Celebrations: Easter Sunday - 1951 (Again & Again)

Here's four-year old me with my Easter basket on my trusty tricycle in the backyard in Encanto; the blooming tree behind me is an avocado.

[Making its 3rd annual appearance, this photo is from my personal collection]

The Easter basket was a present from Jessie and Jimmy Neal.

I'm sharing this oldie but goodie for a third time.



© 2024 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Working on Wednesday: The Neals' House at Lake Morena Village - 1948

Besides their motel in Anaheim, Jimmy and Jessie Neal owned a house in near Lake Morena in San Diego's East County. From the sand and cement blocks it's clear that they were about to embark on a building project there. I wonder what it was. (And too bad that the photo didn't include their wonderful woodie!)

[From my personal collection]

I have vague memories of visiting this house, but not from 1948 when this photo was taken.



© 2018 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Working on Wednesday: Vandy Marcellus Neal (1838 - 1905) Doctor, Soldier (Confederate)

With this man I'm really going out on a genealogical limb--if I'm right, Dr. Neal is my second cousin, four times removed, through the my great great grandmother Sarah Matthews' line. But is he really?

Here's the 1850 U.S. Census records for the family of one of my first cousins, five times removed, Elizabeth Matthews Neal.

[Year: 1850; Census Place: District 13, Panola, Mississippi; Roll: M432_379; Page: 309B; Image: 236. Ancestry.com. 1850 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009. Images reproduced by FamilySearch. Original data: Seventh Census of the United States, 1850; (National Archives Microfilm Publication M432, 1009 rolls); Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29; National Archives, Washington, D.C.]

[Detail of above]

Does this 13-year-old Mississippi-born boy turn out to be Vandy Marcellus Neal? I'm sure you've seen how badly census takers can maul unusual names and in this case the person who indexed the records read it as Vankrum. What do you think?

Oddly, although there are quite a few other records for Vandy, he somehow doesn't show up in any other censuses.

For instance we know that he graduated from the University of Louisiana, class of 1860, and served as an assistant surgeon in the 37th Alabama Regiment of Volunteer Infantry in 1862 (although he resigned effective almost immediately) and he served in several Alabama reserve companies in 1864.

[Civil War Service Index - Confederate - Alabama.

The National Archives via Fold3.com]

The following image and Dr. Neal's obituary were found on the public Ancestry.com family tree of h0uston511. Sadly the obituary doesn't mention his parents so I can't be sure that he's actually one of my distant relatives.

© 2017 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Sunday Drive: Anaheim, California - 1948

I've been sorting through the hundreds of color slides taken by the parents who raised me and there's still a lot to share. In honor of the Easter basket they gave me in 1951, I decided to post more photos of these two vehicles belonging to the Neals. You can see the 1948 Plymouth "Woodie" station wagon here and Jimmy's work truck, possibly a 1935 Dodge, here.

The Neals owned a motel in Anaheim and they were enlarging it in 1948 when Dad and Jimmy were working together on a project which you can read about here. 

[From my personal collection]

I love the billboard ad for Acme Beer and there's a wonderfully informative history of the brewery here.

[From my personal collection]

© 2017 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Sunday Drive: On the Way to San Felipe - 1951

In 1951* the Curreys and Neals drove down to San Felipe for Christmas. On the way they saw this abandoned Buick and stopped to check it out.

[Jimmy Neal inspecting overturned Buick alongside the road to San Felipe.]

San Felipe was a bit less "developed" in 1951.

[Our red truck and the Neals' woodie make it easy to locate their campsite.]

[Dad, Jessie and Jimmie Neal hanging out at San Felipe.]

[Once again the red/black Dodge truck stands out.]

[In this photo it's the woodie you see.]

This photo is labeled "Andys Cave house - Bought Shrimp, Dec. 1951.

[Andy's Cave House, San Felipe.]

And this was the meat market, flies and all.

[All photos from my personal collection]

I was 4½ that Christmas and so I have some vague memories of this trip.


*A paved road to San Felipe had just been completed which is undoubtedly why we went there this year. I think Mother and Dad may have visited that part of Baja California before World War II but this marked the last time we went to Mexico.

© 2017 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Working on Wednesday: Currey

I've already touched on the work Dad* and Jimmy Neal did for the City of Anaheim in a Sunday Drive post but there are several more photos that were taken at the job site.

["Currey on pole, Job for City Anaheim - 1949." From my personal collection]

["Looking from pole Anaheim Job - 1949." From my personal collection]

[" Jimmy Neal at Anaheim - 1949." From my personal collection]

*You can learn more about Harold Delbert Currey (1902-1981) and his career as an electrician in three earlier Wednesday posts here, here and here.

© 2016 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Sunday Drive: Curreys and Neals

A further search on my part has brought to light another shot of the Neal's 1948 Plymouth "Woodie" station wagon, this time with Jimmy behind the wheel, his wife Jessie and one-year-old me standing with Bernice Grenfell Currey (the mother who raised me).  

[Compton, California 1949, from my personal collection]

If you'd like to see what a similar car would cost you these days, look here.



© 2016 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Sunday Drive: Neal

Jimmy Neal and his wife Jessie drove their 1948 Plymouth "Woodie" station wagon for a long time. This photograph was taken in 1949 and also affords a rear view of Jimmy's red work truck parked alongside.*

[From my personal collection]

Although they lived in the Los Angeles/Riverside area, they owned a cabin at Lake Morena, east of San Diego, and when I was little we would drive out to visit them** when they were in residence and I remember the wagon parked in front of their place.

*You can see Jimmy at the wheel of the truck here.
**Probably a few times on a Sunday in the blue Cadillac pictured here.

© 2016 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Sunday Drive: Snow in Anaheim, 1949

Dad wrote the year and place on the cardboard slide holder for this picture and since snow isn't that common in Southern California it was easy to narrow down when it was taken--between January 9th and 12th. His 1948 Dodge truck and travel trailer #2 are parked behind Jimmy's work truck, possibly a 1935 Dodge.

[Jimmy Neal in truck, Anaheim, 1949, from my personal collection]

[Long Beach Independent, Long Beach, California. Tuesday, January 11, 1949. Source: Newspapers.com]

While Jimmy Neal (1899-1974), who worked with Dad on this job for the City of Anaheim, looks rather cold in the photo above, other Southern California residents responded differently, at least for the camera.

[The Van Nuys News, Van Nuys, California. Thursday, January 13, 1949. Source: Newspapers.com]

[Golfing in the snow in Glendale, 1949. Courtesy Glendale (CA) Public Library. Source: KCET.org]

© 2015 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.