For my birthday my wonderful fiancee bought me a drone. Want to fly over family cemeteries and post videos of the different ones my ancestors are interred in online. That way, even if people cant travel to the actual location, they can still "visit" virtually.
So, for the past month we have been practicing our flying. He is amazing at it! I can't seem to get the hang of it. On Sunday we decided to drive down to take the drone for a test drive over Wolfe's Cemetery in Union Bridge, MD. We drove down, set up, and poof! Even though it was working fine the night before and we charged the battery fully - the 2 front propellers wouldn't work at all! We had never had problems with them before, so it was odd. We drove the long 40 min car ride home practically in silence- both of us disappointed. Kristopher took it out in the back to diagnose and fix the problems. He came back into the house perplexed. "It works," he said unbelieving himself. Before I could thank him for fixing it. he said "I didn't do anything to it. It just works!"
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My Great Grandfather Welker Fisher Grimes was a part of the mandatory registration in 1917. I recently found this article on the mandatory registration in 1917, and found it interesting for several reasons. Hope you do to.
Article is taken from the front page of The Democratic Advocate (Westminster, MD) 1 Jun 1917. I received in the mail another small mystery. My cousin sent me a book of poetry that belonged to my Great Grandmother, Italy M Bond Grimes. It is a small blue book, its pages steeped in time and blush colored from it. There are two inscriptions on this 1929 revised edition. (The one on the right looks to me to be written from an ink-well, or from a calligraphy pen. The one on the left looks as if it was from a ballpoint pen. Neither styles of handwriting are ones that I am familiar with, therefore I do not believe that it is either Italy's nor Dick Grimes' writing. When was this book given to Italy? Who gave it to her? Why? So, who are these Taylors? Why did they give Italy this book of poetry? A quick Google search for Dr. Gilbert H Taylor comes up with hits from across the US- Kentucky, Arizona, Michigan, Delaware, Maryland, Louisiana, etc. But I need to focus my current search just to Pennsylvania for now. Why am I narrowing down my search to that state only? I am using the date of the publication (on the copyright page inside) as the first possible year she could have been given the book. Italy passed away in 1955, so that narrows the dates down even more and we get a specific time period to look at - 1929 to 1955. During that period in her life, Italy lived in Pennsylvania, so we will start where she lived and look at neighbors, friends, people in her social circle, fellow members of church, etc. In this case, we have an address to go off of, in New Wilmington, PA. The I see one successful entry with Dr. Gilbert H Taylor in New Wilmington, PA. I click on it and it identifies that the Dr. Gilbert Taylor Memorial Scholarship is available, but no information about the man himself. I turn to Ancestry.com, since I have a current subscription and can search historical records from the comfort of my home. Again I see records from Michigan, Delaware, Louisiana, and more states which I do not want to explore at this time. I scroll down the long list until I come across a Pennsylvanian yearbook. It says Dr. Gilbert H Taylor was born in 1929. That doesn't sound right, so I keep looking, but find nothing else that seems to fit. I go back to the yearbook. It is a digitized 1952 yearbook for Westminster College. Westminster College is a prestigious, intimate college that happens to be within commuting distance to Bessemer, PA (where Italy lived). I click on the link and a bemused gentleman sitting in a suit grins sideways at me. I look to the pages before and after the picture and discover that this yearbook was dedicated (above picture, right) to Dr. Gilbert H. Taylor! It has a some biographical info and identifies his standing as a professor and globe-traveler. BINGO! Now I know why there were earlier hits in Michigan, Maryland, etc. I have found the man- but what about the woman - Francis W Taylor? The dedication indirectly mentions Dr. Taylor has a wife. In the second to the last paragraph "the Taylors' pet cat Catus Hogus" but does not name her. The Westminster College yearbook from 1947 mentions Dr. Gilbert H. Taylor again, chairman of the department of ancient languages - but no Mrs. Taylor is mentioned. Time for a different approach. From the pictures in the 1947 and 1952 yearbooks Dr. Taylor is a balding man. From my research he has been teaching since the mid to late 1920s. I will use these approximates to make a guess at his age, and try to find a death certificate for some time after 1952. After some searching I found a Pennsylvanian death certificate! TYes, this is definitely the right Dr. Taylor, retired college professor, widow and resident of New Wilmington, PA. There she is- Francis Williams Taylor! So now that we have this info- we can look more closely at her. A quick search on Newspapers.com (I used a free trial offer - but you subscribe to their service for a monthly fee) revealed 2,883,814 matches for Dr. Gilbert H Taylor. Francis W Taylor turned up 7, 769, 782 matches. I narrowed the search results down to PA between 1929 and 1962. The results I got were not great. I searched for Dr. Taylor and found a newspaper listing of their marriage in 1943. She was a musician, worked in a bank and graduated from Westminster College. But who was she? Is she the reason Italy got that book of poetry? When did Francis pass away? More info will need to be researched and gathered on this topic.
I have the greatest cousins in the world. I love that I have heaps and heaps of them, sprinkled across the continental US like a trail of breadcrumbs to follow. Even if we don't see each other for ages, when we meet up again it's hugs and smiles and pleasantries. I love those cousins who are so close we text and call and write and plan meet ups. I love all my cousins! I wish I could break bread with them more often. And to those I haven't seen or heard of in too long- I miss you, more than you know.
My cousin has been kind enough to share with me some of our family's old postcards. She has been sending me little bundles of old postcards from the 1920s which belonged to my Great Grandma Italy. And, if you have read any posts prior to this one- you know I love my Great Grandmother very much. So these little bundles of the past are near and dear to my heart.
Often times the postcards come ripe with mysteries. Who are the people writing Easter Greetings to Italy? What does this scratchy handwriting say, exactly? Deciphering people's handwriting, especially from practically 100 years ago, is a puzzle in and of itself! The long standing mystery is - who is the person who calls himself "Pal"? I believe I have that mystery narrowed down to one of 3 people from pictures of Italy's friends from the Tuberculosis Sanatorium (hospital) - either 2 ladies or 1 very mysterious and very friendly man. But, I need more clues for to solve that one. The newest mystery is in the form of an initialed signature- S. E. Ruark addressed to Mrs. Italy Grimes. The postcard thanks my Great Grandmother for the package, and is postmarked 1923 from the State Sanatorium. My first thought was that Italy sent a nurse a package. The name seemed vaguely familiar to me, so I went to the photo album and looked for any pictures that said Ruark across the bottom. I didn't find any. Then, I looked on FamilySearch.org for the 1920 census and scanned for nurses and doctors. None. I went to the page where Italy's name appeared and looked at the names on the page around her name. On the top of the next page I found one - Ruark! But Anna E did not fit what I was looking for. I looked over the post card more closely. The initials were definitely S. E.- no mistaking that. I went back to the census record. Anna E Ruark was a 29 year old widow. Let's see what she was doing 1 census before, in 1910. In 1910 she was married, her husband was alive and she had 2 very young daughters - Vergie (only a couple months old) and Sophia (2). I went back to the 1920 census to confirm- YES. Virginia E (10) and Sophia E Ruark (12) were listed as patients with the other children in the Sanitarium in 1920! This postcard was most likely sent from Sophia E Ruark, which is why it thanked "Mrs. Italy Grimes" for the package. One mystery solved! Now... I wonder if I have an untitled picture of the Ruarks? hmm.. |
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