Working Gal--Sarah Margaret VanGilder

     My Grams, paternal grandmother, Sarah Margaret VanGilder Hughes, was a member of the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania work force before she married George Henry Hughes in 1921.  I was told she was a stenographer/secretary; however, until this week I never knew just where she was employed, nor did I have confirmation of her employment.

     The 1917 Pittsburgh City Directory had a listing for her. At age nineteen she was a stenographer aka typist for The Sloan Typewriting Bureau. Also of interest in the directory is her home, which is listed as Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania. 

     It appears that Grams had to travel into Pittsburgh from Wilkinsburg, probably on a bus or streetcar.  The Sloan Typewriter Bureau is advertised as the "oldest circular letter company in Pittsburgh."  I had to google "circular letter" to find out what it was.  Grams spent her work days typing and retyping the same form letter which was sent to groups of customers from various businesses. 

     She was a typist.  I have numerous cards and letters that my Mother and I saved, typed by Grams.  In 1977/1978, at age seventy-nine, she was still using a typewriter to write to me when I was pregnant with my first son.  

     Naturally as I am writing this, my mind is wandering to where Grams was at in her relationship with my paternal grandfather in 1917.  They had met about 1915 and were dating, although she was living in the Pittsburgh area and he was living with his folks up the Ohio River in Woodlawn, Pennsylvania.  

     It was on August 1, 1917 that George Henry Hughes joined the Canadian Expeditionary Force,  as a member of the 20th MGF (Machine Gun Force).  Pop Pop was discharged on May 16, 1919 and they were married a little more than a year later, on June 5, 1920 in Fairmont, Marion County, West Virginia.  I imagine that Grams was working as a typist up until she married.

     I do not believe that Grams worked outside the home following her marriage; however, her typewriting skills stayed with her forever.

FROM MY BROTHER, JEFF--interesting historical tidbit. Back in 1917, the person using the machine was known as a "typewriter". The word "typist" came later.

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© 2012, copyright Linda Hughes Hiser

Frederick Family Genealogy--Pittsburgh City Directories

Ancestry.com continues to add scans of records that have been valuable to my family research.  One of the most recent are two Pittsburgh Pennsylvania City Directories.  In the past I have gone through some late 1800's and early 1900's Pittsburgh City Directories on microfilm at the library.  Either that library did not have the 1904 and 1907 City Directory, or I was unaware at the time, that my Frederick family was then living in the Pittsburgh area.

I was delighted to find a record of my maternal great grandfather, Alfred Frederick, one of his daughters and my maternal grandmother, Martha Marie Frederick and one of his sons, Robert Frederick in the 1904 Pittsburgh City Directory.  On the 1900 Pennsylvania Census, the Frederick family is living in Esplen Borough, Pennsylvania, along the Ohio River.  Apparently, by 1904, the family moved into the city of Pittsburgh, on 5125 Liberty Avenue.  There must have been a train switch yard near their apartment, as Alfred was employed as a switch tender for the railroad; a job he had held for several decades.  This section of Liberty Avenue is near the Bloomfield area of town.

The second city directory is dated 1907.  The family has moved across town, near the Monongehala River on Craft Place.  My excitement with this record is that my maternal grandmother is listed, along with the place of her employment and the phone number.  My mother, her daughter, had told me that Teek (my pet name for my grandmother) was employed as a stenographer before she married.  This is the first record that proves my mother's memory was correct.  I have to check further, but I believe that my grandparents met through work.  I have to explore further where my grandfather's place of employment was in 1907.

I do not know how many years the Frederick's had a city address. More research is needed; however, I do know that they were living in Bellevue, Pennsylvania when my maternal great grandmother, Lucinda Orr Frederick died on December 15, 1909.

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© 2012, copyright Linda Hughes Hiser

Another dip into the Poole--Virginia Isabelle McClure

Cover of autograph book once belonging to
Virginia Isabelle McClure

     Genealogy tips do come from some welcome sources as was my good fortune this week. A message was left on one of my family pages out on ancestry alerting me to the sale on Ebay, of an old autograph book, dating from the 1880's, that once belonged to an ancestor.  

     In the end, I decided to not purchase the book as the price was a little steep. The first owner, Virginia Isabelle McClure, is my first cousin three times removed. I may have anted up if the owner was just a bit less removed.  I was able to copy scans of the pages that the seller published and there was a listing of the various signers that could be identified.  I guess that will have to suffice.

January the 1 1885
To My Friends
My Album is open
Come & see what.
Wont you waste a line
on one.  Write but a
thought a word or tot
that memory may revert
to you.

     Virginia, or Jennie as she is identified by many of the autograph signers, was the daughter of William Steele McClure and Elizabeth Ann Pool.  She was born on August 31, 1873, probably on the family farm located in the Morgan District, Monongalia County, West Virginia.  The McClure family had previously lived in Greene County, Pennsylvania and Jennie was the first of their children to be born in West Virginia.  She had nine brothers and sisters and died at age twenty of a fever on October 23, 1893, in the Morgan District, Monongalia County, West Virginia...probably on the family farm.

Page that was glued onto the back cover
of the autograph book

What I learned from the few pages scanned:

1. Virginia's date of birth.  I had the year, but not the exact date.
2. Virginia's date of death.  I found it in records found on the West Virginia website, but had it incorrectly written on my FTM database and out on ancestry.
3. Virginia's middle name.  She is listed as Belle; however, her brother, George Jerome McClure used Isibelle (Isabelle) in the autograph album.
4. Virginia was called Jennie by friends and family.

Note that brother George used the name
Isibelle (Isabelle) for his sister.

Signers of the autograph book that were listed and relation to Virgina:

1.  John McClure--John Frum McClure, Virginia's oldest brother.
2. Oliver McClure--Oliver Lanham McClure, Virginia's second oldest brother.
3. M.E. Hall
4. Emma Church--Emma J. Church, second cousin once removed.
5. C. C. McClure
6. Belle Fleming
7. Martha McClure--Maratha Ann McClure, Virginia's oldest sister.
8. E.H Conway--could be Enzor Herschel Conway, husband of her sister Martha.
9. George F.C. Hartman
10. A. McClure--could be Elizabeth Ann Pool McClure, Virginia's mother.
11. J.B. McClure
12. Susie Brunner
13. George McClure--George Jerome McClure, Virginia's younger brother.
14. Joseph Johnson
15. C.N. Finnell
16. James McClure--probably James Sampson McClure, Virginia's younger brother.
17. John Fleming--could be John F. Fleming, first cousin once removed.
18. Lida Brunner
19. G. F. Lumley
20. R.H. Harne
21. S.A. Kinsley--Samuel Arlington Kinsley, first cousin twice removed to Virginia.
22. G.H. Kinsley--George H. Kinsley, first cousin twice removed to Virginia.
23. Edward Kinsley--Edward H. Kinsely, first cousin twice removed to Virginia.

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PLEASE post your e-mail in the comment section if you would like to network about a particular surname or topic. I will capture it for my use only and not include it when I publish your comment.

© 2012, copyright Linda Hughes Hiser

Jumping Back Into The Poole: Olive Pettit Bashaw

     Well over a decade ago my Aunt Faith asked, "I sure wish you could find out whatever happened to my Mom's niece, Olive". Before sites like Ancestry, finding Olive Bashaw was next to impossible. Over the years I periodically plugged her name into the various search engines currently available to those of us who love to do genealogy research. I think I now have enough info to give blogging about her a try and perhaps some family member might see it and contact me.

     Olive Pettit Bashaw belongs to my Poole family branch and is my first cousin twice removed. She was born on June 2, 1914 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, the daughter of Leon Hamilton Bashaw and Eleanor Poole. Her mother, Eleanor Poole, is my great grandaunt.  Olive's middle name, Pettit, was the maiden name of her paternal grandmother, Lucretia M. Pettit.

1240 Palo Alto Street

     Soon Olive became nicknamed "Little Olive" to distinguish her from her namesake, maternal aunt, Olive Poole. By the 1930 census, Olive, then age fifteen, and her younger brother Leon Poole Bashaw were enumerated with their Aunt Olive Reeves in a boarding house at 1240 Palo Alto Street on the North Side of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

     I have been told that Olive attended Divine Providence Academy in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania during her high school years.

     Following her graduation, Olive became employed as a clerk and stenographer with Kaufmann's Department Store in downtown Pittsburgh.

     I have recently found three Pittsburgh City Directories that list Olive living with her mother in 1949 and then Olive living alone in 1952 and 1955 Her mother died sometime in the early 1950's.

     Of interest in the directories is Olive's name. She decided to change it to Olivia. Name changes seem to be common with the Pooles. Actually many in the family added the final "e" to the original spelling of Pool in the early 1900's. My own grandmother decided to change the spelling of her first name from Sarah to Sara and her maiden name from VanGilder to VanGuilder. I don't think any of this name changing business was done legally....just for fun and it stuck!

     Family members told me that once her mother died, that Olive, or Olivia, moved in with her brother. The trail is lost once again.

     I have located a death certificate for Olivia P. Bashaw. The birth date is the same as our "Little Olive" and I believe it to be hers. According to the social security death record, Olive died September 11, 1987 at Shreveport, Caddo County, Louisiana.

     She apparently never married and why she was in Louisiana still remains a mystery.


More on the Bashaw Family on Flipside

Friday Family Profile: Eleanor Poole Bashaw

I WOULD LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU. All comments are welcome; however, if they are inappropriate, they will not be published. 

PLEASE post your e-mail in the comment section if you would like to network about a particular surname or topic. I will capture it for my use only and not include it when I publish your comment.

© 2012, copyright Linda Hughes Hiser

Not a New Years Resolution; however........

I resolve to TRY to be a better blogger in 2012. Since I took most of 2011 off, I should have more than a few new ideas and items to blog about stored up on my computer and in my head...lol

Onward and upward.

Blog on......

I WOULD LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU. All comments are welcome; however, if they are inappropriate, they will not be published. 

PLEASE post your e-mail in the comment section if you would like to network about a particular surname or topic. I will capture it for my use only and not include it when I publish your comment.

© 2012, copyright Linda Hughes Hiser

What could I say but.....GOOD eye!

     After the Christmas holiday, my son and I spent a pleasant afternoon wandering around the Western Reserve Historical Society in University Circle, Cleveland, Ohio. I must admit that neither of us had been a visitor to this unique museum in decades and were somewhat dismayed to learn that the Crawford Automobile Museum is closed until perhaps the Fall 2012 for renovations.

     I seem to remember that, back in the day, more floors of this old museum was open to the public. It seemed that when we toured, there wasn't all that much Western Reserve history to observe. HOWEVER, my son did see something in a display cabinet which is the focus of this particular blog.

     There was a special exhibit featuring Abraham Lincoln and his connection to Ohio and the Western Reserve during his lifetime. We poured over the many displays of personal letters and photographs. Of particular interest were the numerous period political cartoons.

     As we neared one display case, my son's eyes focused in on one small typewritten card which listed Tiffin, Ohio from which the object originated. "Dried Flowers from the grave of Abraham Lincoln in Springfield, Illinois, May 3, 1865. Preserved the day of the funeral by Mrs. Judge William Lang of Tiffin, Ohio."

Judge William Lang
     Nice find!!! My son, through his grandmother, Helena Smith Hiser, is a relation of Judge and Mrs. William Lang of Tiffin, Ohio. Judge William Lang is my son's 4th great grand-uncle.

     The Lang's were early pioneer settlers in Tiffin, Seneca County, Ohio.  George Ludwig Henry Lang and his wife, Catherine Scheutz, arrived in America in 1832/1833 and made their way to Tiffin, Ohio.  William's older sister, Louisa Lang Seewald (my son's paternal 4th great grandmother and link to the Lang family) also removed to Tiffin with her husband and children.

     The wife mentioned on the little card as Mrs. Judge William Lang is Mary Patience Owen Lang.  Obviously Judge Lang was a very prominent member of the Tiffin community.  Not only a judge, he was also the first mayor of the city of Tiffin and was the author of The History of Seneca County, Ohio published by Warner & Beers Company in 1886.  There is a detailed political history on Rootsweb and he has written the story of his family's journey to Tiffin from Germany in his book.  There is also a section on his sister's Seewald family.

I WOULD LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU. All comments are welcome; however, if they are inappropriate, they will not be published. 

PLEASE post your e-mail in the comment section if you would like to network about a particular surname or topic. I will capture it for my use only and not include it when I publish your comment.

© 2012, copyright Linda Hughes Hiser

Farschman History--And the "C" stands for Charles

World War I Draft Registration of
AUGUST CHARLES FARSCHMAN

     For decades I have wondered what the middle name of August C. Farschman was--what was that initial "C"? Last night while noodling around ancestry.com, I saw one of those little green leaves on August's name and decided to click. Imagine my amazement when I saw that he has a World War I draft registration on which he had carefully written his middle name, Charles. WAHOO!!!

     August C. Farschman is the only name he used throughout his lifetime....on his marriage license, children's birth records, obituary,census reports, death records and tombstone. I have found numerous Clarence's in the Farschman family tree. In fact, my husband's father, a grandson to August, is named Clarence. This had lead me to believe that August's middle name was Clarence.

     After this astounding find on ancestry, I went a little "leaf crazy" and began clicking on all the various leaves that were showing up in my tree. I did find some new information; however, I do have to admit that now having the ability to actually fill in August's full name on my FTM database was the winner.

August Charles Farschman
1940's

August Charles Farschman
Born:  January 11, 1875 in Germany
Died:  November 19, 1950, Rural Vermillion Township, Erie County, Ohio.
Married: Amanda Agnes Kutza about 1898 in Lorain County, Ohio.

I WOULD LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU. All comments are welcome; however, if they are inappropriate, they will not be published.   

PLEASE post your e-mail in the comment section if you would like to network about a particular surname or topic. I will capture it for my use only and not include it when I publish your comment.

© 2012, copyright Linda Hughes Hiser