Uncle Carl...

Several years ago – I found a number for Geneva Hansen.  She was the daughter of Joe Friddle and Bessie Silver.  I called her and made plans to drive to Coue d’Alene, ID which was where she lived.  At the time I met her she was in her 90’s – still living at home and still very sharp.  She was a bit puzzled as to why I wanted to talk to her, but there was definitely a great reward. 

Geneva was old enough to remember living up on Grouse Flats with her parents and grandfather, Albert Friddles.  Albert was my great grandfather’s older brother and was probably the closest father figure that he had.  Albert was actually 34 years older than Pop Friddle (David Carl Friddle, my great grandfather) and was the one who encouraged him to come out west and homestead up on Grouse Flats which is in Wallowa Co., OR.

Geneva recalled when she was a little girl she thought that Uncle Carl (Pop Friddle) was her favorite person in the world.   Whenever he was around, Geneva would follow him around like a puppy.  She loved is deep voice, big laugh and hugs.  My mother used to say that Pop Friddle gave the best bear hugs.  I’ve always heard stories from my mother and my great uncle about Pop Friddle, but it was great to hear stories from someone else who had a completely different perspective. 

Geneva told one story about a Christmas when she was young – probably about 1920.  Evidently they were having a Christmas party at their church. Pop Friddle being a large and husky man must have been the obvious choice to play Santa Claus.  So, he dressed up in the red suit and beard and made an entrance at the party.  He looked nothing like his normal self.  Geneva was one of the younger children who they were trying to surprise with Santa.  Geneva said that she took one look at the man in the red suit and went running towards him shouting “Uncle Carl, Uncle Carl”  - They weren’t able to trick young Geneva and she was so thrilled to see her favorite uncle.

Pop Friddle as he must have looked around 1920.

Geneva told me that that Christmas was one of her favorite memories as a child.  They didn’t have much but they did get oranges and nuts and perhaps a toy at Christmas.  They were much simpler times and Christmas was a simpler celebration…but that Christmas party so long ago was still very fresh in Geneva’s memory.

Geneva passed away a few years ago at the age of 94.  She was the last of her family – her 3 other sisters, parents, and husband had all preceded her in death.  She spent the last few years of her life living in Everett near her daughter.  What a lovely lady – I’m so glad I had the opportunity to meet her. 

A Life Too Short

It seems sad to me to see a mother die at a young age with small children.  It doesn’t matter if it happened several decades ago or several weeks ago.  My great great grandmother was one of those young mothers who died too young.  Buena Vista lived only 21 years which is far too short a life!

Buena Vista Bailey was born sometime after April 1872 probably in North Fork Twp., Ashe Co., NC.  Her father was Jasper L. Bailey and her mother’s name was Margaret.  Her father was recorded in the census in 1870 in Ashe Co., NC and in 1880 he was in Johnson Co., TN.  Margaret was only listed in the 1870 census and dies before the 1880 census.  Her last name is unknown but I think it might be Dozier. 

Buena Vista married John Dooley Dollar on 21 Apr 1889 when she was about 16 years old.  I would imagine that she was very small in stature.  My great grandmother and her siblings were all very small people.  Mom Friddle, Buena Vista’s youngest child, never quite got to 5 feet tall and never weighed over 95 pounds…so I imagine that Buena Vista was also very small.  Buena Vista had the following children:

• ·         Claude Elmer Dollar b. 7 Oct 189 Johnson Co., TN d. 9 Nov 1972 Arvada, Jefferson Co., CO m. Carrie Landus m2. Erna Louise Stede
• ·         Bessie Dozier Margaret Elizabeth Dollar b. 7 Aug 1892 Johnson Co., TN d. 20 Jan 1983 Jefferson, Ashe Co., NC m. Reece Barker
• ·         Sophie Vestelle Dollar b. 28 Jan 1894 Shingletown, Johnson Co., TN d. 8 Feb 1979 Lewiston, Nez Perce Co., ID. m. David Carl Friddle

John Dooley Dollar holding Sophia, Claude on the left and Bessie on the right - Taken about 1895

Buena Vista died on 14 April 1894 probably in Shingletown, Johnson Co., TN.  Beyond when she died and the general location – I know very little about the circumstances.  I imagine she might have died of the effects of childbirth as she had had my great grandmother in late January or perhaps she died of quick consumption which was common during that time period.  I can only guess at the circumstances but it seems rather sad that her husband was left with three children all under the age of 4.  Like any young father, he relied on family.  John Dooley Dollar’s father, Alexander Monroe Dollar and step mother, Lulu took the children in so John Dooley Dollar go work.  Eventually John Dooley Dollar remarried to Cleopatra Gentry and had several more children.  The older two children went to live with their father and new stepmother – but my great grandmother stayed with her grandfather and stepmother, Lulu.  Lulu was the only mother that she had ever known.  I suspect that Buena Vista might be buried in an unmarked grave in the Wesley Methodist Chapel Cemetery in Shingletown or she could be buried somewhere behind the home place where my great grandmother grew up.

When I went back to North Carolina in 2001, I met the granddaughter of Bessie Dollar Barker.  Betty had inherited a memorial frame from her grandmother which noted the birth and death dates of Buena Vista Bailey and included a picture.  I suppose that this was the only way that the young children that she left behind would ever be able to remember her. 

Photo from the Memorial frame.  Buena Vista Bailey - taken about 1890 or so.

Winter Spirit in Lewiston, ID

When I was a little girl, Christmas lights were among my favorite things.  I can remember many holiday drives in the evening when my parents took us around to see the lights.  Back then, there were competitions and every year several homes would go all out to decorate for the holidays.  That was probably about 35 years ago.  Then we went through a session when few people put up Christmas lights and during the past twenty years there has been another change – for more decoration.

Back in the early 1990’s, a group of Lewiston people began decorating what we locals call Locomotive Park.  There is an old early 20^th century locomotive that has had its home there ever since I can remember.   There is also a large curving park that circles around what would be Highway 12 as it enters Lewiston, ID and continues over to Clarkston, WA.  As you can probably tell by the names – our two cities here in the LC Valley are named for Lewis and Clark.  Near the Locomotive is a fairly large tableau of trees – the Winter Spirit committee has decorated Locomotive park for at least the last 20 years with literally millions of lights.  The Locomotive is awash with colored lights and the tall tree in the center flickers with dancing lights that match the music being broadcast on speakers.  Kids young and old can dance around on the pad and help make the lights move.  There is a beautiful archway snaking through the park that is a glittering trail that leads the visitor all over the park and its beautiful trees.  Every year volunteers work for several weekends to get the lights up and there is a lovely lighting ceremony during the weekend before Thanksgiving.  The lights stay up through the New Year. 

I still can remember the first year that it was lit.  My nieces and nephews were small children.  They ran through the archways and watched the lights flicker with the movement.  Sometimes the weather was warm and other times quite chilly and snowy.  The adults in the family would walk around enjoying the children’s joy and wonder as well as our own.  We would spend at least an hour walking through the park, no matter how cold it was.  Then when we go out on drives to look at the Christmas lights – we would drive by Locomotive Park and enjoy the beautiful colors.  I don’t know that any of us ever completely outgrow looking at pretty twinkling lights.

My Niece & Nephew enjoying the lights!

Several years ago, my sister-in-law and brother were visiting from out of town.  They had moved north several years before but one thing they wanted to do during that Thanksgiving weekend visit was go and look at the Christmas lights.  We enjoyed looking at the new Fireplace with the tiles that had been painted by local schoolchildren and reacquainted ourselves with all of the new displays that had been done.  My teenage niece and nephew ran around and played like children.  I still remember my brother saying that he wished that these lights had been around when he was in high school – it would have made for a cheap date.

If you are interested in looking at some of the photos or wish to look at more information check out their website at http://www.winterspirit.com/ .  There is even an opportunity to donate to the cause as this is a volunteer operation.

Through the arch!

Some of the lights of Winter Spirit!

Eastman Research

One of my favorite pastimes is to take a second look at some favorite ancestors or relatives.  I live in Lewiston, ID and have not had too many opportunities to study most of my ancestry first hand nor do I have the availability of a world class genealogical library to reference.  What I do have is a computer and the persistence of searching for information and an eye for what is good info…and what isn’t.

Back around 2000, I discovered one of my favorite characters in all of my genealogical research, Susanna Eastman. Susanna is my 8^th great grandmother…here is my lineage.

• Susanna Eastman m. John Swan
• Nathaniel Swan m. Mahitabel Brown
• Jesse Swan m. Elizabeth Baldwin
• Nathaniel Swan m. Harriet Shutter
• Cynthia Swan m. Potter Gage
• Gilbert Gage m. Phebe Allen
• Orlando Gage m. Edith Gallup
• Ora Silas Gage m. Florence Christine Shawver
• Helen Gage m. Frank Johnson
• Eugene Johnson m. Betty Tannahill
• Me!

Now Susanna lived a long and interesting life.  As a young woman she married Thomas Wood and had a daughter with him.  Both he and her child were killed in an Indian attack in 1697.  Susanna remarried in 1699 to John Swan.  They had 7 children including my ancestor, Nathaniel.  In the history of Haverhill, MA there is a story about an attack that was made on her and John Swan’s home.  They were pushing against the door and had started to enter the home when Susanna skewered them with the baking spit.  In the History and Genealogy of the Eastman Family of America there is also the story of when Susanna and John moved to Connecticut.  Susannah put her young son down in a basket and told her husband that the basket needed to be loaded onto the wagon.   Sometime later (about 2 miles down the road) it was discovered that the baby had been left behind.  I imagine the 2 mile return trip to retrieve the sleeping child had to be a difficult one for both parents with the father getting the majority of the dirty looks.  Susanna lived to be 100 years old which is pretty remarkable.  She was born about 1673 and died in 1772 – right on the cusp of the Revolutionary War.

So…every once in a while I do a search on family members.  Sometimes I don’t have their full dates or perhaps I don’t have the maiden name of the mother.  There is new information that is being put on the Internet all of the time and more and more primary documents that have been posted.  In addition there are also old genealogy books that are posted.  So, when I did a search on Susanna Eastman tonight I found some additional information. 

• The History and Genealogy of the Eastman Family of America  published 1901, is published online at http://www.archive.org/stream/historygenealogy01inrixg/historygenealogy01inrixg_djvu.txt - I will be going back and filling in some details on Susanna’s family sometime soon!
• Another link netted me a photo of Susanna Eastman’s tombstone.  This was located on my good friend Midge Frazel’s blog at http://granite-in-my-blood.blogspot.com/2010/06/tombstone-tuesday-susanna-eastman.html - I can’t believe I missed that posting in 2010.  I would have been very excited to see it.  Midge also posted the page that gives the story about Susanna.  You can actually look at the book online on Google books.

You can also spend some time looking at different websites that might have information.  This whole process can be time consuming but also very rewarding.  So – occasionally sit down at the computer and go to your favorite search engine and see what you can find.  You might find something new like a photo of the grave or new cousin.  This can be truly a rewarding experience!

Unknown Johnson

When I first started doing genealogy research over 15 years ago, the computer was considered to be a new tool.  The internet and email were just starting to be used for genealogy research.  We used to peruse these old World Family Tree CD’s from Family Tree Maker.   There was a lot of junk but there were also some great surprises.

When my mother got the information from my grandfather back in the early 1970’s about his family.  It was surprising how much he knew and there was a surprising name that he didn’t know.  Grandpa Frank knew that his great grandmother’s name was Nancy Mayfield, but his great grandfather was unknown.  Mom and I referred to him for quite some time as unknown Johnson – in fact, one of our first goals was to find out what his name was.  We posted queries at every place we could think of and we received a note from another researcher one day that gave us his name – from a marriage record no less.  His name was Moses Johnson and he married Nancy Mayfield on 6 May 1816 in Granville Co., NC.

 

One day I started looking through one of those World Family Tree CD’s and found a listing in there for a Washington Abraham Johnson who was my great great grandfather.  I looked further and noticed that the researcher didn’t have Moses’ name either –but he certainly had a wealth of information about the children of Washington Abraham Johnson.  I started to compare notes and noticed that this was a researcher who had paid careful attention to dates and locations.  This wasn’t something that was all that common on these World Family Tree CD’s.  Many times there were girls who had had 5 children by the age of 12 and several more after the age of 50.  You could tell that these genealogies were not examined very carefully and that someone was adding a name even if only one item out of four matched the puzzle.  I decided that I would contact this researcher.  I picked up the phone and made a long distance phone call and dialed the number I found as a reference.  Back then, long distance actually meant something! My cousin Lowell picked up the phone and I experienced one of the greatest joys of genealogy – meeting a cousin and making a great friend.

One of the first things that I asked Lowell is if he knew who “Unknown” Johnson was?  He replied that he had no idea…so I was able to make him acquainted with Moses Johnson.  During a series of letters and phone calls – our family got to know Lowell and his lovely wife, Bonnie.  I was excited to find a cousin of my fathers who was actually the same age as he – in fact, Lowell was three weeks older.  Within a year or so, we were making plans on traveling back to North Dakota to meet our cousin.  We found pictures that proved that it wasn’t my father and Lowell’s first meeting.  There was a photo of their mothers holding each of them for the camera when they were babies. 

Grace Carlson Johnson holding Lowell & Marian Gage Johnson holding Eugene.

The 3 Franks - Frank Stewart Johnson, Frank Washington Johnson & their uncle, Frank Smith Johnson.

We got the chance to meet Lowell and Bonnie in North Dakota on that day a long time ago.  My father and Lowell were able to trade stories and were share stories about their shared heritage.  My Grandpa Frank had a cousin also named Frank – and that was Lowell’s father.  Both of the Franks were named for their uncle Frank.  Lowell’s grandfather was Washington Andrew Johnson and Dad’s grandfather was Ulpian Grey Johnson and they were both the sons of Washington Abraham Johnson and Mary Ann Smith and grandsons of Moses Johnson and Nancy Mayfield. 

There is a lesson in my story…don’t be afraid to ask for help and don’t be afraid to contact that researcher who might be connected.  You never know what you’ll find and if you are lucky – you will find a cousin as well as a friendship as we did with Lowell and his lovely wife, Bonnie!

Christmas Letters

Christmas cards have always been an integral part of the Christmas season for me…unfortunately; they seem to be going out of style as is the handwritten letter.  Isn’t it sad that many of the younger generation will never understand the value of a letter or even a newsy email?  They only want to communicate in short tweets or texts and don’t care for the long and leisurely conversation that lasts over 140 characters. 

When I was a little girl, I vividly remember watching my mother sit at the kitchen table writing out notes in her Christmas card.  Mom had absolutely beautiful handwriting with an artistic flair – I’ve seen letters that she wrote to her sister and mother and those old Christmas notes had bits and pieces of their lives that I had never known.  I remember that it was exciting as a young child getting those Christmas letters in the mail and having my chance to read them.  There was a wealth of information in them about family activities and events – connections to old and new friends and in some cases an actual Christmas card that came to me personally.  Those Christmas cards were often a shared time with my parents when I learned about their friends and our family and learned how to read different handwriting and words that I wasn’t used to.  For me…they were a learning opportunity that I took advantage of. 

We still have some of the old Christmas cards and letters that were sent by family members – and many of the Christmas letters that my mother sent out once she got a computer.  I think Mom was one of the first people I know of who sent out a Christmas newsletter every year.  I look back on those old letters and relive some of the wonderful memories of the last 30 years.  One year she sent out some favorite family recipes, when her grandkids came along – her letters were full of them.  When I moved out on my own, I too sent out Christmas cards.  My list was much smaller than my parents but even then they were full of friends who I had not seen for a long time as well as beloved family members. I followed my mother’s example and wrote my own Christmas letter that was full of everything that was important to me – my job & home, my family & friends and my pet.  Not too terribly imaginative but they improved with practice.

Today I send out cards to my parent’s friends and family and my own.  I still remember that last Christmas letter that my Mom sent out.  She wasn’t feeling well and I helped her write it, print it, and got her labels done.  There were still many that she wrote a handwritten note to.  Mom downplayed her own health problems and instead focused on the positive…that was her attitude.  I’m sure when everyone went through their cards at the end of the Christmas season that year that they paused on her card.  So, now when I write my letter, print it and my labels then sit at the kitchen counter to write a note or two, I feel a kinship with my mother and grandmother and all of the other family members who have shared Christmas cards through the years.  Perhaps someday – someone will pick of that old letter and read it and wonder about the people in the letter.  Perhaps they too will take it upon themselves to research and find out who they were.  Those letters are a window to our lives and communicate what is important to use as the years pass by.  Wouldn’t you love to find a passel of letters written by your ancestors…and if you did – wouldn’t they be a precious resource!

Have a Blessed Thanksgiving!

As I am writing this – it is Thanksgiving eve…I’m physically and mentally tired after the day at my job and coming home to cook and bake my part of the Thanksgiving meal.  I’m ready for bed – but I can’t help thinking about all of those people out there who don’t have the blessings that I enjoy.  I have a job, family who loves and cares about what happens to me, friends, a loving pet, and wonderful memories of those I am thankful to have known.

When one enjoys great blessing of family – we also experience the pain of loss.  So many of my memories of past Thanksgivings are tied up with my mother, grandparents (Gwen & Cappy Shearer) and great grandmothers (Sophie Friddle and Nettie Shearer) as well as my mother’s godmother, Glenthora Jones!  They have all passed away now yet I feel as if somehow they are still with us.  I wish Mom could taste that apple pie I just finished or sneak a piece of the pumpkin pie that Dad and I had for supper tonight.  I wish I could listen once more at the feet of my great grandmothers and Aunty Jones as they spoke of stagecoach rides up into the hills. I wish I could talk with my grandparents once again and really listen to what they say.  Those times are past and there are new enjoyable traditions that I treasure just as much as those old ones.   I ask that as you travel or welcome friends and family for Thanksgiving meal that you remember that you are making treasured memories.  Please be thankful for the blessings that we all have!

Thanksgiving 1968 - It is my second Thanksgiving.  While much has changed in the intervening years -
there are still some traditions that continue.