A Genealogy Artifact for Others -- The Atlantic Division Little League Tournament, August 12 - 15, 1964 in Concord, New Hampshire

When you are a card-carding member of the fictitious International Order of Packrats (IOOP), you never know what you might find when it is time to do some long-delayed spring cleaning. And so it was that -- procrastinate as I might -- when spring arrived on March 20th this year I just stared at some boxes of "stuff" that my father shifted back to me years (and admittedly maybe more than a decade) ago when my parents sold the home they had lived in for more than 30 years and had to empty their attic.

Finally, just before March turns to April I could stare no longer and sat down to sift through the boxes and make those impossibly hard decisions about what was a genealogy treasure and what was really just accumulated "stuff." Of course the ever patient Molly (who is not a card carrying member of IOOP because she has not quite reached the level of accumulation needed for membership) would have had no problem deciding for me and the whole process would have been over in less than the time it took to bag it all up for the trash; whereas for me it took literally hours to go through two small boxes a little larger than a shoe box. But what treasures there were to mull over, to generate memories, and to place in the "Definitely Keep" pile!

Above is Exhibit A from August 1964. It is the front and back pages of the program for the 1964 Atlantic Division Little League Tournament held in Concord, New Hampshire -- where my family was living at the time.

Neither I nor any member of my family is mentioned in the program, but as will be shown below, the program does list the individual players on the competing teams from: Smithfield, Rhode Island; Waterville, Maine; Laconia, New Hampshire; Vermont; and Puerto Rico. In addition, the sponsors, patrons, and local advertisers are also listed along with the Director, Deputy Director, and Chairman of the tournament.

Among the twenty-nine listed sponsors of the tournament is Sears, Roebuck & Co. My father was at the time the Assistant Manager of the Sears store in Concord and usually handled requests for such donations or sponsorships on the part of the local Sears store. I honestly have no recollection of attending the tournament, but it is quite likely that my father and I and perhaps the older of my younger brothers did attend as an extended part of Sears's sponsorship. [My Little League participation began and ended in Concord, but that is an entirely different story.] 

Another reason I might have this program is that I believe the tournament Chairman, John Fraser, was a neighbor who lived two houses down from us on Essex Street Extension in Concord -- and so he might have enlisted boys from the neighborhood to attend.

So why did I place this old, stained, 53-year-old, 10c program in the Definitely Keep pile if the connection was so tenuous for me or anyone in my family?? It was for three reasons: (1) It brought back some memories of Concord for me; (2) It preserves the names of people, local businesses, and local advertisers who acted as officials, sponsors, or patrons for the tournament . . . and many of them might no longer be around; and (3) It states the names of all the individual players on the competing teams who surely must remember this event as one of the highlights of their young lives! It is not very likely that many of these 10c programs exist anymore. It is even possible that this could be the only one. So while this might not rise to the level of "genealogy gem" for me personally, it could be just that for some of these players now in their mid to late 60s. It could also be just that for those connected to the many local businesses mentioned that might have passed out of existence or passed down to family members. And it might for similar reasons be a minor "historical nugget" for the business history of Concord, NH in the early part of the 1960s.

How many items like this get tossed out without any thought to what they could mean to others? The memories things like this could restore to others is worth the honored place in the Definitely Keep pile -- even if it is only for so long as it can be shared here to perhaps bring some joy to others. [But shhh, don't tell Molly. It has already graduated and found its way into one of the permanent (?) genealogy artifact boxes!]   😀

So, for all those boys of summer who so long ago earned their way onto one of the five 1964 Atlantic Division Little League Championship Teams, here are your names and one of your moments of glory preserved on a 53-year-old 10c program. Show it to your children and grandchildren and regale them with some stories to prove you were once a boy and enjoyed baseball so much you earned your way onto one of five teams to compete for the Little League Atlantic Division championship in Concord, New Hampshire during a few August days more than half a century ago!

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Scan from an original program in the Definitely Keep/genealogy artifact collection of the author.

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Copyright 2017, John D. Tew

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Saturday Serendipity (March 25, 2017)

Since I was in Newport, Rhode Island and a few other Rhode Island and Massachusetts locations doing some genealogy research and photography, Saturday Serendipity was on a brief hiatus the last couple of weeks. During my sojourn north, I finally had a chance to attend my first RIGS (Rhode Island Genealogical Society) meeting. The meeting was held in the North Kingstown Library and the first speaker was Rhode Island blogger extraordinaire, Diane MacLean Boumenot. I have corresponded periodically with Diane for a few years now and often recommend reading her always informative and well-written blog posts -- but I had never met Diane until last Saturday. Diane did a wonderfully informative and illustrated presentation on how to produce genealogy-related books at an extremely reasonable price.  If you ever have a chance to see a reprise of her presentation, make sure you do so!  

And with that recommendation, Saturday Serendipity returns this week with the following recommended reads . . . 

1.  As we all know, the foods we are exposed to and learn to either enjoy or dislike are heavily influenced by our ancestors. Foods and recipes favored by our grandparents and great grandparents have a way of being passed down the generations and so food is also an interesting subject for enhancement of family history and genealogy. In the case of our family, a favorite dessert is "Sailor's Duff" that my wife's great grandmother, grandmother and mother made on occasion and often by special request.  Our sons are now both great fans.  The dessert and the family recipe are now being enjoyed by a fifth generation. And, UpFront with NGS blog recently addressed the subject of food, family recipes, genealogy cookbooks.  Read about it here and get some links to pursue the subject further.          

2.  Heather Rojo of Nutfield Genealogy blog posted a thought-provoking piece recently about what she calls genealogy "close calls." We probably all have them and it is simply a matter of whether we know of them or they are simply yet to be discovered. Learn about "close calls" here and see if you have any you can identify in your genealogy -- or perhaps begin to be on the lookout for them as your research continues.     

3.  It is amazing how the advent and advancement of scientific DNA analysis has solved or made significant progress on questions of history, anthropology, and genealogy. A recent article that was highlighted by NEHGS in The Weekly Genealogist explains how DNA analysis has helped solve the mystery of how and when humans first came to Australia. You can read the article here.      

4.  And, speaking of NEHGS and The Weekly Genealogist, for those who are members or otherwise have access to the NEHGS databases, it was recently announced that the Vital Records collections for Londonderry, NH and Plaistow, NH have been updated and are now searchable by first name, last name, record type, year, and parents' and spouses' names. You can learn more about these changes by going to the Database Blog here.  Two other interesting articles were highlighted by The Weekly Genealogist this week.  Read here about a USAF veteran who was shot down in his F-105 fighter jet over North Vietnam in 1965.  He was rescued, but his helmet and other gear were found and taken by enemy soldiers. Fifty years later he and his helmet were reunited. . .  read how here. Then there is the story about a photographic quality portrait of a man who died over 700 years ago. You really need to have a look here and read about how this amazing depiction was created.                 

5. UpFront With NGS provides information and a link to a collection of 170,000 photographs from 1935 to 1945 created by the U.S. Farm Security Administration and Office of War Information (FSA-OWA). The photos depict life in the US during the Great Depression and WWII. Who knows what you might find in the collection? If you don't find photos of ancestors or relatives or their homes and farms, you might find photos that would help illustrate your genealogies (with the requisite permission if applicable, of course). See the post here.  

6. For those of you who choose to use Ancestry DNA, you really should read Judy Russell's March 21st post about the updated Ancestry DNA consent form for voluntary participation in research studies. You can read it a The Legal Genealogist here. 

7.  James Tanner once again provides food for thought in his recent post "What is a genealogically significant document?? Read his post on Genealogy's Star blog here. 

8.  Planning to visit a library to do some genealogy research? Won't you just hate it if the library is some distance from your home and you arrive to find it is closed the day you arrive or that it closed just minutes before you arrived? Amy Johnson Crow has a very useful post to help you avoid this and other frustrations when heading to a library for your genealogy research. Read "6 Ways to Have a Better Library Visit" here.   
    
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Copyright 2017, John D. Tew

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History, Genealogy, and Ice Harvesting

History and Genealogy are conjoined twins, and like all such twins, while they are intimately connected, they each eventually and inevitably develop different perspectives and interests. One has perhaps a broader vision and more desire for external adventures and the other maybe has vision focused in a more limited direction and is content with internal, parochial adventures.  And yet both are inexorably influenced and guided by the other without end.  As I have often thought and said, genealogy is history on the most immediate and personal level, while history writ large is much broader in societal and temporal scope.

Broader history often informs our more personal and focused genealogy endeavors and so I have yet to meet anyone who indulges in Genealogy as a hobby or profession who is not also a devoted student of History. 

And it is with this intimate conjunction of History and Genealogy that I from time-to-time set aside a post here at The Prism to recommend a history book that I think can offer interesting and important material for genealogists. This is one of those posts. 

As a follow up to a recent post about a trip north to the Adirondacks in upstate New York and the Winter Carnival of Saranac Lake, I want to recommend a very interesting and informative book by Caperton Tissot titled "Adirondack Ice a Cultural and Natural History." [1] 

It was not until just after the turn of the last century (in the life time of many of our grandparents) that refrigerators for home use were first invented. Fred W. Wolfe of Fort Wayne, Indiana is often credited as the first inventor in 1913. The early domestic refrigeration systems consisted of a refrigeration unit mounted on a so-called "cold box." These first home refrigeration units were a bit cumbersome and space intensive since most of them required the mechanical parts of the system (the motor and compressor) to be placed in an adjacent room or in the basement while the cold box was conveniently located in the kitchen. It was not until 1923 that the first self-contained home refrigerator unit was introduced by Kelvinator and by that year the company had 80% of the home market for electric refrigerators. But, it was not until 1927 (the year my mother was born) that GE introduced what they called the "Monitor-Top"[2] refrigerator; it became the first really widespread home refrigerator with over 1 million units sold. 

The General Electric "Monitor-Top"
 refrigerator of 1927.

A real downside to the Monitor-Top and similar home refrigeration units was the refrigerants that were used -- either methyl formate or sulfur dioxide. The former was highly flammable and toxic if inhaled or ingested, while the latter was very corrosive and could irritate the eyes and even cause a loss of vision or cause burns and lesions if it came in contact with the skin. It was only when Freon was introduced in the 1930s that a refrigerator with safer, less toxic refrigerant came to market. 

Before powered refrigerators were introduced to American kitchens, the common method of cooling and keeping food in the early 20th-century was a mechanical kitchen appliance known as an "icebox" or "cold closet." [I remember my maternal grandparents still having a beautiful oak ice box in their kitchen in the early 1950s and getting blocks of ice delivered for it.]

An icebox was constructed with walls lined in tin or zinc and packed with insulation made of materials such as cork, sawdust, seaweed, or straw. To provide the cooling, a large block of ice was placed in a compartment of the box or on a tray at the top of the box and then the cold air would circulate down and envelope the lower storage compartments. For less expensive icebox models the water created when the ice block melted would collect in a drip pan that was placed beneath the icebox and would have to be emptied almost every day. More luxurious models had a holding tank for the accumulated ice water and a spigot that could be more conveniently used to drain off the water. 

An oak icebox similar to the one owned by my maternal grandparents.

And with this brief background on refrigeration in American kitchens, we come full circle to Adirondack Ice and how History writ large can so nicely and interestingly inform personal Genealogy.

Iceboxes, of course, were completely dependent on large quantities of ice in order to bring refrigeration into American kitchens. So naturally an industry developed to provide this necessary commodity to American homes. Before the advent of powered refrigeration, it was certainly not feasible to provide the ice for iceboxes through artificial refrigeration and so the source had to be naturally formed ice. And where was the best source for natural, freshwater ice to be found in sufficient quantities? In the large ponds and lakes of the northern tier of American states of course! 

Beginning in the mid-19th century and well into the 1930s the industry known as "ice harvesting" thrived in the United States in order to provide the ice refrigerant necessary for all the iceboxes in kitchens across the country. The basic process involved cutting and retrieving large blocks of ice created naturally in frozen lakes and ponds and preserving them in large, thick-walled ice houses where the blocks were insulated with layers of plentiful sawdust or other materials until they could be transported to market. In the colder climes of the country .  .  .  farms, restaurants, markets, and resorts would construct and fill their own ice houses (or contract with ice harvesters to fill them). In the warmer more southerly states, the ice was transported and stored in ice houses closer to the cities and towns where the ice was needed. [I remember a large ice house up on "the Heights" in Concord, New Hampshire in the early 1960s where my family would get 12 to 18 inch square blocks of ice to use in ice chests for picnics, trips to the drive-in, etc.  The ice was in a building built part way underground with a heavy wooden door that opened into a cavernous, pitch black interior where the blocks of ice would be hauled from under layers of sawdust with tongs and then washed off with a hose before being dropped into our ice chest.] 

So for almost 100 years the natural ice harvesting industry provided a huge number of jobs for Americans from the actual harvesting, to the storage, mass transportation, and delivery of the ice into American homes. At one time the delivery of ice to homes by the "iceman" was as common as the delivery of milk by the milkman and it had all the same social importance. 

Many of us might actually have relatives or ancestors who made their living in whole or in part as integral links in the chain of the ice harvesting industry . . . and this is why I recommend Adirondack Ice as not only a very interesting and informative history, but also as a resource for informing and enhancing an understanding of what could well be a part of your family genealogy!

If you had ancestors or relatives that lived in the northernmost tier of states you might have some ice harvesters in your family tree.  In Adirondack Ice you can learn about the typical process and tools used to get naturally formed ice from frozen lakes. [The tools and terms in the process derive from farming terms and implements and many farmers turned to ice harvesting when their fields were under feet of snow during the intense northern winters.] You might have an iceman in the family who made ice deliveries to homes and restaurants. Or you might have a family member who operated an ice house to supply the iceman, or worked to transport the ice to ice houses from the northern harvesting points.  If any of these occupations are known amongst your ancestors or relatives (or you think they might be), then you really should pick up Adirondack Ice to learn more about this fascinating, but now long-gone industry.

Adirondack Ice is a brief history of the formation and forms of natural ice and a fact-filled, well illustrated explanation of the process of ice harvesting in the past and its limited preservation and uses today.  You can see photographs of the early harvesting process and the development of the tools and automation of the process.  You can see a photo of an ice house in New York that held 46,000 tons of harvested lake ice. Learn how in 1913 -- on the cusp of the powered refrigeration revolution -- 1,200 to 1,500 tons of Adirondack ice, in about fifty train boxcars a day, were shipped to the metropolitan areas of New York City. Learn more about northern ice sports, celebrations, animal strategies for living with ice, and, most of all, learn the importance of northern ice to the way of life of our ancestors and relatives!

Adirondack Ice provides an absorbing connection between History and Genealogy and you will not regret adding it to your reading list -- especially when the heat of summer arrives and you want a nice read while you relax with an ice-filled glass of your favorite drink. 😊      

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[1]  Caperton Tissot, Adirondack Ice a Cultural and Natural History (Saranac Lake, New York, Snowy Owl Press, 2010).

[2] Apparently the name "Monitor-Top" came from the resemblance the top unit had to the gun turret on the Civil War era ironclad, USS Monitor.  

The scanned image of the book cover is from this blog author's personal copy of the book.

The image of the GE Monitor-Top refrigerator is from the digital collection of Mike Manning and is used under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 license. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Monitor_refer.jpg

The image of an oak icebox similar to one used by my maternal grandparents is from Magi Media and is used under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 license. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Iceboxes.jpg

To learn more about the use of home refrigerators in the U.S. see, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refrigerator.  For more about "iceboxes" (or "cold closets") see, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icebox.

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Copyright 2017, John D. Tew

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