Photo Friday - Lucille and Fleeta

 

Fleeta Davis with Ben Jr. and Lucille Davis

It was 1925. My grandmother Lucille Rucker Davis had recently given birth to her first child, Orvin Jr. My grandfather's cousin Ben Davis and his wife Fleeta Berry, after having 7 girls, finally had a boy - Ben Jr.

Wendy

© 2021, Wendy Mathias. All rights reserved.

Sentimental Sunday

 

My mother Mary Eleanor Davis Slade died on 3 October 2005.

Momma
6 Jan 1929 - 3 Oct 2005

Jack Coleman, husband of my great-grandmother’s sister Emma Jollett, died 4 October 1947.

1929 - Mary Frances Jollett Davis,
Jack Coleman, Emma Coleman

Lucretia Jollett, sister of my 2X great-grandfather James Franklin Jollett, married Thomas Shiflett 8 October 1871.

 

My grandmother Lucille Rucker (Davis) was born 9 October 1904.

Lucille in the stroller
Big sister Rosalind

Wendy

© 2021, Wendy Mathias. All rights reserved.

52 Ancestors - WORKING: The Envelope System

Davis Store in the 1920s

The Davis Store in Shenandoah, Virginia, has been the subject of several blogs here on Jollett Etc. It was built by my great-grandfather Walter Davis sometime before 1920 at the corner of Sixth Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, probably about the same time that he built their Sears & Roebuck Craftsman house on Sixth Street.

Walter Davis 1933

Walter was a carpenter by trade, just like his father Mitchell Davis. Walter must have had an entrepreneurial spirit when he built the store and named it “W.B. Davis & Sons Groceries Etc.” How long son #1 Millard worked there is unknown, but my grandfather Orvin, son #2, was the owner and manager according to the 1930 census. Actually, my grandmother Lucille ran the store because my grandfather also owned a garage where he repaired cars. The garage was located on Pennsylvania Avenue just behind the store.

Among the boxes of STUFF retrieved from my grandparents’ attic after 70 years are several bundles of receipts from the store.

Envelopes containing receipts

My grandmother Lucille Davis behind the counter of the Davis Store

J.D. SNYDER

Most likely J.D. was John David Snyder. He grew up in Shenandoah, and like his father, he worked for the railroad in the 1920s and 30s. Shenandoah was a boom town even during the Depression because of the railroad. If someone in Shenandoah didn’t actually work FOR the railroad, they had a relative who did. In spite of having a steady job, Snyder always seemed to owe money at the Davis Store. The receipts are dated from October 1935 to July 1936. 

The last receipts of JD Snyder

The Snyder shopping list was modest, usually Wheaties, bread, lard, soap, beans, bologna, “weinies,” eggs, and bacon. Other practical items included notebook paper, envelopes, and a pencil. The most extravagant purchases were chewing gum, candy and cakes. Occasionally he bought cigarettes. If times were hard, he made an effort to be thrifty and conservative. Nevertheless, he ran up a bill over $60. According to the inflation calculator, that equates to the buying power of $1138.67 today. 

1936 was about the time Snyder moved his family to Baltimore, Maryland where he, a son and a daughter went to work at the steel mill. The last three receipts indicate he worked hard to pay off his debt. According to the last receipt, though, he still owed $35. That equates to about $665 today. No wonder my grandparents held onto the receipts. They must have hoped he would finish paying them back. 

E.D. ROTHGEB

Receipts showing
purchase of medicine

No doubt this was Emil Rothgeb who owned the house next door to Walter Davis on 6th Street. In 1930 Emil was earning a living as a house painter. Perhaps he painted some of the houses that Walter had built. However, in the 1940 census, Emil was working with the WPA and reported having worked only 40 weeks in 1939. 

His receipts are all dated from October-December 14, 1938. The timing of going to work for the WPA and the purchases on credit make sense. Times must have been hard. The last receipt shows he put down $2.00 in cash reducing his debt to $20.58. That equates to about $385 in buying power today. 

Like the Snyders, the Rothgebs did not seem to be extravagant in their shopping. Most of the receipts are for the typical necessities like bread, lard, meat. However, purchases of aspirin, cough drops, Bromo seltzer and “medicine” suggest someone must have been sick. The holidays meant Essie Rothgeb needed yeast, nutmeg, sugar, flour, and coconut. 

ERNEST COMER

Paper-clipped together is the thinnest collection of receipts from Ernest Comer, a farmer by trade. They are dated from July 1937 to October 1938. However, a death record indicates he died in 1936. I know I have the right Ernest Comer because a couple of the receipts are written to his wife Lottie. Aside from the date confusion, what makes this group of receipts interesting is that part of the family debt was paid in goods, specifically meat in November 1937 and potatoes in June 1938.

MRS. MOORE

When I first opened the envelope, I thought Mrs. Moore was a customer at my grandfather’s garage. All the receipts are from his car repair shop. Only one receipt shows work done on her car. 

2 tubes and a condenser
only 75 cents for labor!

The rest of the transactions, however, show she was a customer at the grocery store. I wonder if this was about the time that my grandfather took over at the store. Maybe he had not had new receipts printed yet.

Because there were a number of families named Moore living in Shenandoah, Virginia in the 1930s, I did not think I could identify the woman who ran up a debt at the Davis Store in 1933. Robert and Charlotte Moore lived on Seventh Street, just a block behind the store which certainly would have made shopping there convenient. By 1940, the couple was divorced. That made me rethink all the accounts at the Davis Store. Since men were the bread-winner in most households, the accounts were likely in their name even if the wife did the shopping. As a divorced woman, Mrs. Moore had her own account. Unfortunately, the envelope holding her receipts was marked “Judgment.” I think that indicates my grandparents must have sued for payment.

REFLECTIONS

If my grandparents kept a ledger or other bookkeeping system, it did not survive. Only these envelopes of detailed receipts attest to who shopped at the Davis store, what they purchased, what they still owed. With no Excel spreadsheet and no calculator, my grandparents carefully carried the balance forward on each carbon-backed receipt and calculated debits and credits. It was a simple system.

One story I always heard was that customers who could not pay their bill often left diamond rings as collateral. I wonder if these receipts are for the very customers who owned those diamond rings and never came back for them.

Ring my mother had made from the diamonds
left at the Davis Store

Amy Johnson Crow continues to challenge genealogy bloggers and non-bloggers alike to think about our ancestors and share a story or photo about them. The challenge is “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks.” 

Wendy

© 2021, Wendy Mathias. All rights reserved.

52 Ancestors - IN THE KITCHEN: Grandma's Kitchen

No kitchen holds as many memories as my Grandma Lucille Rucker Davis’s kitchen. It was a small box, 12’x12’ if that. Along one outside wall was the only set of upper and lower white metal cabinets which shared space with a stove and enamel sink under a window. 

 

Me in Grandma's kitchen 1965
(on the back I wrote that I didn't want my picture taken
but Daddy chased me)

The opposite wall held a small refrigerator which fit into an alcove under the stairs that led to an upstairs apartment. In the middle of the room were a grey-white enamel kitchen table and 4 chairs with black vinyl seats. A metal appliance cart in the corner held an electric frying pan and a few choice baking dishes. A stepstool next to the doorway to the dining room provided a resting spot close to the stove. That was all. Today’s homeowner wants COUNTERSPACE. There was none to speak of in Grandma’s kitchen. She did her prep work on that table. 

Picking crabs summer 1972
Grandma, me, future hubby, and Momma cut off
ooh - check Barry's groovy watch

I can still see the steam glistening on the glossy white walls. At times they seemed to actually sweat with the frenzy of meal preparation.

I can hear the cacophony of pots and pans as Grandma dug through the cramped lower cabinets, pots stacked precariously toppling over, lids crashing onto the floor, baking sheets and muffin tins being reassigned a new spot with every bang of a pan. Today when my sister or I get a little noisy in the kitchen, we say, “Look out, Lucille!”

I can smell the aroma of tomatoes and green peppers in the Swiss steak bubbling away in the electric skillet.

Grandma's tell-tale backhand slant shows she wrote
her recipe for me. This is also her Jell-o book.

Crammed somewhere in the little refrigerator would be a dish of Jello salad. Grandma thought no meal was complete without Jello.

She did the cooking EVERY Sunday. EVERY Thanksgiving. EVERY Christmas. And whenever she felt like it. I inherited some of my grandmother’s dishes but not her ability to bang out a meal on demand. Whenever I reach for my grandmother’s Jewel Tea Autumn Leaf bowl, I am instantly taken back to her kitchen.

The large Jewel Tea bowl was perfect for Grandma’s potato salad then. It’s perfect for her potato salad now. Because of Grandma’s recipe, we’re potato salad snobs. You won’t see us picking up potato salad at Sam’s Club to take to a covered-dish event.

Grandma’s kitchen was a small room, but in it she created some big and memorable dishes.

Amy Johnson Crow continues to challenge genealogy bloggers and non-bloggers alike to think about our ancestors and share a story or photo about them. The challenge is “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks.”

Wendy

© 2021, Wendy Mathias. All rights reserved.

Sepia Saturday: Flower Power

Sepia Saturday challenges bloggers to share family history through old photographs.

Look at all those flower-print dresses in this week’s Sepia Saturday prompt.

This photo of my great-grandmother and her sisters taken at one of the Jollett reunions is certainly a good match.

  

Jollett Sisters 1939
Laura Sullivan, Victoria Breeden, Sallie Clift, Mary Fances Davis,
Emma Coleman seated

And this one too.

 

Jollett Sisters 1934 at the latest
Vic, Sallie, Mary Frances, Leanna, Laura, Emma
(hard to see the print but it's there!)

One hold-out though was Emma Jollett Coleman, the oldest sister. According to family legend, she followed the Dunkard faith and always dressed in dark clothing.

ALWAYS? Where did that story come from? Ever since I was a child, I pictured Emma as some old serious and gloomy person who was not much fun.

However, several photos of Emma in light-colored print dresses have altered my view.

 

1929
Mary Frances Jollett Davis
Jack and Emma Jollett Coleman

4 Generations 1923 Jollett Reunion
Emma Jollett Coleman, James Franklin Jollett
Minnie Coleman Maiden, Virginia Maiden

And Emma was smiling. Even in her dark dresses.

No one would ever accuse my grandmother of being “gloomy” due to how she dressed. In the 1960s she rocked the flowery moo-moo.

 

My grandparents Orvin and Lucille Davis
one of Grandma's MANY moo-moos

My mother and I also did our part to rock another trend of the decade: floral-print Villager a-line skirts with pin tuck blouses. Villager was pricey. Because Momma was such a skilled seamstress, we both could dress to impress in our floral pastel Villager knock-offs.

 

Mary Slade and moi at the Manassas Battlefield 1967

At our wedding in 1973, the hubster and I were right in style, but I thought my aunt was really a showstopper in a floral print gown. She was definitely bold and ahead of her time.

At Sepia Saturday, everyone is dressed and ready to impress with delightful old photos and stories.

Wendy

© 2020, Wendy Mathias. All rights reserved.

Sepia Saturday: Granddaddy Bought a Car

Sepia Saturday challenges bloggers to share family history through old photographs.

Even though I have quite a few photos that are a better match to this week’s Sepia Saturday prompt, I am going with this one.

Orvin and Lucille Davis
5 June 1940 Shenandoah, VA

It is a picture of my maternal grandparents Orvin and Lucille Davis sitting in their car on 5 June 1940.

I betcha anything that this is the same car Granddaddy purchased from Graves Motor Company in February that year.

And it was a NEW car too – a Chevrolet Master 85 KB.

 

from Google Images

Granddaddy traded in SOMETHING worth $200. He kicked in $50 in cash and financed the rest through GMAC.

The car cost $740!
That's hardly one car payment today.

The final cost  was $825.28.

For 18 months straight, Granddaddy recorded his monthly payment of $31.96 in a little coupon book. Remember those?

I have this strange collection of papers only because my grandparents did not bother to throw them away, instead leaving them in a box that they stuffed into an attic. The current owner of their house is installing new insulation. When she pushed open that little door under an eave, it must have been like opening King Tut’s tomb, but with the deflating result of Geraldo Rivera’s opening of Al Capone’s vault.

There is nothing of great value in those boxes, only personal tidbits that shed a light on my family’s life. For example, my grandparents apparently could not afford the top of the line or they were more practical. The KB version was at the low end of the Master series. It lacked running board moldings and had plain upholstery and slightly less standard equipment.

Just like today’s cars, there were some options. My reaction to some of them is “What?? That’s an OPTION?” Options like a Clock. Heater. Hood ornament (plastic). Radio antenna. Rear view mirror. Cigar lighter.

The sales receipt and finance contract do not indicate whether Granddaddy got any of the options. I’m pretty sure he would have wanted that cigar lighter though.

Granddaddy's cigar
from no later than 1963
found in the attic

Hop in your car and drive on over to Sepia Saturday. Shotgun!

Wendy

© 2020, Wendy Mathias. All rights reserved.

52 Ancestors - PROSPERITY: Surviving the Great Depression

The Great Depression as presented in my high school American History class left me picturing the world in grey. I thought EVERYBODY stood in soup lines. I thought EVERYBODY was out of work. I thought the sun never shone.

About 1933 - My mother Mary Eleanor Davis at the home of her grandparents
Walter and Mary Frances Davis
Across the street is her house, built by her father and grandfather.
Visible between the bushes is the Davis Store, corner of Sixth St and Pennsylvania Ave

As a child my mother had clothes and shoes unlike one of her good friends who would arrive at school barefooted. Momma also took lessons in piano and tap. That sounds like a luxury to me.

What did the Davis family do differently that allowed them to be witnesses to the effects of the Depression rather than victims? Maybe it was because they were self-starters.

My great-grandfather Walter B. Davis (1867-1934) spent most of his adult years as a carpenter like his father. He operated a planing mill and also built numerous houses throughout the town of Shenandoah in Page County, Virginia.

 

Davis Store Shenandoah, VA 1920s

As early as 1920 he was the owner of Davis and Sons Groceries at the corner of Sixth Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, just across the street from where he lived. At various times my grandfather Orvin and his brother Millard were the “Sons” in that business, managing things while Walter continued building houses.

My grandfather might have been an official manager or owner, but he did not actually work there. Orvin instead had a garage where he serviced and repaired cars. Running the store was my grandmother’s job.

 

My grandmother Lucille Davis behind the counter

I imagine that even when few were building houses, the townspeople of Shenandoah were still patronizing the grocery store. They could count on the Davis Store for staples like coffee, sugar, bread, peanut butter, soap, salt, matches, oatmeal, and potatoes. They could also buy thread, oil, chicken feed, and cigarettes.

 

Receipts from the Davis Store

Yet shopping for necessities was not easy for everyone. Among the memorabilia that my family preserved for over 90 years is a small stack of receipts paper-clipped together. The receipts came from a family who bought on credit and paid down a little here and there with cash. Sometimes the bill was paid by hauling goods.

The ring made from assorted diamonds left at the Davis Store

Some people left diamond rings at the store in exchange for goods. Sadly, the owners never came back for them. The rings were still in a drawer of my grandmother’s dresser when she died in 1990. My mother had a new ring made from the assorted stones.

Whenever I wear the ring, I can’t help wondering who gave up her wedding ring to feed her family.

Amy Johnson Crow continues to challenge genealogy bloggers and non-bloggers alike to think about our ancestors and share a story or photo about them. The challenge is “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks.”

Wendy

© 2020, Wendy Mathias. All rights reserved.

Sepia Saturday: BFF

Sepia Saturday challenges bloggers to share family history through old photographs.

The minute I saw this week’s Sepia Saturday photo prompt, I thought of this photo:

 

Kathleen Sigler Rinney

This is Kathleen Sigler Rinney, my maternal grandmother’s best friend when they were girls growing up in the Shenandoah Valley. It is a bit of a puzzle as to how Grandma and Kathleen were childhood friends. Kathleen was the daughter of Chester and Mary Alice Sigler of Luray, quite a few miles from Shenandoah. It would have been inconvenient for her to attend school with my grandmother.

Perhaps Kathleen spent time with her grandparents or other relatives who lived closer to Shenandoah. If so, that might be where Grandma saw Kathleen’s grandmother. The story my grandmother always used to tell was that Kathleen’s grandmother was Black; she always wore a large bonnet, probably hiding her hair. The family apparently passed for White. That would explain why I cannot find any evidence of a Black, “Colored,” or Mulatto grandparent anywhere in Kathleen’s family tree. If any of the Siglers were actually NOT White, they did not claim it in a census.

Kathleen’s father was a grocery salesman, so it’s possible he sold to my grandparents who ran a store on Sixth Street in Shenandoah. But would Kathleen have been her father’s sidekick on those sales runs? I rather doubt it.

At any rate, they were friends. When Kathleen married Edward Aulis Rinney in 1928, she moved to Washington D.C. Edward was a native of Finland but had been in the United States since 1914. Like their father, Edward and his brothers were all carpenters. I wonder if they were “finish carpenters” or just “Finnish carpenters.” Yes, folks, I’m here through the weekend. 

About 1934, Edward and Kathleen moved to Takoma Park, Maryland. For a time Kathleen was a clerk for a department store. According to city directories, she was an authorizer for Woodward & Lothrop, a chain headquartered in Washington D.C. Later she became a supervisor at the store. What she authorized and whom she supervised, I have no idea. But she formed a tight circle of friends among her coworkers.

 

Kathleen is 4th one in

At some point Kathleen and Edward returned to Luray, maybe in their retirement years. They are buried in the Evergreen Memorial Gardens in Luray, Virginia.

 

on Findagrave
photo courtesy JAC

Keep smiling and visit my friends at Sepia Saturday.

Wendy

© 2020, Wendy Mathias. All rights reserved.

Sepia Saturday: Genealogy of a Porch

Sepia Saturday challenges bloggers to share family history through old photographs.

This week’s Sepia Saturday prompt depicts the perfect way to spend an afternoon: lounging on a screened-in porch. As a child, I did not do much lounging, but I spent MANY hours playing on my grandparents’ porch.

 

My grandparents' house and porch at the corner
of Gillis and Frailey, Portsmouth, VA
early 1960s

Their porch extended the width of the house and was distinguished by a solid half wall and screens along three sides. The floor was concrete and freshly painted almost every year. Green. Always green. A green canvas awning was eventually replaced by a striped canvas awning 

My grandparents Lucille and Orvin Davis
My sister and me
1959

which was then replaced by a green and white aluminum awning

Orvin and Lucille Davis
Grandma in her trademark moo-moo

Me and Mary Jollette on Easter Sunday

Furnishings varied over the years but the one staple was a mint green metal glider, similar to this one. 

The thing about metal is it rusts, and even though the walls of the porch offered SOME protection against the elements, the gliders still rusted. Nevertheless, the glider was the seat of choice, and everyone ran to be sure to secure a spot on the glider. At least 2 people were needed spaced equally apart to lubricate the glider by forcibly rocking themselves forward and back, feet either firmly planted or kicking out for an extra boost to break through the rust to get a few good glides in before having to repeat the process once more. It was great!

During the day, the porch was a playhouse, a school, or home base in a game my friends made up called “Eagles.” When my cousins visited in the summer, Grandma outfitted the porch furniture with cushions, pillows and blankets, and we could sleep there with the most delicious breeze and a street lamp for a night light.

My cousins Glenn and Bobbie Davis with our grandaunt Violetta Ryan
holding Mary Jollette, and me

Our family was surprised and disappointed when the new owners of my grandparents’ house closed in the porch. Why would anyone want to give that up? 

Compare to the first picture!
Image clipped from Google Maps

I finally understood when in 2018 pictures of the house appeared on Zillow allowing me to see inside the house my grandfather built and what happened to the porch. It became a laundry room / utility room / possibly storage room. The hot water heater, washer and dryer which used to be located in the garage now reside on the porch. Yeah, lugging laundry from the house to the garage was never any fun.

 

What used to be a screened-in porch

But the porch itself always was. Maybe that’s why having a screened-in porch has been my goal since the day I became a home owner some years ago. That dream finally came to fruition in 2017 (whew - took long enough!). We do not have a glider, but our porch makes a lovely place for a party or to take a nap.

 

Our porch Christmas 2017

Curl up with a good blog on the Sepia Saturday porch!

Wendy

© 2019, Wendy Mathias. All rights reserved.