The One Lovely Blog Award--I'm awestruck! Or maybe aw shucks!

This has been quite a week for me. Three honors in two days have been a bit overwhelming. Maybe turning 62 last Friday was the charm!

THANK YOU to Cheryl over at Heritage Happens for bestowing The One Lovely Blog Award on my blog.

I also want to publicly send THANKS to Greta over at Greta’s Genealogy Bog for her listing of Flipside on her Showcase--Part 1 list. I want you to know Greta that I copied your kind words and hung it on my refrigerator!

And, earlier in the week, Lori over at Family Trees May Contain Nuts, sent me the Friendly Blogger award.

It is indeed heartwarming to know first, that someone out there is actually reading the blog and second, that they feel it deserves a shout out.

Cheryl and Greta are also members of Genabloggers. It is truly a warm and welcoming group and I am proud to be counted among the 400+ and growing club.

Now I have to figure out how to display the kudos on the side of my blog!

Passing along this award to seven other bloggers is always difficult. The ones I have chosen, who have not already received it are:

Exploring Almost Forgotten Gravesites in Ohio

Creating Pictures in My Mind

Grandma’s Stitches

Lineage Keeper

Ohio’s Yesterdays

Root Seek

Still Digging for Roots

Smile for the Camera--The Dog That Swam the Pond, maybe

The 13th edition of Smile for the Camera features all creatures great and small. Now Smile for the Camera is definitely throwing me a bone.

     I come from an animal family. Dogs and cats have been photographed, in abundance, since before I was born. There are so many photos of family pets that to choose one would be impossible.

     I decided to spotlight a dog that I have never met and have no idea what his/her name is. This pooch appears in photos taken in West Hartlepool, England and seemingly made it across the pond to Woodlawn, Pennsylvania. Did dogs immigrate or is this just an American, English dog wanna-be? If this canine boarded a ship, he would have come in 1907 or in 1921…which begs (no pun intended!) the question, was he too old to make the trip? Perhaps the Hughes/Olesen team just liked this breed of pup.

     Photos that I have found picture the dog with my paternal gg grandmother Ferdinanda Weiss Olesen and my paternal great grandmother Elizabeth Olesen Hughes.

Great Great Grandma Olesen
A photo postcard taken in
Hartlepool, England circa 1890's

Great Grandma Hughes
a photo postcard taken in West Hartlepool, England
circa 1890's

     Great Grandma Hughes in a rare photograph taken in, and I am venturing a guess here, Woodlawn, Pennsylvania. That would make it circa 1913-1921. If the photo was taken when my Great Grandparents came over and were living on the South Side of Pittsburgh, then we are talking 1907-1913.

Also o Flipside

-HUGHES, ELIZABETH OLESEN--Biography

-OLESEN, FERDINANDE WEISS--Biography

-OLESEN, FERDINANDE WEISS--Crossing the Pond 1920

-OLESEN, FERDINANDE WEISS--Festival of Postcards

-OLESEN, FERDINANDE WEISS Psalms Bible--Treasure Chest Thursday

-OLESEN, FERDINANDE WEISS—Tombstone Tuesday

Updated October 2022

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.

© 2009 copyright Linda Hughes Hiser

Wordless Wednesday--Virginia Bluebells

Unbelieveable--An Award!!!

What a surprise! After googling last night to see who is up for the Daytime Emmy Awards, I open my blog and find out that my B.C. (British Columbia) friend, Lori, has given me the Friendly Blogger 2009 award. To use a UK expression….I’m absolutely gobsmacked!!!

THANK YOU LORI !

Check out her blog at Family Trees May Contain Nuts. Lori writes about everything and with a humorous slant. I check out her blog daily just to put a smile on my face or have a good chuckle.

And now to pass the award along. I have so many blogs I follow but there are 5 that consistently leave me encouraging comments. I am a newbie to this blogging business and can use all the positive comments that I can muster.

And, now the envelope, please…..

There is Lori, but I can’t give the award back to her ;- )

Anne, my college roommate over at Tastes of Henry. Anne combines touching family and friends stories with a delicious recipe. She was also the one who pushed my buttons to begin blogging in the first place. When I first saw her blog, I said, “Linda, you can do that, too!”

Greta at Greta’s Genealogy Bog is a prolific and creative writer. She currently is blogging about her childhood school experiences along with other genealogy related topics. Her topics are filled with interesting research AND she has a cute little cat named pipsqueak!

Terri over at The Ties that Bind is another gifted writer and it is amazing what she can do with an old black and white photo! Terri colorizes old photos and gives life to the portrait. Terri blogs lately have stretched over several days--blogging in parts. Going Home--The Unexpected was a moving account of her father and uncle and currently her topic is Quest of a Gena-Holic .

Cheri blogs at Still Digging for Roots. She is one of my distant relatives and always keeps me in the loop with her latest research. Unfortunately, Cheri has been “out of commission” of late due to a new job. Her genealogy blogs are consistently well researched and full of photos.

Tombstone Tuesday--Elizabeth Ann Pool McClure

Elizabeth Ann is my paternal great great grand aunt. She was born May 24, 1840 on a farm on Aarons Creek near the Dorsey Settlement, in Monongalia County, (West) Virginia, the oldest child of William Lanham Pool and Anne Louise Frum¹.

Elizabeth attended a subscription school taught by the Scottish master, Christopher Nicholson, near the family farm².

On October 05, 1865 she married William Steele McClure in Monongalia County, West Virginia³.

The McClure’s raised nine children on their farm in the Morgan District, Monongalia County, West Virginia. They are: John Frum McClure, Oliver Lanham McClure, Martha Ann McClure, Mary Matilda McClure, Virginia Belle McClure, George Jerome McClure, James Sampson McClure, William Asby McClure, and Edson Woodville McClure⁴.

Elizabeth, known to family as Sis and Aunt Sis, was a devote member of the Rock Forge Methodist Church in Rock Forge, Monongalia County, West Virginia⁵.

She died at age 87 years 11 months on April 24, 1928 at Aaron’s Creek in the Morgan District, Monongalia County, West Virginia⁶. She is buried beside her husband of 54 years at East Oak Grove Cemetery in Morgantown, West Virginia⁷.

Notes

1. West Virginia Certificate of Death, (West Virginia Department of Health), Monongalia County #6757.

2. Robert Poole Wilkins, The Poole Family of Hampshire and Monongalia Counties, West Virginia, Grand Forks, North Dakota, 1988, page 31.

3. The New Dominion, Morgantown, West Virginia, Tuesday Morning, April 24, `928, page 12.

4. Wilkins, page 31-32.

5. Wilkins, photograph identification.

6. West Virginia Certificate of Death

7. East Oak Grove Cemetery, Morgantown, West Virginia, personal visit.

The Best Birthday Party Ever

I can’t help myself. I have to blog about the terrific birthday party that was planned for me by my son, Aric. He chose a restaurant that I have wanted to try for years—Cleveland’s very own Iron Chef Michael Symon’s, Tremont restaurant, Lolita.

Ten of us gathered Friday evening for a most excellent meal. When we arrived, chilling on the tables were two bottles of white wine, compliments of my manager at Chico’s, Tab. I was overwhelmed by her thoughtfulness—I work with the best gals ever!

After dinner there was a flurry of gifts. Chardonnay, gift cards to my favorite spa and, what every genealogist loves to read, a book on local cemeteries!

It has been some time since I have had an actual birthday party. This was so special because it was planned by my son and included family and friends. It was a perfect evening.

Lida Edna VanGilder Farrar

Lida is my paternal great grandaunt. She was born on April 26, 1873 in Morgantown, West Virginia, the daughter of John Oliphant VanGilder and Mary Louise Hill¹. She was one of 11 children born to the VanGilder’s.

Lida’s dream was to teach. Following her public schooling, she enrolled at West Virginia University and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1897². She and her sister, Emma, taught at the Union School in Easton, West Virginia, located north of Morgantown.

In 1902, Lida wrote a paper titled, 'The County School” and presented it at a teacher’s institute held at the Union School on January 17, 1902³. Lida emphasized in her paper the virtues of a country school education and how new, more advanced courses have been added over the years. She hoped that the teacher’s pay would keep pace with the city school teachers and more classes added would be added to the country school curriculum to keep pace with the city schools.

On July 23, 1902, Lida married Henry Theodore Farrar at Morgantown, West Virginia⁴. The Farrar’s had four children all born in Morgantown; Gara VanGilder, Joseph Hill, Sarah Elizabeth and Katherine Farrar.

By 1920, the Farrar family had relocated to North Alexander Township, Athens, Ohio, where Henry farmed⁵. In 1928, Henry and Lida sold their farm and moved to 138 North Lancaster Street in Athens. Henry was working as a carpenter in 1930⁶.

While living in Athens, Lida was very active in the local Methodist Church and the Temperance Union.

She died on June 15, 1946 in Athens, Ohio⁷. She is buried in Morgantown, West Virginia, but to date, I don’t know which cemetery.

Lida's signature from my great grandfather, George Ethelbert VanGilder's, autograph album. George was Lida's brother.

Notes

1. Ohio Department of Health Certificate of Death, State File Number 34228.

2. Monongalia County WV Archives History - Schools, West Virginia University, Classes Of 1890-1899, WVU internet archival history.

3. The Morgantown Weekly Post, February 6, 1902, page 2.

4. Monongalia County, West Virginia General Index to Marriages, Book 4, Page 602.

5. 1920 Ohio Federal Census, Athens, North Alexander Township, Athens County, ED 1, Sheet 3 B.

6. 1930 Ohio Federal Census, Athens, Athens County, ED 5-4, Sheet 5B.

7. The Morgantown Post, Morgantown, West Virginia, Monday Afternoon, June 17, 1946, page 2.