Samaritan Sunday (December 29, 2013)

December 29, 2013, 11:26 am

≫ Next: Maritime Monday (December 30, 2013) : The "Flying Santa," An 84-Year New England Tradition

≪ Previous: Saturday Serendipity (December 28, 2013)

[If you should choose to adopt this prompt to contribute your own stories of folks who have gone out of their way to lend genealogy-related assistance to others, I would greatly appreciate a mention to Filiopietism Prism whenever you do so. Thank you! And please do use the same photograph below to illustrate the prompt. ;-) ]

SAMARITAN SUNDAY RETURNS TODAY AFTER A HIATUS OF FIVE WEEKS. TODAY'S POSTED IS BASED ON A TIP IN THE WEEKLY GENEALOGIST OF NEHGS.

The Chris Jensen nursing home -- now the Chris Jensen Health and Rehabilitation Center -- is located in Duluth, Minnesota.

Marvin and Shirley Westerlund were married in Duluth on October 3, 1953. Marvin died after only thirteen years of marriage to Shirley, but Shirley lived until 1992.

Matthew Seppo is a property manager in St. Louis County, Minnesota where Duluth is located. Mr. Seppo is also a determined man and a Good Samaritan who, as an amateur genealogist, recognizes the importance of family history and the materials and objects that document that history.

When an album from Marvin and Shirley Westerlund's wedding was unexplainably discovered in a store room at the Chris Jensen nursing home after lodging there unclaimed for two decades, Matt Seppo obtained the album in his role as property manager. [The nursing facility had been owned by St. Louis County at one point.] Mr. Seppo decided he was going to try to find surviving relatives of Marvin and Shirley to return the genealogical treasure that had come into his hands.

Mr. Seppo began using genealogy websites, public records and any other sources he could think of to aid him in his quest. The Duluth News Tribune ran a story about Mr. Seppo's efforts on December 11, 2013 and slowly various information emerged through email responses to Mr. Seppo.

Good Samaritan Matthew Seppo faced quite a challenge in his quest because Marvin and Shirley never had any children. Shirley was an adopted only child and had no known relatives -- but Matthew was ultimately successful! Read here the full story of how Mr. Seppo persevered in his quest and how he got assistance along the way. You can see a photograph of Marvin and Shirley and learn where the album now resides. The album is no longer in Minnesota, but it is in the hands of a close relative due to the discovery of a very helpful clue placed in an obituary.

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Photograph of the The Good Samaritan sculpture by Francois-Leon Sicard (1862 - 1934). The sculpture is located in the Tuileries Gardens in Paris, France. The photograph is by Marie-Lan Nguyen and has been placed in the public domain by her. See, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Good_Samaritan_Sicard_Tuileries.jpg

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Maritime Monday (December 30, 2013) : The "Flying Santa," An 84-Year New England Tradition

December 30, 2013, 3:00 am

≫ Next: From 0 to 25,312 -- One Year of Blogging! (December 31, 2013)

≪ Previous: Samaritan Sunday (December 29, 2013)

While "Christmastide" (the "Twelve Days of Christmas") is still with us, it is an appropriate time to recall an 84-year New England tradition of the "Flying Santa" for those who know about it (and to introduce the tradition to those who have never heard of it).

I first stumbled across the tradition of the Flying Santa while researching Benjamin W. Walker (1838 - aft. 1900), a younger brother of my great great grandmother, Susan A. (Walker) Tew, (1828 - 1893). Benjamin was born in Coventry, Rhode Island and for a time (circa 1862) served as an Assistant Keeper at the famed Beavertail Lighthouse at the tip of Conanicut Island in Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island.

Benjamin W. Walker, younger brother of Susan A. (Walker) Tew

Beavertail Lighthouse (1749) was the third lighthouse built in the American colonies after the lights at Boston Harbor and Brant Point on the island of Nantucket. Its name comes from the shape of the southern end of Conanicut Island, which resembles a beaver's tail. The early settlers of Rhode Island recognized the strategic importance of the southern tip of Conanicut Island because it looked over the passages into Narragansett Bay. As early as 1705 a "watch house" was erected at Beavertail Point. During the Revolutionary War, the British occupied Newport, Rhode Island for almost three years (December 1776 - October 1779), but when they evacuated one of the last things they did was to set fire to the original wooden lighthouse tower.

Photographs of Beavertail Lighthouse at Beavertail Point, Conanicut Island

1846 map of "Connanicut" Island showing Beaver Tail Point and
the lighthouse location. Note also in the northwest section
of the island just under the word "JAMES" the Tew family property.

An early pioneer of aviation in New England was a Friendship, Maine pilot by the name of William H. Wincapaw. Since Capt. Wincapaw often had to rely on the light beacons from coastal lighthouses to guide his navigation, he came to greatly appreciate and admire the service that lighthouse keepers provided to maritime travelers on the sea and in the air. In many ways a symbiotic relationship developed between pilots such as Capt. Wincapaw and the lighthouse keepers. The pilots could provide quick visual contact and communication with keepers on isolated islands or peninsulas in case of emergency and the keepers would watch for pilots and their planes. When Capt. Wincapaw and other pilots were known to be on a mission, keepers would always try to relay information to airfields whenever planes safely passed their position.

Capt. Wincapaw in particular developed close relationships with lighthouse keepers along routes he flew in maritime New England. On occasion Capt. Wincapaw would land at some of the lights and spend time visiting with the isolated keepers and their families (if they had them). In time, William Wincapaw decided he should try to do something significant to recognize and show appreciation for lighthouse keepers and the important, often lonely and sometimes dangerous service they provided. On December 25, 1929 William Wincapaw determined that he would deliver some small holiday gifts of things such as coffee, candy, magazines and sundries. He loaded his plane and on that Christmas Day he flew low over lights in the Rockland, Maine area and dropped surprise packages to the keepers and their families. These acts of kindness and holiday cheer were so appreciated that Capt. Wincapaw realized he would need to repeat the Christmas flights and so an 84-year tradition began and spread around maritime New England and eventually along the eastern coastline of North America.

In time William Wincapaw, his son and others -- like author Edward Rowe Snow -- came to be referred to as the "Flying Santa" and the pilots and their successors began to dress the part. Various aircraft have been used over the decades including single and twin-engine airplanes and helicopters.

There is now an organization called "Friends of Flying Santa, Inc." and they maintain a website here. They can be contacted by mail at PO Box 80047, Stoneham, MA 02180-0001, or by phone at (781)438-4587, or via email at Info@flyingsanta.org. Their website has a detailed link to the origin and history of the Flying Santa tradition. The site also has numerous photographs of Capt. William "Bill" Wincapaw and his family members, Edward Rowe Snow and his participating family members, the various aircraft that have been used over the decades, and some of the lighthouses that have been visited by the Flying Santas. The photos are copyrighted and I do not have permission to share them on The Prism, but you can easily view them see them here while learning all about William H. Wincapaw, the original "Flying Santa," and how what he started has continued and expanded into its ninth decade.

Merry Christmastide and a Happy New Year!

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Image of Santa and his bi-plane from Open Clip Art Library as obtained from The Washington Herald (1914).

Photograph of Benjamin W. Walker courtesy of Joshua Oehler from his Oehler Tree.

Photographs of Beavertail Lighthouse from the virtual archives of the State of Rhode Island and from the U.S. Coast Guard respectively. Both images are believed to be in the public domain.

For more information on the history of the "Flying Santa" and to see copyrighted photogrsaphs and other images of the planes, pilots and supporters of the program go to The Origins and History of the Flying Santa.
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Copyright 2013, John D. Tew
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From 0 to 25,312 -- One Year of Blogging! (December 31, 2013)

December 31, 2013, 1:36 pm

≫ Next: Wordless Wednesday (January 1, 2014) -- One Hundred Thirty-two Years Ago Today: An Excerpt from the Diary of Samuel Eber Carpenter

≪ Previous: Maritime Monday (December 30, 2013) : The "Flying Santa," An 84-Year New England Tradition

It is hard to believe that it was a mere 365 days ago today that Filiopietism Prism ["The Prism"] was born -- but as the old adage goes, "Time flies when you're having fun!" Or as others have put it and warned, "Genealogy blogging can be addictive!" I think the latter admonition might have a lot of truth to it after re-reading my very first post on The Prism.

It absolutely amazes me as this first year of blogging comes to a close that there have been over 25,000 page views by others during this year. I want to thank each and every one of you for stopping by. I'd also like to especially thank those who provided encouragement, advise, clarification, corrections, and supplements via likes and comments throughout the year! THANK YOU ALL!

Since this is the last post of the first year of Filiopietism Prism -- the omega if you will -- I thought it might bring some symmetry to the year by publishing again the first post on The Prism. This is the time of year that we tend to look back as we stand looking and planning forward. And so to bookend this year with the alpha and the omega for 2013, here is a reprise of "First Things First," which was posted minutes before midnight one year ago today.

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL . . .

AND TO ALL A WONDERFUL 2014!

First Things First

Today is New Year's Eve day 2012 and there is no better time to get a jump on a New Year's resolution than the night before the new year begins -- and it also makes it easy to remember a Blog Anniversary! Following an excellent introduction to the world of genealogy blogging earlier this year (see immediately below), I resolved that I would start my own modest contribution to this growing community.

But, first things first.

I was inspired to finally get started with my own genealogy blog by the outstanding example of Nutfield Genealogy http://www.nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com owned by Heather Wilkinson Rojo. Heather and I have never met, but we have exchanged several emails following my initial introduction to her blog. In the January 11, 2012 issue of The Weekly Genealogist, Heather's Nutfield Genealogy was selected by Lynn Betlock, Editor of the New England Historic Genealogical Society's (NEHGS) The Weekly Genealogist, as the first ever "Featured Blog." Since my ancestors are almost all from New England -- and since I was born in Rhode Island and lived in Connecticut, Massachusetts and New Hampshire before venturing southward when my father's work transferred him to Philadelphia -- I immediately checked out Heather's blog centered in New Hampshire. To my surprise and delight, I actually found that Heather had a posting relating to my Tew family from Rhode Island. I emailed Heather to inquire further. This led to Heather's very generous and kind invitation to submit a posting on the pirate Thomas Tew for consideration as a guest post to her blog. She accepted the submission and posted it on February 16, 2012! As so many authors have said before, the inspiration (and recent encouragement) for beginning this Blog belongs to another -- Heather in this case -- but any errors and missteps will be entirely my own. THANK YOU HEATHER for your inspiration and encouragement! :-)

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This is my first post to my new Blog. I am definitely in the learning stages of the techniques, etiquette, effort and time commitment involved in maintaining a useful and meaningful genealogical blog. It will undoubtedly take a while before I can aspire to the dedicated consistency Heather and others have shown with their genealogy blogging, so please do not expect regular postings for some time to come (probably to coincide with my too-distant retirement). I hope to post at least bi-weekly for the time being while I begin to learn the basics of Blogger and put together some items of interest through my genealogy prism; but the all-important first step has been taken -- and there is no turning back now.

Happy New Year and Best Wishes for a wonderful 2013! :-)

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Wordless Wednesday (January 1, 2014) -- One Hundred Thirty-two Years Ago Today: An Excerpt from the Diary of Samuel Eber Carpenter

January 1, 2014, 6:01 pm

≫ Next: Treasure Chest Thursday (January 2, 2014) -- The Russell Cooke and Mary Vinal (Otis) Cooke Family Circa 1852

≪ Previous: From 0 to 25,312 -- One Year of Blogging! (December 31, 2013)

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The 1882 diary of Samuel Eber Carpenter (1853 - 1929) is in the personal collection of the author. Samuel E. Carpenter is my maternal great grandfather. The "friend Sarah" mentioned in the excerpt is Sarah Etta Freeman, my grandfather's future wife and my great grandmother.

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TRANSCRIPTION:

January 1st 1882

Went to Church this morning and felt that the service was of great benefit to me. Called on my friend Sarah in the afternoon, had a very pleasant call. On my return home found Everett Matheson there.

While many are turning over new leaves today, some only to smuch [smudge] them in a short time, some to keep them clean for a short time and give it up, and a few to keep them as they should be kept, I have turned mine with a bot upon it that is if it is wrong for me to smoke. I have smoked today. Smoking may not be wrong, but it does not make a man better, neither does it elevate him to do so.

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Treasure Chest Thursday (January 2, 2014) -- The Russell Cooke and Mary Vinal (Otis) Cooke Family Circa 1852

January 2, 2014, 9:00 am

≫ Next: Funeral Card Friday (January 3, 2014) -- Funeral Card for Huldah A. Tew, January 3, 1983

≪ Previous: Wordless Wednesday (January 1, 2014) -- One Hundred Thirty-two Years Ago Today: An Excerpt from the Diary of Samuel Eber Carpenter

The Russell and Mary Vinal (Otis) Cooke family circa 1851.

Edith McIntyre's handwritten inscription on the reverse side of the photograph identifying the people in the photo.

Well, 2014 is off to a great start from a genealogy point of view -- as this post will demonstrate!

Over the holiday season of the last two weeks, I have been busy doing some cleaning and rearranging of my home office space -- which is the repository for all my genealogy materials (books, documents, artifacts, etc.). While cleaning up I came across a box that my mother gave me within the last year or two. It contains mostly some old photographs, letters and notes from my mother's mother. Among the loose materials in the box -- that I obviously had not paid enough attention to previously -- was the undated letter from my grandmother to her daughter (my mother) shown above. The letter was not in an envelope and was merely folded in half and placed in the middle of a stack of photos and notes in the box. [While it is a two-sided letter, only the front page is of any relevance to this post.]

When I came across the letter in yet another quick review of the contents of the box during my cleaning, this time a photograph popped out and I paused to look at it, to examine the handwriting on the back, and then finally I focused in on the content of my grandmother's letter to my mother. And that was when I experienced my latest "Eureka Moment!"

The photograph within the folded letter from my grandmother is shown above. The photograph my grandmother sent to my mother is old, but it is definitely NOT an original. It predates 1951, when my mother and father married, because the inscription on the back uses my mother's maiden name. I suspect from my grandmother's letter that the photograph is a copy made from an original daguerreotype and probably dates from the early 1930s when my mother (the oldest of three children) was a young girl. The photograph must have been sent as a gift to my mother with a duplicate provided to my grandmother (as she notes parenthetically in her letter).

There are at least three reasons why this photograph is so thrilling and important to me and my family genealogy: (1) it represents the oldest visual evidence I have of any ancestor -- my great, great, great grandparents in my maternal line; (2) it provides photo images of two ancestors I had never seen pictures of before along with a childhood photo of my great great grandfather and his six siblings that I had also never seen before; and (3) it shows a picture of Mary Vinal Otis (the mother in the photograph holding the baby) who is the link to my second proven line of descent from Richard Warren of the Mayflower!

The identities of the people in the photograph are handwritten on the back by Edith McIntyre, the daughter of Abby Ann Ruth Cooke (1842 - 1923, the girl bottom right in the photo with the pig tails) and her husband James Harvey McIntyre. According to my grandmother's letter, Edith gifted copies of the photograph to my grandmother and my mother. I believe the original daguerreotype/photograph was taken in 1852 because the baby in the photo, Charles Willis Cooke, was born in 1851 and looks to be about a year old as he sits on his mother's lap. The people in the photograph, left to right, are:

Russell Cooke (1810 - 1884) my great, great, great grandfather.

Charles Willis Cooke (1851 - ) in the arms of his mother.

Mary Vinal Cooke, nee Otis (1806 - 1881) -- my great, great, great grandmother.

William Russell Cooke (1836 - 1899)

Albert Frances Cooke (1848 - ) sitting to the left of his mother.

Edward Otis Cooke (1839 - ) standing behind his brother Albert.

Abby Ann Ruth Cooke (1842 - 1923) in pig tails sitting to the left of Albert.

Mary Thomas Cooke (1834 - ) standing behind Abby.

George Henry Cooke (1843 - 1872) my great great grandfather.

Mary Vinal Otis is the 5th great granddaughter of Richard Warren, who came over on the Mayflower, and his wife Elizabeth Walker.

Richard Warren m. Elizabeth Walker

Anna Warren m. Thomas Little

Ephraim Little m. Mary Sturtevant

Mercy Little m. Job Otis, Sr.

Job Otis, Jr. m. __________

David Otis, Sr. m. Mary Vinal

David Otis, Jr. m. Ruthy Otis

Mary Vinal Otis m. Russell Cooke

My descent from the Cooke family is as follows:

Benjamin Cooke m. Abigail Church*

Russell Cooke m. Mary Vinal Otis

George Henry Cooke m. Susannah C. Appell

Walter Wilson Cooke m. Florence Leonette Flagg

Ruth Eaton Cooke m. Everett Shearman Carpenter

Shirley Carpenter m. Arnold G. Tew, Jr. (my parents)

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Original letter and photograph in the collection of the author.

* Abigail Church was a descendant of Richard Warren through his daughter Elizabeth and her marriage to Richard Church. Abigail was the 4th great granddaughter of Richard and Elizabeth (Walker) Warren.

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Funeral Card Friday (January 3, 2014) -- Funeral Card for Huldah A. Tew, January 3, 1983

January 3, 2014, 3:00 am

≫ Next: Saturday Serendipity (January 4, 2014)

≪ Previous: Treasure Chest Thursday (January 2, 2014) -- The Russell Cooke and Mary Vinal (Otis) Cooke Family Circa 1852

My paternal grandmother, Huldah Antonia (Hasselbaum) Tew, was born in Providence, Rhode Island on July 16, 1898. She was the daughter of Anton Hasselbaum and his wife, Maria Johanna (Richter) Hasselbaum. Huldah died on January 3, 1983 -- thirty-one years ago today.

Rest in Peace, Grandma!

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Original funeral card and photograph of Huldah Tew from the collection of the author.

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Saturday Serendipity (January 4, 2014)

January 4, 2014, 3:00 am

≫ Next: Samaritan Sunday (January 5, 2014)

≪ Previous: Funeral Card Friday (January 3, 2014) -- Funeral Card for Huldah A. Tew, January 3, 1983

Saturdays often allow a more leisurely approach to life than work days. I can more easily post links to some blog posts or other materials I have discovered during the week, or even to those discovered during a Saturday morning coffee and extended surfing of the blogosphere/internet.

Here are a few recommendations for inclusion on your reading list.

1. If you have not seen "Portrait of Lotte," then you realy, really, really want to go here and view this 2 minute 45 second video of a girl named Lotte from birth to age 12. [Skip the dog breath ad.] I am so envious of this fantastic genealogical treasure. What wouldn't we all give to have such time-lapsed documentation of the growth and maturation of our ancestors and descendants?

2. The Weekly Genealogist brings us a link to a paean to heirlooms, family stories, and family memorabilia in the Bangor Daily News. It will not surprise any of us to learn that a 2012 Allianz Life Insurance survey "discovered" that elderly Americans and baby boomers consider preserving family history and stories as the most important legacy they can leave behind!

3. Rebecca Onion at The Vault never disappoints! You really need to check out this time elapsed illustration of what humans knew of the world from 2348 BC through 1828 AD. The map images are taken from the 1830 Historical Atlas of Edward Quin, an Englishman, and then are very cleverly sewn together into a time lapse presentation as viewed through a dissipating cosmic cloud. Way cool!

4. Ever hear of Canadian-born singer/entertainer Eva Tanguay (1878 - 1947), the self described "girl who made vaudeville famous?" Neither had I. At least I had not heard of her until I saw this post at the history blog Holyoke, Mass on January 2nd. It seems Miss Tanguay returned to Holyoke for a performance on January 2, 1914 and it was stated that, "Theatergoers are still disputing as to whether the original 'nut' comedian is really shrewd and clever, or actually crazy." This post-performance assessment and the photo of Miss Tanguay on the blog intrigued me. It appears she was very big in vaudeville and grew up in Holyoke after moving there from Quebec when she was almost six years old. By 1910 she was earning $3,500/week! Read the Holyoke post and then discover more about Eva Tanguay, a vaudeville star your grandparents or great grandparents surely knew about and might have even seen on stage, by also looking at the Wikipedia article on Miss Tanguay. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eva_Tanguay

5. The different ways families have of celebrating holidays and developing traditions have always fascinated me. As an example, for years I have had a habit of asking a round robin question at holiday banquet tables or other social gatherings, "What foods are traditionally on your family's table for Thanksgiving (or any other major holiday)?" The answers are always interesting, informative and fun as everyone lights up while sharing and describing their memories of family feasts. So naturally I found "Christmas Pie" at Donna Catterick's This I Leave blog a different but very interesting addition to a Christmas menu. Have a look at the photograph of the family about to dig into the pie and see if you don't agree that the Duncan family had some creative cooking as part of their holiday tradition.

6. This week Mini Bytes at UpFront With NGS provides links to two resource sites worth knowing about. The first, 250+ Killer Digital Libraries and Archives , lists open access online libraries and archives where digital formats are viewable and usable by the general public. The second is the Repositories of Primary Sources site compiled by Terry Abraham where one can discover a worldwide collection of over 5,000 websites describing holdings of rare books, historical photographs, manuscripts, and other primary sources of interest and use to researchers. Any links that are new or revised at the site within the last thirty days are marked as {New}, which is a very useful feature. [A note of caution is that a quick check of the 19 Rhode Island website links found two links that were not working or not current.]

7. Harold Henderson at Midwestern Microhistory blog recommends the post "Proof of the Pudding" by Tony Proctor at Parallax View blog about the concept of "proof" and the difference in proof/evidence in pure science v. genealogy. Harold offers some of his own views on the subject and the recommended post. In particular Harold makes a nice point for genealogy about the difference between "information" and the use of information formed into "evidence."

8. And finally, score one for our favorite genealogist lawyer, Judy Russell at The Legal Genealogist blog -- or maybe we should say at the champion "blawg." Congratulations to Judy in her well-deserved victory as the No. 1, Top Dog, Summa Cum Laude law blog in the "Niche" category of the American Bar Journal's 2013 Blawg 100 contest. Blog on Judy!!

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Samaritan Sunday (January 5, 2014)

January 5, 2014, 3:00 am

≫ Next: Amanuensis Monday (January 6, 2014) -- Eber Miller's 1819 Poem

≪ Previous: Saturday Serendipity (January 4, 2014)

Alfred T. Cabral is 88 years old now. He lives in an assisted care facility in Worcester, Massachusetts, but his home town was Hudson, Massachusetts in 1943. Like many of his generation, he served in the military during World War II. He enlisted in the Army as an 18-year-old and after first setting foot in Italy on a beach in the vicinity of Anzio and Nettuno as part of Operation Shingle by the Allied forces on January 22, 1944, he survived the "Battle of Anzio" where there were 43,000 Allied casualties (7,000 killed and 36,000 wounded).

Mr. Cabral participated in some of the bloodiest battles of WWII including against the Germans'Operation Nordwind. Nordwind (North Wind) began on December 31, 1944 in Alsace Lorraine in northeastern France. It was the last major German offensive of WWII on the Western front. The German objective was to break through the lines of the American 7th and French 1st Armies in the Vosges Mountains to allow for the German move against the American 3rd Army. This was during the famous Battle of the Bulge (Dec. 16 - Jan. 25., 1944) that started further south in the Ardennes just two weeks before Nordwind began.

On January 10, 1945 during the battle in the Vosges Mountains, Alfred Cabral stepped on a land mine buried deep in the snow and almost had his left foot taken off. Alfred was evacuated and his foot was saved due to the use of a fairly new drug called penicillin. He spent the remainder of the war in military hospitals and eventually returned home to Hudson where he joined the police force and progressively advanced to Police Chief before retiring in 1979. He is the recipient of the Purple Heart and the Bronze Star for his service in WWII.

An unnamed Good Samaritan was walking on a beach in Nettuno, Italy (the area along with Anzio where the initial Allied landing took place) the past year, when he came across a bit of metal in the sand. It turned out to be a very old dog tag. Rather than keeping it as an artifact of WWII, the man thought it must have belonged to a soldier killed during the famous battle that occurred on the beaches of Anzio/Nettuno in January 1944 -- seventy years ago this month -- so he decided he would not keep the dog tag and instead made the effort to turn it into a local military cemetery.

The day after this past Christmas, December 26, 2013, the American Battle Monuments Commission (which has responsibility for military cemeteries and memorials for fallen Americans all around the world) sent an email to the Cabral family. The Commission had come into possession of something that belonged to Alfred T. Cabral.

Read the full story of Alfred Cabral and the family history that the simple act of one Good Samaritan has renewed by going here. You can also see a photograph of Mr. Cabral in his WWII uniform with his mother, father, and two sisters around taken around 1944.

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Amanuensis Monday (January 6, 2014) -- Eber Miller's 1819 Poem

January 6, 2014, 3:00 am

≫ Next: Travel Tuesday (January 7, 2014) - The Trip To "The Long Count Fight"

≪ Previous: Samaritan Sunday (January 5, 2014)

Eber Miller is my 3rd great grandfather. He was born on April 24, 1805 most likely in Cumberland, Rhode Island. He died on March 21, 1877 in Cumberland. He was the son of Asquire Miller and his wife Amey Bishop.

I have written about Eber Miller previously. See, for example, the posts of October 21, 2103 and October 14, 2013.

Today's post is the transcription [complete with errors] of a poem written by Eber Miller when he was just three months shy of 14 years old. So far as I know, it is an original poem, but it is possible it is one he just copied since it seems a bit despondent and mature for a 13-year-old. The spelling errors could argue against a copied poem unless the poem that was copied also had spelling errors.

The poem was written in 1819 and is either the oldest or among the very oldest documents I have that was written by one of my ancestors. Unfortunately, the original was folded at some point and the paper is now quite fragile. One of my other ancestors wrote in pencil -- barely visible in the lower right corner of the paper -- that Eber was "born 1805," which is correct.

HOPE

Ah wo is me from day to day

I drag a life of pain and sorrow

Yet still sweet hope I hear thee say

Be carm thine ills will end to morrow

The morrow comes but brings to me

No charm disease or grief releaving

And am I ever doomed to see

Sweet hope thy promises decieving

Yet false and cruel as thou art

Thy dear delusions will I cherish

I cannot dare not with with the part

Since I alas with thee must perish

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Eber Miller of Cumberland

January the 29 [??} 1819

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Original poem in the collection of the author.

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Travel Tuesday (January 7, 2014) - The Trip To "The Long Count Fight"

January 7, 2014, 3:00 am

≫ Next: Wordless Wednesday (January 8, 2014) -- The Herbert Beverly Jeffs Family 1893

≪ Previous: Amanuensis Monday (January 6, 2014) -- Eber Miller's 1819 Poem

In September 1927 my paternal grandparents, Arnold G. Tew, Sr. and Huldah A. (Hasselbaum) Tew, decided to take a road trip with another couple in my grandfather's car. They drove from Rhode Island to Chicago to see the World Heavyweight title rematch of Jack Dempsey and Gene Tunney at Soldier Field. This photograph was apparently taken in a roadside field or meadow during a stop along the way.

The fight became famous as "The Long Count Fight" after Dempsey, who was once again favored over Gene Tunney, The Fighting Marine, lost as 104,943 spectators looked on.

New, but not yet universal, knockout rules had been negotiated for the fight so that a fighter who was knocked down had 10 seconds -- after his opponent had first removed to a neutral corner (meaning one with no trainers in it) -- to get back up under his unassisted power . Dempsey had a habit of standing near and over his opponent so that if he got back up after being knocked down Dempsey was right there to immediately resume the attack. Since he was not used to the new rules, when he staggered and dropped Tunney in the seventh round for the first time in Tunney's career, Dempsey hung over him for 3 to 8 seconds before the referee could get Dempsey to go to a neutral corner. As a result Tunney, who has been truly stunned by a flurry of punches from Dempsey, had about 13 seconds total from the time he went down until he stood after Dempsey finally went to a neutral corner. Tunney recovered from the knockdown and, in turn, floored Dempsey in the eighth round. The referee started the count right away and before Tunney had moved to a neutral corner, but Dempsey regained his feet. The fight went the final two rounds and Tunney dominated. In the end, Tunney retained his title when he defeated Dempsey in a unanimous decision.

I have no evidence that my grandparents were boxing fans to any degree, but the Dempsey-Tunney rematch was a very big event in 1927 and probably attracted adventurous young adults in the same way that rock festivals would later sweep up young men and women four decades later. It was a road trip that promised adventure and the spectacle of what was sure to be an epic fight. The fight was the first $1 million gate and the first $2 million gate at the same time (equivalent to some $22 million today).

The trip certainly had some adventure and must have made for some great stories to recount in later years. The next photograph, which is taken from the other side of the car, provides evidence for the basis of what was surely one of many stories the travelers recounted after their return.

Bill Reilly, a friend of my grandparents and a fellow traveler,
shown changing the tire on their car.

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Photographs from the collection of the author.

For more details on the 1927 Dempsey-Tunney "Long Count" rematch, see "The Long Count Fight" at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Long_Count_Fight .

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Wordless Wednesday (January 8, 2014) -- The Herbert Beverly Jeffs Family 1893

January 8, 2014, 3:00 am

≫ Next: Those Places or "Travel Thursday" (January 9, 2014) -- St. Petersburg, Russia

≪ Previous: Travel Tuesday (January 7, 2014) - The Trip To "The Long Count Fight"

Herbert Beverly Jeffs, Eulalie Lillian Mary Jeffs, and Elizabeth Ann (Fennell) Jeffs

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Original photograph (circa 1893) in the family genealogy collection.

The baby is the maternal grandmother of my wife Molly and the great grandmother of our two sons. Eulalie was born in Bond Head, Ontario, Canada in 1893 and died in Burlington, New Jersey in 1984. Her mother, Elizabeth Ann Jeffs nee Fennell, was born at Bradford, Ontario, Canada in December 1866. Her father, Herbert Beverly Jeffs, was born in March 1864 in West Gwillimbury, Ontario, Canada.

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Those Places or "Travel Thursday" (January 9, 2014) -- St. Petersburg, Russia

January 9, 2014, 9:00 am

≫ Next: Friday Fotos (January 10, 2014) -- The Medical Alumni Association of the University of Toronto (June 9, 1967)

≪ Previous: Wordless Wednesday (January 8, 2014) -- The Herbert Beverly Jeffs Family 1893

The former Winter Palace now The Hermitage museum in St. Petersburg, Russia
as seen from across the Neva River (November 2006)

As Geneabloggers informs us, today* is the anniversary of the 1905 "St. Petersburg Massacre" in Russia. In January 1905 demonstrators marched to what was then the Winter Palace to present a petition to Czar Nicholas II. Soldiers opened fire on the demonstrators not at the palace itself in Palace Square, but rather as they approached the palace from various points in the city center. Both sides disputed how many people were killed or injured during the shootings, but today most estimates agree that about 1,000 were either killed or wounded from shots and from being trampled by the panicked and fleeing crowd of demonstrators. The utter disregard for the ordinary people who were killed and injured simply trying to present a petition to the Czar shocked and angered the country and a strike spread throughout Russia. Over 400,000 people refused to work during January 1905 and when the movement persisted authorities eventually shot or hanged 15,000 peasants and workers, injured another 20,000 and sent 45,000 into exile. It is generally considered that the massacre of Bloody Sunday and the disaster of World War I for Russians led to the Russian Revolution of 1917 -- which began in St. Petersburg on October 25, 1917 (Old Style calendar, November 7th New Style calendar) with a blank shot signal fired from the cruiser Aurora to announce the storming of the Winter Palace.

The cruiser Aurora docked in St. Petersburg (November 2006)

In November 2006, a friend and I took a quick trip to Russia when excellent airfare rates suddenly presented themselves. We flew into Moscow on Delta Airline and then on a Russian domestic plane to St. Petersburg. Our arrival in Russia was significantly impacted by flight delays and cancellations getting out of the U.S. and so our planned two days in St. Petersburg was trimmed down to one very long and jam-packed day. We then took a late overnight train back to Moscow where we spent a few days before flying home. The night train looked almost brand new and the sleeper compartment and service were excellent. We were awoken with a tray of hot tea and a light breakfast of some biscuits and fruit just before we pulled into the Moscow train station!

Because our time in St. Petersburg was cut in half from what we had planned, our itinerary was quickly adjusted with the driver and tour guide we hired prior to arriving. The cost for the driver and guide was amazingly inexpensive and proved to be well worth the expense in any event. Our guide, Tatiana, was a Ph.D. engineer who had to support her pensioned elderly parents. She told us that since the fall of the USSR, she could make more money doing tour guiding than she could in her former position with the government and the pension her parents had was entirely inadequate for them to attempt to live on alone. Tatiana spoke excellent English and was very knowledgable about the city and its history. She and the driver, Yevgeni, took us to local restaurants, places to do some shopping, to a Russian folk dancing and singing show, and to various historic sites in the city. In addition to seeing the site where Rasputin was killed, St. Isaac's Cathedral and the Church of Our Savior on the Spilled Blood, the Peter and Paul Fortress, the cabin of Peter the Great, the cruiser Aurora where the start of the October Revolution was signaled with a blank shot, and other sites, we spent several hours at The Hermitage museum (pictured at the top of this post), which is the old Winter Palace -- the destination of demonstrators on Bloody Sunday 1905.

The Church of Our Savior on the Spilled Blood (Church of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ) built on the site of the assassination of Czar Alexander II by terrorists. It is considered St. Petersburg's answer to Moscow's famous and ornate St. Basil's Cathedral, which sits in Red Square.

St. Petersburg is a beautiful city built on some 100 islands nestled within canals in the Neva River delta on the eastern shore of the Gulf of Finland (Baltic Sea). There are 342 bridges in St. Petersburg and it is not surprising that the city is often called "The Venice of the North." The founder of the city was Peter the Great and he named the city in honor of St. Peter, but the city's name has changed many times. From 1703 until 1914 it was known as St. Petersburg ("The City of St. Peter"). In 1914 the name was changed to Petrograd and then in 1924 it was renamed in honor of Vladimir Lenin and it was known as Leningrad until the fall of the Soviet Union when it returned to the name St. Petersburg in 1991. St. Petersburg is the most northern city in the world with a population of over 1 million (5 million as of 2012). St. Petersburg, Florida was named in honor of the Russian city by Piotr Dementyev (Peter Demens), a Russian-born railroad builder in the U.S.

Aerial view of St. Petersburg, Russia -- "The Venice of the North" -- looking at The Hermitage museum (the former Winter Palace) top center below the water and then across the water to the Peter and Paul Fortress.

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All photographs by the author (November 2006) except the aerial view of the city, which is from http://www.saint-petersburg.com/virtual-tour/introduction and you are encouraged to visit that website if you are ever contemplating a trip to St. Petersburg, Russia.

* Actually, today is the anniversary under the "Old Style" Julian calendar. Under the "New Style" Gregorian calendar the anniversary date is January 22 -- so if you follow any links to the anniversary today you might be confused if you see the site stating the anniversary of the massacre is January 22nd and not today -- January 9th. For a reminder of how calendar dates for historical events and milestones in our genealogies can be different than we expect if the calendar used is not specified, see the more detailed information on the differences between event dates under the "Old Style" Julian calendar versus the "New Style" Gregorian calendar, here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates

For more detailed background on the "Bloody Sunday" St. Petersburg massacre, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloody_Sunday_(1905)

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Friday Fotos (January 10, 2014) -- The Medical Alumni Association of the University of Toronto (June 9, 1967)

January 10, 2014, 3:00 am

≫ Next: Saturday Serendipity (January 11, 2014)

≪ Previous: Those Places or "Travel Thursday" (January 9, 2014) -- St. Petersburg, Russia

Dr. George Douglas Jeffs (front row right) is the maternal great grandfather of our two sons. He was born in Havelock Township, Peterborough County, Ontario, Canada in November 1893. He died in Lake Worth, Florida in February 1980. He and Eulalie Lillian Mary Jeffs were married in York, Ontario, Canada on October 4, 1919.

Dr. Jeffs was a "graduate of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Toronto, from which he received the degree of Bachelor of Medicine on May 2, 1917."

As the photograph above indicates, Dr. Jeffs was an active member of the Medical Alumni Association of the University of Toronto. The photograph was taken at a meeting of the Association on June 9, 1967. The exact location is unknown, but it is presumably in front of a building on the University campus in Toronto. The Association members pictured in the photograph are as follows moving left to right by row starting with the front row standing on the sidewalk.

Front Row: J.C. McClelland; J.S. Crawford; N.B. Beardmore; R.M. Harvie; and G.D. JEFFS

Second Row: S.J. Evelyn; E.D. Hutchinson; J.F. Adams; W.P. Tew; G.M. Dobbin; J.H. Howell

Third Row: F.H. Boone; C.S. MacDougall; C.V. Mills; J.L. King; J.W. MacKenzie

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Original photograph and certificate from the family genealogy collection.

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Saturday Serendipity (January 11, 2014)

January 11, 2014, 3:00 am

≫ Next: Samaritan Sunday (January 12, 2014)

≪ Previous: Friday Fotos (January 10, 2014) -- The Medical Alumni Association of the University of Toronto (June 9, 1967)

Here are a few recommendations for inclusion on your reading list.

1. As this particular item is being written a few days earlier than usual, we are covered in snow here in northwestern Virginia and bracing for cold that could break records -- although as a New Englander the depth of the snow and the bite of the cold is not what I recall from New Hampshire in the early 1960s. Nonetheless we will be paying special attention to the weather forecasts for Saturday, January 11th because we are attending my nephew's wedding in Philadelphia today. So this weather-conscious event and a post last Saturday by Judy Russell at award winning blawg, The Legal Genealogist, have emphasized the importance weather can have on our family history and memories. Judy tells a nice story about her experience of awesome winters, but she also provides some great links to use to check weather facts for your memories and family histories. Read "The Storms of Memory"here and get some very useful links provided by Judy.

2. One of the discoveries that we often make about our ancestors and the times in which they lived, is that child labor outside the family home and off the family farm was treated much differently than it is today. The Vault provides some nice graphics in the form of U.S. maps showing child labor regulation in the early 1930s. A series of maps illustrate: the ages each state established for when compulsory day school attendance ended; the minimum level of educational attainment by grade required for children going to work under age 16; the states that required physical examinations of children going to work; the hours per day that children under age 16 were allowed to work; and the states that allowed children under 16 to do night work in factories and stores. It was a different world for child labor in the 1930s and depending on which state a child lived in, it could be a VERY different world.

3. A post from Up Front With NGS provides a timely reminder of the importance of analyzing documents used to substantiate genealogical claims and conclusions. The post also provides useful links to tools for assisting in one's analysis.

4. Speaking of discoveries that are made during genealogy research . . . how about coming across a possible murder in the family? Diane Boumenot of One Rhode Island Family is one of the more thoughtful and thorough genealogy bloggers around and her research posts are always a pleasure to read and admire, but her post this week, "Using Evidence to Solve a Murder," is especially engaging and instructive regarding how to ferret out and use sources. It is a top drawer read for this week!

5. Judy Russell, our Legal Genealogist, scored again this week with a fun post about songs that could serve as theme songs for genealogists. Go to her post "Singing a different tune"and be sure to read the many comments that answer her query about other songs that could fit the bill. There are many links provided so you can listen to several of the the songs recommended.

6. NEHGS has just announced the launch of a new blog titled, "Vita Brevis." The blog is a vehicle for "offering short essays by the Society's expert staff on their own research processes, methods, and results, as well as news of the greater genealogical community." Have a look at the first posts . . . and by the way "Generatio longa, vita brevis" (the title of the very first post) translates to "A generation is long, life is short!"

7. The Weekly Genealogist newsletter by NEHGS alerts us to the newly available, digitally enhanced, on-line version of The Atlas of the Historical Geography of the United Statesby Charles O. Paullin. The atlas is a composite project begun in 1903 and contributed to by many scholars. At 162 pages of text and almost 700 maps graphically depicting subjects such as the routes of explorers, settlement progress, political developments, etc., there is a lot of interesting and useful data to be gathered from this resource (which can also be viewed in hard copy at the NEHGS library).

8. Here is a delightful read about an amazingly serendipitous "Eureka Moment" by Jana Last at Jana's Genealogy and Family History Blog. It involves a wonderfully kind Good Samaritan in Ireland, some very old picture postcards found in a Galway second-hand market, and . . . well just go to the link and read it for yourself! [I wanted to make Jana's story a post in my Samaritan Sunday series, but I will be out of town at a wedding and how could I possibly tell it any better than Jana's has already done!?]

9. Finally, I posted here back in October about the importance of recording our experiences of present events for the benefit of our ancestors. And last August I posted here about how I was concerned about the ability to record and preserve our gathered genealogy research, stories, and data in such a way that it is not lost due to obsolete digital formats or by the immediacy of a simple press of a delete button. I wanted us to contemplate the beauty, permanence, and easy accessibility of the paper-based medium. Bill West of West in New England muses on these same issues in "Some Say The World Will End In Fire, Some Say In Ice." I think we should all remind ourselves of the importance of creating AND preserving all our genealogy data for the really long term. Bill mentions his plan to preserve his blog in book form, which is an excellent idea that I discussed with my cousin Heather Rojo some months ago. For several years now Heather has periodically preserved her blog in book form using Blurb. On her recommendation, I have now begun doing the same. [See Heather's April 22 & 23, 2010 posts about preserving her blog on Blurb by scrolling down after clicking on her "Blurb" label in the right margin of her blog home page.] The first volume of my Blurb blog book [say THAT five times fast!] became a Christmas gift to each of my sons just two weeks ago. I plan a future post about the experience and the result. If you blog or plan to, read the posts linked above and then resolve as a high priority New Year's Resolution to preserve and share all your efforts in the good ol' permanent, easily accessible form of a paper-based blog book!
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Samaritan Sunday (January 12, 2014)

January 12, 2014, 3:00 am

≫ Next: A Genealogy Blogosphere Thank you! (January 13, 2104)

≪ Previous: Saturday Serendipity (January 11, 2014)

Winning a lottery is a fantasy for many, but how many have the opportunity to win a genealogy lottery set in motion by a Good Samaritan who sought to reunite a family with 120 years of memories? Keith Bremmer of Windsor, Ontario, Canada and his cousin, Margaret Turner from Acton, Ontario, Canada (now living at Lake Chapala outside Guadalajara, Mexico), were participants in just such a lottery.

Keith and Margaret's great grandparents, George and Jean Bremmer, came to Canada from Scotland in 1890 and by 1923 they were living in Kitchener, Ontario. One of the family items they had was a small wooden, velvet-lined lap desk in which they kept such things as a lock of hair, photos of family members taken in Scotland, and other mementos.

Somehow after George and Jean passed away (1923 and the early 30s respectively), the lap desk and all its contents left the possession of family members and eventually found its way into a Toronto antiques shop. Marvin Allen, a collector of inkwells, happened across the lap desk and thought it would fit in well with his collection -- so he bought it. Marvin died in 1995 and his daughter, Marlee Petroff, ended up with the lap desk and the Bremmer family history it contained.

To find out what happened next and how Keith Bremmer and Margaret Turner found themselves entered into a "genealogy lottery" involving the lap desk, go here for the details and to see photographs of the lap desk, Good Samaritan Marlee Petroff, and family pictures from inside the desk.

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A Genealogy Blogosphere Thank you! (January 13, 2104)

January 13, 2014, 12:12 pm

≫ Next: First Cars (January 15, 2014) -- Massachusetts License Plate No. 19

≪ Previous: Samaritan Sunday (January 12, 2014)

2014 has already been a busy year.

I returned to the office on January 6th after a very enjoyable holiday season with family and friends. Molly went back to her teaching about the same time after a brief hiatus to allow for snow and extreme cold school cancelations. And then Molly and I just returned late yesterday from the wedding of our nephew in Philadelphia this past weekend.

While at the wedding reception I was able to spend some time in genealogy conversation with my nephew's cousin from his mother's side. "Kenny" and I have communicated about our mutual interest in family history over recent years and we both stood there at the reception -- cameras in hand to record yet another family history event -- chatting about genealogy while the reception whirled around us.

We discussed my year-old blogging adventure and Kenny had kind words for the blog based on a few visits. I spent a good deal of time encouraging him to start his own family history blog as soon as possible and I ran down some of the many benefits of being able to share -- and thereby preserve via wider distribution -- all the family history and treasures he has been able to accumulate. What I forgot to emphasize to Kenny was the wonderful community of people that inhabit the genealogy blogosphere!

During this first year of genealogy blogging, I have come to meet a couple of distant cousins and many other kind, helpful, and encouraging genealogy bloggers. I have developed a circle of "Blog Acquaintances" and several have become friends that I just happen not to have met face-to-face as yet. One of those friends wrote me an email and left a comment on my Blogiversary post while Molly and I were at the wedding in Philadelphia.

Barbara Poole, of Life From The Roots blog, wrote to congratulate me on completing my first year of blogging and to note how The Prism had received the honor of being recognized by one of the premier genealogy blogs in a round-up of blogs for 2013. And it was Barbara's kindness in sending her congratulations that reminded me that in the rush of the New Year I had completely forgotten about sending a very appreciative 'Thank You" for the 2013 round-up mention. Thanks to Barbara I immediately rectified my faux pas with a direct email today to the blog author.

While a belated "thank you" is better than none, it is still not as good as a timely note of appreciation; but the bright side here is that Barbara's thoughtful kindness allowed a timely thank you to her, and a blog prompt for today that permits me to (1) offer a broader, more public "Thank You!" to Randy Seaver, genea-blogger extraordinaire at Genea-Musings blog; and (2) to tell Kenny that some of the huge benefits of genealogy blogging are the acquaintances, friendships, supportive encouragement, and distant cousin connections you can make upon entering this wonderful family history community!

So without further ado . . . thank you again Barbara!

And, Randy Seaver, a belated but very heartfelt "THANK YOU!" for including The Prism among the 23 blogs you mention as your picks for "Best of the Genea-Blogs for 2013." To be mentioned in the same company as the well-established blogs that have made your list for two or even three years, is . . . I am truly at a loss for words. I can say that your inclusion of The Prism has made my year -- and 2014 is only 13 days old!!

One other thing I will say -- and that I think all of the bloggers you mentioned would join with me in saying -- is that your list (being understandably and properly modest) left out one of the very "Best of the Genea-Blogs for 2013" (and past and future years), so readers should add to their copy of your list Genea-Musings by Randy Seaver found at this link EVERY day! As others have said -- and I echo -- I do not know how you do it, but we are all glad you and others (such as Thomas MacEntee) are able to do what you do and that you keep it up!

Warm regards and best wishes for 2014 to Randy and all the other members of the genealogy blogosphere community!

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First Cars (January 15, 2014) -- Massachusetts License Plate No. 19

January 15, 2014, 6:09 pm

≫ Next: Those Places Thursday (January 16, 2014) -- National Jamborees, Boy Scouts of America

≪ Previous: A Genealogy Blogosphere Thank you! (January 13, 2104)

My maternal grandmother's older sister, Helen R. Cooke, married Dr. Frederick Alpha Roberts in 1922. They lived all their married life in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Helen died in Pittsfield at age 95 in 1987.

Fred was born in Jacksonville, Windham County, Vermont in 1863. He attended New York University for a time, but apparently left to go to work in Boston for several years as a clerk. His uncle, Dr. Oscar S. Roberts of Pittsfield, Massachusetts, convinced Fred that he should go to medical school and at age 34 Fred graduated from the College of Physicians and Surgeons in Baltimore, Maryland. Upon graduation he went to Pittsfield and joined the medical practice of his Uncle Oscar, one of the best known physicians in Berkshire County. Their offices were in the Whelden Block of the city in what was known as the Pender Building in 1935. "Dr. Fred" became widely known as an obstetrical physician over the years and when he died in 1935 at age 72, he was the fifth oldest practicing physcian in Pittsfield, Massachusetts.

Both Oscar Roberts and his nephew Fred were avid motorists. Oscar was the first person in Pittsfield to own an automobile and Fred was a charter member of the Automobile Club of Berkshire County, having joined when it was formed in 1903.

The license plate shown above is the plate that was issued to Dr. Fred Roberts and was retained as an active plate by his widow, my Grand Aunt Helen, for decades afterward. In the early days of car registration and license plates, the plates were issued in sequential order. Later when sequential numbering was abandoned, those with active sequential numbers were allowed to keep their plate numbers so long as the registration remained active. My aunt used to get repeated offers to take over her plates, which became one of the oldest active plates in the state as the years went by. Dr. Fred held plate No. 19 for some 32 years and it was the lowest registration plate in Berkshire County when he died in 1935.

I now have the plate shown above, a 1966 issue of Plate No. 19 to my Grand Aunt Helen.

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Image of the original license plate in the personal collection of the author.

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Those Places Thursday (January 16, 2014) -- National Jamborees, Boy Scouts of America

January 16, 2014, 11:28 am

≫ Next: Friday Fotos (January 17, 2014) -- Minnie Jeffs nee Brown

≪ Previous: First Cars (January 15, 2014) -- Massachusetts License Plate No. 19

In 1969 I was a Boy Scout and that summer I attended the Boy Scouts of America National Jamboree held at Farragut State Park outside Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. National Jamborees are held by the BSA about once every four years. The 1969 Jamboree was the first of five National Jamborees that I have attended. The other four I attended as an adult and I served in various capacities including as a Jamboree Troop 1st Assistant Scoutmaster, as a Jamboree Troop Scoutmaster, as a member of the Northeast Regional Staff (Action Alley), and, during the 100th BSA Anniversary Jamboree in 2010, as a member of the Jamboree Security Staff. Both of our sons are Eagle Scouts. One attended the 1997 Jamboree as a youth participant and the other attended the 2001 Jamboree as a youth participant. National Jamborees are part of our family history.

The 1969 National Jamboree was actually held five years after the previous Jamboree held at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania in 1964. The 1969 National Jamboree was delayed for a year because in 1967 the Boy Scouts of America hosted the World Jamboree for the first time and the World Jamboree was held at Farragut State Park.

The Boy Scouts of America have held eighteen* National Jamborees as of the one held the summer of 2013. The first Jamboree was to have been held in Washington, DC in August 1935, but it had to be canceled due to a polio epidemic. The first BSA National Jamboree to actually take place was held on the Mall in Washington, DC in 1937 with 27,238 youth and adult participants from around the country.

A Jamboree usually lasts for seven days as it did in 1953, 1957, 1960, 1964, 1969, 1973, 1977, 1981, 1985, 1989, 1993; but in 1937, 1950, 1997, 2001, 2005, 2010 and 2013 the Jamborees were ten days long. Over the years, National Jamborees have been held in eight different locations in the country: Washington, DC (1937); Valley Forge, PA (1950, 1957 and 1964); Irvine Ranch, CA ( 1953); Colorado Springs, CO (1960); Farragut State Park, ID (1969 and 1973*); Moraine State Park, PA (1973* and 1977); Fort A.P. Hill, VA (1981, 1985, 1989, 1993, 1997, 2001, 2005, and 2010); and, most recently, at the new BSA-owned "Bechtel Family National Scout Reserve - The Summit" in WV. Now that the BSA owns and controls 10,600 acres in West Virginia, The Summit will become the permanent home for all future National Jamborees.

National Jamborees have always attracted tens of thousands of participants (youth and adult) from around the U.S. and some foreign countries. The smallest of the National Jamborees was in 1937 at 27, 238 participants, but the Jamborees in 1977 and 1981 were not much larger at 28,601, and 29,765 participants respectively. Setting aside the unique East/West Jamborees of 1973, which had a combined total of 73,610 participants, the largest single Jamboree is still the one held at Colorado Springs in 1960 with 56,377 participants. The largest National Jamboree in the last 48 years has been the 2010 Jamboree, which was held in the year of the 100th Anniversary of the founding of the Boy Scouts of America and had 43,434 participants. That made the 100th Anniversary Jamboree the sixth largest Jamboree after 1960 (56,377), 1957 (52,580), 1964 (50,960), 1950 (47,163), and 1953 (45,401).

As a youth participant at the 1969 National Jamboree, I was a member of a temporary "expeditionary Troop" formed from registered Scouts in Burlington County, NJ where my family lived at the time. Our Jamboree Troop #26 (pictured at the top of this post) was comprised of four "patrols" and I was the Patrol Leader for one of them -- the "Unami" patrol. Our patrol totem is hanging second from the left on the Troop's gateway in the photo above.

The shape of our patrol totem is a turtle because the area that became Burlington County, New Jersey was a small part of the ancestral home of the Lenape (lun-NAH-pay) people who were later called the "Delaware" by the English. The Lenape were separated into three main sub-tribes: the Minsi symbolized by the Wolf; the Unami symbolized by the Turtle; and the Unalachtigo symbolized by the Turkey. The founder of the Province of Pennsylvania, William Penn, made his 1682 peace and land purchase treaty ("Penn's Treaty") with the Unami and the Unalachtigo peoples. Since the Unami lived in the areas bordering both sides of the Delaware River where the Philadelphia environs and Burlington County are now located, we decided to name our patrol the Unami.

The participant patch for the BSA's 1969 National Jamboree

The participant patches for (left to right top to bottom) the BSA's 2010, 2005, 2001 and 1997 National Jamborees

Oh, in the event you are trying to find me in the Troop 26 photograph above, I am the one kneeling at the far right in the second row. So young, such hair . . .

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* Purists will sometimes argue that there have actually only been seventeen truly "National" Jamborees because in 1973 the Jamboree was actually split between two locations -- one in the east (Moraine State Park, PA) and one in the west (Farragut State Park, ID) -- AND they were not even held simultaneously because the western location started on August 1, 1973 and the eastern location started two days later on August 3, 1973. The 1973 Jamboree is unique, thus far, because all other Jamborees have occurred at a single location.

Original photograph in the personal collection of the author.

The image of the 1771-72 Benjamin West painting of William Penn's treaty with the Indians is from the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia. The work is in the public domain because it was published or registered before January 1, 1923. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Treaty_of_Penn_with_Indians_by_Benjamin_West.jpg

Images of the Jamboree participant "patches" for the 1969, 2010, 2005, 2001 and 1997 National Jamborees made from original patches in the personal collection of the author.

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Friday Fotos (January 17, 2014) -- Minnie Jeffs nee Brown

January 17, 2014, 6:24 pm

≫ Next: Saturday Serendipity (January 18, 2014)

≪ Previous: Those Places Thursday (January 16, 2014) -- National Jamborees, Boy Scouts of America

Minnie Brown is the great grandmother of my wife and therefore the great great grandmother of our two sons. Minnie was born in February 1862 in Ontario, Canada. She was the daughter of Thomas Brown and his wife, Ann Parry.

Minnie married Dr. William Henry Maines Jeffs on Christmas Day 1890 in York, Ontario, Canada. William and Minnie had two sons: Howard Brown Jeffs born in 1891; and George Douglas Jeffs born in 1893. Both sons became physicians.

Minnie and William also adopted a little girl named Jeanette who was born in the United States in July 1903. Jeanette is shown as their adopted daughter in the 1911 Census of Canada when Jeanette was 8 years old, but nothing more is known about Jeanette or what became of her.

Minnie Brown Jeffs died in Toronto, Ontario, Canada on September 25, 1950 at age 88.

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Original photograph in the family collection.

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Saturday Serendipity (January 18, 2014)

January 18, 2014, 9:03 am

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Here are a few recommendations for inclusion on your reading list.

1. Three items this week from the treasure blog known as The Vault. Each will be listed as a separate find with a direct link to the subject article. In the first, blog editor Rebecca Onion selects a piece on everyday words that meant very different things to our Colonial ancestors. Joan P. Bine, director of the Golden Ball Tavern Museum in Massachusetts, is author of "Words They Lived By: Colonial New England Speech, Then and Now" and she has compiled words in categories (work, the military, drinking, the sea, etc.) to illustrate the change in meaning over the years. Just one example is "backlog", which to us is something yet to be accomplished or completed. To our ancestors it was more literally the largest log in the fire set in the back of the kitchen fireplace. Read more examples here.

2. If you have Irish ancestors then you need to go to this site selected by UpFront With NGS in this week's Mini Bytes. The Donegal Democrat links to the online archive of 85-year-old recordings so that you can listen to what Irish sounded like almost 100 years ago. You can select various counties. Donegal has 85 recordings, Roscommon has 2, Mayo 33, Derry 11, etc. Some counties unfortunately do not have any recordings. Have a listen and read the English transcripts of some wonderful stories!

3. I enjoyed Barbara Poole's photos of the homes of Henry David Thoreau -- including a replica of his famous cabin from Walden Pond at Life From The Roots. Barbara has a future venture planned to visit the original location of the Walden Pond cabin and take some photos for us to see. The refocus of Barbara's blog to concentrate on a photo tour of New England locations is a real service to those of us from New England who cannot get there as often as we would like and for those who plan to or hope to visit New England and want to peruse the options they have for a tour.

4. Here is an interesting post at Laura Mattingly's The Old Truck in the Attic about a mysterious instance of an ancestor having not one, but two tombstones!

5. New to me, but a simply wonderful idea, is the Suzanne Winsor Freeman Memorial Student Genealogy Grant established in 2010 by Denise Levenick of The Family Curator blog in honor of her mother's interest in family history. The $500 cash award has been awarded to young genealogists between 18 and 25 years old for three years now. Information about the grant for 2014 will be posted at The Family Curator blog in the near future.

6. You remember old King Alfred the Great, the Saxon king who ruled from 871 to 899, right? It seems his pelvis bone might have been found after all these centuries! Here is the story as told yesterday in The Telegraph.

7. An interesting juxtaposition of new and old is captured in the photos of Jason Reblando in the second selection from The Vault. The tintype process photos show modern working Chicagoans standing with ancient artifacts of their occupations. Have a look at these arresting photographs here.

8. Midge Frazel at Granite In My Blood will be on hiatus from posting gravestone photos at that blog in order to devote time and space to her participation in this year's month-long "Family History Writing Challenge" from The Armchair Genealogist, Lynn Palmero. What caught my eye is that Midge is going to spend a week of blogs during the challenge concentrating on explaining the technology she uses to accomplish her research. See Midge's explanation here and then stop by her blog during late January and February. She promises lots of photographic cuteness.

9. And the last of the three selections from The Vault could provide some insight for your family history about why a particular ancestor might have avoided service in the Union Army during the Civil War. One frequent and major cause of exemption from service was an "absence of teeth" because a soldier had to bite off the end of a powder cartridge to load his rifle. The chart of physical examinations shown at this post depicts various occupations, the number in those occupations who were examined for service, and the ratio rejected per 1,000 examined. There are some fascinating results to ponder. Why, for example would Editors, Watchmen, Upholsterers, and Brokers be rejected for service in such large numbers after physical examination? Have a look here and see if maybe you have some clues about why an ancestor might have been unfit for service in the Union Army even if he otherwise appeared to be of an age to be a prime target for the draft.

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