Filiopietism Prism

Saturday, August 17, 2013

Saturday Serendipity

Here are a few discoveries from my surfing after returning from vacation. I commend the following for inclusion on your reading list.

1. There are a lot of very clever blog names and themes out there (Jennealogy by Jennifer Dunn is a nice example). I admit I am quite a fan of strawberries and good food in general, so I was taken by the clever food theme (and tantalizing strawberries wallpaper) developed by Tracy Meyers at Family Preserves blog. Have a look here . And I dare you to not suddenly crave some strawberries!

2. Up Front With NGS linked to a piece by Mary Harrell-Sesniak titled "How To Spot and Avoid 9 Common Genealogy Mistakes and Errors." You can check it out here.

3. Speaking of Up Front with NGS, if you are like me and want to learn more about DNA testing and genealogy, have a look at the series on DNA Testing in genealogy. Part 4 of 4 can be viewed here and you can then link backward to the earlier postings.

4. This is a hard one to read and view, but it is clearly about love and capturing or making the moments while you can. [Having tissues nearby is advised!]

5. There are many reasons to become a member of the New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS) and among them is the receipt of The Weekly Genealogist digital newsletter. Recently a newsletter linked to a story that all of us who have visited cemeteries where ancestors and relatives are interred and have tried to gather data from worn or damaged headstones can appreciate. Shannon Nolte is fascinated by how people remember and memorialize their deceased. As a doctoral candidate she did research on that very subject, but now the former college instructor is in a new line of work. Read about it here.

6. Does your family hold a reunion? Would you like to start holding family reunions? Perhaps you would like to see what others do for and at their reunions and get some reunion tips? Well here is a place to visit to learn more about what goes on during summer reunion season . . . Tom Ashbrook's OnPoint at NPR station 90.0 WBUR focused on family reunions recently. Have a look here.

7. As a follow-up to an item in Saturday Serendipity a few weeks ago, the data and images in the 1921 Census of Canada were finally released while I was vacationing in the Adirondacks. It is now available at http://www.ancestry.ca/cs/ca/census?iid=55940&o_lid=55940&o_sch=Web+Propertyline

The images are not yet available via an every name index, but you can browse the census data and images via district and sub-districts if you have that information -- or, if you are one of those intrepid souls with a love of record surfing and the time to do so, you can guess and browse the districts until you stumble onto what you are hoping to find. There are some 8.8 million records to index so it will take a little while to complete the indexing process. If you have Canadian ancestors or relatives and want to learn more about how and when Canadian Census records are gathered, here is a good starting place. And if you want more background and detail about the 1921 Census in Canada, you really should be aware of Elizabeth LaPointe's blog, Genealogy Canada, where you can learn ahead of time, for example, that Newfoundland is not included in the 1921 Census because it did not become a Province until 1949! [BUT there was a 1921 census of Newfoundland and Labrador and it has been available for a few years now.]

With respect to access to the 1921 Census, Elizabeth LaPointe has posted the following clarification on her blog . . .

Jeri Brown, Senior Consultant with Ancestry.ca, has written to me to make sure that everyone understands that -

“Under the terms of the partnership with Library and Archives Canada, Canadians will be able to access the 1921 Census of Canada images free of charge through the Ancestry.ca website. If you currently do not have an account or registered login with Ancestry.ca, you will be prompted to register (for free) to access the images. Registration requires the entry of a name and email address only. As the images are free for Canadians only, those attempting to access the 1921 Census via the other sites (ie: Ancestry.com, Ancestry.co.uk, etc…), will be prompted to sign up for a 14-day free trial”.

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Friday, August 16, 2013

Friday Fotos (August 16, 2013) -- Then and Some Time Much Later

The photograph above was first posted here on The Prism on June 12, 2013 as a Wordless Wednesday offering. The date of the photograph is not known. The photo is of the James Jeffs family of Ontario, Canada. My wife's great grandfather, Dr. William Henry Maines Jeffs, is shown fourth from the left in the back row. His seven siblings and his parents are also shown. James Jeffs and Sarah Maines Jeffs are my wife's great great grandparents.

The date of the photograph below is also unknown, but it was taken many years after the one above. It shows four of the children in the top photograph late in their lives. Francis West Jeffs (second from the left in the back row above) apparently went by "Frank Jeffs" in his later years.

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Photographs kindly provided by Jim Jeffs of Ontario, Canada. James Jeffs (Father) and his son, Dr. William Henry Maines Jeffs, pictured in the top photograph, are my wife's great great grandfather and great grandfather respectively.

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Thursday, August 15, 2013

The "Edna and Charlie Tew" Mystery Photograph (August 15, 2013)

My paternal great grandparents, Arnold and Margaret Tew, had five children born between 1885 and 1901, but only two of them lived beyond two years old -- my grandfather, Arnold G. Tew, Jr. and his older sister (my grand aunt), Edna Lillian Tew. Edna was the only girl and was said to be the oldest of the five children.

The photograph above was taken circa 1888. The reverse side of the photograph states in the handwriting of two different people -- one in pencil and the other in blue ink respectively, "Charlie 2 years 3 months Edna 3 months" and (with a line to Charlie) "Died at 5 From Whooping Cough & Complications."

The problem is immediately obvious -- if Edna is the oldest of the five children, her brother Charlie cannot be sitting beside her in the photograph!

While I do not yet have birth certificates for Edna's three brothers who all died before age three, I do have the birth certificate for my grandfather showing he was born in Central Falls, RI on October 15, 1896. Courtesy of my cousin Bruce (Edna's grandson), I also have a scanned copy of the Record of Birth for my grand aunt Edna. She was reported to have been born in Central Falls on August 19, 1885.

Having visited the family plot at Moshassuck Cemetery in Central Falls, RI and seen the headstone for Charlie Tew, it appears he was born on or around August 25, 1886. His headstone -- which is not in good condition -- appears to read, Charlie E. Died June 15, 1888 Aged 1 yr. 9 mos & 21 days. The headstone for the deceased brother Henry E. Tew is also not in good condition, but it appears to indicate he was born June 18, 1888 and died April 9, 1889. The headstone for the brother John H. Tew is clear and it states John was born April 23, 1901 and died December 2, 1903.

All of the above information presents a conundrum with regard to the photo of the two children in the chair. Additional research and analysis is definitely needed and the place to start is obviously the birth and death records for the three deceased brothers. As of now, there is no way to definitively say who the children are in this family photo notwithstanding the supposed identifying information handwritten on the reverse side of the photo. There are several possibilities:

1. The baby is my grand aunt Edna, but the boy is not any of her brothers if she was indeed the oldest child of the family and so the boy in the chair is some friend or relative. Or perhaps Edna was not the oldest child in the family and there is another unknown older brother who is pictured in the photograph with a 3-month-old Edna. [But then why is that boy not buried in the family plot along with all the others?]

2. The baby is not Edna, but the boy is Charlie and thus the baby is possibly Henry; but for that to be so, the headstone information on Henry or the age information on the reverse of the photo is wrong (or perhaps both are). The headstone information on Charlie and Henry indicates that Charlie died three days before Henry was born -- so there could not be a photo of Henry at 3 months old with Charlie.

3. The photo cannot be of Charlie and John if the headstone information is correct because John would have been born almost 13 years after Charlie died.

4. The photo cannot be of Henry and John if the headstone information is correct because John was born just over 12 years after Henry died.

My working hypothesis is that the photograph is not of baby Edna, but rather is of Charlie and his brother Henry and that the headstone information for Charlie and Henry is either incorrect or the condition of the headstone has caused an error in interpreting the dates on them.

Next step to try to solve this mystery . . . get birth and death records for Charlie and Henry Tew of Central Falls, RI.

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All photographs in the collection of the author. Photograph of the children and scan of Edna's birth record courtesy of her grandson Bruce. Headstone photograph by the author.

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Wednesday, August 14, 2013

First Cars (August 14, 2013)

Americans are known for their love affair with cars. According to Wikipedia, the United States has the largest passenger vehicle market on the planet. In 2009 the Bureau of Transportation statistics calculated there were 254,212,610 registered passenger vehicles in the United States -- and this was at a time when the total population of the country was estimated at 305,529,237 (many of whom were not even able to drive for one reason or another).

It is probably no wonder then that one of the life events most Americans recall is their first car -- whether it was the first car they remember that their family owned or that all-important symbol of freedom and young adulthood, the first car they could truly call their very own.

My father's first car was the 1948 Ford "Prefect" pictured above. As the caption indicates, the car cost him $1,626 cash. It was also the car in which my mother learned to drive.

If you have never heard of a Ford Prefect it might be because it was actually produced by the British division of Ford Motor Company. It was introduced in 1938 and was produced initially through 1941. In 1945 it was reintroduced and finally ended production in 1961. It apparently became very popular as the body for hot rods -- especially in England. You can read more about the Prefect here at Wikipedia.

So what are the first car memories that are part of your family genealogy??

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Photograph from the personal collection of the author.

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Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Tombstone Tuesday (August 13, 2013) -- Not A Clue . . . .

This old photograph is among many Carpenter family photographs I have been fortunate to have received. The problem is I have no clue whatsoever as to where this cemetery is located and what family tombstones are depicted, if any. There is no label or caption on the photograph and it was loose and not included with any other materials that might give a clue. The photograph was among items left by my maternal grandparents, Everett Shearman Carpenter and his wife, Ruth Eaton (Cooke) Carpenter. The Carpenters and the Cookes were all from the Rehoboth/Attleboro, Massachusetts and Cumberland/Providence, Rhode Island areas and so it is believed this cemetery is probably also in these parts of Massachusetts or Rhode Island. If anyone recognizes this old cemetery or has ideas on how I might identify it, I would love to hear from you!

Monday, August 12, 2013

I'm Back . . .

On the trail to Copperas Pond

My family and I are now back from our annual summer vacation in the Adirondacks of upstate New York! In all honesty, I cannot say I am glad to be back. I wish we were still up there. I already miss the easy sleeping under open windows, the balsam scents in the air, the calls of the loons, and my daily early morning, invigorating dip in the lake (air temperature usually at 55 to 62 degrees F the past two weeks at 8:00 AM).

My wife's family had a "camp" (the Adirondack term for what is called a cottage elsewhere) on Lake Placid for several decades and so Molly and I have spent a portion of almost every one of the last 37 summers "inside the Blue Line" at Lake Placid or other lakes. Every summer we have engaged in backpacking, hiking, mountain climbing, canoeing, swimming and other activities (including luxurious reading time) while re-creating and recharging the batteries. Our two sons have spent time in the Adirondacks nearly every summer since they were born. Both sons and our daughter-in-law joined us again this year. The Adirondacks already occupy a large place in our hearts and in our family's ever-evolving genealogy . . . and we hope and expect this to continue into the future and unto succeeding generations.

The Adirondack Park is about 6.1 million acres in the northeastern section of New York. It is close to the size of the state of Vermont and is larger than Yellowstone, Glacier, Yosemite, the Great Smokies and the Grand Canyon combined! It is the largest park in the lower 48 states AND it is protected by the New York state constitution. The area is usually referred to as "the Blue Line" (probably because its boundary was marked in blue on many early maps). Adirondack Park has an interesting history and you can read more about it here.

A few pictures are -- as they say -- worth thousands of words, so enjoy below some of the magic that is the Adirondacks!

Lake Clear from the summit of St. Regis Mountain

Canoeists in the sunset on Lake Clear

Copperas Pond (our backpacking destination)

Twilight on Lake Clear

Blog posts should resume sometime this week after I see what awaits me at the office.

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Sunday, August 11, 2013

Samaritan Sunday (August 11, 2013)

[If you should choose to adopt this prompt to contribute your own 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. ;-) ]

Just imagine the anguish Julia Postupack of Beaver Meadows, Pennsylvania went through when she realized she had lost the diamond engagement ring that James Filbert, her fiance, had given her. Suddenly it was no longer on her finger and she had no idea when or where it had slipped off -- and she and James had been busy that Friday night. They had gone to dinner in Hazleton, visited a friend, stopped at a business in Hazelton, rode around in the car, and walked icy sidewalks where Julia slipped and fell at one point.

Julia was really panicked because the ring from James was not just her engagement ring; it was a Filbert family heirloom made of platinum . . . and it was 125 years old!

Julia and James retraced their steps. They searched the car. They tried to find the exact spot Julia slipped and fell and searched in snow piles using a borrowed metal detector. They called the business and the restaurant hoping some Good Samaritan had found the ring and turned it in. No luck!

Desperate, Julia placed an ad in the local newspaper hoping against hope, but by the following Tuesday there was still no luck. On her way to work Julia was despondent and when she stopped at a convenience store she tearfully told the story to an employee there. He listened and said, "There's this guy . . ."

Larry Kelly is quite a guy. He is a Good Samaritan who is skilled at metal detecting and he likes to volunteer to help find lost items like wedding bands, class rings, etc. Julia called Larry before the sun had even risen that cold January morning. Larry made a vow to Julia and went to work and . . . Well, Larry kept his vow and Julia got her ring and you can see the ring and Julia and Larry and learn where the ring was found 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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Sunday, August 4, 2013

Samaritan Sunday (August 4, 2013)

Like wedding bands and engagement rings, class rings often become family heirlooms that get passed down from generation to generation. Of course that is difficult to do if the ring is lost.

My high school class ring will never become a family heirloom because it was lost within weeks of when I got it. It ended up somewhere in the beach sand at Shipbottom, Long Beach Island, New Jersey one June evening when some friends and I decided a moonlight swim was in order. The ring went into my pants pocket and the pants, shirt, etc. were tossed in a pile on the sand. After the swim . . . no ring despite hours of searching!

Vernon C. Collins lives in Russellville, Arkansas now and he probably thought he would also never have a high school class ring to hand down as a family heirloom. Back in 1963, Vernon lived in New Jersey. He graduated from Merchantville High School that year and after working for the summer at a YMCA camp in Medford, NJ, he went off to college in Arkansas. Merchantville is only a few miles from where I graduated from high school and I ran cross country races against MHS not too many years after Vernon graduated. I do not know if Vernon was a harrier, but he was a four-year swimmer in high school and he always suspected that he must have lost his Merchantville High School class ring when it slipped off while he was swimming some time.

On April 6th of this year -- just about 50 years after Vernon Collins graduated from Merchantville High School -- Dan Knight and his friend (Tucker) were metal detecting in the muddy bed of a drained lake in Medford, New Jersey. It was a lake where a former YMCA summer camp had been located for years. They found two class rings in that muddy lakebed. Dan assumed responsibility for the Merchantville High School ring -- which had the initials "V.H.C." engraved inside. Dan decided he was going to make every effort he could to find V.H.S. of the Merchantville High School Class of 1963, but there was one small problem -- Merchantville High School closed in 1972 and no longer existed!

How did Good Samaritan Dan Knight track down Vernon Collins in Arkansas 50 years later? What about the second class ring that Tucker recovered from the muddy lakebed? What happened to it? To find out the answers to these questions and see a photo of Vernon's MHS class ring, go here.

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N.B. There are websites out there that can help locate lost rings and the owners of found rings. The Washington Post ran an article on the founding of one such website, Class Ring Finder. You can read the article here. Another class ring website is Lost My Ring. To date I have never seen or heard of my lost class ring, but who knows . . . after reading about Vernon's good luck and the Good Samaritan moment brought about by Dan Knight, my ring could surface any year now!

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