Celebrations: Labor Day

I hope you're all having a safe and sane one!

[Source: Valuable Postcards]

You can read more about the history of today's holiday here.

© 2016 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Sunday Drive: Two Citroëns

Bonnie was dropping a departing friend off at the Beziers train station several years ago when these two red cars parked side-by-side caught my eye.

[2014, from my personal collection]

© 2016 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

My 3rd Cousin 3xs Removed: Howard "Jim Clinkstock" Clinkscale (1904-1944), Professional Wrestler

"Jim Clinkstock, Cherokee Indian, Heap good wrestler come from Oklahoma!" Actually born in Kansas to Edna Tibbetts and Walter Dillard "Dill" Clinkscales.  Art from Remembering "Canada's greatest cartoonist by Conan Tobias.

Following the pro wrestling theme this week (see Minnie Nosler Enjoyed Watching Professional Wrestling), I thought I'd mention my 3rd cousin 3x removed Howard Clinkscale, aka Jim Clinkstock or Big Jim, was a professional wrestler from the mid-1920s until his death in Charlotte, North Carolina in 1944 of heart failure.

Howard (or "Jim") was a descendant of Benjamin Tibbetts and Hannah Snow, and a cousin to Minnie Nosler's first husband, George Henry Hartley.

Must have been pretty entertaining!  "Amusements. Wrestling Convention Hall," Kansas City Star (Kansas City, MO), Sunday, 24 January 1926, pg 74, col 5; digital image, GenealogyBank (http://www.genealogybank.com: 3 Sep 2016).

His life appeared to be as violent as his profession:

Even more troubles would follow "Jim" as his father Dill and little brother A.C. both died the next year in 1935. "Wrestler Accused of Fatal Beating," Augusta Chronicle (Augusta, GA), Thursday, 1 November 1934, section A, pg 6, col 6; digital image, GenealogyBank (http://www.genealogybank.com: 3 Sep 2016).

When he died in a strange rampage at a dentist's office (extensively covered nation-wide by looks of the result hits in GenealogyBank), it was finally concluded that he died of a heart attack.  He was only 40.

"Parker and Sikes Cleared in Death of Jim Clinstock," Greensboro Record (Greensboro, NC), Wednesday, 1 March 1944, pg 11, col 6; digital image, GenealogyBank (http://www.genealogybank.com: 3 Sep 2016).

He had been living at the Mecklenburg Hotel. North Carolina, Mecklenburg County, Charlotte. North Carolina State Board of Health Certificate of Death, Jim C. Clinstock, certificate 9, 29 January 1944.; digital image, Ancestry's North Carolina, Death Certificates, 1909-1976 (http://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=1121: 3 Sep 2016).

© 2016 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Windows 10 Upgrade Blues

Any day that begins with this Google search can't be going well:

[Google search results for "Windows 10 upgrade gone wrong"]

And although there were several suggested solutions for my specific issue, I decided not to stray out of my comfort zone and put my big box computer into more knowledgeable hands than mine.

So after a different internet search, I dropped my computer off at San Diego Computer Help and trust Zack* and his crew to have it all better soon.

[sandiegocomputerhelp.com]

Of course it's Friday (and the beginning of a long weekend) but since I have my netbook, iPad and iPhone I'm not completely internet-less. However I may be asking Christine to fill in for me here on Sunday and/or Monday.

*Zack has a lot of ardent fans on Yelp!

© 2016 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Minnie Nosler Enjoyed Watching Professional Wrestling

Minnie's obituary, and they didn't even mention that she was a professional wrestling fan? San Diego Union (San Diego, CA), Saturday, 11 January 1969, page 34 (GenealogyBank).

"The Incomparable Gorgeous George"

I didn't know much about him until I looked it up, but I did recognize the name Gorgeous George.  I assume my great grandmother found this stuff hilarious.  I don't think that she attended the events but watched on TV as it was very popular, but who knows?

According to my father, his grandmother Minnie Nosler (Hartley) (Fuhrman) (1883-1969), daughter of Civil War veteran William Henry Nosler and Esther Loretta Rittgers, really enjoyed professional wrestling.

I don't know who she liked best, but fortunately fans on Youtube have put up quite a few videos of the time, including interviews, to get an idea of the types of antics these guys were up to:

Smack talking in the '50s.

Vintage L.A. Wrestling: Dick Lane, Gorgeous George, and Freddy Blassie.  This is pretty entertaining stuff.  I especially enjoyed the David Letterman, Andy Kaufman, and Freddie Blassie segment at the end (which was way past Minnie's time), So ridiculous LOL









© 2016 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

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.