Old man Joe

This is a photo of my Grandpa and Grandma Smith,back row standing.

Think at the time they had no children.

Sitting in front is Joseph Smith and his wife Lonie,my Great Grandparents.

Joseph was called old man Joe I have heard and was obsessed with money.For the times I think it was said he was well off if not wealthy.He did give each of his children land for a farm.

Way story goes old man Joe had problems,what exactly I don't know.

He had made a statement while sitting at the supper table that one day he would be burnt like the piece of meat he was eating.Not long after he had said that it has been told he had a bad cold or flu and had rubbed some type of ointment all over his body and was last seen standing in front of the blazing fireplace wrapped in a blanket.The house caught fire.

My Grandpa John raced from the fields when he noticed the house burning.Jumping over something laying outside that he could not identify at the time to enter the house.As you might have guessed it was old man Joe.

Because of the statement he had made about being burnt like the meat he had been eating people thought maybe he had committed suicide.For years I have thought about this and what happened.There is no way to prove really what happened my opinion is that it was an accident.

Often I have thought if old man Joe wanted to end his life there are ways of doing it that would be more peaceful.