I have republished a calendar featuring photos from my Aunt Teri’s gorgeous garden in Winchester, Va (the photo above was her favorite). Teri passed away earlier this year. Proceeds from the sale of the calendars will go to the American Cancer Society’s lung cancer research fund. You can preview the calendar here (photos are from the 2010 edition).
Order the calendar online from Creative Memories (free login required). These calendars are 30% off during the month of October.
I was at work at the MIT Media Lab when one of the students in my research group shouted to me from her office next door that her husband, who was in Brooklyn, had just seen a plane hit the World Trade Center.
“Oh my God, Missy, it just happened again!”
Then I knew.
I think we all knew.
I remember that it was just a beautiful, crisp, clear morning in the Boston area. Just like it was in NYC. Just like it was in Washington, D.C.
The frantic stories started pouring in. Planes were unaccounted for. There were reports some were headed for Capitol Hill (where many of my friends worked). For the White House. The Pentagon was hit.
The Pentagon was where my grandparents met.
I couldn’t reach my friends in D.C. I did, eventually, reach my grandmother in Alexandria, Va. She was quite distraught. I so wished I could have been closer to my family on that day.
A former coworker called me in the midst of the chaos because “she wanted to hear the voice of reason.” I’m afraid she didn’t find it in me that morning. By that point, I was panicking too.
MIT closed early that day, but I did decide to stay at work. What were all of those students to think if all of the staff abandoned them? Besides, it was comforting to stay and talk with others who had witnessed the horrible images that were replayed over and over on the television.
When I did eventually make my way home, what struck me was the quiet. I lived under one of the usual flight paths for Logan Airport at the time. But not a single plane was flying.
It was so quiet.
The above is what I remember about that horrific day. I also remember the colossal amount of goodwill that poured in from across the globe in the days that ensued. I hope we never have to face such a dark day again, but I was very impressed by how everyone came together afterwards to help each other recover and heal.
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My aunt very generously shared many items with me over the holiday weekend and I’m thrilled to have acquired a few items related to Bierbrauerei Becker in St. Ingbert. I am somehow related to this brewery and am getting closer to figuring out the connection thanks to some photos we scanned this weekend.
German Wild cousins of mine married into the Becker family. When my grandfather was stationed in Germany, he took his wife and kids to the brewery and there they collected several souvenirs, including postcards and the ashtray below.
An ashtray bearing the Becker Bier insignia.
Bierbrauerei Becker postcard
The same view, in a color image, on the cover of a booklet about the brewery.
My understanding is that the brewery no longer makes beer. I had hoped to try it someday, but instead settle for asking anyone I know who’s been to Germany if they tried it and what did they think.
In going through the treasure-trove of items saved by my grandmother, my aunt came upon three wooden rulers. One was made of samples of each kind of wood traditionally used in furniture. The other two were shaped like long pyramids, with a different measuring system on each side.
My aunt said that I should take one of the rulers. I noticed that one had my grandfather’s name written on it and I said she should keep that one. The other had a completely unrelated individual’s name on it! How strange.
My grandfather graduated high school in 1930 in San Antonio, Texas. Apparently he was classmates with someone named Fred A. Slimp and came into possession of his ruler. I can only assume he borrowed it at some point. Or perhaps he picked it up by accident in class one day.
I began trying to find Fred A. Slimp. And find him I did — and three children. Fred died in 1996, but I believe that at least one of his sons is still alive and that I have a current address for him. I hope he gets a kick out of receiving the ruler when I send it to him.
Anson G. Bennett
Dear Reader: Do you think you are related to the individuals listed in this post? Please drop me a note! I love hearing from cousins and others researching my family!
This weekend, one of my aunts and I went through a ton of photos and documents that used to belong to my grandmother. Among the treasures was a funeral announcement for my second great-grandfather, Anson G. Bennett. I wrote about him briefly before.
One of the most exciting things about the article was the photo shown here — I’d never seen his photo before. Unfortunately, the newspaper clipping isn’t dated or identified by publication name. It most likely came from one of the San Antonio papers.
The article reveals several new-to-me facts. One of Anson’s sons was San Antonio city clerk. Anson was buried at St. Mary’s parish cemetery. Anson’s address at the time of his death was 619 Cedar Street.
619 Cedar Street, San Antonio
The following excerpt is especially rich in detail:
“A native of Missouri, he was brought to San Antonio in a covered wagon by his father, Capt. Sam C. Bennett, Civil War veteran and boat captain on the Mississippi river between St. Louis and New Orleans.” (“A. G. Bennett Funeral Services Set,” date and publication unknown.)
I already knew that Anson died on 12 Mar 1944. I didn’t know about his father’s Civil War service. I believe he served the Confederacy as I have evidence he was a slave owner (an obituary for one of the family’s slaves was even published in the San Antonio Express).
Beyond the above clues, searching anew for information on Anson led me to his listing in the 1940 census. I also found another newspaper article that said Samuel C. Bennett was custodian of the Alamo for three years prior to his death in 1900 (“Capt. Bennett Dead,” Dallas Morning News, 16 Jan 1900, digital image, GenealogyBank, http://genealogybank.com : accessed 2 Sep 2012.). I have a feeling there’s going to be a lot more material to find on him.
Dear Reader: Do you think you are related to the individuals listed in this post? Please drop me a note! I love hearing from cousins and others researching my family!
It’s been a while since I posted, period. And now, two in one day? But I finally have a chance to play along with Saturday Night Genealogy Fun and so here we go for this week. The mission from Randy Seaver:
1) What year was one of your great-grandfathers born? Divide this number by 50 and round the number off to a whole number. This is your “roulette number.”
2) Use your pedigree charts or your family tree genealogy software program to find the person with that number in your ancestral name list (some people call it an “ahnentafel”). Who is that person, and what are his/her vital information?
3) Tell us three facts about that person in your ancestral name list with the “roulette number.”
4) Write about it in a blog post on your own blog, in a Facebook status or a Google Stream post, or as a comment on this blog post.
5) If you do not have a person’s name for your “roulette number” then spin the wheel again – pick a great-grandmother, a grandparent, a parent, a favorite aunt or cousin, yourself, or even your children!
It took me a while to find an ancestor whose birth year, divided by 50, matched a number on my Ahnentafel chart that I had filled in.
So, I started with Richard Corley, my 7th great-grandfather. He was born in 1670, which led to a roulette number of 33 (most of the rest of the 30s on my Ahnentafel chart are not filled in, sadly).
33 is Delilah Basham, my 3rd great-grandmother. Here are three facts about her:
1) Her name is one of my favorites among my ancestors. Delilah was the downfall of Samson in the Bible. These days, she’s the subject of a hit song by the Plain White Ts. I’m fascinated that her parents chose that name for her. Her father’s name was Obediah, one of my other favorite names among my ancestors.
2) She was born in 1785 in Bedford, Va., according to the preponderance of secondary sources I’ve been able to find. This area of Virginia has very few surviving original records due to fires at county courthouses and other repositories (and not all were due to the Civil War either).
3) She married Jonathan Cheatham Corley and together they had 13 children, including my 2nd great-grandfather, Benjamin William Franklin Corley, and his twin brother, Henry William Washington Corley. Delilah and Jonathan are buried together in a Corley family cemetery in Shelby, Ill.
Below are photos from a visit I made along with other members of Historic Easton to the Miller’s House in what is now Wye Mills back in April. The Miller’s House was built by Edward Lloyd III in the 1700s to attract a miller to the area as local agriculture transitioned from tobacco-based to grain-based.
After sitting vacant for years, the home has fallen into quite a state of disrepair. Historic Easton is trying to stabilize the house before it falls down. While we have grants to help cover some of the work, we are seeking support from anyone interested to help offset costs (donations can be made via Paypal to historiceaston@gmail.com).
Click on the photos below to view larger versions:
The Miller’s House, perched on a hill above the Wye Mill’s area in Talbot County, Md. A security fence has since been constructed to protect the house.
A closer view of the other side of the house.
There is significant damage to this side of the house, which was compounded by last year’s earthquake.
Close-up view of some of the damage to the exterior wall.
Various means are being employed to keep the walls from moving any further.
Supports also are holding up the floors. This picture was taken in the basement of the house.
This hook is embedded in the ceiling of the basement. A woman whose aunt used to live in the home said that the family lived in the basement during the summer because it was cooler.
Brickwork in the basement.
Closer view of the brickwork.
A piece of pottery in the rubble outside of the house.
There is a cemetery on the property — I’ll be helping to map out the gravestones when the weather cools and vegetation dies back.
Cemetery on the property.
A piece of pottery in the cemetery.
Pottery fragment on the ground outside of the home.
Another pottery fragment.
Snake sunning itself on the brick exterior of the home.
Debris on steps outside of the house shows the color that one of the porches used to be.
