Remembering Who I Am and Where I Came From/For those who come after me.

Well while I've been planning this for quite some time, it's still in it's infancy so I'm probably premature in starting to post about it.

My great grandfather Watson Davis homesteaded in what would become Garfield County in Washington State in the 1800's. Those that know me well know how proud I am of who I am and where I came from and that's from simple folk who worked the land and were decent people.

My great grandfather who was known as 'Wat' registered his brand at the That Alpowai Post Office December 20th in the Washington Territory. I donated Wat's branding iron to the museum back home a few years back but have had it out on loan for a project for my children.

That branding iron was made by a man named Henry Krause, this is known as when Mr Krause would make a brand he'd heat it in his forge and then test it on the wooded walls of his shop. When that building was to be torn down the boards were saved and are today on display at the Eastern Washington Agricultural Museum just outside Pomeroy WA. The branding iron fits perfectly in Mr. Krause's test brand.

Today with the help of my daughter's boyfriend, we heated the iron in his forge and branded some leather pieces that will become Christmas presents for my three children.

They are far from being done, with that said, here's how they basically look along with the branding iron.

Attachment 217001

Attachment 217002

I hope all will enjoy.

That is such a great piece of history for your family. Maybe you should brand a few more leather pieces for grandchildren?

That is AWESOME! :tu

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Originally Posted by Utopian

That is such a great piece of history for your family. Maybe you should brand a few more leather pieces for grandchildren?

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Thank you. I've considered that, but that's what parents are for. If I've instilled enough pride of their heritage in them I would hope that they would take it upon themselves to make something like that happen.

All three of my children bear family names from my side of the family.

The oldest daughter shares my beloved Granny Davis's first name of Rachel.

My youngest daughter shares the same middle name of Granny Davis of Jane

And my son shares my father's first name, my grandfather's middle name and my great grandfather's first name of Watson as his middle name.

For now I'm content to do what I can for the kids and hope for the best.

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Originally Posted by cudarunner

Thank you. I've considered that, but that's what parents are for. If I've instilled enough pride of their heritage in them I would hope that they would take it upon themselves to make something like that happen.

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Excellent point!

Really awesome family history and truly unique way to hand it down!
Well done Sir!

As much as we have tried even what our kids do let alone our grandchildren is out of our control.

Very cool, Roy! :tu

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Originally Posted by sharptonn

Very cool, Roy! :tu

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Thanks my friend, it's my thread so I'll hijack it just a little but it's about my family.

My oldest daughter is an accomplished cosmetologist who had worked in a several shops downtown, when the last one that she was working at decided to close it's doors she and her husband decided to turn their attached two car garage into a workplace for a family based business. It is as nice or nicer than any shop you can find here in town.

Now to my point. She's always cut my hair when my workplace had enough of the caveman look. Well when the new home shop was ready to open I called her and told her that I wanted to be her first paying customer and she replied; "Dad, I don't charge you to cut your hair". But I insisted.

The shop was to open at 10am and I arrived at 9:30 she had cut my granddaughter's hair the night before but she insisted on showing me that the garbage can was empty.

Once she was done I reached inside my shirt and pulled out a small gift wrapped package and handed it to her. She asked what it was. I told her it was her payment for my haircut.

When she opened it she found a framed dollar.

The very first dollar she'd earned in her own business.

It was a Silver Dollar that was 125 years old at the time.

She thanked me very much and then asked if she could paint the frame to match her decor. I of course said yes.

She's since decided that someone might like it more than she does and has it displayed in their house.

I got the idea because my dad had a $2.00 Silver Certificate in his Cruise Book of the USS Valley Forge 45. He said it was about all that was left of his first navy pay.

Thanks for reading and listening. :tu

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Originally Posted by 32t

As much as we have tried even what our kids do let alone our grandchildren is out of our control.

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This is as close to an actual quote that I can do from memory.

When Robin Williams was doing his act at the Metropolitan Opera House he was talking about children and our hopes for them and he said that someday he hoped that he'd hear;

"I'd like to thank the Nobel Academy for this award in physics".

But then again he might hear;

"Do you want fries with that man"?

You see it's a crap shoot, you do the best you can and hope for the best.