid and they would go in the wagon until they almost got to church and then her dad would hang it up in a tree.

25:12 Don't nobody varmints found a can get it and then on the way home, they would stop and eat it took them all day to go to church on Sunday from morning till night when they got home and then they had to do all their chores.

25:26 That was that was their lifestyle and never made a statement in the wagon. It would take forever a whole day to go and come back home by Imagine where there a lot of Catholic people know there was only two families on new but there was a little graveyard where several people were buried so they must have died before I was born and my mom my grandmother would always go over and put flowers on everybody's grave and she nail down bites little place and she rattled off these little Polish names. I wish I could have I was too young to remember to write it down conceal their names are

26:14 Pretty jumbled up and we had a garden there by the graveyard. So she'd like a little take a little quilt or something and have me sit there and wait on her.

26:32 And sometime I put rocks in with them vegetables and sometime I bought them a little behind wonder. I live to be 80 years old and I've had several.

26:49 Bad diseases in my lifetime. I would hope we would walk walk all day to get to somebody's house. And then I knew we had to walk.

27:12 I think we did and I found out I'm going to share this with Anna and you can just I don't care what you think. I would love it, but I found out that if she ever has walking somewhere she found two little Twigs in the son of a cross. She would always stop and pick it up kiss it and throw it down. I found out about her. So I'll run ahead and I made so many crosses. I'd give anything if everybody had a grandmother like her she taught me how to make cookies when I had to stand up in a chair to cut them in.

27:59 She made me eat a lot of oatmeal to make it a little bit to do with my hair.

28:10 And it was a miracle that I got to go see her we had moved away to Ohio.

28:18 And I heard that she was real sick and the twins were in my arms. They were that little in

28:23 Dad took me home to see her and I'm

28:27 She had been deathly sick and went in and she was in this little room and she saw me in hug me and the babies were tired. I said I'm going to go and put them to bed and I'll be right back and now she died when I went to put them but everybody thought she lived just to see me. I didn't know that. I cried and cried and cried and Poor Dad said she would not want you to be upset cuz I was expecting Tom then jimin.

29:03 But I couldn't I couldn't help it, but I got to see her.

29:09 Her little sweet smile. She was about four feet tall.

29:21 You just don't wanna know.

29:27 Oana what did your grandmother look like? She was beautiful. She had the most beautiful blue eyes and Snow White hair. She was just a little angel driver to anybody if anybody ever had a perfect grandmother. I have a perfect grandmother. Don't compare me with her. I know she just want to fly and straight to hell you think it's funny. We used to take little jars to put holy water in to take back home. And my dad was going to confession one date is on Sunday morning and they were in this little enclosed all of a sudden big noyd flitter flitter clown in my dead son and father said what in the world is that and my dad

30:27 I knew that Grandma had broke the holy washers Grandma breaking it have two other questions at what point were you reunited with your mother and father because you when I started school my grandmother kept me to Le. I guess it's 7 back then they took me to live in the city with how many I guess about 7 more kids in my family that I didn't even know. It's that hard that must have been hard will it was hard to adjust to a big family.

31:20 Vetements think I helped my mom a little but I didn't really ever get to know my mom. I think you have to have that little bonding when your first-born don't you? I think so.

31:31 I never got real close with her. I liked her a lot. But I never got that show me feeling like you know that I have with the kids then till.

31:48 Cuz I married myself and I got married then we had a big family.

31:56 But you didn't you always lived near, you know, they lived in the city and we lived in the country. We didn't see each other very often.

32:07 But now how did it turn out that you all lived in Toledo at the same time?

32:13 Well on my dad retired.

32:16 A lot of our kids moved there and my mom wanted to live close to the kids. So she wanted to move so my dad did too and that's where they brought they both are there. They're both. There to okay.

32:33 One other question is I wanted to talk about I don't know much about this because I'm not a twin and there aren't any in.

32:42 My segment of the family but

32:47 You have twins all throughout your family Ryan Grandmother Had twin boys, but they are they were born dead. And then my grandmother Clinton head twins butt lift.

33:05 No, they must have died young too. Cuz I know all that my uncles and aunts had lived twin Rice son his twin twin girls and done and your son has your twins.

33:25 Jeremiah Maher twins had twins, that's only time. It's been a girl and then dies.

33:46 Somebody else in our family had twin girls. I think it was my grandmother that married the Indian her mother.

33:55 Had twin girls her.

33:59 I didn't know I didn't know any they live far away whenever someone.

34:05 Did you ever meet Grandpa clanton's mother know she was dead washing 1 week when the new ham when she was she was a pure and Dan.

34:19 And even the Indians kidnapped her one time from she and maren married a boy from this little city. They lived in in the Indians. That was so long ago. They come and kidnapped her for a few days or months or so, but they brought her back. They brought her back they did that is completely the opposite of how I heard that story. Maybe I didn't know what I think that is cuz it didn't make any sense to me the way I heard it the way I heard it was that her husband is the one that had kidnapped her from the Indians took her away from him. I bet it was scary. Don't you when Nick returns fine in there and got her that was in Tennessee also.

35:15 Because my grandfather was some.

35:19 See, he was real old one.

35:23 When I was little

35:27 He sings All of me, but he talked about his mother a lot. Now that they were scared that I'm going to come flying in there and carried her away on Horseback and she was Cherokee.

35:45 Well, well Anna you had your Indian background. When did you get a little credit for that and her or not? I mainly used that part of my education to try to research.

36:05 That just sort of Native Americans in general. I didn't really know how I fit into it well enough to to do anything specific with it. We should have asked him more questions when your little you don't think of it and I do I'm 37 and it just finally occurred to me. I'm sure I wish you could have talked to him. He would have been loved him. He was a sweetheart. I was so lucky to have all these men and my background my uncles were treating me like a queen and my grandpa just loved me. The only thing I remember really about him is that he everybody told me that he

36:49 Ate bacon and eggs every morning for breakfast and live to be a hundred and two but they didn't tell you he would Walk and Walk and Walk he walked from the little town that we had to do our shopping and he walked there and back and just still Be Frisky and that was 12 miles one way you'd like 20 12 miles and 12 miles home in one day isn't that the weather forecast when he passed our house? We don't wave at him and he would never slow up. He would wave at a sleep live to be a hundred to know. He did eat all the meat. They were meeting people making an eggs everyday and

37:35 All the other media could get he never wants this diet.

37:41 I believe is that walking.

37:44 I have a lot of greens to

37:48 Then I could agricultural lifestyle but I often wonder about his mother because you know somehow Aunt Martha wound up with that PIN that belong to her. It's a turquoise pain.

38:04 And then your sister Martha and then she had two sons.

38:11 And when I got married she gave me that pen and then I had to Saint so I'm going to have to pass it off to another nice or give me which one can we give it to figure out somebody your turquoise to you it is I mean, I don't know how it's looking to set up so nicely but can I just hold it one minute? Okay, if we have to stop now is it over but I don't know. I mean we might be snowed in but now but my grandfather was crazy about his mom.

39:11 He he had a good heart too and all his brothers and sisters got old.

39:17 He always took him into his home like if they lost them husband or wife or kids or anything. They all will end up at his home, and he took care of till they died cuz he outlived the whole family caregiving from kills from him. I don't know. I think I could you take care of everyone of us. Every time we get sick. It's my pleasure. I love you Grandma. I love you. Dearly Anna. Thanks for talking with me. And this with me, you know, I love you and I'm crazy about the little boys and little boys.

40:06 We don't have no picture. Do I wish I could