remembering place: high school
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In Grade 10, 11 and 12, I went to Sidney Stephen High in Bedford Nova Scotia .
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Sidney Stephen High (now a Middle School)
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I had good friends. I loved all my teachers. I took swimming and golf lessons. I went to school dances and played piano at our various talent nights. I was on our school’s Reach for the Top team and answered only one question during the television program … name Santa’s eight reindeer! We lost to Halifax West, the school where my Dad was Vice-Principal.
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I walked the sidewalk above so many times. Once I carried Myles Goodwyn’s guitar down that hill. The guitar was borrowed for a weekend, something to do with a talent night. Myles Goodwyn is producer, singer, guitarist and composer in one of Canada’s greatest rock groups, April Wine.
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Just outside the end door in the wing of the school visible in the image above, sitting on the grass, I helped my friends prepare for a test on William Golding’s Lord of the Flies. Among my friends, I alone actually read the book, and I made the lowest test score of the four people I coached that day!!!
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English and History were my favorite subjects. My English teachers were Mr. Burke and Mrs. Bussey. I learned about Shakespeare, the Romantic poets and travel writing. I remember Mr. Burke’s class so clearly: ‘Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!’ (Ozymandias, Shelley). In Mrs. Bussey’s English class we went to live theatre and I fell in love with set design. I remember the two-storey backdrop of the set for Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night at Neptune Theatre. The house I live in today, which my husband and I built with the help of my Dad, has a loft inspired by that set.
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Our History teacher, Mr. Harvey, was a great inspiration, taking us to all the historical nooks and crannies in the area. Our History Club researched the first length of the old stagecoach route between Lower Sackville and Truro (surveyed in 1817-1818 by Woolford; for an old map of this road, see http://www.novascotia.ca/nsarm/virtual/woolford/archives.asp?ID=11). For the project we actually walked the old road, even then almost obscured by the growth of the forest. We could still see the path of the road by looking for the younger trees in the landscape, and we could find the old culverts. Later, we made a 3-D model of the road and its path between lakes and hills. Today, the old road begins at the Fultz Museum in Sackville (once Fultz’s Twelve-mile House, an inn along the way) and follows various local roads, including part of the Old Cobequid Road. I once lived (my first apartment) just across the lake from the old road (the long lake in the upper part of the map below).
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If we ever had one, I did not go to my class reunion for Sidney Stephen. I gradually lost touch with my friends, although I know where they live (not a threat!) and a little about their lives since High School. And I still talk to Mr. Burke, my English teacher, occasionally. Some friends I will never see again and that makes me very sad.
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Copyright 2014 Jane Tims
still painting Cornwall gates!
After completing ‘iron gate in Cornwall’ for Isaac’s Way Restaurant’s art auction, I decided to paint a gate just for myself. I liked the small watercolour I did for my first Isaac’s Way auction, so I have painted a version of the scene in acrylics.
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First, the watercolour, 8″ X 10″, unframed …
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January 10, 2014 ‘rainbow gate in Falmouth’ Jane Tims
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And here is the new painting in acrylics, 20″ X 24″ unframed …
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May 22, 2014 ‘rainbow gate in Falmouth #2’ Jane Tims
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Copyright 2014 Jane Tims
remembering place: a gift on a spring day
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When I was a teenager, my family lived in Lower Sackville in Nova Scotia. I went to Junior High and Senior High there and began my university days.
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I have many great memories of living in our house … of spending time with friends and family. I remember painting the kitchen cupboards with my Dad, painting a huge seascape on the living room wall, decorating the Christmas tree with the ‘help’ of our dog Snoopy, and doing homework and learning to sew while watching Audie Murphy movies. One of my earliest ‘projects’ was raising wild violets from seed along the back fence. I can remember spending hours on the phone with my friend Donna, pulling the long telephone cord down the basement stairs so I could sit and giggle in privacy.
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On that same phone, my sister and I practiced for days how we would be the tenth caller to win tickets to see Elvis Presley in Halifax. When the moment came, we counted the time just as we had carefully calculated. Then I dialed in, at the precise moment. They answered! And, in my excitement, I HUNG UP. My sister was so put out at me. And we will never know if we were the lucky tenth caller! We never did see Elvis in person.
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As an exercise for a writing class I am taking, I wrote a little about attending my best friend’s wedding after graduation in 1972. I walked to the church which was just at the bottom of our street. As I wrote the story, I thought how I would like to see that street, to better remember the walk I took. So, I went to Street View (Google Earth). I began at the top of the hill and virtually ‘walked ‘ along the street where I had lived. At the first of the walk, I saw our house in July of 2012, when the Street View image was taken. I was amazed to see how the trees we planted had grown … the house is hard to see !
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the house where we used to live, the trees all grown
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A few more ‘steps’ and Street View switched to an image taken in May of 2009. I turned back to ‘see’ the house. And this is what I saw …
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Forsythia in bloom in front of the house where I used to live
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My Mom loved the big Forsythia that grew in our front yard. She always said it reminded her of my grandmother (her mother). And there it was, in full bloom and grown huge over the 40 years since we lived there. What a lovely gift on a spring day!
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Copyright 2014 Jane Tims
I’m from Canada …
As I have been building my family tree, I am discovering how many ‘places’ my ancestors have called home.
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my grandmother and her brother and four of her sisters appear in this photo at a school in Nova Scotia in the early 1900s
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The people I would call grandfather or grandmother (with greats added) include people who came to Canada or to the United States from England, Scotland, France, and Germany. Some of their parents came originally from the Netherlands.
- John Winslow (b. 1597) Droltwich, Worcestershore, England (1620)
- Mary Chilton (b. 1607) St. Peter, Sandwich, Kent, England (Mayflower 1620)
- Patrick McMullen (b. 1704) Scotland
- Peter LeValley (b. 1675) France
- William Spavold (b. 1810) England (Trafalgar 1817)
- Eliza Greenfield (b. 1790) England (Trafalgar 1817)
- Stephen Hopkins (b. 1581) Upper Clatford, Hampshire, England (Mayflower 1620)
- Elizabeth Fisher (b. unknown) England (Mayflower 1620)
- Francis Cook (b. 1583) Gides Hall, Essex, England (Mayflower 1620)
- Hester Mahieu (b. 1585) Canterbury, Kent, England (1623)
- William Latham (b. 1608) Chorley, Lancashire, England (Mayflower 1620)
- Conrad Hawk (Sr.) (b. 1744) Germany
- Conrad Kresge (b. 1730) Amberg-Sulzbach, Bayern, Germany
- Johan Ulrick Kohl (b. 1702) Pallatine, Germany
- Solmey Cooll (b. 1702) Germany
- Johann Nicholas Borger (b. 1720) Nassig, Baden-Württemberg, Germany
- John Clark (b. 1793) Straiton, Ayrshire, Scotland
- Jane Cooper (b. 1799) Greenock, Scotland
- Margaret Miller (b. 1798) Hoddam, Dumfriesshire, Scotland
- William Aitcheson (b. 1794) Annan, Dumfriesshire, Scotland (1832)
- — Wayborne (b. 1836) Rockbeare, Devon, England
- John Johnson (b. 1780) England
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To make me, how many different people from so many different places had to get together!!! As my aunt used to say, just being here, we have already won the greatest lottery of all …
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One of my next genealogy / virtual cycling project will be to track down when they came to Canada or the United States. Immigration records and passenger lists of ships will help me in this endeavor.
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Copyright 2014 Jane Tims
harvesting colour – the orange of alder bark
Last week we went out to our cabin lot to collect some material for my dyeing experiments. We are constantly battling the alders which move in quickly after any clearing. I think my husband was quite agreeable to cutting some alder sticks for me to use as dyestuff. Our alder is Alnus rugosa (Du Roi) Spreng, the speckled alder.
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our harvest of alder stems
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Yesterday, I sat on our deck to peel the bark from the alder sticks. I was acclimatized to the orange dye I expected from the alders by the leavings of last autumn – the piles of dry maple leaves still on the deck and the bright sienna of my terra cotta pots.
The alders peel easily, revealing a bright green inner bark. The green quickly oxidizes to a bright orange, due to the presence of the chemical oregonin. By the end of the debarking session, my jean were stained dark orange and my palms of my hands were covered in the colour of tangerines.
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I was glad to have moved my dyeing adventures out to the back deck because the smell was quite acrid. As I boiled the bark, the water became a dark orange.
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orange colour resulting from boiling the alder bark
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I simmered my length of alum-treated wool roving in the liquid for about an hour.
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wool simmering in the orange alder water – looks like sky and clouds are in there too!
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Although it is not orange, the colour is a pleasing yellowish-brown, similar to but more yellow than the colour obtained from Old Man’s Beard lichen.
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wool dyed with ( left to right) alder bark, lichen and beets
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Now that the warm weather is here, I am looking forward to more hours on the deck, watching over my concoctions and seeing more colours emerge!!!
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Copyright 2014 Jane Tims
the tale of a marriage certificate
Of my eight great-grandparents, I have found myself most drawn to the story of Ella Hawk and Frank Norman. Before I became interested in them, my aunt did a considerable amount of work, so I have only had to fill in small gaps of information. If you follow my Blog, you will know I have looked diligently for information on their lives before 1886 when they married in Laramie, Wyoming (for a poem about Ella’s early life, see https://nichepoetryandprose.wordpress.com/2012/10/17/occupation-shoemaker/
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I know several bits of information about the day Ella and Frank married – July 24, 1886. For one thing, I have stood in the Methodist Episcopal Church where they were married (see https://nichepoetryandprose.wordpress.com/2011/09/15/sacred-spaces-2/ ). Also, the newspapers for July 1886 are a great source of information on Laramie and the people living there at the time.
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I also have copies of Ella and Frank’s Application for a Marriage Licence and their Certificate of Marriage. On the documents, Ella identified herself as Mary Ellen Rhoderick since she was previously married.
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Marriage Licence Application for Frank Norman and Ella Hawk (Mary E. Rhoderick)
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Certificate of Marriage for Frank Norman and Mary E. Rhoderick
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Who were the people who signed my great-grandparents’ marriage documents?
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George W. Fox, with the very elegant signature, was the County Clerk in Laramie from 1885 to 1888. An 1875 history of Laramie describes him as a ‘city alderman’, who, in 1866 crossed the Plains with an ox train, by way of Fort Laramie and the Big Horn’ to eventually work in the Laramie meat and vegetable market, and in the sales of dry goods. The history says: ‘by fair and honorable dealing has very much endeared himself to our citizens. In fact as a benevolent, high minded, business gentleman Mr. Fox has no superior’ (History and Directory of Laramie City, Triggs, 1875). George W. Fox is also known for his diary, kept in 1866 as he crossed the Plains (Annals of Wyoming 8 (3):580-601; https://archive.org/details/annalsofwyom8141932wyom ). His stories of encounters with stampeding cattle and rattlesnakes vividly portray the wild west.
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S.H. Huber was the Minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church. According to the July 10, 1886 Daily Boomerang newspaper, Pastor Huber had been in Laramie for two years. He was in poor health and would stop preaching and leave for Illinois within the month. Another article says he performed the Sherriff’s marriage the week before Ella and Frank’s marriage. The First Methodist Episcopal Church, which still stands at 150N Second Street, was constructed in 1860 and was eventually moved across the street where today it is the oldest church building in Laramie.
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Although there are other possibilities, it is likely that Lizzie Langhoff was a friend or acquaintance of Ella. Among three Langhoff families in the Laramie area in the 1880s are Charles and Almena Langhoff with their children Lizzie, Emma, Anna, Louis and Minnie. By 1884, this family had come from Plattsmouth, Nebraska (1880 US Census) to live in Laramie. Lizzie, Louis and Anna appear in the Roll of Honor for schools in the Laramie area several times from 1884 to 1886 (Daily Boomerang). Lizzie was born January 6, 1871, so she would have been 15 years old in July of 1886, perhaps old enough to witness a wedding. Lizzie Langhoff died in Laramie on April 25, 1892 (Wyoming: Find a Grave Index 1850-2012) at the age of 21.
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Methodist Episcopal Church in Laramie in 2002 – this is the back and side of the original church which was rolled across the street to its present position
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Ella and Frank did not stay in Laramie for long. In the 1890s they lived in Denver Colorado where my grandfather Leo was born in 1890.
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Leo Norman, born 1890
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Unfortunately, Ella and Frank’s marriage did not last. I have the paperwork for their Divorce Decree in 1896. Nevertheless, I owe my existence to their decade-long marriage and the sense of adventure their short time in Laramie has brought to my own life.
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Copyright 2014 Jane Tims
an iron gate in Cornwall
Yesterday, I delivered another painting, entitled ‘iron gate in Cornwall’, to Isaac’s Way restaurant, for their upcoming auction. Isaac’s way will be displaying the work of more than 50 artists from May 26, 2014 throughout the summer in their 21st art auction for charity.
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I had intended to display the watercolour ‘gate on Old Church Road’ for the auction (8″ x 10″, unframed). However, Isaac’s Way had space for a larger painting, so I have done another version of the gate in acrylic (24″ x 20″, unframed). I had not worked in acrylic for more than a year, so it was interesting to use the different medium for this new painting.
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Here is the watercolour, ‘gate on Old Church Road’ …
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October 24, 2013 ‘ gate on Old Church Road’ Jane Tims
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and the new painting, in acrylic, ‘iron gate in Cornwall’
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May 13, 2014 ‘iron gate in Cornwall’ Jane Tims
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Although they are of the same place, there are lots of differences, mostly in the colour and shadow …
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Copyright 2014 Jane Tims
searching the newspapers #2
Using the search features available, I have been looking in the Wyoming newspapers of the 1800s for any item about my great-grandfather. It is slow work, partly because I don’t want to miss anything, partly because I am easily distracted by various interesting adds and articles.
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You may recall that I already know of an item about my great-grandfather in the July 26, 1886 edition of the Laramie ‘Daily Boomerang’ (page 4). On July 25, 1886, he fell from his horse and broke his collar bone, only a day after he and my great-grandmother Ella were married.
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If only to show that I am being careful about my search, I have now found a corroborating article in the ‘Cheyenne Daily Sun’ for July 28, 1886 (page 3).
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I will never know if Frank was riding his own horse, or if he had to hire one from a place like Emery’s Livery Stable (in the add just to the right of the article).
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When we visited Laramie in 2002, I misread the article slightly and talked non-stop about how my great-grandfather had ridden his horse into the hills. Do you see any mention of hills in either article? Nevertheless, I was anxious to drive up into the hills east of Laramie, to see the landscape he might have seen. The road cuts there showed a orange-pink bedrock and I brought a small chunk back with me to remember Frank’s unfortunate ride. Looks a little ghostly under the scanner …
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Copyright 2014 Jane Tims
beet pink
Last week, I tried dyeing some wool roving with the juice of pickled beets …
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Yesterday I opened the jar and rinsed the wool in cool water. Looks like a lot of the colour still went down the drain …
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And the final result? A pretty pink. Reminds me of the pink batts of insulation we installed in our walls! The wool is not scratchy at all, but soft and fragrant.
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Gradually I am building a rainbow of colour on my drying rack …
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from right to left: wool roving prepared with alum as a mordant; wool dyed with Tansy; wool dyed with Old Man’s Beard lichen; and wool dyed with pickled beet juice
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I am still working on the poem to capture this experience … it’s not quite ready to share.
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Copyright 2014 Jane Tims
searching the newspaper archives
Still on the trail of my great-grandfather, I have turned for a short time to the wonderful source of the newspaper archive. This may not uncover any new leads about my relative, but it is a fascinating way to search.
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I know from my Aunt’s earlier search for information, my great-grandfather (Frank Norman) and great-grandmother (Ella Hawk) were married in Laramie, Wyoming on July 24, 1886. I have written before about my great-grandmother Ella and her father, Josiah Hawk, who was a shoemaker in Pennsylvania (https://nichepoetryandprose.wordpress.com/2012/10/17/occupation-shoemaker/). In 2002, we drove out to Laramie as part of a vacation adventure, and saw where Frank and Ella were married. It was amazing to know I was standing where they did so long ago!
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My present search for Frank has taken me to the pages of the ‘Daily Boomerang’, a newspaper in Laramie. This was a four page daily paper, reporting local and national events and providing advertising for Laramie in the 1880’s and 1890’s and beyond. It included lots of local tid-bits in the ‘Personal Paragraphs’, ‘Personal Points’ and ‘About Town’ sections. The ‘Laramie Boomerang’ continues today.
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In 2002, when I visited Laramie, I spent part of the day looking at the fragile paper archives of the ‘Daily Boomerang’. Although my time was short, I was able to find out a little about the Minister who married Frank and Ella.
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Now, a little more than a decade later, I am able to access, online, every page of the paper. This is thanks to the Wyoming Newspaper Project. The project has converted over 800,000 pages of Wyoming newspapers into searchable digital format. Today, all I have to do is type the searchword ‘Norman’ to find if Frank or Ella are mentioned in the pages of any of over one hundred Wyoming newspapers ! To search these papers, have a look at http://www.wyonewspapers.org .
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I know this effort may turn up some results since I already know of one article, found by my Aunt, about my great-grandfather. On July 26, 1886, only two days after their wedding in Laramie, Frank receives a short mention in the ‘Daily Boomerang’.
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Just a little below the center of the page above, under ‘About Town’, it says:
Frank Norman, while out riding yesterday, was thrown from his horse and had his collar bone broken.
I know from later records that Frank made his living as a ‘hod carrier’, part of a bricklaying team. The ‘hod carrier’ is the worker who carries bricks on a hod – a v-shaped wooden carrier with a handle, carried over the shoulder. A collar bone injury would have been a hard turn of events for someone whose work involved carrying heavy loads. It must have been a tradgedy for the couple newly married.
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I have a little work ahead of me since I want to look at all possible entries in the newspaper about Frank or Ella from the time of their marriage to about 1892 when Frank and Ella were living in Denver, Colorado. There may be nothing more to find, and the search is made complicated because a common breed of horse for sale in Wyoming at the time – the ‘Norman’ !
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I will keep you up to date on my search for information about my great-grandfather. Have you ever used newspapers to search for information about a member of your family?
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Copyright 2014 Jane Tims
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