Immortality (March 27, 2020) -- Sarah Etta (Freeman) Carpenter

Today's post reprises a post first published on March 24, 2014 (with slight modification to reflect the correct anniversry date).

"Immortality Lies in Being Remembered by Family and Friends." -- John D. Tew 

Sarah Etta (Freeman) Carpenter [1858 - 1945]

Today is the 162nd anniversary of the birth of my great grandmother, Sarah Etta Freeman. Sarah married my great grandfather, Samuel Eber Carpenter, on June 15, 1887 when she was 29 years old. Sarah's first granddaughter (my mother) was born on March 28th, the day after Sarah turned 69.

Sarah Etta Freeman was born on March 27, 1858 in East Douglas, Massachusetts to Mason Freeman (1820 - 1898) and his wife, Martha Amanda Shearman (1830 - 1870). Sarah was the third of five children born to Mason and Martha Freeman: Ellen Frances born 1852; Edward Mason born 1854; Sarah Etta born 1858; Caleb Everett born 1862; and Otis Mason born 1868.  By the time Sarah turned 17 her family had moved to Lincoln, Rhode Island and it was while living there that Sarah met Samuel Eber Carpenter.

Sarah had some hard experiences in her life.  Her mother died when Sarah was only 12 years old. Sam and Sarah had two children -- my maternal grandfather, Everett Shearman Carpenter (1891 - 1962), and his older sister, Ruth Ann Carpenter (1889 - 1920). Ruth Ann died at age 31 just twelve days after giving birth to her only child, Richard Carpenter Knight (the first of Sarah's four grandchildren).

Sarah is especially intriguing to me because she is the first ancestor where I have actual documentation to show that she had an active interest in genealogy. Sarah wrote letters to town clerks and other officials seeking proof of her ancestors' births, deaths, and life experiences -- particularly with regard to military service. She was successful in some respects because she was able to obtain C.A.R. membership for both of her children in 1905. [See the post of July 3, 2013 here on The Prism.]

Today I raise a glass in memory of my great grandmother, Sarah Etta (Freeman) Carpenter!

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Photographs from the personal collection of the author.
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Copyright 2020, John D. Tew
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Immortality -- Arnold G. Tew, Sr. (February 28, 2020)

Today I post a reprise of a post first published seven years ago today in honor and memory of my paternal grandfather.

"Immortality Lies in Being Remembered by Family and Friends."

                                                                                                                                                                -- John D. Tew

Arnold George Tew (1896 - 1958)

My paternal grandfather was born on October 15, 1896 in Central Falls, Rhode Island.  He died suddenly and unexpectedly on this day 55 years ago in Berlin, Connecticut while on a business trip.  He was the only one of the four sons of John Andrew Tew and Margaret "Maggie" (Conner) Tew to survive beyond age two.  Arnold was married to Huldah A. Hasselbaum of Providence, Rhode Island and together they had three children.  Arnold is the grandfather of ten grandchildren, the great grandfather of sixteen great grandchildren and the great great grandfather of at least seven great great grandchildren with more surely to come.

He has been gone from us for sixty-two years now, but he is not forgotten!

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All photographs from the collection of the author.

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Copyright 2013, John D. Tew

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Immortality (December 15, 2017) -- John Andrew Tew II

John Andrew Tew II (1945)

"Immortality Lies in Being Remembered by Family and Friends." -- John D. Tew

My parents are each the eldest child of their respective nuclear families and I am the eldest of their four children as well as the eldest of my generation. When I was born, I was named John David Tew after the brothers of my parents. My mother's brother, David Otis Carpenter, died on May 9, 2005. Today I returned from attending the funeral of my father's brother, John Andrew Tew II. 

My Uncle John was born on October 22, 1926 in Woonsocket, Rhode Island. He was the second of the three children of Arnold G. Tew, Sr. and his wife, Huldah A. [Hasselbaum] Tew.

John Andrew Tew II (1927)

John Andrew Tew at left holding his dog "Blacky" and
my father holding their sister Priscilla

John grew up in Rhode Island and when WWII broke out he joined the Navy before he completed high school. After his service he attended and graduated from Cushing Academy in Ashburnham, Massachusetts as a member of the Class of 1948.

Seaman John Andrew Tew with his older brother Arnold G. Tew, Jr.
and their sister Priscilla E. Tew (1944)

John served aboard the cargo ship U.S.S. Cybele (AKZ-10) during WWII. He was first received on board April 16, 1945 as a S1c (Seaman 1st Class) and the Muster Rolls show he served on Cybele until at least June 1946.  The U.S.S. Cybele was originally built by Delta Shipping Company in New Orleans and it was launched as the SS William Hackett under a Merchant Marine Commission on October 9, 1944.  It was later transferred to the Navy on November 14, 1944 and underwent some conversion construction at Tampa Shipbuilding Co. in Tampa, Florida.  On April 16, 1945 the ship was commissioned in full as a Navy ship under the command of CDR J.H. Church, USNR. This made my Uncle John a "plank owner" by virtue of being among the first crew after the ship was fully commissioned in the Navy fleet. 

U.S.S. Cybele October 1, 1945 Muster Roll 

U.S.S. Cybele

While John was serving onboard, Cybele departed Galveston, Texas on May 15, 1945, and then loaded general stores at Bayonne, New Jersey, before sailing on June 4^th for Pearl Harbor, where she arrived on June 30.  She cleared on July 31 for San Pedro Bay, Philippines where she issued stores to ships until August 21, 1945. Cybele then arrived in Tokyo Bay on August 31, 1945. Cybele provided stores for ships engaged in the occupation of Japan until October 12^th when she sailed to Samar to load cargo for Tsingtao, China. Between December 4, 1945 and January 15, 1946, Cybele issued general stores at various Japanese ports. After reloading at Saipan, she issued cargo to support the occupation troops at Tsingtao and Taku, China, and Jinsen in Korea until April 15, 1946 when she sailed to San Francisco, California, arriving on the 22^nd of May. Cybele was finally decommissioned on August 22, 1946 at Pearl Harbor and, after being towed back to San Francisco, was transferred back to the Maritime Commission for disposal April 24, 1947. Cybele was ultimately scrapped in April 1965. 
   

Gen. Douglas MacArthur signing the Japanese surrender papers (September 2, 1945)

The battleship U.S.S Missouri (“Big Mo” or “Mighty Mo”) had a long history and since 1998 she has been a museum ship at Pearl Harbor. Her place in history is probably most preserved as the location where the surrender of Japan was signed in Tokyo Bay.  The Missouri entered Tokyo Bay on August 29, 1945.  Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz and General of the Army Douglas MacArther boarded the Missouri and on September 2, 1945 the unconditional surrender of Japan was signed on the deck of Missouri. As indicated by the operations history of the U.S.S. Cybele above, John was present in Tokyo Bay when the surrender was being signed and when WWII officially came to a long-awaited end! 

When my uncle returned home from the war he completed his education, married and had four children -- two daughters and two sons. He began his ultimate career when he joined S.S. Kresge, one of the largest discount retail store chains in the U.S. during the 20th Century. Kresge stores were the foreunners of what became Kmart in 1977 and eventually, in 2005, Sears Holdings Corporation (parent of both Kmart and Sears) after Kmart bought Sears. John worked his way up within Kresge/Kmart at stores in New England and New Jersey and also at locations in Indiana and Pennsylvania. He retired from Kmart. 

John Andrew Tew II at right with his brother Arnold and sister Priscilla (2008)

My Uncle John died at age 91 on December 8, 2017 -- 76 years and one day after the attack on Pearl Harbor that resulted in his enlistment in the Navy and his service in WWII. He was interred yesterday afternoon at Washington Crossing National Cemetery in Newtown, Pennsylvania. 

REST IN PEACE UNCLE JOHN!

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Photos of USS Cybele and of the surrender aboard USS Missouri from U.S. Government photogrphers and thus in the public domain.

John A. Tew's class portrait and biography from the Cushing Academy yearbook, the Penquin 1948.

All other photos in the personal collection of the author.

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Copyright 2017, John D. Tew

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Rememberance Days (November 10 and 11, 2017)

"Immortality Lies in Being Remembered by Family and Friends." -- John D. Tew

Doreen E. Jeffs in Canadian Army uniform (1945)

Tomorrow is Rememberance Day in Canada and Veterans Day in the United States.  Both days commemorate the sacrifice of those who fought, died, and othewise served in conflicts and wars -- especially World War I and World War II.

In Canada, Rememberance Day is often marked by people wearing artificial poppies in the days leading up to November 11th.  Red poppies are worn in memory of those who died, while white poppies are worn for those who served in non-militry interventions in conflict situations.  Special church services are held on November 11th that often include a reading of the fourth verse of the "Ode of Rememberance" by Laurence Binyon [1] and a playing of "The Last Post."  Two minutes of silence begin at 11:00 and, following the service, wreaths are laid at local war memorials.  The official Canadian national ceremonies are held at the National War Memorial in Ottawa, Ontario. 

I thought of Remembrance Day in Canada today and especially about a photograph of my mother-in-law, Doreen Elizabeth O'Kane, nee Jeffs, in her Canadian Army uniform circa 1945.  The photograph is shown above.

I thought of this photograph and of Doreen because today is a day of remembrance.  Today would have been Doreen's 97th birthday.  She died peacefully in her sleep on September 24th.  She is not forgotten. We remember her.
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[1]  The fourth verse is .  .  . "They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
                                            Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
                                            At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
                                            We will remember them."

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Copyright 2017, John D. Tew

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Doreen Elizabeth [Jeffs] O'Kane

Doreen Elizabeth Jeffs -- college graduation portrait (circa 1942)

"Immortality Lies in Being Remembered by Family and Friends." -- John D. Tew 

I have never understood the jokes about mothers-in-law. 

Doreen O'Kane is my wife Molly's mother.  I have known her since I was in high school.  For more than 41 years she has been my mother-in-law and the relationship has always been like having a second mother. If choosing one's mother-in-law were an option, Doreen is just the kind of woman I  would have chosen. I have never in all the years I have known her had cause to think otherwise. 

In the pre-dawn hours this morning, Molly received a phone call that woke us up while we were visiting my sister and her husband in New Hope, PA.  Doreen's 97th birthday was coming up on November 10th, but early this morning she passed away peacefully in her sleep at the retirement community near our home in Virginia where she has lived since 2002. Being in her mid-nineties, we knew that this day was probably not far off, but when the actuality of the loss registered during our long trip home it still did not seem real. 

I have always thought and often voiced the opinion that dying peacefully while sleeping was a reward for a life well led -- and so I was happy for Doreen to have passed without pain, or fear, or loss of dignity. Just a few short weeks ago, Doreen was surrounded by the "girls" in her life when visited by her two daughters and her two great granddaughters.  Her two grandsons and granddaughter-in-law were also there for a nice visit, a leisurely walk outside on a beautifully warm, sunny day, and an al fresco balcony lunch.  Life was all around and she enjoyed the day with her family.

Doreen with all her "girls" (August 2017)

Doreen with her daughters, grandsons, great granddaughters, granddaughter-in-law, and son-in-law (August 2017) 

Doreen was born in November 1920 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. She graduated from Queens University in Kingston, Ontario and later attended graduate school at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York where she studied biology. She met a fellow graduate student there named Daniel J. O'Kane, Jr. and they were married in Toronto on December 28, 1946. Dan and Doreen had three children: Patrick, Kathy, and Molly. She was the grandmother of two grandsons -- Jonathan and Christopher -- and two great granddaughters, Nora who will be three in November (one week to the day before Doreen's birthday) and Marigold who just turned four months old two days ago. 

Immortality lies in being remembered by family and friends and so it is true that Doreen is not really gone, she is still with us -- and that will not end. Today we choose to celebrate and recall moments in a long and successful life well led .  .  . Doreen as as loved daughter, an independent woman, a loved and loving wife, a mother of three, a grandmother of two grandsons, and a great grandmother of two little girls.

Doreen circa 1921

Doreen as a toddler

Doreen in high school

Doreen in Canadian uniform (circa 1943)

Doreen and Daniel O'Kane as newlyweds (Dec. 28, 1946)

Doreen's children -- Kathy, Patrick & Molly (1950s)

Doreen with her parents, Doug and Eulalie Jeffs (August 21, 1976)

Doreen's grandsons -- Jonathan & Christopher (1980s)

Doreen's great granddaughters, Nora & Marigold (May 2017)

Doreen (circa 2009)

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All photos in the collection of the author

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Copyright 2017, John D. Tew

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Immortality (January 3, 2017) -- Huldah Antonia [Hasselbaum] Tew

"Immortality Lies in Being Remembered by Family and Friends." -- John D. Tew 

My paternal grandmother was born Huldah Antonia Hasselbaum on July 16, 1898 in Providence, Rhode Island. She was a twin to her sister, Josephine Hasselbaum.  Both my grandmother and her sister Josephine are shown above with their mother, Maria Johanna [Richter] Hasselbaum, in a photograph taken in 1902 when the girls were four years old.  My grandmother, Huldah, is the one with the pronounced curly hair to the right of her mother as one looks at the photograph. Josephine is to the left. 

Huldah and her sister (as well as all their siblings) were first generation American.  Both of their parents came to the United States from Germany in the 1880s. Although the parents were thoroughly German, all the children were born in Providence and they were neither encourage to learn nor speak German; consequently while my grandmother could not speak to either of her parents in their native tongue, my grandfather, who took German in school at Phillips Andover, is said to have carried on lively conversations with his mother-in-law in the kitchen entirely in German (which pleased her I am sure).

My grandmother's father, Anton Hasselbaum, immigrated to the U.S. in 1884 and her mother, Maria Johanna Richter, immigrated in 1882. Anton was a very successful businessman in Providence and had his own liquor and bottling business. Anton died in 1916 and so he never experienced the devastation to his business and livelihood that Prohibition would have brought a mere fours years later. But he was able to provide nicely for his family and they grew up with all the advantages of a solid, affluent, middle-class family. When he died, he left his widow a large family house and one or two rental properties too.  Judging from the fashionable clothing my grandmother wore during her youth and young adulthood, and the beach vacations she enjoyed at Newport and at Horse Neck Beach in Westport, Massachusetts in the early part of the last century before she married, she led what must have been considered a very comfortable if not overly privileged life (as photos below will show).  

Photo and explanatory caption from The Evening Bulletin, Providence, RI (Tuesday, July 5, 1932)

Expanded view of the explanatory caption to the above photograph

My grandmother had four siblings in addition to her twin sister.  Three were older than she and her twin sister and one was younger. All were born in Providence.

The six children of Anton and Marie Johanna Hasselbaum.

Among a few of the peculiarities my grandmother possessed (as all of us do), was her penchant for writing across the face of family photographs and for referring to herself later in life as "Mother Tew."  As the photographs illustrate below, the captions she provided have been very helpful for placing people in place and time, but one wishes she would have done so on the reverse side of the photos.

Huldah Hasselbaum posing by the house she grew up in. Her niece, Dorothy Henry,
daughter of her older sister, Mary [Hasselbaum] Henry, is seen in the window

Huldah A. Hasselbaum in Vermont in 1920 before her engagement

In 1920, Huldah became engaged to my grandfather, Arnold G. Tew. They were married on July 16, 1921 at the Baptist Church on Broad Street in Providence.  In November 1922 the first of their three children (my father) was born.

My grandmother's engagement portrait (1920)

My grandparents (center) on their wedding day 

Huldah Tew on her wedding day. [For an explanation about the dark wedding attire,
see my previous post here. 

Huldah during the honeymoon at Grand Lake, Maine

Huldah [Hasselbaum] Tew with her first born child (my father) in 1923

Huldah Tew at age 40 (1938).

Huldah Tew at about age 40 (date unknown)

Huldah Tew with her husband and three adult children (April 1955)

Huldah Tew with her family (Christmas 1956). [That's me in my much cherished Davy Crockett suit]

My grandmother and grandfather in 1957 back at Grand Lake, Maine where they honeymooned in 1921. 

My grandmother lived to age 84 and she was able to see know all ten of her grandchildren. She died 34 years ago this day on January 3, 1983.  Gone but not forgotten!

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Photographs from the personal collection of the author.  Thanks to my Aunt Priscilla, my Uncle John, my cousin Bruce Marquardt, and others who have contributed to my collection over the years!
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Copyright 2017,  John D. Tew

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