Plans for posting stories related to Jamestown and early Virginia ancestors have not moved along as quickly as I had hoped. Our daughter loved Jamestown during last week's class visit and I think the bits of facts on our family connections to early Virginia helped put the history into context for her. Other family activities and work obligations have taken over available time. I am hoping to return to the early Virginia stories in October, but with international travel coming up, these posts might be delayed.
One item to highlight related to October's travel, the Library of Trinity College Dublin has announced that the Book of Kells is now free to view online. The Library also has a digital collection worth checking for researchers interested in Ireland. By DNA I'm 8% Irish, so I'm looking forward to this first visit to the country of my O'Brien ancestors.
I am also watching the weather to see if Hurricane Joaquin is going to put a damper on my quest to run a half marathon under 2 hours. I am entered in the Wilson Bridge Half for Sunday, so we'll see how it goes.
Wednesday, September 30, 2015
Monday, September 28, 2015
Another story from Boone County days
Tomorrow would have been my Gumpy's 95th birthday. While he passed in 2013, his stories live on. This is another extract from his collection of stories completed in 2000, titled "That's Life...and then some". The story below describes a visit by my Gumpy to the home of his Aunt Edna Florence Jones Hendrickson (twin sister of my great-grandfather Edgar Lawrence Jones) in Thorntown on a summer weekend in 1930. Gumpy was almost 10 years old at the time.
Chapter 5: Say Something Nice to the Ladies (1930)
Dedicated to my Aunt Edna
"If the reader had lived during the depression days on a Midwest farm with no electricity and no inside plumbling, then you would know the excitement and anticipation that I had when I got the opportunity to go to town and visit my uncles, aunts and cousins. Well, just such a day had arrived. It was mid-August and I was going to spend three days with my cousin Toad and he had a younger sister that I loved to tease."
"Going to Aunt Edna and Uncle Lee's house was great, nothing could be finer. They had electric lights, a radio so you could listen to Jack Armstrong, Kate Smith or Amos and Andy, and what a thrill it was to fill the huge bathtub with water and lay back and just soak. They even had a place where you could go to the toilet without going outside. Most of the streets in Thorntown were paved and they even had sidewalks.
That was what I enjoyed the most, being able to play with my cousin and so many new friends. They all had scooters, bikes, roller skates and all kinds of big city sidewalk toys. It sure was an improvement over our place in the country, where I only had dirt to play in, or play with my brother Bob and his stick horses.
The day was going along great. I could not wish for anymore. The sidewalk was full of kids and I had picked up some new playmates that I had not met before. One of my new friends was a boy that was a little older than I. He was such a nice guy and what impressed me was his ability to use big city words like I had not heard before. Each word he used was more impressive and I only wished to be able to speak with such authority and emphasis as my new friend did. The afternoon continued and I had to take a break to get a drink and also use that inside toilet that I told you about.
My Aunt Edna was entertaining a Ladies Aid church group on their large front porch. She had little tables all set up with flowers and her best tea set, and the ladies were setting in groups having cookies, tea or lemonade. What a pretty sight in the cool of the large front porch...Just as I was starting into the house my Aunt Edna stopped me and introduced me to the ladies as her nephew from the country. They smiled, and my Aunt said, "Keith, say something nice to the ladies."
I paused for a moment and then I thought this would be a perfect place to use some of those new words that my new friend was using so well. Without further adieu I said, "Hello you bastards," and ran on into the house.
My Aunt Edna was hot on my heels and without stopping she said, "Where did you get such language? You must have been playing with that bucktowner kid. Why, I declare, your mouth should be washed with soap. Now you get out there and apologize to those nice ladies at one and don't ever let me catch you playing with bucktowners again."
I hardly knew what had hit me, up till a few minutes ago everything was just fine. I dropped me head and went back out to the porch. They had just started to regain their composure. At my last sight of them, Ronald Leonard's wife was froze in shock with her mouth open as if she had a seizure of some kind. Aunt Emily choked on a cookie and was gasping for her breath. Dr. Spivey's wife coughed so hard that she busted a stave in her corset, and the Reverend Heimburger's wife was eating a cookie and drinking lemonade at the same time, she sputtered, inhaled, coughed and shot cookie and lemonade clear across the porch. She more resembled a John Deere tractor that had backfired while trying to start.
The party soon broke up and I was sent to bed, without supper or that hot bath I had looked forward to.
The next day was Sunday, I was not the most popular person and was not looking forward to my folks picking me up, nor was I looking forward to staying with my Aunt Edna. Such a dilemma.
As we got ready for Sunday School I was reminded to pay close attention to the lesson as it was going to be about Jesus when he was a little boy about my age.
I tried hard to concentrate on the Sunday School lesson, but all I could think about was "Say something nice to the ladies".
Aunt Edna "I am truly sorry".
Chapter 5: Say Something Nice to the Ladies (1930)
Dedicated to my Aunt Edna
"If the reader had lived during the depression days on a Midwest farm with no electricity and no inside plumbling, then you would know the excitement and anticipation that I had when I got the opportunity to go to town and visit my uncles, aunts and cousins. Well, just such a day had arrived. It was mid-August and I was going to spend three days with my cousin Toad and he had a younger sister that I loved to tease."
"Going to Aunt Edna and Uncle Lee's house was great, nothing could be finer. They had electric lights, a radio so you could listen to Jack Armstrong, Kate Smith or Amos and Andy, and what a thrill it was to fill the huge bathtub with water and lay back and just soak. They even had a place where you could go to the toilet without going outside. Most of the streets in Thorntown were paved and they even had sidewalks.
That was what I enjoyed the most, being able to play with my cousin and so many new friends. They all had scooters, bikes, roller skates and all kinds of big city sidewalk toys. It sure was an improvement over our place in the country, where I only had dirt to play in, or play with my brother Bob and his stick horses.
The day was going along great. I could not wish for anymore. The sidewalk was full of kids and I had picked up some new playmates that I had not met before. One of my new friends was a boy that was a little older than I. He was such a nice guy and what impressed me was his ability to use big city words like I had not heard before. Each word he used was more impressive and I only wished to be able to speak with such authority and emphasis as my new friend did. The afternoon continued and I had to take a break to get a drink and also use that inside toilet that I told you about.
My Aunt Edna was entertaining a Ladies Aid church group on their large front porch. She had little tables all set up with flowers and her best tea set, and the ladies were setting in groups having cookies, tea or lemonade. What a pretty sight in the cool of the large front porch...Just as I was starting into the house my Aunt Edna stopped me and introduced me to the ladies as her nephew from the country. They smiled, and my Aunt said, "Keith, say something nice to the ladies."
I paused for a moment and then I thought this would be a perfect place to use some of those new words that my new friend was using so well. Without further adieu I said, "Hello you bastards," and ran on into the house.
My Aunt Edna was hot on my heels and without stopping she said, "Where did you get such language? You must have been playing with that bucktowner kid. Why, I declare, your mouth should be washed with soap. Now you get out there and apologize to those nice ladies at one and don't ever let me catch you playing with bucktowners again."
I hardly knew what had hit me, up till a few minutes ago everything was just fine. I dropped me head and went back out to the porch. They had just started to regain their composure. At my last sight of them, Ronald Leonard's wife was froze in shock with her mouth open as if she had a seizure of some kind. Aunt Emily choked on a cookie and was gasping for her breath. Dr. Spivey's wife coughed so hard that she busted a stave in her corset, and the Reverend Heimburger's wife was eating a cookie and drinking lemonade at the same time, she sputtered, inhaled, coughed and shot cookie and lemonade clear across the porch. She more resembled a John Deere tractor that had backfired while trying to start.
The party soon broke up and I was sent to bed, without supper or that hot bath I had looked forward to.
The next day was Sunday, I was not the most popular person and was not looking forward to my folks picking me up, nor was I looking forward to staying with my Aunt Edna. Such a dilemma.
As we got ready for Sunday School I was reminded to pay close attention to the lesson as it was going to be about Jesus when he was a little boy about my age.
I tried hard to concentrate on the Sunday School lesson, but all I could think about was "Say something nice to the ladies".
Aunt Edna "I am truly sorry".
Thursday, September 24, 2015
School Days at Sugar Plains
This is an extract of Chapter 1 from my Gumpy's self-published book of stories called "That's Life...and then some" (2000). The chapter is "School Days at Sugar Plains, 1925-1928", and was dedicated to his Aunt Emily Couger and Olive Spivey. With our youngest currently in first grade, it is an interesting read for me to see the differences between the school experience of my Gumpy in comparison with our son today.
"I tell this story, because the days of the one room brick school house are past, but it was in just such a school that I started. Sugar Plains school was a little red brick building about five miles west of Thorntown, Indiana on the old Pike that is now called road 47. The school set among a large sugar maple woods not more than a hundred yards from the Sugar Plains Friends Church and cemetery. It was a perfect place for a school and a natural setting for a playground. My mother had gone to the same school in her youth and I would guess the school to be around a hundred years old. The old school has now been converted into a permanent residence.
Our playground had a teetertotter and a swing that hung from a large maple tree. The water supply was a hand pump and the toilet was an outside privy, one for the boys and one for the girls, and there was a big bell to signal the school kids that class was about to start. The school had two teachers, my Aunt Emily was the main teacher and Olive Spivey was the apprentice teacher. My Aunt Emily had graduated from high school and had taken a six week course to prepare her to teach school. Of course, several summers after that for a few years she was required to take additional schooling in order to continue teaching. These teachers were dedicated and sincere, and in all probability had better teaching skills than many modern day teachers with four year degrees.
In fact, my Aunt Emily made a career of teaching, and later in her life she was honored as the teacher of the year for Indiana, and many former students came for her testimonial dinner and reunion. Some had become distinguished citizens and leaders in the community and industry. One former student was Eugene Beesley, the former President of Eli Lilly Company, a most prestigious pharmaceutical company. Olive Spivey continued her career as a teacher and was also often honored.
I always felt that schools of this kind had many advantages over our modern day schools. They certainly did not have the discipline problems of today's schools, and maybe that's because of the close family like relationship that was fostered in the old one room school. In those days school was fun and something you looked forward to, while at the same time it was no nonsense and well disciplined.
A typical school day started with all eight grades meeting in one room, possibly 25 or 30 students. The class stood up and pledged allegiance to the flag. All the students lowered their heads and said a silent prayer. After that we sang a song or two while the teacher played the piano. Next we had spelling. While the first grade was asked to spell cat or dog, the more advanced students were asked to spell more complicated words like Mississippi or Tennessee. The same held true for arithmetic. While I was learning to add 2+2 the more advanced were working on fractions and long division. All this being done in the same room at the same time, where you progressed at your own pace to more difficult learning levels. It was hard to tell when you passed from one grade to the other. Like I said, school was fun, our teacher frequently planned hikes along Wolf Creek where the teaching process never stopped. We were taught how to identify different trees, birds and flowers. The boys were exploring under the rocks looking for frogs, crawdads and snapping turtles to tease the girls with. Aunt Emily always had a new game to play. Sometimes it was fox and geese or it could have been Annieover.
As the school year progressed from fall to winter and then to early spring, I always looked forward to February and March when the sap started to run in the sugar maple trees. The huge maple trees were tapped and sometimes two or three buckets were hung on each tree to catch the sap. Later in the day a horse pulled a large sled with wooden barrels to collect the sap and take it back to the sugar camp to be boiled down. It took 40 or 50 gallons of maple sap to make one gallon of maple syrup. Sometimes they cooked it down to hard maple candy and this was a special treat that all the kids looked forward to. I ask you, how many modern schools can provide such a learning experience? In fact, most kids today would tell you that maple syrup was a factory product, or maybe just came from the grocery store.
Back in the schoolroom we had a big potbelly wood stove that sat in the middle of the room. It was a special privilege to be selected as the boy to keep the fire going. It was a job that the older boys had to earn by being an outstanding student.
Some of the older girls were proud to be chosen as the cloak room helpers too. They kept order among students and helped the younger kids with putting on coats, mittens and overshoes. Sometimes this was a mad scramble and it was easy to get mixed up and put on two left overshoes, while another kid wondered why he suddenly had nothing, but two right boots. Eventually it was all straightened out and we all went out to play in the new snow. There is no way to compare this with a modern day gym class where all the students are in uniform, lined up like soldiers, jumping up and down, moving their arms in all directions.
Everyone as well as the teacher brought a lunch bucket from home, but on special occasions the teacher would bring a huge pot of soup from home home and set it on top of the stove where it would simmer and be ready to serve at noon and every one would have a cup of hot soup with their lunch. Sometimes I think my Aunt Emily was the originator of the school hot lunch program, and hers was not subsidized by the Federal government.
Discipline was very seldom a problem, but when it was necessary the victim had to stand in the corner in front of the class. If more severe punishment was required they were sent to the cloak room to wait for a spanking after school. Usually the long wait was sufficient and the humiliation took care of the matter. The teacher sent home a note to the parents and the parents cooperated with the school and took care of the problem in the privacy of their home.
Our transportation to and from school was a Ford Model T school hack, they did not call it a school bus in those days since it was small and only carried 10 to 15 students or less. Sometimes it could just barely make it through the snow and mud. The kids that were within a mile or so would walk and in some cases would hitch a ride with a neighbor, or some generous person that was going that way. For a while my brother and I would ride to school with Carl Crawford, a neighbor boy, who was in high school and drove an old car. He would drop us off at school and continue on to Thorntown High School.
When the weather was bad we would walk down the road a short distance and wait at the Reverend Hester's house to be picked up after school. One day while waiting for our ride I was in the Reverend's study just diddling around with some papers on his desk. I proceeded to write my name in all of the available space on the paper. How was I to know that this was his sermon he had prepared for the next Sunday? Several years later I learned of his surprise when he looked at his notes as he was about to give his sermon and all he could see was "Keith Jones Keith Jones Keith Jones" scribbled all over his sermon.
School was from 8 o'clock in the morning till 4 o'clock in the afternoon. Our evenings were taken up with farm chores and plenty of homework to last till bedtime or until the kerosene lamps burned out. Looking back on this experience I am glad to have had the opportunity to attend a school like this and I especially proud to have had dedicated teachers like my Aunt Emily and Olive Spivey."
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| First Grade class at Sugar Plains, Thorntown, Indiana. Abt 1925. |
"I tell this story, because the days of the one room brick school house are past, but it was in just such a school that I started. Sugar Plains school was a little red brick building about five miles west of Thorntown, Indiana on the old Pike that is now called road 47. The school set among a large sugar maple woods not more than a hundred yards from the Sugar Plains Friends Church and cemetery. It was a perfect place for a school and a natural setting for a playground. My mother had gone to the same school in her youth and I would guess the school to be around a hundred years old. The old school has now been converted into a permanent residence.
Our playground had a teetertotter and a swing that hung from a large maple tree. The water supply was a hand pump and the toilet was an outside privy, one for the boys and one for the girls, and there was a big bell to signal the school kids that class was about to start. The school had two teachers, my Aunt Emily was the main teacher and Olive Spivey was the apprentice teacher. My Aunt Emily had graduated from high school and had taken a six week course to prepare her to teach school. Of course, several summers after that for a few years she was required to take additional schooling in order to continue teaching. These teachers were dedicated and sincere, and in all probability had better teaching skills than many modern day teachers with four year degrees.
In fact, my Aunt Emily made a career of teaching, and later in her life she was honored as the teacher of the year for Indiana, and many former students came for her testimonial dinner and reunion. Some had become distinguished citizens and leaders in the community and industry. One former student was Eugene Beesley, the former President of Eli Lilly Company, a most prestigious pharmaceutical company. Olive Spivey continued her career as a teacher and was also often honored.
I always felt that schools of this kind had many advantages over our modern day schools. They certainly did not have the discipline problems of today's schools, and maybe that's because of the close family like relationship that was fostered in the old one room school. In those days school was fun and something you looked forward to, while at the same time it was no nonsense and well disciplined.
A typical school day started with all eight grades meeting in one room, possibly 25 or 30 students. The class stood up and pledged allegiance to the flag. All the students lowered their heads and said a silent prayer. After that we sang a song or two while the teacher played the piano. Next we had spelling. While the first grade was asked to spell cat or dog, the more advanced students were asked to spell more complicated words like Mississippi or Tennessee. The same held true for arithmetic. While I was learning to add 2+2 the more advanced were working on fractions and long division. All this being done in the same room at the same time, where you progressed at your own pace to more difficult learning levels. It was hard to tell when you passed from one grade to the other. Like I said, school was fun, our teacher frequently planned hikes along Wolf Creek where the teaching process never stopped. We were taught how to identify different trees, birds and flowers. The boys were exploring under the rocks looking for frogs, crawdads and snapping turtles to tease the girls with. Aunt Emily always had a new game to play. Sometimes it was fox and geese or it could have been Annieover.
As the school year progressed from fall to winter and then to early spring, I always looked forward to February and March when the sap started to run in the sugar maple trees. The huge maple trees were tapped and sometimes two or three buckets were hung on each tree to catch the sap. Later in the day a horse pulled a large sled with wooden barrels to collect the sap and take it back to the sugar camp to be boiled down. It took 40 or 50 gallons of maple sap to make one gallon of maple syrup. Sometimes they cooked it down to hard maple candy and this was a special treat that all the kids looked forward to. I ask you, how many modern schools can provide such a learning experience? In fact, most kids today would tell you that maple syrup was a factory product, or maybe just came from the grocery store.
Back in the schoolroom we had a big potbelly wood stove that sat in the middle of the room. It was a special privilege to be selected as the boy to keep the fire going. It was a job that the older boys had to earn by being an outstanding student.
Some of the older girls were proud to be chosen as the cloak room helpers too. They kept order among students and helped the younger kids with putting on coats, mittens and overshoes. Sometimes this was a mad scramble and it was easy to get mixed up and put on two left overshoes, while another kid wondered why he suddenly had nothing, but two right boots. Eventually it was all straightened out and we all went out to play in the new snow. There is no way to compare this with a modern day gym class where all the students are in uniform, lined up like soldiers, jumping up and down, moving their arms in all directions.
Everyone as well as the teacher brought a lunch bucket from home, but on special occasions the teacher would bring a huge pot of soup from home home and set it on top of the stove where it would simmer and be ready to serve at noon and every one would have a cup of hot soup with their lunch. Sometimes I think my Aunt Emily was the originator of the school hot lunch program, and hers was not subsidized by the Federal government.
Discipline was very seldom a problem, but when it was necessary the victim had to stand in the corner in front of the class. If more severe punishment was required they were sent to the cloak room to wait for a spanking after school. Usually the long wait was sufficient and the humiliation took care of the matter. The teacher sent home a note to the parents and the parents cooperated with the school and took care of the problem in the privacy of their home.
Our transportation to and from school was a Ford Model T school hack, they did not call it a school bus in those days since it was small and only carried 10 to 15 students or less. Sometimes it could just barely make it through the snow and mud. The kids that were within a mile or so would walk and in some cases would hitch a ride with a neighbor, or some generous person that was going that way. For a while my brother and I would ride to school with Carl Crawford, a neighbor boy, who was in high school and drove an old car. He would drop us off at school and continue on to Thorntown High School.
When the weather was bad we would walk down the road a short distance and wait at the Reverend Hester's house to be picked up after school. One day while waiting for our ride I was in the Reverend's study just diddling around with some papers on his desk. I proceeded to write my name in all of the available space on the paper. How was I to know that this was his sermon he had prepared for the next Sunday? Several years later I learned of his surprise when he looked at his notes as he was about to give his sermon and all he could see was "Keith Jones Keith Jones Keith Jones" scribbled all over his sermon.
School was from 8 o'clock in the morning till 4 o'clock in the afternoon. Our evenings were taken up with farm chores and plenty of homework to last till bedtime or until the kerosene lamps burned out. Looking back on this experience I am glad to have had the opportunity to attend a school like this and I especially proud to have had dedicated teachers like my Aunt Emily and Olive Spivey."
Wednesday, September 23, 2015
Pope in DC
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| Photo by Patrick Jones. 17th & G Street, DC. 23 Sep 2015. |
Pope Francis brought a welcome message and touched on immigration in his opening remarks, stating "As the son of an immigrant family, I am happy to be a guest in this country, which was largely built by such families. I look forward to these days of encounter and dialogue, in which I hope to listen to, and share, many of the hopes and dreams of the American people."
During the Pope's parade through DC, he had a powerful moment with a 5-year old girl who carried a letter and a t-shirt in support of immigrants. I am interested to see how the rest of the visit goes, including tomorrow's address to Congress.
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| Source: AP Photo, Twitter. |
Tuesday, September 22, 2015
Boone County Posts
An inquiry from a writer working on a local history book on Boone County, Indiana has prompted me to do a recap of previous posts with my family connections to the county. This is a slight detour from my current look back at Jamestown and early Virginia links before our 4th grader visits the historic area at the end of the week. I am still planning to have more on the Read family before Friday.
This inquiry has also reminded me to post a few more stories from my Gumpy's book compiled in 2000, "That's Life...and then some". Look for those stories soon.
Previous posts related to Boone County, Indiana:
- Sarah's quilt (20 Aug 2015)
- Putting a face to the name (18 Aug 2015)
- Setting Up the Next Generation (5 May 2015)
- 63 Acres in Boone County (4 May 2015)
- Funeral Notice 1976 (7 Aug 2013)
- Marriage License for Edgar and Alma Jones (3 Aug 2013)
- A postcard between cousins (5 May 2013)
- Sepia Saturday - Allman Family Portraits (4 May 2013)
- Sunday's Obituary - Keith DeWitt Jones (28 Apr 2013)
- Wedding Photo for Ura and Emma Heaton Allman (28 Apr 2013)
- Sepia Saturday - Wrangling the Farm Animals (9 Feb 2013)
- Those Places Thursday - The Outhouse or Privy (7 Feb 2013)
- Travel Tuesday - The Power of Wind (29 Jan 2013)
- Armstrong Land Found (23 Oct 2012)
- Obituary for Sarah Ellen Armstrong Jones (12 Sep 2012)
- Sunday's Obituary - Easter Vail Armstrong (8 Sep 2012)
- Military Monday - Draft Cards for Edgar Jones (9 Jul 2012)
- Recapping the Jones Line (8 Jul 2012)
- First Grade, Thorntown (19 Jun 2012)
- WWII Draft Card for Arthur Jones (19 Jun 2012)
- An Earlier Arrival in Boone County (16 Jun 2012)
- Wordless Wednesday - See Rock City (artwork by my Gumpy, Keith D. Jones) (16 May 2012)
- Charles John Oyler (28 Apr 2012)
- Agnes Lydia Allman (27 Apr 2012)
- Emily Rachel Davis (19 Apr 2012)
- William Gilbert Daniel (17 Apr 2012)
- Easter Vail Armstrong (4 Apr 2012)
- Sarah Melissa Jones Daniel (21 Mar 2012)
- Sarah Ellen Armstrong Jones (5 Mar 2012)
- Mappy Monday - David Armstrong in Boone County, Indiana (27 Feb 2012)
- Wordless Wednesday - Agnes & Charles Oyler (15 Feb 2012)
This inquiry has also reminded me to post a few more stories from my Gumpy's book compiled in 2000, "That's Life...and then some". Look for those stories soon.
Previous posts related to Boone County, Indiana:
- Sarah's quilt (20 Aug 2015)
- Putting a face to the name (18 Aug 2015)
- Setting Up the Next Generation (5 May 2015)
- 63 Acres in Boone County (4 May 2015)
- Funeral Notice 1976 (7 Aug 2013)
- Marriage License for Edgar and Alma Jones (3 Aug 2013)
- A postcard between cousins (5 May 2013)
- Sepia Saturday - Allman Family Portraits (4 May 2013)
- Sunday's Obituary - Keith DeWitt Jones (28 Apr 2013)
- Wedding Photo for Ura and Emma Heaton Allman (28 Apr 2013)
- Sepia Saturday - Wrangling the Farm Animals (9 Feb 2013)
- Those Places Thursday - The Outhouse or Privy (7 Feb 2013)
- Travel Tuesday - The Power of Wind (29 Jan 2013)
- Armstrong Land Found (23 Oct 2012)
- Obituary for Sarah Ellen Armstrong Jones (12 Sep 2012)
- Sunday's Obituary - Easter Vail Armstrong (8 Sep 2012)
- Military Monday - Draft Cards for Edgar Jones (9 Jul 2012)
- Recapping the Jones Line (8 Jul 2012)
- First Grade, Thorntown (19 Jun 2012)
- WWII Draft Card for Arthur Jones (19 Jun 2012)
- An Earlier Arrival in Boone County (16 Jun 2012)
- Wordless Wednesday - See Rock City (artwork by my Gumpy, Keith D. Jones) (16 May 2012)
- Charles John Oyler (28 Apr 2012)
- Agnes Lydia Allman (27 Apr 2012)
- Emily Rachel Davis (19 Apr 2012)
- William Gilbert Daniel (17 Apr 2012)
- Easter Vail Armstrong (4 Apr 2012)
- Sarah Melissa Jones Daniel (21 Mar 2012)
- Sarah Ellen Armstrong Jones (5 Mar 2012)
- Mappy Monday - David Armstrong in Boone County, Indiana (27 Feb 2012)
- Wordless Wednesday - Agnes & Charles Oyler (15 Feb 2012)
Monday, September 21, 2015
Half Marathon Complete
Yesterday I completed my first half marathon, running in the Navy Air Force Half Marathon in Washington DC. While I was hoping to go under 2 hours, I am still really happy with the result. I finished in 2:01.30. My 10 mile time was 1:32.10, 3 minutes faster than my time in April's GW Parkway Classic and I negative split the second 5 miles of the race.
I now have some motivation for next year to try to go under 2 hours. Right now it is hard to imagine extending this race another 13.1 miles for a full marathon. The Navy Air Force Half has the extra benefit of supporting the Morale, Welfare & Recreation (MWR) mission for the Navy and Air Force, so it is great that over 6000+ runners contributed to supporting our active duty personnel and their families.
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| Photo by A. Jones. Me post-race. 20 Sept 2015. |
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| Photo by Patrick Jones. Pre-race before the start line. |
Friday, September 18, 2015
Celebrating the Birthday Girl
This week we celebrated Allison's birthday with a bucket list dinner at Jose Andres' minibar in DC. It was an amazing, over-the-top culinary experience, and one we'll remember for a long time.
For the dinner, groups of six are seated in the kitchen and get to watch the talented chefs create mini-courses and tastes. I don't have Instagram-worthy pictures of the various selections. She loved it and we had a great time.
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| Pre-dinner at minibar. 16 Sept 2015. |
Tuesday, September 15, 2015
Hispanic Heritage Month
Hispanic Heritage Month runs each September, from the 15th through the 15th of October. Each year since the start of this blog I have run a commemorative post (see last year's post at Hispanic Heritage Month Begins). The official US government page for information on the month can be found at HispanicHeritageMonth.gov.
The undated photo above shows my Granny, Lydia Campuzano, and one of her brothers, likely at the Saguaro National Monument near Tucson, Arizona. I suspect the photo was from the early 1940s, given the date of other photos from around the same time. My Granny and all her siblings were the first generation of this side of the family born in the United States. As with Immigrant Heritage Month, it is important to remember the contributions that people of Latin American and Hispanic descent have made to the US.
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| Source: Patty Marple. My Granny & her brother, Tucson, AZ. |
Source Material
While reading various websites and citations on Nicolas Martiau and his arrival in Virginia, I have found several old books which provide useful background. Three sources are worth featuring here, and these are available in online formats. First, the Hathi Trust has a copy of John Baer Stoudt's Nicolas Martiau: The Adventurous Huguenot (1932). The second and third books were found on the FamilySearch website: Adventurers of Purse and Person, Virginia 1607-1625, compiled and edited by Annie Lash Jester (1956), and Jonathan Kennon Smith's book (cited in Sunday's post). Stoudt's book includes a reprint of a letter written by Martiau to Henry, Earl of Huntington on 12 December 1624. The letter includes Martiau's signature:
Martiau sent Huntington a gift of tobacco and sassafras from the colony. The Lester book contains a reprint and translation of Martiau's letter.
In 1630, Martiau received a land patent for 1300 acres. This territory became Yorktown. A map from the Stoudt book provides a good visual of the plantation.
The Stoudt, Lester and Kennon books also provide quite a bit of detail on the arrival of George Read in the Virginia colony. I will describe his role in the next post.
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| Source: Stoudt, Hathi Trust. |
Martiau sent Huntington a gift of tobacco and sassafras from the colony. The Lester book contains a reprint and translation of Martiau's letter.
In 1630, Martiau received a land patent for 1300 acres. This territory became Yorktown. A map from the Stoudt book provides a good visual of the plantation.
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| Source: Stoudt, page 58. |
The Stoudt, Lester and Kennon books also provide quite a bit of detail on the arrival of George Read in the Virginia colony. I will describe his role in the next post.
Sunday, September 13, 2015
Another early arrival
Tracing the Read family back to Virginia provides a connection to a famous early ancestor, George Washington's earliest emigrant ancestor. My 10th-great-grandfather Nicolas Martiau arrived in Jamestown in August 1620, a year after Thomas Key. Nicolas is also known as the "Father of Yorktown". There are likely to be tens of thousands of people today who are descended from Nicolas, so I know I am not alone in sharing a connection with him. After all, there is a Nicolas Martiau Descendant Association.
Nicolas was born on Ile de Ré, France in 1591. He later removed to England with the Huguenot community. He became educated in England, and associated with the Huntington family. From the notes of Jonathan Kennon Smith (see book Captain Nicolas Martiau on FamilySearch), Nicolas was affiliated with the Huguenot church located on Threadneedle Street in London. In 1615, he was a sponsor in the baptism of Richard Toche, son of Denis and Peretta Toche.
According to the Jamestown Society, in 1619 the Virginia Company was seeking engineers who could help raise fortifications in the colony. "The Earl of Huntington engaged at his own expense two engineers, one ...a reputably skilled French captain who had been long in England, Nicolas Martiau. Huntington specifically engaged them to act as his attorneys in establishing his lands in Virginia. To that end he saw that Martiau was naturalized, a necessary qualification to own land, vote or hold office in the colony, and he provided him with a life interest in some lands of the Huntington estate" (see http://www.jamestowne-wash-nova.org/NicholasMartiau.htm). Kennon Smith's research disputes the fact that Martiau was sent as a engineer to work on the defenses of the colony.
In August 1620, Nicolas arrived on the Francis Bona Ventura at Jamestown. He is credited with designing the fence defenses which protected the colony from Powhatan attacks in 1621/1622. The Wikipedia entry states that this action gained him the title "Master Engineer Fences", although again this is disputed. It is clear that Nicolas was a captain of a militia unit sent to Falling Creek, located on the James River. Captain Martiau is mentioned in a record dated 7 March 1623 as being at Falling Creek.
In 1623, Nicolas was elected to the House of Burgesses, representing Elizabeth City.
In 1624/25, Nicolas married Jane Berkeley, widow of Lt. Edward Berkeley. They had three daughters, Elizabeth, Mary and Sarah, and a son Nicolas. Martiau and family settled in Kiskyiake (which became Yorktown), and he was elected as burgess in 1631. Martiau patented large swaths of land in York County and became a prominent citizen in Yorktown. He kept the Earl of Huntington informed of his progress in the colony and sent regular letters back to England.
After the death of Jane, in 1646 Nicolas married Isabella, widow of Robert Felgate and George Beech.
The will of Nicolas Martiau was signed on 1 March 1656, and proven in court on 24 April 1657.
Nicolas Martiau and family are buried at Grace Episcopal Church in Yorktown, Virginia. Nicolas' daughter Elizabeth Martiau and husband George Read (my 9th-great-grandparents) are now buried in the plot next to the Martiau family. Their headstones were uncovered in 1936 during street regrading near the church, and these were moved into the cemetery. For more on Nicolas and his holdings in Yorktown, see http://www.nicolasmartiau.org/yorktown/.
I will have more on Nicolas, and his son-in-law George Read, in a subsequent post.
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| Nicolas Martiau. Source: Findagrave, photo by Daniel Estefano. |
Nicolas was born on Ile de Ré, France in 1591. He later removed to England with the Huguenot community. He became educated in England, and associated with the Huntington family. From the notes of Jonathan Kennon Smith (see book Captain Nicolas Martiau on FamilySearch), Nicolas was affiliated with the Huguenot church located on Threadneedle Street in London. In 1615, he was a sponsor in the baptism of Richard Toche, son of Denis and Peretta Toche.
According to the Jamestown Society, in 1619 the Virginia Company was seeking engineers who could help raise fortifications in the colony. "The Earl of Huntington engaged at his own expense two engineers, one ...a reputably skilled French captain who had been long in England, Nicolas Martiau. Huntington specifically engaged them to act as his attorneys in establishing his lands in Virginia. To that end he saw that Martiau was naturalized, a necessary qualification to own land, vote or hold office in the colony, and he provided him with a life interest in some lands of the Huntington estate" (see http://www.jamestowne-wash-nova.org/NicholasMartiau.htm). Kennon Smith's research disputes the fact that Martiau was sent as a engineer to work on the defenses of the colony.
In August 1620, Nicolas arrived on the Francis Bona Ventura at Jamestown. He is credited with designing the fence defenses which protected the colony from Powhatan attacks in 1621/1622. The Wikipedia entry states that this action gained him the title "Master Engineer Fences", although again this is disputed. It is clear that Nicolas was a captain of a militia unit sent to Falling Creek, located on the James River. Captain Martiau is mentioned in a record dated 7 March 1623 as being at Falling Creek.
In 1623, Nicolas was elected to the House of Burgesses, representing Elizabeth City.
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| Source: Journals of the House of Burgesses of Virginia. |
After the death of Jane, in 1646 Nicolas married Isabella, widow of Robert Felgate and George Beech.
The will of Nicolas Martiau was signed on 1 March 1656, and proven in court on 24 April 1657.
Nicolas Martiau and family are buried at Grace Episcopal Church in Yorktown, Virginia. Nicolas' daughter Elizabeth Martiau and husband George Read (my 9th-great-grandparents) are now buried in the plot next to the Martiau family. Their headstones were uncovered in 1936 during street regrading near the church, and these were moved into the cemetery. For more on Nicolas and his holdings in Yorktown, see http://www.nicolasmartiau.org/yorktown/.
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| Source: NicolasMartiau.org. |
Saturday, September 12, 2015
Revisiting Thomas Key
Our 4th grader's field trip to Jamestown is coming up fast, so I am accelerating my look back at Virginia ancestors who were early arrivals in the Colony. Back in February 2012, in my post on Elizabeth Key Grinstead, I included some information on her father, Thomas Key. This is an update focusing on Thomas' arrival and early years before the birth of Elizabeth about 1630.
Thomas Key arrived in Jamestown in June 1619 on the Prosperous. It looks like he settled into Charles Cittie (Charles City County). The first African slaves arrived in Jamestown around the same time.
Thomas survived the Powhatan massacre of 1621/1622, when 347 of 1240 white inhabitants of the colony were killed (according to Cavaliers and Pioneers: Abstracts of Virginia Land Patents and Grants, 1623-1800).
Thomas appears on the muster of 21 January 1624 in Chaplain's Choice, Charles Cittie with wife Sarah, who had arrived in 1622 with Rowland Truelove's Company. Thomas likely met and married Sarah after she arrived in the colony. In 1624, they would have been two of the twenty-four people living at Chaplain's Choice plantation. According to the Virtual Jamestown website, Thomas had a boat, a pistol, 23 bushels of corn, and 6 poultry.
Sarah Key must have died before December 1628, as Thomas married a second wife, Martha, by 2 December 1628.
I am looking over the Library of Virginia's online records to see if there might be more on Thomas Key during these early years.
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| Source: NYPL Digital Collection. |
Thomas survived the Powhatan massacre of 1621/1622, when 347 of 1240 white inhabitants of the colony were killed (according to Cavaliers and Pioneers: Abstracts of Virginia Land Patents and Grants, 1623-1800).
Thomas appears on the muster of 21 January 1624 in Chaplain's Choice, Charles Cittie with wife Sarah, who had arrived in 1622 with Rowland Truelove's Company. Thomas likely met and married Sarah after she arrived in the colony. In 1624, they would have been two of the twenty-four people living at Chaplain's Choice plantation. According to the Virtual Jamestown website, Thomas had a boat, a pistol, 23 bushels of corn, and 6 poultry.
Sarah Key must have died before December 1628, as Thomas married a second wife, Martha, by 2 December 1628.
I am looking over the Library of Virginia's online records to see if there might be more on Thomas Key during these early years.
Friday, September 11, 2015
Thursday, September 10, 2015
The Virginians
With a 4th grader in the household, I am reminded that during this school year they will cover Virginia history. There are many Virginia connections in our family tree, so I hope to highlight these stories over the coming months.
This includes historic maps, connections to the first settlements in the Commonwealth, Colonial Virginia and the Revolutionary War, the Civil War and Reconstruction, and Westward Expansion. I'm looking forward to supplementing our daughter's studies with our own family stories, including the amazing story of Elizabeth Key, the first woman of African ancestry to sue and win her freedom from slavery.
Previous posts on my Virginia families include:
- Bridge Over the Rappahannock (13 Jul 2015)
- The Hermione Visits Alexandria (11 Jun 2015)
- Ballard-Montague Connection (5 Mar 2015)
- Digging through the chancery cases (4 Mar 2015)
- Will of Benjamin Ballard Sr (3 Mar 2015)
- Will of Bland Ballard (1 Mar 2015)
- Inventory of Benjamin Ballard (28 Feb 2015)
- Emily A. H. Ballard Read (25 Feb 2015)
- The Will of John Booher (18 Jan 2015)
- Will of Bryant Thornhill (26 Oct 2014)
- Inventory of Bryant Thornhill's Estate (23 Oct 2014)
- Back in Virginia (on John Wheatley's estate, 21 Oct 2014)
- Patent Dispute & Letter to Jefferson (1 Oct 2014)
- Pension File for Thomas Thornhill (29 Sept 2014)
- Thomas Thornhill, Virginia Soldier (28 Sept 2014)
- In the Continental Army (27 Sept 2014)
- Thornhill to Nalle, 1807 (26 Sept 2014)
- Culpeper County Court Records (25 Sept 2014)
- Colonial Store Entries (24 Sept 2014)
- Travel Tuesday - Old Town (26 Aug 2014)
- Remnant of Alexandria, DC (17 Aug 2014)
- Petition against dividing Culpeper into three counties (6 Jul 2014)
- Petition to pay taxes in tobacco or hemp instead of cash (6 Jul 2014)
- Distributing the Estate of Samuel Read (5 Jul 2014)
- 1628 Land Patent for Martha Key (5 Jul 2014)
- Duncan's 1789 Land Grant (4 Jul 2014)
- 1828 Petition to Create Wheatley's Mill (4 Jul 2014)
- Petition to the Virginia General Assembly 1785 (4 Jul 2014)
- Moonlight on the Potomac (29 Dec 2012)
- Wordless Wednesday - Alexandria Waterfront 1919 (26 Dec 2012)
- Mappy Monday, Town of Potomac (4 Jun 2012)
- Visit to Culpeper (23 May 2012)
- Internet History in Culpeper (20 May 2012)
- Read House (19 May 2012)
- Emily Ann Heslopp Ballard & America Parrish Chase (1 Mar 2012)
- John Read Jr (24 Feb 2012)
- The Home Place of John Read Sr (22 Feb 2012)
- Samuel Read, 1763-1806 (22 Feb 2012)
- William Freeman Read, Deeds, and Letty (21 Feb 2012)
- Elizabeth Key Grinstead (19 Feb 2012)
- Migration of the Read Family to Kentucky (13 Feb 2012)
The recap of links above reminds also of how many family lines I am missing or not yet covered in detail on the blog. I am going to try to highlight some of these stories while I wait on other documents and research.
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| Source: NYPL Digital Collection. |
Previous posts on my Virginia families include:
- Bridge Over the Rappahannock (13 Jul 2015)
- The Hermione Visits Alexandria (11 Jun 2015)
- Ballard-Montague Connection (5 Mar 2015)
- Digging through the chancery cases (4 Mar 2015)
- Will of Benjamin Ballard Sr (3 Mar 2015)
- Will of Bland Ballard (1 Mar 2015)
- Inventory of Benjamin Ballard (28 Feb 2015)
- Emily A. H. Ballard Read (25 Feb 2015)
- The Will of John Booher (18 Jan 2015)
- Will of Bryant Thornhill (26 Oct 2014)
- Inventory of Bryant Thornhill's Estate (23 Oct 2014)
- Back in Virginia (on John Wheatley's estate, 21 Oct 2014)
- Patent Dispute & Letter to Jefferson (1 Oct 2014)
- Pension File for Thomas Thornhill (29 Sept 2014)
- Thomas Thornhill, Virginia Soldier (28 Sept 2014)
- In the Continental Army (27 Sept 2014)
- Thornhill to Nalle, 1807 (26 Sept 2014)
- Culpeper County Court Records (25 Sept 2014)
- Colonial Store Entries (24 Sept 2014)
- Travel Tuesday - Old Town (26 Aug 2014)
- Remnant of Alexandria, DC (17 Aug 2014)
- Petition against dividing Culpeper into three counties (6 Jul 2014)
- Petition to pay taxes in tobacco or hemp instead of cash (6 Jul 2014)
- Distributing the Estate of Samuel Read (5 Jul 2014)
- 1628 Land Patent for Martha Key (5 Jul 2014)
- Duncan's 1789 Land Grant (4 Jul 2014)
- 1828 Petition to Create Wheatley's Mill (4 Jul 2014)
- Petition to the Virginia General Assembly 1785 (4 Jul 2014)
- Moonlight on the Potomac (29 Dec 2012)
- Wordless Wednesday - Alexandria Waterfront 1919 (26 Dec 2012)
- Mappy Monday, Town of Potomac (4 Jun 2012)
- Visit to Culpeper (23 May 2012)
- Internet History in Culpeper (20 May 2012)
- Read House (19 May 2012)
- Emily Ann Heslopp Ballard & America Parrish Chase (1 Mar 2012)
- John Read Jr (24 Feb 2012)
- The Home Place of John Read Sr (22 Feb 2012)
- Samuel Read, 1763-1806 (22 Feb 2012)
- William Freeman Read, Deeds, and Letty (21 Feb 2012)
- Elizabeth Key Grinstead (19 Feb 2012)
- Migration of the Read Family to Kentucky (13 Feb 2012)
The recap of links above reminds also of how many family lines I am missing or not yet covered in detail on the blog. I am going to try to highlight some of these stories while I wait on other documents and research.
Tuesday, September 8, 2015
Back to School
Today is Tuesday after Labor Day, and by tradition, it is the start of another school year in Northern Virginia. Many of our friends in other parts of the country sent their kids back to school last month. It has been a good summer, but we're glad they're heading back for a new year of learning.
Seventy-nine years ago my Grandpa Leo entered school at Emmerich Manual High School in Indianapolis. I recently found his picture in the 1937 Booster yearbook:
I had found my other grandparents Keith D. Jones (Arsenal Tech Class of 1938) and Blanche Allene O'Brien (Broad Ripple Class of 1932) in their school yearbooks last year. While not a yearbook photo, the picture below shows my Granny, Lydia Campuzano, at the end of a school year in Tucson, Arizona in 1942.
We wish our kids the best of luck on a new school year.
Seventy-nine years ago my Grandpa Leo entered school at Emmerich Manual High School in Indianapolis. I recently found his picture in the 1937 Booster yearbook:
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| Source: Manual Booster, 1937. IMCPL Digital Collection. |
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| Source: Patty Marple. Lydia Campuzano, 1942. |
Saturday, September 5, 2015
Street art Istanbul Kadiköy Part 2
I returned this morning from Istanbul and Dubai. Here is the second set of photos from Tuesday afternoon's street art walk through Kadiköy (see Part 1 here).
Update: One last picture from the set in Kadiköy, showing three cats in front of an art gallery. Cats are everywhere in Istanbul, and these three looked well cared for with water and food.
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| Photo by Patrick Jones. 1 Sep 2015. |
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| Photo by Patrick Jones. |
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| Photo by Patrick Jones. Mural by JAZ. |
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| Photo by Patrick Jones. 1 Sep 2015. |
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| Photo by Patrick Jones. "Artists welcome in Sokagi" in Turkish. |
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| Photo by Patrick Jones. Street cats in Kadiköy. |
Wednesday, September 2, 2015
Street art Istanbul Kadiköy Part 1
I arrived in Istanbul yesterday afternoon after a connection in Dubai to picture perfect weather. Once I had dropped my bag at the hotel, I took the opportunity to walk off the jet lag by exploring the Kadiköy neighborhood on the Asian side of Istanbul. For 4 TL, one can hop a quick ferry at Karaköy (at the foot of the Galata Bridge) on the European side of the Bosphorus, and 20 minutes or so later land at Kadiköy on the other side. The neighborhood recently hosted a number of local and international street artists for Mural Istanbul, so that was an added bonus to the visit.
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| Photo by Patrick Jones. View from the ferry. 1 Sep 2015. |
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| Photo by Patrick Jones. Mural by Inti Castro. |
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| Photo by Patrick Jones. Mural by Pixel Pancho. |
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| Photo by Patrick Jones. Mural by Pixel Pancho. |
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| Photo by Patrick Jones. Mural by Dome. |
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| Photo by Patrick Jones. Mural by Amose. |
There's more in the set, I will have a second post later.