HAPPY VALENTINES DAY
FROM FLIPSIDE
Join me for a soda
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Friday, February 12, 2010
7th Festival of Postcards--Light--George Henry Hughes
Time for the 7th Edition of The Festival of Postcards featuring a scene of Light. Scenes – lit by the moon, neon or - lights of all kinds – street lights, headlights, lamps etc. or the play of light or objects as light as a feather, something that light-ens your heart, lights your way or lights your fire! Thank you to Evelyn over at A Canadian Family for hosting this event.
This postcard is part of my family photo postcard collection. George Henry Hughes is my paternal grandfather. Now you might wonder why it has been posted for the festival when the topic is "light". This is REALLY stretching it....the postcard photo was overexposed and was very light! Sorry, it is the best I can do. I suppose I could also say that the young people were outside sitting in the sunLIGHT when the photo was taken. I wish I knew more about where this photo postcard was taken. If it was a day camp or a weeklong one where the kids stayed overnight. I certainly was unaware that my great grandparents had the finances to send their son to summer camp. However, thinking upon it further, since my great grandfather was employed by Jones Laughlin Steel Company, perhaps the summer camp was company owned.
One of the neat findings is that my grandfather wrote a note on the back of the card to one of his grandmothers. My suspicion is that it was Granny Olesen, Wilhelmina Weiss Olesen, as she was a widow. If he was writing to his Hughes grandparents he would have addressed it to Grandma and Grandpa, as both were still alive. Apparently, the card was never sent and it is now one of my proud possessions.
© 2010, copyright Linda Hughes Hiser
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Happy Birthday Abe and My Brother, Ken
Today my brother Ken is......well, I probably shouldn't give that number out. He was born on February 12 at Camp Carson, Colorado where our Dad was stationed before he left for Korea. Okay, it was 1952, so you can figure out his age....lol
Following Mom's birthday on December 4, 1951, we left for Colorado to join Dad at Camp Carson. The day we drove to the train station in Pittsburgh, the snow was swirling; the drive was difficult. I can remember the train ride heading out west--my face pressed against the glass windows looking for cowboys.
Two months after we arrived, Ken was born in the base hospital. He nearly didn't make it. Dad went back to check on "our baby" soon after he was born and Ken wasn't breathing. Dad saved Ken's life on his birthday. Thank goodness Dad went back when he did and that he was a doctor.
Readers of Flipside know that Ken is a favorite traveling companion and always, yes always, indulges me in my genealogy and photography whims while on the road.....stop at a cemetery....no problem; walk around taking photos of store fronts.....a non issue; stopping in unusual places for a photo op....his pleasure.
We are a good duo.....I do the research and find the places to go and Ken puts it in motion and always adds to the excitement by pushing my idea even further. Ken's philosophy is to let the day unfold as it will. With that in mind, every excursion has one or more stops that become "special"....a bloggers dream!
We have enjoyed countless memories over the years and I look forward to many, many more.
© 2010, copyright Linda Hughes Hiser
Treasure Chest Thursday--Precious Little Dress
This precious little dress was made for me by my maternal grandmother, Martha Marie Frederick Stark. Judging from the size of the dress, I would guesstimate it to be circa 1948-1949. It has stood the test of time (60 years--ouch) showing only a few little wear spots in the yellow dotted swiss material.
I have mentioned in other blogs that my grandmother, affectionally named Teek by me, was a seamstress beyond compare. As explained to me by my mother, in the old days Teek would order dresses from Joseph Horne's in Pittsburgh and they would be delivered by truck--does anyone remember when a department store delivered ;-)
Teek would then cut a pattern from the dress and send it back--very creative! This little dress is sewn TOTALLY by hand--no sewing machine was used. Her precise little stitches are clearly visible when holding the dress--the tiny lace, the seams, the thin finished edge of the puffed sleeve.
Teek's signature on all dresses was the hand creweled flowers on the lapel or elsewhere on the piece. My mother, as she became older, hated those touches. It was fine when she was in elementary school; however, not appreciated when she was in high school. In fact, one of my mother's greatest delights was when she was able to go to a department store and purchase a "store bought" dress for the first time since her mom made all of her clothes.
Teek made all of my dresses, jumpers and skirts when I was in elementary school. They always had e-x-t-r-e-m-e-l-y long hems to be let out as I grew taller. As mentioned in last week's blog, she would also make a matching dress for my Ginny doll.
She made some of my clothes throughout my junior and senior high days. A vivid memory for me was in 1964, the beginning of my senior year in high school, coming home one day and taking scissors to several of those skirts. Someone had made fun of the length of the skirt I had worn, saying it was way too long. As a student planning to major in home ec in college, shortening a skirt was child's play! I never heard that comment again...lol
© 2010, copyright Linda Hughes Hiser
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Tombstone Tuesday--Wilhelmine Catherine Schwarz Stark
Wilhelmine Catherine Schwarz Stark (Wilma) is my maternal great grandmother. There is no known knowledge of her parents names....just stories that have been passed down through the generations. It is said that she came from Alsace-Lorraine to marry Charles Stark.
Recently a cousin sent me some old photos of Wilma as a young girl, perhaps before she married, and she was already living in the Pittsburgh area--Lawrenceville. Again, relying on old stories, there supposedly were other family living in that area; however, I have not been able to trace who they were.
Her background continues to be somewhat shrouded in mystery (which is fun!) and I have only the records from about 1880 forward to depend on for any picture of her life.
She married Charles Stark on February 6, 1878 in St. Louis Missouri. Why they traveled out of Pittsburgh to marry is anyone guess. Again, another mystery....the minister was one Charles Stark!
Wilma died on March 27, 1940 in Avalon, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania from broncho-pneumonia at the age of 88 years 7 months and 2 days.. She is buried beside her daughter, Dorothy Marie Stark Cooper, in Uniondale Cemetery, Section B 22-26, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. My mother told me that her father and his brother never spoke after their mother's death. It was my Grandfather Stark who decided his mother would be buried in Uniondale and his brother felt that their mother deserved a "better" resting place--whatever that means ;-)
Photograph of tombstone: Jeffrey Charles Hughes
© 2010, copyright Linda Hughes Hiser
Monday, February 8, 2010
Smile for the Camera 20th Edition--Valentine
Thank you to Shades of the Departed for hosting the 20th editon of Smile For The Camera. The word prompt for the 20th Edition of Smile For The Camera is "Valentine." Love is in the air, so celebrate with Smile by sharing a photograph of a Valentine; be that person or paper. The interpretation of Valentine is yours.
My parents, George VanGilder Hughes and Martha Jean Stark, attended school together from kindergarten through high school. It was a small school in a medium sized town outside Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania--Avalon.
From old high school newspapers that Mom saved (she was the editor) it appears that Mom and Dad did not attend their senior prom together. Perhaps their attraction bloomed after Dad had already invited another senior and he was already committed. They did date during the summer between graduation and college and then left for separate institutions--Dad to Washington & Jefferson in Washington, Pennsylvania and Mom to Wooster College in Wooster, Ohio.
They dated throughout their college years and married on November 23, 1943. Below is their engagement photograph.
I do believe I get my "pack rat" gene from my Mom. She saved many items--cards, letters, memorabilia. Her college items are carefully contained in a scrapbook. The Valentine's Day card and flowers were sent from my Dad to her at Wooster College on February 14, 1940, which would have been her freshman year.
© 2010, copyright Linda Hughes Hiser
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