Working on Wednesday: Currey

In the intervening 88 years since this photo was taken the colors have faded in places but the caption explains what Dad and Junior were doing at the home place in Encanto: "Drilling holes in the drive way for the garage.--28"

[From my personal collection]

© 2016 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Mrs. Mary Fister Dies At Plano

Original clipping of my my great grandmother Mette Karine a.k.a. Mary Fister's obituary, from The Aurora Beacon-News, Tuesday, January 8, 1935 (possibly page 2).  Her daughter Margaret is my grandmother. From my personal collection.

This weekend my father surprised me with this clipping of my great grandmother Mette Karine's obituary in the Aurora Beacon-News (Aurora, Illinois).  I suspect it was my grandmother's copy of the obituary notice.



© 2016 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Monday Is for Mothers: Joslin (Worden)

The reason I've posted this portrait of Emma Rosetta "Rosa" Joslin (1871-1943) today is to draw your attention to the hand that's holding the child's head--most likely it belongs to her mother, my third great aunt, Polly Ann Worden (1841-1931).*

[Courtesy of Olive Slater-Kennedy]

*You can see pictures of Polly and her family in previous posts here.


© 2016 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Sunday Drive: 1946 Cadillac

Here's a closer look at one of vehicles that I featured in my first Sunday Drive post, a 1946 Cadillac (which Dad bought as a used car). We actually took Sunday drives in it.

[From my personal collection]

Here's an original ad for the model.

[Source: Old Car Advertisements]

© 2016 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Thomas Taylor in the Cincinnati Directories: Some Notes

Closeup of the 1842 Cincinnati City directory, showing various areas where Thomas Taylor likely was between 1834-1846 (Northern Liberties, 15th??, Grant, and possible Richmond/Kemball).

Before my 4th great grandfather Maryland-born Thomas J Taylor (1807-1890) came to Iowa he lived in Pennsylvania (not sure where), Cincinnati, Ohio, and  Oldtown (North Side), McLean, Illinois (a few doors away from a possible brother, John Jefferson Taylor).

I've gone through the Cincinnati city directories and compiled a list of people living at the same address as Thomas, hoping to see a pattern of names.  So far he was in close proximity to a couple of men by the last name of Lafferty.  Otherwise there is a constant change of names everywhere around him, reflecting either his moves, or the large transient population of people temporarily flowing through Cincinnati on their way out West somewhere.

In 1834 he is listed as listing in Northern Liberties, which unfortunately is not specific.  I will not include that list in this post due to the large number of other people living there, but this is the link to it in my tree.  I did notice that there was a "Henry Lichard" (possibly Henry Clay Lynchard, brother of Sarah Lynchard, Thomas Taylor's second wife??) but Henry was not apparently living in Northern Liberties.



THE CINCINNATI DIRECTORY ADVERTISER FOR THE YEARS 1836-7

Taylor Thomas, teamster, Plum n Com. Hospital

Others who live near the "Com. Hospital" (includes Thomas Taylor)

Baker Isaac, coal and ice dealer, Plum n. Commercial Hospital
Betts Mrs. Martha A., W. row W of Com. Hospital
Burd Mrs. Hannah, W. row n Com. Hospital
Crary Lewis, boatman on canal, Plum n Com hospital
Hewett Nathan, grader and paver, W row n Commercial Hospital
Ingalls Lewis, machinist, Plum n. Com. Hospital
Murphy James, blacksmith. Plum n Com. Hospital
Pioneer Isaaq, superintendent of Commercial Hospital and Lunatic Asylum
Shires Peter, waggoner. Plum n Commercial Hospital
Smith Wm. laborer, W row n Commercial Hospital



SHAFFER'S ADVERTISING DIRECTORY FOR 1839-40 [CINCINNATI, COVINGTON, AND NEWPORT]

Taylor, Thomas (Pa) Drayman, res, cor Elm and Grant.

Others at or very near "Elm and Grant":

Doty, Wm (Pa) Cabt-mkr at D Blodgett's, res, Grant b Elm and Plum
Hall, Perly (Conn) Cabt-mkr, res, Grant h Elm and Plum.
Lafferty, James (Del) Drayman, res, cor Grant and Elm.
McKinney, W m (Ky) Shoe-mkr, res, Elm b 12th and Grant.
Moor, John A. (Ger) Farrier, res, Elm bet 12th and Grant.
Moore, Amos (Ire) Tanner, res, Elm bet 12th and Grant.
SchatTner, Jacob (Ger) Labr, res, cor Elm and Grant sts.
Scheile, Anthony (Ger) Labr, res, Elm b 12th and Grant street.
Vogel,Nicholas (Ger) Laborer, res, corner Grant and Elm.



THE CINCINNATI DIRECTORY FOR THE YEAR 1842

Taylor Thomas, drayman, Elm bet. 15th and Northern Row

Elm St. from the river to Northern Row, bet. Plum and Race

Methodist Episcopal Churches.—Wesley Chapel, north side of Sth, between Sycamore and Broadwny; Rev. James L. Grover, preacher in charge. Asbury Chapel, Webster, between Main and Sycamore streets; Rev. Wm. H. Lawder, preacher in charge. Ninth Street Chapel, north side of 9th, between Race aud Elm streets; Rev. George C. Crum, preacher in charge. Fourth Street Chapel, north-east corner of 4th and Plum; Rev. William Herr, preacher in charge. German Mission Church, west side of Vine bet. 4th and Sth streets; Rev. Adam Miller, preacher in charge. New Street
Western Row and John streets.

Thomas William, potter. Elm bet. 15th and Northern Row
Wertmann Theodore, carpenter, Elm bet. 15th and N. Row


THE CINCINNATI DIRECTORY FOR THE YEAR 1843

Taylor Thomas, drayman, Grant st.

Grant st. from Elm to Plum, bet 12th and 14th

Others living at Grant st.

Beart Gabriel, blacksmith, Grant street
Boyd Joseph, law student, Grant st.
Brockmann Joseph, milkman, Grant street
Cressy Rev. Timothy R. Grant street
Dandy Timothy, Grant st.
Enneking Henry, tailor, Grant street
Enneking Henry, tailor, boards B F Enneking
Fairley Alexander, drayman, Grant st.
Fletcher Robert, founder, Grant street
Gasser John, laborer, Grant street
Gasser Anthony, basket maker, Grant street
Gasser Frederic, basket maker, Grant street
Herle Mrs. Sarah, Grant street
Jordan Martin, canal boatman, Grant street
Lafferty James, drayman, Grant st.
Lafferty Archibald, drayman, Grant st.
McRoberts Mrs. Elizabeth, Grant street
Meitenbach Joseph, laborer, Grant street
Morgan John, well digger, Grant st.
Orr Alfred, steamboat engineer, Grant street
Piller Henry, laborer, Grant street
Rule George, carpenter, Grant street
Schiess Charles, carpenter, Grant st.
Stuntebeck Henry, tailor, Grant street
Waldeck Martin, laborer, Grant street
Wilson Matthew, bricklayer, Grant street-


I believe Thomas Taylor and his family moved out of Cincinnati between 1846-1849, but I'm not sure exactly when.  He might be the Thomas Taylor, carpenter, in the 1846 Cincinnati city directory, or it might be an entirely different guy.  I find it interesting that there are apparently two different William Taylors who are blacksmiths.

Not sure if this is my Thomas Taylor, since mine was more of a drayman/blacksmith, but I guess a carpenter is not too far a stretch.  from Robinson and Jones' Cincinnati Directory for 1846.   

Some others living at the same address:
Rider William, shoe mkr, E s Fulton, bet Richmond and Kemble
Wibel David, carp, E s Fulton, bet Richmond and Kemble



© 2016 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Family Friday: Webb

Ella Irene Webb, my first cousin, three times removed, was born in Allen County, Kansas, on March 29, 1867 and died there of scarlet fever on March 26, 1880, just a few days short of her 13th birthday. 

[Courtesy of Olive Slater-Kennedy]

[From the back of the photo we know where it was taken.* Courtesy of Olive Slater-Kennedy]

She's doubly related to me as her father, Jesse Sill Webb (1826-1923) was the brother of my great great grandfather Abner Webb and her mother Nancy Adelia Darling (1836-1911) was the younger sister of my great great grandmother Mercy Ann Darling.

*You can learn more about Mrs Sarah Latimer here. The three ads for her photo studio are from the Humboldt Union, page 3, March 23, 1878, found at Newspapers.com

[Source: Newpapers.com]

© 2016 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Some Notes on Thomas J Taylor in Iowa

One of my brick walls is my 4th great grandfather Thomas J Taylor (1807-1890), married to  my other (semi-brick wall) ancestor Sarah A Lynchard (1819-1879).  They were the parents of my 3rd great grandmother Elizabeth Taylor and grandparents of Elizabeth's daughter Rufina "Fina" Tomlinson (my biological grandmother Alta Mae Slater's paternal grandmother).

Of obscure origins in Maryland about 1808, Thomas lived somewhere in Pennsylvania before appearing in Cincinnati, Ohio records (where he married second wife Sarah in 1841), and near Bloomington, Illinois by 1850.  He and his family then moved to Iowa about 1854.

He is first found in Iowa in the 1854 Iowa state census in Crawford Township, Washington County, Iowa, and appears at the bottom of the county in this 1859 ownership map:

Map of Washington County, Iowa, 1859 (from the Iowa Counties Historic Atlases section of  Iowa Digital Library) , with arrow pointing to Thomas Taylor's area.

Detail of Thomas Taylor's land in Crawford Township.  His neighbors are also found in the 1860 Census.

They moved to Wapello County sometime between the 1860 Census and 1870 Census.

I found county histories for both Washington County (1880) and Wapello County (1878).

As Wapello County's terrain looked about 1878.  Thomas was in the eastern end of Richland Township.

Alas, nothing so vulgar as a birth date or place of birth for Thomas Taylor in this listing.

Info from the Agriculture 1870 Schedule
Name: Thomas Taylor
Location: Richland, Wapello, Iowa, USA
Enumeration Date: 22 Jun 1870
Schedule Type: Agriculture
OS Page: 3
Line Number: 13



80 acres improved land

$3200 present cash value of farm

$150 present cash value of farming implements and machinery

$15 total amount of wages paid during the year, including value of board

3 or 5? horses

2 milch cows

4 other cattle

13 swine

$470 value of all live stock

101 bushels of spring wheat

900 bushels of Indian corn

180 bushels of oats

350 pounds of butter

4 tons of hay

10 gallons of molasses

$30 value of animals slaughtered or sold for slaughter

$667 estimated value of all farm production, including betterments and additions to stock

Thomas Taylor 1870 closeup Antique Map Collection (HistoryGeo.com)

Thomas Taylor in Richmond 1870 from Antique Map Collection (HistoryGeo.com)

My view of part of the Wapello County map while using HistoryGeo.  Note the citation back to the LOC.  HistoryGeo provides an index to search for each map, as you can see in the blue high-lighted selection in the index box.  I have highlighted Richland Township, where Thomas Taylor lived, in yellow.

If you don't have HistoryGeo you can of course check out the same map at the Library of Congress.

Thomas does not show up in BLM General Land Office Records for Wapello County, as he came after the federal government was involved with the sale of land there, and the records would therefore be handled on the local level.




© 2015 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Tracking Down My Mother's Birth Parents: A Few Regrets

from Quotesgram

Really I only have two regrets tracking down my mother's birth parents, Alta Mae Slater and T. S. Warren:

• I didn't get to share with either of them what my mom and I have found concerning their ancestries.  I am not sure Alta was particularly interested in the topic, although she may have found it somewhat interesting, but she died in 1986 so it just wasn't going to happen.  Since T. S. Warren sent me his pedigree I think he would find it all quite interesting, but since I only got to talk to him a few times it was apparently never meant to be.

• I should have made it crystal clear to T. S. Warren that we didn't want to make our brief appearance in his life (via telephone and pictures) anything that would subsequently affect his will, estate, or any other legal matters.  My mother was raised by Harold Currey and Bernice (Grenfell) Currey and she considers them her parents emotionally, but technically they were never able to officially adopted her, so I think that could have legal ramifications?  I kick myself all the time for not sending a letter to him with a statement removing my mom and me from any obligation on his part, with my signature and my mother's signature (notarized?).  Is there a legal form that addresses this issue?  I'm not sure.  But I have a constant low-level anxiety that somehow not directly addressing that issue at that time may have caused him or his children to have to make legal arrangements concerning us.  At the time I tracked him down (in the late 1990s) I unfortunately excused myself from taking that step because I felt it would be possibly perceived as suspect, and I felt I had already blindsided him enough by just letting him know he had an additional child (I genuinely don't think he ever knew).  Now I just regret not doing it.  It's like I didn't dot all my "i's" and cross all my "t's".

© 2016 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Working on Wednesday: Apartment Kitchen - Before and After

For the past few months I've been project managing the refurbishment of the upstairs apartment in a 1912 Craftsman duplex* in the South Park neighborhood of San Diego. We removed three old (but not original) upper cabinets and replaced them with open shelves and a floor to ceiling pantry, added several base cabinets with butcher block counters, more lighting and a new fridge. The newly refinished floor looks great.

[From my personal collection]

I'm really pleased with how it looks today!


*It belongs to my best friend Bonnie so of course we celebrated with cheap French wine.



© 2016 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Interesting Find: Menu Collections

Menu for the 7 April 1960 Air France flight.  Om nom nom.  From the Los Angeles Public Library Menu Collection.

Bookstores and libraries dedicate large portions of their space to cookbooks, cooking shows are popular, food blogs and online recipes are everywhere, and even my Facebook feed is full of friends' pictures of food they have made or are about to eat.

Our ancestors also ate, of course!  And not always at home.

I've already found some sources that deal with what our ancestors ate, like Genealoger's "Cooking and Food" section and blogs like Ancestors in Aprons.

But today I stumbled on the Menu Collection of Hayden Mathews at Johnson and Wales University.*

This unique, beautiful, and historical collection of menus was graciously donated on behalf of Mr. Hayden Mathews of Vero Beach, Florida and Stamford, Connecticut. Mr. Mathews began collecting menus when he was a young boy in the 1930s. There are over 300 items, spanning the 1920s through the 1940s, from hotels and inns, cruises and shipping lines, trains, planes, clubs, and commemorative events.
Some of the menus were collected during Mr. Mathews’ travels with his family, but as his relatives and parents' friends learned of his endeavor they enthusiastically contributed to the collection. Evidence of this can be found in a humorous letter from a great uncle who helped add to the collection.

You could look at these menus to get an idea of what your ancestors (or even you!) were eating when traveling in the 1930's and 1940's.  I've found a huge amount records of collateral relations who had traveled overseas by cruise ship, and some more evidence of airplane and car rides taken on vacation or special commemorative events, like food alluded to in the Tibbetts Family Association notices sent to my 2nd great grandaunt May Tibbetts Jarvis.

Other institutions also have menu projects, including NYPL Labs "What's on the menu?"(this site is pretty fun), the Los Angeles Public Library's Menu Collection, the University of Washington Menus Collection, the Academia Barilla Menu Collection, and UNLV's "Menu: The Art of Dining."

Gear Patrol also has an article "Historic Menus 'Round the World: 140 Years of Menu Design."




*I didn't include an image from the actual collection as I have not contacted the copyright owners:

"Images and content in the ScholarsArchive@JWU are for educational use only. All design and content is the property of the copyright owner. If you wish to reproduce or publish the images in any form, you must contact the copyright owner to obtain permission."

© 2016 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Did I Finally Find a Death Record for My 5th Great Grandfather, Benjamin Porter (b 1772)?

One of the benefits of being a member of the New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS/American Ancestors) is that you get access to some of their external databases, including the Nineteenth Century U.S. Newspapers database (Infotrac/Gale).

My mother's paternal grandmother Letta Estella Porter is a descendant of Benjamin Porter and Lydia Wilcox.

I haven't compared it to the holdings of my current newspaper subscriptions to GenealogyBank, NewspaperArchive, and Newspapers, but I thought I'd try it to see if I could find Benjamin Porter, my 5th great grandfather who seemed to disappear from record after appearing in the 1820 Census living in Alstead, Cheshire, New Hampshire.  Since Benjamin's wife Lydia married Henry Scovil in October 1821 in Walpole, Cheshire, New Hampshire, I had tentatively put his death at about 1820.  But that is an unsatisfactory death date!

The right age, and the right previous location.  "Deaths," Dover Gazette and Strafford (Dover, NH), Tuesday, 11 Aug 1829, page 3, col 2; Nineteenth Century U.S. Newspapers (via NEHGS/American Ancestors) (American Ancestors  : 22 Aug 2016).

I searched for "Benjamin Porter" before 1830, and was pleased to immediately discover a death notice for a Benjamin Porter in Charlestown (Boston), (then Middlesex county), Massachusetts.  What jumped out at me was his former residence in Lyme, Grafton, New Hampshire.  Although I have no direct evidence that Benjamin Porter ever lived in Lyme, I do know that his parents (William Porter d 1778 and Esther Carpenter d 1827) both lived and died in Lyme.

My speculation is that sometime in 1820/1821 Benjamin and Lydia separated or divorced, and that Benjamin went to live in the same town as his mother Esther (more records to research, and divorce proceedings in that time period should be interesting).

Then I think some time after that he moved to Charlestown, Boston, Massachusetts, probably not long before his death in August 1829, and thus didn't appear in the 1830 Census.

Partial snapshot of Benjamin Porter's probate record.  This doesn't show all the names associated with this record, which I will have to look up and follow up on.  The entire front and back page of this document citation: Middlesex County, Massachusetts. Probate court, Benjamin Porter, 10 Nov 1829, 72; digital image, [image 497-498],Massachusetts, Wills and Probate Records, 1635-1991, Middlesex County, Probate Records, V. 216-218, 1826-1830, Ancestry (http://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=9069 : 22 Aug 2016).

Benjamin seemed to moved around a lot in his life, from being born in Coventry, CT, to likely living with his parents in Lyme, NH, before moving on and marrying Lydia in Surry, Cheshire, New Hampshire.  I don't know what he did for a living.

Their son William Porter (1796-1868) was born in Sheffield, VT, but then it appears they moved back to Surry where their other children were born.  William was a silversmith earlier in his life, and likely would have apprenticed to a silversmith in the 1810's (although I have a growing suspicion that he might have had access to that apprenticeship through his mother's Wilcox relations, which I'll cover in a different post).

If I have the right Benjamin Porter, I wonder what he was doing in Charlestown, MA?

He certainly seemed to spend the bulk of his life somewhere along the Connecticut River.

This all definitely opens up more questions than it answers.


Edited to add: I found a specific date from the Columbian Centinel (Boston, Massachusetts), Saturday, August 8, 1829, page 3 (GenealogyBank):
"In Charlestown, Mass. on Sunday morning last, Benjamin Porter, aged 57 years, formerly of Lyme, N.H." So he died 2 August 1829.




© 2016 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Sunday Drive: Carousel Horses, Avignon - 2015

This was taken on a balmy day (yes, really) last November 16th in Avignon.

[From my personal collection]

This was the day when the citizens of France were joined by people all over the world in a minute of silence to honor the victims of the Paris terrorist attack. At that moment the bus taking us to the city played La Marseillaise over the intercom before going quiet.



© 2016 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Free Saturday Night Webinar from Legacy Family Tree: "Another Kind of Navigation: GPS for Genealogy" by Shellee Morehead

Wow!  Great webinars continue to come from Legacy Family Tree Webinars!

Since I've already spent the first part of my genealogical endeavors gathering all the low hanging fruit, it is important to keep buckling down and analyzing what I already have, and stop going on wild goose chases.  Shellee Morehead, PhD, CC, conducts this advanced level webinar, "Another Kind of Navigation: GPS for Genealogy," using all the reasoning needed to come to believable conclusions:

This lecture describes the 5 steps of the Genealogical Proof Standard to establish proof of identities and relationships. Shellee will present examples at each step, along with a case study of a complex problem that was solved with research, creativity, attention to detail and a defined process. See how reasonably exhaustive research, accurate citations, analysis and correlation of data, the resolution of conflicting data and a reasoned, written conclusion was used to identify the parents of a Civil War soldier who shaved 10 years off his age and complicated the search for this relationship.

This webinar is hosted and sponsored by the Board for Certification of Genealogists.

This is really what I need to be doing from here on out.  Well, that and diligently keeping a daily research log.

The webinar was originally recorded on August 16, 2016 (1 hour, 30 minutes), and is free for non-subscribers through August 23, 2016..

Most of Legacy Family Tree Webinars are not free and I recommend subscribing to their site for full access to all their amazing, affordable genealogy webinars.



© 2016 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Family Friday: Walsh/Brown

These two children, whose parents were my second great aunt Catherine May "Kitty" Walsh 1874-1966) and her first husband Peter Louis Brown (1870-1898), are my first cousins, twice removed.

[Frances Ethel Brown (1894-1964), courtesy of Olive Slater-Kennedy]

[Charles Peter Brown (1895-1939), courtesy of Olive Slater-Kennedy]

© 2016 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Throwback Thursday: With Coworkers

Steve and me (at bottom) with coworkers at a work outing in San Diego, about 2000.  Courtesy of Mike McLaren.

© 2016 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Working on Wednesday: Navajo Land, 1953

On our way to South Dakota in 1951 Mother and Dad became acquainted with a Navajo couple who passed by our camp near Shiprock one evening and kept in contact with them. Two years later on our next trip east we met up with them at Window Rock where the husband had gotten a job.*

One day during our visit, we all piled in the truck (men and little children in the cab, women sitting in the back of the truck) and headed way off the main road and deep into the Reservation to visit some of our friends' relatives.

This is the husband's sister who was working at her loom when we arrived and allowed Dad to take her picture.

[From my personal collection]

*I've posted a picture taken at Window Rock that included this couple and their little daughter. (I have chosen not to share their names here.)

© 2016 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

New Ancestor Discoveries Notes: How Are We Related to Linnie Brantley? Some Clues...

Mom's current "New Ancestor Discoveries" on AncestryDNA.  I haven't figured out how/if we are related to any of them, but did find some interesting clues with location and DNA matches.

I am having a hard time figuring out how I'm related to these New Ancestor Discoveries.  Since Linnie Brantley was a hint for both my mother and me, it seemed like a good fairly confident guess on Ancestry's part and worth pursuing.

Linnie also makes it into my New Ancestor Discoveries (I only have 3).

I blurred the DNA matches, but I didn't recognize them enough to see a direction to go in.  It does seem that Mom is part of this group in some way.  Maybe it is the Morgan man that Linnie married?

Linnie's cumulative "life story" location trajectory (Raleigh/Orange, NC to Blount/Jefferson/Walker, AL) isn't ringing any bells.

Melinda "Linnie" Brantley (1802-1884) was married to Ezekiel Morgan (1797-1881).

Since I could find no commonality between Linnie and her husband specifically, I decided to just cast a wide net search in the AncestryDNA matches for my mom, starting with Brantley.  Finally, out of 50 name matches to "Brantley" this yielded a few familiar places.

At least one of the Brantley's matches with either my mother's biological father T. S. Warren's grandson who has tested on AncestryDNA, and to many other cousin matches with this close relative with various confidence level matches to T. S. Warren's uplines in the South.  So I'm pretty sure this is on my mother's paternal grandfather's line somewhere.

Brantley's also seemed to have been in the following areas:

Isle of Wight/Southampton, Virginia
Nash County, North Carolina
Warren County, Georgia
Hancock County, Georgia

Several of mom's Brantley matches are matches to John Brantley (1716-1782) who married Hannah Harper (1713-1790) of Virginia and North Carolina.  I have several more matches to John's father Edward Brantley m Elizabeth Clay and HIS father, Phillip Brantley m Joyce Lewis in Isle of Wight, VA.

We also have several matches to John Brantley/Hannah Harper's grandson Phillip Brantley of Warren County, GA (married Rebecca Harbuck).


My Abraham Heath and Jesse Warren lines were in Warren and Hancock counties, so maybe this is all pointing to a brick wall female ancestor within those family groups (and we have many female brick walls in those lines).

Abraham Heath, his wife Winnie and their daughter Sarah "Sallie" P Heath were residents of Warren County, Georgia at one point.

Jesse Warren Sr (1747-1827) is buried in Harper Cemetery in Hancock County.  Is the Harper name a coincidence?  I've had my suspicions that Jesse's wife Elizabeth was a Harper (there were Harpers in neighboring Putnam county where Elizabeth died), but then again Elizabeth could be a Hunt/Fuqua/Parham/Rives/Pegram/fill in the blank LOL

Warren and Hancock counties.  Image of Georgia Counties from Wikipedia.

Although I haven't figured out how we're related to Linnie, I do think I have more of an idea on where to concentrate my efforts.







© 2016 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

1930 U.S. Census: Column 9. Radio set

Although Marconi broadcast the first transatlantic radio signal in 1901, it wasn't until the 1920s that the technology became generally available, and by 1930 millions of Americans owned radio sets and a new era of mass communication had begun.*

[Women listening to radio / Harris & Ewing, photographer, 1928. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.]

[Radio Broadcast, January 1930, 180-181. Source: Internet Archive]

Recognizing radio's growing importance in American life, the Census Bureau added its first question about a consumer product in Column 9 of the 1930 Census.

The (partial) census record below begins with the household of Christine's paternal great grandfather George Hartley's household in San Diego, California.** Christine's paternal grandmother Margaret Fister's parents were not among those who had a radio in their Plano, Illinois, house.

[Year: 1930; Census Place: San Diego, San Diego, California; Roll: 192; Page: 13A; Enumeration District: 0107; Image: 468.0; FHL microfilm: 2339927. Ancestry.com. 1930 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2002.

Original data: United States of America, Bureau of the Census. Fifteenth Census of the United States, 1930. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1930. T626, 2,667 rolls.]

Syndicated radio programs like the perennially popular "Amos 'n' Andy" (with white actors), "The Shadow" (first aired on August of 1930) and "The First Nighter Program" (purporting to take the listener to the opening performance of an off-Broadway show) gave Americans something to talk about besides their neighbors.

For a taste of the music our ancestors were listening to in 1930-31, here's a link to 14 songs played by the orchestra during the Philco Radio Hour.

And of course there were the ads, some of which can be found here.***

For more information here are some more links:

Radio in the 1920s

Behind the Dial: Radio in the 1930s

Advertising Age: 1930s Radio Captivates a Nation

The Digital Deli Too

Old Radio World


*The Media Digital Library's Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Collection (1896-1964) is a great place to find vintage magazines like Radio Age, Radio Broadcast and Radio Digest.
**I've chosen to use the Hartleys here because this census record is unusually easy to read, unlike the barely legible one for my radio-owning Slater grandparents in Niwot, Colorado. No one had a radio in my paternal great grandmother's Dallas, Texas, household (which included my grandmother and my father). The Currey family  also owned a radio--which may have been in a Monterey style cabinet that I remember from my childhood.
***Sadly no dates are given in these recordings but I think you can guess which ones are from this era.






© 2016 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Sunday Drive: Winchester Bay, 1952

Every summer vacation where our ultimate goal was Oregon we spent several weeks at a trailer park in Winchester Bay.* These photos from 1952 appear to be taken during our earliest stay there.**

[I have no clue what that dark diagonal line through the image is. From my personal collection.]

[Caption: Boats Winchester Bay taken from cannery. From my personal collection.]

*At this time the park was being run by Stanley and Lena Spooner, the in-laws of the owner Jack Himbaugh. Trying to figure out just how we came to know these people, I think the Curreys probably met the couple initially through their son Lee Spooner, a sailor stationed in San Diego during World War II. Mother and Dad had friends whose sons were in the U.S. Navy who sometimes brought their friends around for a good home cooked meal. I can't imagine any other connection.
**Here's a view of the park taken two years later.

© 2016 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Diary of James Milo Nosler: 1860--Girls, Self-Inflicted Hardships, and the Coming Civil War

James Milo Nosler (1843-1886), my 3rd great uncle who kept a diary for many years.  He was the youngest brother of my 2nd great grandfather, William "Will" Nosler (1840-1914).  The following is continued from my post "Diary of James Milo Nosler: Tired of Nebraska and Distracted by "Kissing Bees".

I prided myself, although stripling that I was, on the number of girls I had kept company with during the winter, which amounted to 14 or 15, but this a poor recompense for the schooling I missed, and the only blame I can not attach to my father is that he did not serve objection and cause me to attend school and obey him [I am assuming he meant "the only blame I CAN attach to my father"?].  Of course, I would have disliked it then, but I could now have cause to rejoice.

Atchison, Kansas City and Mirabile. Closeup from Colton's Kansas and Nebraska (1855).

During the winter I attended debating society some and made my first attempt at public speaking.  In the spring I commenced farming for father [John Nosler].  He promised everything, boarded me and give me half.  Will [James' brother William Nosler] went back to Indiana on a wild goose chase.  He soon came back and I sold him my prospect for a crop and started to Kansas, but was only gone two or three days when I came back, stayed a little while, and Will and I another fellow started to Kansas, intending to drive a government team across the plains.  We had but little money, but got to Kansas City--by laying out every night--here we soon hired to a train, but instead of lending us on out, they put us to work quarrying rock until their freight could arrive by steamer.  We soon got tired of this and quit them.  We went out of town in the woods and camped out.  Morning we were hungry and no money.  Finally we killed Jay (nock it down) and roasted it, then went back to town and hired to another train that was going to start from Atchison soon.  They put us on a boat and sent us up.  We spent that 4th of July, yoking and breaking wild Texas cattle, finally, we got started and was three days getting fifteen miles.  The wagon master was so mean to us and so overbearing that Will and I concluded we would quit him and go home.  We then was[sic] about seventy miles from home.
Accordingly we started just after dark one night as we knew the wagon boss would not let us go if he knew it; we secured a lot of bread and meat before we left.  We got to Atchison, but it took hard coaxing to get the capt. of the boat to take us over the river as we had no money, but at last we got over and then come, I think, the hardest trip I ever made.  We stretched out our grub as far as it would go, but before we got home, we were entirely out and too proud to beg.  The last night we ??? until four o'clock in the morning, and oh how hungry and tired, and sleepy.  I think I stood it better than Will, for every time we would set down he would go to sleep and oftimes it required great effort to rally him, but at four in the morning we got to Johns.  Fool must learn in the school of experience, although she is a dear teacher.  Well, I think this was a good lesson and I have not forgotten it yet.

When we got home [I am assuming Mirabile, Missouri, where his father John Nosler was] we found that a new difficulty had arose some time before.  Will and I were trading with a negro and in the trade we sold him a little one barrel pistol, this was against the laws of the state, but we did not know it and there would perhaps have been nothing said about it, but for the established fact that we were all republicans.  It was now the fall of 1860.  The presidential campaign was coming on and we could all see that by the split in the Democratic at Charleston, Mr. Lincoln would surely be elected.  The South had openly avowed that should such be the case, they would secede from the Union.  Cecession[sp] would inevitably be followed by war.  So have a chance to go to Iowa, I concluded that I would have to do so soon. So I started with Jerry [Jeremiah "Jerry" Lawson who was married to ]ames' sister Caroline Nosler], but I told Caroline then that when I returned to the State it would be in company of armed men.  These words were prophetic.

© 2016 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Family Friday: Worden

Among the portraits in my great grandmother Elnora May Worden Webb's photo album is this one of one of her younger brothers Frederick D. Worden (1872-1948). He appears to have lived in Iowa his entire life.

[Courtesy of Olive Slater-Kennedy]

© 2016 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Throwback Thursday: A Day at Balboa Park

Our niece Rachelle took this circa 2007 picture of Steve, Marc, and me at the Balboa Park fountain.  Note that Marc is clutching a Legos catalog (there was a time when he took that everywhere). 

© 2016 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Working on Wednesday: Strait

He's not in the photo (because he's undoubtedly the one behind the camera), but Dad Currey obviously asked his brother-in-law Roy Strait (1920-2009)* to give him a hand with a load of lumber some time in 1952. I wonder if the boards were being bought or sold?

[From my personal collection]

Although no location in mentioned in the notes I think this was probably taken at Whiting-Mead, the only lumber yard I can ever remember going to with him.

[San Diego Union Classifieds, 23 Jun 1952]

Note the shovel on the side of the truck's bed. An axe was similarly attached to the opposite side. Both were therefore readily at hand in case of need. I recall one time when someone's campfire got a bit out of hand and Dad was right there with his shovel to put out the small blaze.


*Second husband of his youngest sister Marguerite.

© 2016 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.