Matches 9,801 to 9,850 of 10,491
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Notes |
Linked to |
| 9801 |
T8-N R8-E St. Stephens Meridian Section-34 Section Part-SESW
T8-N R8-E St. Stephens Meridian Section-34 Section Part-W1/2SW | Biggs, George Miles (I29273)
|
| 9802 |
T8-N R8-E St. Stephens Meridian
T8-N R8-E St. Stephens Meridian
T8-N R8-E St. Stephens Meridian
T8-N R8-E St. Stephens Meridan
T9-N R7-E St. Stephens Meridan.
Section 35, Section Part NE. Overlaps another parcel.
T9-N R7-E St. Stephens Meridan.
Section 26, Section Part W1/2NE.
T9-N R7-E St. Stephens Meridan.
Section 28, Section Part NWSE.
T9-N R7-E St. Stephens Meridan.
Section 27, Section Part S1/2SW.
Section 28, Section Part SESE.
T9-N R7-E St. Stephens Meridan.
Section 27, Section Part N1/2SW.
Section 28, Section Part NESW.
Section 28, Section Part SWSE.
Section 34, Section Part NENW.
All these parcels of land lie between Franklin and River Ridge.
Capt. Mills Monroe Co. Militia/Home Guards.
$300.
$150. | Bayles, Jeremiah (I27690)
|
| 9803 |
T9-N R7-E St. Stephens Meridan.
Section 20, Section Part SENE.
Section 29, Part Section SENE.
T9-N R7-E St. Stephens Meridan.
Section 21, Section Part W1/2SW.
Co H, 17th Alabama Infantry Regiment, CSA. | Bayles, William J. (I28178)
|
| 9804 |
T9-N R7-E St. Stephens Meridan.
Section 36, Section Part E1/2NE.
T9-N R7-E St. Stephens Meridan.
Section 25, Section Part SENE.
Section 36, Section Part NWNE.
T9-N R7-E St. Stephens Meridan.
Section 25, Section Part NENW.
Baptist.
T9-N R7-E St. Stephens Meridan.
Section 17, Section Part NENE.
$1300.
$400.
T9-N R7-E St. Stephens Meridan.
Section 8, Part Section SESW.
Section 8, Part Section SWSE.
$600.
$500.
Obituary of John T. Bayles
Rev. John T. Bayles was born in the state of South Carolina in the year of 1810. He moved to this state and settled in Monroe County when a boy. In 1835 he married Miss Elizabeth Wiggins. He joined the church at Bethel in 1843. In 1851 he was licensed to preach and was ordained in 1853. After suffering two or three years he passed away on the 15th of December 1884. Brother Bayles was a member of Bell's Landing Lodge, and for a number of years was chaplain. The lodge of which he was a member with Claiborne and Monroeville Lodges met at Bethel on the fourth Sunday in May,1885, to pay our last respects to his sleeping dust. Bro. B. J. Skinner preached the furneral sermon from Cor. 5:1 to a large and attentive audience. The procession then moved to the graveyard and with Masonic honors bade him a last farewell; also Bro. Roberson and Bro. Tolbert, who were members from the same Lodge and were buried in the same churchyard. Peace be to their ashes.
A.P. Majors
Alabama Baptist 1885
buried in Red Hills Cemetery | Bayles, John T. (I27737)
|
| 9805 |
T9-N R7-E St. Stephens Meridian.
Section 10, Section Part E1/2SW.
Height: Medium; Build: Medium; Eyes: Blue; Hair: Brown; only one arm | Rachels, Hiram Thomas (I29666)
|
| 9806 |
Taken from the Cumberland Times. 9-11-1990.
JAMES HARVEY DEAL, SR.
FROSTBURG - James Harvey Deal Sr., 76, of Hope Road, died Monday, Sept. 10, 1990 at Frostburg Community Hospital. He was born Dec. 3, 1913 in Mount Savage, son of the late Harvey W. and Annie (Beal) Deal. One brother and three sisters also preceded him in death. Mr. Deal was the last surviving member of his immediate family. He was employed at Frostburg State University for 20 years as a boiler technician, retiring in 1979. He was a member of the Frostburg Church of the Nazarene and the Monday Morning Bowling League. Mr. Deal and his wife, the former Viola Winebrenner, who survives, observed their 50th wedding anniversary on Nov. 28, 1989. Also surviving are one daughter, Juanita Heavner, Bunker Hill, W.Va.; five sons, James H. Deal Jr. and Eugene R. Deal, both of Cumberland; David W. Deal, Manchester; Ernest E. Deal, Chambersburg, Pa.; Harold R. Deal, Council Bluffs, Iowa; 11 grandchildren, and eight great-grandchildren. Friends will be received at the Durst Funeral Home Tuesday from 7 to 9 p.m. and Wednesday from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. Services will be conducted at the funeral home Thursday at 1 p.m. by the Rev. Jack R. Pease and the Rev. Galen Winebrenner. Interment will be in Frostburg Memorial Park. | Deal, James Harvey Sr. (I45274)
|
| 9807 |
TAKOMA PARK - David 0. Michael, 78, of Takoma Park, formerly of Garrett County, died Sunday, April 25, 1993 at the Washington Adventist Hospital in Takoma Park. Born Aug. 27, 1915 in Avilton, he was the son of the late Ernest and Margaret Michael. Mr. Michael retired from the W.C. & A.N. Miller Development Company. Surviving are his wife, Mabel G. Michael and one son, John D. Michael, Eldersburg. Friends will be received at the Frances J. Collins Funeral Home, 500 University Boulevard, West, Silver Spring, Tuesday from 3 to 5 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. Services will be held Wednesday at 2 p.m. in the Sligo Seventh Day Adventist Church, Takoma Park, by the Rev. William Loveless. Interment will be at Frostburg Memorial Park on Thursday at 11:30 a.m. Memorial contributions may be sent to the Washington Adventist Hospital Foundation-Cardiology Research Program. Cumberland Times-News, April 27, 1993
David Odell MICHAEL and Mabel Jane GOODMAN were married on 21 Dec 1941. | Michael, David Odell (I00772)
|
| 9808 |
Taylor Family Tree. | Source (S011245)
|
| 9809 |
Temporary marker placed by Hunt's Spring Chapter DAR - Wife of Revoluntionary Soldier 1759 1825.
William Wiggins' wife, the former Elizabeth Cooper who was a member of the prestigious Cooper family that had royal lines in England and a relative of the author, James Fennimore Cooper, died and was buried next to her husband. | Cooper, Elizabeth (I21807)
|
| 9810 |
Tennessee State Marriages, 1780-2002. | Source (S011291)
|
| 9811 |
Tension Wire Mishap Fatal To Area Man A Grantsville area man died yesterday at West Penn Hospital, Pittsburgh, of injuries he sustained Thursday when a crane struck a high tension line along U. S. Route 40 near Markleysburg, Pa. It was reported that Lloyd B. Younkin, 43, of RD 1, Grantsville, was working on a crane which was unloading concrete blocks when the crane came in contact with the high tension line. He was taken to the Pittsburgh hospital where he died yesterday. A native of Elk Lick Township, he was a son of Mrs. Beulah Briskey, Somerset, and the late Lloyd M. Younkin. Mr. Younkin was a member of St. John’s United Church of Christ, Salisbury, Glade View Rod and Gun Club and Salisbury Hunting Club and Somerset Pistol League. Besides his mother, he is survived by his widow, Elizabeth Ann (Werner) Younkin. The body is at the Thomas Funeral Home in Salisbury, where Friends will be received from 2 until 4 and 7 until 9 p.m. A service will be conducted there Friday at 2 p.m., with Rev. David E. Fetter officiating. Interment will be in Reformed Cemetery, Meyersdale. The Cumberland News, September 28, 1977 | Younkin, Lloyd B. (I54125)
|
| 9812 |
Teresa Lenna MCKENZIE and Roy Thomas GARLITZ Sr. were married. Roy Thomas GARLITZ Sr., son of William Burton GARLITZ and Mary Agnes MCKENZIE, was born on 16 Apr 1911. He signed a will on 16 Jan 1976. I Roy Thomas Garlitz, of Garrett County, Maryland, declare this to be my Last Will and Testament, and revoke all prior wills and codicils which I have made.
FIRST: I direct my personal representative or copersonal representatives to pay my just debt, expenses of last illness, and funeral expenses as soon after my death as convenient, without being subject to limitations or restriction imposed by law, and without the necessity for application to or leave of any court or authority so to do.
SECOND: I declare that I am married, that my wife's name is Teresa Lenora Garlitz, and that I have 4 children who are living and whose names and present ages are: Roy Thomas Garlitz, Jr., age 33, Dolores Elaine Hersick, age 31, Carl William Garlitz, age 29, and Rita Ann Guthrie, age 28.
THIRD: I hereby give, devise and bequeath all my estate, both real, personal or mixed, of whatsoever kind and wheresoever located, of which I may die seized or possessed, or to which I may be in any way entitled, including any property over which I may have a power of testamentary appointment, unto my wife, Teresa Lenora, to be hers absolutely to the exclusion of my children, now or hereafter born.
FOURTH: In the event my wife Teresa Lenora shall have predeceased me, or that we shall die by the same accident of illness, or that she should not survive me for thirty days, then in such event I give, devise and bequeath my entire estate as aforesaid to such of my children a may be living thirty days after my death; provided however that if any deceased child of mine has a child, children or descendants living thirty days after
(page 1 of 3 pages)
my death, such child, children or descendants shall take per stirpes the sahre of my estate to which such deceased child would have been entitled if surviving.
FIFTH: I hereby appoint my wife Teresa Lenora as personal representative of this my Last Will and Testament, and direct that she be permitted to qualify and serve without bond or other security. In the event she should predecease me, or be unwilling or unable to qualify and serve as such personal representative, then I appoint my son roy Thomas Garlitz, Jr., presently of Allegany County, Maryland, and my daughter Dolores Elaine Hersick, presently of Midland, Maryland, as copersonal representatives and direct that they be permitted to qualify and serve without bond or other security.
SIXTH: I hereby authorize and empower either personal representative above named within her or their absolute discretion, to manage, operate, sell, exchange, convey, transfer, assign, mortgage, pledge, invest, or reinvest the whole or anly part of my real or personal estate in any manner, and to perform all acts and to execute such documents as may be necessary to pass good and sufficient title.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF I hereunto set my hand and seal this 16th day of January, 1976.
(signed) Roy Thomas Garlitz
(page 2 of 3 pages)
The foregoing instrument consisting of 3 typewritten pages, this included, was this 16th day of January 1976, signed, sealed, published and declared by the testator, Roy Thomas Garlitz, as and for his Last Will and Testament in the presence of us, who were present at the same time and who, at his request, in his presence and in the presence of each other, have hereunto subscribed our names as witnesses thereto, we and each of us believing the said testator to be of sound mind and memory at the date hereof.
WITNESS: ADDRESS:
Garnet M. Lipsomb Grantsville, MD
Judith Ann Derrick Grantsville, MD
Robert Derrick Grantsville, MD
(page 3 of 3 pages)
State of Maryland, Garrett County, To-Wit:
On this 18th day of September, 1991, before me, the Subscriber, Register of Wills, in and for the State and County aforesaid, personally appeared
Signature: (signed) Teresa L. Garlitz
Address: Route 1, Box 124, Lonaconing, MD 21539
and made oath in due form of law that to the best of her knowledge and belief
Roy T. Garlitz
left no estate subject to administration in the State of Maryland:
File Will Only:
Date of Death
Nov. 6, 1990
Register of Wills
He died on 6 Nov 1990 at the age of 79 in Frostburg, Allegany Co., Maryland.
More About ROY Thomas GARLITZ: Social Security Number: 213-05-4954. | Garlitz, Roy Thomas Sr. (I03086)
|
| 9813 |
TERRA ALTA — Elmer P. Crawford, 72, of RD'2, died yesterday at his home. A native of Mt. Savage, he was a son of the late Nathan and Sara Jane (Winebrenner) Crawford. He was a member of White Oaks United Brethren Church. Surviving are his widow, Bertha (MCCabe) Crawford; a daughter, Mrs. William C. Hull, here; two sisters, Mrs. Elizabeth Hyde of Ohio; Mrs. Stella Reel, Bretz; a brother, Hilleary Crawford; two grandchildren and one great-grandchild. The body is at the Fiker Watson Funeral Home, where friends will be received from 2 until 4 and 7 until 9 p.m. A service will be conducted there tomorrow at 2 p.m. Rev. Charles Teels will officiate and interment will be in Terra Alta Cemetery. The Cumberland News, April 6, 1976 | Crawford, Elmer (I45239)
|
| 9814 |
Texas Birth Index, 1903-1997. | Source (S011351)
|
| 9815 |
Texas Death Index, 1903-2000. | Source (S011410)
|
| 9816 |
Texas Dept of Health Bureau of Vital Stats, Certificate of Death. | Source (S011424)
|
| 9817 |
Text: So seised, the said Thomas Hinton, by indenture dated 24 May [1619] , 17 James 1st, made between himself by the name of Thomas Hinton, esq., and Anthony Hinton, then gent., now knt., son and heir-apparent of the said Thomas, of the one part, and Thomas Gresham, knt., and John Gresham, knt., son of the said Thomas, of the other part, in consideration of a marriage then to be solemnized between the said Anthony Hinton and Mary Gresham, daughter of the said Thomas Gresham, and also in consideration of the sum of £2000 given by the said Thomas Gresham as a marriage portion with the said Mary, agreed that he, before the feast of St. John the Baptist next following, by fine or fines would assure all the said premises to the said Thomas and John Gresham and their heirs. Afterwards, to wit, in 3 weeks from Trinity Day, 17 James 1st [1619] , a fine was levied at Westminster between the said Thomas Gresham and John Gresham, plaintiffs, and the said Thomas Hinton, deforciant of the said premises, by the name of 5 messuages, 5 cottages, one dovecote, 5 gardens, 5 orchards, 300 acres of land, 70 acres of meadow, 150 acres of pasture, 20 acres of furze and heath and free warren in Chilton Follyett, Earlescott, alias Eardescott and Wanborough, and the fishing in the water of Chilton Follyett, 5 messuages, 5 cottages, one dovecote, 5 gardens, 5 orchards, 300 acres of land, 30 acres of meadow, 150 acres of pasture, and 20 acres of furze and heath in Leverton and Chilton Follyett, all and all manner of tithes yearly growing in Leverton, and free fishing in the water of Leverton, co. Berks; whereby the said Thomas Hinton acknowledged the said premises to be the right of the said Thomas Gresham as those which he and the said John Gresham had of his gift, and the same remised to the said Thomas and John, and to the heirs of the said Thomas for ever, which said fine was levied to the following uses:--As to Chilton Follyett park, the houses, lands, woods, grounds, etc., within the circuit of the said park, the said pastures called Great Colcottes and Little Colcottes, the after crop or feedings of the meadows called Leverton meadows, and the said fishing thereto adjoining, to the use of the said Thomas and John Gresham for 99 years, if the said Anthony and Mary so long should live; at the end of this term, then to the use of the said Thomas Hinton for his life; after his decease, to the use of the said Anthony Hinton and his heirs male by the said Mary, and for default, to the use of the said Thomas Hinton and his heirs for ever. As to the said arable lands, parcel of the said farms of Heywood and Leverton, in the tenure of the said Thomas Hinton, the field called Little Beare field, the close called West Horse close, and the 2 closes called Brians Hill and the East Horse close, to the use of the said Thomas Hinton during the life of Martha Hinton, widow, mother of the said Thomas; after her death, to the use of the said Thomas and John Gresham for 99 years, if the said Anthony and Mary so long should live; at the end of this term, to the use of the said Thomas Hinton for his life; after his decease, to the use of the said Anthony and his heirs male by the said Mary; and for default, to the use of the right heirs of the said Thomas Hinton for ever. As to the manor of Earlescott and other the premises in Wanborough, immediately after the death of the said Martha Hinton, to the use of the said Thomas Hinton for his life, and after his decease, to the use of the said Anthony Hinton and his heirs male by the said Mary, and for default, to the use of the right heirs of the said Thomas Hinton for ever.
Book: "Thomas Hinton, knight.
Collection: Wiltshire: - Abstracts of Inquisitiones Post Mortem Returned Into The Court of Chancery in The Reign of Charles 1st. | Hinton, Anthony (I24864)
|
| 9818 |
Thanks to contributor #47552612;
Fullerton-Dr. James C Maly, 58, of Fullerton, died unexpectedly Monday morning in Fullerton Memorial Hospital. Services will be 10:30 a.m. Wednesday in St. Peter's Catholic Church with Rev. Nelson Newman officiating. Burial is in Fullerton Catholic Cemetery.
Visitation in Palmer Funeral Home is 2-5:30 p.m. Tuesday. Rosaries are at 7:30 and 8 p.m. Tuesday in St. Peter's Catholic Church.
Dr. Maly was born at Crofton Sept. 7, 1923, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Maly.
He was a graduate of Crofton High School, St. Benedict's College at Atchison, KS, and Creighton University College of Medicine. He had practiced at Fullerton the past 32 years and was chief of staff at Fullerton Memorial Hospital. A was a World Was 11 veteran, he married Janice McDermet at Hebron on July 26, 1948.
She survives.
He was a member of St. Peter's Catholic Church, Nebraska Medical Association, American Medical Association, Fellow American Academy of Family Physicians, Flying Physicians Association, Four-County Medical Association, BPO Elks, Holy Name Society, University of Nebraska Touchdown Club and a permanent member of American Legion. He was a recipient of Ak-Sar-Ben's Good Neighbor Award and the Creighton Alumni Achievement Citation.
Also surviving are three sons, Dr. James J. Maly of Lincoln, William of Grand Island and Timothy, of Fullerton; three daughters, Mrs. Diane (Edward)Vigna of Lincoln, Mrs. Judith(Steven) Nesbitt of Seward and Susan J. Maly of Fullerton; three brothers, Charles and Ronald, both of Crofton, and Paul of Lincoln; five sisters, Mrs. Genieve Bender of Newcastle, Mrs. Geraldine Breuning of Saint Helena, Mrs. Betty Ann Becker and Mrs. Virginia Lange, both of Crofton and Mrs. Hillaria Burbach of Hartington; and five grandchildren.
Memorials are suggested to the Fullerton Hospital Memorial Fund. | Maly, James Conrad (I58744)
|
| 9819 |
The
Fritschies
Rudolph Frederick Fritschie was born at Canton Arragen Taufertahl, Switzerland on 17 APR 1840. He was raised as an orphan in a Swiss institution as both of his parents had died. He married Elizabeth Maurer in Basel, Switzerland. Together they emigrated to New York. Together they had two children.
1.Rudolph A. Fritschie
Born 1863 in New York
Married Francis Bates 21 FEB 1899
2.Elizabeth Fritschie
Born 19 NOV 1869 in Lilly Lake, Minnesota
Married Adelbert Decolia Bingham 25 FEB 1899
Had children Lawrence Frederick, Adelbert William (Clyde), Clarence Miles, Elmer Lee, Rebecca Fern and Rachel May
Rudolph Fritschie was a direct descendant of a line of Swiss silk manufacturers from the time silk was introduced into Switzerland. He was a member of the Masonic Order having been initiated in Garnet Lodge # 166 on 12 APR 1894 in White Bear Lake, Minnesota. Rudolph Fritschie got his start as an accountant . He moved to White Bear Lake where he engaged in the lumber business until he died 18 APR 1896.
Elizabeth Fritschie (Bingham) was born 19 NOV 1869 in a log cabin on a farm near Lilly Lake, Minnesota. She married Adelbert Decolia Bingham 25 FEB 1899 in Washington State. Together they had six children:
1.Lawrence Frederick Bingham
Born 1 DEC 1899 in Whatcon, Washington
Married Ione Buferton Richey 30 SEPT 1927
Had children Donald Lee and Doris Veryl
Died 9 MAR 1986
2.Clyde Henry (Adelbert William) Bingham
Born 1 OCT 1990 in Whatcom, Washington
Died 1 NOV 1918
3.Clarence Miles Bingham
Born 1 JAN 1902 in Whatcom, Washington
Died 8 MAR 1902 in Whatcom, Washington
4.Elmer Lee Bingham
Born 5 DEC 1905 in Bellingham, Washington
Married Ruth Amelia Evans 16 JUN 1928 in San Francisco, California
Had children David Lee and Wesley Evans
Died 23 JUL 1991
5.Rebecca Fern Grinstead
Born 14 OCT 1907 in Jamestown, North Dakota
Married Perry Cannon Anderson
Had children Robert Lee, Harold, Norman Arnold, Lee Armond, Esther Lorraine and Darlene May
Died 18 OCT 1994 in Portland, Oregon
6.Rachel May Bingham
Born 7 APR 1909 in Spearfish, South Dakota
Married John (Ellis Baker) Grinstead
Had children: Charmie Fern, John David, James Richard, Robert Lawrence, Raymond Charles, William Adelbert, Virginia Lea and Donald Edward
Died 18 AUG 1994 in Bellingham, Washington
Later, her father built a large two story house at 427 4th Street, at Pine, near the vicinity of the Courthouse in Stillwater, Minnesota. When Elizabeth Fritschie Bingham was twelve years old, she and her Mother spent a year in Switzerland. While there she studied music and Catholicism, because all of her Mother's relatives were Catholics. One of her Aunts was a Catholic nun
Glimpses of Elizabeth Fritschie Bingham can be found in Elmer Lee Bingham's "Era of Good Feeling's" reproduced in the Chapter on the Bingham's. She also was a very talented, educated individual. Some of her poetry survives today. Several poems follow:
IN THE MEMORY OF MY MOTHER
Whether at dawn of the morning or late at night
She ministers to the needs of the little mite
At intervals, then her slumbers cease
That she may know her babes rest in peace
Tho for months no absolute rest she knows
While with utmost tenderness she bestows
The love that none but a mother can give
To a tiny mite, that it may thrive and live.
Then when it has strength to toddle about
How in bending and lifting she wears herself out.
No being, no element so fierce and wild
But she will step between it and her child.
In the same way, thwn, in later years
All her joys, hopes sorrows and tears
Are all laid as a sacred offering
To the best of life for her beloved offspring
When sons or daughters suffer she suffers, too,
No friend more sincere, no love more true
ARE ORDINARY LIVES ALL LIKE MINE
Oh can it really be!
Then if such a thing were true
There could be nothing good or fine
If all were bound like me
My fate that opposes at every turn
Any initiative whatever it be
There is always a something to hinder me
If we could know the story of each one
There are millions who tried and tried
Who have not the battle won
For they were kept to the extreme
At every turn by the giant poverty
Who steps in between and so much as to say
Surmount me if you dare!
God made all good things to abound
But the wicked rich in some way devise
To manipulate so things won't go around
If there were no want they would have no power
And the world would become a paradise
Elizabeth Fritschie (Bingham) died 14 APR 1955 in Bellingham, Washington. | Fritschie, Rudolph Frederick (I00241)
|
| 9820 |
The
Fritschies
Rudolph Frederick Fritschie was born at Canton Arragen Taufertahl, Switzerland on 17 APR 1840. He was raised as an orphan in a Swiss institution as both of his parents had died. He married Elizabeth Maurer in Basel, Switzerland. Together they emigrated to New York. Together they had two children.
1.Rudolph A. Fritschie
Born 1863 in New York
Married Francis Bates 21 FEB 1899
2.Elizabeth Fritschie
Born 19 NOV 1869 in Lilly Lake, Minnesota
Married Adelbert Decolia Bingham 25 FEB 1899
Had children Lawrence Frederick, Adelbert William (Clyde), Clarence Miles, Elmer Lee, Rebecca Fern and Rachel May
Rudolph Fritschie was a direct descendant of a line of Swiss silk manufacturers from the time silk was introduced into Switzerland. He was a member of the Masonic Order having been initiated in Garnet Lodge # 166 on 12 APR 1894 in White Bear Lake, Minnesota. Rudolph Fritschie got his start as an accountant . He moved to White Bear Lake where he engaged in the lumber business until he died 18 APR 1896.
Elizabeth Fritschie (Bingham) was born 19 NOV 1869 in a log cabin on a farm near Lilly Lake, Minnesota. She married Adelbert Decolia Bingham 25 FEB 1899 in Washington State. Together they had six children:
1.Lawrence Frederick Bingham
Born 1 DEC 1899 in Whatcon, Washington
Married Ione Buferton Richey 30 SEPT 1927
Had children Donald Lee and Doris Veryl
Died 9 MAR 1986
2.Clyde Henry (Adelbert William) Bingham
Born 1 OCT 1990 in Whatcom, Washington
Died 1 NOV 1918
3.Clarence Miles Bingham
Born 1 JAN 1902 in Whatcom, Washington
Died 8 MAR 1902 in Whatcom, Washington
4.Elmer Lee Bingham
Born 5 DEC 1905 in Bellingham, Washington
Married Ruth Amelia Evans 16 JUN 1928 in San Francisco, California
Had children David Lee and Wesley Evans
Died 23 JUL 1991
5.Rebecca Fern Grinstead
Born 14 OCT 1907 in Jamestown, North Dakota
Married Perry Cannon Anderson
Had children Robert Lee, Harold, Norman Arnold, Lee Armond, Esther Lorraine and Darlene May
Died 18 OCT 1994 in Portland, Oregon
6.Rachel May Bingham
Born 7 APR 1909 in Spearfish, South Dakota
Married John (Ellis Baker) Grinstead
Had children: Charmie Fern, John David, James Richard, Robert Lawrence, Raymond Charles, William Adelbert, Virginia Lea and Donald Edward
Died 18 AUG 1994 in Bellingham, Washington
Later, her father built a large two story house at 427 4th Street, at Pine, near the vicinity of the Courthouse in Stillwater, Minnesota. When Elizabeth Fritschie Bingham was twelve years old, she and her Mother spent a year in Switzerland. While there she studied music and Catholicism, because all of her Mother's relatives were Catholics. One of her Aunts was a Catholic nun
Glimpses of Elizabeth Fritschie Bingham can be found in Elmer Lee Bingham's "Era of Good Feeling's" reproduced in the Chapter on the Bingham's. She also was a very talented, educated individual. Some of her poetry survives today. Several poems follow:
IN THE MEMORY OF MY MOTHER
Whether at dawn of the morning or late at night
She ministers to the needs of the little mite
At intervals, then her slumbers cease
That she may know her babes rest in peace
Tho for months no absolute rest she knows
While with utmost tenderness she bestows
The love that none but a mother can give
To a tiny mite, that it may thrive and live.
Then when it has strength to toddle about
How in bending and lifting she wears herself out.
No being, no element so fierce and wild
But she will step between it and her child.
In the same way, thwn, in later years
All her joys, hopes sorrows and tears
Are all laid as a sacred offering
To the best of life for her beloved offspring
When sons or daughters suffer she suffers, too,
No friend more sincere, no love more true
ARE ORDINARY LIVES ALL LIKE MINE
Oh can it really be!
Then if such a thing were true
There could be nothing good or fine
If all were bound like me
My fate that opposes at every turn
Any initiative whatever it be
There is always a something to hinder me
If we could know the story of each one
There are millions who tried and tried
Who have not the battle won
For they were kept to the extreme
At every turn by the giant poverty
Who steps in between and so much as to say
Surmount me if you dare!
God made all good things to abound
But the wicked rich in some way devise
To manipulate so things won't go around
If there were no want they would have no power
And the world would become a paradise
Elizabeth Fritschie (Bingham) died 14 APR 1955 in Bellingham, Washington. | Maurer, Elizabeth (I00242)
|
| 9821 |
The
Maurers
Anton Maurer was born in Switzerland and married Elizabeth Rush. Together they had six children:
1.Elizabeth Maurer
Born 5 APR 1844
Married (1) Rudolph F. Fritschie in Basel, Switzerland, and (2) Dr. William Carl Voight
Died 13 DEC 1917
2.Johanna Maurer
3.Theresa Maurer
4.Augustus Maurer (Sculptor of the Lasr Supper)
5.Franz Joseph Maurer
6.Otto Maurer
Anton Maurer descended from a long line of sculptors, father to sons. His wife's family, the "Rusch-es" may have originated from the Northwest corner of Switzerland in the 1700 and 1800's.
Elizabeth Rush Maurer was born in a suburb of Basel, Switzerland. She married Rudolph F. Fritschie in Basel, Switzerland and soon thereafter emigrated to New York> Together they had two children:
1.Rudolph A. Fritschie
Born 1864 in New York
2.Elizabeth Fritschie
Born 19 NOV 1869 in Lilly Lake, Minnesota
Married Adelbert Decolia Bingham 25 FEB 1899 in Bellingham, Washington
Had children Lawrence Frederick, Adelbert William (Clyde), Clarence Miles, Elmer Lee, Rebecca Fern and Rachel May
Died 15 APR 1955 in Bellingham, Washington
According to her daughter, Elizabeth Fritschie Bingham, Elizabeth Maurer's extended family also lived in the same suburb of Basel. Elizabeth Bingham remembers her mother telling her that the name of the suburb had a French sounding name, like Laraine, but Elizabeth Bingham could never locate it on a map. Elizabeth Maurer's brother, Augustus, sculpted "The Last Supper" in 1882. In a letter from Elizabeth Bingham dated September, 1942, she states that her mother, Elizabeth Maurer Fritschie actually saw the work in progress one particular summer starting from a block of marble brought from the quarry to the sculpting site.
Elizabeth Maurer Fritschie divorced Rudolph Fritschie and later married Dr. William Carl Voight. After Dr. Voight's death, Elizabeth Fritschie Voight traveled to Switzerland for a visit and couldn't return to the United States because of the hazard of European War. She died 13 DEC 1917 as a result of an infection from a burn to her arm. | Maurer, Anton August (I00285)
|
| 9822 |
The
Binghams
Hezekiah Bingham was born 13 DEC 1765 in England. He married Eunice Kellum in Michigan. Together they had at least one child:
1.John Kellum Bingham
Born 29 SEPT 1802
Married Emaline Kimball 17 MAR 1824
Had children Hezekiah II, Benjiman, Eliza Ann, Eunice J., Elizabeth K., Moses, Sarah, Mary, Ruth, Amenzo Preston and Charles Edgar
John Kellum Bingham was born 29 SEPT 1802. He married Emaline Kimball 17 MAR 1824 in Plainwell, Michigan. Together they had eleven children:
1.Hezekiah Bingham II
Born 12 JAN 1825
Died 12 JAN 1841
2.Benjiman Bingham
28 FEB 1827 in Scio, Michigan
Married Sarah Melissa Carr 14 MAR 1852 in Freedom, Michigan
Had children Edgar Eugene, Florian Abner, William Henry, Adelbert Decolia, Dora Emaline, James Kingsley and Adarina Gertrude
Died 21 APR 1866
3.Eliza Ann Bingham
Born 17 JAN 1829
Died 13 SEPT 1903
4.Eunice J. Bingham
Born 8 JUL 1831
5.Elizabeth K. Bingham
Born 25 MAR 1834
Died 22 JUN 1921
6.Moses Bingham
Born 3 SEPT 1836
7.Sarah Bingham
7 DEC 1838
Died 19 APR 1907
8.Mary Bingham
Born 9 FEB 1841
Died 7 JUL 1926
9.Ruth Bingham
Born 28 DEC 1844
Died 29 JAN 1845
10.Amenzo Preston Bingham
Born 19 AUG 1846
Died 21 AUG 1848
11. Charles Edgar Bingham
Born 28 NOV 1848
John Kellum Bingham died 23 APR 1860.
Benjiman Bingham was born in Scio, Michigan on 28 FEB 1827. He married Sarah Melissa Carr on 14 March 1852 in Freedom, Michigan, Together they had seven children:
1.Edgar Eugene Bingham
Born 24 DEC 1852 in Meridian, Michigan
Married Laura Johnston
Died 29 MAY 1923
2.Florian Abner Bingham
Born 31 AUG 1855 in Lansing, Michigan
Married Lula Winkley 12 NOV 1896 in Blaine, Washington
Died 21 APR 1921
3.William Henry Bingham
Born 26 MAR 1858
Married Mary Anna Neharry 7 JUN 1892 in Jamestown, North Dakota
Had children Benjamin W. Mary Alida, Bessie Viola, Carl Adelbert, Don Eugene and Grant Archibald
Died 17 AUG 1947
4.Adelbert Decolia Bingham
Born 30 JUN 1860
Married Elizabeth Bertha Fritschie 25 FEB 1899 in Bellingham, WA.
Had children Lawrence Frederick, Clyde Henry, Clarence Miles, Elmer Lee, Rebecca Fern and Rachel May
Died 8 JUL 1935
5.Dora Emaline Bingham
Born 28 )CT 1861
Married J.L. Wilder 21 SEPT 1881 in Benton, Michigan
6.James Kingsley Bingham
Born 20 MAR 1867
Married Mary Harshman 9 MAY 1889 in Jamestown, North Dakota
7.Adarina Gertrude Bingham
Born 16 SEPT 1870 in Benton, Michigan
Married C.H. Betz 2 SEPT 1892
Benjiman Bingham died 21 APR 1866 in Stutsman County, Dakota Territory.
Adelbert Decolia Bingham was born 30 JUN 1860 in Pottersville, Michigan. He married Elizabeth Bertha Fritschie 25 FEB 1899 in Bellingham, Washington. Together they had six children:
1.Lawrence Frederick Bingham
Born 1 DEC 1899 in Whatcon, Washington
Married Ione Buferton Richey 30 SEPT 1927
Had children Donald Lee and Doris Veryl
Died 9 MAR 1986
2.Clyde Henry (Adelbert William) Bingham
Born 1 OCT 1990 in Whatcom, Washington
Died 1 NOV 1918
3.Clarence Miles Bingham
Born 1 JAN 1902 in Whatcom, Washington
Died 8 MAR 1902 in Whatcom, Washington
4.Elmer Lee Bingham
Born 5 DEC 1905 in Bellingham, Washington
Married Ruth Amelia Evans 16 JUN 1928 in San Francisco, California
Had children David Lee and Wesley Evans
Died 23 JUL 1991
5.Rebecca Fern Grinstead
Born 14 OCT 1907 in Jamestown, North Dakota
Married Perry Cannon Anderson
Had children Robert Lee, Harold, Norman Arnold, Lee Armond, Esther Lorraine and Darlene May
Died 18 OCT 1994 in Portland, Oregon
6.Rachel May Bingham
Born 7 APR 1909 in Spearfish, South Dakota
Married John (Ellis Baker) Grinstead
Had children: Charmie Fern, John David, James Richard, Robert Lawrence, Raymond Charles, WilliamAdelbert, Virginia Lea and Donald Edward
Died 18 AUG 1994 in Bellingham, Washington
Adelbert Decolia Bingham died 8 JUL 1935 in Bellingham, Washington. Information about Adelbert Decolia Bingham is interspersed throughout "An Era of Good Feelings", which was written by his son, Elmer Lee Bingham, and is set forth several pages below.
Hi Mike; A little information on Mom's five siblings. They were all born to Adelbert Decolia Bingham "Dell" and Elizabeth Bertha Fritschie Bingham who were married 2/25/1899 in Whatcom (what is now Bellingham), Washington by Reverend Crockett of the Christian Church. I will start with Lawrence, the oldest, and finish with Rachel (Mom), the youngest. Bellingham in the late 1800's and early 1900's went through a number of name changes, ie; Whatcom, New Whatcom, Sehome and Bellingham which at one time were separate towns.
LAWRENCE FREDERICK BINGHAM was born 12/1/1899 in Whatcom, Washington. Lawrence married Ione Bufertine Richey 9/30/1927 in San Francisco, California. They had two children: Donald Lee and Doris Veryl. Lawrence was a top notch machinist and a very intelligent and talented person. He designed and built scale models of a steam engine that was operational and a sailboat that was approximetely four feet long with full sails and much detail. Both of the items are in The Museum of History and Industry in Seattle,Washington near the University of Washington. Lawrence traveled a lot as a teen riding the freight trains and later as a young man on ships while in the Merchant Marines. Lawrence and Ione were at the Cedar River near Renton, Washington with Nita and I one day and Lawrence was fishing when his fishing lure hooked on to the tail of a large salmon heading up the river to spawn. Lawrence was trying to pull the fish out of the water backwards but the fish had other ideas as he flipped his tail and sent the lure back to Lawrence and it ended up with the hook in Lawrence's face just below the eye. The barb was through the skin and into the flesh so he couldn't back the hook out so Nita took over and cut the fishing line from the hook and with needle nose pliers slowly worked the hook and barb out of the skin so I could get to it with my dykes (wire cutters) then I snipped off the barb and Nita backed out the hook. Lawrence was very calm and relaxed during the entire "operation". Both he and Ione were very dear to Nita and I. They treated us like we were part of their family. After Lawrence retired Ione had a bad stroke and could not walk or talk except to repeat what someone said to her and Lawrence took care of her himself most of the time until she died 11/23/1974. Lawrence developed Alzheimer's disease a number of years before he died and was in a nursing home when he died 3/9/1986. Lawrence is buried in the Washington Memorial Cemetery in Seattle, Washington.
CLYDE HENRY (ADELBERT WILLIAM) BINGHAM was born 10/1/1900 in Whatcom, Washington. Depending on which story you want to believe, Adelbert or his mother changed his name to Clyde Henry. Clyde never married and died as a young man of 18. When he was about 17 and living in Leavenworth, Washington where he was working in a saw mill he lost his right hand in an accident at the mill. After the accident Clyde either wore a plastic hand or a hook in place of the missing hand or made do without it. Clyde was studying to be an engineer when died of the flu during one of the worst global epidemics of influenza occurring in 1918 and 1919 when about 20 million people died, including more than 500,000 Americans. Both Mom and Becky have talked about Clyde being such a wonderful and caring person. He was a big brother who really cared about his younger sisters. Clyde died 11/1/1918 and was buried in Bellingham, Washington.
CLARENCE MILES BINGHAM was born 1/1/1902 in New Whatcom, Washington and died there two months later on 3/8/1902. Clarence was buried at ?
ELMER LEE BINGHAM was born in Bellingham, Washington 12/5/1904. Lee married Ruth Amelia Evans 6/16/1928 in San Francisco, California. They had two boys: David Lee and Wesley Evans. Lee went by his middle name and I never knew his first name was Elmer until I started working on our family history in 1960. Lee was a train engineer for many years. Before that he worked at various jobs and sometimes in machine shops for his brother Lawrence. He was also a locomotive fireman prior to becoming an engineer. Lee was very outgoing and loved to talk and tell stories. Lee and Ruth lived in San Francisco most of their married life. They bought and apartment house at 1496 Noe and lived there all the time that I remember them. Nita and I invited them to come stay with us for a month while we were living in Germany. Before they came over they bought tickets on the fastest train (TGV) in the world at that time Lee told us. He was told that you could be served fancy dinners like they did years ago on the USA trains so he wanted to experienced it again. As luck would have it all the food service people were on strike when we rode the train! Lee was very disappointed. Lee and Ruth were both 78 when they visited us and had their 54 th wedding anniversary while there. We all went to an old salt mine in Berchtesgaden, Germany and Lee and Ruth both slid down the slide that the workers used to use to get to the lower levels of the mine. They had the leather aprons on their backsides of course. Lee, like Mom and Becky, tried but failed to locate the sculpture of "The Last Supper" which was done by their great-grandfather Anthony August Maurer. Lee and Ruth loved to travel and enjoyed life very much. They were very nice people. Lee died 7/23/1991 and is buried in San Francisco, California.
The above excerpt was written by Dave Grinstead
April, 1999
Ginny Grinstead Armstrong wrote the following e-mail to Michael A. McKenzie on December 30, 1999 and shared some of her memories of the Binghams and their spouses from her childhood.
I would like to share a few more family stories. I liked the way Dave shared his and so I will use his format. I told you some about Auntie when I last wrote, so I will share what I remember about Mom's other siblings.
Uncle Lawrence: Uncle Lawrence was one of the smartest men I have ever met. He was a true Renascence man. He was a very talented inventor. He invented a type of roller chain that is used all over the world to propel machinery. The shipyard where he worked got the patent and Uncle Lawrence got a $100 bonus. That was a lot of money in the twenties, but Rol says the chain has been worth millions. He built a scale model of a steam ship engine (1/4 inch to one foot) and ran it with a compressor that he had in his basement. When our Steve was about 4 or 5 (about 1971) we went to visit Uncle Lawrence and Aunt Ione. He helped Steve make a lighthouse from a clock. He was wonderful with Steve, never talking down to him, treating him with great respect. Uncle Lawrence also made violins and was the best pinochle player I have ever seen. Our family were big pinochle players and we all learned when we were very young. He was such a kind man and he and Aunt Ione were so in love. Their marriage never lost its passion and he lived to please her. It was so sad when he lost his wit, he was a very funny man. Just before he died we went to visit him at his son Donny's house. He couldn't remember who we all were (He couldn't keep names straight even when he was younger, calling all women either Rachel or Doris!) and he asked me who mom was (she was in her late 70's then) I told him that she was Rachel. He was very indignant and told me "That's not Rachel. That's some old woman." Mom was not pleased to say the least! I remember so well Uncle Lee after that visit told me, with tears in his eyes, I have lost my brother. It was so sad. Uncle Lawrence was so much like Grandma in intelligence and wit, it was regrettable to see them both suffer from dementia in the end.
Aunt Ione: Aunt Ione was one of the most moral and kind women I have ever met. Mom used to say "I have never heard Aunt Ione say a bad thing about anyone." She never gossiped and she gave you her whole attention when she talked to you. I stayed with them for a week one summer, I think I was about 14, and she taught me how to swim. They lived about a block off of Alkai beach in Seattle. It was a wonderful place to go in the summer. She never drove, but took me all over Seattle on the busses. She taught me all about the big city and took me into the swankiest stores. I remember looking at a black dress that was $100. An astounding amount of money in the late 50's. She taught me a lot about good manners and how to behave in restaurants and on social occasions. I believe Uncle Lawrence and Aunt Ione took me to the first restaurant I had ever been to with real cloth napkins and several courses of food. I was a wide-eyed kid from the sticks! They had two children and eleven grandchildren. She loved her grandchildren and had them a lot. I really enjoyed that, as I have always been a "kid person". I used to spend time in the summers staying with them and baby sitting her grandchildren. We never thought of being paid for baby sitting relatives back then. It was part of being a family. Aunt Ione suffered a stroke in about 1963. She could never talk again. She lived several more years and when Uncle Lawrence retired he took total care of her. He never left her side and saw to all of her needs. She was in a wheel chair and they traveled to California and back several times. Our Steve used to climb on her lap and chatter away to her. They always seemed to understand each other. I wish all of you could have known her.
Uncle Lee: Uncle Lee was an engineer for the railroad in San Francisco. We saw them about once a year. Because they were farther away we didn't spend the time with them that we spent with Uncle Lawrence and Aunt Ione or Auntie's family. Uncle Lee was a real tease. He like to play practical jokes on people and tease them. He was pretty opinionated and set in his ways. I used to argue with him (no surprise to the family, I argued with everyone!) and he told me you are just like my "Ma". and believe me that was no compliment. Uncle Lee was a great story teller and we would not have some of the great family stories if he had not taken the time to write them down. I sent you his stories and letters, mom and Auntie disagreed with a lot of his recollections, but we are lucky he took the time to write them down.
Aunt Ruth: Aunt Ruth was from San Francisco and a very sophisticated lady in my eyes. She shared with me her love of books and was still writing me and sharing some of her favorite authors (Anne Tyler was one) until she was well into her eighties. She was a twin and that was so interesting to me. She and her sister Pearl were identical. They lived a very different lifestyle and I was very impressed with their "big city ways". She was a very literate person and educated me about history, literature, and art. Her home was always open to us. As young adults we would travel to San Francisco and they always welcomed us. She was very funny and had a great sense of humor.
Mom also had a brother Clarence that died as a child and a brother Clyde who she adored. He died during the flu epidemic in about 1918.
I know this is a very long E-mail. Please edit it as you please. Also please remember these are my memories and my brothers and Charmie probably remember things quite differently. I hope they will all share their stories so we can share some memories.
Love, Aunt Ginny
Lee Bingham wrote a wonderful story about various recollections during his life. A verbatim transcription follows:
1895
AN ERA OF GOOD FEELINGS
Beginning in the city of Stillwater, Min , a beautiful rich brunet, Elizabeth Fritschie, decided to go out West to visit her brother Rudolph. He lived in Bellingham, Washington. She loved the Pacific Northwest, the sights and sounds -- the aroma of the new cut lumber and cedar shingles.
After the invention of the ten block shingle machine Washington practically roofed the world. The ten block saw could cut twenty shingles in a second as apposed to the one block which would saw only twenty per minute.
In 1896 Elizabeth was introduced to Dell Bingham, a tugboat captain, a tall, handsome, robust flat on his ass bachelor and she married him in February 1898. His job was towing booms of logs to various mills in Puget Sound and the Straits of Georgia. My Dad got a little weary of being away so much towing booms of logs around the sound so he quit the captain job and took a job as a resawyer in a lumber mill in Bellingham. At that time, December 1, 1899, Lawrence Frederick was born to Mr. And Mrs. Dell Bingham. That was a tough way to earn money after being a tugboat captain for ten years. And two years later, 1902, Clyde Henry was born. He died in 1918 of Spanish influenza. I was born in 1904. Dad was still running the resaw. Dad bought an acre of land near Larson Station and built a house on it. Larson Station was on the electric line between Bellingham and Lake Whatcom. Larson was the owner of a huge mill -- thus the name Larson Station.
Just about the time our house was completed we got a letter from our grandmother, also named Elizabeth Fritschie, inviting us to come to Stillwater, Min. Dad just dropped the hammer. We went to Bellingham and got the train that went to Stillwater. It seems she didn't know there were three kids. I think Grandma had a short fuse, so we didn't stay in her house very long. And Dad rented a house down the street from Grandma. She came to visit us quite often, bringing us goodies. Dad worked at the school. I don't know but, somehow Dad got hold of a team of horses and a wagon. We left Stillwater in the latter part of June 1907. 300 miles away they stopped at Fargo where my father's brother was the chief of police, James K. Bingham. I don't think Jim enjoyed Ma and Pa with three kids driving up unannounced, and after a day or two we left. Next stop 100 miles away to Jamestown, North Dakota. It was very necessary stop as Rebecca Fern Bingham was born on Oct. 14, 1907. Dad Must have gone to work around there as we stayed a year and a half. And I remember Becky's milk bottle which was fastened on her bedstead and a long tube, about two feet long, with a nipple on the end. That is all I remember of Jamestown. It was spring when we arrived in Spearfish, South Dakota, about 300 miles away. South and west of Jamestown. It was spring when we arrived in Spearfish. We lived in a tent and Lawrence went to school. April 7th, 1909 Rachel was born. I think we only stayed in the tent that summer. In Spearfish my Dad opened a bakery. Made all kinds of French pastry. I remember especially jelly rolls. Then Dad worked for a logging company by the name of Clark and Dacy. How do I remember? I was four years old. We left Spearfish and we stayed at Deadwood, a few miles away for a short time. We lived in a yellow house on Spearfish Creek and my dad worked at the gas plant. Deadwood, South Dakota that is. They had a terrible flood down Spearfish creek. The railroad was washed out, the bridge was washed out. Pigs and chickens were going down in torrents. There was a flour mill close. When Ruth and I went back there we found the old mill stone broken in half. There was an old cemetery and a statue of a Civil War veteran with a small iron fence. They said Calamity Jane and Wild Bill Hichook was buried there, but in later years we found out they didn't even know each other. We forded the Belle Fourch River before we got to Dead Wood. I remember fording the Belle Fourch River with horses and wagon. I remember leaving Dead Wood by train because the train had red cushions. From dead Wood, through Wyoming, through Idaho, to Seattle where we waited for Dad. Then to Friday harbor. Lawrence remembers Dad driving the team of horses to Bellingham. I can only remember we went to Friday Harbor, but not how we got there. Next we were living in a house in Friday Harbor with electric lights. Lawrence, Clyde, me Rebecca and Rachel. It was great for us kids. We fished and dug clambs, had crabs and cockles and a clambake every night. After six month we went back to Bellingham. That is Alki, 6 miles north of Bellingham. I first went to the Albineto School at Alki. The school had a pump in the front yard for drinking water. 2 room school house. Grades one to four and five to eight. Clyde was in the 4th grade and Lawrence the 7th.
We lived in a small house up a little hill across the Guide Meridian, from the Richy and Shelton Lumber mill where Dad worked. [In 1910 the Guide Meridian was the main highway Between Bellingham and Vancouver B.C. about 20 miles] On that side of the highway was a planing mill and a dry kiln and, of course, a shingle mill. The other side of the Guide Meridian were homes, a boarding house, school, etc. Once in a while Dad, Lawrence and Clyde and I would walk to Bellingham to see the Barnam and Bailey Circus when the circus was in town ( or the Sells Flota Circus. ) We would get up at 4 a.m. walk to town to the RR to watch the elephants push the cases off the flat cars - the tent cars and the cook's car and the steam calliop. Then we would have a donut and a glass of milk and stand on the curb and watch the parade. Our Dad was the greatest. Becky and Rachel were too little to go. Our Dad was poor in worldly possessions but rich in charm and humor and trust in God. We were his boys. Later years I saw the inside of a tent. We carried water to the elephants between shows to get in free. The circus in the tent was not that great. Not as interesting as unloading at the R.R. yard. We would walk the six miles back home - a day to remember.
1912 we moved back to Bellingham because as surely as the sun came up, in 1914 the world was coming to an end (Ma said so.) And us kids did not want to be stuck on this farm. They were happy years in our lives. The Boy Scouts trampled all the hay down. Dad let a Boy Scout Troup sleep in the hayloft. A horse fell in a deep ditch and we had a horrible time getting him out. We burned a house down that Dad has rented, and not moved in yet. We filled the airtight heater half full of pine knots, then lit it on fire. When we were a little closer we saw the flames shooting out of all the windows. But it wasn't our fault. We wasn't there when it caught on fire. The owner didn't like it much. He lived close by. He, like my Grandmother, had very little humor and a very short fuse.
A year later we moved back to Bellingham. Dad found a house in Bellingham at 1409 Iowa St.. It was a green house on about a half acre. Where we put in a garden, and Whatcom Creek was two block away. After hoeing the garden we could always go swimming. The owner didn't tell my Mom and Dad that in flood state Whatcon Creek filled our yard chuck-a-block and we needed a row boat to get to land. We couldn't move in the winter as we had no room for our possessions in a rowboat. The river went down a little and we moved to higher ground overlooking Bellingham Bay. This new place had a copper bath tub. No doubt it leaked, but we were on the ground floor. That was across town from Iowa Street. In winter we could slide all the way down the hill on our home-made sled. This place was terrible. Ma refused to live in it.
In 1917 we moved to 2221 James St. A beautiful big house with lawn in front. Woodshed in the back and an ally for tradesmen. Dad, Lawrence and Clyde were working and Mom loved it for a year. Then later Lawrence decided to go back to Seattle. A year or so later Clyde went East of the mountains to Levenworth, Wn. We moved to Exenia St. After living there a year or so, the 1918 war was on. We moved this time to Everson, Wa. And I went through the eighth grade in the Roader School. An engineer on the CM and stP got me a job as a locomotive fireman in 1923 and that lasted about six months. Lawrence came home from Seattle and said "let's go to San Francisco.". And I said "Let's go." We arrived in San Francisco on New Years Day and We each got a room in a private house. We went out looking for a job. Us two guys were not cloistered.
I applied at the Southern Pacific for a job as a locomotive fireman in 1926. A few days later I found a job as a tool sharpener for the Vermont Marble Company. I didn't know how to temper tools so I asked my brother Lawrence. I went to work on the job and and did fine and dandy for two years. I got paid a $20.00 gold piece every week. I used to go to the Southern Pacific office every few weeks to see if my name was still on file. Finally they called me in July of that year, 1927, and I was working from then on until. I had already met Ruth in 1926, a beautiful, well educated blue-eyed blond you ever did see. We were married June 16, 1928, which was the smartest thing I ever did in my life. She was the Chief Clerk in the San Francisco branch of the P.G. & E. I quit the Marble Co. to go to work on the Southern Pacific Co. And here come 1929 and the bottom fell out. Hundreds of thousands across the U.S. were out of a job and I was one of them. Lawrence got me a job at the Livermore Shop for the Hetch Hetchy. Real easy job, I had to bore out mining car wheels to 10-1,000 under three inches. Then the guy on the next lathe turned the axle down to exactly 3 in. Then they pressed the wheels on the axle and then the little cars were used for taking the dirt and the rock out of the Hetch Hetchy tunnel. So now Ruth and I were doing all right again even though there were still tens of thousands of people out of work. On March 18, 1931 the first greatest joy of our lives was when David arrived healthy and happy. I worked at Hetch Hetchy until 1936 or until the R.R. called me back to work. And, or course, my brother being the supervisor of the Hetch Hetchy shops helped a little.
Lawrence and I used to commute to San Francisco Saturday afternoon from Livermore. Lawrence had a 1929 Hudson Super Six and I had a 1924 four cylinder Chev. Coupe. He said he would give me a 10 minute head start and bet me a dollar he could beat me to San Francisco. And he used to win every time, except once. One Saturday afternoon I left Livermore headed to S.F. I had the old boiler right in the whistling slot. I saw a state police at the cross road of Dublin Canyon. I came to a screeching halt. I said, "officer, will you do me a favor." "Yeh," he said. I said to him, there will be a 1929 Hudson Super Six barreling through here about a 100 miles per hour. Will you slow him down a wee bit. I told him what was up. He grinned and said, "I will take care of it." So I won that time and Lawrence does not know why. Lawrence's Hudson was beautiful until his son, Don's dog tore up the seat.
Now I was back on the R.R. and we decided to rent our flat out and go to San Luis Obispo where it was easy living. One picnic after another on Avila Beach. And, you know what, on November 21, 1937 Wesley showed up, healthy and happy. And David was so happy to have a little brother. And Wesley, only two or three days old, would grab on David's little finger and hold on until Ruth would come to his aid. Now there are four of us. Christmas we took Wesley and David back to San Francisco for the holidays.
A year later we moved back to San Francisco. The kids were happy and healthy under thew guidance of a lovely mother. They went to Kate Kennedy school and to Pinecrest every summer. Roy first told us about Pinecrest. Ruth and Pearl took turns staying with the kids, al the kids in the two families. Ruthie and David were budy-budy. The years go by then Wes and Charmie were also budy-budy.
I remember going to Bellingham with Ruth, David and Wesley many times.
END OF AN ERA
David was in the Airforce and doing well. He was in Victorville, Cheyeene, and many other camps. Then Korea, the City of Seoul. He was in communications the whole four years.
Mom, Wes and I went to Grand Canyon by auto. Wesley was 15 years old. He was needling me and bugging me all the way. As we were approaching Lancaster, the Southern Pacific train from Los Angeles to San Francisco was just coming into the station. I said "hey Wes, why don't you get on that train and go to Auntie Pearl and Uncle Roy's house." Wes was delighted. From then on Ruth and I went alone and for every year thereafter.
Wesley graduated from Lincoln High School. Then entered University of California for one year at which time he received a fellowship to Davis University of $200.00 a month for a year. Then, as he had decided to follow a teaching career, he enrolled at San Francisco State University and graduated after majoring in biology and botany. He went to Europe for the summer and came home to teach in Napa. David came home from the service and enrolled at San Francisco City college and received his A.B. degree, and then went to work for the P.T.&T. and stayed to climb the corporate ladder.
In 1970 I retired at the age of 66. David and Arlene had two kids, Don and Chris, about 6 and 8. Wes and Janet had two kids, Aaron and Meredith.
Ruth and I have been married 57 years. I am not her Lord and Master, I am just her husband. I loved her every mile of the way. We have had, and are having, a beautiful life.
As I remember.
Lee
The following story was sent to Michael McKenzie by David Grinstead on March 7, 2000:
Subject: Uncle Lee's story: Our Fabulous Trip to Europe
June 1982
This trip was beyond our wildest dreams, until David Grinstead and his lovely wife Nita, legally Juanita, wrote to us and said "come to Europe." David is my sister Rachel's son. Now you know who's who. We were so delighted, we mortgaged the homestead and went to Lufthansa Airline and bought tickets, so we could not change our mind. Wow!! What went flying through our heads - Munich, Geneva, Basel, Paris. At our age, it was a dream.
We also bought tickets on the world's fastest train (TGV) from Geneva to Paris, and Paris to Lyons, as the tickets had to be bought in the United States. Then Nita took over and she had quite a time. David and Nita decided to drive their car from Munich to Basel. Leave the car there and buy tickets on a regular train from Basel to Geneva and another return fare from Lyon to Basel, to pick up the car.
When Boeing announced they wanted a representative to go to Germany they said, we want a man who can speak German, who has a beautiful and social wife. So David told them, "I can't speak German, but I have a beautiful and social wife." So they sent them with the promise they would learn German. To buy all those railroad tickets over the phone, she must be doing a good job with her German.
So we are off June 3rd. David Bingham took us to the plane 2 pm San Francisco, airborne 3:15 pm. Next stop Frankfort, Germany. But being stuffed in the window seat where there are three seats between window and aisle, is no fun . Getting in and out is exasperating and excruciating. To get out one must grab on the top of the backrest and pull. After catching a few strands of the lady's hair ahead of us, I became more careful. As I promised Ruth, I would not create a scene, I still promise myself never to go in such close quarters again for such a long ride. We flew over Moosejaw and Saskatoon where the Duke of Windsor danced with a commoner. It didn't do the commoner any good, but it put Saskatoon on the map. We didn't really fly over the North Pole. These big ships have a gyro pilot, which keeps then on course and the correct altitude. However, they must latch on a star such as the North Star.
After we fly over the top of the earth, we start coming down over the Shetland Islands, and between the east coast of Scotland and southern tip of Norway, over Amsterdan, and the captain calls Frankfort, and we must crawl out of the seats again. Frankfort Airport. We came to a nice smooth stop. No one applauded, as in Russia. There it is considered a victory. We walk into the building. We are strangers in a strange land. Now I have a little idea of what an emigrant to the United States must have felt. We had an hour to wait for the flight to Munich.
First we found the correct gate for our Munich (Munchen) trip. Then we had breakfast. Boy! German menu. We managed to get coffee and a roll. I paid with a $20.00 bill and my change was in marks, 2.48 to one dollar. Finally they announced something in German or course. Then in English we were told to go to gate 5 and get on a bus. Then we were given a bag lunch and driven to another airport for a plane to Munich, as they don't serve lunch for short trips. We landed in Munich without incidence. Went to the carousel and got our bags and to a desk with passport in hand. They just waved us through and here were Dave and Nita. Boy, were we glad to see them. Dave got a luggage cart and put all our bags on. No Red Caps. Here we are in Munchen, or in English, Munich, Bavaria. Bavaria now the lartgest state in Germany. Bavaria was founded in the 15th century, B.C. A peaceful naation. But down through the years they have been taken over by this country and conquered by that country - added to and taken away from. At the moment West Germany is the boss.
Well, we got all the bags in David's car and drove to Dave and Nita's house. Beautiful home on the flat, lawn in back and lawn in front. Common garage for 11 homes. Ultra modern kitchen. The basement the best job of plumbing I have ever seen. Steam heat boiler. All automatic water heater controlled by time and temperature. Three bedrooms, three baths. The living room one wall with solid bookcases of walnut, built to order to fit exactly the length of the room. Very beautiful.
We had a real good and much needed sleep that first night. The next day, Nita and David took us downtown via S-Bahn, or commute train, partly underground. One buys a ticket on the station platform. No one collects them at the end of the trip. You throw them away. No turnstile. They use the honor system. There may be an inspector on the train and maybe not. But if he or she wants to see your ticket, you had better have one, or 40 mark fine.
10:30 AM we are sitting under a beach umbrella with about 500 other tourists, and other yokels, waiting for the Glockenspiel to perform. At 11 AM the clock strikes the hour and the music, a minuet, starts. Lifesize danders in red coats and brass buttons, and white pants and black boots come out and dance a thirty foot semi-circle, and each dancer turns a pierrot twice in the half revolution. The dancing lasts three minutes. There are 15 breweries in Munich all going full blast. They consider beer food.
Next day, David had to work, so Nita took us to King Ludwig 11 castle. (Neuschwanstein 1869-1886) Just say stump when you come to the name of the castle. It is the same castle that inspired Walt Disney to build Disney Land. We went to the base of the mountains with car then to the castle steps by two horse surrey. A guided tour throughout. The ballroom, you remember the story, the king dancing all night with Lola Montez while the queen counted the money. The stair's treads were worn betraying the knights chasing the ladies up the stairs. Some fun. I was born one hundred years too late. Bavaria is loaded with castles, as Russia also is. Every time a relative was born, they built a new castle.
One day we visited the Memorial Site Concentration Camp Dachau. Citizens from almost every nation were imprisoned in Dachau. Some Americans. but mostly Jews. The persecution of the Jews is shown in a special section. A very sobering place.
June 13th, as our railroad ticket had been purchased, we must get to Geneva. As I said, Nita had it all under control. We were on the highspeed train in Geneva, 175 miles per hour. Got off in Paris about 10:30 pm. We hailed a cab at the depot and went to the hotel at 16 Rue Cambaceres, taxie fare 185 French francs. We liked our hotel room. We had our room on the 6th floor, Dave and Nita on the 8th. We toured Paris by sightseeing bus and saw quite a bit in two days. The tour guide spoke French, but we heard it in English on tape with earphones. Visited the Louvre, of course, to see the Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, etc. To have lunch in the Eiffel Tower was impossible. The Line-up was 100 feet long, four abreast. We saw the Triumphal Arch, Notre Dame Cathedral, and toured the famous street Champs-Elysees. I swear I begged Ma to buy a Paris gown. She said she would settle for a cuckoo clock. That evening we had dinner at the Astor Hotel, very nice and Frenchie.
Next morning we again boarded the TGV at Paris to Lyon. The end of our 175 mile an hour train ride. Stayed all night in Lyon, then on slow train from Lyon to Basel (only 90 miles per hour.) Back in Basel, we stayed at the same place Chateau De Solitude. Next morning we crossed the Rhine in a gondola. Visited the church my grandmother attended before she and her husband, Rudolph Fritschie, came to Stillwater, Minn., USA about 1866.
While in Basel we went through an ancient paper mill, powered by water wheel on the edge of the Rhine River. Wooden pegs on the side of the water wheel lifted the iron hammers on the end of a 20 ft long 4 x 4 and drops them on white rags which are in an iron pot with water. Then the rags are smashed into a pulp. A man holds the hammer up and puts a block under so the other end does not contact the pegs on the water wheel. The pounding action is stopped until he fills the rag pot again. He knocks out the clocks and here we go again. Bang-bang-bang, while he is rolling out the pulp into paper. And on it goes, since the 14th century.
We enjoyed so much the stay at the Chateau de Solitude. The dining room window looked out on the Rhine River. And here David and Nita put a "Happy 54th Anniversary" tag on our door on June 16th and honored us with a lovely and delicious dinner that evening.
Now we are off to the Black Forest, in the southwest corner of Germany. Soomething like driving through the Santa Cruz Mountains, but denser. A horse couldn't go through and a dog couldn't run through. However, the trees are so small, six inches average. I saw no stumps of big timber that would indicate it had been logged off. These small trees must have been second growth.
We stopped here and there to v isit the curio shops, many cuckoo clocks and more cuckoo clocks. Yes, Ma bought a cuckoo clock and other souvenirs. Had lunch in a quaint little place along the way. We are now following the Danube River which flows from the Black Forest to the Black Sea.
Yes. we slept in a castle on this trip, and it was build by a Hohenzoller in the 9th century. Oh Boy!! Haunted tower, ghosts, spooks! If the creaking doors and walls of the round tower could talk, what a wild story they could tell. How can we sleep! Those kings of old had to be guarded every minute of the day all their lives. Looking out the window one could see an eerie light at the base of the watchtower. The hugh old stove, creaking stairs, the pot under the bed, would sometimes be used as a weapon. The king petrified with fear, couldn't know when death would strike. Those were the days when kings lead the warriors into battle and they all died young. They finally got smart and followed far behind - after starting the war. If we had it like that now, there would be very few wars. However, in spite of the creaking doors, eerie whine of the wind and the confounded feather bed, I went to sleep. It didn't bother Ma one bit. She slept like sleeping beauty. I was rather glad when morning came and we came back to the 20th century.
Next morning we stopped at the quaint town of Rothenburg ob der Tauber and bought Hummels for June and Clara. Dave and I went to the Prisoners' Museum. Man has invented the most atrocious instruments of punishment. Such as iron mask with red tongue hanging out eight inches, locked on the head of a talkative woman. The iron maiden is an iron barrel with a hole in the top for your neck for bakers who cheated. Whence came the bakers' dozen (13). A long horn locked on the face of a bad musician. These offenders had to walk around town for days. And many more tortuous inventions.
That evening Dave found a beautiful little Hansel and Gretel farm where they rented rooms. Dave drove in the yard. Yes, they had two rooms. It sure was fun. Hartstein cattle were grazing. The children brought out their pet goats. The little red-headed girl carried her pet kid from the barn. We had Dutch-lunch that evening and took many pictures of the family and animals. Nice rooms, feather beds - pulled it up high and my feet were out. In the morning we had a continental breakfast.
After breakfast we left for Nita and Davids house in Munich. There were little old towns along the Danube with red tile roofs. Many acres of grain, many dairy farms. We arrived at home at 5 pm and went out to dinner that night. In the morning we took off for Austria and the Salt Mine at Bertschesgaden. The Salt Mine was four levels deep. We sat on the salt mine train, straddle a 12 inch plank, about 20 people, and down in the salt mine we went, through a mining shaft 4' side and 5' high, to the second level. Then slid down to another like kids in a playground. After the lecture, slid down another slide to the third level and walked to the fourth, and the most beautiful little lake. Then onto a boat to the other side and the train was waiting to take us to the surface.
We stopped at a beer garden and five men were sitting in a flower-covered shed in liederhosen. feathers in their hats, having a beer, while their wives were in church, so they said. I took a picture - they were happy.
Another day visited Schrobenhausen, porcelain factory, where I bought a porcelain mantel clock. Please don't try to pronounce the name of the town. We watched them make a French Provincial clock. They baked it, painted it and fired it and put the works in and I bought it.
Yes, we went through the Mercedes-Benz plant, 27 acres of plant. It would take a ream of paper to tell all so I will just say they make a 4 cyl. gasoline, 5 cyl, diesel, 6 cyl gas and 8 cyl gas. The plant is at least 9/10 robot and a car comes off the assembly line every 4 seconds,
15 a minute.
On the 28th day, before leaving for home, we took Strassenbahn (bus) then S-Bahn (train) then tram (street car) to the Duetsches Museum, in Munich. The largest industrial museum in the world. We enjoyed the old car exhibit, Railroad exhibit, sailing ships and airplanes.
The next day we pack our clock, (shipped the cuckoo clock) and say our goodbys to the nicest people. They take us to the airport and we are off on the 30th to Frankfort and back over the top of the earth and home, to the city of wealth, beauty and fashion. It is always nice to get home.
Original Written by Lee, Edited by Ruth
REBECCA FERN BINGHAM was born 10/14/1907 in Jamestown, North Dakota while the family was in the process of relocating by covered wagon back to Bellingham, Washington from Stillwater, Minnesota, where her grandmother Elizabeth Maurer Fritschie lived. Becky married Perry Cannon Anderson 2/21/1927. They had six children; Robert Lee (a breech birth and a "blue baby" who died at birth), Harold (nmn), Norman Arnold, Lee Armond, Esther Lorraine and Darlene May. Becky or "Aunty" as all of us kids called her, was like a second mother to me. Her door was always open to me any hour of the day or night. Her son Harold and I were more like brothers than cousins. A lot of the information I am sending you about Becky's family came from her youngest daughter, Darlene who has helped me update my genealogy records on the Anderson side of the family. Becky like Mom loved horses and her favorite one was named "Biscuit" who was blind in one eye. When Mom and/or Becky would ride him across the railroad tracks or bridges he would walk sideways across so he could see better. Becky was a strict Jehovah Witness and really enjoyed the "meetings". When Mom and Becky were visiting us in Germany (Nita flew home to fly over with them as they were nervous about landing in a foreign country.) they had the opportunity to go to a couple of the Jehovah Witnesses meetings there and Becky gave a report on their visit to her local meeting place in Portland, Oregon. Becky loved it in Europe. She went wading in the North Sea sans shoes as rumor has it if you get your feet wet there you will return there someday. A number of times as we were driving around Europe Becky would yell "ouch"! The first time she did that Nita asked what was wrong. She replied that she wanted to make sure that she just wasn't dreaming being there and pinched herself to be sure! Nita and I both loved her very much and still miss visiting her. Becky died 10/18/1994, exactly two months after Mom died. They were very close. Becky is buried in Portland, Oregon.
RACHEL MAY BINGHAM "Mom" was born 4/7/1909 in Spearfish, South Dakota on the way to Bellingham, Washington from Stillwater, Minnesota. She married John (Ellis Baker) Grinstead 10/22/1926 and they had eight children. It goes without saying, but I will say it anyway. Nita and I loved Mom very much and really miss stopping by her place to yak and /or having her over for dinner. See previous write up on Mom, which follows:.
John David Grinstead (b. 19 MAR 1929) wrote the following biography about his Mother, Rachel May Bingham, in May, 1999:
Hi Mike, Just a little info on Mom for your Family History document.
Rachel May Bingham Grinstead, the youngest of six children born to AdelbertDecolia "Dell" Bingham and Elizabeth Bertha Fritschie Bingham, was born in a covered wagon in Spearfish, South Dakota on the 7th of April in 1909 while the family was on a four year trek going from Jamestown, North Dakota to the State of Washington. She died the 18th of August 1994 in Bellingham, Washington a few weeks after the heart attack that took her to the hospital. Her last days were at home where she wanted to be rather than in the hospital or a convalescent home. Mom was a strict Jehovah Witness and would not have blood transfusions which prevented any operation that may have extended her life some or ended it on the operation table. Also, she was 85 and ready to meet her maker. Mom was convinced she had all her ducks in order so dying did not scare her. In fact, I got the feeling that she decided it was time to go and did nothing to fight it. She knew she was going to heaven to meet her god and dying came easier for her than most people. She was a gutsy and strong woman. Mom is buried in Green Acres cemetery, which is north of Bellingham at the N.E. corner of Northwest and Axton roads. A copy of her Certificate of Death is included in the family history.
Mom had a lot of good memories of her childhood so we have to assume that it was a pretty good one. When she talked to me about her childhood it normally included one or members of her family. She had one sister Rebecca Fern Bingham Anderson (who was auntie to all us kids ) and four brothers: Lawrence Frederick ; Clyde Henry ; Clarence Miles and Elmer Lee. I had heard that Clyde's real name "Adelbert William" was given to him by grandpa, but grandma did not like that name so she changed it to Clyde. Legal change? I don't know. Aunt Becky said in one of her letters that Clyde didn't like it and changed it himself. Take your choice I guess. Clyde died as a result of the flu that killed thousands in 1918 just a month after his 18th birthday. Clarence died as an infant. Lived only a little over two months.
One of Mom's passions as a youngster was horses. She often talked about living on the farm near Everson and riding horses with her older sister Becky. She would jump over fences and ride bare back. She used to drive the horse and buggy (surrey) for fun and in races as a teenager. The family had one horse she dearly loved. Her name was Nellie and she was very gentle and would take Mom and Becky bare back any place they wanted to go. If the girls slipped off Nellie would stop and wait till they got back on before she would start up again.
When Mom's parents decided to live apart Mom went to live with her dad in Lyman, Washington where he worked at the sawmill there while Becky stayed with her mother. Living in a cabin, cooking and cleaning for your father could not have been a teenager's dream. However she got to know and love her father very much and whenever she spoke of him to me it was always with pleasant memories. Lyman was and is a very small town southeast of Bellingham and I think Mom knew everyone there. Nita and I would take her there once in awhile to look over the area and talk about her teenage life there. She was pointing out who lived where and showed where the bootlegger lived. I said, "Mom, how come you know where he lived?" She hesitated for only a moment and let me know that it was a small town and EVERYBODY in town knew where he lived.
Mom had another passion; Dancing. When or where she learned I don't know but she sure was a good dancer and loved going to the MWA dance hall downtown. She offered to help some of us kids learn to dance when we were young. Ed and Bill took advantage of her help. I didn't, but wish I had of. Don't know about the others. In later years when the doctor told her it was bad for her heart to dance she stopped dancing. Still we would see her foot tapping in rhythm to a tune and you knew how much she must have missed it.
Not long after Mom and Dad were married, Grandma (Mom's mother) came to live
with them. Except for a short time in an apartment, a few months in San Francisco at her son Lee's and some time with daughter Becky, grandma lived with Mom and Dad until a short time before her death in 1955.
When Mom was about 16 and once again living with her mother, she saw Johnny Grinstead as she looked out the window of their apartment and said; " That's the man that I am going to marry" and of course she later did.
Mom's lineage is rather interesting. Her great grandmother, Sarah Hawkins was the first white child born in what is now Pennsylvania. Her great grandfather Jacob Fritschie, was a wealthy Silk manufacturer in Switzerland and her other great grandfather, Auugust Maurer, was a sculptor in Basel, Switzerland and one of his major sculptors was of the "Last Supper" . At one time it was kept in the Munster church in Basel. However, when Nita and I were living in Germany and Mom and Becky were visiting us we went to Basel and did not find it in the Munster. Some people there said it was removed during WW ll and taken to a safe place so it wouldn't get stolen or destroyed. But they did not know where that place was. Mom really enjoyed visiting Basel and seeing the place that her mother, as a teenager, lived while studying piano in Basel.
I can remember Mom washing clothes with an old green wringer washer that was broken more than it was running. She would get part way through a washing and it would breakdown. She would then have to wait for Dad to come home to fix it or finish the washing by hand. It must of broke down a lot because that is one of the main things that I remember about problems with the "H" street house. One of the other problems she put up with along with the rest of us was the lack of hot water at the only bathtub in the house at "H" street in the winter if/when the pipes froze. The only bathroom was on the second floor and when the water pipes froze or broke and were not fixed we would have to carry hot water up from the kitchen. I normally had a very shallow bath during those times. Mom normally called Dad at work when things like that happened and asked him to come home during the day to fix them. If she waited till he got home after work, they might not get fixed as Dad didn't always keep 'regular' hours.
Another “glimpse” of Rachel May Bingham was provided to the author by Jennifer Herald Grinstead, wife of William Adelbert “Bill” Grinstead. The following is “Jenny’s Eulogy for Mom” that was delivered on August 22, 1994.
When I first met Rachel Grinstead, I had no idea of the wonderful past and future examples of quiet strength and dignity that would unfold before my eyes in the next eighteen years. From the first day that I rented an apartment next door to her from Bill, one of her sons, and started going out with him I never knew her name as anything other than “Mom” for a long time.
Although Bill and I married later that year, I wasn’t too sure about living next door to my mother-in-law. She was kind and quiet though and I thought it might be OK.
Mom was a woman of stories and a tough lady. Born in a covered wagon in Spearfish, South Dakota, while crossing the country with her family, she was the youngest of 6 children. What a perfect setting for Mom’s life to begin. While it would seem that a “soon departed place of birth” would not determine a person’s character, South Dakota’s no nonsense, practical solidness seems to have imbued Mom with characteristics reflective of the unpretentious beauty of the land. Life wasn’t easy.
One brother died in infancy. When Mom was about nine years old, Her 18 year old brother, Clyde, died from influenza. She often talked about living on the farm near Everson and riding horses with her older sister, Becky. She’d jump over fences and ride bare-back and you knew how much she must have loved it.
When her parents lived apart, she went with her Dad to cook and take care of him in Lyman in a sawmill while Becky stayed with her mother. Living in a cabin with your father could not have been a teenager’s dream. However, Mom found something rich in it and a closeness grew between her and her father that was very special.
At about 16 and living again with her mother, she saw Johnny Grinstead out of the window of their apartment and said “that’s the man I’m going to marry”, which, of course, she later did. Very shortly after that, her mother came to live with them – for the next 25 years of their marriage. She accepted life for what it was, she accepted life’s circumstances. She didn’t complain but used what she experienced to enrich her relationships with the ones she loved. Because of that, she was a joy and an example to me.
And she was fun. She loved to talk and visit. Bill tells me about the H Street house, and how Mom and Dad struggled to make ends meet. Yet he remembers lots of nights after the kids were supposed to be in bed but instead they would lie near the vent upstairs listening to laughter and conversation from the grown-ups down in the kitchen. Mom still loved to laugh, even in her last days in the hospital.
She told about how she used to love to go dancing at the “MWA” downtown on Saturday nights. She went with her sister, Becky, and friends before she was married, and she even went with her daughter, Charmie after she was married. In fact, she used to dance with a handsome young man named Bud Hewett who later became her son-in-law. In later years when the doctor told her it was bad for her heart to dance or walk up hills, she just stopped dancing and walking up hills. I still would see her foot tapping in rhythm to a tune and knew how much she must have missed it.
I heard stories about Johnny coming home, telling her that they would be moving that night, leaving furniture behind because they couldn’t move it and moving her family into a home she had never seen before. She just did it.
During the years she delivered some of her eight children at home, a favorite story is the time when she couldn’t get a hold of Dad to tell him she was ready to have the baby. So she rode the bus to the hospital and very shortly later, her 12 pound Billy was born. She just did it.
While we were looking through Mom’s photo albums this last week, we came across a newspaper clipping of a poem Mom liked. It was glued tightly to the inside cover of the Grandchildren’s album. Here is part of that poem:
Oh mother, so weary, discouraged, worn out with the
Stress of the day
You often grow cross and impatient, complaining of the
Noise and the play
For the day brings so many vexations,
So many things going amiss
But, mothers, whatever may vex you,
Send them to bed with a kiss.
It wasn’t that Mom needed this poem. Mom practiced it. She knew forgiveness. She knew the value of time with her family and friends. She was solid and tough and fun and had her faith. She had a wonderful respect for others. And she was there and you knew she would be there.
Even though she didn’t show affection easily, the kiss she gave us was the person she was. “Mom”, Grandma”, “Annie”, “Sister”, Friend”.
So many of you knew Mom when she was younger, but her wonderful qualities were still there when I had the privilege of knowing her. We’ll all miss her. She is in our hearts and we all loved her.
Jenny
August 22, 1994 – Jenny’s Eulogy for Mom.
Ginny Grinstead Armstrong sent an e-mail to Michael A. McKenzie on December 22, 1999. It read as follows:
I have been thinking about Mom's (Rachel) relationship with her sister. We all called her Auntie, but her name was Becky. I didn't know her name until I was 9 or ten, I just thought she was Auntie. They were very close and all of us children drifted back and forth between the two homes, sometimes living with them for quite some time. When I was small Auntie lived in Portland. Her daughter Darlene and I were just 29 days apart in age and she was as close to me as a sister. We spent our summers together at one house or the other. We had wonderful times together. She called my mom Auntie and it could become very confusing. Both Moms answered to Auntie or Mom equally. They walked and moved the same and there was a sense of comfort for all of the children with either one. It felt like we were with our mother when we were with our aunt. We were totally at home in either home. Dad used to drive us to Portland at many holidays and always in the summer. That is how he spent his vacations! It was an eight hour drive back then before the interstate. He used to come home from work (or sometimes from the tavern at midnight) and load us up and drive through the night. One time we went down for Christmas in dad's 41 Cadillac, Dad, Mom, Charmie, Bud, Bill, me, Ed, Patsy, Mel, Billy and Greg all crammed in together. We spun out on an icy road on the way back and landed in a ditch. We were all okay and someone pulled us out and we continued on home. The older boys were equally close to each other and some of them still maintain a relationship to this day. Charmie also sees all of our cousins on a regular basis and we attend children and grandchildren's weddings and try to stay in touch. Mom and Auntie had a sixth sense about each other. Mom said she always knew when Auntie needed her, and then the phone would ring. Mom said when Auntie's first child was born, she knew she was in trouble, back then, pre-phone she had to wait for a letter to tell her Auntie's first child was stillborn. Mom said she knew long before the letter came. I think Mom's death effected Auntie profoundly. She died two months later to the day. I believe Auntie held on long enough to watch Darlene's daughter, Shannon, get married and then she was just too lonely without Mom. I have lots more pictures. I have pictures of Mom's Grandfather in a Union uniform, but not of Dad's. I do have a great picture of Dad's family about 1911 with Grandpa Williams in it. It is a posed professional picture I can't imagine how they scraped together the money for it. I will copy some of my really old pictures next time we are in Longview, after Christmas. Thank you for all of your hard
work. I will try to send stories from time to time. Love, Aunt Ginny
From Find-a-Grace:
Adelbert Decolia “Albert” Bingham
BIRTH30 Jun 1860
Potterville, Eaton County, Michigan, USA
DEATH8 Jul 1935 (aged 75)
Bellingham, Whatcom County, Washington, USA
BURIAL
Bayview Cemetery
Bellingham, Whatcom County, Washington, USA
PLOTSection F Lot 404 Grave 8
MEMORIAL ID7299039 · View Source | Bingham, Adelbert Decolia (Dell) (I00220)
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| 9823 |
The 1940 United States Census Population Schedules include: all states plus American Samoa and Guam, Consular Services, Panama Canal Zone, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.
The U.S. federal census has been taken at the beginning of every decade, beginn | Source (S002819)
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| 9824 |
The American Civil War Research Database is an historic effort to compile and link all available records of common soldiers in the Civil War. This database makes it easier than ever before to find information on ancestors who fought in the Civil War.
Hist | Source (S003562)
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The Atmore Advance Newspaper. | Source (S011623)
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The bans of marriage were published for the last time on Sunday in St. Mary's Catholic Church for Miss Katherine McVeigh, Midland, and Blaine McKenzie, son of Mr. and Mrs. Melvin McKenzie, Island, this place, who were married in St. Joseph's Catholic Church, Midland, this morning by Rev. Fr. McVeigh. The young couple were attended by Mr. and Mrs. William Crone, of Frostburg, brother-in-law and sister of the bride. The young couple will reside in Lonaconing. The Evening Times, Cumberland, April 28, 1931
LONACONING—Mrs. Catherine M. McKenzie, 45, died at home here Friday night. Born in Midland, she was a daughter of the late Henry and Mollie (Clark) McVeigh. Besides her husband, Blaine McKenzie, she is survived by two sisters, Mrs. Wilbur Crowe, Midland, and Mrs. Rose Tippen both of Midland; two brothers, Michael McVeigh, Midland and Hugh McVeigh, Frosthurg. A requiem mass will be celebrated in St. Mary's Catholic Church, Lonaconing, at 9 a. m Monday, with the Rev. C. Bogan officiating. Interment will be in St. Mary's Cemetery. The body is at the Eichhorn Funeral Home where the rosary will be recited at 8 p. m. Sunday.
Evening Times; Cumberland, Allegany Co, Md., Sunday, September 8, 1957 - pg 21, col 4
(Courtesy of Pat Dailey)
Posted February 26, 2011
Per the research of Ray Leidinger, her tombstone lists her first name as "Kathryn". | McVeigh, Catherine M. (I05536)
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The body of Benjamin Orndorff, 34, a former resident of Meyersdale, was removed to the home of his brother-in-law and sister, Mr. and Mrs. John McKenzie, Olinger street, last evening. He was killed instantly last Friday evening when the motorcycle he was riding was struck by an automobile. Mr. Orndorff left Meyersdale last June and had since been employed by the Bethlehem shipyards in Baltimore. He was the son of Daniel and Elizabeth Festerman Orndorff, both deceased, and was born in Mount Savage September (date unreadable) 1907. Surviving brothers and sisters are Mrs. Mary Walters, Garrett; Mrs. John McKenzie, Olinger street; Mrs. Eva Myers, Baltimore; Mrs. Margaret Meyers, Meyers avenue; and John and James Russell Orndorff, both Mount Savage. Funeral services will be held Monday at 1:30 p.m. at the McKenzie home by the Rev. Nelson C. Brown, pastor of the Amity Evangelical and Reformed Church. Interment will be in the Protestant Episcopal Cemetery, Mount Savage. Cumberland News, Monday, October 6, 1941 | Orndorff, Benjamin (I44235)
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| 9828 |
The body of Edgar C. Martin arrived in Meyersdale, May 25, from overseas on the ship, Laurence Victory. It was taken to the home of his parents, Mr. and Mrs. George Martin, R.D. 3, where funeral services were held Friday afternoon at 2:30 o'clock. The Rev. S. Loren Bowman, pastor of the Church of the Brethren, of which young Martin was a member, officiated. Interment in Union Cemetery was made under the direction of H. R. Konhaus. Edgar was born October 22, 1925. He was inducted into the Army January 19, 1944, and sent overseas in June 1944. October 10, he was wounded and hospitalized one month, returning to duty November 10. Two days later, he was seriously wounded and, December 18, 1944, died. He was buried in the Vasges area in France. Edgar is survived by his parents and three brothers, George, Jr., and Glenn, both of Meyersdale, and Earl, at home. Meyersdale Republican, June 10, 1948
He was buried on 4 Jun 1948 in Union Cemetery, Meyersdale, Summit Township, Somerset Co., Pennsylvania. | Martens, Edgar C. (I48107)
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| 9829 |
The body of Homer "Stony" Jackson, 24, of Frostburg, was found floating in Deep Creek Lake this morning about 70 feet from the shoreline near McHenry in 20 feet of water. James Morgan, of Carlos, who had been camping with Jackson and three other men at the lake, discovered the body about 9:30. Jackson had been missing since about 5 p.m. Wednesday and state Police and volunteers under the direction of Fred C. "Buck" Dreyer, veteran local waterman, had been dredging the area where he was last seen since that time. Jackson, former outstanding boxer in amateur circles in the late 1930's, went out on the lake in a boat about 3 o'clock Wednesday afternoon, with Joseph F. Smith, of Frostburg, a member of the camping party. When they reached a point opposite the cottage of John Shober, of this city, Jackson told Smith he intended to swim to shore and plunged into the water. That was the last Smith saw of him, Smith rowing to shore and returning to the cottage. Jackson was reputed to be a strong swimmer. Smith, Jackson, and Warren Plummer of Wright's Crossing, and James and Frank Morgan, both of Carlos, had rented the cottage from Henry Yates, Frostburg. When Jackson did not appear for several hours, the other campers began a search for him. Later it developed that a waitress at the Point View Inn had remembered serving him a beer about 5 p.m. It is believed that Jackson returned to the water and drowned while swimming to the area of the lake opposite the cottage he and his companions had rented. Jackson is survived by his widow, Mrs. Eleanor Jenkins Jackson, two children, Judy, 2 1/2 years, and Billy, nine months; his parents, Mr. and Mrs. William Jackson, Welsh Hill, Frostburg; two brothers, Orville, with the Marines in the Pacific, and Merrell, with the Navy in the Pacific. Jackson had been employed in Baltimore until January of this year when he returned and took employment | Jackson, Homer R. (Stoney) (I48439)
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| 9830 |
The Caleb McKenzie referenced at this location of the web site oftentimes gets confused with a Caleb McKenzie born around the same time frame, who WAS the son of Aaron McKenzie (b. abt. 1769).
The following is an email I sent to Corey Wilson in January, 2020. It sets forth the efforts of the McKenzie Group of Genealogists referenced in my book to attempt to connect Caleb McKenzie, the husband of Margaret Magers, to his parents.
Hi Corey:
Glad you found my site and reached out to me.
I wish I could be of help, but the information I can share with you is not encouraging with regard to your search for your roots.
There are two Caleb McKenzies both born around the same time who, unfortunately, have been comingled on various Internet sites. One of the Calebs was definitely the son of Aaron McKenzie (b. abt. 1769). Insofar as the other Caleb is concerned, the research group of which I am a member have attempted to connect him to his parents now for many years and have been unable to do so. If you look at the Caleb on my web site (b. abt. 1791), he is correctly connected to his father, Aaron. The other Caleb from whom I suspect you descend is the one married to Margaret Magers. He is the person we cannot connect to parents – try as we have attempted for about 20 years.
I am hoping that you will be able to make my day and be able to provide us with some personal family documents which may be able to further assist us in documenting your McKenzie family line. We always get excited when a descendant of a female McKenzie contacts us, since the females tend to get lost in the genealogy tree over time because of changing their last names. How far back do you have records cementing together the links to the various McKenzie generations?
Also, you provided me with a great list of names in your email. Have you been able to document those people from any first hand sources? I have not taken the time to closely compare the names you provided with the ones on my site. I intend to do so once I hear from you.
Again, I’m sorry I had to throw a bucket of cold water on your genealogy search. This Caleb of yours has been very elusive. A good friend of mine, Bobbie McKenzie, started chasing information on him in about 1965. As of the last time I corresponded with her about two years ago, she still had not been able to connect him with his parents. And, that chase entailed going to courthouses all over Maryland, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois in her search. So, many others have tried but have all come up empty. I am crossing my fingers right now hoping you might be the person to help us solve this conundrum and help us all with this nagging loose end.
I’ll look forward to hearing from you.
Regards
Mike McKenzie
January, 2020
Citing this Record for their marriage:
"Maryland, Marriages, 1666-1970," index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F4VW-D5N : accessed 15 April 2015), Caleb Mc Kinzey and Marg'T. Majors, 26 Aug 1810; citing Allegany,Maryland, reference ; FHL microfilm 13,310.
Margaret is also referenced in "The Peter Magers Family of Maryland, Virginia, Ohio, Indiana and the West, created August 1, 1997 - Homer D. Blubaugh, revised Sep 26, 1997 page 2, where the author states: Three of their twelve children were born in Allegany County, Marylandprior to their 1820-21 move to Knox County, Ohio.
"The Peter Magers Family of Maryland, Virginia, Ohio, Indiana and the West, created August 1, 1997 - Homer D. Blubaugh, revised Sep 26, 1997 page 2. Much of this research came from Barbara Mckenzie (Circleville, Ohio) and Bernard Wilkens, Sr. Caleb died sometime after Sarah's birth in 1831. Margaret remarried Joseph Sapp on 8 Aug 1837 at St. Luke's Church near Danville. Ohio. | McKenzie, Caleb Sr. (I16912)
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| 9831 |
The Chancery Court handled civil disputes for all of England and Wales. Its records are now held at the National Archives of the UK and begin in the late 14th century. In 1875 this court became the Chancery Division of the High Court of Justice. Therefore, | Source (S004312)
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| 9832 |
The College of William and Mary.
Washington College of Law, Washington, D.C. | Hines, Alvin Paul (I26613)
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| 9833 |
The date for this marriage comes from the research notes of Col. Gabriel T. MacKenzie.
The book Western Maryland Catholics by Koch and Davidson states on page 44 that the marriage data is missing for this time frame. Col. MacKenzie had other marriages listed for this period so it is not clear why Koch and Davidson list the data as missing. Col. MacKenzie started his research in the late 1920's. Perhaps there was data avalable at that point in time that was later lost. Author August 23, 2108
A Levi McKenzie is reflected in the 1840 Allegany County census as having:
Males
120-30
Females
2under 5
120-30
In a letter to Col. Gabriel T. MacKenzie written December 13, 1929, Joseph Thornton Grant b. 1853 stated that the "sons of Richard were William, Dennis and Levi." Dennis may be a misspelling for David, who we know from the Will of Richard McKenzie, (b. abt. 1784 and s/o Daniel McKenzie b. abt. 1752) was an heir of Richard. So far, based upon the research of the author, there was only one male McKenzie named Levi. That is the person under discussion here. It is assumed that Levi died before his wife married Ira Burton in 1849. Richard died after Levi and that may explain why Levi was not referenced in Richard's will. | McKenzie, Levi (I14641)
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| 9834 |
The date of Jeremiah's birthday is reflected in his mother, Patsey Bonner McKenzie's Declaration for a Widow's pension dated 26 Oct 1846, National Archives.
Children and wife are reflected in 1850 Federal Census, Gibson County, Tennessee, District #14, #759. | McKenzie, Jeremiah H. (I05439)
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| 9835 |
The earliest ancestor known in our direct Porter line was John Porter. He was born in England in 1694 and came to America in 1715 from "Glouchester near Bristol." He died in 1776. According to accounts, it is believed he was a member of the "Jacobite" party or movement in England. This was a Catholic political party in opposition to King George 1. John Porter is reported to have fled England about 1715 because he "made himself obnoxious to the party in power by singing his own composition(song) at a gathering of his neighbors, which was very uncomplimentary to the ruling monarch, King George 1", on which account he was obliged to flee the country. He settled in Carrollton, which was in Baltimore, about 1715.(The area where he settled is now Carroll Co., MD) Information found in "A Genealogy of the Porter Family of Maryland, West Virginia, Michigan" by Samuel Doak Porter 1896-1966
The information written above was pulled by the writer, Michael A. McKenzie from some secondary source when he first started his genealogical research. In August, 2018, the writer became acquainted with the Williams family, Dave, Alan and Scott and Dave's son, Nathan. They are prodigious researchers of all things Porter, as well as McKenzie. As of August, they had searched for primary sources to try to corroborate what is written above.
In their/our quest for genealogical accuracy, Scott wrote to the writer in August 2018, as follows:
But I recognize and appreciate the need for accuracy and precision. Gotta have that. We owe much to the Scharfs and others who published what we call the "local vanity histories" beginning in the 1870s or so. Great, broad pieces of history captured there, seems like every county has one. In general they are accurate as to when people arrived, generally who they were, and which ones of them became doctors and lawyers :)
These vanity histories have begun to appear as brick walls to us in our research, though. Scharf 1883 is the oldest reference we can find for John Porter, the Singing Jacobite of 1715. The tome below is the oldest print reference that we can point to for the "M" in Gabriel M. Porter's moniker. (Writer's note: the "tome" referenced is Biographical and Portrait Cyclopedia of Fayette County PA., by Samuel T. Wiley. Published 1889. Inside the cover, there is a reference to it being located at the Cornell University Library. Scott found it on Google Books and sent it to the writer.) He is the only one of John Porter Jr's children to have a middle name in SDP's book and it is "McKenzie".
So genealogy will always have these uncertainties and they should be carefully footnoted. I guess that my focus on the larger sweep of history and context is a sort of balm against the burns caused by all those courthouse fires.
In the end we may have to say with regard to John Thomas Porter, Jr.:
"Legend has it that John Porter swung aboard a ship in Bristol Harbor in 1715 one step ahead of the law. History shows that people believed to be descended from him were among the early settlers of the Maryland colony and their subsequent descendents were witnesses to and participants in the founding of the United States of America. Genealogists have documented the following facts regarding your ancestors.". . or words to that effect :)
Writer's note: As of August, 2018, the secondary source listed above concerning Fayette County, Pennsylvania is the earliest known version of the "Singing Jacobite" story.
Scott Williams' brother Dave responded in August, 2018 with the following:
Schooled as an anthropologist and employed in the marketing communications biz for three decades, I am a student of spin in all things...even in reference to the science of antiquity.
Historical facts have always been somewhat variable, based on who assembled them and why. God love our so-far mythical "John Porter The Emigrant" ancestor. I mean who wouldn't love to have a bawdy bold ancestor who was shipped to our shores for raising musical cane against the King in an English pub. What could be more American.
Scott's on the money. Much of America's self-view can be traced back to a boom in publishing that followed the Civil War. Standard perspectives on virtually everything from the heroes of the Revolution to Annie Oakley are linked to the 1880s and were carried into public education and popular media well into this century, without any large concern that these were all second hand histories.
The rise of blue blood aristocracy fervor over family heritage seems to take off in the 1920s as both an object of family pride and a formal pedigree game.
Luckily, we all live in the golden age of available source records, aided by the Internet and encouraged by a new generation of biographers led by David McCullough who reject second hand histories and directly seek records and correspondence "from the day."
This is great fun to actually unite the superpowers of MOEM and the Porters of Federal Hill into a search for clarification as to exactly how close these families were in colonial times in Western Maryland.
Dave Williams
Nathan Williams added:
Alright time to let the cat out of the bag. Nobody to our knowledge has ever found a single documented piece of evidence about John Porter, emigrant. No evidence of: port of departure, port of arrival, birth, baptism, marriage, kids, land ownership, indenture, will, probate, nothing, nada, zero. Yes, there was a John Porter who lived in Gloucestershire and has records in Bishop Cleeves church, but we have no idea how or why some researcher decided this was our John Porter. We literally can not prove our John Porter existed, other than the reality that John Jr. (who never goes by "Jr." in any record I have seen), Moses, and Henry Porter shared the same father, and he likely had a first and last name ??
To the best our knowledge, what is known about him was oral history until the historian Scharf recorded the story of "The Singing Patriot" in his History of Western Maryland in the 1880s. The story was specifically attached to the biography of Glissan Porter, a descendant of John Porter-Bedford/Allegany. Glissan wrote a letter to the editor of the Cumberland paper telling the story in a nearly identical way, which makes us believe he was the source for the historian, Scharf. Glissan is one of three Porter cousins (the others are Frank Porter and Ellsworth Porter,) who wrote down family histories at roughly the same time. All there agree on some points of the story, but disagree on others. So, there is likely at least a seed of truth to the story of John "The Signing Patriot" Porter, but we have opened our research and are exploring angles not related to the first name "John"nor the state of Maryland because years and years of research by dozens of people have failed to turn up anything here at al
Likewise, we can find no records of the three brothers, John, Moses, and Henry Porter, until they appear in Bedford/Allegany County in the 1770s. This is despite the claims that John Porter Jr. bought land from Charles Carroll, lived in Carrolton, married Nancy McKenzie down there, worked for Mason and Dixon, etc. etc. To be blunt, we have no proof these people ever did anything in Maryland before they show up in our neck of the woods........and two were in PA, not Maryland.
The obvious problem here is that early Porter oral history claims 4 marriages between Porters and McKenzies.
Daniel McKenzie (1715-1783) + Mary (Molly) Porter (1719-1784)
Moses McKenzie Sr. (1720-1774) + Nancy Jane Rachael Porter (take your pick of first name)
Margaret McKenzie + Moses Porter (1735-1794) (this Moses Porter is the one whose will Aaron McKenzie is witness to.)
John Porter Jr. (1737-1810) + Nancy Ann McKenzie (supposed niece of Porter based on the 'standard mode" view of her being Moses Sr. and Nancy Porter's daughter.)
I personally cringe that despite this number of supposed connections, and the rich oral history saying these two families were fellow travelers, and we can't find a single primary source record for ANY of it on the Porter end.
which is why.............
Writer’s note: the bottom line as of August, 2018 is that although the Williams’ have struggled mightily to locate primary source documentation concerning John Porter (b. abt. 1690) and John Thomas Porter, Jr. (b. 1737), nephew Nathan Williams summed it best when he wrote in late August, 2018: "As researchers, we struggle mightily with the reality we can't place ANY of our known Porters in Maryland before they show up in Bedford, PA. Their PA record is the first confirmed appearance of John and Moses Porter. Henry is in Maryland for the 1776 loyalty oath. I will let my Uncle Scott answer Allan (McKenzie) specifically about John Porter, emigrant, but to be honest, he is a ghost. We have no records in the US to show he existed. Our paper trail starts with his alleged sons John, Moses, and Henry Porter on the frontier."
W/r/t the sons of this John Porter (b. abt. 1690), Nathan Williams wrote in August, 2018, as follows: Likewise, we can find no records of the three brothers, John, Moses, and Henry Porter, until they appear in Bedford/Allegany County in the 1770s. This is despite the claims that John Porter Jr. bought land from Charles Carroll, lived in Carrolton, married Nancy McKenzie down there, worked for Mason and Dixon, etc. etc. To be blunt, we have no proof these people ever did anything in Maryland before they show up in our neck of the woods........and two were in PA, not Maryland.
Alan Williams wrote: Only John, Moses and Henry can be verified. The others are all names tagged on by Samuel Doak Porter on the flimsiest of claims. “Mrs. Barcus said she saw an Old Family Bible that said…” That is the same source of the ‘Elinor Durier’ said to be the first John Porter’s wife. mother of John, Moses and Henry.
Gabriel is in my tree only because I initially (several years ago!) used SDP at face value. In his own work, SDP names the others and then says words to effect, ‘sadly no more is known of them’. | Porter, John (I12934)
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| 9836 |
The Family of Floyd L. BRIDGES Would Like To Thank TheirRelatives, Friends and Neighbors for the Kindness Shown to UsDuring the Death Of My Husband and Childrens Father.We Would Also Like To Extend Our Appreciation to The Pallbearers, Pastor Ken Korns and The Sowers Funeral Home For Their Service. Wife Jelene & Children Ricky, Dave, Blaine & Carla
Cumberland News, Monday, November 23, 1987 | Bridges, Floyd (I33257)
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| 9837 |
The First Baptist Church of Lumberton, Children's Building was erected on a lot to the rear of the main church building, and facing on Seventh Street. It was presented to the church as a memorial to the late Kenneth Murchison Biggs and his wife, Mrs. Mamie Duckett Biggs, by the Biggs family. | Biggs, Kenneth Murchison (I26716)
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| 9838 |
The First Baptist Church of Lumberton, Children's Building was erected on a lot to the rear of the main church building, and facing on Seventh Street. It was presented to the church as a memorial to the late Kenneth Murchison Biggs and his wife, Mrs. Mamie Duckett Biggs, by the Biggs family. | Duckett, Mamie S. (I26717)
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| 9839 |
The first surviving British colony in what was to become the United States, Virginia has been home to millions since the founding of Jamestown in 1607. This database is a collection of over 20,000 biographical sketches of prominent individuals from the sta | Source (S013206)
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| 9840 |
The first Wilder know in history was Nicholas, a military chieftain, in the army of the Earl of Richmond, at the battle of Bosworth, in 1585. The fact that is a German name, and that is common in some parts of Germany at the present time, would indicate that he was one of those who came with the Earl from France, and landed at Milford Haven.
i1542 Will of Nicholas Wilder of Sulham/i, LDS Film 88114, Berkshire, Archdeaconry, Batell Wills, No.227 (hereafter cited as 1542 will, iNich. Wilder/i).
u2/u. iWill of Elizabeth Wilder of Sulham/i, Archdeaconry of Berkshire, Batell file of original wills, Number 217 (LDS Film 88114): "In dio nom' Amen. In ye yere of oure lorde god m cccc xliiij and of ye Reyn of oure soverand lord Henry ye viij be ye grace of god kynge of yngland france and irland defender of ye fayth and in erth supreme & immediately under god of ye churche of yngland and irland xxx v ^ the ix of July ^ I elysabeth bwylder /bof ye parysh of Sullam in ye countie Parkshyer and in ye dyocese of Saylsbery of a good memory and p'fyt mynd make my last wyll and testament in maner and forme here foloynge. "First I bequeth my solle to almyghtie god to oure lady sanct mary and to all the holy company of heaven and my body to be beyd in ye p'ryshe church of Sullam aforesayd. "Itm I bequyth to ye hye alter of Sullam iiij d. "Itm I bequyth to ye mother church of Saylsbery ij d. "Itm I wyll that a trentall of masses be sayd for ye helth of my solle part at ye day of my buryall and ye resydew w't'in ye mounth mynd. "Itm I wyll that every nyght thorout ye mounth mynd a derege be sayd. "Itm I bequyth to my sone Jone bWylder /bthe elder one cowe ij shepe and my best ???????? and for I wyll that my sayd sone Jone ye elder doo cause yerely to be sayd for ye helth of my solle & masses ??? decease. "Itm I bequeyth to my sone Henry bWylder /bone quarter of wheat and one of barly ij shepe and one bull he of twelmounthes old. "Itm I bequeyth to my sone Tomas bWylder /bij shepe. "Itm I bequeyth to my sone Jone bWylder /bye yonger ij shepe and halfe a quarter of wheat. "Itm I bequeyth to my sone Wyll'm bWylder /bij shepe. "Itm I bequeyth to Jone and Tomas bWylder /bthe sones of Jone bWylder /bye elder every one of them ij shepe. "Itm I bequeyth to Nycolas Jone and yd bWylders /bevery one of them one shepe. "Itm I bequeyth to foure of my god chyldren of ye bWylders /bw't'in thys house to every one of them one shepe. "Itm I bequeyth to Elyzabeth bWylder /bto be delyvered to her by ye hande of my sone Jone bWylder /bye elder xx li. xiij s. iiij d. "Itm I bequyth to my servand Agnes bWhayt /bone shepe. "Itm I wyll yt my sones Rycherd and Nycolas bWylder /bbe my holl exseguntor and to have all ye resydew of my goods not bequyth. "Itm I wyll that my sone Jone bWylder /bye elder be the supervysor of thys my last wyll and testament. "Wytnesses of thys pr'sent wyll mayd ye dayt above mencyonyd: S. Wyl'm bPreston /bcurate of ye p'rysh of Sullam aforsayd / Jone bMody /b/ Wyl'm bBlyeth. /b"Also I wyll yt Rychart my sonne and Nycolas my sonne shall have ? ??????? ?????????? after my decesse fro bNonehyde /bof John bWylder /bmy son.", (hereafter cited as 1544 Will (text), iElizabeth Wilder/i). | Wilder, Nicholas (I24943)
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| 9841 |
The followig information was sent to the author in Augsut, 2018 by Phil Brode. As one will see after reviewing the information, the location of the grave of Nancy Ann Porter is in dispute. Michael A. McKenzie August 27, 2018
The Nancy Ann (McKenzie) Porter burial site has "wandered" a bit over the years for the 'assignment' in my records. For years I just assumed it was in a now unmarked grave at Porter Cemetery at Rose Meadow. Seemed reasonable when we thought the old story about John Porter's pioneer movements from Wellersburg Pa, to Mount Savage MD to ultimately getting Rose Meadow as Revolutionary War service payment, occurred much earlier than her death. Why not? (And, not unexpected that her marker would be 'lost' considering she died earlier than John & his marker is so small & primitive as well.)
But then two things challenged this idea and sent me on a search. Thanks to the superman abilities with deed searching by Scott et. al. of the Williams clan, we learned that the two 50 acre plots that were Rose Meadow proper, were not originally owned by John Porter as per the old story of his selection, BUT were purchased by John Porter from John Matthews in the mid to late 1790's. My wobbly records for Nancy Ann's death include dates of 1786 or 1788 or 1789 depending on the source, all before John bought and settled Rose Meadow. In addition, for some time, Find-A-Grave had her place of burial as Allegany County Cemetery, Cumberland MD. While visiting western Maryland one time, my mother & I took off to find this site. We found a well kept cemetery, with very few marked graves, but many many graves without markers; only to learn that this was the Potter's/Pauper's cemetery, hence unmarked graves. Suddenly this seemed to be a dead-end; no pun was intended or noticed until I typed those words. Why would someone as well off as John Porter be burying his wife there? And, why there instead of close to one of his western Maryland residences at the time of her death. I won't believe that source, until supported with cemetery records if they exist. So, she's most likely not at PC@RM if the deed records & her death dates are correct, but where is she?
The following information was sent to the writer, Michael A. Mckenzie by Scott Carter Williams in August, 2018:
All,
We have always been dependent on Samuel Doak Porters' (SDP) book for information about Nancy McKenzie (b. 1746, m 1767, d. no given). Phil Brode believes that her passing was in either 1786, 88, or 89. I am hopeful that the Colonel Gabriel T. MacKenzie’s microfilm will yield something more like source material. We know from SDP's book that he and the Colonel corresponded and the notes that I have seen so far support that. Attached is some of the Colonel’s notes regarding Nancy and John Porter Jr, plus a published page that he references in his notes regarding Gabriel McKenzie's early presence in Western Maryland - perhaps predating the end of the French and Indian War (1763). We see elsewhere that Gabriel is selling land on Pipe Creek, and this may (or may not) indicate a move in the making.
I am also attaching a resource written by SDP on the history of the Sloan family. The Sloans and the Percys were Scottish families who immigrated to WM in the 1830s and assisted the Porters in making the coal mines on Federal Hill (Rose Meadow) viable. The families soon intermarried (see a pattern?? :).
The hand written notes by the Colonel in the first attachment are from an informant named "Ann Sloan" who is referenced in the second document as a granddaughter of John M. Porter (Squire Jack). This makes her the grand-grand daughter of John Porter Jr. (b. 1737). The reason that I share this article is this quote from SDP:
"Several of his (John Porter Jr's) and Nancy's brothers came with him to Allegany County and settled near him."
Gabriel and sons may have been settled west of Fort Cumberland as early as the 1750s or 60s according the Century of Growth book. We know from Bedford Co Census documents that both John Porter and Gabriel McKenzie (and sons) were there just before the war broke out. We also know that the identified sons of Moses Sr (Moses Jr, Joshua, and Jessie) enlisted and served in Frederick County during the war (not near Fort Cumberland). Therefore, if Nancy came west with John Porter and her brothers at the same time (pre-war) it would follow that "Nancy's brothers" may have been Gabriel's sons, not Moses Sr's. The theory, however, could be negated if Moses Sr had older sons (closer to Nancy's age) that moved at the same time as Gabriel.
We have much to learn, and I am hopeful that the Colonel’ss notes will bear more fruit for us.
Best Regards,
Scott Williams
The writer, Michael A. Mckenzie responded to Scott with the following email. This information is being placed here so that current and future researchers will know and understand the thought processes that played out w/r/t to the topic of just whom was Nancy Ann McKenzie's father.
Here is the reply email:
Hi All:
So many emails, so much to think about.
I am still going through emails from the past few days and reflecting on what was written.
Scott stated below: "Several of his (John Porter Jr's) and Nancy's brothers came with him to Allegany County and settled near him."
Gabriel and sons may have been settled west of Fort Cumberland as early as the 1750s or 60s according the Century of Growth book. We know from Bedford Co Census documents that both John Porter and Gabriel (and sons) were there just before the war broke out. We also know that the identified sons of Moses Sr (Moses Jr, Joshua, and Jessie) enlisted and served in Frederick County during the war (not near Fort Cumberland). Therefore, if Nancy came west with John Porter and her brothers at the same time (pre-war) it would follow that "Nancy's brothers" may have been Gabriel's sons, not Moses Sr's. The theory, however, could be negated if Moses Sr had older sons (closer to Nancy's age) that moved at the same time as Gabriel.
I would like to explore this for a minute because I think Scott may have hit upon something that would cause me to put Nancy Ann McKenzie as the daughter of Gabriel and not Moses, Sr.
Here is my thinking: If SDP is correct and Nancy’s brothers travelled west with them, the ages of the respective brothers make me lean towards them being the sons of Gabriel.
Let’s pick a date, say 1772. Gabriel’s son’s, Samuel and Daniel, would be 21 and 20 respectively.
Picking the same date, 1772, Moses Sr.’s sons would be 12, 10 and 8.
If one is travelling west with their brothers, I tend to lean to the older brothers and not a group of youngsters aged 8-12. Also, men in their 20’s would be “settling near her”, whereas youngsters aged 8-12 would need to be taken care of by others. When we couple this analysis with Racheal (Rachill) McKenzie placing Joshua in indentureship in 1768, it seems to support the hypothesis that Nancy was the daughter of Gabriel and not of Moses, Sr.
Just food for thought as we continue our quest.
Thoughts anyone?
Regards
Mike McKenzie
And, just to make certain we were well grounded, Ann Stansbarger wrote in response:
Hi All,
I recommend caution when it comes to Nancy Ann and here is why. We have to think about what was happening with the two brothers, Gabriel McKenzie and Moses McKenzie Sr. Gabriel began selling his properties one by one in Frederick Co at about the time of the end of the French and Indian War (1763). He had plans to move his family to western MD, which we know he ultimately did. His brother Moses, according to legend, sold his farm and was robbed and killed on the road. This would have been sometime after Joshua was conceived 1763-64 and before Joshua went into indenture, 1768 — exactly the same time Gabriel was getting ready for his move.
When Moses Sr was killed his family was thrown into turmoil. Rachel pleaded for her widow’s share of Moses’ inheritance. She said in the petition she had small children to take care of and had no money. Any older children of Moses, if there had been any, must have had to find their own way.
Were there older children? There had to have been. I don’t have the reference handy but I know it is on the MOEM site. There was “old John” McKenzie who died in Allegany Co in the mid 1790s. His estate was administered by Moses McKenzie Jr. Old John could not have been a son of Gab’l because Gab’l already had a son John. This Old John was in all likelihood a brother of Moses Jr (b1760). Since he was “old” in the mid 1790s, that says he was probably born in the mid 1740’s - about the time of Nancy Ann’s birth.
After Moses Sr died I think there was work for the older children of Moses with their uncle Gabriel. He would have needed help to clear land on his new farm in western MD, and he would have needed help farming his old lands left behind in Frederick Co, until they were eventually all sold off.
Nancy Ann, if she was a daughter of Moses, would have gotten married as soon as possible after her father’s death.
Sorry it isn’t more concrete.
Best, Ann
Then Nathan Williams added:
Ann and all,
Very important facts to keep in mind concerning Moses and family structure. I have a few points of concern over Moses Sr. being daddy based on what we know, and don't know.
- Moses' wife was said to be a Porter, daughter of John Porter, emigrant. Like other myths, we can't confirm or refute it but if true, it would mean Nancy Ann McKenzie was the niece of her husband, John Porter of Bedford/Allegany. People married close relatives, we have our share, but marrying a niece would seem strange.
- As researchers, we struggle mightly with the reality we can't place ANY of our known Porters in Maryland before they show up in Bedford, PA. Their PA record is the first confirmed appearance of John and Moses Porter. Henry is in Maryland for the 1776 loyalty oath. I will let my Uncle Scott answer Allan specifically about John Porter, emigrant, but to be honest, he is a ghost. We have no records in the US to show he existed. Our paper trail starts with his alleged sons John, Moses, and Henry Porter on the frontier.
I think that is why Moses causes us some problems. We can't really place any Porters down near the McKenzies in downstate Maryland, despite the oral stories that they were multi-generational connections between them. We are more in our comfort zone with Gabe, since he was a known neighbor, and the relationship could have started in PA, not downstate Maryland.
Now, none of that means Nancy couldn't have been living with Gabe on the frontier, or that the Porter brothers did live near Hobson's Choice, but left no records. The lack of hard dates matter too. For instance, MOEM, speculates the Porter-McKenzie marriage took place before Moses Sr's death on the road. Although, I think all those dates are estimates.
https://mckenziesofearlymaryland.com/getperson.php?personID=I00129&tree=McKenzie1
Moses Sr. McKenzie b. Abt 1720 Hopson's Choice, Maryland d. Abt 1767: The McKenzies of Early Maryland
mckenziesofearlymaryland.com
Moses Sr. McKenzie b. Abt 1720 Hopson's Choice, Maryland d. Abt 1767: The McKenzies of Early Maryland
Nathan
And, to stir the pot one more time, Scott Williams added:
Ann,
As you can imagine, the "ick" factor of niece/uncle thing has probably been of more concern to our side of the tree than yours *smile*, but I have an (almost) elegant solution that solves several problems at once:
•Moses Sr has a first marriage (to a non-Porter :)) that produces Nancy McKenzie and *some* older brothers
•Moses Sr has a later marriage to a Porter (Nancy Jane Rachel?) that produces the younger brothers (Moses Jr, Jessie, and Joshua)
Problem solved - and all very speculative. BUT I have noted that something changed Col. GT Mack's mind from Gabe to Moses Sr as the father of Nancy during the course of his research - so (again) time for us (the ATL gang) to better review the Col's material and get it into a format where it can be useful in research.
What you have shown, however, in these first emails is your perception of a family in crisis due to the death of a father and documented responses to duress. So if the speculation above is accurate, and we have documented Porters (Philip and maybe an older Nancy) in proximity to the Moses Sr family in about 1768 acting as part of the solution, we have really moved the ball.
I ask one question - does Team McKenzie know the origin of the Moses Sr murder story, or have an "earliest source" record of it? In my newspaper searches I found a plaintive request from a reader to the weekly column of legendary Cumberland Md columnist J. William Hunt in the 1950s seeking information on the incident. The reader's name was included and if that adds some value, I could try to find the original item and share it with you. Mr. Hunt requested that responses go directly to the reader, and not to the newspaper - ARGH!
Beyond that, I am going to leave the topic for awhile, having sufficiently stirred the pot for now :)
Scott
On September 17, 2018 the writer, Michael A. McKenzie wrote to the Porter/McKenzie Research Group and asked if anyone was aware of any primary source documents concerning Nancy McKenzie Porter. The reply later that day from Alan Williams was as follows:
My short answer is that I am not (aware of any primary source documents). One thing that’s certain is that it’s in the naming of her children that we encounter the name confusion as we had last night. Assuming Nancy to be a McKenzie (a very safe bet, I think) she names children after her husband, her father, and her uncle. No Jessies or Joshua’s though. One of the results is that Porters and McKenzie’s are shot through for generations with Gabriel, Moses, Michael and Samuels.
Porters have no first name ‘Bennett’, Rachel and Harriet (as well as Eleanor and Mary and Sarah) are popular for girls.
Both Moses and John Porter also favored Samuel in their boys, and Moses line later introduces ‘Scott’ as a frequent middle name and well as Ellis. Scott appears at a time that it may reference General Winfield Scott, the Military hero (1812 through the Mexican War) and 1852 Presidential candidate.
Needless to say, the writer concludes after these great exchanges, that something "more" will need to be located/discovered before the answer to the question posed will be known once and for all. Was Nancy the daughter of Moses (b. abt. 1720) or was she the daughter of Gabriel (b. abt. 1715)? That remains the question. Michael A. McKenzie, September 18, 2018 | McKenzie, Nancy Ann (I00131)
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The following are marriage records were supplied by Ray Leidinger and transcribed by Sheryl Kelso August, 2013 and were from Allegany Co. Marriage Registry and other records from St. Patrick’s Catholic Church, Cumberland, unless otherwise noted:
Enoch Ambrose McKenzie
dob July 22, 1858
baptized September 27, 1858
marriage to Margaret Rohman, November 14, 1882
McKenzie - Enoch A., aged 81, husband of the late Margaret (Rohman) McKenzie, died Wednesday, November 27th, at the home, 293 Carroll St. Funeral Mass Wednesday 9 a.m. SS Peter and Paul Catholic Church. Interment will be in the church cemetery. Arrangements by Stein's Funeral Service.
The Cumberland Evening Times, November 28, 1939.
(Courtesy of Sheryl Kelso)
Posted January 28, 2012
Burial:
Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Cemetery
Cumberland
Allegany County
Maryland
Death Certificate available on Don Kagle's Amcestry web site.
Marriage information per the research of Ray Leidinger, Cumberland, Maryland. All information pulled from western Maryland marriage records.
Per the research of Ray Leidinger, Enoch Anbrose was christianed on 27 Sep 1858 at St. Patrick's Catholic Church by Rev. George Flaull. | McKenzie, Enoch Ambrose (I00492)
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| 9843 |
The following are marriage records were supplied by Ray Leidinger and transcribed by Sheryl Kelso August, 2013 and were from Allegany Co. Marriage Registry and other records from St. Patrick’s Catholic Church, Cumberland, unless otherwise noted:
Nicholas McKenzie
dob August 14, 1850
baptized January 17, 1851
marriage to Marian Agnes Miller, April 6, 1875
He was baptized on 17 Jan 1851 in St. Patrick's Catholic Church, Cumberland, Allegany Co., Maryland.
Nicholas A. McKenzie, 73 years old, died early this morning at his home, ?17 Oldtown Road. He was a widower. He is survived by two sons, J. Claude McKenzie and C. L. McKenzie and two daughters, Miss Marion Lee and Edna J. McKenzie. Burial will probably be made Friday at Cresapown Cemetery.
The Cumberland Evening Times, May 23, 1923
(Courtesy of Sheryl Kelso)
Posted January 28, 2012
Per the research of Ray Leidinger, Nicholas was christianed on 17 Jan 1851 by Rev. L. Obermeyer, St. Patrick's Catholic Church, Cumberland, Maryland | McKenzie, Nicholas Ambrose (I00490)
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The following are marriage records were supplied by Ray Leidinger and transcribed by Sheryl Kelso August, 2013 and were from Allegany Co. Marriage Registry and other records from St. Patrick’s Catholic Church, Cumberland, unless otherwise noted:
Susan Matilda McKenzie
She is refereced in Western Maryland Catholics by Koch and Davidson at p. 192:
dob November 5, 1847
baptized April 13, 1848
marriage to Philip Knoll, November 9, 1869 | McKenzie, Susanna Matilda (I00487)
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| 9845 |
The following are marriage records were supplied by Ray Leidinger and transcribed by Sheryl Kelso August, 2013 and were from Allegany Co. Marriage Registry and other records from St. Patrick’s Catholic Church, Cumberland, unless otherwise noted:
George Henry McKenzie
Birth is refereced in Western Maryland Catholics by Koch and Davidson at p. 127. dob July 11, 1841
baptized September 19, 1841
He was baptized on 19 August 1841 and christened on 19 Sep 1841 in St. Patrick's Catholic Church, Cumberland, Allegany Co., Maryland.
His name is listed in the Civil War Draft Registrations for thr 4th Congressional District in Maryland, 1863, along with the following individuals: Enock McKenzie, age 29; John H. McKenzie, age 23; Joshua McKenzie, age 21; Daniel R. McKenzie, age 26; Samuel McKenzie, age 34; Loyd McKenzie, age 20; and Newton McKenzie, age 20. | Mckenzie, George Henry (I00484)
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| 9846 |
The following are marriage records were supplied by Ray Leidinger and transcribed by Sheryl Kelso August, 2013 and were from Allegany Co. Marriage Registry and other records from St. Patrick’s Catholic Church, Cumberland, unless otherwise noted:
Johanna McKenzie Dougherty
dob January 13, 1838
baptized May 13, 1838
marriage to Michael Henry Dougherty, October 6, 1859
dod August 9, 1900, of dropsy, age 63
burial August 11, 1900
Johanna MCKENZIE and Michael Henry DOUGHERTY were married on 6 Oct 1859 in Allegany Co., Maryland. Michael Henry DOUGHERTY was born on 6 Jan 1836 in Maryland. He died on 14 Sep 1898 in Allegany Co., Maryland. Johanna filed an executrix's notice and settled accounts in Allegany Co. court in October 1899.
Michael was buried in St. Patrick's Cemetery.
Mrs. Joanna Dougherty, widow of Michael Dougherty, died Thursday, aged 68 years. Mrs. Dougherty owned the large farm along the canal, just below Cumberland, where she lived. She leaves eight children. The funeral took place Saturday morning at 8 o'clock from St Patrick's church.
Cumberland Alleganian; Cumberland, Allegany Co, Md., Monday, August 13, 1900 - pg 4, col 6 | McKenzie, Johanna (I00482)
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| 9847 |
The following are marriage records were supplied by Ray Leidinger and transcribed by Sheryl Kelso August, 2013 and were from Allegany Co. Marriage Registry and other records from St. Patrick’s Catholic Church, Cumberland, unless otherwise noted:
Joshua Francis McKenzie
Birth is refereced in Western Maryland Catholics by Koch and Davidson at p. 148.
dob September 30, 1842
baptized October 22, 1843
married Mary E. Alexander June 19, 1864
dod February 14, 1924
Joshua was a resident in the Allegany County Home in 1920. Joshua was tall with sandy hair. In 1891, Joshua hit his third cousin John Frank McKenzie with a hatchet at the Midlothian Mines in Maryland. At the time he had 10 children, 8 living but only 7 names known.
The funeral of Joshua McKinzie, 82 years of age, who died at Allegany Hospital yesterday, will be held tomorrow morning, at 9 o'clock from St. Patrick's Church. Burial will be at Frostburg. The following children survive: Bill McKinzie, Frostburg; John McKinzie, Philadelphia; Timothy McKinzie, Baltimore; Mrs. Angelo Torranova, Wilmington, Del.; and Mrs. Patrick Connelly, Turtle Creek, Pa. He also leaves the following brothers and sisters: Samuel McKinzie, Cresaptown; Mrs. Elizabeth Shuck, Westernport; Enoch and Sarah McKinzie, this city. Twenty-six grandchildren survive. The Cumberland Evening Times, February 15, 1924
From death certificate obtained by Don Kagle: Joshua F. McKenzie, son of George and Susanna McKenzie, born 22 mar 1841, MD, died 14 Feb 1924, Cumb., burial 16 Feb, in Frostburg; signed by Sarah McKenzie; fell when getting out of bed, fractured hip, which led to complications.
Per the research of Ray Leidinger, Joshua Francis was christianed on 22 Oct 1843 at St. Patrick's Church, Cumberland, Maryland by the Rev. L. Obermeyer. | McKenzie, Joshua Francis (I00485)
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The following autobiographical sketch is from my own grandmother's hand. I read it with fascination, and couldn't help but think of the Ideal Woman in Proverbs 31. [A fine rendition of that passage is found in The Virtuous Woman].
As you read Flora's entrancing story, think about the Ideal Woman in Proverbs 31.
Reminiscing
Introduction
In case you don't know, that word, reminiscing, means looking back, remembering things that happened in the days before yesterday.
I was born December 31, 1885. Now I don't remember quite that far back. I was-the youngest of quite a large family, not all the children of one mother, my father having married 4 times. I was the youngest by his third wife. I don't remember my mother. I was just past two years old when she died. Then there was a succession of housekeepers in the next three years, when my father again took unto himself a wife.
Of this marriage there was no issue. My stepmother was past bearing age when she became Dad's wife. She was a short, stout woman, not quite 5 ft. tall-. My Dad was German, born near Copenhagen and this new wife was born near Vienna, in what was then Austria Hungaria, and spoke very little English. That was no drawback for Dad because he spoke to her in German and we kids spoke English, but could understand German quite well, our Dad saw to that, and although we could not read or write German, we were quite familiar with the spoken language. My Dad was a very proficient German scholar and learned to read and write English. He subscribed to several newspapers, among them one printed in German. My stepmother could read German and had her Bible and prayer book, but could not write or read writing. But, oh what a worker she was.
Our Home Place
We lived on a little old stony farm of about 70 acres and our biggest crops were rocks and wild blackberries. We generally kept 4 cows and one horse, a few hens, a couple dogs, numerous cats and generally 2 hogs to furnish salt pork. If we wanted beef, we bought a few lbs. from the local butcher. Most of the farm was steep hillside, so there was very little tillable soil. There was a garden, generally about an acre, for sweet corn and a potato patch, maybe a couple of acres for a field corn patch, and a small patch of rye which Dad raised every year to feed his horse. He would thrash the rye and have the seed ground for chaff, the straw was put thru a cutting box and the cut-up straw was mixed with the ground grain and enough water to make the chaff stick to the straw and this was fed to the horse. Pole beans were planted with the corn to save cutting poles. We also had a few apple trees and cherry and plum trees. There were also about a dozen maple trees that were tapped for their sap in season. We had several large iron kettles in which we boiled the sap to make maple syrup and oh, how good that syrup tasted on buckwheat cakes!
The stony acres were divided into fields, each having a distinctive name, such as the top field, the little field - which was just a strip along our neighbor's line fence and too steep for anything but pasture, the orchard, the meadow, the sugar camp - though why that name I don't know because there were only a couple of maple trees enclosed - the rest were scattered along the path to the watering trough and the stream that fed it, and two that shaded the springhouse where we kept our milk. There was also the field above the house, which was the largest field and the one most cultivated. This field was terraced because it too was too steep to cultivate otherwise. Then there, was the barn field and the lower field, the two least steep of all the farm, but so stony that I don't remember them ever being under cultivation.
The house where we were all born was built of logs, two rooms down and a loft above, also divided into two rooms. These rooms must have been built at different times because there was no connecting door in the loft, there was also no chimney or flue, just a stove pipe stuck up thru the roof.
We had a small bank barn, large enough to house 3 horses and 6 cows with a feed room adjacent to each with a place between for calves or yearlings. I don't remember Dad ever having any young cattle, so that space was always vacant except one time we had ½ dozen sheep that were housed there. What happened to those sheep I don't remember.
Daily Life
I must have been about seven when Dad built a frame house, about four yards from the log house, nearer the spring. We lived in a limestone region, hence we had hard water. Momma saved all waste fats to make soap and that homemade lye soap was what was used for dishwashing, scrubbing and laundry, and how I hated it. We used leno, or octagon soap, for toilet soap. I suppose I was in my teens before we began to use Ivory or some other brands of toilet soap.
There was also a wood lot and the clover field. our garden was enclosed by a picket fence to keep out the chickens. All the rest of the farm was free range for the chickens.
After the new house was built, one of my sisters moved into the log house and her husband farmed the place for a year or two. After that, my brother John moved into the log house and he farmed a few acres for a year. After that, one part of the log house was turned into a hen house and the other half into a storehouse.
There were a number of black walnut trees on the place and we kids had those and hickory and butternuts to enjoy and, until the blight killed the chestnut trees, we enjoyed them too. In blackberry season we picked and sold berries at $.20 per gal. and with the money earned from that we bought our school clothes generally two new gingham or print dresses, two pinafores, two slips and a pair of shoes. Our hose were hand-knit from wool yarn, generally by a cousin who made his home with us during the winter months. He would knit the hose of two color yarn in stripes that ran around our legs and mitts or gloves of two color yarns in the most intricate patterns, and how proud we were of those warm woolen hose and gloves.
Oh yes, there was something else unique about those pre-teen years. We drank tea, not the kind you buy in stores but the kind that grew wild in fields and woods, which we harvested and dried ourselves. There was pennyroyal, a delicately flavored plant that grew among the rocks in the wood; and landstrip, which we drink by the gallon, especially during maple water time. There was sassafras, of which we dug the roots and drank during the Spring as a blood purifier. There was wild cherry bark that made a very effective cough syrup; catnip or catmint, which was very soothing to babies who were fretful; elder blossom and peppermint each had a medicinal value - the elder blossom to break a fever and peppermint to soothe a cold. There was also spicewood and birch that we kids loved as a special treat and also wintergreen - the berries of which we ate and chewed the leaves to make our breath sweet. Tansy was used as a purge and horehound for coughs.
Then in September we would pare and quarter apples, string them on cord and hang them on the porch to dry. When dry they were unstrung and stored for use in winter. A bowl of dried apples or a pie made of the dried apples was a tasty treat. Another thing we did was dry sweet corn when in the milky stage. We boiled the roasting ears, cut the corn from the cobs and dried it in the oven. This was also stored for winter and oh, how good a dish of boiled dried sweet corn tasted.
Mom’s Accident
When I was about nine, my Dad went to Connellsville and Pittsburg to visit two of my sisters who lived in those cities. While he was gone Mom and I were alone. One evening Mom sent me to Wellersburg for the mail. While I was gone Mom took the milk pails and went to do the milking. She was sitting on a stool milking one of the cows when Tom, our old horse, came into the barnyard. He never hurt any of the cows, but when he walked toward them, they would move out of his path, and it so happened he went toward the cow she was milking. The cow turned to get out of his way and upset Mom across the stool and hurt her.
She began to cry and pray and call for help. The dogs, hearing her, began to bark and howl. I heard the commotion before I got home but didn't know what it was all about. So I changed my clean dress for the one I had been working in before I went to the barn. There I found Mom leaning against the sled which was housed beneath the fore shoot to be out of the weather.
“What happened Mom?” I asked.
She told me and I helped her to the house and to bed and then once again took myself to Wellersburg for help and a doctor. Peter Knerieum and his wife Becky were very good friends and to them I went first and told my tale. Then to old doctor Fectig and told him, then back to the Knerieum's, and the three of us hurried back to the farm. We crossed the fields by a foot path and were there long before the doctor got there, because he drove his buggy and had to come by the road, which was more than two miles. I don't remember what the doctor said or did, but Mom had to stay in bed for sometime. Mr. Knerieum went to Cumberland the next day and sent a wire to my Dad to come home because his wife was ill. The accident happened on Thursday evening but it was Sunday before Dad got home. He brought my sister Belle home with him and she stayed with us until Mom was able to take over again. Mom always had a lump the size and shape of a kidney in her back after the accident.
Trouble for our Cow
Another time I remember I was sent for help after night for a sick cow to this same Mr. Knerieum. It so happened that Peter had just come in from a long trip over the Allegheny Mountains and was dead tired, so he could not come. "Go to Mr. Goetz. He is a very good hand with sick cattle." So I went back home and told Dad what Peter had said. So I was dispatched to Mr. Ben Goetz. This was about 3-1/2 miles in the opposite direction.
“I don't know where he lives,” I said.
“You can't miss the place.” And he gave me directions and I set out carrying a lantern. it took me over an hour to reach the Goetz place and it was after two a.m. I knocked at the door and a young woman answered the knock.
“Well for pities sake–who are you and what brings you here this time of night?" I explained my mission and she said, “Sorry child, but Grandad has been laid up with rheumatic fever for two weeks. I'd say go for Harmon Hossleroad, but he isn't home. He is helping John Baker stir off a batch of maple sugar.”
So there I was, all that walking for nothing. I returned home to find the cow stretched out in the stable and Mom crying. She and Dad had been up all night to no avail. No one told me what was the matter with the cow, but Mr. Knerieum came to our place shortly after I got home and I heard him tell Dad it was a breech presentation and even had he been there earlier it was doubtful he could have saved the cow for the calf would have had to have been cut up and taken in pieces to save the cow and he wasn't enough of a vet to do that.
So we lost a cow.
Warts
The fall before I was 14 our black walnut trees were loaded. We had bushels and bushels more than we could ever use. So Dad sold some to his butter and egg customers, but there were still bushels lying on the ground. Then one day an old acquaintance of Dad's, a Mr. George Deitle, drove in with his three sons looking for walnuts.
“Well,” Dad said, “you have come to the right place, There are bushels lying out there for the squirrels to carry away. I think they can spare you some.”
Well the boys gathered up several feed sacks full and they drove away. The following week they were back for more. Mr. Deitle was a short, wizened little man with a wrinkled up face that only a mother could love. His two oldest sons were replicas of their dad, but they were jolly and once you learned to know them you couldn't help liking them. The youngest boy, a lad of 17, was tall, slender like his mother and really good looking.
Now this will sound funny, but is true. John, the oldest boy, had a number of warts on his hands and one on his knuckle bothered him a lot. It was large and he was always bumping it against everything. I had heard from someone that if you tied a silk thread tightly about a wart it would die and fall off, so we decided to try and see if there was any truth to it. So I got a piece of silk thread and tied it tightly around the wart. While Dad and Mr. Deitle exchanged views, we young ones played dominoes until bedtime. Poor John was suffering with that thread around his wart, but said nothing. Next morning we asked him how his wart was and had it fallen off yet?
“No it hasn't and it hurts like blazes. I didn't sleep all night!”
I felt sorry for him and the other boys laughed at him.
My Dad said, “Well, there isn't anything you can do about it but let the thread on it if you can bear the pain. The thread will stop the blood from circulating and the wart will die and drop off.”
It kept on hurting for a while but before night it eased off and the next morning the wart was gone. He lost it in the bed, nothing to show for all his pain but a tiny white scar. But, oh those hours of agony he suffered to get rid of one wart!
A Proposal of Marriage
How Dad and Mr. Deitle got on to the subject of marriage I'll never know, but they did. John was 21. Sam, the next one, was 19, and Jerry, the youngest, was 17 and poor me, not quite 14, but I was well-built and husky and Mr. Deitle said if I could suit myself with one of his boys he would give us a cow, a pair of pigs and give us a hen and brood of chicks to begin our married life. Dad said that is a good offer, but Flora is not quite 14 yet and there is plenty of time.
I have often wondered if Mr. Deitle thought that was all that was needed to set up a new home. I guess we could have eaten walnuts and drank milk and bedded down in the hay somewhere, nothing was said about a house or furniture. Well it turned out we never found out what would have happened. Jerry and I exchanged a few letters and that was it.
Siblings and Other Kin
By then my sister Belle was married and living in Connellsville. After school was out the next Spring I went to visit her for a month. When I came home my brother Christ came after me. His wife Kate was expecting a new baby and needed some help and I stayed with them several months and then went back home for a while.
Then Bill Christner, a cousin who was running a sawmill near Glencoe, needed someone to help his wife with the cooking for 18 men and a 3-year old child to care for. They lived in a shack that housed the men. In what they called the bunk house there was a kitchen where we did the cooking. There were 2 bedrooms on the first floor, Christner, his wife and their boy slept in one, I had the other, the men slept in straw bunks on the second floor. It was my job to make up those bunks, help with the cooking, wash dishes and help care for the 3-year old. That job lasted just 3 weeks. Mrs. Christner told Bill she would not take the responsibility of a 15-year old girl getting in trouble with all those men about. So he drove me back home.
Meanwhile, my brother John, now past thirty, was courting a girl in Mt. Savage, Annie Hummelwright by name. A typhoid epidemic broke out in Mt. Savage and Annie was one of the victims. When she died we all went to visit the bereaved family and Mrs. Hummelwright asked me if I was looking for a job and I told her yes. Her niece, Mary Elliot, was looking for someone to do housework for her during her confinement. She only wanted someone until she was back on her feet. I stayed with her for 3 weeks. While there, a neighbor of hers, Susie Winebrenner, came in to visit. She was also looking for help and I went to her next and there is where I met my husband.
Marriage
Bill and Susie Winebrenner had 2 children, both with light curly hair, both just babies. This was number 3. Bill also had a bachelor brother, who, on our second date, asked me to be his wife. We only dated 2 months when we were married. Quick work you will say, but I never had reason to regret it. I worked for Susie 3 weeks. From there I went to Winfield Trimble's and from there Larry and I were married. Mr. Trimble was a widower with two sons younger than myself. He also had a housekeeper - a maiden lady - who was Aunt Polly to everybody. She was suffering from eczema at the time, her hands were a mess. It was she who taught me how to bake bread.
Oh, I had baked bread before, I had mixed up dough, formed it into loaves and baked it. But Aunt Polly watched me mix that dough and when I thought I was finished mixing, she asked me what I was going to do with the flour left in the bottom of the pan. "Throw it out to the birds I guess, it isn't any good. It's all lumpy." I said. "No child, we don't waste good flour. We add a little more water and keep on mixing and mixing and kneading, until every grain is taken up and the mass of dough is smooth and elastic like rubber. Then grease the whole thing and cover it up and let it rise and there will be no lumps in your bread nor any wasted flour." said Aunt Polly. That kind old lady taught me a lot in the month I lived in that household and I have thanked my lucky stars many a time for the things she taught me.
Setting Up Housekeeping
Now it was 1902, Larry was working for the C & P Railroad Co. 10 hours per day for $1.25 per day. We were married January 29th, but did not go to housekeeping until May 10th because Larry's shack was occupied by his brother Bill's family. Bill was building and his house was not finished until then. Bill built his house 2 stories, 2 large rooms, downstairs and up with 9 foot ceilings.
Our shack was 1-1/2 stories with 7 foot ceilings downstairs, just 14 by 20 feet and 14 feet on the square. our downstairs contained two rooms, 12 x 14 and 8 x 9-1/2'. The rest of the smaller portion being taken up by the stairway. The downstairs was not ceiled so the 2 x 9" joists were exposed and the upstairs ceilings sloped on both sides under the roof. These, however, were ceiled with rough 1 inch lumber. The whole thing was lined with heavy building paper. A 10' x 14' shed kitchen was added to the back, giving us 5 rooms. The 2 rooms of the main shack were also covered by another layer of paper which Bill and Susie had put on while living there. There was a brick flue in the larger room, which served for both living room and the shed kitchen.
Larry's mother gave him his bed that we had been sleeping in, complete, a wash stand, a kitchen table and a lounge. We bought a 4-hole cook stove called Torchlight and 6 chairs, kitchen variety and a cupboard. My Dad gave me a cupboard and a rope bedstead that was stored in the log house on the farm. The stove we bought was equipped with
2 iron pots,
2 iron skillets
a tea kettle,
2 iron griddles,
2 bread pans,
1 large draining or biscuit pan,
4 pie pans,
a shovel,
poker and lifter and a soot scraper
and one coal hod,
all for $23.00.
We bought enough hemp carpet to cover the living room, at 19 cents per yard, 3 shades for the living room and bedroom windows and lace curtains for the same. The shades were paper, at 20 cents each, curtains were 49 cents per pair. We bought 1-1/2 yards oilcloth for the table, our kitchen chairs were 50 cents each.
We went to the grocer's and bought:
a barrel of flour at $3.75,
a pork shoulder at 9 cents a pound,
a slab of salt side,
5 lbs. of soup beans at 3 cents a lb.,
pepper,
salt,
sugar at 4 cents a lb.,
10 lb. of corn meal for 19 cents,
spices,
baking powder and soda,
laundry soap,
toilet soap,
clothes pins,
2 wash tubs and a scrub board,
broom and scrub brush,
2 water pails,
a wash basin,
dish pan,
cake turner,
paring knife,
butcher knife,
rolling pin,
potato masher,
dipper and soup ladle,
2 oil lamps, No. 1 and No. 2 burners.
bought enough muslin for 1 sheet and 1 pr. pillow cases,
5 yds. cotton crash toweling for dish towels and
5 yds. unbleached linen toweling for hand towels.
Well, we moved in, and now it was up to me. our first breakfast alone was several slices of that shoulder, fried, a skillet full of milk gravy, homemade bread and coffee. We had also bought an alarm clock so I could be sure of getting up in time to cook breakfast for my man before he went to work. I hemmed towels and made a pair of pillow cases and a sheet that first week so I could have a change of bed clothes.
We planted a garden. Larry bought a cow from my Dad and my Dad had given me a tea set of 26 pieces and ½ dozen steel tea and table spoons, knives and forks. Larry's Mother was Mother to all of her kids and I called her Mother too. She had a cow and chickens and they had built a springhouse below the spring where she kept her milk and butter. Now I also had a cow and we shared the springhouse.
We Get a Dog
We soon discovered that we were not the only occupants of our shack, we had company. The place was infested with mice. They were very friendly creatures, but very shy. often when we were eating our meals they would come out from their retreat and sit and watch us eat, waiting for an invitation to come join us, I suppose. I told Larry they looked like they were thumbing their noses at us. We bought traps and set them but only caught a few.
Then one day I went to Mt. Savage for the mail and some small item at the store and while in town dropped in on my sister-in-law, Larry's brother Stewart's wife, for a chat. While there, her two little boys came in leading. a little dog by a piece of cord, the kind you tie up grocery packages with. The dog was black with a white chest and a plumy tail.
Their mother said, “Now you boys must get rid of that dog. I just can't be bothered with a pup, six kids are enough to look after.”
“Oh, Mom, he won't be any bother. Can't we keep him please?”
“No boys, nothing doing. I know you boys. You'll be taking him to bed with you and feeding him at the table and goodness knows what else.”
I spoke, “Boys, how about giving me the pup since your Mother doesn't want you to keep him. I don't have any children, and he can be company for me.”
“Oh, would you like to have him, Aunt Flora?”
“Yes, I would. And I'll be good to him.”
They gave me the pup, with the cord leash still attached, and I led him home by that leash. I tied him to the porch bannister until Larry came home from work. I didn't know that Larry was afraid of dogs. Big, little, or medium size. But I found that out when he came home. The first thing he said when he saw the pup was, “Where did that come from?” I explained. And he said, “Neither can we keep him. He will grow up and be a menace and cause all kind of trouble. Take him back.”
I was disappointed, for I loved dogs and cats and all animals except mice and rats, because they were destructful. I untied the cord from the little dog's collar and patted his head and told him to stick around. “Maybe I can persuade Larry to let me keep you.”
I went to milk and he followed me. We ate supper and I fed the little dog. All at once he made a spring for the living room and I wondered what was up. In a few seconds he came back and dropped a mouse in front of me.
“Well, puppy, are you a mouser? I thought that was a cat's title, but if you are, there are plenty of mice around here for you to catch.”
I threw my soiled apron in the corner and the pup curled up on it and we went to bed. We found 3 more mice on the door sill the next morning, dead.
“Well Larry, don't you think we can keep the little fellow. He don't look like he'll get very big and with all these mice around we can use him,” I said.
Larry replied, "We'll keep him a couple days and we'll see.”
So Rover stayed and over the years he became famous as a ratter. What breed he might have originated from we never knew, but rats, mice, moles and chipmunks all fell prey to him. Nothing else was ever harmed. Baby chicks and kittens were safe with him.
Living Expenses
In August of that first year of our married life, Larry received a raise in wages, 10 cents on the day, giving him $1.35 per day for 10 hours. We were planning on saving that extra 10 cents per day but it melted away with the rest. We never did save a dime of it, having started out buying on a monthly basis, it seemed we never could get out of it. We bought what we needed on credit and paid at the end of the month. When cool weather came in the fall we needed a heating stove and feed for our cow. We had managed to build a stable, also on the installment plan.
Ellen Blanche
In January of 1903, just 10 days before we were married a year, our first baby arrived–a girl, Ellen Blanche. More extra money was needed. A girl must be paid for the several weeks of my confinement and the doctor must be paid. The doctor's fee was $5.00. We paid the girl $1.50 per week for 3 weeks. Hay was 90 cents per hundred lb. bale and the cow could put away a bale and a half per month besides the mill feed she ate. Oh yes, I forgot,,Larry bought 2 pigs of his Dad's that first year and we had to buy corn to fatten them.
Anna Lillian
Time marches on. In 1905, in February, our second child was born, another girl, Anna Lilian, and we had an old lady stay with me for 8 weeks. She could not do the laundry so that was done by Susie. We paid the old lady $1.00 per week while she was with us. Anna Lilian was a fat, rolly polly baby weighing 10 lbs. at birth.
Margaret Jane
When she was 16 months old, our 3rd child came along another girl, Margaret Jane. After 6 weeks my milk failed and I had to put her on a formula. Thank goodness we had a cow. Our doctor gave me a formula of 4 oz. milk, 4 oz. boiled water, tablespoonful of lime water and a teaspoonful sugar in every bottle and put her on a 4-hour schedule. That made 6 feedings per day and I made up a full day's schedule each morning and kept the bottles in the springhouse to keep it sweet. We had no icebox or refrigerator.
Now I was a very busy person with 3 babies, 2 of them in diapers, a cow to milk, chickens and pigs to feed, a garden to help keep free of weeds, laundry to do, all by hand, all my water must be carried from the spring vegetables and fruits to can for next winter. Oh, I was busy all right, but we were happy.
The Flood
This was 1906. During that summer, we had a cloudburst that raised the water in our small creek to a flood. Our springhouse was on this creek bank and all our milk was upset in the trough. The baby's bottles, having corks, did not spill, but several of them soured and I had to empty them, sterilize the bottles, and make new formula. I think that was the year of the San Francisco earthquake and I remember us saying how much worse their calamity was than ours.
Our hog pen was also on the bank of that creek and Larry had built a pen of logs around the pen so the pigs had some ground in which to root and wallow. Larry feared his pigs would drown and was all for going out there and releasing them. The water was at least hip deep and swift.
I said, “No, Larry. You are not going out there. The water would wash you away. if those pigs drown we will be minus our winter's pork, but if you are washed away, what will I do without you, and our three babies, they need you too!”
When the water finally went down (it only lasted a couple of hours) we found our pigs alive and well. The water had washed weeds and debris against that fence and the floor in the pen was only washed clean. But our pigs didn't get any milk the next couple of days.
The flash flood took half our garden and the water reached the steps of our back porch. This put the fear of future floods into Larry’s head. So in 1907 he had the shack moved to higher ground. They tore the flue down, put rollers under the shack and moved the whole thing, nothing was taken out of the house and nothing was broken. The shack was set on posts, the flue was rebuilt and housekeeping same as before, only now Larry decided to dig out a cellar and put a foundation at least under part of our home. Work, work, work, that man could find more things to do. Work all day on the railroad then work on his excavation until 9 o'clock, fall into bed so exhausted he could hardly say goodnight. He finally got 2 corners of his foundation in place. It was not a very deep cellar. You could not stand upright in it, but he worked on that wall until he had enough space for a potato bin and a row of shelves on which to store my canned goods.
Marie Christine
February 14, 1908, our 4th child came - another girl, Marie Christine. Since it seemed I wasn't going to get any sons, I named this one for my dad, Christine for Christopher. Of all the grandchildren, he had no namesake and there were several dozen.
The second calf our first cow dropped was a heifer and we raised it so now I had two cows and we managed to have them freshen at different times of the year, thus assuring a constant supply of milk and butter. This with our garden and a few hens, plus our two porkers each fall constituted most of our food supply. We bought flour, cereal, sugar, salt and an occasional piece of beef. All the rest was home grown and home canned. We lived very well.
Our First Boy
June 29, 1909 our 5th child arrived, a boy this time, Lawrence Murray, named for his Dad and the doctor who delivered him.
During this year and the next the Western Maryland Railroad was laid and it passed our place just a few hundred yards above our house. A crew of men camped in a large house adjacent to ours and they got their water supply from our spring. I still don't know what nationality these men were, but foreigners, and all foreigners were Hunkies to everybody so we called them Hunkies. The foreman was named Popovitch. His wife did the cooking for the crew. Mike Popovitch spoke broken English and his wife no English at all. Mrs. Popovitch was delivered of a baby while they were camped there and since I was the only woman in the place that Mike knew, he came for me when the doctor asked him to get some woman to assist him.
I can hear Dr. Murray yet saying, “Whiskey and beer by the gallon and not a d_____ stitch to dress this child!”
I returned to my home and got an outfit of my own baby's and dressed that child and gave Mike a list of things to get so I could make some clothes for the baby diapers, gowns, bands, etc.
The Fire
There was another family living in that house since it was a double. One evening, while we were eating supper, Larry's brother Bill, who had dropped in and was sitting by the window, said to us, "Hey, look out there Popovitch's house is on fire!"
We looked, and sure enough, the place was ablaze. Someone in the second story had upset or knocked down a lamp and the flame was going for the roof. All the men ran to help the family on the other side of the house to get them and their possessions out. Henry Winebrenner was the man and they had several small children. Henry brought his wife, Anne, and the kids to our house for the night.
We gave them shelter for the night, bedding the kids down on the pallet on the floor. The neighboring men saved all the furnishings. They were all piled up in the field far enough from the fire to be safe. I think they lost a wooden wash tub that, in the fire, was forgotten on the front porch.
During all the excitement of the fire, Mrs. Popovitch and her baby were forgotten. When all the excitement died down, Mike knocked on our door.
“Please give my wife and baby shelter tonight. I have no one to go to.”
Larry said, “We are full up. Can't any of the other neighbors find any room for you?”
Mike said, “I only know this good lady. Please give my wife, just my wife and baby, shelter. I can sleep on the ground. I only ask for them.”
I said, “We are crowded, but I'll share my bed with your wife and baby. I have a baby too, you know, and we will share. Larry, you bed down with the 4 girls, upstairs. Henry and his family have the back room. I'll take Mrs. Popovitch in with Murray and myself and we'll manage until tomorrow.”
And that is what we did. Henry found a house to move into and they left the next day. I don't remember where the Popovitch family went, but they also left.
Several Deaths in the Family
During the fall and winter of 1909-1910, Larry's sister was dying of cancer and Susie and I took turns staying up with her nights. Susie also had a young baby. She was nursing hers at breast, mine was bottle fed, so I could leave my child at home while Susie had to take hers with her. It was a very icy winter and we had a good stretch to go. There were 4 lots between and an the side of a hill. Walking was precarious, but we made it. Lizzie, the sister, died March 30th and Larry's Dad, who was helpless from the waist down, died on April 5th.
Dad Winebrenner [James Hiram] was a huge man, well over 200 lbs., and Susie and I were all the help Mother had to lift him onto the commode and back to his rocking chair. Susie ruptured herself lifting him and I lost my next baby the very day Lizzie died, so I didn't go to either funeral. I was only 6 or 7 weeks pregnant, but hemorrhaged terribly. The doctor ordered me to stay in bed for a week and off my feet for another week and no lifting or heavy work for another month, and I was glad to obey. I was so weak from hemorrhaging, but I couldn't lie abed and see my man and kids want for food, so with the help of my 7 year old girl I managed the cooking and baking. Another sister of Larry's, Jane, did my washing and milking until I was strong enough to take over again. Lucky it was summer time so we didn't need to worry about keeping a fire going except to cook and bake.
My little girls kept the floor swept and the house picked up and with ½ gal. pails kept the water bucket and tea kettle filled. Bless their hearts, they were good children. Poor Larry had to tend our garden alone, but he didn't complain. When I would sympathize with him he would say, “You just take care of yourself and the babies and get well and strong again, I'm doing O.K.” God bless him, he was so very good to his family.
In April of 1911 Mother Winebrenner [Suzanne Logsdon] died. She went to live with Bill and Susie after Dad died. She had chronic bronchitis and dropsy the last year of her life. I was with her the night she passed away. Either Susie or I stayed up with her at night. This night was my turn. She wanted up on the commode and I helped her up. She asked for a drink and I had to step to the dresser to get her drink.
I said, “Think you can sit alone til I can get your drink?”
She replied, “Oh yes, I'll be O.K.”
I stepped to the dresser for the glass of water, but before I got back to her side, she threw both arms up and went over backwards on the floor. I ran to the stair door and called Susie and Bill. They came down quick as they could, but she was gone and we could not revive her. I went home. We lived just across the road from each other. I told Larry his Mother was gone and we cried in each other's arms for a while, then, since it was almost time to get up anyway, I went to the kitchen and started breakfast.
Acquiring Property
Over the years, I can't recall the dates, Larry received small raises in his wages. From $1.35 to $1.60 to $1.85 per day. Also there was a cut in time from 10 hours to 9 hours. Working men everywhere were fighting for higher wages and shorter hours. Railroad repairmen were always the last to get a raise and were the lowest paid of all laboring men.
There was a piece of vacant land adjacent to our property belonging to the Union Mining Company that was ideal for pasture and Larry rented this and threw a barbed wire fence around it and here we pastured our cows. Some of our neighbors also had cows and asked us to pasture them because it was close, else they would have to pasture with Mr. Trimble, who also pastured cattle. The price for pasture was $1.00 per head per month, May thru October.
About 1912, Larry took a notion to buy out the heirs of my Dad's old steep rocky farm. The farm did not belong to Dad outright, his second wife's father had given it to her with the understanding that should she die first, the place was still his as long as he should live. At his death it would go to her heirs and there were six children - 4 boys and 2 girls. Two of the boys had sold out their shares to their oldest sister. The rest were all willing to sell, except the youngest girl. She was also willing to sell, but her husband said to sell the ground but hold on to the mineral rights because, he said, "There is coal under there and maybe some day a mine will be opened and you will get a share of that." Larry said, "No deal, if I can't have the whole thing, I don't want any of it. I might have crops planted and someone comes along digging for mineral and my crops are ruined! I accept no such deal, we stay where we are. The old place isn't worth that much anyway." So we didn't move. At the time I was disappointed but I'm glad since that the deal didn't go thru. There is nothing there now. There was a mine opened on the place. The frame house burned down. The log house was torn down or fell down. The bank barn was torn down. The foundation stones were used to shear up the mine. All the fences rotted away and the place is a wilderness of locust, wild rose bushes and sumac and I suppose wild blackberries. What timber was on the place was sold. Even the fruit trees went to the mill.
Dad and Mom Move
My Dad bought a house in Wellersburg and moved there. He and Mom were too old to stay on the old place alone. There were no neighbors nearer than Wellersburg and no one there who cared enough to look after two old folks who were no relation.
World War I
Next rumblings of trouble all over Europe. Small nations were being taken over by stronger nations. War mad Kaiser Bill of Germany took over all the small western countries of Europe. Poland first, then the others (I can't name them) one after the other and the papers were full of the atrocities. 1914-15-16-17, more and more cities being bombed, ships were torpedoed, food and war material that America was shipping to the beleaguered countries was being sunk. England was now in the war. London was bombed. Where would it all end. If Kaiser Bill wasn't stopped, would the U.S. be next? Heaven forbid. Some of our boys were anxious to get into the fray and shipped across. Some joined the Canadian troops. and then our ships were being sent to the bottom by mines and torpedoes and the U.S. went into the war to help England and her allies.
[Roberta Violet]
In December 1914 another child was born to us, another girl, Roberta Violet.
Our boys were being drafted for overseas duty. All men from 21 to 40 were eligible and Larry's brother Bill was in that bracket. Bill could not read and Susie had to stop to spell every second word, so Bill came to our house to hear the war news read. I was in bed, but that didn't matter. I must read every night after supper. I would get so tired I would fall asleep reading. I was three months getting my usual good health back after that confinement. Every time I got up and tried to do any housework I'd take a backseat and go back to bed for another week.
1918 Flu Epidemic
In 1918, the year of the flu, when people were dying like flies, my oldest girl, Blanche, was the first one to take it in Slabtown. She came home from school feeling ill. Next day she was worse and she stayed in bed. In just a couple of days the next two in order were down. When they tried to get up, their noses would start to bleed. The wouldn't eat. They developed coughs. My boy, then 9, and Marie, 10, were next to take it, but by then Blanche was feeling better.
I had an awful pain in my chest, but with all those babies to think about, I just couldn't give up and go to bed. Besides, I was afraid if I gave up and laid down I'd never get up again. My chest hurt me so bad I couldn't sleep anyhow, so I rested in the rocking chair, dozing when my eyelids wouldn't stay open any longer. Then I thought if I only had a bottle of Dr. Dunlop's King of Pain. I believed it would ease this pain. My Dad had sold this medication for years and we all swore by it. No matter what the pain was caused by, a dose of that eased the pain. I got up and went to the big corner cupboard and began searching thru my assortment of remedies and found a King of Pain bottle with perhaps a teaspoon full of the medication in it. It was supposed to be taken in a glass of water with a teaspoon of sugar.
Well, there was just about one dose in that bottle so I got a glass and fixed it and drank it down, hoping it would at least ease that pain. In about 15 minutes I began to cough and I heard or felt something like a bubble bursting and I began to spit mouthful after mouthful of the most awful stinking stuff anyone ever smelled. It was October and there were flies and as I spat that stink into the coal hod they swarmed over that. I kept covering it with coal until the coal was a wet mass then I shoveled the coal into the stove to get rid of the stink. When all that blood and pus was coughed up, the pain was gone and that night I slept. Next morning I felt fine, only weak.
Anna and Jane were still too weak to get up. Blanche got up and said, "Momma, I feel so much better today." But now Murray and Marie were down. Roberta, now 4, and Victor, who was born in 1916 showed no sign of illness, so I was happy the sick ones were now getting hungry, but they didn't want anything I could fix for them. We had a tree of Rambo apples and the 2 babies would bring in little buckets full of them and carry them to the sick ones and they relished them. They ate apples and threw the cores beneath their beds. When at last they got well enough to be up and downstairs and I could move the beds and sweep under them, I had almost a coal hod full of dried apple cores.
Doctors were literally worked to death during the epidemic. When I told our Doctor about my pain and what I had done and about the cough and my spitting, he told me I had had an abscess on my lung and it was a good thing I was able to spit that up that it probably saved my life and that I should thank God that it broke that way. The two babies didn't have a very bad case of flu–just a day in bed. I think the diet of apples helped as much as anything.
During that month, every family was stricken. There were 3 very young babies in our town. All three of the mothers were down at the same time. I was now better and my family on the mend so I went visiting the ones who were sick. Some whole families were down and no one to do anything for them. I took over the three babies each morning and bathed and dressed them. I also did what I could for the mothers, which wasn't very much. Grace Bridges was hurting in her lungs and was certain she was getting pneumonia. I made a mustard plaster and put it on her back. She was one of the mothers whose baby I bathed daily. Well, she had some blisters on her back, but she didn't get pneumonia. Mrs. Wolford, my nearest neighbor, also had a small baby that I bathed daily and I mixed up a pan of bread for her and panned it for her. Her husband baked it when he came home from work.
Before we were all quite well, Larry came home feeling so bad he couldn't eat his supper. He stayed in bed two days and then got up and went back to work. We had one death in Slabtown, an Italian family lost their wife and mother.
Curing Eczema
I must go back a couple of years. When Blanche was about 10 or 11 she got a rash on her head and it got worse and worse. I took her to our doctor and he said it was eczema and we'd have to cut her hair if I wanted it to get well. He mixed up some salve and told me to cut her hair and everyday lift those scabs off the sores and bathe her head with bichloride solution and then use the salve on the sores and then make some white caps for her to wear. Well, I did as he told me and that poor kid had to go thru that torture every day. At the same time, Marie had a swelling on the back of her head which turned out to be a cyst, so I had two heads to work on instead of one. Marie's cyst was well before Blanche's eczema. I only needed to cut a small bit of Marie's hair off, just around the cyst. Blanche had sandy hair that was curly and when her eczema finally got well her hair lay in ringlets all over her head when it grew out again.
World War I Shortages
During the first World War, to make wheat available for the armed forces and for export, we were asked to buy other cereal products in proportion to the amount of flour we bought. Now this was no hardship for me. I could make use of the other cereals with my brood. I would buy 25 lbs. of flour, 10 lbs. of corn meal, 10 lbs. of rolled oats and 5 lbs. of rice and for every 25 lbs. of flour, the same ratio held. We all like corn bread, corn griddle cakes, rice with milk and sugar or boiled with beef or chicken or made into pudding or fritters, rolled oat porridge was our breakfast with milk–lucky we had cows. Sugar was scarce but corn syrup could be bought in any amount so we substituted syrup for sugar and raisins were another plentiful product and I learned to use all these substitutes. Corn bread full of raisins was delicacy we all loved. Then I heard rye flour could be purchased without taking all the cereal grains and I bought 25 lbs. to try my luck at baking rye bread. My first batch was a failure, lucky I only messed up two loaves. My second trial turned out sweet and nutty and we all loved it.
We needed stamps to buy shoes and we could only buy one pair per person. That was OK, we couldn't afford more than one pair each anyway.
Over the years my kids, like everyone else's had their quota of childish diseases–chicken pox, measles, mumps and whooping coughs. Some had harder cases than others but when they had run their course, the children seemed no worse for their bout–no after effects.
Dad Moves to Slabtown
During 1919-1920 some enterprising person or persons built a row of 10 houses across the creek from and back of Slabtown and among that bunch of workmen was a man named Stanley Dorman who took a fancy to my daughter Jane. She was just a kid, 15 years old, but like all the rest of the Slabtown kids, had to go see the new houses being built and that is where they met.
The house where Larry's Dad lived before he died, Larry's brother Tom lived in. For some time he had bought it or traded for it before Grandad died but for some reason gave it up and a Mr. Clinton Uhl was the owner. Larry bought the house from Uhl because the house was partly on our property, the line cutting thru one corner. We rented the house to several different parties, but now the house was empty and my Dad took a notion he wanted to move into this house to be near some of his family. He was in his late 80's and Mom too was past 80. So they moved from Wellersburg to Slabtown.
There Mom died and Dad was alone. one of his grandchildren, Katie Petenbrink, also lived in Slabtown and he moved his bedroom furniture and his easy chair into her house and stayed with her until he died in 1921. Blanche, my oldest daughter was now married and she bought some of Grandad's stuff and went housekeeping in that house.
Rose Alice and Victor
Meanwhile, in 1920, we received another bundle of love, Rose Alice. Victor was now in his 4th year and was troubled with enlarged tonsils. He could not sleep lying on his back. If he turned on his back he would choke trying to get his breath. Either his Dad or I got up in the night to turn him over. Our doctor said we should have his tonsils out. Well, he was only a baby and to put him in the hospital was unthinkable, but the poor little tyke was getting worse and the doctor finally persuaded me to his way of thinking. Now it was up to me to get Larry's permission to have it done. At that time the C & P was running a special train every Saturday night from Piedmont to Cumberland.
Dr. Murray said, “Take him to Miner's Hospital on Saturday morning and you can bring him back home on the 7:30 train. He won't need be away from home even one night.”
Now I had a baby a couple of weeks old and she was breast fed so Anna went with me to take care of Rose so I could stay with Victor. When the doctor was ready for him I carried him into the operating room and laid him on the table. Victor patted the table and said, “You lie down by me Mommy.”
I said, “There isn't room for me darling, but I'll stand here by you and hold your hand. You go to sleep now and when you get awake I'll be right here and your old tonsils will be gone.”
They put him to sleep and led me out of the room telling me not to worry, he would be O.K. It didn't take long to do the surgery. They brought him back and put him in bed. I was allowed to sit by him until he awoke. When he woke up he vomited and cried a little, but the first thing he said when he was conscious was, “I can breathe now Mommy.” I hadn't cried during all this time, just prayed, but those words from that baby brought the tears, but they were tears of joy.
That was in July. A month later, in August, we had to take Blanche to the hospital for surgery, an appendectomy.
In March of 1921, we took Jane to the hospital, another appendectomy.
In March, my Dad died. It seemed we were having more than our share of trouble.
Blanche was married that spring and in November gave birth to a boy, our first grandchild.
House Repairs
During that year our roof started to leak, not just one place, but so many places that I had trouble finding enough pots and pans to catch the drips. That meant a n
She died on 29 Apr 1982 at the age of 96 in Frostburg, Allegany Co., Maryland. Florence (Flora) B. Winebrenner, 96, who resided with her grandson, George Beeman, Slabtown, died April 29, 1982 in Frostburg Community Hospital. A native of Wellersburg, she was a dughter of the late J. Christopher and Ella Martens. Her husband, Lawrence W. Winebrenner, preceded her in death. She was a member of Mt. Savage United Methodist Church. Surviving are two sons, L. Murray Winebrenner, Zihlman; Victor M. Winebrenner, Orlando, Fla.; six daughters, Mrs. Anna L. Dougherty, Pine Grove, Texas; Margaret Jane Dorman, Mt. Savage, Md.; Mrs. Marie Caughey and Mrs. Rose Hobbins, both of Orlando, Fla.; Mrs. Roberta McGuire, Frostburg; Mrs. Virginia Mabroski, St. Petersburg, Fla.; 22 grandchildren; 36 great-grandchildren and 12 great-great-grandchildren. Friends were received at the Sowers Funeral Home. The Republic, Meyersdale, May 6, 1982
She was buried on 3 May 1982 in Mount Savage United Methodist Church, Mount Savage, Allegany Co., Maryland.
Mrs. Flora Winebrenner. Slabtown, who suffered a fractured hip while visiting relatives in Baltimore, has returned to the home of her granddaughter, Mrs. Clifton Whitman, Slabtown. June 5, 1951, The Cumberland Evening Times, Brief Mention | Martens, Florence Blanche (Flora) (I44600)
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The following email from Shery Kelso in December, 2013 accompanied the following obituary of Cleo BOYER which appears further below.
Tommy is the son of Thomas Arthur “Red” McK who died in 2003. However, Betty’s surname was Bittner, I believe, not Boyer. Cleo was a Boyer, taking her mother’s maiden name.
This is the onoly proof I have of Tommy married to Betty:
Publication Date: Tuesday, September 09, 2003, Cumberland Times-News
MOUNT SAVAGE — Thomas Arthur “Red” McKenzie, Sr., 69, of Mount Savage, went to be with the Lord on Sunday, Sept. 7, 2003, at his residence after a long battle with cancer. Born Dec. 1, 1933, in Mount Savage, he was the son of the late Elmer Charles and Nellie Grace (Poorbaugh) McKenzie. He was also preceded in death by two brothers, Melvin and Reaford McKenzie; and one sister, Leona Mailey. Mr. McKenzie was a graduate of Beall High School. Arthur served in the U.S. Army during the Korean Conflict; and he retired from the ACME Market after 38 years of employment. He was a life member of the Piney Mountain Sportsman's Club and the National Rifle Assoc. Arthur was an avid hunter and fisherman. Surviving are his wife of 49 years, Rose Elizabeth (Linn) McKenzie, Mount Savage; one daughter, MaraLane Cannillo and husband, Don, Buffalo Mills, Pa.; three sons, Thomas Arthur Jr. and wife, Betty, Mount Savage, Ricky Lee and wife, Diane, Mount Savage, and Jeffrey and wife Marilyn, Frostburg; two brothers, Anthony McKenzie, Ridgeley, W.Va., and Ted McKenzie, Brookeville; and one sister, Katleen Jones, Gaithersburg; seven grandchildren whom he adored and were the love of his life, Jamie and wife Jenn, Ryan, Jeremy, Skylar, Meggan, Jarrett and Clayton; two great-granddaughters, Macy and Raegan McKenzie; and several nieces and nephews. He was blessed to have the love of the Linn family, especially Morey who was with him throughout his illness. Family and friends will be received at the Durst Funeral Home, P.A., 57 Frost Ave., Frostburg, on Tuesday from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. A Christian Wake Service will be held at the funeral home on Tuesday at 3:45 p.m. by the Rev. Father Doug Kenney. Friends can also go to durstfuneralhome.com <> to find additional information. A Funeral Mass will be celebrated at Saint Patrick's Catholic Church, Mount Savage, on Wednesday at 10 a.m. with the Rev. Father Doug Kenney as celebrant. Interment will be in the State Veterans Cemetery at Rocky Gap. Military honors will be accorded at the cemetery by members of the Old Rail Post 6025 V.F.W. honor guard. A luncheon will be served at St. Patrick's Hall following the interment service. Pallbearers will be Ricky McKenzie, Jeffrey McKenzie, Jamie McKenzie, Ryan McKenzie, Jeremy McKenzie and Terry McKenzie. Honorary pallbearers will be Tom McKenzie, Skylar McKenzie, Don Cannillo, Morey Linn, Richard Linn and Paul Brenneman Memorial contributions may be made to the American Cancer Society, 111 S. George St., Cumberland, MD 21532. A special “thank you” goes to the cancer center at Sacred Heart Hospital and to the Home Hospice Care nurses for all the wonderful care he received.
HYNDMAN, Pa. — Cleo A. (Boyer) Miller, 57, of Hyndman Road, Hyndman, formerly of Buffalo Mills, went to be with the lord, Sunday June 8, 2003, at her resdence. Born March 18, 1946 in Cumberland, she was the daughter of the late Leo Keel and Patricia A. (Boyer) Bittner. She was preceded in death by a son, Cliff Shaffer; two sisters, Esther K. Deneen and Linda Sue Crosby. Mrs. Miller was a former emloyee of the S. Schwab Company as a seamstress. She attended the Calvary Bible Church, Ellerslie and the Bible Gospel Church, Hyndman. She was a former member of the Hyndman Volunteer Fire Department, Ladies Auxiliary and Kennells Mill Sportsman Club’s Ladies Auxzilary. She is survived by her mother, Patricia A. (Boyer) Bittner, Hyndman; husband Irvin T. “Ted” Miller, whom she married June 12, 1970, in Ellerslie. She is survived by one son, L. Dean Miller and wife Barb, Cumberland; two daughters, Tina L. Miller and boyfriend Bobby Cook and Rebecca S. “Becky” Miller andboyfriend David Dietz, both of Hyndman; and three grandchildren, L. Dean Miller Jr., Zachary Miller and Michaela Dietz. She is also survived by four sisters, Mary A., wife of Ken Printy of Ellerslie; Diane L. Dunmeyer, Hyndman; Donna J., wife of Gary Lee, Hyndman; and Betty J., wife of Tom McKenzie, Mount Savage and numerous nieces and nephews. Friends wil be received at the Harvey H. Zeigler Funeral Home, 169 Clarence St., Hyndman Pa., Tuesday from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. Services will be conducted at the funeral home Wednesday at 11 a.m. with the Rev. John Klink, the Rev. Faye Leydig and the Rev. Ken Korns officiating. Interment will be at the Palo Alto Hilltop Cemetery, Hyndman. Pallbearers will be Shawn Dunmeyer, Tim Kenell, Brian Murray, Eric Bittner, Jason Lee and Jamie McKenzie. MD Death Notices and Obituaries | Boyer, Cleo A. (I37332)
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The following email was received by the author from Linda Whitlock in September, 2014:
The data that I have thus far is:
My maternal great-grandfather: Charles Edward LaRue (born January 4, 1858, in MD - died September 7, 1936, in Kingwood, Preston County, WV) Records indicate that he was buried in County Home Cemetery, Kingwood, Preston County, WV.
1st marriage: Matilda Ellen McKenzie (no data)
Son: Henry Elwood LaRue (born December 2, 1838 - died January 11, 1966, in Memorial Hospital, Cumberland, Allegany County, MD) Great Uncle Henry resided at the home of my grandparents and then moved into my parents’ home, where he spent the last years of his life. I knew him well.
2nd marriage: Mary Elizabeth Hutzell (born May 20, 1865, in PA - died December 12, 1926, in Riverside, Monongalia County, WV) Buried in East Oak Grove Cemetery, Morgantown, Monongalia County, WV.
Children: Emerson Richard LaRue (born November 11, 1900, possibly in Windom, Wyoming County, WV - died December 3, 1958, in Verona, Allegheny County, PA) He was my grandfather. Buried in Philos Cemetery, Philos Avenue, Westernport, Allegany County, MD.
Nellie May LaRue (born October 3, 1898 - died November 11, 1963, in Kingwood, Preston County, WV) Married Frank Sliger (born December 13, 1897, in WV - died January 5, 1934, in Potomac Valley Hospital, Mineral Street, Keyser, Mineral County, WV). Possibly buried in Crellin, Garrett County, MD.
NOTE: My husband and I made a trip to East Oak Grove Cemetery in Morgantown, WV this past spring, and with the assistance of the employees at the cemetery were directed to the grave of my paternal great grandmother, Mary Elizabeth (Hutzell) LaRue. This would have been impossible without the help of the staff, as there is no marker for her grave in this relatively large cemetery, nor are there any other Hutzells or LaRues (according to staff there). What perplexes me is that we were also told that this was in fact a 2-grave plot. Questions: Could great grandfather be buried here rather than in County Home Cemetery? Why would someone in the family, at the time of great grandfather’s death, not have known about this “extra” grave? Could it be that Matilda (1st wife) is buried here? | Larue, Charles Edward (I06870)
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