Samaritan Sunday (June 9, 2013)

[If you should choose to adopt this prompt to contribute stories of folks who have gone out of their way to lend genealogy-related assistance to others, I would greatly appreciate a mention to Filiopietism Prism whenever you do so.  Thank you!  And please do use the same photograph below to illustrate the prompt and to show it is adopted from this blog.  ;-) ]

This feature has previously reported about strangers helping strangers recover such heirloom items as lost family bibles, rings, necklaces, and letters.  One Samaritan Sunday post even featured a young college student who gave the gift of life at the expense of his own athletic dreams via a bone marrow transplant -- but what about giving the actual gift of the return of one's mother!?

Patricia Addis was 11 years old when her mother passed away.  Her mother was cremated and her ashes were placed into an inscribed memorial urn that read . . . 

Kersten Janell Watson

(mommy)

27 MAR 1962 - 27 DEC 1999

We Love You

For years, Patricia kept her mother's urn in her room and cherished it.  Later she joined the Army and was eventually deployed to Iraq.  During her service overseas someone apparently stole the urn and she had not seen it in at least five years.  

Recently, an elderly man and Good Samaritan named Juan Sierra (who had no connection to Patricia Addis or her mother) was in a field in the West Side neighborhood of San Antonio, Texas when he found pieces of what looked like polished marble or granite.  He collected the pieces and later cleaned them up and pieced them together.  That was when he realized what he had found was a memorial cremation urn containing the remains of a woman named Kersten Janell Watson.  He put the re-assembled pieces into an old suitcase and drove them to the studios of NBC affiliate station WOAI-TV (Channel 4) in San Antonio to contact one of the station's "Troubleshooter" investigative reporters in the hope they could help locate the family of the woman in the urn.  

Delaine Mathieu, a reporter with WOAI, tells the rest of the story here. 

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Photograph of the The Good Samaritan sculpture by Francois-Leon Sicard (1862 - 1934).  The sculpture is located in the Tuileries Gardens in Paris, France.  The photograph is by Marie-Lan Nguyen and has been placed in the public domain by her. See, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Good_Samaritan_Sicard_Tuileries.jpg

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Copyright 2013, John D. Tew

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Saturday Serendipity (June 8, 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 serendipitous discoveries from this week that I commend for inclusion on your reading list.

1.  I have yet to meet a genealogy hobbyist or professional who does not also have more than the average general interest in history.  With this in mind, I want to highly recommend to those who are members of  SAR (Sons of the American Revolution), or who have access to The SAR Magazine, to be sure to read David McCormick's article titled "The Long Journey of John Paul Jones" in the just-released Spring 2013, Vol. 107, No 4.  Also read the accompanying side-bar piece by Bruce Wilcox, President General of SAR 2007 - 2008, titled "Return of a Hero."  It is an amazing tale complete with truly awesome photographs.  The teaser for you is that JPJ was born in Scotland, became an American hero in the Revolutionary War, was a Vice Admiral in the Russian Navy under Prince Grigory Potemkin at the invitation of Catherine the Great, died in Paris France on July 18, 1792, and came to his final resting place in a permanent crypt in the Cathedral of the Navy at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland -- in 1912! 

2.    Those Plymouth Colonists had their share of rascals, victims, and struggles to keep civil order and civility alive and well among neighbors.  You really should take the time to visit Bill West's blog, West in New England, to read the 1646 story about Samuel Eddy's dog in the June 4th post; then read the 1934 poem titled "An Elegy on the Death of Samuel Eddy's Dog" by Sam Eddy descendant William Holden Eddy.  Bill's ancestor John Dunham, Jr. was a rascal and a victim and through his travails we learn much in a small space about the Plymouth court system, civil fines and early approaches to encouraging changed behavior in Plymouth citizens.  A good read altogether!

3.  Did someone ask what a mule spinner is??  No not a "muleskinner," which many of us recall from the Twenty Mule Team Borax commercials that sponsored Death Valley Days on TV in the 1960s (Ronald Reagan was a host of the program for a year or two 1964 - 1965).  The muleskinner was one who drove mules (also known as a "muleteer").

20-mule team hauling borax out of Death Valley circa 1883 - 1889

A mule spinner was very different from a muleskinner.  A mule spinner was one who . . . well to find out the answer to this, you probably want to go to Wendy Grant Walter's blog, From A to Zophar.  Wendy does a great job of explaining -- complete with photos.

HINT:  Mule spinners were not found in the desert southwest and most probably never fed, harnessed or drove a mule in their lives; but they were found along the rivers of much of New England! 

4.  Edna died in 1983 and Harry died in 1986.  Who were Edna and Harry?  Go here to find out!  

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Photograph of the 20-mule team is in the public domain as the work of a National Park Service employee as part of his/her official duties.  See, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:20_Mule_Team_in_Death_Valley.jpg    

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Copyright 2013, John D. Tew

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Friday Fotos (June 7, 2013) -- Graduation Photographs

Yesterday's post on cousin Heather's blog, Nutfield Genealogy, is the inspiration for today's Friday Fotos.  Heather posted a wonderful photographic series of generations of graduations in her family and that of her husband.  After all, as she reminded us, "It's graduation season!"

The Tew family had two big graduations a few weeks ago and, with Heather's inspiration, photographs of our latest graduates are the subject for this week's Friday Fotos.

First up on Mother's Day, May 12th, was our younger son who graduated from The School of Education at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia.  He earned his Master of Arts in Education (Curriculum and Instruction) with straight As and was inducted into Kappa Delta Pi, the International Honor Society in Education.  In late August he begins employment as an English Literature teacher for 11th and 12th grade students at a high school not far from Williamsburg!

In addition to being Mother's Day, May 12th also happened to be our older son's birthday and it was almost seven years to the day since our older son graduated with his undergraduate degree from William and Mary.  We referred to the day as a family "trifecta" -- a graduation, a birthday and Mother's Day!

  

  

Next, the family ventured north to the "City of Brotherly Love" (Philadelphia) where our older son earned his Juris Doctor degree and  graduated cum laude from Temple University, Beasley School of Law on May 23rd.  Following this graduation we hosted an extended family dinner gathering and celebration in honor of both of our sons' achievements.   Three of our sons' four grandparents were in attendance as were our older son's wife and her parents, three of our sons' aunts, three of their uncles, one cousin with his fiance, and (of course) our sons' very proud parents!  

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Photographs of the two graduates by the author.

Image of the logo for Kappa Delta Pi is from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:KDP_logo.jpg and is believed to qualify for fair use under U.S. copyright law.

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Copyright 2013, John D. Tew

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Treasure Chest Thursday (June 6, 2103)

A few weeks ago I posted a scanned image of my paternal grandfather's 1912 yearbook from Phillips Academy, Andover, Massachusetts.  Today is a Treasure Chest item that is the companion to that book -- my grandfather's 1914 Phillips Andover yearbook known as the Pot Pourri.  This was the yearbook for my grandfather's last year at Phillips Andover.

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The scanned image of the 1914 Pot Pourri is from the original yearbook in the collection of the author.  

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Copyright 2013, John D. Tew

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Wordless Wednesday (June 5, 2013)

'Nuff said! 

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Scan of jam jar label obtained on a trip to England in 2004.  See post of  February 11, 2013 here.

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Copyright 2013, John D. Tew

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Tombstone Tuesday (June 4, 2013) -- James and Lucy Carpenter

Headstone for James Carpenter and his wife, Lucy (Bliss) Carpenter

James Carpenter is my 4X great grandfather.  James was born on September 15, 1767 in Rehoboth, Massachusetts.  He was the son of Thomas Carpenter and his wife, Elizabeth (Moulton) Carpenter.  James died at the young age of 45 on October 20, 1812 and is buried with his wife Lucy in the Village Cemetery in Rehoboth, Massachusetts.

Lucy Bliss was born on June 23, 1769 in Rehoboth, Massachusetts.  She was the daughter of Jonathan Bliss and his wife, Lydia (Wheeler) Bliss.  Lucy died at the age of 48 on September 21, 1817.

James and Lucy were married in Rehoboth on March 6, 1789.  They had at least seven children: Joseph; Sarah; Lucy; Rebecca; Rosella; James and Newton.

My descent from James and Lucy (Bliss) Carpenter of Rehoboth, Massachusetts . . .

          Joseph Carpenter (1789 - 1880) m. Nancy Mason Bullock (1793 - 1880)

          Samuel Carpenter (1828 - 1904) m. Ruth Ann Miller (1828 - 1893)

          Samuel Eber Carpenter (1853 - 1929) m. Sarah Etta Freeman (1858 - 1945)

          Everett Shearman Carpenter (1891 - 1962) m. Ruth Eaton Cooke (1897 - 1979)
          [my maternal grandparents]

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Headstone photograph kindly provided by Donna Blinn. 

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Copyright 2013, John D. Tew

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Samaritan Sunday (June 2, 2013)

[If you should choose to adopt this prompt to contribute stories of folks who have gone out of their way to lend genealogy-related assistance to others, I would greatly appreciate a mention to Filiopietism Prism whenever you do so.  Thank you!  And please do use the same photograph below to illustrate the prompt and show it is adopted from this blog.  ;-) ]

An engagement ring is usually something to cherish -- but especially so when it or the stone has a family history and is an heirloom on loan for a lifetime.  So the loss of an engagement ring worth thousands of dollars becomes devastating when it is also a ring bearing an heirloom stone gifted from a dear mother-in-law.  It is a loss where the monetary value can be calculated, but that value can sometimes be recovered if the ring happened to be insured.  It is the loss of the heirloom to future brides-to-be in the family, however, that can never be calculated and the broken line can never be repaired.

This was the situation that Kathy Buffkin of Jacksonville, Florida found herself in a couple of years ago when she and her husband flew from Alabama back to Jacksonville after visiting a son.  For whatever reason, Kathy gave the heirloom engagement ring and other rings to her husband to carry while they completed their travels.  He placed the rings in his shirt pocket and when back at the Jacksonville airport he retrieved their luggage.  Not long afterward they realized the rings were gone and decided they must have fallen out of his shirt pocket when he bent to grab their luggage!  Kathy was sure the engagement ring was gone forever, but she dutifully reported the loss to Jacksonville International Airport.

Weeks after the loss of the rings, and what must have been many all-consuming moments of grief over the loss of the heirloom engagement ring, the Buffkins got a call from a young man. The caller just happened to hail from the the same area in Florida as Kathy Buffkin.  The stranger said he had found a ring at the airport and asked Kathy to describe the rings she had lost.  When she described her lost engagement ring, the kind stranger said, "I have your ring."  He did not want anything by way of reward or even any recognition apparently.  The name of the Good Samaritan was not reported, but Kathy Buffkin and her family have their lost heirloom back and available for future generations of family brides.

You can read more about this Good Samaritan moment here.   

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Photograph of the The Good Samaritan sculpture by Francois-Leon Sicard (1862 - 1934).  The sculpture is located in the Tuileries Gardens in Paris, France.  The photograph is by Marie-Lan Nguyen and has been placed in the public domain by her. See, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Good_Samaritan_Sicard_Tuileries.jpg

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Copyright 2013, John D. Tew

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Saturday Serendipity (June 1, 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 serendipitous discoveries from this week that I commend for inclusion on your reading list.

1.  A useful read that I subscribe to is the "Word of the Day" feature offered by Dictionary.com.  Just as I discovered the genealogy-related word that became the title for this Blog on Word of the Day, I have come across a useful new word for those of us into genealogy (and perhaps astrology and horoscopes). I pass the word on to you here.  The Word of the Day for May 23, 2013 was genethliac (juh-NETH-lee-ak), which is an adjective meaning "of or pertaining to birthdays or to the position of the stars at one's birth."

2.   Heather at Leaves For Trees provided a link to an interesting and informative read on what the men in the trenches during WWI actually ate.  Read about it here.  You will be surprised.

3.  As readers of The Prism know, on Sundays I often feature stories about people who reach out to help others they do not even know in order to help solve genealogy mysteries, return family heirlooms, etc.  I call the blog  feature Samaritan Sunday.  Bill West of West in New England tells us an intriguing story involving his genealogy, a house in Berlin, NH, some 19th-century letters found during a home remodeling project, and two very determined sisters who want answers.  Read about it here. 

4.  I have always had an interest in, and weakness for, maps.  This week I ran across two good reads involving maps.  Most of us really enjoy reading accounts of the methodical unraveling of a genealogical knot, the analytical solving of a puzzle.  The first map-related read is just such a story provided by Nancy Messier at her blog, My Ancestors and Me.  Nancy walks us step-by-step through her use of mapping resources to solve the question about whether or not the 19th-century home of her ancestor still exists in Butler County, Pennsylvania.  Find out if she succeeds by reading her post here.  And then there was this interesting project involving mapping the locations of where ancestors lived and died.  It provides a quick visual representation of where you came from that is "suitable for framing."  Read this post by Janine Adams at her blog, Organize Your Family.

5.  Genealogy is very involved with and concerned about names.  We have all struggled with the changing trends of naming conventions and spellings.  We have cringed at some names we discover in our genealogies when viewed through the lens of modern usage.  I have looked at names like Dorcas, Peleg, Mehitable and thought, "What were they thinking!?"  And this was even when I understood that often the names that sound so odd were actually derived from the Bible.  So it was a refreshing and fun read to learn about the names with which generations today are saddling their children.  Have a read here and see what YOU think!  

  
6.  Yesterday was the 194th anniversary of the birth of "the good gray poet," Walt Whitman.  During his lifetime Whitman was praised and vilified.  Emerson called Whitman's Leaves of Grass, "The most extraordinary piece of wit and wisdom America has yet contributed."  Thoreau said it was "as if the beasts spoke."  And critic William Michael Rossetti declared that Whitman was on the level of Shakespeare as a literary talent.  Others simply referred to him as "that dirty old man."

The Good Gray Poet
Walt Whitman at age 68 in 1887

Whitman led an extraordinary life filled with family tragedy, adventure and fame.  He worked as a printer's devil, teacher, journalist, federal employee in Washington, D.C. and poet.  You can learn more about his life here at Wikipedia and here at yesterday's Writer's Almanac where an excerpt from Whitman's Crossing Brooklyn Ferry (a poem in the public domain), was provided.  The excerpt speaks with special resonance to those of us with a deep interest in genealogy.  Enjoy!

It avails not, time nor place-distance avails not,

I am with you, you men and women of a generation, or ever
so many generations hence,
Just as you feel when you look on the river and sky, so I felt,
Just as any of you is one of a living crowd, I was one of a
crowd,
Just as you are refresh'd by the gladness of the river and the
bright flow, I was refresh'd,
Just as you stand and lean on the rail, yet hurry with the
swift current, I stood yet was hurried,
Just as you look on the numberless masts of ships and the
thick-stemm'd pipes of steamboats, I look' d.
—
What is it, then, between us?
What is the count of the scores or hundreds of years
between us?

Whatever it is, it avails not-distance avails not, and place
avails not,
I too lived, Brooklyn of ample hills was mine,
I too walk'd the streets of Manhattan island, and bathed in
the waters around it,
I too felt the curious abrupt questionings stir within me,
In the day among crowds of people sometimes they came upon me,
In my walks home late at night, or as I lay in my bed, they came
upon me,
I too had been struck from the float forever held in solution,
I too had receiv'd identity by my body,
That I was I knew was of my body, and what I should be I knew I should be of my body.             
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The photograph of Walt Whitman was taken by photographer George C. Cox in New York in 1887.  It was said to have been a favorite of Whitman's.  The image is now in the public domain and is available from the United States Library of Congress -- Prints and Photographs division. See, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Walt_Whitman_edit_2.jpg
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Copyright 2013, John D. Tew

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