52 Ancestors Week 10: Siblings

 

This week’s theme is “Siblings.”   The DNA surprise when your family tree takes a sharp turn. 

Siblings. They're our first friends, our partners in crime, our biggest rivals, and our lifelong companions. The two brothers that I grew up with, Steve and Tim, were the only siblings that I knew.  They were much older than me.  I was the completely annoying bratty little sister that they didn't want and didn't expect.

The Craig Kids

I was also the one that got mad because they wouldn't let me play with their amazing hot wheel tracks up and down the basement stairs and all around the basement.  Boys can be so mean.

But, when in need, they both came running to help me.  Once, in 9th grade, I was severely bullied by a boy that wanted me to go to a school dance with him.  I just didn't want to go to the dance. I had nothing against the boy.   But, he took it badly, and harrassed me, followed me everywhere, in school and out, would call me horrible names, by yelling, in front of everyone at the lockers or lunch room.  The school administrator and security guard did nothing to stop it.   

So, for a month straight, my brothers picked me up from school.  They waited by this boy's school bus and made sure to say hello to him, every day.  That was it.  Just hello.  The fact that they both rode their Harleys and looked like Hells Angels might have also had something to do with it.

Click on Read More to see my Mom's and Dad's siblings....

The King Family

My Mom and all her siblings will truly hate me for sharing this picture but this picture captured a moment in time, for me, that was my childhood.   My Dad had just brought my Grandparents from West Virginia to Maryland to live.  The Hillbilly Highway.  They had a big white house in Prince George's County, Maryland where the three kids on the right, still in high school, lived with them.

I loved that house they lived in.  I adored each of my Aunts and Uncles.  Some had moved back to West Virginia and whenever they came to visit, it was always a treasure to hear their stories of "back home".

The Craigs

The Craig siblings.  That's my Dad all bundled up in the bottom left of the picture.  The Craigs were extremely poor farmers.  Sadly, my grandfather was a severe alcoholic who inherited it from a long line of Craig men.  As an adult, my Dad would move back and forth from West Virginia to Maryland.  One of the things he cherished was having breakfast at a restuarant in Weston, West Virginia that his niece and nephew owned.  Many times, the siblings would gather there, weekly, to have breakfast and catch up.  They never lost the sibling bond.  Only one sibling remains alive at this time.

This week's video is from Avicii - Hey Brother.  The relationship between the two brothers in the video is so much the reality of, my brothers, Steve and Tim growing up.  

What are some of your favorite memories with your siblings? Share your stories in the comments below! Let's celebrate the unbreakable bond of siblinghood.

Are you connected to my Dad, John Craig?  Or my Grandfather, Ward King?

Find out on WikiTree

#52Ancestors was started by another WikiTreer, blogger, and professional genealogist, Amy Johnson Crow. Check out her Generations Cafe Facebook group