Searching For Ernest by Bernard A. Handler (December 31, 2014) -- Samaritan Sunday on Wednesday

[Today is a special day in many ways.  It is New Year's Eve day and thus the last day of 2014. Today also marks 24 years since I joined the federal workforce. And today is the second anniversary of the start of this blog. Filiopietism Prism was first published on December 31, 2012 and as the initial post stated, the inspiration to begin was an invitation from Heather Rojo of Nutfield Genealogy blog to submit a guest post to her blog. 

Today is also special because for the first time I have a guest post on The Prism. 

It has been some time since a "Samaritan Sunday" post has appeared here, but even though today is a Wednesday, the story posted below is too good to wait until next Sunday. This is a true story that happened just within the last couple of weeks. It is the kind of heartwarming story that I think is perfect to present as we end one year and ring in a new one full of promise and hope for us all. People like Connie are to be celebrated and appreciated and I am sure you will all enjoy this true tale about serendipity, kismet, and the acts of a kind and generous genealogy Samaritan! 

The author of today's post is Bernard A. Handler, my brother-in-law, and a new genealogy enthusiast who I am encouraging to take the plunge and start his own genealogy blog.]

Ernest F H Grothe and Edith Forbes on their wedding day in 1929.

Searching for Ernest by Bernard A. Handler.

     The drive from the historic riverside town of New Hope, Pennsylvania, to the bucolic borough of Schwenksville, Pennsylvania, takes about an hour.  When I arrived at _ _ _ Haldeman Road and saw the new “estate” home beautifully decorated for the Christmas holiday I thought about turning around and heading back but I figured, “What the hell.” So I pulled into the driveway, parked the car while observing the “Beware of Dog” sign and proceeded to the front door. I rang the bell, stepped back a few feet just in case and watched a middle aged woman’s approach through the glass. She opened the door a foot or so.

     “May I help you?”

     “Yes. My name is Bernie Handler and I’ve been doing some ancestry research. A couple of on-line documents indicated that a cousin of mine, Ernest Grothe, is or was the property owner at this address. His mother, Edith Forbes (1906-1995), is my great aunt.”

     The woman closed the door behind her and stepped out onto the front porch.

     “Well, it was Ernest’s brother Clarke who owned this property, but he died a few years ago. He inherited it from his parents who purchased the house and acreage years ago. We bought the property from his estate, and had the house demolished. It was quite run down. But I did save many of Clarke’s possessions.”

     “You saved his possessions?”

     “Yes, well some of them. My daughter thought I was crazy. She said Clarke’s ghost would haunt us, but I’m on ancestry.com and I knew how much his keepsakes could mean to someone.”

     “You knew that neither Clarke nor his brother ever married or had any children?”

     “Yes.”

     “And you still saved his stuff for four years!  Wow, it’s as if you’ve been waiting for me to show up on your doorstep. Well, here I am.”

     “Won’t you come in? I have to be careful that the cats don’t sneak outside. My name is Connie D_ _ _ _ _ _ _.  Have a seat in the office while I run downstairs and get Clarke’s box.”

      When Connie returned she had an 18” by 24” clear plastic storage container with a white lid in her arms. She placed the box on the desk.

     “Before Clarke’s house was torn down his brother came out here. We told him to take anything that he wanted, but he said he wasn’t interested. The only thing he took was a bottle of vinegar and a case of lightbulbs.”

     “So he was a bit batty, heh?”

     “Yes, definitely a bit batty. He had food stains on his shirt.”

     “Hoo boy.”

     “Well, let me show you Clarke’s parents’ wedding photo. Beautiful, isn’t it? There are lots of other photos I’m sure you’ll like. And here is his father’s 1924 diploma from Gettysburg College, mechanical engineering. And in this shoebox are his military memorabilia including his dog tags. I think he was a lieutenant.”

     And then Connie showed me a newspaper clipping, “Six Sisters in Happy Reunion” from Friday, June 26, 1964, which included a photograph of the first time all six sisters had been together in 38 years. The caption contained the names of Edith and her five sisters whose married names I had not known. Holy smoke, the names and faces of my great grandfather Thomas Forbes’s (1854-1924) daughters!

     I thanked Connie profusely, and before I departed we exchanged phone numbers and email addresses.

     On the way out I asked her about the “Beware of Dog” sign on the fence. With a twinkle in her eyes she laughed, “Oh, we just put that there to keep strangers away.”

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The 1929 photograph of Edith Forbes and her husband Ernest F H Grothe was provided by Bernard A. Handler through the kind and generous acts of a true genealogy Samaritan known only as "Connie D."

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Copyright 2014, Bernard A. Handler

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Travel Tuesday (December 30, 2014) -- Ten Years After . . . English For Sure, But Not The English Blues-Rock Band.

On Christmas morning this year, a short piece on our local NPR radio station noted that it had been ten years since England awoke to a white Christmas. We had to smile as we were instantly transported back exactly one decade to our trip to Scotland and England.

In December 2004, our older son Jonathan was completing a little over a semester abroad at the University of Edinburgh. Molly, our son Christopher, and Molly's sister Kathy decided we would go over to visit him in Edinburgh for several days and then pack him up for a tour of England before we all flew home on New Year's Day 2005.  [See an earlier post about this trip here.]

After being shown around the city of Edinburgh by Jonathan -- including a behind the scenes private tour of Holyrood (the new Scottish Parliament where Jonathan had interned for an MP), we did a driving tour to the Highlands and Glasgow in the mini-van we had rented in London. And then it was off to the little village of Ditton Priors in south Shropshire, England. We had a cottage rental in Ditton Priors for the week of Christmas before we headed back to London for two days and our flight home on New Year's Day.

Our cottage in Ditton Priors to the right of our dark mini-van. The church yard wall is seen to the right and the Howard Arms pub is to the left with part of the red sign showing against the stone. 

The view out back of our cottage on a grey day just before Christmas Day 2004.

After enduring the mother of all traffic jams just after we crossed from Scotland into England, we had to adjust our plans, skip a stop at Hadrian's Wall, and crawl to an exit (which took us several hours) so we could meander our way south to our cottage.  We arrived at about 3:30 AM -- almost 12 hours later than expected!

From Ditton Priors and our cottage home-base we went on various adventures to Liverpool and The Beatles museum, to Iron Bridge (birthplace of the Industrial Revolution), to the city of Shrewsbury, and other destinations in the English countryside. Each evening we returned to our cottage in Ditton Priors, which sat directly across the village road from the Church of St. John the Baptist (which dated back to the 12th century) and the Howard Arms village pub, which we visited every night for some local chat, a few pints, and some local eats.

The Howard Arms Pub across from our cottage. The public entrance is the stone vestibule. 

On Christmas Eve Molly and I were the only ones who ventured across the road to join the locals in their Christmas Eve service and caroling. It was an odd experience with the carols since we recognized some lyrics, but the tune was completely different from the one we knew and sometimes vice versa. The locals were quite friendly and welcomed us to the service in the virtually unheated stone church. When we left for our cottage across the road after midnight, there were sporadic snowflakes, but nothing more. And then when we awoke Christmas morning . . . .

The view out our cottage window on Christmas morning 2004. 

Jonathan welcoming the snow Christmas morning 2004 in front of our cottage with the church in the background. 

Our cottage in Ditton Priors, Shropshire, England late on Christmas morning 2004.

A view across south Shropshire later Christmas morning 2004.

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All photographs by the author.

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Copyright 2014, John D. Tew

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Military Monday (December 29, 2014) -- WWII War Zone Bar Awards to Arnold G. Tew, Jr.

I posted on March 18, 2013 about my father's WWII service in the U.S. Merchant Marine. That post can be seen here. I mentioned in the previous post that my father served in all the recognized theaters of war during World War II and included a photograph of his service award medals and bars. Recently the original War Zone Bar award cards were discovered amongst some family records.  Those original cards are now shown above.

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Scan of the original award cards in the collection of the author.

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Copyright 2014, John D. Tew

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Saturday Serendipity (December 27, 2014)

The Prism was on a bit of an unannounced hiatus this week due to the Christmas holiday and the visit of our sons, daughter-in-law and our new granddaughter (who spent her first Christmas with us). This week there are only a very few recommendations for inclusion on your weekend reading list. 

1.  Holidays that are traditionally times for generations of family to come together are a good time to learn about efforts to encourage a sense of family history.  NEHGS brought two such items to our attention this week and both are worth a read. St. Louis Public Radio ran a piece about the Grannie Annie Family Story Celebration, which you can read about at the immediately preceding link. The Public Radio piece itself can be read and listened to here.   

2.  A creative and interesting assignment for high school journalism students was the subject of the second family history item brought to us this week by the NEHGS Weekly Genealogist newsletter. Students at H. Grady Spruce High School in East Dallas, Texas were assigned the task of interviewing family members and then turning the memories they discovered into news stories. Many of the students interviewed immigrant parents and grandparents and learned for the first time about family stories and history they never knew about. You can read more about this project here.    

3.  The Vault had a nice post this past week showing a collection of handmade Christmas cards sent home by soldiers in WWI. The cards were embroidered using silk floss.  Many of the soldiers made the cards during their downtime, but others are from local women in the France and Belgium who used the manufacture of the cards as a means of earning money while displaced from their homes during the war. Have a look at several of these colorful cards here.       

4.  The Legal Genealogist, Judy Russell, had an interesting post yesterday about the status of Christmas as a recognized, official, "legal" holiday in these United States. Have a read here.     

Happy New Year to all readers of The Prism, which turns two years old this New Years Eve!  

Nora -- At Peace With Grandma and Friends!

  
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Copyright 2014, John D. Tew

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Saturday Serendipity (December 20, 2014)

The following are a few recommendations for inclusion on your reading list this weekend. 

1.   The Weekly Genealogist of NEHGS points us to some big news for those of us with Irish roots. The National Library of Ireland will be placing 390,000 images of Catholic parish records online by the summer of 2015. You can read more about this development here. 

2.   Randy Seaver at Genea-Musings blog just posted with permission a colorful and easily followed family relationship chart published by Crestleaf.com. You can read here about the chart, see an example and get a link to where you can download and print your own copy. 

3.    A picture speaks louder than words. And in genealogy we love to have pictures if they are available. The Legal Genealogist has a wonderfully illustrated example of how the quality of available pictures matters and why, when it comes to quality, we should be willing to pay to get the best. Read and see here.    

4.  The National Genealogical Society (NGS) has announced a new course in its Continuing Genealogical Studies series. This one is about researching your Revolutionary War ancestors.  
The cost for members is only $45.00 ($70.00 for non-members). Read more about this series and the new course here.  

5.  Heather Rojo of the New Hamster blog, Nutfield Genealogy, posted her annual survey of weird Google search terms for her blog. Have a few laughs and head shakes by checking out her post here. 

6.  Curious about The Census and how it works? Wondering about the kind of questions some lucky people get asked on the 2014 American Community Survey? Well, wonder no more because Denise Levenick of The Family Curator blog is one of the lucky citizens to have received the 28-page survey booklet and the warning that she is required by law to complete the survey or risk being fined up to $5,000!  Denise spills the beans about the survey here and it is an interesting read!   

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Copyright 2014, John D. Tew

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Friday Fotos (December 19, 2014) -- A Little Detective Work On A Brother's Postcard To His Sister

Post Card showing the Carpenter family homestead at 551 High Street, Cumberland, Rhode Island (circa 1910)

Correspondence side of the Post Card

The home shown on the Post Card above is the Carpenter homestead at 551 High Street in Cumberland, Rhode Island. It depicts the home as it probably appeared in the decade from about 1900-1910 (for reasons explained below).

The Carpenter home was actually the homestead of the Miller/Millard family for several generations before Ruth Ann Miller married Samuel Carpenter in 1852. Sam and Ruth had three children: Samuel Eber Carpenter (1853 - 1929); Abby Laura Carpenter (1859 - 1929); and Nancy Bishop Carpenter (1864 - 1928).  Ruth Ann [Miller] Carpenter died in 1893 and Samuel died in 1904. The Carpenter/Miller home eventually passed to Sam and Ruth's son, Samuel Eber Carpenter.

Abby Laura Carpenter married John Harris Angell on December 30, 1884 and her sister Nancy later went to live with Abby and John Angell after their brother Samuel married Sarah Etta Freeman in June 1887.  The four generations of a Carpenter family homestead at 551 High Street ended when Samuel and Sarah's son Everett inherited the home in 1945 and Everett's three children grew to adulthood in the home.  The home and its surrounding property were sold by Everett's widow (my maternal grandmother, Ruth Eaton [Cooke] Carpenter) in 1962 or 1963. The property is now the site of a fire station and little league baseball field.

The Post Card is written by Samuel Eber Carpenter (my great grandfather) to Abby, the older of his two sisters, who he addresses as "Mrs. John H. Angell."  The Pawtucket cancellation stamp is not fully legible, but it does clearly indicate the Post Card was mailed from Pawtucket on

"Aug 11  4-30 P." The year is not at all clear, but some research makes it almost certain that the year is 1910. The rationale is as follows . . . 

The "19" in the date stamp is fairly clear, and so is the "0" as the fourth digit of the year.  It is the all- but-missing third digit that is the mystery -- until one notices the green, One Cent stamp depicting Benjamin Franklin in profile! A quick Google search reveals that this particular stamp was issued from 1908 - 1912 (see, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington-Franklin_Issues). The small scrap of the third digit of the year that is visible, is clearly a vertical piece at the top right of the digit space and does not appear to be part of a curved section such as would appear in say a "2" or "3"-- and the angle of this little vertical scrap matches the angle of what is clearly the "1" in the first digit of the year!  Only one year in the time period when the ONE CENT Ben Franklin stamp was issued ends in a zero -- 1910.  While it is possible someone might still have and use such stamps over an extended period of time after they were no longer issued, the scrap of the third digit in the year makes it extremely unlikely the year of the communication was 1920. And by 1930 -- the next year ending in a zero -- Abby, Mrs. John H. Angell, and Samuel himself, were both deceased and therefore brother Sam could not be writing a Post Card to sister Abby.

A transcription of Sam's correspondence with his sister Abby is as follows and indicates that Sam is wishing his sister were able to come home for a visit and stay a while. She and her husband were living in Ashton, Rhode Island, which was only about 3.5 to 4 miles away!

                                             I am spending

                                       my vacation here.

                                             The sun sets are

                                       beautiful and the 

                                       mornings are delightful.

                                             I wish you could

                                       come and stay a while.

                                                     Your affect. Bro.

                                                               Sam

UPDATE:

As reader Michael Stephens so correctly pointed out in his comment to the original post here, the Ben Franklin ONE CENT stamp was only produced between 1908 and 1912.  The Ben Franklin stamp in other denominations was produced until as late as January 1919. This means that the original statement in the post, "A quick Google search reveals that this particular stamp was issued from 1908 - 1922," was inaccurate and the analysis flowing from that inaccuracy was flawed; both have now been corrected. While the analysis has been updated from the original, the end result is that Michael's kind correction leads even more strongly to the same conclusion -- my great grandfather sent the Post Card to his sister Abby in August 1910. Thank you Michael!  

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Scan of the original Post Card in the collection of the author.

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Copyright 2014, John D. Tew

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Treasure Chest Thursday (December 18, 2014) -- Richard Carpenter Knight

[L to R] Everett Carpenter, Sarah Etta Carpenter, Richard Carpenter Knight, and Samuel Eber Carpenter (circa 1923-24)

I have written previously about my grand aunt Ruth Ann [Carpenter] Knight and her son, Richard Carpenter Knight (1920 - 1975), my 1st cousin 1 x removed (see, http://filiopietismprism.blogspot.com/2014/07/immortality-july-21-2014-ruth-ann.html). It is a sad story really, but one that was not all that unusual or rare in the days of births before the advent of the miracle antibiotics and modern surgical methods.

When Richard's mother died in the days following his birth, I am sure his father, Ira W. Knight, was devastated by the sudden loss of his young wife and being left alone with a newborn son. I do not know the circumstances of Ira's parents at the time, but Ruth Ann's parents (Richard's maternal grandparents) stepped in to take care of little Richard and he lived with his grandparents and his Uncle Everett (my maternal grandfather) for the first several years of his life. Richard lived with the Carpenters at 551 High Street in Cumberland on their small "farmette" of a few acres with its barn, gardens, trees, open fields and access to a babbling brook. It must have been a wonderful time for a little boy while it lasted. Richard's father, Ira, married Christina Arnold (1898 - 1970) on June 11, 1925 when Richard was almost five years old. Richard went to live with his father and stepmother shortly after they returned from their honeymoon to Bermuda on June 29, 1925. 

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Scan of the original snapshot in the collection of the author.

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Copyright 2014, John D. Tew

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Saturday Serendipity (December 13, 2014)

The following are a few recommendations for inclusion on your reading list this weekend. 

1.  The Weekly Genealogist of NEHGS noted a sometimes humorous and definitely thought-provoking essay on family heirlooms when there are no heirs to leave them to. You can read the essay here.   

2.  While I do not see a likelihood that it will help me in my genealogy research any time soon, James Tanner of Genealogy's Star blog, passed on the information that Google has just added ten new languages to its Google Translate tool. Since a total of some 202 million people speak one of the ten new languages, some folks out there just might find one of these new added languages of use in their genealogy research -- and if not one these ten new additions, then one of the 80 or so others could be useful. Don't forget the possible use of Google Translate in your research.    

3.  Anyone can quote the Bible at length and not have to worry about copyright infringement, right? Well, not so fast. The answer will surprise many and The Legal Genealogist, Judy Russell, does her usual great job of explaining. Have a read here.        

4.  As we near Christmas Day, Heather Rojo of Nutfield Genealogy blog provides an interesting post on the Scots-Irish celebration of Christmas. You can read the post here and find some further reading links to boot. 

5.  And speaking of The Weekly Genealogist newsletter of NEHGS (often a source of recommended reads here on Saturday Serendipity), Janine Adams of Organize Your Family History blog mentions her use of The Weekly Genealogist and other FREE genealogy newsletters. Read Janine's post and get her personal list of free newsletters here. 

6.  UpFront With NGS brought us the news that Ancestry.com and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have collaborated on a new textbook on using family history as a means of teaching history. Read the post here where you can also get a link to a PDF download of the textbook.

7.  What about accuracy and faithfulness in genealogy and historical research? Harold Henderson of Midwestern Microhistory blog, has a very short but thoughtful post about leaving out or even changing part of the historical record due to personal sensitivities or beliefs. It is worth the quick read here.     

8.  And finally, Barbara Poole, who I now dub the "Ambassador of Lowell," continues her wonderful photo tour of the Land of Lowell at Life From The Roots blog.  You can see #15 in the series here and then follow earlier installments in Barbara's "Lowell Series" by going to that label in her Labels list.     
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Copyright 2014, John D. Tew

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Friday Fotos (December 12, 2014) -- Aftermath of the 1938 Hurricane

551 High Street, Cumberland, Rhode Island.  Home of Everett and Ruth Carpenter.

One of the most devastating storms to hit the northeast United States was the September 21, 1938 hurricane.  My father was 16 years old and living in Woonsocket, Rhode Island the day it arrived almost without warning.  He remembers well running around the neighborhood with a hastily donned leather football helmet looking for his missing younger brother -- who was discovered playing in a friend's cellar completely oblivious to the storm raging outside.  

Recently, a cache of snapshots taken at my maternal grandparents' home in Cumberland, Rhode Island was rediscovered among boxes of family photographs. Several of them were taken in the aftermath of the 1938 hurricane and they are shown below.

The family home is shown above sometime prior to 1938. The low extension at the back of the home is where the kitchen was and you can see a tall chimney rising above the kitchen roof. During the storm, that chimney came down as shown in one of the snapshots below and my grandmother was in the kitchen when it happened -- but she was unharmed. As the snapshot below depicts, the kitchen roof was able to support the fallen chimney and prevented it from coming through into the kitchen.

As the snapshots show, many trees were lost as was a section of the barn and one of the outbuildings.

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Scans of original snapshots in the collection of the author.

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Copyright 2014, John D. Tew

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Wordless Wednesday (December 10, 2014) -- Ruth Ann Carpenter And Her Horse "Jerry"

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Scan of an original photo in the collection of the author.  Ruth Ann Carpenter (1889 - 1920), sister of the author's maternal grandfather (Everett S. Carpenter) with her horse "Jerry" in front of the barn at 551 High Street, Cumberland, Rhode Island.

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Copyright 2014, John D. Tew

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Military Monday (December 8, 2014) -- A World War II Naval Reserve Commission

As I have mentioned elsewhere on The Prism, my father is a 1944 graduate of Kings Point, the United States Merchant Marine Academy (USMMA) in Great Neck, New York. The site of the Academy is the former 12-acre estate of Walter Chrysler named "Forker House." 

Kings Point was dedicated on September 30, 1943 by FDR, who stated, "the Academy serves the Merchant Marine as West Point serves the Army and Annapolis the Navy."  From 1942 - 1945, Kings Point graduated 6,895 officers.  During World War II, 1 in 26 merchant mariners were killed while implementing the greatest sealift in history.  This made the percentage of war-related deaths for merchant mariners higher than the percentage in all the other U.S. services -- but the mariner death rate was kept secret during the war so that the enemy would not know what success they were having in targeting supply ships AND so that the nation could continue to attract mariners into service.  

Merchant Marine midshipmen have served in every major conflict in which the U.S. has been involved since WWII and as a result the Kings Point regiment is entitled and privileged to display a regimental battle standard; the USMMA is the only Federal Service Academy granted the right to do so. 

In addition to his service in the Merchant Marine in all the WWII theaters of war, my father held a commission in the Naval Reserve (as shown above).  He was later a LTJG in the Reserve.  

There has always been a special relationship between the USMMA and the U.S. Navy. The Navy has an interest in manning a viable merchant marine that can work in close cooperation with the Navy both in peacetime and while at war.  USMMA graduates have historically served as active duty naval officers in emergencies or during general mobilizations and as a result, the Navy has long maintained a Department of Naval Science at Kings Point staffed by active duty Navy officers.

These days, any applicant to the USMMA also applies for an appointment to the U.S. Navy Reserve -- or any other Reserve of National Guard unit of the armed forces -- and agrees to accept any tendered appointment for at least 8 years following graduation from Kings Point.

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Scan of the original commission in the collection of the author.

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Copyright 2014, John D. Tew

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Saturday Serendipity (December 6, 2014)

The following are a few recommendations for inclusion on your reading list this weekend. 

1.  If you are looking for a very clever and meaningful genealogy-related holiday gift idea, look no further than Diane Boumenot's post, A Quick Gift for Mom and Dad.  Diane uses photos of her parents' homes over the years, but there are probably numerous ideas you can envision using family photographs you have collected.      

2.  Saturday Serendipity previously mentioned articles about the discovery of the remains of King Richard III under a parking lot in England. Now hundreds of years later the modern miracle of DNA research and analysis brings us the news that Richard's DNA matches that of living maternal relatives, BUT it does not match the genetic data passed down on the male side. What does this mean? It means that there was quite probably female infidelity or "cuckholding" in Richard's genealogy. Shocking!  ;-) You can read more here. And then go read Judy Russell's recent post on this bit of news at The Legal Genealogist.    

3.  I was told by a cousin a few years ago that a family member in the first half of the last century walked from his home in RI across the CT border to see his daughter and his new grandson.  He was said to have remarked, "Now I can die happy because I have a grandson and there is a Democrat in the White House."  It is rare that we can know the political affiliation or leanings of long departed ancestors and relatives, right? Well, maybe not as a piece by Christopher Carter Lee at Vita Brevis informs us.       

4.  Vita Brevis also brought us an interesting and very useful piece on historic occupations and their more recognizable modern names or equivalents. Have a look at the piece by Zachary Garceau here and learn about cordwainers, housewrights, vulcans, hog reeves, and laggers . . . oh my!

5.  If you have Scottish background in your genealogy and have come across words in Gaelic in your research that have left you scratching your head, there is a new on-line tool that could offer you some assistance. The Digital Archive of Scottish Gaelic (DASG) is now available after eight years of research at the University of Glasgow. At present there are almost 10 million Gaelic words in the collection, but it could grow to as many as 30 million before the project is completed.  You can learn more here.  [Unless you read Gaelic, be sure to click the English link in the upper right corner!] 

6.  Have you signed the "Declaration of the Rights of Genealogists?"  Read the Declaration and more here. 4,000 signatures have been obtained so far and the goal is to get to 10,000 by January 2015 when the next round of state and federal legislative sessions will begin.  Have you signed yet?? You can do so HERE. I just did.

7.  If you have New England connections in your genealogy, then Heather Rojo at Nutfield Genealogy has some holiday gift ideas for you or for you to give to the genealogists in your family -- a great list of books for New England genealogists.  See Heather's helpful post here.  

8.  And finally, since this week has a couple of posts about holiday gift ideas, I want to mention a site that I look at regularly in the hope I am going to find an item that connects to an ancestor or relative.  No luck so far, but I keep looking and suggest you might want to stop by too and see if you can find an ancestor's autograph in an autograph book, or a photo in a lost photo album, etc.  Imagine the  gift such a find could make. I am talking about Pam Beveridge's blog, Heirlooms Reunited.  Have a look -- and good hunting!
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Copyright 2014, John D. Tew

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Friday Fotos (December 5, 2014) -- One Couple Among Six in May 1921

I have posted here previously about a co-ed group of friends in 1921 who called themselves "The Crowd."  [See the post of September 26, 2014 here at The Prism.]  The Crowd enjoyed beach outings together and in May 1921 they spent time at Peases Point in Mattapoisett, Massachusetts. 

As the photograph above shows, there were six couples in The Crowd during one trip to Mattapoisett and among them was a couple that later married and became my maternal grandparents -- Ruth E. Cooke and Everett S. Carpenter. They are the second couple from the left in the photograph. Sadly, the other couples remain unidentified and thus unknown.

The couples photograph and the two shown below are among a collection of recently rediscovered family photographs and they depict the earliest idyllic days when my grandparents must have been falling in love. Seven years shy of a century later, they are a treasure to behold!  

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Scan of original photographs in the family collection.

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Copyright 2014, John D. Tew

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