52 Ancestors - FIRE: Family Heirlooms

I come from a sentimental family that likes to save old things and repeat old stories. With that in mind, I am repeating bits and pieces of stories from my blog about some of our family heirlooms, all related to this week’s theme.

When my sister and I cleaned out our parents’ home, we had to make many decisions about what to do with all the stuff. Which things are truly “valuable” and which have only sentiment in their favor? Should we sell it, keep it, or throw it away?

FIREPLACE GRATE

This fireplace grate belonged to my great-grandmother Mary Sudie Eppard Rucker. I am trying to imagine the day in 1958 when my grandmother and her sister and brothers stood around picking over their freshly-deceased mother’s dishes, jewelry, furniture and whatever else. My grandmother inherited many fine items, but did she really want Sudie Rucker’s fireplace grate?

I guess she did. Or maybe it was my mother who wanted it. My sister insists it was in our fireplace when we lived in Cradock and that it followed us to “the new house” in 1971.

A little over 50 years after Sudie Rucker’s fireplace grate came home with us, my sister and I stood staring at it, debating who would get it. Throwing it away was not an option - it had age, it had family history even if we didn’t know what that history was. I’m pretty sure I grunted and said, “What am I going to do with it?” But my sister had a vision for it.

 

Fireplace grate has become a planter in my yard.

FIREPLACE CHAIR

I got the fireplace grate – my sister got this chair.

 

The Jollett fireside chair

It is a fireside chair from my great-grandfather’s boyhood home in Greene County, Virginia. That dates this chair to the late 1830s-early 1840s IF it were new then. I can imagine young James Franklin Jollett sitting in that chair while tending the fire under the watchful eyes of his parents Fielding and Mary Ann. Maybe Mary Ann took a rest now and then while stirring the stew.

While the seat and back are normal size for an adult, the short legs make it look like a child’s chair. I suppose children liked the chair because it did not require climbing; they could easily plop down with both feet firmly on the floor. 

THE MAJESTIC LID LIFTER

This basket of antique kitchen tools has been on display in my kitchen for many years. Egg beaters, potato mashers, wooden spoons, and pastry cutters conjure up images of “woman’s work” and what my great-grandmother’s everyday life was like. I bet in her day Mary Frances Jollett Davis had all the modern conveniences.

She probably had a wood-burning stove like this one, a Majestic:

 

image from Google Images

I’m only guessing about the stove, but I have Mary Frances’ Majestic lid lifter that was used to lift the stove plates which covered the holes in her range top. 

The word MAJESTIC stretches across the flat part
but I could not get a good picture of it.

With this simple tool, she could lift the plate to stoke the fire or stir the ashes with the flat end. Admittedly it is not very glamorous or particularly valuable, but certainly it was important to keep it handy and not lose it.    

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: Violetta Makes the News

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

When I saw this week’s Sepia Saturday prompt, I could not help thinking of this studio portrait of my grandaunt Violetta Davis Ryan taken probably in 1920 when she was just 16 years old.

I’ve written so many times about Violetta that I thought for sure there was nothing left to tell. I turned to NewspaperArchive hoping to find something new and interesting. Her name popped up often, usually when she was reappointed as principal at Pleasant Hill Elementary School or when she was attending a conference for educators. Meh ~

But I did find a couple keepers:

VACCINE VOLUNTEER

When Jonas Salk’s polio vaccine was licensed in 1955, there was a campaign to inoculate all school children. In Rockingham County where Violetta was a principal, the schools and other facilities were set up as polio vaccine clinics. Violetta was named as chairman for one of the clinics.

 

from Harrisonburg Daily News Record
22 Apr 1955

PHOTO DATED

Originally I dated this photo “1960 or 1961” based on a wild-guess at my sister’s age. 

This little item in the Shenandoah Social News column provided a correct date.

Glenn, Me, Violetta, Mary Jollette, Bobbie
Easter 1962

from Harrisonburg Daily News Record 27 Apr 1962

Come to think of it, I do remember that dress as my Easter frock that year. It looks white, but it was a print of pastel watercolor swirls and splotches. That doesn’t sound nearly as pretty as it actually was.

SIDE JOB

from Harrisonburg Daily News Record
8 Nov 1960

That’s right!  Violetta sold encyclopedias. My parents bought the 1960 World Book plus the annuals – obviously from Violetta. We also had the accompanying Childcraft books (in their "handsome Heritage binding") which were written in simpler text to serve like encyclopedias for younger children. I used World Book to death but rarely bothered with the Childcraft.

Until I saw this ad, I had forgotten Violetta sold encyclopedias. Years ago, they were sold door to door. It is not likely she did that though. She probably sat right at her desk and used her position as teacher and principal to influence parents and other teachers for which she earned a nice little 15% commission.

While you’re at your desk or on your phone, please visit my friends at Sepia Saturday.

Wendy

© 2020, Wendy Mathias. All rights reserved. 

52 Ancestors - WATER: Queenstown to Castle Garden

Before there was Ellis Island, there was Castle Garden. Originally Castle Garden was part of a system of forts built in the early 1800s to protect Manhattan from British invasion. In 1823 the fort was deeded to New York City and served as an opera house and entertainment center until 1855. That is when Castle Garden became the official immigration processing center.

from Wikimedia Commons

My great-grandmother Mary Theresa Sheehan Killeen Walsh was one of the 300,000 immigrants to pass through the massive circular building in 1886. Over 8 million immigrants were processed there before it closed in 1890.

from Wikimedia Commons

Try as I might, I cannot say with any certainty exactly the day and month of her arrival from Ireland. However, I am certain of the year. One thing I can say for my Irish ancestors: they were consistent in reporting their month and year of birth and their year of arrival in the United States.

Both Ancestry and FamilySearch bring up only 2 women named Mary Sheehan born in Ireland in 1869 who arrived in New York in 1886. One Mary Sheehan arrived on the 30^th of August aboard the Aurania. This Mary Sheehan arrived with a mother and a passel of siblings whose names and dates do not match what I know to be true about my Sheehans. She is not likely to be MINE.

The other Mary Sheehan landed on June 21 aboard the SS Celtic, part of the White Star line. She, like other single women, was classified as a “spinster.” There were no other Sheehans immediately before or after her name, so apparently she traveled alone. My one hesitation with this Mary Sheehan is that according to the manifest, she hailed from County Mayo. I guess it is possible, but her baptismal records indicate her family lived in Limerick. If this is MY Mary Sheehan, she was number 558 on the manifest.

image from Ancestry

Why Mary Theresa emigrated is still a mystery although not much of one. Her journey was well-past the time of the potato famine that caused such a large number of Irish to brave crossing the Atlantic. Likely Daniel and Bridget Sheehan just wanted something better for their children. How difficult it must have been for them to send one child after another every couple of years – Johanna in 1883, Mary Theresa in 1886, Elizabeth in 1890, Margaret in 1894,and Delia in 1896. A ticket for passage in steerage was $12 (about $345 today).

 

The White Star Pier in Queenstown around 1880-1890
a.k.a "Heartbreak Pier"
from Flickr

I can imagine the family standing at “Heartbreak Pier” sobbing and waving as one more daughter clutching her cloth bag stepped onto the ship’s tender that would shuttle her out to the liner headed to New York.

St. Colman's Cathedral in Cobh (Queenstown)
from Wikimedia Commons

As the skyline of Queenstown with its majestic cathedral spires faded from sight, what did Mary Theresa think about during that two-week voyage across the ocean?

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: Wish You Were Here

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

Last week I started on a story based on a postcard to answer this week’s Sepia Saturday prompt. The card was from a resort in Pennsylvania. There is little information about the resort, so I plowed forth on a story about the sender. Frankly, it was a bit of a snooze-fest, but I was committed.

Then Thursday afternoon I received a mysterious email from the new owner of my grandparents’ house in Cradock letting me know she had found 5 boxes of STUFF belonging to my parents and grandparents. “I’m coming over right now!” There are canceled checks from the 1930s, life insurance policies purchased by my great-grandparents, my parents’ college notebooks and tests complete with a signed Honor Code, and letters. LOTS of letters.

And these postcards.

 

Hershey Park, Hershey PA

Atlantic City, NJ
(love the humor in the lazy way to send a postcard message)

They were from my mother’s BFF Betsy Ward. The dates got me to thinking. June 14 and 15, 1948. As I suspected, on June 12, 1948, Betsy married John Lumsden, a dental student at the Medical College of Virginia.

Admittedly, these postcards are quite handsome. So artistic. So of the time. But the BACKS of the cards – now that’s where they get interesting.

Back of Hershey Park card

We arrived here tonight in time for everything to be closed even the Zoo! But we did see the amusement park. Made out fine at the Statler. Had a nice room. We may leave for Atlantic City tomorrow but it all depends how this place is.

Betsy & Johnny

Back of Atlantic City card

Mary E,

Weather is sad so no swimming. Walked the boardwalk but hitting the spots tonight when I look 21 [Betsy was 19]. We are both fine but hungry so must go eat. See you Friday. Hope you are holding out okay. Johnny’s in the shower (cold water)

Love “Us”

The gem is the Hershey Park card with the added message at the top: Wish you were here!

I bet Johnny loved that!

I don’t know about you, but I did not send out any postcards while on my honeymoon.

The weather is fine at Sepia Saturday. Wish you were there!

Wendy

© 2020, Wendy Mathias. All rights reserved.

52 Ancestors - NEARLY FORGOTTEN: My Grandfather's Brother

When I opened up the Davis family bible that my cousin sent me, this slip of paper made me gasp:

Someone carefully wrote out in pencil the names and birth dates of my great-grandparents Walter and Mary Frances “Mollie” Davis and their children, some of them anyway. The last 2 are not listed for some odd reason.

What took me by surprise was not the missing children nor the misspelling of "Violetta" but the addition of Elsworth O. Davis, a child I had never heard of.

My grandfather Orvin Davis had spoken of his precious baby sister Josy who died when she was just 2 years old. Her picture was always on my grandparents’ mantel in their living room.

 

Josy Davis and Orvin Davis
probably 1903

I knew about a brother Kenneth because he shares a tombstone with Josy in the Coverstone Cemetery in Shenandoah, Virginia.

 

at Coverstone Cemetery
Shenandoah, Page Co, VA

But Elsworth? Nope. Not even a tombstone for him. As important as family was to my grandaunts Violetta and Velma, they never spoke of Elsworth. Maybe it was because he was the first child and none of the other children ever knew him since he died before they were even born.

Mary Frances made sure her children sat for professional portraits.

Millard, Orvin, Josy

Violetta and Velma
portraits on opalotype

Unfortunately, Kenneth did not live long enough for that. He was just 12 days old when he died of jaundice. However, Elsworth lived 18 months (27 Mar 1892 - 28 Sep 1893).

But maybe he sat for a portrait. Could this unidentified cutie be little Elsworth? 

I certainly hope so.

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: Bikes, Boats, and Freedom

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

This week’s Sepia Saturday prompt captures a moment many of us have experienced – the simple pleasure of pedaling away on a bicycle to some place new with wind in our hair. Some would say there is no better place to bike than on a boardwalk at the beach.

In 1944, my grandaunt Lillie Killeen joined some friends for a day at Virginia Beach. Biking the boardwalk was on their agenda.

Love the bathing suit and sandals!

 

Lillie Killeen and beau 1944

I wonder why Lillie's boyfriend showed up in a tie.

I wish I knew the names of her friends. The woman was probably a coworker, a nurse for Dr. Vernon Brooks. Lillie was his bookkeeper.

 

At the office of Dr. Brooks
From top to bottom:
Unknown, Lillie, Unknown.
The woman on the bottom step looks
like the woman at the beach.

The man NOT dressed for the beach was Lillie’s long-time boyfriend. She eventually broke it off with him because, according to her, he drank too much. Lillie never married.

It seems fitting that Lillie is pictured here with the bicycle which years earlier had become a symbol for women’s independence. Think about it. For years women depended on men for transportation, but a bicycle gave women freedom. A bicycle did not require a chaperone.

Fifty years before this photo was taken, the bicycle changed women’s lives. Bicycling and the women’s movement became intertwined. Many suffragettes pedaled their way from town to town gathering support for women’s rights and eventually the right to vote. Susan B. Anthony once said that bicycling had “done more to emancipate women than anything else in the world.”

Elizabeth Cady Stanton noted that “the bicycle will inspire women with more courage, self-respect, self-reliance.”

In a time when women were expected to marry and raise a passel of children, Lillie stood apart. If anyone pitied her, she was quick to point out that she was the lucky one. She didn’t have to come home and cook dinner for a man. She could take off for the weekend on the spur of the moment without having to see to anyone else’s needs.

Lillie especially enjoyed her overnight trips aboard the “Baltimore Boat.” Old Bay Line offered overnight service between Norfolk and Baltimore.  

The City of Norfolk, part of the Old Bay Line fleet
known as "the Baltimore Boat"

On many Fridays, Lillie dined and danced her way to the big city. Hers was a fun and carefree life that her sisters could not know because of their obligations to husbands and children.

Lillie and others like her just might have a bicycle to thank for such freedom and independence.  

Pedal on over to Sepia Saturday for more old photos and stories.  

Wendy

© 2020, Wendy Mathias. All rights reserved.

52 Ancestors - POPULAR: Trending COVID-19

I just finished filling out the 2020 Federal Census. What a disappointment for future generations who might eagerly await its release in 72 years. My however-many-great grandchildren will learn only my name, address, birth date, race, and the fact that I am mortgage-free. YAWN.

Fortunately – or not – family historians and bloggers are filling the void. One blogger suggested we all write about what life is like during the coronavirus pandemic. Great idea!

Long before the coronavirus hit our shores, the first sign that this THING was serious was that grocery stores quickly ran out of toilet paper. Then hand-sanitizer. Then bread. Then antiseptic wipes. My younger daughter sent a picture of her grocery store shelves – all Ramen Noodles were gone EXCEPT the shrimp-flavored ones. Her sister commented, “Oh, I’ll never survive a real apocalypse.”

We have always been BULK-shoppers anyway, so running low on toilet paper is not an issue at our house. We did run out of bread and after checking 3 grocery stories nearby, we were unable to buy any. However, slowly the grocery store feels like it is returning to normal.  

Here is our NEW NORMAL:

CONE OF CONCERN

Nothing has made me feel older than our daughters’ concern for our safety. The one who lives nearby has offered to pick up our prescriptions. Oh my! They remind us that we are in “the cone of concern” – AKA “Senior Citizens” – the ones most likely to die from the flu or coronavirus. Others share that same concern. Walmart, Target, and other stores are designating their first hour on certain days for “Seniors” only shopping. I guess that means anyone over 60. However, that number fluctuates. Target targets those 55 and over. HRMPH.

SOCIAL DISTANCING

This is the catch-phrase of the year. The goal is to “flatten the curve” (another popular phrase) by reducing the chance of spreading germs by coughing or sneezing near each other. The “curve” is a projection of how many people will contract the virus. “Flatten the curve” means to slow the virus' spread so that fewer people need to seek treatment at any given time. We have stopped shaking hands. We don’t hug because germs can be on our clothes. At first, we were to stay 3’ apart, but now it is 6’.

One of the first responses was to encourage people to work from home. Not all businesses can operate that way. Restaurants have closed their dining room; some now offer take-out. Fast food chains are keeping their drive-through open. Everyone is being encouraged to support such businesses in order to keep them away from bankruptcy.

Even libraries are offering curb-side pick-up.

Michael’s has also jumped on the curb-side bandwagon. I wonder if they are tossing a handful of glitter into every bag to make it feel like old times.

Department stores are closing temporarily.

Keeping 6’ away from others sounds easy enough. But when we go to the store, other people do not always do their part. I had to pick up a package at J.C. Penney the other day. When I got in line, I stood a good 3’ or more behind the lady in front of me. However, the next customer was right on my heels. The same thing happened to my sister at Michael’s. She tried to move up away from the person behind her, but THAT customer moved up with her just like on any other ordinary day.

Here is a great idea from Wegman’s to promote social distancing:

Now, if only people will look down and take heed!

SHELTERING IN PLACE

Don’t you just love how staying home now has a fancy name that rings of policy and procedure? Yes, just stay home. I’m a homebody anyway, so this feels no different from my usual routine. However, I do feel obligated to DO SOMETHING. I am currently trying to finish a Shutterfly book about our Rhine River cruise from May 2019. (I’m also struggling to keep up with my blog challenge!! Can’t you tell?)

Barry must be super-bored. He is at this minute cleaning out the file cabinet and shredding old tax returns and receipts from major purchases. “Look, Honey. In 1977 you made $12,012 and I made $12,150.”

“Oh look. In 1971 you earned $538 at Shoneys.” Yes, that was my summer job when I earned just enough money to pay for summer school at college in 1972 so I could be with Mr. Shredder.

HANDWASHING

Depending on which memes pop up on Facebook, we are encouraged to wash our hands for 20 seconds. Apparently singing “Happy Birthday” TWICE or reciting the Lord’s Prayer ONCE will have us covered and virus-free.

Hand-sanitizer is essential. Recipes for making your own when stores are depleted like NOW are readily available online. It is easy to make, but have I? No.

Hands are not the only thing getting a good washing. Stores are doing their part by wiping down whatever people come in contact with - the conveyer belt, credit card machine, counters. My hairdresser’s shop has always wiped off chairs and the shampoo station between customers, but now they are doing it with antiseptic wipes.

If such hygienic practices continue beyond the pandemic (another favorite word of the year), that will be a good thing for everyone.

CLOSURES AND CANCELLATIONS

Schools have closed. Likely students will have no spring sports, no prom and no graduation ceremony. School districts have lessons prepared online for students and/or parents to download, but here in Chesapeake, the lessons are rather generic and there is no incentive to complete them. In fact, there is talk of just passing students onto the next grade without completing their classes or meeting the state requirement of attendance. How does that make sense with something like math? Right now, I am glad not to have this worry or the disappointment that goes with missing the activities that make school fun.  

Educators and those in related industry are posting every FREE educational source available so that parents can keep their kids’ brains functioning. Internet companies are offering free service to qualifying families without access so that those kids can also keep up with schoolwork and such.

And speaking of the poor, I have wondered about the kids who depend on school lunches so that they get at least one meal a day. Fortunately, the schools here are still providing bag lunches to anyone under the age of 18. Parent and child must both show up to receive a meal.

My DAR chapter cancelled the annual luncheon even before “large crowd” was defined. States ordered cancellation of events that involved 500 people.  Then the number was 250. Then 50. Now it is 10. It could be our chapter will be cancelling future meetings as well. This might force us all to become more tech-savvy. Society leaders are learning how to use Zoom, Google Hangouts, Facebook Live, and other platforms to hold virtual meetings. Unfortunately, much of the technology will be over the heads of our more senior members, some of whom do not even do email.

Even my church has gone to streaming services. In fact, the entire United Methodist Church has stopped in-person services for the foreseeable future. Sadly, some weddings are being postponed. My nephew is supposed to get married in July. I surely hope it happens.

If there is an upside to the coronavirus, it is that we are being made aware of other ways to entertain ourselves. On Facebook people are sharing 10, 12, 15, 20, 100 museums that we can tour ONLINE. Likewise, there are aquariums to visit ONLINE. State parks to visit ONLINE. Gyms offering workout routines live ONLINE.

Amazon has made thousands of books available FREE through Audible.

Ancestry has opened its Library edition free through the local library ONLINE.

In many ways the pandemic is bringing out the best in people. (Scammers aside, that is.) Here are 2 good thoughts to leave you with:

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.