Carnival of Genealogy, 79th Edition--"Family Reunions"

The topic for the next edition of the Carnival of Genealogy is: Family Reunions! Have you been to a family reunion recently? What do you know about past family reunions? If your family doesn't have reunions, why do you think that is - family skeletons or feuds, perhaps, or just geography? Or, has there been an important or intriguing family or other reunion in your community that you can tell us about? This edition will be hosted by M. Diane Rogers at CanadaGenealogy, or, 'Jane's Your Aunt'.

Over the years my own family has taken advantage of many events….weddings, holidays, graduations, funerals….to have a reunion. We try to get together annually with a gazzillion photos snapped. The reunion I am featuring in this blog is the annual Pool or Poole Reunion that was held in Morgantown, West Virginia.

The Pool’s are on my father’s side of the family tree. My paternal Great Grandmother VanGilder was a Pool….Jessie Pool….someone who I have spent countless hours researching, tracing and writing about. She is my entry going backwards into this rather sizeable family.

A fellow Pool/Poole researcher, Robert Poole Wilkins, sent me the Pool Family Reunion photo displayed on the blog. The original photograph is somewhat long, so I decided to divide it into three sections. I am ballparking it to be about 1923 using the size and age of the children I know who are pictured.

Both spellings of the surname are used. It was Pool until about 1900 and even after that date, the “old timers” continued to write their name as Pool. The “younger” generation decided to add the final “e”.

I was able to locate two newspaper articles, in the Charleroi Mail, mentioning Jessie’s sister, Sarah Pool Pinyard as having been to Morgantown, West Virginia for the Pool Reunion.

My Direct Pool Line:

William Pool—my paternal GGGGG Grandfather
Rev. Asby Pool—my paternal GGGG Grandfather
Rev. William Lanham Pool—my paternal GGG Grandfather
Sampson Frum Pool—my paternal Great Great Grandfather
Jessica Pool VanGilder—my paternal Great Grandmother
Sarah VanGilder Hughes—my paternal Grandmother
George VanGilder Hughes—my Father

I do have a partial listing of some of the folks in the photos. Surnames listed are: Bashaw, Dutton, Reeves, Totten, Pool and Poole, Price, Robison, McClure, DeLancey, Conley, Grubb and Kern. If you think you relate to this family, I'd love to hear from you.

I just remembered this reunion story which was told to me by my Dad's Cousin Kae. There was family tale that at one of the Pool Reunions, my paternal great grand uncle, Philip Albert Poole, spiked the lemonade. I guess there is always someone that gives that trick a go. For the Poole's, it was Bert Poole.

Notes:

Pool Family Reunion photograph, courtesy of Dr. Robert Poole Wilkins

“The Charleroi Mail,” Charleroi” Pennsylvania, August 9, 1926, page 3.

“The Charleroi Mail,” Charleroi” Pennsylvania, August 27, 1928, page 4.

Treasure Chest Thursday--Rhine Cake Plate

In the early 1960's, when my paternal grandparents, George and Sarah VanGilder Hughes (aka Pop Pop and Grams), were retiring to St. Petersburg, Florida, trash barrels loaded with family memorabilia were lined up on the tree lawn outside 71 North Bryant Street in Bellevue, Pennsylvania.

My mother tells of various family members driving to Bellevue and digging through the trash, saving, what have now become, valuable pieces of the Hughes Family history. Grams wanted to make a fresh start in Florida and as the English say, she was going through the apartment with "a dose of salts" :-)

My Mom grabbed various old plates and brass candlesticks, which were proudly displayed in our new home on Bramble Lane. Those family treasures are now in my possession and have been slowly dispersed among my cousins as wedding gifts, keeping them in the Hughes Family.

The cake plate shown above is from the 1780-1800 period. I have no idea if it came from West Hartlepool, England with my great grandparents, John George and Elizabeth Olesen Hughes or if it was carried from Morgantown, West Virginia to the Pittsburgh area by my great grandmother, Jessie Pool VanGilder, and given to her daughter, my Grandmother Hughes. My educated guess is that it was in a trunk that crossed the "pond" from England.

Documentation on the plate has been taken from the Coysh and Henrywood book, The Dictionary of Blue and White Printed Pottery 1780-1800, Volume I. Rhine, a name given to romantic patterns used in Victorian times. They were usually printed in grey, but blue examples have been recorded by Thomas Fells & Company, J.T. Hudden, David Lockhard & Company and the Middlesbrough Pottery Company. The title is usually printed in a c-scroll cartouche. Middlesbrough designs are marked with a bridge.

Notes:

W. W. Coysh and R.K. Henrywood, The Dictionary of Blue and White Printed Pottery: 1780-1880, Volume I, Antique Collector's Club, 1982.

Wordless Wednesday--Lunar Eclipse

Umbra

February 20, 2008

10:47 p.m.

North Olmsted, Ohio

Tombstone Tuesday--Thirty Mile Island Plantation Cemetery, Haddam, Connecticut

This is a very fine example of an old New England tombstone photographed and sent to me by my friend, Paul E. Sanderson. It is located in the Thirty Mile Island Plantation Cemetery, the oldest burying ground in Haddam, Connecticut. The website for the Haddam Connecticut Historical Society states that,”… the earliest remaining stone dates from 1711.”

In Memory of Mrs.

Silence Huntington

Wife of Mr. Jonathan

Huntington & only

Daughter of Capt

Joseph Selden who

Departed this Life

Sept 22 nd AD 1788 in

40th year of her Age

who Died with a Comfortable

Hope of a Happy

Immortality

I was thrilled when my college roommate, Anne, found Paul on Facebook. We are all members of the Boomer generation and spent our last college year in sociology classes and participating in peace marches together…..it was the late 60’s. Paul and I have been sharing what we have been doing for the last four decades and lo and behold, he also photographs old tombstones.

I am jealous. Paul lives in what has to be one of the best places to view some classic examples….grave markers that are hundreds of years old and artwork worthy of rubbings....NEW ENGLAND. He has a good eye for the unusual and the beautiful and I am grateful that Flipside has been tapped to display his photography. There will be more! Thank you, Paul.

Photography and Research: Paul E. Sanderson

Frank Lloyd Wright--The Meyer May House

While on our St. Joseph week at the beach, we took the opportunity to drive north to Grand Rapids, Michigan to tour the fully restored Meyer May House. Located at 450 Madison, corner of Madison and Locust, in Grand Rapids, Michigan this example of Frank Lloyd Wright prairie style architecture is, in two words, a masterpiece!

Meyer and Sophie May commissioned Frank Lloyd Wright to design and built their home in 1908. The home was complete in 1909. As with many existing FLW houses, various owners of the Meyer May House, changed the interior and exterior appearance. Over time, weather can also be an enemy of FLW homes as his materials do not withstand the changing elements of a northern climate.

Purchased in 1985 by Steelcase, Inc, the builders of Johnson Wax furniture, the house was totally restored to its original grandeur by 1987. Historians, consultants, conservators and experts in every field of construction and craftsmanship were hired to tackle the job. No stone was left unturned down to the minutest details.

Those of you, who follow Flipside, know of my growing interest in FLW and his designs. This is the first home I have toured that I was actually allowed to pull out my camera and take photos inside! I did not take as many photos as I would have liked as I had a limited amount of space on my memory stick. I have procrastinated for years about purchasing one with more data capacity.

I hope you enjoy a peek into this glorious home.

WALKING AROUND THE EXTERIOR OF THE HOUSE

Locust Street side

Locust Street side, back and gardens

Madison Street side

Entrance side facing driveway and next door neighbor

Detail of horizonal brick line.

Mortar horizonally is darker tint and vertical mortar is flush

with the brick giving the exterior of the house its horizonal flow.

Front entrance at ground level

INSIDE SHOTS

Living room

Living room

Circle within a square light fixtures

Detail of multi-toned woodwork found throughout the house

Dining room

Detail of dining room lamp fixtures and mural on wall behind

Detail of wood and earthtone paint used throughout the house

Master bedroom fireplace

Frank Lloyd Wright approved picture hanging

(click on photo to see the wooden pegs used to hang the art piece)

If you decide to visit the Meyer May House, please consult their website as the property is only open certain days of the week. The tour is free.

Graveyard Rabbits Carnival--Carousel

The September 2009 edition of the GYR Carnival is a carousel edition. Submissions can be on the topic of your choosing, but must still be related to cemeteries in some way. Thank you to The Association of Graveyard Rabbits for sponsoring this carnival.

Instead of animals, my carnival carousel is filled with tree shaped tombstones. I have a fascination for these. Whenever I am wandering in a cemetery, my eyes are always searching for any gravemarker that is a tree. Often it is just a simple, weather worn tree stump with no name or markings. Pictured here are mostly ornately carved trees with additional embellishments. Here are a few that I have found.

Oakhill Cemetery, Grand Rapids, Kent County, Michigan

Maria Kelsey Maybury
Wife of F. I. Maybury
1843-1884

Frank K. Maybury
December 1, 1867-March 24, 1869

Birdie Maybury
January 1, 1876-December 26, 1876

DeForest Maybury
June 2, 1872-October 23, 1879

Children of F.I. and M.K. Maybury

Greenlawn Cemetery, Tiffin, Seneca County, Ohio

Job M. Lingenfelter
April 1, 1903
Aged
56Y 11 M 15D
At Rest

Charles
Son of J.M. and S.E. Lingenfelter
Died
July 30, 1890
Aged
17YS’ 7M ‘S 2D’S

Nellie and Girtie [Gertrude] Lingenfelter

Sarah E. [Elizabeth]
Wife of
Job M. Lingenfelter
Born
August 11, 1847
July 18, 1928

Butternut Ridge Cemetery, North Olmsted, Cuyahoga County, Ohio

Rev. J. F. Rice
Born
December 7, 1825
Died
November 3, 1905

Nettie Couch
Revered
Wife of
J.F. Rich
Died March 7, 1897
Aged 41 yrs

Deaths doings
recorded here
Heartaches Elsewhere

Susan Mandana
Wife of
J.F. Rice
And mother of the
Children recorded
On this stone
Died
October 31, 1882
53 years 10 mos
and 17 days


Myrtella May Rice
Died
June 25, 1861
Aged
4 yrs 4 mos
4 days

Sabrina Padelford
Died
Feby 28, 1877
Aged 69 yr
10 mos & 3 days

Stella Aurilla Rice
Died
Nov 25, 1860
Aged
6 yrs 11 mo

Infant Son Rice
Died
April 1, 1849
Aged 3 weeks

Edna Estelle Rice
Died
May 4, 1862
Aged
1 year 19 days

James Gardner Rice
Died
Feby 11, 1852
Aged
1 year 1 mo
21 days

Bellevue Cemetery, Bellevue, Sandusky County, Ohio

Unnamed

Vernando Hilton Nicely
August 8, 1871-June 30, 1913

Treasure Chest Thursday--George Henry Hughes Painting

When my paternal grandparents, George Henry and Sarah VanGilder Hughes (aka Pop Pop and Grams) retired to St. Petersburg, Florida in the early 1960's, Pop Pop began painting. He was an artist of sorts. I have some of his pen and ink drawings and he was employed as a draftsman his entire working life at American Bridge Company, Ambridge, Pennsylvania.

As far as I know, there are 4 oil paintings. The subjects are taken from various trips overseas. I have two, my brother, Jeff, has the one pictured here and my cousin, George, has the 4th.

Wordless Wednesday--Notre Dame Touchdown Jesus

Tombstone Tuesday--Jacob VanGilder

Tombstone of my paternal gggg grandfather, Jacob VanGilder. Born in the Netherlands May 13, 1752, died in the Winfield District, Marion County, (West) Virginia on July 14, 1845. He is buried in Mt. Zion Cemetery, Winfield District, Marion County, West Virginia along with many of his descendants and his wife, Anna Margaret Kibler or Gibler.

Festival of Postcards #4--WATER

The next edition of A Festival of Postcards is dedicated to WATER - so it’s time to get out those postcards depicting bodies of water, boats, bridges, fish – or anything that contains liquid! Hosted by Evelyn over at Canadian Family.

This is a Stevengraph postcard purchased several years back. Why? My great grandparents, John George and Elizabeth Olesen Hughes and my grandfather, George Henry Hughes immigrated to the U.S. aboard this ship in 1906. The family boarded the R.M.S. Caronia in Liverpool, England on May 9, 1906 and arrived at the port of New York on May 19, 1906.