Friday Fotos (November 15, 2013) -- Memories of 50 Years Ago November 22nd

One week from today is the 50th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

In "Family History -- Memorializing Your Personal Experience of Big Events" here on The Prism, I wrote about the genealogical value of recording one's memories and experiences of big events that will surely be historical milestones our ancestors will read and learn about.  The assassination of President Kennedy was one such moment for me.

I was 11 years old in November 1963.  My family was living in Concord, NH and I was in the 6th grade at Kimball Elementary School (which, sadly, was torn down in 2011 to make room for a new school facility). 

Kimball Elementary School, Concord, NH (April 2010)

Kimball was built in 1905 - 1907 and was originally the Concord High School.  Later it was known as Rundlett Jr. High School (1927) and from 1957 on it served elementary level students.  The school was a wonderfully sturdy building of stone and brick with classrooms on each of the first two floors arranged around a central, open rectangular hallway.  The hallway was lined with wide oak chair rail and had large wrought-iron coat hooks where fall and winter coats were hung with boots and rubbers placed on the floor beneath them.  The classrooms had thick plaster walls and 13-foot ceilings.  In 1962 - 1964 students still used raise-top oak desks with attached seats and ink wells.

By the time I attended Kimball, each room was equipped with a brown loudspeaker box that was mounted up in one of the front corners of each classroom. It was to these corners that the attention of every student and teacher in the building was drawn in the early afternoon of November 22, 1963. 

It was after lunch on a Friday, but I cannot recall if I had gone home for lunch that day.  The school had a lunch room in the basement, but many kids walked home and back for lunch if they lived relatively close to the school.  I went home for lunch more often than not.  

The day as I recall it was fairly mild for late November in New Hampshire.  We had no snow on the ground and it was probably in the high 40s or low 50s temperature-wise.  Afternoon classes were underway, but I cannot recall whose classroom I was in when the loudspeaker crackled to life in what was a very unusual use of the speaker system during classes.  The Principal's voice came in with an afternoon announcement.  [At Kimball there were three classes of 6th graders in 1963 - 64 (Mr. Kopp's, Mrs. Johnson's and Mrs. White's).  We rotated among them as the teachers taught us different subjects.] 

The Principal's voice was subdued and serious.  As I recall it, the Principal was Miss Dearborn, but it might have been Mr. Sawyer (?) who replaced her just before the school year began or during the fall 1963 term.  What I do recall is the somber announcement that the news was reporting that President Kennedy had been shot in Texas.  The extent of his injuries was unknown.  Not long afterward, another announcement was made that the President was dead and school was being let out early so we could all go home.

When my sister and I got home from Kimball and the older of my two younger brothers got home from Dewey School (where he was in 2nd grade), our mother was home with our toddler brother who was then only 2 years old.  The black and white TV was on and every channel was taken over by the news covering the unfolding aftermath of the assassination.  By about the time school would normally have gotten out, Lyndon Johnson had been sworn in as our new President.

For the next several days, leading up to Thanksgiving six days later, it seemed that the only thing on TV and radio was reporting of the assassination and the return of the President to Washington to lie in state in the U.S. Capitol.  He was taken to the Capitol on a horse-drawn caisson and I can vividly recall watching an almost silent TV as the camera tracked the progress up the street from the White House to the Capitol.  Except for occasional hushed commentary by the newscasters on all channels, all you could hear was drumming and the sound of the horses' shoed hooves hitting the street pavement.  On Monday, the only thing on TV was the funeral procession to the burial in Arlington Cemetery.  No one was watching anything else on TV for days right up to Thanksgiving and I recall I finally had to ask my parents when the cartoons and other programs would be back on TV.  At Thanksgiving that year the conversation after initial greeting of family always went back to the assassination and did so throughout the day.  

Things did not return to normal until a week or two into December when, inevitably, the gravitational pull of the approaching Christmas holiday caused the kids especially -- and therefore the parents -- to move on; but even so, the holidays were not the same that year and in my mind the assassination has ever since been associated with Thanksgiving.      

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The most dramatic and horrifying images that almost everyone associates with the assassination 50 years ago (whether or not they lived through the events), are not some of the many static photographs that emerged in the aftermath.  It is the images of the color video of the actual shooting as captured by Abraham Zapruder, a 58-year-old, Russian-born garment manufacturer.  He co-founded a women's clothing company called Jennifer Juniors, Inc. that produced brands known as Chalet and Jennifer Juniors. His offices were directly across the street from the Texas School Book Depository from which the shots that killed the president were fired.  Mr. Zapruder filmed with an 8mm, hand-held Bell & Howell camera.  He captured in 486 frames lasting 26.6 seconds the moving images of the motorcade passing through Dealey Plaza.  Those 26.6 seconds captured the actual assassination and became perhaps the most famous "home-made" movie in history.  The story of how the film was purchased by LIFE magazine and how it came to be seen by countless millions is told in text and video here on TIME magazine's LightBox feature for November 13, 2013.  It is well worth reading and viewing. 

Abraham Zapruder (1905 - 1970)

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Photograph of the Kennedys and the Connellys in the presidential limousine in Dallas minutes before the assassination is by Walt Cisco of the Dallas Morning News.  The photo is now in the public domain in the U.S. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:JFK_limousine.png

Photograph of Kimball Elementary School by the author (April 2010).  For information on the history of Kimball and historical photos of the building inside and out, see http://www.concordnh.gov/DocumentCenter/View/1150

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Copyright 2013, John D. Tew

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Wordless Wednesday (November 13, 2013) -- Suggested Captions Solicited Via Comments . . .

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Original photograph in the collection of the author.

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Copyright 2013, John D. Tew

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Travel Tuesday (November 12, 2013) -- Natural Bridge, Virginia

With the Compact Day luncheon of the Virginia Mayflower Society just 12 days away, it got me thinking about another drive south from our northern Virginia location and in particular about the last Mayflower Society meeting in May at Natural Bridge, Virginia.

Natural Bridge has long been considered one of the natural wonders of Virginia and America. Thomas Jefferson was so impressed by it that in 1774 he actually bought 157 acres that included the bridge from  King George -- this a mere two years before Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence. 

Jefferson built a log cabin on the site and it had one room for his visits and another as a guest room.  Several famous Americans stayed at the cabin including; Henry Clay, Sam Houston, Martin Van Buren, John Marshall and James Monroe. 

The bridge was the subject of paintings and of references in literature.  Herman Melville described the surfacing whale Moby Dick as arching "like Virginia's Natural Bridge."  Artists such as the famed Frederick Edwin Church painted the bridge.  His Natural Bridge (1852) is shown below and can be compared with the photograph above taken recently.

If you ever have a chance to visit Natural Bridge, it is worth the trip.  We look forward to the next time the Virginia Mayflower Society holds its May meeting there.

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Photograph of Natural Bridge by the author.

The painting, Natural Bridge, by Frederic Edwin Church (1852) is in the public domain http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Frederic_Edwin_Church_-_The_Natural_Bridge,_Virginia.jpg

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Copyright 2013, John D. Tew

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Military Monday (Veterans Day, November 11, 2013) -- WWI Military Honor Roll, Wallingford, Connecticut

Wallingford, Connecticut Town Hall

Among the Honor Roll memorials located on the grounds of the Wallingford, Connecticut Town Hall is one "Dedicated in Honor and in Memory of Those Men and Women of Wallingford Who Served in the World War 1917 - 1918."  As we are on the eve of the 100th anniversary of the start of the so-called "war to end war," which began on July 28, 1914, it is appropriate that on this Veterans Day 2013 photographs of the full memorial and panel shots of the names of those Wallingford, Connecticut residents honored for their WWI service are featured in today's post.

The wording on this particular memorial is important to note because it points to the distinction between Memorial Day and Veterans Day here in the U.S.  While Memorial Day is a day of remembrance for the men and women who died while serving, Veterans Day celebrates (as this memorial states) those who served.

In the British Commonwealth countries, November 11th is known as Poppy Day, Armistice Day, or Remembrance Day to remember the members of their service branches who died in the line of duty.  It is celebrated on November 11th to recall the cessation of the hostilities of World War I "at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month."  [That war formally ended with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles on June 28, 1919.  Over 9 million servicemen from all sides were killed during WWI making it the fifth or sixth deadliest conflict in world history!] 

Originally, November 11th was celebrated as "Armistice Day" in the United States too when President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed November 11, 1919 as a holiday so that "the reflections of Armistice Day will be filled with solemn pride in the heroism of those who died in the country's service . . . "  In 1938 Congress passed legislation making November 11th a legal holiday each year "to be dedicated to the cause of world peace and to be thereafter celebrated and known as 'Armistice Day'."  Then, in 1945, a veteran of World War II (Raymond Weeks from Alabama) decided Armistice Day should be broadened to remember and celebrate not only those who died in World War I, but it should celebrate and remember all veterans who served in the armed services of the United Sates.  Dwight Eisenhower supported the idea of the expansion of Armistice Day and by act of Congress in 1954 "Veterans" replaced "Armistice" in the name of our November 11th holiday.  It has been known as Veterans Day ever since and its intent is to celebrate and remember all veterans and not just hose who died in World War I or other wars. 

World War I Honor Roll Memorial (Wallingford, Connecticut -- November 2013)

The following is an alphabetical list of about 560 men and women celebrated and remembered on the Wallingford, Connecticut World War I Honor Roll memorial. Every one of them is gone now, but they and their service are not forgotten!

Close-up photographs of the name panels on the memorial follow the list below, but be aware that the list is not entirely alphabetical as I have caught at least one error -- Lobb, Kenneth D. is out of order as he follows Myers, William H. on the name panels. Also, hard as it is to believe, there apparently are no veterans of WWI from Wallingford with surnames beginning with the letter "N."  

[As the photographs of the name panels clearly show, some of the names are preceded by a star.  The stars before a name indicate that the person named "died in service."  Those who locate a name of an ancestor or relative on the following list, should also consult the name panel photographs to see if the ancestor's or relative's name is preceded by a star and therefore he or she "died in service."]

Abbott, George C.                    Ahearn, Eugene J.                    Altschuler, Maurice

Ames, Joseph C.                       Anderson, Oscar                      Anthony, Henry W.

Anthony, Robert                       Apamoutec, John J.                 Artioli, Enrico

Atkinson, Percy                        Backes, Clifford B.                  Backes, Edward B.

Backes, Raymond                    Backes, Roger O.                     Bailey, John W.

Bakanas, Karl                           Balough, Alex                          Bandero, Louis

Bannell, Walter S.                    Barry, Edward S.                      Bartek, John S.

Beaudoin, William L.               Beaudoin, Zoel                         Beaumont, George B.

Beck, Jacob C.                         Becroft, Silas W.                       Beers, Philo E.

Bender, Bennie                        Benziger, Frederick C.              Berdofsky, Louis J.

Bernardo, Claudio                    Bertini, Ralph E.                       Bertini, William DEF.

Bevans, Joseph J.                     Beverly, Theodore S.                Blagbrough, Harry C.

Blanchard, Albert R.                Blanchard, Ralph H.                 Blinn, William L.

Bolton, Raymond W.               Bordeleau, William G.              Borghi, Ernest C.

Bossidy, Francis W.                 Bossidy, James E.                     Bossidy, Joseph T.

Bremer, Ernest                         Brennan, John F.                       Brennan, William J.

Bridgett, Frank E.                    Bridgetts, James H.                    Briggs, Carlton D.

Briggs, Morton D.                   Bronsord, William J.                  Brooks, Edward C. 

Brooks, Robert W.                   Brow, Arthur J.                         Brow, Robert R. 

Brown, Ray                             Bruton, George                          Bruton, Leo

Bryson, Robert                        Buckley, William                       Bullis, Carlton G.

Bullis, Clifford N.                    Bullus, George R.                      Burghoff, Harrold R.

Burke, Bryant L.                      Burns, James P.                         Burns, William T.

Butler, Edmund V.                  Butler, William V.                      Caples, Jeremiah

Carey, Jesse G.                        Carmen, Edward F.                   Carroll, Francis W.

Carroll, John F.                        Carroll, William J.                     Carty, James F.

Case, Harold L.                        Casey, Edward J.                      Casey, Frank W.

Cassin, Matthew J.                   Cavalieri, Anthony R.               Cavalieri, John                           Ceregioli, Peter                         Chapel, George                        Chase, Harry H.                         Chordas, Burton                       Clack, Albert E.                        Clark, Arthur H.

Clark, Louis N.                         Clarke, Felix W.                       Clement, Henry J.

Coffey, John G.                        Coffey, Richard J.                     Comerford, John E.

Comerford, Patrick J.                Condon, Joseph H.                   Condon, Robert W.

Cook, Frank D.                         Cook, George E.                       Cooper, James W.

Corcoran, Frank                        Cottrill, John R. Jr.                    Coughlin, Edward J.

Cowles, Philip B.                      Craig, G. Ludlow                      Crossley, William

Curran, Timothy E.                   Curran, William F.                    Cushman, Raymond J.

Daly, Edward T.                       Daly, George J.                         Daly, John E.

Davis, John T.                          Davis, Ralph L.                         Deghello, Alexander S.

Degnan, Joseph F.                    Delaney, Irving J.                      Delaney, Raymond E.

Delehanty, Helen                      Delehanty, Robert T.                 Della Vecchia, Michele

Del Rosso, Leo F.                     Del Rosso, Margaret V.            Del Rosso, Raymond L.

Dembizak, Charles                    Dembizak, John K.                   Dembroski, Teddy

Deming, Harry C.                      Des Jardins, Louis A.               Dineen, Gerald

Docker, William                         Doehr, William F.                    Dondero, Frank

Dontigny, George                      Dorau, Conrad O.                     Doty, Helen

Dougan, Clarence                      Dougan, John M.                      Down, Helen

Downey, George J.                    Downey, John E.                      Doyle, Frank P.

Driver, Wiliiam H.                     Drum, Francis P.                       Drum, Veronica

DuBois, Dennis O.                    DuBois, George A.                   DuBois, William D.

Dunn, Walter                              Dwyer, Michael W.                  Elovetsky, Stanley

Eriksen, Arthur                           Eylward, James E.                    Fassio, Bartolomio

Fassio, Mario                              Feinblum, Nathan                     Ferriere, Edward D.

Fields, Charles L.                       Filippo, Louis J.                        Filippo, Roxy

Fitzgerald, Edmund P.                Flechsig, Edwin A.                  Fleming, Joseph P.

Ford, Sidney                               Ford, William E.                      Francis, Edward B.

Francis, William H.                     Fredericks, David H.               Friderich, Roland C.

Fritz, Frank                                 Fritz, Harry F.                          Furniss, Clarence V.

Gallagher, Joseph F.                   Gallagher, Thomas P.               Gammons, Charles, W.

Gannon, John J.                          Gardner, Edgar E.                     Gardner, George A.

Gargaly, Frank A.                       Gargaly, Stephen J.                  Gariepy, Clifford J.

Gaudette, William F.                   Gawaski, Joseph B.                 Gentile, Vincent

Gibbs, William H.                       Gillooly, Thomas J.                  Gingras, Richard H.

Goff, Clarence H.                        Goldstein, Abe                         Granucci, Henry N.

Graser, Frank K.                          Grasser, Raymond F.               Griffin, James D.

Griffith, John                                Griswold, Harold M.               Gross, Henry J.

Gross, John A.                             Guilbeault, Gilbert                    Hackbarth, Robert R.

Hackbarth, Rudolph                     Hadrick, Joseph                       Hajdu, Albert

Hall, Randolph                             Hall, Theodore P.                     Hamill, Leroy F.

Hammerly, Herman J.                  Harrington, Raymond T.          Harrington, Timothy J.

Hartlein, George H.                      Hartman, Carl W.                     Hartman, Frank

Hassett, Charles                            Hassett, Ethel W.                      Hassett, George H.

Hayden, Frank L.                         Hayden, John E.                       Hayden, Raymond F.

Heath, Walter R.                           Heaton, William C.                  Heilman, Norman

Hemenway, Courtenay                 Hems, Robert P.                       Hennessy, John P.

Hennessey, Dennis J.                    Hennessey, Norinne J.             Hennessey, Robert

Herlach, Mathias A.                      Herr, Earl H.                            Heslin, Charles T.

Heslin, James F.                            Hill, George E.                         Hillbom, Erik A.

Hillbom, Ralph                              Hillbom, Waldo S.                   Hinckley, Clayton

Hinckley, Stanley R.                      Hiob, Emil R.                          Hodgkinson, Harold D.

Holroyd, William C.                      Hopkins, Charles                     Hopkins, Russell N.

Hotchkiss, Charles                         Houlihan, Robert A.                Houson, Maxwell M.

Howe, Ernest                                 Howe, George M.                    Howe, William L.

Hubbell, Harry R.                          Hunt, Stanley D.                      Ives, Clifford G.

Ives, Harold, R.                              Jacek, Martin                           James, Albert S.

Jeralds, Chester W.                         Jeralds, Louis B.                      Jionette, Harry

Johnson, Wilbur H.                        Judd, Howard S.                      Kane, Charles H.

Kane, Charles M.                           Kane, John W.                         Karpie, John

Keeler, Harold                               Kelly, Edward W.                    Kelly, Frederick B.

Kelly, James C.                              Kelly, John J.                           Kelly, John W.

Kelly, Robert P.                             Kelly, Thomas F.                      Kennedy, James G.

Kennedy, Michael F.                     Kenney, Michael J.                   Kenney, Peter

Kepes, Elizabeth B.                       Kershaw, Frank                        Kershaw, William H.

Killen, Albert E.                            Kirkby, Ernest                          Kiviatowski, Alexander

Knopf, William H.                         Knowlton, Norman B.             Knox, John B.

Konopka, Stanley                          Kowalski, Stephen S.               Kowalski, William J.F.

Krajewski, Benjamin                     Krajewski, William P.              Krupp, Harry A.

Kuczmarski, Joseph                       Kumnick, Frank A.                  La Course, Omar

La Croix, Arthur                            Lacy, James E.                         Laden, James J.

Lahaika, Iafrem                              Lane, Harold B.                       Lanquette, Daniel W.

Latham, Thomas J.                         Lathrop, Stanley P.                  Latourunes, Ambrose

Law, William H.                            Lengyel, Andrew                     Leonard, John A.

Leveille, Wilbrod J.                       Liedke, Walter W.                    Lindauer, Bernard J.

Logan, Robert J.                            Loiko, Vincent                         Loomis, Fred B.

Loughlin, Edward J.                      Loughlin, William P.                Lounsbury, Charles

Lucas, Orville, W.                         Lufbery, Raoul                         Lufbery, Rene N.

Lukazevich, Walter                       Maddocks, Harold J.                 Magatte, Joseph

Magee, George R.                         Malchiodi, Louis                       Malmquist, Almar C.

Malmquist, Eric C.                        Malmquist, Harold C.                Malmquist, Nils C.

Malmquist, Olof C.                        Manfreda, Maelis                      Mansfield, A. Irving

Mansfield, Woodford S.                Marc Aurele, Donald                 Marcewski, Roman

Marckoon, Paul P.                         Margolin, Benjamin                  Maxted, Thomas A.

May, John E.                                 McCune, Clarence C.                McDonald, Norval H.

McElrath, Leland F.                      McErlean, Laurance                  McGahie, Alton H.

McGahie, Douglas S.                    McGarra, Edward G.                McGarry, Edward H.

McGaughey, James D.                  McKenzie, Alexander M.         McKeon, James M.

McKerness, William J.                  McKnight, Arthur                     McKnight, Orren B.

McLaughlin, Francis J.                 McLaughlin, Thomas J.             McNulty, Patrick J.

Mellor, George W.                        Merchant, John J.                      Mezzel, Joseph

Michalke, Albert H.                      Milcke, Alan W.                        Milici, Salvatore

Mitchell, George C.                      Molinari, Guiseppe                    Moran, John J.

Morgan, Oscar                              Moulton, Guy E.                       Mounsey, William

Munson, Craig D.                         Murphy, James J.                      Murphy, John J.

Murphy, Thomas J.                       Murray, James                          Myers, Harold T.

Myers, Ray C.                               Myers, William H.                    Lobb, Kenneth D.

O'Brien, Frederick C.                    O'Brien, Robert E.                    O'Brien, William B.

O'Callaghan, John M.                   O'Connell, Benedict M.             O'Connell, Helen

O'Connell, Mark E.                       O'Dea, James                             Ohr, Andrew L.

Ollayos, Frank W.                         O.Neill, Maurice F.                   Paden, Thomas J.

Pagnam, Robert B.                        Pagnam, Thomas J.                   Parker, Sherman C.

Partridge, James P.                        Paskiewicz, Alexander              Passerino, John B.

Pattee, Katherine C.                      Patterson, James P.                    Patzkoska, Edward J.

Payden, Charles F.                        Payden, John F.                        Pender, David E.

Perry, Maurice R.                          Peterson, Reuben E.                 Phelan, Celestin G.

Phelan, Paul A.                             Philippi, John R.                       Phoenix, William J.

Pinsker, Joseph                             Poggio, Secondo                       Porter, Leslie A.

Porto, Francis                                Powers, John J.                         Powers, Maurice

Powers, Ralph H.                          Powers, William E.                   Powers, William J.

Prageman, Irving H.                      Pratt, William A.                       Prizzi, Alphonse

Quiggley, Francis H.                     Quinlan, John P.                       Quinlivan,  Thomas F.

Quinn, Edward J.                          Quinn, Harry T.                        Quinn, James J.

Quinn, William P.                          Reed, Albert                             Reed, Kenneth T.

Reilly, George                               Reilly, James C.                        Reilly, William T. 

Rice, Augustus A.                         Riley, Edward                           Riley, John J.

Riley, John Joseph                        Riotte, Harry C.                         Riotte, Joseph A.

Riotte, William P.                          Roberge, Romeo J.                    Robinson, John T.

Roche, Leo H.                               Roche, Robert E.                       Rogan, Charles V.

Rogan, John J.                               Rogan, William F.                     Rogers, Frank D.

Rogers, William J.                         Rohowsky, Albert                     Rosene, Hilmer

Roslund, Harry O.                         Rovegno, Frank P.                    Rowdie, Carime T.

Rushworth, Edwin                        Rushworth, William                  Russell, Donald G.

Russell, Donato                             Satton, John J.                           Scheffer, Carl W.

Schenker, Andrew                        Schmitter, Ernest                       Schultz, Albert J.

Schultz, August A.                       Schultz, Joseph P.                      Scott, Earl W.

Seichter, Adolph                           Self, Bert A.                              Semenza, Bernard

Semrau, Albert H.                         Shaw, John T.                           Shaw, Stanley

Sheehan, Albert T.                        Sheehan, Mark T.                      Sheehy, Henry P.

Sheehy, John J.                             Shipke, John                              Simon, Charles W.

Simone, Joseph A.                        Sinon, Thomas P.                      Sizer, S. Oliver

Skovinski, Paul P.                         Small, Harold A.                       Smith, Alfred

Smith, Charles E.                          Smith, Charles H.                      Smith, Clarence R.

Smith, Floyd                                 Smith, Howard L.                      Smith, Martin H.

Smith, Wilbur W.                         Smith, William                            Spolite, Dominick F.

St. Arnauld, William J.                 St. Cartier, Lucien F.                  Stearns, C. Edmund

Stearns, Harold T.                        Steele, George                            Steiniger, Joseph M.

Stevens, Maltby                           Stimpson, Charles                       Stimpson, Robert W.

Stone, Thomas D.                        Stone, William J.                         Stuart, Roy F.

Sullivan, Francis P.                      Sullivan, James F.                       Sutton, James J.

Szad, Carl C.                                Szad, Edward H.                        Talbot, Milton A.

Tassmer, Peter P.                         Taylor, Edmund P.                      Taylor, John H.

Terrell, Charles W.                      Terrell, Willard F.                        Tierney, Charles A.

Tierney, Patrick H.                      Torrey, Arthur F.                         Toth, John

Totz, Robert                                 Townsend, Bernard W.              Townsend, William W.

Trabold, Edward R.                     Turner, Fred I.                             Tuttle, Harry W.

Twing, Raymond                         Twiss, George R.                        Uniacke, Charles L.

Uniacke, Ralph R.                       Valenti, Alfred                             Vollhardt, Edwin C.

Vollhardt, Philip H.                      Wahl, Edward                             Wallace, Floyd

Wallace, Truman A.                     Ward, William W.                        Warren, William S.

Way, Chauncey O.                       Wendelken, Frederick                  Werner, Frederick

Werner, Gustave F.                       Werpechowski, Stanley               Wheelock, Richsrd L.

Whitehouse, Wilson H.                 Whiton, Edward L.                      Wilcox, Harry W.

Wilkes, Robert E.                          Wilkins, Harold S.                       Williams, Arnold

Williams, Frank B.                         Williams, Horace P.                    Williams, Russell F.

Wooding, Kenneth E.                    Wooding, Raymond F.                Wrinn, Charles M.

Wrinn, Edward C.                          Wrinn, Frank T.                           Wrinn, James E.

Wrynn, William F.                         Wustrack, Edward B.                   Wustrack, Frederick

Zagata, John                                   Zimmer, John

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Image of the Veterans Day poster for 2013 is in the public domain as a work prepared by an officer or employee of the United States as part of that person's official duties. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Veterans_Day_2013_Poster.jpg

All Memorial photographs by, and courtesy of, Bruce O. Marquardt.

Photograph of Wallingford Town Hall by the author.

Honor Roll name transcription by the author.

To learn more about World War I, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_I .  To learn more about the history of Armistice Day and Veterans Day in the United States, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veterans_Day and the links there to Armistice Day and Remembrance Day in other countries.

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Copyright 2013, John D. Tew

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Military Honor Roll Project (November 10, 2013)

Town Hall in Wallingford, Connecticut where Honor Roll memorials are located to Wallingford residents who served in the Civil War, World War I, World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War

Samaritan Sunday is on hiatus this week in favor of posting for Heather Wilkinson Rojo's Military Honor Roll Project.  Heather's project is "an effort to transcribe and photograph military honor rolls" erected for the veterans of America's wars.  As Heather has explained, transcribing the names on the memorial honor rolls makes the names of the soldiers and sailors available to search engines and thus can aid descendants and family members in finding them via the internet.

A couple of years ago my cousin, Bruce Marquardt, took me on a mystery trip to downtown Wallingford, Connecticut to the former Lyman Hall school (now the Wallingford Town Hall).  My father lived for a time in Wallingford with his aunt (Bruce's grandmother) during a time that my father's mother was ill and his father needed assistance taking care of three children.  My father took some classes at Lyman Hall and I thought my cousin wanted to show me the former school, which I had never seen.  He did explain that the current Town Hall is housed in the former Lyman Hall school, but the real purpose of the trip was to show me the World War II Honor Roll dedicated to those residents of Wallingford that served during WWII.  Bruce pointed out to me for the first time that my father's name was included on the Honor Roll, since he served in the Merchant Marine transporting war materiel to the various theaters of war during WWII.  I took photographs of the WWII Honor Roll memorial from a distance and a close up of the section that showed my father's name.

I later learned of Heather Rojo's Military Honor Roll project well after I visited the Wallingford Honor Roll with my cousin and did not have photographs that showed the names on the memorial so that they could be read.  I contacted my cousin and asked if he would be so kind as to take photos of the memorial for me to transcribe the names and post them here on The Prism and as part of Heather's worthy project.  Bruce said he would be happy to do so and yesterday photographs arrived of all the war memorial honor rolls located on the grounds of the Town Hall in Wallingford.  Bruce provided close-up photographs of the Honor Roll memorials in Wallingford to those who served in the Civil War, World War I, World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War.  THANK YOU BRUCE!!

Tonight I start the posting of Bruce's photographs and my transcription of the names shown on the Honor Rolls beginning with the Civil War Honor Roll.

The following men are listed as "Fallen Men Of The Civil War From Wallingford."  The names are transcribed here to assist with search engine capture.  The units in which each named honoree served can be obtained from the photographs of the Honor Roll memorial immediately above.

COL. Arthur H. Dutton                   SGT. Oliver S. Munson

CPL. George N. Bailey                   CPL John H. Boughton

CPL. Oscar Crusias                         CPL. Delevan W. Ives

CPL. Austin Phelps                         PVT. Patrick Condon

PVT. George V. Dagle                   PVT. Edward B. Dolph

PVT. Bernard Dougherty                PVT. Demetrius S. Dowd

PVT. Patrick Dunn                         PVT. Edward Early

PVT. Edward Hazard                     PVT. William Maschmeyer

PVT. Frederick Mayer                    PVT. Patrick Lynch

PVT. Thomas Lynch                      PVT. Harry L. Parsons

PVT. Samuel Richards                   PVT. Jonathan Swift

PVT. Edward Westerwood            Musician William H. Moore

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Memorial photographs by, and courtesy of, Bruce O. Marquardt.

Photograph of Wallingford Town Hall by the author.

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Copyright 2013, John D. Tew

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Saturday Serendipity (November 9, 2013)

Saturdays often allow a more leisurely approach to life than work days. I can more easily post links to some blog posts or other materials I have discovered during the week, or even to those discovered during a Saturday morning coffee and extended surfing of the blogosphere/internet.

Here are a few recommendations for inclusion on your reading list.

1.  OK, so who is our "family" anyway?  See if you think this photographer is on to something about the Human Family!  It will only take 2 minutes 34 seconds of your time here. [Thank you Tim O'Connor and Cathy Petrilla.]

2.  Judy Russell, The Legal Genealogist, had an interesting series of "Term of the Day" posts about the meaning of some obscure legal terms in late October.  To balance with those posts, how about some terms from the other side of the coin so-to-speak -- the meaning of criminal slang terms of the past? For example, do you know what the slang terms blue-plum, balsam, altitudes, squeaker, or heavers meant in the criminal slang of the 1850s?  Read about the meaning of these terms and others and get a link to George W. Matsell's 1859 Rogue's Lexicon here.  [Matsell was the first New York City Police Chief!]  

3.  With the 100th anniversary of WWI almost upon us, we will see increasing numbers of articles and posts about the WWI era and the war itself. One of the ugly sides of war is how it turns citizens against one another.  During WWII there was the internment of U.S. Citizens of Japanese ancestry. During WWI many parts of our country turned against citizens of German ancestry.  Miner Robert Prager was lynched in St. Louis in 1918 and a German-American farmer named John Meints was tarred and feathered in Luverne, Minnesota. My great grandparents, Anton and Johanna Hasselbaum, were from Germany and lived a prosperous life in Providence, Rhode Island where Anton had a successful liquor business -- but he forbade his children from learning or speaking any German in the home.  Anton died in 1916 while WWI was still raging in Europe.  You can learn more about the treatment of German-Americans during WWI and see some photos John Meints took of himself after being tarred and feathered to support his suit against the 32 perpetrators here.

4.   So you think your British ancestors all spoke English as we could sort of understand it even today?  Not so fast. The NEHGS newsletter The Weekly Genealogist  had an email in response to the weekly survey feature in the newsletter that recently asked about languages other than English spoken by ancestors.  Diane Brook of Wales responded and cited to an article she published in Family Tree back in November 2011 titled "Mother Tongues."  Based on an inquiry from Lynn Betlock (editor of The Weekly Genealogist), Family Tree decided to make the article available here.  I suggest you have a look to learn about the 10 languages in Ireland and Britain that were spoken before 1066 and survived into the 1500s and later.  There is some reference to emigrant communities who preserved some of these languages too.

5.  If you have some Irish roots, The Weekly Genealogist provided us with a link to an announcement article about the various Irish records to be available soon to researchers.  It will include fragments of the surviving 1821 - 1851 censuses and other materials.  Find out the details here. 

6.  It looks like you will need a digital subscription to read the entire piece, but NYT op-ed columnist has an interesting, well-written ode to cemeteries that will have all Graveyard Rabbits and would-be Rabbits nodding in knowing agreement.  The first page alone is well worth the read! See the first engaging page here.       

7.  Heather Rojo's at Nutfield Genealogy posts a reminder (with illustrations) about the importance of having access to marginalia contained in original records.  She also provides an explanation of the actual meaning of being "warned out."

8.  You should check out a great analysis of copyrights as applied to an 1890 photograph by Judy Russell at The Legal Genealogist.  

9. A very useful resource is provided at Genealogy's Star blog by James Tanner -- links for use in deciphering old and perhaps out of use abbreviations and acronyms. A keeper post with links to keep handy.

10.  There are still five more chances to win 20 hours of ProGenealogist research in the "Branch Out Sweepstakes" on Ancestry.com (approximate retail value = $3,346).  The first grand prize winner was
selected on November 5th, but others will be selected in January, March, May, July and September 2014.  See the details and registration requirements here. 

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Copyright 2013, John D. Tew

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