A Festival of Postcards--Wheels

Evelyn over at A Canadian Family Acadian and French-Canadian Genealogy is sponsoring a new carnival--A Festival of Postcards and this month's topic is wheels.


I am a collector of numerous items, however, postcards is not one of them. I am thrilled to have found a postcard photo of my Dad when he was about 2 years old, probably taken on the front porch of his grandparents house in Woodlawn, Pennsylvania. The date would be circa 1923 and there is my Dad, George VanGilder Hughes, driving his first set of wheels and from the smile on his precious little face, loving every minute of it. TOO CUTE!!

The Civil War Letter from Sampson Frum Pool

    

     Today my son received a civil war letter from a Gettysburg tour guide. Several weekends ago he and a group of family and friends hired this fellow to show them around the town of Gettysburg and hear history from a man who has lived his life in his family home in town. Apparently the tour guide told a compelling tale of the civil war letter written to his family telling where their relative was buried. The soldier, from the north, was buried beside a confederate. A map was included. Once the winter snow had melted, the family made the trip to remove the body and bring it back to Gettysburg for burial.

     My son was so thrilled to get a copy of the letter and the map. It was real documentation from another century. Of course I found it interesting, but hanging on the wall of our living room is OUR family’s civil war letter. Talk about real documentation! The letter was written for my paternal great great grandfather, Sampson Frum Pool while he was stationed in Martinsburg, Berkeley County, (West) Virginia, May 23, 1863.

     The letter came to me by a very circuitous route. I think I first heard of it at a family reunion around 1998. My Aunt Faith, who seems to have the bulk of her mother’s family, related items. Over the years she has slowly released them, primarily to me. Faith recalled that she had a civil war letter and had sent it to one of my cousins. It was to be part of a history report.

     You know how tenacious we genealogists can be…..talk about a dog with a bone! I probably drove two of my cousins crazy over the years with my pleas to locate that letter—to no avail.

     About three years ago, my cousin Phyllis and her new husband, moved from Kalamazoo to South Lyon, Michigan. One night around 9:00 the phone rang. It was Phil. I knew immediately when I heard her voice what she was going to say. She had found the civil war letter while she was unpacking a box from the recent move.

     I was so excited to have confirmation of the news and anxiously awaited the daily mail. Finally it was delivered. When I lifted the manila envelope from the mail box, I was heartsick to see that the flap was not sealed. With some fear and trepidation I looked inside. There was a handwritten note from Phil and thankfully, the civil war letter. How it made it to my mailbox is a mystery. Anywhere along the way from South Lyon to North Olmsted it could have fallen out of the envelope and been lost forever. We were definitely meant to have this treasured piece of our family history.


     The letter was written for my great great grandfather by another soldier, John W. Hall and addressed to his mother, my ggg grandmother, Ann Louise Frum Pool. It is interesting to read that Sampson was receiving mail from home and from his father, William Lanham Pool, who was also serving with a different company in the war. Although stationed in Martinsburg, Sampson’s detail was traveling by train between Hagerstown, Maryland and Winchester, Virginia. He lists the train as Charles M. Addison’s, who is perhaps the officer in charge or another soldier from Morgantown that the family knows. Sampson was in the "thick of the war".


     Great great grandfather is most concerned that his brother, Bill (William Asby Pool) purchase some farm equipment well before harvest or it will be sold out. He gives the following instructions for the care of his colt while he is away--The colt is to be put out in Dr. Camel’s pasture and not to be ridden.

     It is apparently difficult to get paper and envelopes for letter writing. I find his closing line so compassionate. “I send my love to all my inquiring friends and receive a good share for yourselves.”

     Perhaps our civil war letter does not have the intrigue of the Gettysburg tour guide, but it does give a snapshot into our great great grandfather’s service in the civil war and his home life. From my perspective….that’s compelling.

Wordless Wednesday--Visitor to the Bleeding Heart plant

If you have time, click on the photo to see a close up and personal view of this little fellow

Tombstone Tuesday--Walter William Frederick

Unfortunately little is known about my maternal grand uncle, Walter Frederick. He was born on October 2, 1871 in Franklin Square, Columbiana County, Ohio, the son of Alfred Frederick and Lucinda B. Orr. The only photograph I have is from the group shot of the Frederick children taken about 1885.

An obituary printed in an Garrett, Indiana newspaper, gives some insight into his character. He was a friendly and outgoing young man and extremely close to his family. This obit was sent to me years back by another Frederick researcher who is related to one of the cousin’s mentioned in the article. It was a lucky find for me.



Walter died at age 27, in Youngstown, Mahoning County, Ohio from what was called in the obituary a sudden onset virulent typhoid fever. I have not been able to locate his death certificate even using the online Ohio death certificate website. He is buried in the town of Columbiana, Columbiana County, Ohio in the Firestone Cemetery slightly in front of his parents.

Monday Moaning--The PA Turnpike=Highway Robbery!

This is one of those—I have to get this off my chest blogs. I beg your understanding ;- )

Today was the day I spent 10 hours doing what I lovingly ? call the Breezewood Transfer. Whenever my oldest son, who due to health reasons no longer drives, is coming from or going to visit his fiancée in the Maryland/DC area, we meet at the Breezewood exit of the PA turnpike.

I haven’t been on the pike since January, so I was absolutely shocked when I had to shell out an additional 75 cents when I made the drive from the Ohio line to the first exit at Cranberry. Then imagine my horror when I saw that they had also added an additional 2 dollars to the fare from that exit to Breezewood, making the roundtrip toll $23.75. The toll from Cleveland to the PA line is only $3.50 on a road that is almost three lanes the entire way.

Granted the mileage is around 85 miles in Ohio as opposed to 161 from the PA border to Breezewood, however figuring out the cost and mileage, Ohio is still the better bargain! Especially when you consider the shape of the PA pike. The majority of the road is a travesty--poor road conditions, twisting and turning lanes, tunnels with tiles falling off on the inside, etc. etc. They have added an additional lane at the Ohio line, but even though the lane has been completed for months, it is never open. Heading eastward, it seemed like every 20 miles we were squeezed down to one lane by orange cones only to come out of the one lane miles down the pike seeing NO road work in the coned lanes. Most disturbing.

Breezewood, PA--Crossroads of North and South on the Old Lincoln Highway

Fortunately, today should be the final Breezewood Transfer since financee, J-9, will be moving back to Cleveland in June. I think the better and cheaper method of heading down to the DC area from now on will be traveling on FREE interstates.


And now for the cup half full and genealogy related portion of this ridiculous blog.

While I was sitting in my car, waiting for my son in the parking lot of the Shell station in Breezewood, I thought I spied an old cemetery hidden on the hill in front of me. Once we had the cars unpacked and packed, I asked my son’s indulgence and we headed up the hill and down a short gravel road. There it was, a small, pioneer cemetery. No name was posted, but the tombstones were older and many had the “tree of life” carved on them. Unfortunately, I did not have my camera with me, so long story short….I just might have to shell out the money for a final trip down the pike to Breezewood, just to get photos of that cemetery, but the return trip will be by interstate.

Addendum: After checking out findagrave, I found out that the name of the cemetery is Ray's Hill Cemetery (old).

Carnival of Genealogy 72nd Edition--Mothers

The topic for the next edition of the Carnival of Genealogy will be: Mothers! Mother’s Day is right around the corner and this is the perfect time to honor your mother, grandmother, godmother, step mother, den mother, aunt, neighbor, or friend who happens to be a mother. If you’ve written about your own mother for the COG before, consider writing about another mom on your family tree. Let’s make all our moms famous! Creative Gene is hosting this edition.

IN MEMORY OF MY MOM, MARTHA JEAN STARK HUGHES

This will mark the 10th missed Mother’s Day with my own dear Mom. It is difficult to believe that it has been a decade since she slipped from our grasp. My Mom and I, like all parent to child relationships, had our ups and downs, our ins and outs, but as we got old (or older) together we became more like friends than parent and child.

Folks tell me that I remind them of her. That is truly a special compliment.

Mom passed from cancer on Christmas Eve, 1999. She fought a valiant battle with the dreaded disease and was courageous until the end. She set the bar for us when it comes to facing disease and death with dignity.

When I was cleaning out her condo, attached to a drawing of a cat, was a little typed piece of paper. Even ten years later, just reading it brings tears to my eyes.

"In one of the stars I shall be living

In one of them I shall be laughing

And so it will be as if all the stars

Were laughing when you look at the sky at night."

Antoine de Saint-Expery

On many a starry night, while sitting on my deck, with my usual glass of chardonnay, I look up and lift a glass to Mom. I know she looks down and wishes she was on the deck joining me in the wine, laughter and life.

Here’s to you Mom!

The glasses of wine are on the table in front of us!

Jeff and Mom at our first not so annual Christmas Carol singing

Other blogs about my Mom on Flipside:

Bound for Mom: Milepost # 1—A Journey of Firsts

Bound for Mom: Milepost #2—Roadside Café

Bound for Mom: Milepost #4—The World is Not Flat

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