Sepia Saturday: Pepsi Girl Friend

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

This week’s Sepia Saturday photo taken in a radio station in the 1940s reminded me of a letter that my mother saved from her youth.  

It was addressed to Johnnie Blanks in her care. Who was Johnnie Blanks and why did he use her address? Hold that thought. Let’s consider the letter first.

Apparently “Johnnie” had sent a fan letter and a photo to Betty, the Pepsi-Cola Girl Friend at the local radio station, WTAR, the very first to go on the air in Virginia. Betty must have been an important figure at WTAR. Afterall, she had letterhead and matching envelopes. However, Google searches came back with nothing relevant, either Betty Draper from “Mad Men” or Hallie Eisenberg, the little girl from the Pepsi commercials in the 1990s.

Dickie Blanks in 1946

Johnnie’s description sounds much like Momma’s high school sweetheart Richard “Dickie” Blanks. The postmark on the envelope was 1942 when Momma was just 13. I doubt they were dating that early, but who knows? I have 2 theories about Johnnie’s identity:

1. Dickie wrote to Betty under an assumed name and used Momma’s address so that his parents would not know.
2. Momma wrote the letter just to see what would happen – in that silly teenage girl way – maybe hoping Dickie would be listening to the radio.

At first, I thought Betty might have been a disc jockey until I noticed that she SANG “Elmer’s Tune.” Maybe she was part of Pepsi’s sponsorship of the radio program, the voice of Pepsi, so to speak.

Would you like to hear the song? It’s not Betty – it’s Glenn Miller and the Modernaires. The vocals start after 1 minute. The title does not sound very romantic – I can’t help thinking of Elmer Fudd – but it topped the charts in December 1941, just a month before Betty dedicated it to Johnnie Blanks. 

 

Turn your dial to SS574 for the top hits in Sepia Saturday stories and old photos.

Wendy

© 2021, Wendy Mathias. All rights reserved.

Photo Friday - Lewis Lloyd Jollett

Mary Neville Peluso and Lewis Lloyd Jollett
photo courtesy Ben Marks

Lewis Lloyd Jollett was the youngest son of Louisa Sullivan and Burton Lewis Jollett, brother of my great-grandmother Mary Frances Jollett Davis. He was born on this day 11 June 1895.

That is some beautiful hair!

Wendy

© 2021, Wendy Mathias. All rights reserved.

52 Ancestor - BRIDGE: No-trump

“No trump” – I always loved to hear my Bridge partner bid a no trump hand but it scared me to death to play it myself. I enjoyed the game but never advanced enough to truly understand the intricacy of the bidding conventions and complexity of hand evaluation. 

My parents were very good Bridge players. In their college days, they spent hours playing Bridge. It was THE game in dorms and dining halls and student centers. Lectures took a backseat to a no-trump hand. During their early years of marriage, they continued playing Bridge with their friends. I remember them getting together with Betsy and John Lumsden for Bridge Night, but I have no idea how I entertained myself while they shuffled, dealt, bid, laughed, and calculated scores above and below the line.

Momma and Daddy were not partners.
I wonder if this was Men vs Women.

While Bridge was still a popular game among students at James Madison University when I was there, I didn’t learn to play until years later.  When our girls were young, we sometimes vacationed at Fairy Stone State Park in Stuart, Virginia. My parents joined us a couple times. After the girls were tucked in at night, the cards came out and instruction commenced.

Daddy and Momma 
with Zoe and Jordan 
outside our cabin 
(Zoe had a style of her own - don't judge!)

 

We were hooked!

Not that we played that often or even that well.

Several couples from Sunday School expressed an interest in playing Bridge, and before you could utter “One peek is worth two finesses,” we had ourselves a dedicated Bridge Club. We alternated hosting each month. One spring we rented a beach cottage together for a weekend marathon of Bridge playing.

Bridge group at Duck, NC
Standing: Barry, Lou and Pat, Sue and Eddie
Seated: Moi, Kathy and Perry
Probably mid 1990s - none of us can remember

When one of the men in the group suddenly died, the club died with him. It was too awkward to leave out his widow or find a substitute.

My mother’s Bridge Club quite frequently needed subs and I was happy to oblige. Everyone contributed a quarter creating a pot of $2.00. The high-scorer of the day took home $1.75 while the low-scorer got her quarter back. As the ladies’ health declined, so did the Bridge Club.

I have not played in years, but I have wonderful memories of evenings spent at two tables of Bridge players.

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.

On This Day - Helen Killeen Parker

 

a large metal photo button

My grandaunt Helen Martha Killeen Parker was born on this day 7 June, 1903. She was the last child born to John Joseph Killeen and my great-grandmother Mary Theresa Sheehan Killeen Walsh.

Wendy

© 2021, Wendy Mathias. All rights reserved.

Sepia Saturday: Pvt Rucker, Artificer

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

This week’s Sepia Saturday photo features a soldier looking carefree. My great-grandfather’s brother John Wesley Rucker sporting his uniform and rifle in this photo looks more proud and ready than carefree. Despite the prevailing sentiment of Virginians opposed to war with Spain, he was one of thousands of soldiers who reported to Jacksonville, Florida in 1898, to aid Cuba in its fight for independence.

John Wesley Rucker at Camp Cuba Libre
photo courtesy Linda Pruett

from Fold3

In 1898, John Wesley and Matilda Stockdell had been married 18 years and were parents to teenagers Elizabeth Rucker and her brother Percy Cleveland Rucker. When war became a reality, John Wesley enlisted in Company C of the 2^nd Virginia Regiment Infantry and was assigned as an artificer. He was the man charged with maintenance of a military unit’s equipment. In other words, he was basically a mechanic and repairman.  

The 2^nd Virginia was sent to Florida in June 1898 and became part of the Seventh Corps under the leadership of Major General Fitzhugh Lee, nephew of Robert E. Lee. Camp Cuba Libre had been established in May 1898 near Jacksonville to serve as an assembly area in preparation for the liberation efforts in Cuba. 

Fitzhugh Lee
He looks like his uncle Robert E,
don't you think?

 

In the early days of Camp Cuba Libre, the soldiers had to fend for themselves as supplies were sent elsewhere. Some supplies were sent to other corps already scheduled to deploy; other supplies were deliberately withheld as a way to toughen up new soldiers. The men received only partial uniforms, and they ate with their hands off shingles since there were no forks or plates. 

That was the early days before Fitzhugh Lee arrived on the scene. He saw the horrible conditions and implemented changes that turned Camp Cuba Libre into a model camp. 

Like his comrades, John Wesley Rucker spent his days in drill and target practice. However, the Seventh Corps never saw action. The Peace Protocol was signed in August 1898 resulting in the War Department ordering the release of many regiments, among them the 2nd Virginia. It was another month before any of them left camp to return to their home station. The Regiment was officially mustered out in mid-December 1898.

 

Souvenir booklet

Souvenir Booklet - 2nd Virginia Regiment Company C
from Historical Society of West Virginia
https://hswv.pastperfectonline.com/archive/60E14615-F0B0-4E26-98D9-347608891170

I don’t know what John Wesley did in the months following, but he left his home in Shenandoah, Virginia on May 1, 1899 to work in the shipyard in Newport News. Within just a week he was too sick to work and returned home where he died on May 29 at the age of 44. 

The obituary does not say but it is possible that he suffered from typhoid fever. The outbreak in the Florida camps had drawn so much national attention that even Clara Barton and Walter Reed visited Camp Cuba Libra to gather information. In fact, more soldiers died of disease in Jacksonville than did soldiers who died in battle.

Matilda wrote her husband’s obituary. One can’t help sensing that the family was devout in their Christian belief.

IN MEMORIAN [sic]

In loving memory of John W. Rucker, who died May 29, 1899. The subject of this notice was a son of Frank and Sarah Rucker, born July 20, 1854, and at the time of his death was forty-four years, ten months, and nine days old.

He left his home and family on May 1^st for Newport News, Va, where he obtained work in the Navy yard. He worked only a week when he was taken down on a sick bed from which he never rose, although brought home and everything that loving hands and kind friends could do was done to relieve his sufferings. He died in three days after he arrived home. Death had marked its victim and nature had to yield to a Power stronger than man’s. While we are almost crushed with grief at the loss of our dear one, we know of this beautiful possibility of his soul’s salvation. Just a few hours previous to his death he said, “The Lord is gathering in his sheaves” and that he did not fear the dreadful hour of death.

His funeral was preached by Rev. Black, taking for his text Amos, fourth chapter and a part of the twelfth verse, “Prepare to meet thy God.”

We laid him to rest in the new cemetery at Elkton, close to father and mother, to await the resurrection day when we hope to meet and clasp the hand of our dear one in the New Jerusalem.

Dear husband, you have left us

Here our loss we deeply feel.

'Tis God who has bereft us,

He can all our sorrows heal.

By his wife

John Wesley's tombstone
in Elk Run Cemetery
Elkton, VA
Ironically, Matilda is buried
in Fields UMC Cemetery
Shenandoah, VA

For more stories of soldiers and carefree photos, please visit Sepia Saturday.

Wendy

© 2021, Wendy Mathias. All rights reserved.

Photo Friday - Tourists

 

This photo is not in good shape, but I am always drawn to it. Who are these women? Where were they? What is this tourist hot spot?

Wendy

© 2021, Wendy Mathias. All rights reserved.

52 Ancestors - MILITARY: Stephen Slade in the Florida Wars

On Memorial Day when we honor those who served our country during the Civil War, Spanish-American War, World Wars, Korean Conflict, Vietnam, and Iraq, we view them as heroes who gave their all. There were some lesser-known wars too, like the Mexican War in 1846 and the Florida Wars, also known as the Seminole Wars.  If anyone even thinks about – or even knows about – the soldiers who fought in the Florida Wars, today’s attitudes and standards would likely prevent them from thinking of those soldiers as heroes.

from Wikimedia Commons
produced by US Marines - in public domain

My 3X great-grandfather Stephen Slade was such a soldier when Florida was just a territory. While Florida’s muster rolls and enlistment records are not complete, it appears that at least by the age of 20 Stephen Slade did what the territory required: enroll in the local militia. The militia were the forerunner of today’s National Guard, civilians who volunteer for military service in the event of war, civil unrest, or natural disaster.

All able-bodied WHITE men between the ages of 18 and 45 were expected to join and attend required drill sessions. Postmasters, clergy, teachers, and judges were exempt. Officers wore uniforms like those of the US Army, but non-officers wore whatever they had and provided their own weapons.

The 1816 Springfield Musket was the most popular weapon
of the soldiers at that time. It had a range of 100 yards
and was not very accurate. 

The number of militia units grew as tensions escalated between white settlers and Native Americans in the 1820s and 1830s. A series of military conflicts came to be known as the Seminole Wars. Stephen Slade was just a toddler during the First Seminole War, 1816-1819. That is the period when Spain agreed to give up Florida to the US after it could not defend the territory against rebellions. A treaty required the Seminoles to leave northern Florida and confine themselves to a reservation in central Florida.

It was during the Second Seminole War (1835-1842) that Stephen Slade was of age to be called into action. This war was the result of the Indian Removal Act of 1830 which was the government’s attempt to force the Seminoles to leave Florida altogether and move west of the Mississippi. 

On 2 January 1835, Stephen Slade enlisted in McLemore’s Mounted Company. In May the following year he enlisted in Colonel John Warren’s Regiment, another mounted company. In January 1837 he was a private in North’s Co 1 of Warren’s mounted regiment but in June he was a Corporal in Co 2 of the East Florida Mounted Volunteers. 

This company was formed under the Act of Congress 23 May 1837 which allowed the President to accept the services of volunteers and to raise regiments of Dragoons, or Mounted Riflemen. At the time, the Company consisted of fifty-one privates, three officers, and eight non-commissioned officers which included the rank of Corporal.

After that Stephen Slade returned to serving as a private, still in a mounted company, under officers Lewis Norton and later Captain Hall.

Early on despite being outnumbered, the Seminoles managed to hold on by using guerilla warfare. The Army and militia responded by destroying Seminole farms and villages. By the 1840s, most of the Seminole population had either been killed in battle, died from starvation and disease, or relocated to Indian Territory. Only a few hundred were allowed to remain in an unofficial reservation.

An uneasy peace between White settlers and the Seminole lasted 13 years. When the Third – and last – Seminole War began in 1855, there is no sign that Stephen Slade took part.

I do not know what battles Stephen Slade saw during his time in the militia, but the Second war cost the lives of 1,500 soldiers, mostly from disease. More than 40,000 regular military, militia, and volunteers served in that war which cost as much as $40,000,000. There is no record of the number of Seminole killed in action or how many died from starvation and disease.

If you want to learn more about the Seminole Wars but don’t want to read VOLUMES, here are some good sources:

Florida Seminole Wars Heritage Trail    

Seminole Wars 

 

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.