Sepia Saturday: A Thorn Between Roses

SepiaSaturday challenges bloggers to share family history through old photographs.

This week’s Sepia Saturday prompt reminded me of the tongue-in-cheek compliment paid to a woman sitting between two men:  You’re a rose between two thorns.  But in keeping with the photo prompt, I present a collection of thorns between roses.

My great aunt Helen Killeen Parker on the right with two co-workers (taken between 1918-1920)

                                                                                                 

My great aunt Lillie Killeen is on the left with her boyfriend (whose name I don't know) and someone else I don't know (taken between 1918-1920).

My grandmother Lucille Rucker (later Davis) on the left with school friends probably about 1920

My great grandmother Mary Frances Jollett Davis with her brother-in-law and sister, Jack and Emma Jollett Coleman in April 1929.  Mary Frances had become a grandmother for the second time just a few months before.  

My great aunt Velma and her husband Woody Woodring and great aunt Violetta Davis Ryan April 1929 - walking across river rocks in dress shoes!  Crazy kids ~

Grandparents:  Lucille Rucker Davis, Fred and Julia Walsh Slade. Granddaddy was used to being surrounded by women as he was the chauffeur for Granny and her sisters.

My sister, husband, and me at Busch Gardens, Williamsburg soon after it first opened --  This "tintype" photo is sure to confuse any future descendents.

Finally the ultimate thorn between two roses:

Jollett United Methodist Church Cemetery
Page County, Virginia 

Here lies Hiram Frank Meadows (1849-1911), along with his two wives:  Mary E. V. Jollett (1854-1901 - 1st cousin 3X removed) and Margaret Hurt (1859-1905).

For more parties of three, visit Sepia Saturday.

©2014, Wendy Mathias.  All rights reserved.

DAR - Taking the Meeting

Recently I expressed my shock and surprise that one of the local chapters of the DAR suggested I look elsewhere.  They weren’t really being mean or snobbish.  In fact, they were trying to be nice saying I should look for a chapter closer to home. 

And I might have found it. 

It’s the Fort Nelson Chapter in Portsmouth, Virginia, just a couple miles away.  I emailed the Registrar and she responded via EMAIL within the hour, unlike the other club that responded by SNAIL MAIL over a week after my inquiry.  I’m feeling better about this group of women already.

And the woman who responded is named Pam.  PAM!  Not Mildred or Hazel.  PAM.  She doesn’t sound like somebody’s great-grandmother. 

So Mary Jollette and I are scheduled to meet with her next week.  It’s a preliminary meeting ahead of the start of the new DAR year.  I think the point of this first meeting is to see if we even have a prayer, to go over how the organization works, and see what kind of contribution we might make.  Pam wants us to bring whatever work we’ve done to prove our connection to Leonard Davis, a proven patriot. 

Then we’re invited to the first meeting of the year on October 4.  The meeting includes a social, a lunch, and a program.  

Fort Nelson DAR Chapter House
Portsmouth, Virginia
photo courtesy of Fort Nelson DAR website

©2014, Wendy Mathias.  All rights reserved.

Wednesday's Child: Mary F. Davis

Wednesday’s Child is one of the daily blogging prompts at Geneabloggers that features gravestones of children. 

from Findagrave
photo by Jan Hensley

Mary F.

Daughter of

J. P. & Elizabeth F.

DAVIS

BORN

June 8, 1886

DIED

June 7, 1887

Aged 11 mos.

29 days

Mary F. Davis was my first cousin twice removed.  She was the daughter of Josiah and Elizabeth Frances Davis.  She is buried in Elk Run Cemetery in Elkton, Virginia, along with her parents, an infant sister, and other members of the family.

The loss of a child is devastating, but death one day shy of a birthday only increases the sadness.  The broken bud symbolizing an untimely death is fitting. 

©2014, Wendy Mathias.  All rights reserved.

Census Sunday: The Bashams

Rosalind Mae Rucker

In 1940, my maternal grandmother’s sister Rosalind Mae Rucker Basham was living in Roanoke, Virginia.  She and her husband Larry Dalton Basham owned their Round Hill Avenue home valued at $5000.  Dalton, who had completed eight years of school, was working as a mechanic in the rayon mill.  He was fully employed the previous year earning $1820, which equates to roughly $29,998 today.  He worked 40 hours the last week of March just prior to the start of the census.

Rosalind (spelled Rosalynd in the census) had graduated from high school.  She was a homemaker raising two daughters, Janet (10) and Gloria (6).

Click to enlarge

Because the family is listed as living in Roanoke in 1935 rather than in “Same House,” it seems likely they bought the house sometime after 1935. In fact, the city directories available on Ancestry indicate they bought the house between 1936 and 1938. The 1937 directory is missing.

Digging a little deeper, I found on Trulia that the house was built in 1937.  It is described as being a little over 1500 square feet with 4 bedrooms and 1 bath.  This is probably the same house Rosalind and Dalton lived in the rest of their lives. 

from Google Maps
3622 Round Hill Ave, NW Roanoke, VA

This Christmas card shows the house as it looked before 1960 (the year Dalton died).  It is not much different today.

©2014, Wendy Mathias.  All rights reserved.

Go Teal

For the month of September, my blog is going TEAL for Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month. Awareness is key because even the doctor can miss the symptoms.  My mother did all the right things:  she listened to her body and she sought medical help.  However, her gynecologist passed her back to her primary care physician, referred her to a gastroenterologist, and recommended she see a psychiatrist. Her gynecologist ignored the fact that she was in her 70s and had all her "lady parts" intact.  Hrmph.  As a result, her cancer went undiagnosed for two years.  Ovarian cancer can be treated successfully if caught early, but it is rarely caught early because the symptoms look like nothing special.

Read President Obama's proclamation HERE.  

Sepia Saturday: The Test of Time

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

This week’s Sepia Saturday prompt features a typical country store with numerous goodies to catch the eye.  Most prominent is the clock. 

The Techtron is a pretty clock but notorious
for being non-repairable.  

When my granddaddy Orvin Davis got up in the morning and wandered out into the living room, he probably checked the time on his Techtron Ship’s Bell mantel clock.  

There's the clock on the mantel.
Lucille and Orvin Davis holding my sister Mary Jollette

In the morning I wipe the sleep from my eyes and check the time here:  

The Ansonia clocks with porcelain body
were often painted with flowers
or idyllic scenes.  

When my great-aunt Velma Davis Woodring was a bride, she might have gone into her dining room to check her lovely porcelain Ansonia clock to know when to start dinner.  

  

If I want to know whether to start dinner, all I need is a remote control.

This Seth Thomas tambour-style clock has simple lines.

When my great-aunt Helen Killeen Parker was cooking, her Seth Thomas mantel clock might have reminded her to take a look at that roast.  

I just look here:  

In the evening when the busy-ness of the day came to an end, my great-grandmother Mary Sudie Eppard Rucker probably relaxed in her favorite chair and drifted off to sleep to the gentle ticking of her Seth Thomas Adamantine mantel clock.  She might even have been awoken by the rich cathedral-like chiming on the hour.  

Sudie Rucker's clock went to my mother
and then to my sister.

This clock on YouTube sounds like what my great-grandmother used to hear.

Today we’re awoken by an annoying beep and glowing red numbers.  

Unlike the handsome mantel clocks my sister and I inherited, it’s doubtful any of our modern clocks will stand the test of time.

I hope you have time to check the clocks at Sepia Saturday.  

©2014, Wendy Mathias.  All rights reserved.

Wordless Wednesday: The Ocean View Gang

Wordless Wednesday is a daily prompt at Geneabloggers that asks family historians to create a post in which the main focus is a photograph or image.

captioned "The Terrible Five"

The Gang

Since summer will be officially over next week, it’s appropriate to say farewell to my great-aunt Helen Killeen Parker’s friends who have been the subject of many Wordless Wednesdays.  What does anyone do when a party or vacation or celebration is drawing to a close?  Take a group photo.  That’s probably what Helen and “the gang” did before everyone bid farewell to Ocean View and headed home to resume their workaday lives.

©2014, Wendy Mathias.  All rights reserved.