Thursday, July 31, 2014

Tickle me...


with a feather, she might say.  Or how about a bit of goose down?


Canada Geese goslings, photo by Barbara Rogers

There's a prompt on Sepia Saturday with a photo of a young lady tickling a reclining gentleman, well, about to tickle him, because he's still reclining.  Come on over and check it out HERE.  I think I'll look into our fine feathered friends, since I haven't got a single old photo that comes close to this scene.

 Young Mallard ducks, photo by Barbara Rogers



Brown Pelicans feeding, photo by Barbara Rogers



Mockingbird, photo by Barbara Rogers

Shared on Facebook
Wood Ducks, Photo by Ramya Gleeson

 
Gosling, photo by Barbara Rogers
Seagull, photo by Barbara Rogers


Disclaimer: I only post once a week to Sepia Saturday, attempting to be on theme.  The rest of my posts here at "When I was 69" are my personal archives, which may or may not have anything to do with momentos of the past.  If Sepia Saturday wishes to remove my link for daily postings, I'll certainly understand, because I don't attempt to be Sepian except when I post to the site weekly. 

My personal archives include lots of things that aren't at all Sepian...just what's important to me that I wish to share and save in a blog.

Anyway, thanks for stopping by.  I love reading what you post...but also will not make comments if there is a requirement for me to fill in my name and address or to retype some strange symbols to prove I'm not a robot.




Wednesday, July 30, 2014

The July 30 birthdays

Zulie G
Zulieka Granger Phillips Swasey b. July 30, 1858 near Atlanta. GA on plantation, called Dear Nan (She died 4.21.1935 near Rosenberg, TX.)   I've already given tribute to "Dear Nan" my great grandmother on my father's side, HERE.

When she was celebrating her 33rd birthday in 1891, when probably living in Galveston, Texas, my grandfather on my mother's side, Albert "Bud" Joe Webb, was being born in Weesatche, Goliad County, Texas.  (His died in 1919 in San Antonio, Bexar County, Texas, so I never met him).  I have given some information about him Here.

Albert "Bud" Webb 1924
 Is there anything I can add about these two ancestors?  Thanks to Ancestry where other relatives are posting pictures of our ancestors, I do have this new one to add to my collection.

 The home of Alexander and Zulie Swasey where Ada Swasey married George Rogers in 1906, Galveston, Texas. Picture much more recent.
Grandpa "Bud" Webb's draft card for WW I, filled out June 5, 1917.

And here is George Rogers draft card for WW I, filled out Sept 12, 1918.

Neither of them served in the war.

There are some really different questions on the forms they have filled out.  In 1917, Bud answered 12 questions...not claiming any cause for exemption....but he did show he had wife and child.  And the questions including asking if he was support for anyone under 12 years of age.  I don't know if there's a typo or if he gave his birthdate wrong, but he was born in 1861, and the draft form says 1862.

It is strange that Grandfather Rogers "Poppy" gave his next of kin as his mother in Galveston, while he was living with wife and children in Fort Worth.  However, I'm so glad he did, because that one piece of information told me his mother was still alive at that time, and then I went through records to find out more about her life.

Poppy also has a wrong birthdate on his draft card of 1918.  He was born August 28, 1877, and the form says Aug. 20.   By the 1918 form, there are 20 questions asked, but none about his marital status at all, nor if he had children dependent upon him.  Instead there are 5 questions about his race.

I am so glad that neither of them were in the war.  Though Bud died in September, 1919, Poppy lived until February, 1960. 

So a happy anniversary of your birth, Dear Nan, and Grandpa Bud.




Tuesday, July 29, 2014

May she find her way to the summerland...

Margot Adler, one of the signature voices on NPR's airwaves for more than three decades, died Monday at her home in New York City. She was 68 and had been battling cancer.

Adler joined NPR in 1979 as a general assignment reporter, after spending a year as an NPR freelance reporter covering New York City, and subsequently worked on a great many pieces dealing with subjects as diverse as the death penalty, the right to die movement, the response to the war in Kosovo, computer gaming, the drug ecstasy, geek culture, children and technology and Pokémon. Since 9/11, she focused much of her work on stories exploring the human factors in New York City, from the loss of loved ones, homes and jobs, to work in the relief effort. She was the host of Justice Talking up until the show ceased production on July 3, 2008. She was a regular voice on Morning Edition and All Things Considered.[3] She was also co-producer of an award-winning radio drama, War Day.[2]

"Her reporting was singular and her voice distinct," Margaret Low Smith, NPR's vice president for news, said in an announcement to staff. "There was almost no story that Margot couldn't tell."

Neopaganism

Adler authored Drawing Down the Moon,[4] a 1979 book about Neopaganism which was revised in 2006.[5] The book is considered a watershed in American Neopagan circles, as it provided the first comprehensive look at modern nature-based religions in the US. For many years it was the only introductory work about the American Neopagan communities.

Her second book, Heretic's Heart: A Journey Through Spirit and Revolution, was published by Beacon Press in 1997. Adler was a Wiccan priestess in the Gardnerian tradition, an elder in the Covenant of the Goddess,[1] and she also participated in the Unitarian Universalist faith community.[1]



Margot Adler, seen here in 2006, was a longtime reporter for NPR. She died Monday following a battle with cancer.

Monday, July 28, 2014

Birthday changing for an ancestress

Lucy Ellen Granger  Wakelee 1839 (or probably 1837)

Born in Newburyport, MA

I usually don't have great great aunts included in my genealogical discussions.  But Aunt Lucy Ellen Granger Wakelee was one of the surviving sisters of my ancestress Mary Hull Granger Phillips, a great great grandmom who died just as the Civil War was starting.  And she was one of the family members who raised orphaned Ada and Zulieka Phillips...one of whom became my great grandmother.

 

Here's the page of transcribed information on Newburyport Births for the Grangers. (Whether spelled Grainger or Granger, the mothers in question are the confusing factor.


We can tell George Tyler Granger had children with his wife named Lucy.  I know (from many other resources) that her name was Lucy Elizabeth Parsons Pulsifer Granger.

 

 

In the mid page you will see Granger in bold face.  Scan to the next line, and there's Elizabeth Pulsifer, d. George T. and Lucy Ann, Mar 27, 1833

Then comes Farnham Tyler, s. George T. and Lucy E. Apr 16, 1839


So already there are 2 possible mothers, Lucy Ann and Lucy E, but both married to a George T. Granger, (and it's not impossible there were 2 of them, but lots of records speak of George Tyler Granger).

Then comes George, s. George F (corrected to George T.) and Lucy Elizabeth, May 15, 1830

Joseph, s. George T and Lucy E(lizabeth, corrected), May 3, 1835

Lucy Ellen, d. George T. and Lucy Ann bp. July 28m 1839 (I take bp to mean born probably)

Lucy Varnum, d. George T. and Elizabeth, Feb 2 1837

Mary Hull, d. George T. and Lucy Elizabeth, May 6, 1829.


I'm going to shift the list so the children of

Lucy Ann are chronological and the Lucy E children are too.

1833 Elizabeth Pulsifer, d. George T. and Lucy Ann, Mar 27, 1833

1839 Lucy Ellen, d. George T. and Lucy Ann bp. July 28m 1839



1829  Mary Hull, d. George T. and Lucy Elizabeth, May 6, 1829.
1830 George, s. George F (corrected to George T.) and Lucy Elizabeth, May 15

1835 Joseph, s. George T and Lucy E(lizabeth, corrected), May 3, 1835

1837 Lucy Varnum, d. George T. and Elizabeth, Feb 2 1837 (mother might be possibly Lucy Elizabeth)

1839 Farnham Tyler, s. George T. and Lucy E. Apr 16, 1839

 

OK, besides the impossibility that the same mom gave birth in 1839 to

Lucy Ellen as well as Farnham Tyler, it's noted easily that Farnham is a family name.  So the 1837 Lucy Varnum was just a mispelling of Farnham in my reckoning.

 

I do know that my great great grandmom, Mary Granger had a sister Elizabeth and another one Lucy.  I own copies of letters which they wrote to each other and their parents.


I probably cannot correct this listing, which is obviously a source for many other genealogists.  But remember that bp. which I assumed was born probably?  It actually is referring to one of the conflicting 1839 births.  However, one being in July and one in April is confusing definitely, not to mention one is female and one male.

Is it possible that Lucy Ellen and Lucy Farnham are the same person?  I don't know. How many people would name two daughters the same name within 2 years? But we do have more confirmation from census reports. 

In the 1850 Census she was 13, living in Newburyport, MA.  That meant she would have been born in 1836-7.  She could not have been born in 1839 according to this record.  Her older sister Elizabeth is listed as 17, meaning born in 1833 or 4.  Mary (21) and George's (20) birthdates also are correctly linked to the Granger Newburyport births.

There are missing sons, Joseph and Farnham, who might have died.

1850 Census, Newburyport, MA
So though I'm celebrating Aunt Lucy's birthday this year on July 28, I'm shifting my data to support her birth in 1837, and thus the date would be Feb. 2.  I wonder if someone made a conscious decision to change to celebrating her birth in July rather than February!  Oh no, people don't do that!

More census dates to play with...1860. Now the family is living in Galveston, TX.  I'll skip all the other relatives, and just look at Lucy.  She's listed as 24 years old.  (Born in 1836 or 37.)



Below is the 1870 census...which includes how people were jammed in together following the war.  Galveston was a boom town again.  There are some errors (perhaps given on purpose by my relations who might have been a bit mistrustful of the "US Government" at that point.)  

George T. had been 45 on the census in 1850.  He can't be 45 again in 1870!  The next person listed is his son George, age 49.  It is definite that George T. would have been 65.  (On the last prior census of 1860 he shows as 54.)

Next on the list is M.L.E. Granger, age 50.   That means Lucy Elizabeth Pulsifer Granger is not identifying herself as the matriarch of the family, though she didn't die until 1876. Next listing is E.P. at 35. (Elizabeth Pulsifer had been married back in 1949 to Sidney Sweet, but was widowed by this time.)

The Wakelee's are next, with Augustus at 35 a store clerk, and his wife, Elizabeth at 34 (or 30 as it's transcribed, which I believe is incorrect, as it looks like 34 to me.) Is Lucy going under her sister's name?  Anything is possible. (He did remarry apparently after Lucy died, a date that again is questionable.)

Then the orphaned girls, Lulie (11) and Ada (9) are listed as Sweet children (which is mis-transcribed as Swat) with Minnie (14).  And Zulie probably was going by Lulie. 

There are family connections to the Sweets.  As just mentioned Elizabeth P. Granger married Sidney Sweet in 1849.  But the Sweets seemed to live in other households, and vise versa.  There were 4 Sweet children, of whom I know about 2 for sure.    I don't know yet who Minnie Sweet was, though there was a Mary (who would have been the right age, and died in 1886, and a Fannie Sweet.  Uncle Chauncey Sweet and Lucy Sweet Chamberlain are well known in the family and would have been five and two years old in an 1870 census, but aren't even listed in the household.

1870 Census, Galveston, Texas
Also sadly enough, Lucy Granger Wakelee did have 2 children, Frank V. who was born and died in 1869, and Lizzie H, born in 1871 and died just after her first birthday. I believe I found their names and dates at Texas Find A Grave, but haven't been able to locate the information today.


And speaking of deaths and graves... my original documentation says Lucy Granger Wakelee died May 23, 1876.  But the grave and headstone state she died March 28, 1888.  I've changed my ancestry listing to that date.  I wonder where the other information came from...


Her widowed husband remarried a woman named Jennie Connor (birth date unknown), who died in 1908 at age 59 according to her gravestone, which also states she was wife of A. Wakelee. 

Old Galveston Cemetery

 

 

Sunday, July 27, 2014

Microsoft programs

OK, just a quick update on my computer upgrades, purchasing the new Office 365 and getting Microsoft help.
I now have Windows 8.1  I won't live long enough to try to go back to the earlier 8.0 version, though I seriously thought about it.

I purchased the PERPETUAL Office 365 package last week, but it took 2 chats and today another person on a support call and her having control of the computer to finally uninstall the subscription version (which expires today) and now the strangely named perpetual version is running.

I think that means I should have no problems for the life of the laptop...at least from Microsoft.

STOP LAUGHING!


!!!!

Saturday, July 26, 2014

Market share

I don't often post my pots here...but thought I'd share what I took to the market this morning.  Latest pots have already been here, so there may be duplication.  But I'm feeling like sharing my work.  After all, it's for sale, and I want to find its just right forever home.





Tuesday, July 22, 2014

Secret mission

Go away cats, I want to finish this dream!

I swat, they squat and wait, purr then meow again.

But the dream...

I'm in a motel and 2 comrades are leaving me behind (perhaps cats in another lifetime) to pack, enter something on a computer, and maybe catch up with them later.  I know only that we are traveling as some incognito hikers, walking around the country.

I say "Where are you going today?"

"Cisuarno." 

And they're gone.

This is some important (and underground) effort we're walking across the terrain to accomplish, so I get on computer and look on map for that Cisuarno place.  It gives me some other town, knowing I've spelled it wrong.  Dang, how will I find my friends, they need something I'm bringing along.  This underground movement depends on us, if only I could remember what we're supposed to do...sign up voters, knock on doors, spy on someone, disappear and reappear.  All I know is it's important.

Just then knocking on the door, and the motel cleaning people come in, have to find something that is lost.  They start going through things.  Don't ask me why I let them, but my secrets are on the computer, which I keep working on.

Then I'm packing.  And packing and PACKING.  I decide the big suitcase is not going to be carried along by me as I walk cross country (there is a gem of reality seeping into the dream).  I'll send it by some kind of freight and pick it up there.  Where?  Well now it's Tallahassee.

I think of carrying other things in my backpack, including the laptop.  It's so heavy, but holds everything I know.  Best include it.

Suddenly the motel people find the packet of information for which they've been searching through drawers and cabinets.  Inside a large plastic baggy are pictures of one of my old lovers.  Only he's our current age and the pictures show him with his current wife and kiddies in a gorgeous home all decorated for Christmas.  I sigh, reality is seeping through.

I give up and feed the cats.

Sunday, July 20, 2014

Latest work in clay

Wall Pillow - stoneware with a back, slip trailed design in glaze  $50
Monarch Butterfly on Milkweed - Wall Pillow stoneware with slip trailed glaze design work - $75 (must be held for an exhibit in September)
Plate with Tree Woman, slip trailed glaze design on white clay $75
Wall pocket, for hanging on wall, joyful goddess design in slip trailing in glazes $35
Moon Dancer plate, slip trailed glaze designs - $75

Friday, July 18, 2014

Going forward not backward

This week's Sepia Saturday is a great photo of young girls posing in costumes.

 I didn't have anything sepia, so I offer you a look toward the future rather than the past this week.

Young girls (I think, probably) in costumes related to their own interests.  Anime is the theme they follow in dressing like various characters.   And they gather with other like minded young people for conventions!

In books or videos or movies, the characters are drawn with very big eyes, usually with Western features even though they are produced in Japan.  I have looked at a few books that are produced, comic book style, but read from the right side to left.  I have also watched some cartoons produced on TV in the 1990's...but haven't kept up with what's the latest in Anime.  Check Wikipedia here for lots more information.

Come on over and join the fun at Sepia Saturday...that's how I got involved in looking at all these folks from all over the world (most of whom post in English for which I'm grateful).  Click here, scroll to the bottom where lots of people's names are, and click on each of them in turn.  I guarantee you'll chuckle sometime, and if not in looking at the actual posts, don't miss the comments for each one!  (There are also comments on Sepia Saturday's page, giving some kind of disclaimer, er, preview, of what each person has posted.)  And you are welcome to join the fun and post your own response to the meme!

See you in the funny papers...oops, that will date me!  That was said by...
"William Faulkner used the phrase in his 1929 novel The Sound and the Fury (“Ta-ta see you in the funnypaper”), so it must have been widespread by that time." It held a bit of derogatory note to it until it had been used extensively, (by the 1940s) so it would no longer imply that the person being addressed was a bit of a comic himself.  But I did feel insulted the first time I heard it in the 50s. 

Happy Birthday to mom's grandpa

Once again I am looking into my great grandfather's history.
I know more today than I did a year ago.  There are still documents out there, and I just added 3 to his entry over in Ancestry's tree.

He was from Germany.  Lots of Texans were.  They came because of the same promise of a new life that people from other European countries were attracted to in the nineteenth century, attracted to Texas hill country especially.

But Grampa Charles Herman Miller had come to America when he was about 2 years old. And he didn't leave a record of who his father and mother (let alone grandparents) might have been.

He did however, apply three times for naturalization status, in the late 1930s.
He was a widower by then, his wife Eugenia Booth Miller having died in 1936...the first year he applied for citizenship.  I don't know why he applied again in 1937 and 1939, but there's his signature on each of the forms.  The one in 1937 has his picture on it as well.


He was still working at that time as a railroad conductor.  By the time he applied in 1939 he had retired at age 71.  (His actual birth date is within 5 years, since he gave different years on different forms throughout his life.) He lived until 1946, in San Antonio, TX .

But let me go back into the history of his family that I have been able to locate.  Just the generalities of life from Mecklengerg, Schwerin, Germany.  From the web I bring you this...

Ancestors in Specific Locations:
Mecklenburg, Germany
Today the province of Mecklenburg where (the author's) ancestors lived is called Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. The modern state, formed after World War II, has much different boundaries that the Mecklenburg of the past. It takes in much of the old Mecklenburg duchies as well as a portion of the western part of Pommerania (the rest is now part of Poland).

In previous centuries, the map of Europe looked much different than it does today. Germany, as a nation, didn’t exist until 1871. In 1618, the most dominant German power was the Holy Roman Empire ruled by the Catholic Hapsburgs from Vienna. Germany was fragmented into many states, varying in size and power, ruled by semi-independent princes. The Reformation had also split the country, with most of the southern states remaining Catholic while the northern states converted to Lutheranism.

Mecklenburg historically was composed of duchies. At the time of the Thirty Years’ War, the province consisted of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, where (the author's) family lived, and Mecklenburg-Gustrow. (A division made in 1701, which lasted until the twentieth century, separated the land into Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Mecklenburg-Streltiz.) With an area similar to Connecticut, Mecklenburg-Schwerin was the bigger of the two duchies, and located on the western side.
The dukes of Mecklenburg squabbled constantly and mismanaged the duchies’ finances, often leaving the province in perilous circumstances. This enabled the greater powers that surrounded Mecklenburg to take advantage of the small, weak province. However, while in later history Prussia annexed much of the area around it, Mecklenburg remained independent until Germany’s unification in 1871.

Photo from Leslie Huber's site
Mecklenburg was known for being perhaps the most backwards of the German states. Fritz Reuter, the famous writer from Mecklenburg, often said that everything happened one hundred years later in his home province.

Life in Mecklenburg was different than life in other German states. However, it shared many characteristics and the people, of course, experienced many of the same events of history. 


Leslie Huber gives many more links, which I will follow in the future.  For now I'm glad to have a bit of background about the area my ancestors lived in, and why they were probably eager to come to wild Texas.

Whoever Charles Herman Mueller's parents were, they made a good decision to bring him to Texas.  In his obit there's a surviving sister mentioned, who I have still been unable to trace.  For this year's birthday I tried looking at ship manifests, but no luck for little Charles or sister Dora.


Thursday, July 17, 2014

Cousins meeting again

Yesterday I had talked on Ancestry a few times, and via emails, with one of my cousins.  She is also interested in our shared genealogy.  We didn't go much further than that.
For some strange reason.

I think I needed to be knocked upside the head.
I started trying to get to know her, finally.
She mentioned she's on Facebook, and that took off.

We started chatting about all kinds of things.  Her sister commented also, bringing into the conversation that we had fathers who were brothers, but we hadn't had contact growing up but a few times, and then as adults, mmm, not at all somehow.  She was eager to be my FB friend also.

Another cousin then joined in saying something was inaccurate in the genealogy mentioned on FB.  I asked her to be my friend.  So far no response.

And there's her sister also.

And the first 2 sisters have another sister as well as a brother.
In our generation there are 8 of us.

What a lot of people that I barely know.  We've formed a group called "Rogers Cousins."  We want to get to know each other.  I let them know about my blogs.  I've been hanging out my life for all kinds of strangers to read about.  Now it comes home.

These are my people, and they may not approve of me.  Oh dear.  I wrote a disclaimer right away...I'm liberal, I have friends who are witches, and gay, and...I don't know what the warning label said.  But I think of my parents as the most conservative folks imaginable.  So I'm sort of worried that I won't fit in to my own family.  Perhaps that's why I've never tried.

But the first answer to that was pretty positive.  So we can start from where we are, and see where it goes from here.

So I'm willing...I hope they are.

Wednesday, July 16, 2014

An influential woman

Mary Baker Eddy, founder of Christian Science.

Mary Morse Baker was born in Bow, New Hampshire, the youngest of six children of Abigail and Mark Baker. Although raised a Congregationalist, she came to reject teachings such as predestination and original sin. She suffered chronic illness and developed a strong interest in biblical accounts of early Christian healing. At the age of eight, she wrote, she began to hear voices calling her name.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Baker_Eddy

 

On December 10, 1843, Eddy married George Washington Glover.[8] He died of yellow fever on June 27, 1844, a little over two months before the birth of their only child, George Washington Glover. As a single mother of poor health, Eddy wrote some political pieces for the New Hampshire Patriot. She also worked as a substitute teacher in the New Hampshire Conference Seminary. Her success there led to her briefly opening an experimental school which was an early attempt to introduce kindergarten methods (love instead of harshness for discipline; interest instead of compulsion to impart knowledge), but this, like other similar attempts at this time was not accepted and soon closed.[8] The social climate of the time made it very difficult for a widowed woman to earn money.


Eddy in the 1850s
Her mother died in November 1849 and about a year later, her father married Elizabeth Patterson Duncan.[8] Eddy continued to have poor health and her son was put into the care of neighbors by her father and stepmother. She married Dr. Daniel Patterson, a dentist, in 1853, hoping he would adopt the young boy. Patterson apparently signed papers to that effect on their wedding day, but failed to follow through on his promise.[9]

Eddy was often bedridden during this period. Her stepmother did not welcome Eddy or her child. A neighbor couple with a small farm and no children took up the care of the boy for a fee. When this couple, who found the boy useful in the farm labor, decided to move to the Prairie territories, without Eddy's knowledge, some of Eddy's family arranged that the couple should take the child along with money given them by her father. The failure of Patterson to make good on his promises of reunification with her now far-distant son plunged Eddy into despair.[9] Her desire to recover her health led her to seek healing in the various systems fashionable of the period, including electrical treatments, morphine, homeopathy, hydropathy, Grahamism, and mesmerism.[10]

Patterson ran into financial difficulty. He mortgaged Eddy's furniture, jewelry, and books, but was unable to keep current on their property in Groton, New Hampshire, and was eventually forced to vacate. Eddy's sister, Abigail, moved her to Rumney, six miles away

 After her separation from Patterson she wandered about for four years living with different families, in Lynn, Amesbury, or some of the neighbouring towns.

In October 1862 Eddy became a patient of Phineas Quimby,[32] a magnetic healer from Maine. She benefited temporarily by his treatment.[33] From 1862 to 1865 Quimby and Eddy engaged in lengthy discussions about healing methods practiced by Quimby and others.  Phineas P. Quimby believed in a "science of health" achieved by direct mental healing that had religious overtones. Baker was seemingly cured, but her suffering recurred after Quimby's death.

In 1866, she fell on ice and her suffering increased. She turned to the New Testament and was suddenly healed, which led her to discover what she later called Christian Science, or the "superiority of spiritual over physical power."

Convinced by her own study of the Bible, especially Genesis 1, and through experimentation, Eddy claimed to have found healing power through a higher sense of God as Spirit and man as God's spiritual "image and likeness." She became convinced that illness could be healed through an awakened thought brought about by a clearer perception of God and the explicit rejection of drugs, hygiene and medicine based upon the observation that Jesus did not use these methods for healing:

 In 1873, Eddy divorced Daniel Patterson for adultery.
In 1877 she married Asa Gilbert Eddy; in 1882 they moved to Boston, and he died that year.

 In 1875, she set down her principles in a voluminous work called Science and Health, and in 1876 founded the Christian Science Association then the Church of Christ, Scientist (1879). She also founded the Christian Science Publishing Society (1898), which continues to publish a number of periodicals, including The Christian Science Monitor (1908).

In 1881, she founded the Massachusetts Metaphysical College,[64] where she taught approximately 800 students in Boston, Massachusetts between the years 1882 and 1889.  Her students spread across the country practicing healing, and instructing others, in accordance with Eddy's teachings. Eddy authorized these students to list themselves as Christian Science Practitioners in the church's periodical, The Christian Science Journal. She also founded the Christian Science Sentinel, a weekly magazine with articles about how to heal and testimonies of healing.

 Eddy died on the evening of December 3, 1910 at her home at 400 Beacon Street, in the Chestnut Hill section of Newton, Massachusetts.

Today, there are almost 1,700 Christian Science churches in 76 countries.

I've copied most of this text from Wikipedia and given the link above...so all the footnotes go to the text there.

I've spoken before about my own life having been a Christian Scientist until I was 20 years old.  So this woman's work greatly influenced myself and my family.  I had at least 2 Christian Science Practitioners in my family.

Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Happy Birthday Rembrandt

I love finding the birthdays of famous artists...those who helped me see what beauty is...as well as who were able to show the world their views that were so extraordinary.

Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn was a Dutch painter and etcher. He is generally considered one of the greatest painters and printmakers in European art and the most important in Dutch history. 

Born: July 15, 1606, Leiden, Netherlands
Died: October 4, 1669, Amsterdam, Netherlands
I've stood within inches of paintingsof his...in several different museums.  Such detail, no brushstrokes showing.
The Night Watch 1642
one of 40 Self Portraits, 1652


 I posted this a few other places, like my clay blog, and face book...it's worth sharing, isn't it?  And I found one of my favorite flute players is a descendent of his!

Monday, July 14, 2014

TheWitty pioneers in Alabama

James Witty, a Quaker from North Carolina, moved to Alabama.

In the 1830 census for Limestone Alabama, he is listed with this household.

Name:James Willy (Witty)
Home in 1830 (City, County, State):Limestone, Alabama
Free White Persons - Males - 10 thru 14:1
Free White Persons - Males - 15 thru 19:1
Free White Persons - Males - 20 thru 29:1
Free White Persons - Males - 30 thru 39:1
Free White Persons - Males - 60 thru 69:1
Free White Persons - Females - Under 5:1
Free White Persons - Females - 15 thru 19:1
Free White Persons - Females - 20 thru 29:2
Free White Persons - Females - 50 thru 59:1
Free White Persons - Under 20:4
Free White Persons - 20 thru 49:4
Total Free White Persons:10
Total - All Persons (Free White, Slaves, Free Colored):10

I have looked at the Quaker Meeting Records which are intact from monthly Men's Meeting called The New Garden Monthly meeting of Guilford, NC.  James Witty is noted as a birth (date unclear by the page I've saved).  He also is noted to leave the meeting with his family to move to a meeting called Miami Meeting.  There are two notes to this effect, the first sort of a notice that it's happening, and sending a couple of the members to see if it's true in May, 1806.  The second is their report saying yes, it's true in June, 1806.

Introduction comments for Guildford, NC monthly meeting of Quakers
I found a very interesting survey map with James Witty owning land in N. Alabama.  I don't understand it all. 

His name is written across 4 squares that have a creek running through the middle, in the upper part of the map, centrally located.  And then one more square has J. Witty written in it.  I think it is from 1830 also.  The notes regarding it say: "Earliest Township and Range Public Land Survey State: Alabama Principal Meridian: Huntsville Meridian (Northern Part of Alabama)"

Ancestry says his wife is named Elizabeth Wells.  There's a Lucrettia Witty mentioned in a will for James Wells, in Surry County, NC 25 Jan 1810.  Nothing to indicate she's the same person.  Just a couple of the same surnames.

The first 2 of the 5 Witty children are listed as having been born in Tennessee according to Ancestry, and the later ones born in Limestone, AL, starting with my ancestor Carrol Witty.

I have no idea how they were also living in Tennessee.  More to research...




Saturday, July 12, 2014

Texas Pioneers

Carrol Witty  my great grandmother's grandfather.  (Eugenia Almeta Witty Booth Miller is my mom's mother's mom.

Carrol Witty was born: Nov. 6, 1818,
Death Sep. 19, 1898 Burial:
Old Woodbury Cemetery Woodbury Hill County Texas, USA

Spouse: Susan E Hoke Witty (1817 - 1895)

This list of children (below) from Texas Find a Grave doesn't include Eugenia.  She was born in 1852.   But I am going to use the information on these sisters to my family tree, because most of them only have estimated dates of birth based on census data.  This is a real find, though of course only depends upon the iffy source of Find A Grave which left out my great grandmother. 

Children:  Martha E Witty Barnes (1846 - 1914)*
 Mary Witty Hughes (1848 - 1876)*
Susan E Witty Moore (1856 - 1902)*
Laura Dove Witty Patty (1854 - 1935)*

I now have checked the source from 1860, the Census of Hill County, Texas, where Carrol Witty was a wagon maker.  He was one of the original founders of the community of Woodbury, Texas.
WOODBURY, TEXAS. Woodbury is on Farm Road 309 twelve miles northwest of Hillsboro in north central Hill County. Anglo-American settlers began moving into the area about 1850, and the community was established in 1857, when Carrol Witty, William R. Nunn, and Rev. Thomas Newton McKee purchased property and offered it for sale. After the Civil War settlers began moving into the area. The first business, a dry goods store, opened in 1869. A general merchandise store opened the following year. A post office opened in Woodbury in 1871. In 1892 the town had a population of 200, two general stores, a drugstore, two blacksmith shops, and a steam-powered cotton gin and gristmill. By 1900 the school registered 114 students and employed three teachers. The town was bypassed by the rail lines, and by 1936 only 148 people and two business were in Woodbury. In 1946 it had forty people and one business. During the 1950s and 1960s the population was twenty. From the 1960s through 2000 the community reported a population of forty.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Hill County Historical Commission, A History of Hill County, Texas, 1853–1980 (Waco: Texian, 1980). Memorial and Biographical History of Dallas County (Chicago: Lewis, 1892; rpt., Dallas: Walsworth, 1976).
 I also learned that his children as of 1860 were many more than those who apparently have been noted by the Find A Grave people.


Carrol and Susan at 43, had 9 children living with them.  The oldest sons, John (16) and James (15) are already working as stockmen (I think, it's not really clear stock raisers?).  Then come daughters, Martha, 13, Mary, 12, and Fanny,10; then Eugenia, 9, William, 6, and Laura, 6, (twins?) and the smallest is Susan at 4.  Of course there could have been some children who were being fostered, as always happens in old records, so that might account for the extras that haven't appeard elsewhere in Ancestry.

Now I've got to find out more about Carrol's parents.  I just discovered there is more information available and I'm so excited to chase down details.

I know, it's just moving information from one place to another.  Going to see where the grave is, maybe there's a photo of the headstone that I can download onto my computer...and this is what excites me these days.  Mmm, don't you dare say what you're thinking!

Thursday, July 10, 2014

More about ships

Why didn't I learn about ships in school?  They were certainly important as trade goes, all imports were shipped from other places here most of my life.

So I'm looking into the ships my maritime ancestors might have captained.

An early ancestor was involved in 18th Century ship building and sailing also in Essex County, MA...I wrote a bit about the Pulsifer family here.

But for the Swasey sailors, especially Captain Alexander G. Swasey...back to the 19th century we go...


Clippers

Stung by their inability to counter the naval blockade by the British during the war of 1812, the Americans would concentrate on the development of fast sailing ships; the result was the clipper, often capable of reaching 20 knots, in contrast to the 5-6 knots attained by other ships of the day. 
Clippers would be used for transportation of passengers and valuable cargo like mail, tea or spices.
In particular, clippers would compete to bring the season's first tea to London or to New York. The winner would get a higher price for his cargo as well as the glory of winning. The most memorable race took place in 1866, when starting from Fuzhou, after 100 days at sea, Taeping and Ariel raced neck and neck up the Thames and arrived within 20 minutes of each other.
The opening of the Suez canal in 1869, marked the end of the Clipper era. The tea and mail trade was taken over by steamships and most of the clippers transferred to the Australian route, carrying general cargo and passengers to either Sydney or Melbourne, and returning with wool.   SOURCE: http://www.iro.umontreal.ca/~vaucher/History/Ships_19thC/

This information doesn't speak to where the ships were built, or who the captains might have been, but I would imagine these are larger ships than the schooners I spoke of yesterday...they certainly look bigger.


The Flying Cloud, US 1851




Cutty Sark 1859


Age of Steam

Around 1830, steam engines appear on ships as adjuncts to sails. At first the engine is connected to paddle wheels on the side; but within 15 years, screw propellers will be found to be superior both in power and economy. In parallel, iron will take over from wood for the hulls and the spars.
Sailing vessels will continue to be used into the 20th century: wind being more economical than coal for bulk cargo. Lacking a global network of coaling stations, US warships would rely on sail until 1890.
But for rapid reliable delivery of mail and passengers, steamers like the Great Western would take over on the Atlantic run starting in 1840.

Great Western (1837)
Isambard Brunel's first ship design
  • Steam and sail with oak hull
  • 3000 tons
  • 250 ft.
  • 11 kn
  • Liverpool-NY in 12 days

© www.cotswolds.info


Side-wheel Steamers

Propeller driven Ships

Launched in 1843, the SS Great Britain is the first ocean-going ship to have an iron hull and a screw propeller and for a time, it was the largest vessel afloat. She originally carried 120 first-class passengers, 132 second-class passengers and 130 officers.


Image from the Merchant Navy Assoc. site

Great Britain (1843)
  • Steam and sail (6 masts)
  • 3500 tons
  • 98m x 15m
  • 12.5 kn
  • First propeller ship to
    cross Atlantic
Refitted in 1851 with 3 masts and a shorter funnel to carry passengers to Australia

Warships

During the 19th c, warships will move from sail to coal-fired steam propulsion which provides speed, manoeuvrability and direct routes independent of prevailing winds. Unfortunately, a steam navy requires a network of secure coaling stations. England with its global empire could rely on stations around the world: Gibraltar, Aden, Ceylon, Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia, St-Helena, etc. The United States, lacking such an empire, largely stuck with sailing ships in the decades following the Civil War; and the few ships with steam engines, like Admiral Perry's Mississippi used them only as auxiliary power.
Coastal vessels close to refueling bases could use steam and many such vessels would be used during the US Civil war. The most notable example being the Confederate Ramship Virginia which engaged five major Union (sail) warships blockading Norfolk Harbour, sinking the US Cumberland and US Congress and running others aground.

 

Passenger Travel

The 19th century is marked by massive emigration from Europe to the Americas and to Australia. Initially, immigrants are carried on sailing ships but, depending on the weather, the trip to America can take over 3 months at sea. Steamships with the advantages of speed, regularity and comfort take over after 1850. The following shows typical travel times accross the Atlantic.

 

Steamship records
accross the Atlantic
Year Duration Speed
1838
First steamship crossing
18 days 8 knots
1850 10 days 12 knots
1900 5 days 22 knots
1950 3 days 35 knots

 

“The Embarkation, Waterloo Docks, Liverpool”

In the mid-1800s, most British immigrants to the United States departed from Liverpool, England. Many Scandinavians also sailed to America through the British port. Other European emigrants sailed from Le Havre, France; Bremen and Hamburg, Germany; and Antwerp, in Belgium.


1850 arrival in America

Inside a Packet Ship, 1854

This cutaway reveals how travelers, immigrants, and cargo sailed together. Travelers with enough money purchased “cabin passage” and slept in private or semiprivate rooms. The vast majority of passengers, usually immigrants, bought bunks in steerage, also called the ’tween deck for its position between the cabins and the hold. Source:http://amhistory.si.edu/onthewater/exhibition/2_3.html





In Steerage

Steerage passengers slept, ate, and socialized in the same spaces. They brought their own bedding. Although food was provided, passengers had to cook it themselves. On rough crossings, steerage passengers often had little time in the fresh air on the upper deck. If passengers didn’t fill steerage, the space often held cargo.

Complaints about overcrowding, poor food, abuse, and disease on immigrant ships led the United States and countries in Europe to enact new laws in the 1840s and 1850s.