C. Fry, Auctioneer, Burbank, Ohio / How a Man Can Be His Own Grandfather

An auctioneer's business card with a humorous explanation of "How a Man Can Be His Own Grandfather" on the other side. This same genealogical calculation was the basis for "I'm My Own Grandpa," a 1947 novelty song by Lonzo and Oscar, but the idea of becoming one's own grandfather has been circulating in newspapers and elsewhere for more than 190 years.

C. Fry, Auctineer.

Burbanks, P.O. Box 100, Wayne Co., Ohio.

How a Man Can Be His Own Grandfather

I married a widow who had a daughter. My father visited our house frequently, fell in love, and married my stepdaughter. Thus my father became my son-in-law and my stepdaughter my mother, because she was my father's wife. My stepdaughter had also a son; he was of course my brother and at the same time my grandchild, for he was the son of my daughter. My wife was my grandmother, because she was my mother's mother. I was my wife's husband and grandchild at the same time; and as the husband of a person's grandmother is his grandfather, I was my own grandfather.