Sepia Saturday: The Butcher of Shenandoah

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

This week’s Sepia Saturday photo is of a handsome display of hanging meat and the proud butchers who were responsible. If my great-great grandfather Frank Rucker and his son Robert E. Rucker ever posed for such a picture, I have nothing to prove it. However, between the two of them, they butchered for the citizens of Shenandoah in Page County, Virginia for 70 years.

from 1870 Rockingham County, Virginia Federal Census

In 1870, Frank Rucker was enumerated in the Rockingham County census as a Shoemaker. That same year William Milnes, Jr., one of the principal landowners and developers of the young town of Shenandoah in neighboring Page County, convinced Frank to open a meat shop. That is why in 1880 he was listed in the census as a “Butcherer.” I suppose it was a logical progression.

from 1880 Rockingham County, Virginia Federal Census

When Frank died in November of 1890, Robert may or may not have stepped in right away to fill his father’s shoes.

                                          However, by 1900 when this photo was taken, the Rucker Meat Shop was a thriving business.

Side view of Rucker Meat Shop in the early 1900s
from Shenandoah: A History of Our Town and Its People

When the store building was torn down in 1920, Robert moved the shop to his home on Third Street. “Uncle Bob” was often seen in his bloody apron with knife in hand. My maternal grandmother often recalled how he used to swing that knife and chase kids around the yard just to scare them. He thought it was funny.

"Uncle Bob" Rucker in his trademark bloody apron
(1863-1951)

Maybe the people in town thought so too. In Bob’s obituary he is remembered fondly as “cheerful and lovable.”

from the obituary of Robert E. Rucker

However, this description is nothing like the memories of at least two members of the “Remember Shenandoah” group on Facebook. One woman wrote that she was always afraid to walk past his house on her way to visit her grandparents because she always saw him with a big knife and a bloody apron. Another reported that her family’s dog was found dead behind the meat shop and that Bob Rucker “never denied” killing it. Hmm ~

I like to think “lovable” Uncle Bob would not have killed a dog. Let’s hope he limited himself to cows and pigs.

I’m sorry if I butchered this story. You might find choice cuts and prime photos at Sepia Saturday.

© 2015, Wendy Mathias.  All rights reserved.

Sepia Saturday: Wall of Fame or Wall of Shame?

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

This week’s Sepia Saturday prompt is almost too easy:  damaged photos. Welcome to my world. How much time do you have? Several boxes and five photo albums are filled with damaged photos that keep me occupied for hours on end looking for signs of familiarity, searching for clues to family relationships, and gleaning insight into my family’s daily lives.

When I remodeled the bonus room over the garage this past winter, I wanted to make it my “Gene Cave” (although the hubster has tried to hijack it with a “Man Cave” big-screen TV and antler mounts). Bookshelves were decluttered not just to HOLD the old albums and books of research, but also to DISPLAY them artistically. They are fine, but the focal point of the room is one wall reserved for old photos of parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents.

As expected, some of my favorite photos are also the most damaged. Wrinkles and creases, missing corners, mildew, stains and faded images can be repaired with software like Photoshop. To restore a photo means to repair those flaws in order to return it to its original appearance. I am no pro when it comes to Photoshop, but I can remove random spots and stains; a crease is easily erased as long as it doesn’t pass through anything intricate. My brother-in-law, on the other hand, is a champ, so I put him to work restoring several photos for “The Family Wall.”

However, there has been quite a bit of conversation in the genealogy world about the ethics of photo editing. In one camp are those who believe any alteration to a photo is wrong. They hold that wear and tear is part of the life of a photo. They doubt anyone’s ability to assume or know what the original even looked like. On the other side are those who want to preserve old photos as a way to remember and honor their ancestors without the distortions caused by stains and cracks. They argue that a photo with a “nice” appearance is easier to understand and enjoy.

I side with those who favor restoration. How could anyone not prefer the restored version of my lovely great-grandmother, Mary Sudie Rucker?

Maybe because I have created so many traditional scrapbooks in which I cropped photos either to highlight a subject or simply to make it fit on the page, I’m rather cavalier when it comes to manipulating old photos. I think nothing of editing out a lot of sky as I did with this photo of my great-grandfather Walter Davis.

Did my use of the cropping tool ruin the picture? Purists would say yes – just because we CAN do it doesn’t mean we SHOULD. However, I disagree. I did nothing to alter the essence of the photo since whoever took the picture (likely my grandaunt Violetta) was focusing on Walter, not the sky. Truth be told, I would feel no guilt editing out that pole for the sake of aesthetics, but I chose not to.

This photo of my 2X great-grandfather James Franklin Jollett could not be enlarged to fit in a 5x7 frame without cutting off his feet. My brother-in-law deftly cloned some landscape in order to “stretch” the photo to fit. Did we go too far in altering the geography of the photo? I do not know what was REALLY there, and honestly, I do not care. Maybe I should, especially if there was a historically significant building or person in the background. Since I don’t know, I am comfortable assuming the background was just more of the same.

This photo of my paternal grandmother Julia Slade is just bad. The dress is totally blown-out without a sign of detail. Was it a print fabric? Lace? Were there pin-tucks on the bodice? With enough time, my brother-in-law could have fashioned quite a nice dress, but even my cavalier sensibilities said no to that. Dress notwithstanding, it is the best photo of my grandmother as a young woman so it made the Wall.

In a seeming contradiction, I cannot be more pleased with a restoration project than my brother-in-law’s masterful manipulation of the one and only photo of my great-grandfather John Fleming Walsh. It is actually two little cardboard chips, each smaller than a dime.

He “created” a jacket based on the clues in the photo. He also straightened John Walsh’s head, probably out of necessity to align with the collar. Of all the restorations, this one probably pushes the boundaries, but I have no objections. The coat seems true to the original.

Maybe I’m wishy washy. Maybe I simply rationalize in order to feel good about my decisions. But I hope I am faithful to some rather conservative standards for photo restoration:

• Scan photos at a high resolution and save in TIFF format as a digital master.
• Save any alterations including changing the color, cropping, or applying more sophisticated techniques such as removing stains and creases as JPEGs with unique names.
• Stay true to the original as much as possible. That is, avoid the temptation to Photoshop something in or out that would significantly change the truth (for example, adding a person to a group shot, deleting a cigar from someone’s hand).
• Consider how changes to a photo might change the story.

Please visit the Sepia Saturday “family wall” of bloggers, of whom none have been digitally altered.

© 2015, Wendy Mathias.  All rights reserved.

A to Z April Challenge: S is for Strole

“We need to get together more often and not at a funeral.” How many times have you and a cousin said that? Funerals are much like a family reunion. You can learn a lot about a family just by looking at who showed up. Using my grandparents’ guest books and sympathy cards, I’ll be exploring “Who came to the funeral?”

is for Strole. Blanche Marie Rucker Strole, to be precise. Blanche attended the funerals of both my grandfather in 1963 and grandmother in 1990. She was my maternal grandmother’s first cousin. I say “first cousins,” but that’s not exactly accurate. They were first cousins on their Rucker side because their fathers were brothers. However, they were also second cousins on their Eppard side because their mothers were cousins.

Blanche was the sixth of ten children born to Walter and Ada Rucker in Rockingham County, Virginia. My grandmother was understandably close to this Rucker family. The names of some of the children are so familiar to me as I remember Grandma talking about them – names like Edith, Beulah, Nellie, Lee, and, of course, Blanche. 

Blanche was born in 1905 and grew up in the Furnace #2 area of the county. She completed seven years of education, which was fairly common in that time.

In 1924, Blanche married a railroad man like her father. Willie B. "Bill" Strole and Blanche rented one half of a house on Fifth Street in Shenandoah, Virginia; the other half was rented by Blanche’s brother Frank and his wife.  Frank and Bill were both brakemen for the Norfolk & Western Railroad.

Bill and Blanche had one daughter, Doris Jean, born in 1929.  

1966 - Blanche and Bill Strole on the left
photo courtesy Jane Rosson

Bill was not the only Strole to marry into the family.  His brother Vernon Clyde married my grandfather’s cousin Pearl Sullivan. 

Sweet Sixteen doll cake by Blanche Strole
photo courtesy Jane Rosson

Blanche was a professional baker and made beautiful cakes out of her home. In researching Blanche, I met a cousin through Ancestry who sent me a number of photos of Blanche’s creations. My newfound cousin Jane Rosson is Blanche’s grandniece. Blanche made Jane’s “Sweet Sixteen” birthday cake 

Jane tosses her bouquet
from Blanche's front porch
photo courtesy Jane Rosson

Cake and flowers by Blanche
photo courtesy Jane Rosson

and her wedding cake. In fact, Jane’s wedding reception was held in Blanche’s beautiful home in Shenandoah.

Another wedding cake by Blanche
photo courtesy Jane Rosson

Jane described Blanche exactly as I remember her: “a wonderful cook and a ball of energy. She always had a smile and a laugh going on. She had a vegetable garden, a cherry tree and lots of beautiful flowers, all of which she shared with friends.” Blanche often made flower arrangements for the EUB Church where she was a faithful member.

Blanche is buried at Coverstone Cemetery in Shenandoah along with many others in my family. 

The sagacious among you sedentary spectators should slip on over to the A to Z April Challenge to scrutinize some scintillating and sardonic selections that will surely leave you feeling satiated.

© 2015, Wendy Mathias.  All rights reserved.

A to Z April Challenge: O is for Ollie

“We need to get together more often and not at a funeral.” How many times have you and a cousin said that? Funerals are much like a family reunion. You can learn a lot about a family just by looking at who showed up. Using my grandparents’ guest books and sympathy cards, I’ll be exploring “Who came to the funeral?”

is for Ollie Dinkle Coakley Rucker. She was my grandparents’ sister-in-law, married to my maternal grandmother’s oldest brother Everett. Everett, baby brother Joe, and sister Rosalind sent flowers.

 

Seeing Ollie’s signature in the 1963 Guest Register for my grandfather’s funeral caused a momentary mental jarring. She signed “Ollie and Everett Rucker.” My entire life everyone in the family always referred to them as “Everett and Ollie.” Everett and Ollie are coming to visit. We’re going over to Everett and Ollie’s. Did you know Everett and Ollie moved?

See – it sounds so much better than “Ollie and Everett.” 

Ollie was born in 1902 to James and Annie McGlaughlin Coakley. She was one of seven girls and two boys. For a time, the Coakleys lived in Broadway, Rockingham County, Virginia before moving to the Ashby district around Dayton. (Here’s a funny family story:  Ollie had a sister named Willie who married a man named Shirley. I bet that confused a lot of people much of the time.)

When Everett and Ollie married in 1921, he was working for the Norfolk & Western Railroad. They left Shenandoah and moved to Washington D.C. before 1928, judging by the social column of the Richmond Times Dispatch article in 1928. Everett and Ollie visited his parents Joseph and Sudie Rucker.

 

Richmond Times Dispatch Aug 26, 1928
from GenealogyBank.com

According to the 1930 census, Everett was working as a mechanic for the railroad. He retired from Union Station in 1962. They moved back to Shenandoah and lived in the house where Everett and my grandmother had grown up on Fourth Street.

Rucker house on Fourth Street, Shenandoah, Virginia

Everett and Ollie had four children, two boys and two girls.

I have lost the memory of what Ollie looked like exactly, but she had full dark curly hair. She was sweet, just a sweet lady. Likewise Everett was a kind man. Many years ago I was contacted by a Rucker researcher who sent me copies of letters she received in reply to her inquiries about her ancestors. One was from Everett who promised to pass along whatever information he could.

Everett and Ollie are buried in the Methodist Church Cemetery in Shenandoah in a Rucker family plot. 

You are under no obligation, but it would be obtuse for me to obstruct your odyssey to the A to Z April Challenge.

© 2015, Wendy Mathias.  All rights reserved.

A to Z April Challenge: L is for Lorraine

“We need to get together more often and not at a funeral.” How many times have you and a cousin said that? Funerals are much like a family reunion. You can learn a lot about a family just by looking at who showed up. Using my grandparents’ guest books and sympathy cards, I’ll be exploring “Who came to the funeral?”

is for Lorraine Keim. She was not a member of the family but nonetheless she attended the funeral of my maternal grandfather Orvin Davis in 1963. Her connection to my family reads like the Seven Degrees of Kevin Bacon game.

Connection #1

A school picture shows that Lorraine undoubtedly knew several members of my family. In her class were Rosalind Rucker, my grandmother’s sister. Also Granddaddy’s cousins Leota and Elta Sullivan attended school with Lorraine Keim.

Shenandoah School 1918
#1 Rosalind Rucker, #2 Leota Sullivan
#3 Elta Sullivan, #4 Lorraine Keim
scanned from Shenandoah: A History of Our Town and Its People

Connection #2

The census records show that Lorraine and her widowed mother lived in the same rented house from 1920 to at least 1940, right next door to my grandmother’s uncle Robert Rucker. There were many opportunities for the families to get to know one another.

Keims' house on the left
Ruckers' house on the right
Third Street, Shenandoah, Virginia

Lorraine’s mother Hettie Keim was a widow most of her life. Her husband Adam, a carpenter for the railroad, apparently was badly burned and died in Hagerstown, Maryland. Lorraine spent the rest of her life with her mother, never marrying.

Connection #3

Lorraine signed the Guest Book right after Floyd Eppard. Floyd was my grandmother’s cousin. He was also an officer of the First National Bank there in Shenandoah. In the 1930 and 1940 census, Lorraine was a bookkeeper at a bank. And that bank was none other than FNB. In fact, she retired from FNB, and she and Floyd posed for a keepsake photo. If Lorraine retired at a normal retirement age, she did not live much longer.  She died at age 68 in 1969.

Floyd Eppard on the left with Lorraine
scanned from Shenandoah: A History . . . 

Lorraine may not have been related, but she was a part of my family’s lives for many years.

Don’t let the labyrinth of lampoons and belles-lettres languish at the A to Z April Challenge.

© 2015, Wendy Mathias.  All rights reserved.

A to Z April Challenge: J is for Jack

“We need to get together more often and not at a funeral.” How many times have you and a cousin said that? Funerals are much like a family reunion. You can learn a lot about a family just by looking at who showed up. Using my grandparents’ guest books and sympathy cards, I’ll be exploring “Who came to the funeral?”

is for Jack E. Van Hyning. Jack and his wife Maxine attended the funerals of both my maternal grandfather Orvin Davis in 1963 and my grandmother Lucille Rucker Davis in 1990. Perhaps they remembered my grandparents when they lived in Shenandoah, but the Van Hynings were of the same generation as my uncle, so it’s possible they were friends with him more so than with my grandparents. Maybe they knew each other through their membership at Fields United Methodist Church.

Jack was the only child of Arthur and Evelyn Van Hyning of Akron, Ohio. In the 1920, 1930, and 1940 censuses, he was right there at home. In 1940 he was a salesman for a paper manufacturer just like his father. However, that same year, just a couple months after the census was taken, he married Maxine Hatfield of Shenandoah, Virginia.

So how did a Buckeye boy find a Southern gal in Virginia? Certainly his time as a student at Massanutten Military Academy must have provided an opportunity. The school is located in Woodstock, Virginia, about thirty-six miles from Maxine’s home. 

from the Massanutten Military Academy
yearbook 1936

Jack’s obituary on Ancestry.com must have been written by a family member who knew him well as the details are so personal:  his three children and numerous grandchildren, his love of sausage gravy, his enjoyment in feeding the birds, his career as a salesman of both insurance and dog food, his support of sports at James Madison University (Go Dukes!), and his service on the Town Council in Shenandoah.

But here are two more interesting bits of information found through GenealogyBank:

from GenealogyBank
Richmond Times Dispatch
March 14, 1937

Jack must have been a star athlete in school. In 1937, he was mentioned twice in a sports report about the South Atlantic Interscholastic basketball championship. 

In 1948, Jack was elected treasurer of the Barrie Flying Club in nearby Elkton, Virginia. The organization is dedicated to providing quality flight training for those wanting to fly light sport aircraft.  (What?  Elkton had a flight club?? Who knew?)

from GenealogyBank
Richmond Times Dispatch
January 21, 1948

Van Hyning tombstone
from Findagrave
photo courtesy JAC

Juggle your time and Jump, Jog, or Jaunt on over to the A to Z April Challenge for some Jovial Jottings of Journalists and Jokesters.

© 2015, Wendy Mathias.  All rights reserved.