Thoughts and stories, by Pal

My maiden name was Miles -- I am Paralee Miles (Eckman) and my father was Orson Pratt Miles, my grandfather William Gustavus Miles, and my great grandfather Samuel Miles.  Each of their histories are in this blog, and can be found listed under their names.  Today I will give a brief history of the Miles (Myles) line back as far as we have information.                                               THE MILES FAMILY ORIGINS       The name is said to date back to the Roman Occupation of the British Isles in the 500's, and was originally Miles-itis, meaning a soldier – (hence militia, military, etc.)     It also is generally accepted that the origin of the family was in Wales, and from which all the families in other parts of the British Isles descended.     The first Miles (Myles) we know of is William Miles or Myles o...

It was really fun for me to see how many comments we got about the family picture I posted in the last post.  I'm quite busy for the next 3 days, so I think I'll put a few family photos on, and see how many memories they bring!  This may not be as fun for non family members, but hopefully it will give you a "slice of our lives" at different moments in time! This is Blaine on the left, Grandma Gladys Eckman in the center, and Wayne, when the twins were around 18 years old, about 1948.  Grandma Eckman was 4 ft. 10 inches high.  Her husband, Grandpa Roy was 5 ft. 10 inches. This was one of the photos Wayne sent me when he was in the army, 1954, taken in Austria.  Handsome, huh?    I noticed how proud the little boy was to have an "army man" have his arm around his shoulders.  This gave me an idea of how much Wayne loved children! There are 15 of our 29 grandchildren in this photo, taken in our family room in 2003.  We love havi...