Daddy

My father was a traditional dad of the 50's.  My mother raised us kids and my dad worked.  I don't even think there were sports activities like there are today, but Daddy, and we all called him Daddy, was not a coach.  Daddy was always there but not there.  He worked long hours, he always drove, he sat in the living room and read the papers.  Those are the most significant things I remember about him when I was a child.  My father died at the age of 74. He was the last living grandparent my children had.

My father was James Hoard McManus. When he signed his name, the c was always raised with two little lines under it.  Daddy was left handed and color blind, traits he's passed down to his grandchildren and great grandchildren.

His name has always been a puzzle to me.  My father was James Hoard McManus, his father was James Hoard McManus, and his grandfather was James Hoard McManus.  None of them were officially juniors or seniors.  My father went by James Hoard McManus Jr. for a long time. I've always pronounced my maiden name as "MicManus" although my father pronounced it "MacManus." We called him Daddy, my mother called him Jim and his colleagues and friends outside our family sphere called him Mac. I remember being in the car one time and getting gas. The attendant called him Mac not Jim and that surprised me. But I digress.

Hoard is not a common middle name and you would guess that it was possibly a mother's maiden name. Not so, but close.  Thomas Hugh McManus (1815-1865) and Johanna Wild Tritt (1829-1915) were the parents of the first James Hoard McManus (1849-1905). Johanna's father was Baker Tritt who died in 1835 when she was six year old.  Her mother Verona Regular Wild married second Daniel Hoard (1787-1869) in 1849 the same year Johanna married Thomas Hugh McManus.  Johanna and Thomas named their first son James Hoard McManus.  What surprises me is that this name then continued down two more generations.

I will continue my story of my father in a part 2.