Harold Benjamin Fancher

I started out with my Paternal Grandfather, as mentioned, because he is the only 2nd generation ancestor I have who is no longer with us. Then I went to my maternal Grandmother's parents (see http://kingsleyfamilytree.blogspot.com/2008/08/floyd-j-parker.html and http://kingsleyfamilytree.blogspot.com/2009/03/leona-winifred-mckay-wife-of-floyd-j.html). Now I will start my maternal Grandfathers Parents...

Harold Benjamin Fancher was born in Holland, Erie County, New York, in 1895 to Elbert Hiram Fancher and Adelaide Eva Rogers. The first Census that Harold shows up on is in 1900.

After this, the 1910 Census...

In 1917 Harold married Florence Belle Woodworth, thus on the 1920 census:

1930

That is all the censuses that he is found on, so far...

His son, here forward "Grampa Fancher" or "Grampa", is very near and dear to my heart and my family. I called Grampa one day with the single purpose of questioning him and Grandma Fancher about their parents. The results are http://kingsleyfamilytree.blogspot.com/2009/03/leona-winifred-mckay-wife-of-floyd-j.html, http://kingsleyfamilytree.blogspot.com/2008/08/floyd-j-parker.html, this post and a future post on Grampa Fancher's Mother, Florence Belle Woodworth.

One of the things Grampa told me about Harold was that he had many, many jobs.

Grampa told me that Harold served in WWI. This is Harold's WWI draft registration card.



At one point he was an insurance salesman. To work a larger area he would sleep in his car. For security, he would bring a dog and leave the dog outside of the car.

At a different point he ran a lunch car.

Harold owned a bakery/delicatessen. It was in a small room in the corner of the house they lived in. The room was about 10'x15'. There was a door from the store to the livingroom of the house. In this store they sold bread, candy, etc. There wasn't much security back then but the times were hard and there was no telling who would come into the store. Grampa told me they had a little dog that was very possesive. This little dog would stand at the door of the livingroom. It would never bark and was well behaved but, if anyone ever tried to get around to the backside of the counter in the store, the dog would bite.

From this bakery, Harold started running a bakery wagon. He expanded that to include milk. Grampa tells me that the horses were so well trained that they would walk the route almost all by themselves. Harold would walk or ride along with the horses but jump off and deliver without having to guide the horses often.

Harold also ran an old "Huckster" route. This is much like a peddler, selling random items that can and usually do frequently change. In NY, a liscense is required to be a huckster, but there was a loophole for Harold. NY allowed any returned WWI soldier to obtain a huckster liscence free. Among other things he sold, Harold would buy eggs and strawberries in bulk and run them on his Bread/Milk/Huckster route. He also started with flowers, but I will keep that for Florence's blog entry because there won't be nearly as much in that blog.

At a different point in his life, Harold worked for the WPA (Work Progress Administration, renamed in 1939 to Work Projects Administration). The WPA was the largest "New Deal" Agency and affected almost every locality in the US.

Under the more personal stories, Grampa told me one final story. Harold did own a car. He apparently ALWAYS had bad tires. One Sunday he was going from East Aurora, NY to Buffalo. Grampa got to ride with him. On the way, Harold got a flat tire. He was pretty unhappy about it, but he got out and changed the tire. He did carry an extra one so it wasn't too big of a problem. As they continued the drive, he got another flat tire. As he had already used the spare, he had to repair the inner tube. He was very unhappy about it and grumbled while he fixed it. After a little while, he was successful and got the tire back on the car. On the way home, the tire went flat again. According to Grampa, "He stopped the car, got out, threw his hat on the ground and started jumping up and down on it!" While Harold fixed this last flat, grampa played in a stream next to the road, floating things in it through a small culvert.

I hope this has helped the folks in my family know more about Great Grampa Harold Fancher.