grandma peg

Today is Grandma Peg's 90th birthday. Not everyone lives to be 90. It's quite an achievement, for which we can thank grandma's love of working out with Denise Austin and fondness for fruits and vegetables.

And Grandma has been around for a long time. When Grandma Peg was born, the Treaty of Versailles that ended the First World War had just been signed. Woodrow Wilson was president.

Grandma might seem like an artifact, but she comes from a very active generation. Bob Byrd, the oldest member of the US Senate, is one year older. Mike Wallace and Andy Rooney, the sometimes-cranky but still-active journalists from 60 Minutes are also the same age.

Grandma's full name at birth was Margaret Elizabeth Howell Pittman. Her parents, Wilmer Thomas Pittman and Erma Riedel were married in November 1917 in Holy Neck Chapel in Holland, Nansemond County, Virginia. Nansemond County no longer exists -- it was replaced by Suffolk City in the 1970s. See, Grandma has outlived the county of her birth.

Grandma's people had been in Virginia at least since the first Europeans showed up. They came in the 17th Century mostly from England and Wales with a few Irishmen and Dutchmen among them. Over the centuries though, they eked out a living as farmers.


Grandma's father was named "Wilmer," but he went by the name "Tom." (see photo) He was born in 1896 in Gates County, North Carolina. Tom Pittman's family were mostly farmers, but his grandfather, Capt. Hugh Collins, served the Confederate States of America (remember them?) during the American Civil War. Some of Hugh's sons (Tom's uncles) also went on to military careers.

Tom's parents were Wilbur Pittman (1871-1915) and Martha Lydia Collins (1877-1945). Wilbur was the first and only son of Thomas Tayloe Pittman (1849-1929) and Anna Naomi Battle (1834-1873). Anna Naomi died when Wilbur Thomas was an infant. Thomas Tayloe remarried and had more children, and when his second wife died, he remarried again and had even more children. So he became something of a family patriarch. The area around his farm on the Virginia-North Carolina border was known as "Pittmantown."

Wilbur (Peg's grandfather, I know, it gets confusing), married Martha Lydia in November 1893, when they were respectively 22 and 16 years of age. Unsurprisingly, their first daughter, Anna Naomi ("Naomi"), was born the spring of the next year, followed by Wilmer Thomas ("Tom"), Hardy Louise ("Hardy"), and Hugh Bradford ("Bradford").

Wilbur Pittman died in 1915, leaving Tom, the oldest son, at home in North Carolina to run the joint. From there he escaped into marriage with Erma, who had a somewhat different background. Bradford then took over farm duties, though he later joined the military.

Erma Riedel was three years older than Tom Pittman and had attended Elon College in North Carolina -- something of which Grandma Peg is very proud. Erma's father, Robert Riedel, was a German immigrant. He left Sebnitz, on the present-day Czech border, in 1883, with his father Friedrich. Friedrich later returned to Germany, while Robert wound up in Holland, Va., of all places, where he married Margaret Elizabeth ("Betty") Howell -- that's where Grandma Peg gets her name.

Erma was one of six children [Herbert, John, Mirriam Cora ("Minnie"), Erma, Esmond, and Natalie], but only four of them lived into adulthood, and only one of them -- Esmond, also known as "Uncle Prof" because he was a professor -- outlived his parents. Uncle Prof and I were actually around at the same time -- he died in 1980, when I was about six months old.

When Peg's parents, Erma and Tom, were married in November 1917, Erma was 24 and Tom was 21. Grandma says that Robert and Betty Riedel, Erma's parents, disapproved of their college-educated daughter marrying a farmer with limited education. But Erma seems to have been a romantic type. She played organ in church and wrote poetry -- there are a few love poems written by her to Tom in Grandma Peg's house.

I don't know exactly what Tom did for work, but when the US took its Census in January 1920, Tom, Erma, and little Margaret were living in an apartment in Holland and Tom's profession is listed as "barbershop owner." Sadly, Erma became gravely ill the next month. She died in February 1920. Grandma Peg was only 13 months old.

Tom, then 24 years old with a deceased wife and 1-year-old daughter, for awhile split parental duties with his in-laws, Robert and Betty. At some point, though, he decided to pursue a career in the air force. This may have seemed like a natural choice, given his uncles being in the military and the nearby military installations at Norfolk and Portsmouth. Unfortunately, this choice brought him farther and farther away from his daughter, and so Grandma Peg was largely raised by her grandparents Robert and Betty Riedel.

Grandma said that her father had a good sense of humor and a "great laugh." But she also said that they felt a bit like strangers when they were together because they saw each other so little.

Here is a photo, probably from late 1901. It was taken on the steps of the house in Holland, Virginia. The women are wearing black, I think, because Grandma Peg's great-grandfather, William Howell (1834-1901) has recently passed away. From left to right, Mariah Howell -- Grandma Peg's Great Aunt; Jerusha Rawls Howell -- Grandma Peg's great-grandmother, widow of William; Robert Riedel -- Grandma Peg's grandfather; Natalie Riedel; Margaret Elizabeth Howell Riedel -- Grandma Peg's grandmother; Herbert Riedel; Minnie Riedel; Erma Riedel -- Grandma Peg's mother; and Esmond Riedel.

Grandma's Grandfather Robert Riedel has been a very influential person in her life. He was an architect, and she tells stories of how he used to prepare his blueprints in the backyard. He would also received postcards from his siblings in Germany and read them, in German, to the family members when they came, although I am not sure how much of it Grandma understood. To the very end, Robert Riedel would mix his 'v's and 'w's in English, says Grandma. Something like: "Ve had a wery nice time at Wiktor's on Vednesday."

Dad met Robert Riedel too. He died in 1954, and Dad says he remembers this very impressive little old German man. Dad also has an emotional link to Germany because he was stationed there when he was drafted. Maybe he also has this link because of his boyhood contact with his great grandfather.

During her childhood, Grandma also maintained contact with her father and her father's family. Though her father, Tom, was often away because of his military service, her great-grandfather Thomas Tayloe Pittman lived to be 80 years old and so Grandma would go visit him on his farm. She says she remembers he had a big white beard.

Grandma also tells stories of how hot it would be in the Virginia summer -- so hot the candles would melt or the floorboards would buckle. People would use Montgomery Ward or Sears catalogs for toilet paper in the outhouse, or, if all else failed, dried corn cobs. One of her first memories, she says, is of going to Florida with her Grandma Betty when she was about 3 years-old to visit her Great Uncle Charlie Howell (Betty Riedel's brother). Charlie Howell's farm was in some kind of swampy region of central Florida, and at night the mossy trees would --- swooopf! -- disappear into the Earth. It's kind of interesting to know that these stories are almost 90 years old.

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When Grandma Peg was in high school, she was involved in theater arts. Up until that time, everyone knew her as "Margaret." But after she was in a play called "Peg of My Heart," she said that she decided that she would be called "Peg" from then on.

Marta has been very lucky in that four of her great-grandparents are still alive! In comparison, I only knew one great-grandparent -- Genevieve (Mom's grandma). So, we had an interesting time thinking of nicknames for each of them. Epp's grandparents Karl and Laine are called "Papa and Mama." Mimi's mom is known as "Mimi's Mimi." And Dad's mom goes by "Grandma Peg." Last night, Christmas, we Skyped with the family in Setauket and I was so happy that Marta recognized both Mimi's Mimi and Grandma Peg.