Posts Tagged ‘history’
Great Grand Aunt Sadie – dressmaker
As I learn about my family history, I am drawn to the stories of the individuals I encounter. One of the people important in my great-grandmother Ella’s life was her sister Sadie. Sadie was born on December 11, 1863 in Pennsylvania, the fifth child of eight children. She was called after her mother, Sarah Ann (Kresge). Sadie’s father was Josiah Hawk, a shoemaker who died when Sadie was a little over a year old and Ella was six. For a little more about Josiah, see https://nichepoetryandprose.wordpress.com/2012/10/17/occupation-shoemaker/
~
As far as I know, Sadie remained unmarried throughout her life. This meant that she had to support herself. Few opportunities were available to women in the late 1800s, but Sadie stayed connected to her family and earned her way as a seamstress. The 1910 US Census shows Sadie as a dressmaker living with her mother, a landlady.
~
~
By looking at the US Census for 1870, 1900, 1910, and 1920, as well as the City Directories for Scranton, I can account for Sadie most years.
In the 1870 census, when she was six and a half, she lived with her mother in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. That year, her mother married Joshua Popplewell, a machinist living in Scranton.
I have not located Sadie in the 1880 Census due to the commonness of her name.
From 1888 until her death in 1921, Sadie lived in Scranton. Her addresses included 330 Lackawanna Avenue (1896 – 1900), 16-18 Williams Building (1905 and 1906), 101 Spruce Street (1907 to 1916), and 116 Mulberry Street (1917 to 1921). I have looked at these addresses on Street View (Google Earth) and the houses where Sadie lived are all gone, replaced by parking lots and modern businesses.
~
Sadie made her home with her mother Sallie Popplewell from 1907 until Sallie’s death in 1910 or 1911, and with sister Ella, my great-grandmother, from 1910 to 1921.
~
~
Sadie died at 2 PM on March 26, 1921. In her will, Sadie described Ella (my great-grandmother) as her “beloved sister”.
~
When I was a teenager, my Aunt Jane told me about Sadie and gave me Sadie’s locket.
~
Aunt Sadie’s locket (front)
~
Her initials are beautifully engraved on the back – S A H – Sarah Ann Hawk … the sweet-faced woman in the photos above.
~
~
Copyright 2014 Jane Tims
blue in the woodland
About a decade ago, we took a drive from Canterbury to McAdam on a gravel road. The memory I have carried with me for years is of a section of woodland absolutely blue with flowers. I often wondered what the flowers were and if I’d be able to find the spot again. This weekend we tried to find the place and the sea of blue in the woodland.
~
Highway 630 from Canterbury to McAdam in New Brunswick (map from Google Maps)
~
Canterbury, like many rural communities of New Brunswick, has faced a shrinking population over the years. Settled by Loyalists, it was a center for logging and railroad traffic and, in the late 1800s, had a population of over 1000. Today it has only about 340 residents. Nevertheless, it is a charming village and has a newly renovated school, housing all 12 grades.
~
Village of Canterbury at the turn to Highway 630
~
The route from Canterbury toward the south is a numbered road. But Highway 630 is not paved and quite rutted in some sections. In one place we had to ask some ATVers if we were on the right road!
~
Highway 630
~
As we drove, I watched the woods for those blue flowers. Wildflowers were certainly a theme of our drive. By the road we saw Pink Lady’s Slipper (Cypripedium acaule), Bluebead Lily (Clintonia borealis), Bunchberry (Cornus canadensis) and Quaker Ladies (Houstonia caerulea).
~
Lady’s Slipper and Bunchberry along the road
~
The map shows a community named Carroll’s Ridge just south of Canterbury. When we reached the location marked on the map, there were no homes or buildings, only a few old roads and cleared areas. But there in the woods was evidence people had once lived there. I found my sea of blue! Forget-me-nots, escaped from some forgotten garden to thrive in the near by woods.
~
Forget-me-nots escaped from an old garden
~
In my memory, the ‘blue’ of the flowers was more intense a decade ago. But we noticed many of the Forget-me-nots there now are a white variety. Who knows if flower colour or memory really changed during those ten years.
~
blue flowers in the woodland
~
Forget-me-nots in the woods
~
I picked a few of the Forget-me-nots, to try an ‘eco-print’ dyeing experiment in coming days. But what I really took away was another image of a sea of blue flowers in the woods.
~
Copyright 2014 Jane Tims
Juno beach, 70 years later
On June 6, 1944, seventy years ago, my Dad was one of the men who landed on the beaches of Normandy.
~
Dad was a member of the North Shore (New Brunswick) Regiment of the Third Canadian Division, Company ‘D’. He entered active service in 1940 and joined the New Brunswick Regiment in 1943.
~
Will R. Bird wrote a comprehensive history of the North Shore Regiment (Brunswick Press, 1963). In the book is a photo taken in February of 1945. My Dad believed the soldier in the foreground was him. The soldier certainly has my father’s stance, but the shovel on his back was what convinced my Dad. Most of the shovels issued had a ‘T’-shaped handle. My Dad’s shovel had an unusual triangular handle, like the one in the photo. Dad certainly considered the shovel his friend since digging trenches was their main protection under fire.
~
Canadian troops in 1945 (photo from Will R. Bird, North Shore (New Brunswick) Regiment, 1963, page 322)
~
I have never been to France. But with Street View, in Google Earth, I can see the place where Dad came ashore. Will R. Bird’s book, North Shore (New Brunswick) Regiment, includes a copy of an aerial map showing the beach where the North Shore Regiment landed – the NAN 7 Beach at St-Aubin-sur-Mer in northern France. ‘D’ Company landed on the part of the beach indicated by the arrow to the left.
~
aerial map showing the beach where the North Shore Regiment landed on June 6, 1944 (Will R. Bird, South Shore (New Brunswick) Regiment, 1963, page 316)
~
The Google map shows the same area in July, 2013 …
~
aerial view of beach at St-Aubin-Sur-Mer (map from Google Earth)
~
A view looking out to sea …
~
looking out to sea (image from Street View)
~
And a sign commemorating the landing of the Canadian troops …
~
view of the sign at NAN 7 Beach (image from Street View)
~
We know the casualties of the Normandy invasion were staggering. In the first hour after the landing, the Canadians suffered casualties of over 50%. When the war was over, my Dad was one of only nine ‘D’ Company men who had landed at D-Day and made it through to the liberation of Holland.
~
Canadian troops landing at NAN Beach (photo from Wikipedia, public domain)
~
Copyright 2014 Jane Tims
remembering place: high school
~
In Grade 10, 11 and 12, I went to Sidney Stephen High in Bedford Nova Scotia .
~
Sidney Stephen High (now a Middle School)
~
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.
~
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.
~
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!!!
~
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.
~
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).
~
~
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.
~
Copyright 2014 Jane Tims
remembering place: a gift on a spring day
~
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.
~
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.
~
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.
~
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 !
~
the house where we used to live, the trees all grown
~
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 …
~
Forsythia in bloom in front of the house where I used to live
~
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!
~
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.
~
my grandmother and her brother and four of her sisters appear in this photo at a school in Nova Scotia in the early 1900s
~
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
~
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 …
~
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.
~
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/
~
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.
~
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.
~
Marriage Licence Application for Frank Norman and Ella Hawk (Mary E. Rhoderick)
~
Certificate of Marriage for Frank Norman and Mary E. Rhoderick
~
Who were the people who signed my great-grandparents’ marriage documents?
~
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.
~
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.
~
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.
~
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
~
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.
~
Leo Norman, born 1890
~
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.
~
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.
~
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.
~
~
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).
~
~
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).
~
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 …
~
~
~
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.
~
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!
~
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.
~
~
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.
~
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 .
~
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’.
~
~
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.
~
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’ !
~
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?
~
Copyright 2014 Jane Tims
snags in the search for my ancestors
I have spent a lot of the weekend searching the genealogy records for information on the whereabouts of my great-grandfather before 1887 when he married my great-grandmother. It seems he had a common name and a simple search turns up a bewildering array of possibilities. Also, some of the facts do not seem to aid in the search. For example, I know he was born in Bethany, Missouri, but the only person in the census record with his name is about 10 years too young.
~
To find my great-grandfather, I have looked at endless family trees, searched through long lists of possible relatives on http://www.Ancestry.com and looked at every person who lived in southern Wyoming and vicinity in 1880! I have come to know, quite well, at least three families associated with a person of the same name and age as my great-grandfather only to discover a fact that makes a connection with my family impossible.
~
My post for today is only to appeal to you to think of your future family when you keep the records of your own life. Someday, my descendants will look for me (I hope they will be interested) and they will be frustrated by three mistakes I have made in record-keeping:
~
1. they will be disappointed to learn I have not been very consistent about my name. First, in my work, I used my maiden name as well as my married name. Second, I have always been called by my second given name but government documents refer to me by my first name. Only last week, I was almost turned away for an appointment at the hospital because I forgot they might list me by my first name.
~
2. they will be dismayed to see that, although I have nice, legible handwriting, I have not always been careful about filling out forms. In fact, I know I have been very sloppy on several occasions.
~
3. they will cry when they find all the photos I have taken over the years. I have only identified people and dates in a small percentage of our home photos. When I look over our photos, I try to add information, but often I only scribble the first names of the people in the photos and I frequently have to guess at the date a photo was taken.
~
When I look at my own assemblage of family information, I encounter these problems quite often. For example, who were the young women whose photos I have in my family history collection? My Mom thought perhaps they were friends of her grandmother at nursing school in Boston. I treasure their photos, but I will never know who they were.
~
And I may never find, with any certainty, the whereabouts of my great-grandfather in 1860, 1870 and 1880.
~
~
~
~
~
Copyright 2014 Jane Tims
nichepoetryandprose 