Tombstone Tuesday: Charles Drumm (1917 - 1928)

Copyright 2015, The Hopelessly Hooked Genealogist (B. Harrison)

Charles Drumm         Born: 1 September 1917, St Louis, Missouri Died: 3 July 1928. Cape Girardeau, Missouri (photo by Andrew, Find A Grave volunteer)

This post is to memorialize a cousin I never met, who only made to age (almost) 11 years.  Some of the following information is from the Find A Grave Memorial page that I personally created for Charles. (Find A Grave Memorial #46995296).  His story is based on oral family history shared with me by my Dad, a newspaper obituary, and a Missouri death certificate. Charles Drumm was the son of Edna Katherine Harrison Drumm Loraine (my paternal aunt) and her first husband, T. J. Drumm. He was the grandson of John P. Harrison and Susan Allen Harrison. He was the great-grandson of John Milton Harrison and Mary Jane Coppedge Harrison. Charles was my dad Marvin's nephew, being the child of Marvin's older sister Edna.  Charles and Marvin were close to the same age and playmates. Charles was thus my first cousin, though he was born and died decades before I was born.  Charles died tragically from accidental drowning shortly before his 11th birthday. He attended a family-community holiday picnic on July 3rd, 1928 at Apple Creek, Cape Girardeau, Missouri. Some of his cousins and other children (including my own Dad) went to play at a pond of water by the dam at the mill. Charles was unable to swim, as were most of the other children in attendance that fateful day. Charles was either wading or fell in the deep water, and was pulled under by the currents. He struggled briefly, but there was no one within reach who could swim and rescue him in time. Someone threw him something to grab onto to try to float with, probably a piece of driftwood, but by then it was too late. My Dad was haunted his entire life by the memory of seeing only Charles' one hand grasping and thrashing above the water for something, anything....and then it slowly faded and the water was still. Charles Drumm's obituary was published in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, page 23, July 5, 1928 . Stubbs Mortuary in Chaffee, MO handled final arrangements.  He is buried at Saint Ferdinand Cemetery in Hazelwood, St. Louis County, Missouri.   Rest In Peace, young Charles.  Below is his death certificate: Tragedy was to befall much of the rest of Charles' immediate family as well.  His step-father Joseph B. Loraine, Edna's 2nd husband, was electrocuted by lightning; his only sibling, a half-brother John B. Loraine was killed in WWII; and his mother Edna died of Leukemia. My research to date has been unable to determine what happened to his biological father, T. J. Drumm. That may be another line in the tree to pursue "some day" to solve yet another mystery.

Sentimental Sunday: Mothers In My Family Tree In Heaven- A Video Memorial

Copyright 2015, The Hopelessly Hooked Genealogist

A video collage of some of the mothers in my family tree. 

My mother, grandmothers, great-grandmothers, great-great-grandmothers

and some of my aunts. 

All were mothers, all are missed. 

Happy Mothers Day In Heaven

Sentimental Sunday: In Memory of Susannah Allen Harrison, My Paternal Grandmother

Copyright 2015, The Hopelessly Hooked Genealogist (B. Harrison)

Susannah "Susan" Allen Harrison

1875 - 1933

Wife of John P. Harrison

Mother of Marvin M. Harrison

My Paternal Grandmother

A Video Memorial, Scenes From Her Lifetime

Friday's Faces: William Jasper Harrison

Copyright 2015, The Hopelessly Hooked Genealogist (B. Harrison)

Friday's Faces: Spotlighting Some Faces In My Tree;

William Jasper Harrison

William Jasper Harrison 

1852 - 1917, Missouri

My Great-Grand-Uncle

There are some people in my tree that I know are related to me but that I don't know a great deal about, other than census records, birth or death records, marriage records and maybe a fuzzy photo or two. I am still piecing together their life stories. 

I don't know a lot about great grand-uncle William Jasper Harrison, other than that he was the brother of my great-grandfather John Milton Harrison, and the son of my 2x-great-grandparents William Harrison and his wife Nancy Shepherd Harrison. He was born in 1852 and died about 1917. 

Jasper married Annie Elizabeth Mosher in 1871 in Maries County, Missouri. He was the father of at least 5 children, and raised his family in Johnson Township, Maries County. He would have been too young to serve in the Civil War, at the age of only 9 years in 1861 when the war commenced. However, his older brother John Milton Harrison served in the Union Army, and many of their other relatives and neighbors also joined the Union Army.  Missouri was technically a neutral territory, but there were Confederate sympathizers and Bushwackers among their Maries County and Phelps County neighbors, and tensions ran high throughout the war. 

The photo and some information on Jasper comes from a local area history book: "History Of High Gate Missouri, the First 125 Years, 1850 -1975" by Glenis L. Southard.  This photo and various articles from the publication have been widely circulated on the internet. Other information comes from his Find A Grave Memorial page (reference F.A.G. memorial # 61286311).  He is buried at High Gate Cemetery in Maries County, Missouri.

I definitely see the Harrison family resemblance in this photo, fuzzy though it is. Based on my scant family history photo collection, he looks a lot like his older brother, my paternal great-grandfather John Milton Harrison. He also greatly resembles my paternal grandfather, John P. Harrison, who would have been Jasper's nephew. He reminds me quite a bit of my own brother as well, John David Harrison.  Jasper physically resembled his own father too, William Harrison (my 2x-great-grandfather), who was tall and lean; though somewhat less than he resembles his brother and nephew. This suggests that some of his (and their) physical features are probably inherited from the maternal Shepherd side of his genetic tree. Jasper was about age 65 when he passed away, and rests near many other Harrison kin at High Gate Cemetery in Maries County, Missouri. 

Headstone of William Jasper Harrison and Anna "Annie" Mosher Harrison

Find A Grave Memorial# 61286311

Photo by Gravefinder1

High Gate Cemetery, Maries County, Missouri

Photo by Find A Grave contributor/volunteer SteveZ

Cemetery notes and/or description:
At the intersection of State Hwy H and State Hwy U. This cemetery is 1000 feet east-southeast of the High Gate Baptist Cemetery.

Throwback Thursday: Fond Memories of Cruising With My Brother

Copyright 2015, The Hopelessly Hooked Genealogist (B. Harrison)

Throwback Thursday:

Fond Memories of a 2009 Cruise

Photo Dated May 7, 2009

 John David Harrison (1947 - 2009), Jackie Jackson, Bev (The Hopelessly Hooked Genealogist)

The cruise was a spur of the moment trip. There was a flu epidemic and lots of last-minute cancellations, so some relatives and I decided to take advantage of the sale the cruise line was running to fill some cabins. I literally booked my cabin 3 days before the cruise departed. What was supposed to be a Mexican Riviera cruise turned into a West Coast cruise, due to a flu outbreak in the Mexican ports. That was fine with us, and is actually the main reason I decided to book. Besides the great deal; we got to cruise conveniently round-trip from Long Beach, California and got to stop off in Seattle, San Francisco, and Victoria, B.C.  It is one of my favorite cruises, of the nearly 30 I have been fortunate enough to take so far.  

Carnival Splendor

The 3 of us had a great time: myself, my divorced brother Dave (who went by John in his later years, but to me he will always be just "Dave"), and my step-niece Jackie.  We spent a full day in San Francisco, dining at a favorite restaurant on Fisherman's Wharf, riding the cable cars up and down the famous hills, sightseeing, shopping, and snacking on shrimp cocktails. Cruising under the Golden Gate Bridge was a highlight. Another full day was spent in Seattle, returning to all my favorite places from when I used to live near there, including of course the flower market at Pikes Place Market and the Space Needle.  I love the Pacific Northwest. Last but not least, another full in-port day was in Victoria, B.C. Sightseeing that day included a carriage ride through a beautiful flowering garden park, and High Tea and the lovely and famous Empress Hotel. 

San Francisco Cable Car

Empress Hotel, Victoria, B.C.

Empress Hotel and Flower Gardens, Victoria, B.C. 

Puget Sound, Seattle, Washington

On board ship, we all sang casual karaoke every night, Dave gambled a lot in the casino, and Jackie and I hung out around the ship doing stuff one does on a cruise.  Dave and Jackie both decided to compete for spots in the big Karaoke Idol show to be held on the main showroom stage on the final night of the cruise.  Dave was "voted" in by other passengers to portray Elvis in the show, and Jackie was voted in to portray Madonna. I will never forget seeing my brother up on that big stage, in full Elvis regalia; singing his heart out to a packed audience, and backed up by the ship's full band and professional dancers. Dave was serious about his karaoke, had done a lot of it by then, and was comfortable performing.  This was SERIOUS karaoke! They were competing for the title of Karaoke Idol. The huge ship's audience intimidated Dave just a little though. It was not his best performance, but it is one of my favorite memories of him. Jackie did a pretty good job too as Madonna.  There were a few other singers, and the show was a big hit with the audience.

Carnival Splendor

Sadly, little did I know at the time, it would be the last time I would see either of them.  They lived in California, I lived in Arizona, so get-togethers were not frequent. We kept in touch via Facebook, mostly. My brother Dave passed away suddenly just a few short months after our cruise adventure, in December of 2009. Jackie was gone within a few years after that, claimed by a complicated illness.  I am still here. I miss them both. I have fond memories of our time together on this cruise that I will cherish forever. I am so very glad we went. 

Things I learned from their untimely passing:  Carpe Diem. "Seize The Moment". Do it now, don't put things off, for we never know what tomorrow may bring.  Hug your loved ones close, and mend fences before it is too late. Work on doing your Bucket List things now, not later. Most of all, learn forgiveness. It is healing and freeing, even if those you forgive still hold their own grudges.  

I am sure they are both smiling down, saying :"Dang, we did have a pretty good ride and a lot of good times on earth, especially those cruises!". 

Wordless Wednesday: Vintage Steam Locomotive Along The Little Piney, Missouri

Tombstone Tuesday: A Daughter's Sacrifice For Her Mother - Georgia Ann Harrison Finn (1861 - 1923)

Georgia Ann Harrison Finn

Daughter of John Milton Harrison and Mary Jane Coppedge Harrison

Wife of John R. Finn

Copyright 2015, The Hopelessly Hooked Genealogist (B. Harrison, A Genie In Arizona)

Georgia was my grand-aunt.  According to oral family history passed down to me by my aunt, Lona Harrison Curtis; Georgia passed away from an apparent heat stroke while walking to go visit her mother at the St. James Soldiers' Home for invalids. Her mother, Mary Janes Coppedge Harrison (who was known simply as "Jane Harrison"), had suffered from some form of senility (possibly what we now know as Dementia/ Alzheimers today) and had been placed in the care facility then known as the Soldiers Home for Veterans and Dependents in St. James, Missouri. Previous to that, Georgia was her mother's primary caregiver. Once Jane Harrison had reached the point of needing a nursing home, Georgia walked several miles a few times per week to visit her mother there. The last time she made that walk was on a hot humid summer day in July. She never made it to her destination. 

Find A Grave Memorial # 62303110

Remembering Augusta Nadine Crider Harrison 

17 June 1920 - 8 September 1970

We Contine To Live Beyond The Dawn

And In The Hearts Of Those Who Love Us

The following paragraph is from the Find A Grave Memorial that I previously created for her on that website.   ( Find  Grave memorial # 49840165 at www.findagrave.com)

Augusta Nadine Crider Harrison Taylor was the daughter of Steven Linn Crider and Ida Mae Allen Crider. She married Marvin Milton Harrison on Sept 7, 1939 in Poplar Bluff, Missouri. They met when Marvin was working on construction of the Dam at Lake Wappapello. They had three children: Michael, John David, and Beverly Harrison. Augusta and Marvin lived in Pineville, Louisiana for several years while raising their young children, while Marvin worked for the railroad there. They bought a little house on a creek in what was then a rural area. Augusta and Marvin later relocated to Long Beach, California where Marvin worked in the aircraft industry with Hughes Aircraft and later Johns Manville Corp. Augusta's occupation during those years was as housewife and mother. Those were years of economic turmoil and much personal strife, which took it's toll on the marriage of Augusta and Marvin. They were divorced circa 1956, in Long Beach, California. Augusta returned to her hometown of Poplar Bluff, Missouri; where she re-remarried to Leonard Taylor in 1961. Mr Taylor was a veteran who died in 1968; and is also buried at City Cemetery in Poplar Bluff. Augusta spent her final years as a widow in Poplar Bluff, MO. She passed at the relatively young age of only 50. Augusta, may you rest in eternal peace forever in the Lord's loving embrace.

A Memorial Grove of Trees has been planted in Shasta-Trinity National Forest in California by their daughter, as a living tribute in memory of Augusta and Marvin Harrison. 

Burial: 
Poplar Bluff City Cemetery 
Poplar Bluff
Butler County
Missouri, USA
Plot: Sunnyslope Section, Space 1, Lot 15, Block E 

Sentimental Sunday: An Early Mother's Day Video Memorial- Augusta Crider Harrison (1920 - 1970)

Copy of John P Harrison 1865 - 1942

 John P Harrison 1865 - 1942

Copyright 2014, The Hopelessly Hooked Genealogist (B. Harrison)

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The above is a link to a video photo montage on the life of my paternal grandfather John P Harrison of Maries County and St Louis County, Missouri.  A previous detailed article was posted about him in this Blog and can be found in the Blog archives.   John left behind few photos of himself. He passed many years before I was born. What I know of him is from researching his brief journal and his career with the FRISCO Railroad.

Below is a screenshot of page 1 of the HistoryLines timeline ancestor story that I created on the life of John P. Harrison. Additional information on his life can also be found in this Blog's archives (use the "search this blog" box option to the right side of page next to this article to search previous articles).  

John B Loraine, WWII Veteran

John B Loraine, WWII Veteran
COPYRIGHT 2014,  The Hopelessly Hooked Genealogist (B. Harrison)

The above is a video photo montage of the life of John B Loraine of St. Louis, Missouri, born 1923 and died in 1944.  He was son of Edna Katherine Harrison Loraine. He was killed in battle in WWII in France at 21 years of age.   An article was previously written about him in this Blog and can be found in the Blog archives.  He was the grandson of John P Harrison, Great-Grandson of John Milton Harrison, and Great-Great-Grandson of William Harrison. He is buried at Epinal American Veterans Cemetery in Vosges-Loraine, France.

Epinal WWII American American Military Cemetery

Vosges, France

Travel Tuesday: The FRISCO Railway and my Missouri ancestors

Copyright 2013, The Hopelessly Hooked Genealogist (B. Harrison)

My Harrison ancestors in Missouri had a long association with the FRISCO Railway in the late 1800's through the mid 1900's.   My paternal grandfather, John P. Harrison, had a lengthy career with the FRISCO, many of which were spent in the capacity of Engineer driving steam locomotives prior to his retirement in 1935 at age 70. He drove long-distance passenger trains on cross county routes to and from Missouri. He was very proud of his job, and wrote about it in his journal. What fun he must have had,  watching the scenery go by from his engineer's station in the cab of the locomotives.  I have written about my grandfather previously in this Blog- see http://genieinarizona.blogspot.com/2009/06/remembrance-legacy-of-john-p-harrison.html


John had many other relatives who were employed in some capacity by the railroads in Missouri.  The railroad was in their blood.  John's own father, John Milton Harrison, had harvested trees and sold lumber from his own farm to make railroad ties for the FRISCO. John P.'s eldest son, David Essex Harrison, married the daughter of a FRISCO executive.  At least 2 of his daughters married men who worked for the railroad in St. Louis at the time of their marriages.   Many of John's nephews also had railroad jobs in various parts of Missouri.  John's youngest son, Marvin Milton Harrison (my father) worked for the railroad too for a few years, until the advent of diesel engines made the job he had been trained for (fireman on steam engines) obsolete and forced a career change and a relocation to California in the mid 1950's.  The FRISCO is no longer in existence today, having merged with another rail line after my grandfather''s retirement.

To this day, railroads are in my blood too.   From the time I was a little girl, train trips were a welcome adventure.  I have re-discovered train travel in my own "early golden" years.  One of my favorite adventures today is to hop a ride on a cross-country Superliner train, which today consists of Amtrak trains that are now government-regulated.   One of my favorite trains which services the area I live, is the Sunset Limited which travels east and west between Los Angeles and Chicago.  Another favorite is the Coast Starlight, which travels north and south along the coast between San Diego, California and Portland, Oregon.   I love nothing better than riding a long distance train, sitting in the sightseeing lounge watching the scenery go by.

William Harrison (1807-1896) and his bride Nancy Shepherd Harrison (1815-1900)

Copyright 2013, The Hopelessly Hooked Genealogist (B. Harrison)

Above are photos of my great-great-grandparents, William M Harrison and Nancy Shepherd Harrison, taken in their late middle-aged years or early "senior" years. There are no known portraits in existence of them in their younger years. They were married on 24 November 1834.  Their marriage is recorded in Greene County, Missouri.....however it is not known if they ever lived there.   They settled in Maries County, Missouri. Not a lot is known about their roots prior to the time period when they settled in Missouri as newlyweds.   Nancy Shepherd's family was from Kentucky.   Her parents were John William Shepherd and Mary Polly Clayton Shepherd, of  Shelby and Mason County, Kentucky.

William's family is more of a mystery.    Generations of descendants have remained mystified as to the origins of this line of the Harrison clan, despite recent DNA testing of descendants (circa 2012 and 2013). An old  family bible was purported to be in existence which stated that William was born in a place called "Sura", North Carolina, about 1807, near the headwaters of the Dan River. William and Nancy's photos and other heirlooms were recently discovered to be in the possession of a female descendant of this line.   It is this distant cousin who provided the above photos of these ancestors, as well as a copy of a page taken from what we believe may have been the fabled family bible (see below). The page came out of a worn book that had been referred to as "Nancy's bible", and had been handed down through the generations to this descendant.

Unfortunately, the top left corner of the page is torn off, which would have indicated the county of William's birth.    Some descendant's have interpreted the often-quoted "Sura" as referring to Surry County.   However, my research has led me to believe that it referred to a settlement known as Suaratown.   This was a historic settlement near the ancient Saura Mountains in North Carolina, near the Dan River. In the 1700's and early 1800's, there was an Upper Sauratown and a Lower Sauratown, located approximately 2 miles south of what became known as Leakesville, and is the present-day town of Eden, in Rockingham County, North Carolina (at one period it was part of Stokes County). It also not far from the town of Walnut Cove.  The following information can be found on the Eden Chamber of Commerce website: 

Source:   Eden Chamber of Commerce
http://www.edenchamber.com/history.html
"Eden was so named by William Byrd in 1728 when he led a survey party seeking to establish the boundary line between North Carolina and Virginia.  Byrd called the area "Land of Eden" because of its beauty.  He had his own strong-minded ideas for its use: tillage; grazing; the growing of hemp, flax, cotton, grapes, peaches, apples and rice; and the cultivation of raw silk through the production of white mulberry trees for the feeding of silk worms. Eden, originally three townships known as Leaksville, Spray and Draper, was one of the first cities to be established in the Piedmont area of North Carolina as an economic center.  Here the Piedmont's textile boom began with the establishment in 1837 of the Leaksville Cotton Mill - Morehead's "Factory," it was called - by John Motley Morehead who was to be a two-term governor of the state from 1841 to 1845."

The above historical marker can be found on US 311 at Dan River bridge northeast of Walnut Cove, North Carolina.   It marks the site of part of the old historical settlement of Sauratown, which was originally inhabited by the Saura Indians, and later by American pioneer settlers.   With changing territorial boundaries over the decades, this region was at varying times considered part of Virginia, North Carolina, and Tennessee. It may have even at one point been part of what was referred to as the early Kentucky territory. Settlers in the remote mountain regions often were isolated from communication with the rest of the country and lived in assumption that they lived in one territory or state, even after it had officially become part of another territory or state.    This could account for the varying responses to "birth place" give by William Harrison and his brothers Lewis and Tyree Harrison to census takers over the years.    While William appears to have consistently referred to his birthplace as being in North Carolina, his brothers sometimes indicated they were born in either Tennessee, Virginia, or Kentucky.    It is possible the family moved around a lot, but is more plausible that they were simply confused as the official name of the territory the family lived in at the time of their birth's.  DNA testing has connected our line of Harrison to Lineage # 1 on the Harrison DNA Patriarch's Study website, with roots in North Carolina and Virginia.  We are line H206 in that study.  http://www.worldfamilies.net/surnames/harrison/pats .  As yet, we have still been unable to identify the parents of William, Lewis, and Tyree Harrison and their sisters.  They remain known only as the mysterious "Widow Harrison" and possibly a William Harrison Sr.  Research continues on this Brick Wall in our tree. 

William and Nancy Shepherd Harrison are buried at Bowles Chapel Cemetery in Maries County, Missouri.  They share a headstone, with William's inscription on one side and Nancy's on the other. 

Memorial pages can be found for them on the Find A Grave website, with links to other family members. ( William's is Find A Grave Memorial# 53273047.  Nancy's is Find A Grave Memorial# 40376051).

William Harrison's Farm: Finding The Original Homestead Of My Great-Great-Grandfather

Copyright 2013, The Hopelessly Hooked Genealogist (B. Harrison)

The above photos are recent pictures (taken April 2013) of some of the original farm land owned by my great-great-grandfather William Harrison, circa 1853 to 1896 in Maries County, Missouri.  The photos were taken by my distant cousin, T. Cadenbach, who shares some Harrison ancestry with me and still lives in the general vicinity of our Missouri roots.

William Harrison's Land Patent:

 In 1853,  my ancestor William patented 40 acres in Section 20, Township 39-N, Range 7-W, 5th Meridian, Maries County, Missouri.  He later added to this land, and his brothers Lewis and Tyree Harrison owned adjacent farm lands and acreage.  With the help of a plotting tool utilized through Google Earth, and the legal description coordinates from the original land deeds, we were able to pinpoint the exact location of the original farms of these three Harrison brothers, as shown below. 

My cousin has recently met the current owner's of my ancestor's original acreage, who gave their permission for photos and further exploration.   The acreage is kept in immaculate condition by the current owners, and is still undeveloped rural farm-ranch acreage, much as it was back in my ancestor's time. The difference would be that the land is now far less forested.  Though many beautiful trees do remain, in my ancestor's era most forested acreage was cleared for planting of crops,  as well as later to sell the wood for railroad ties to the Frisco Railway. There is a large modern home now inhabited by the current owners.  However, remnants of historic buildings and foundations still remain, to be further explored and documented.  One of the brothers of my ancestor, Lewis Harrison, deeded part of his land that encompassed the Harrison family cemetery for the formation of what is now known as Rock Spring Cemetery. It is there that many of our Harrison ancestors and kin are buried.  We believe it may be the final resting place of our mysterious Brick Wall ancestor, the "Widow" Harrison and possibly her husband (parents of William, Lewis, and Tyree Harrison and their sisters) who may rest there in now unmarked graves.

Below is William's farm is it looks today (2013):

Below is William's farm, the only known photo of the old original old farmhouse, taken circa 1883.

Marker for a Great-Grandmother: Mary Jane Coppedge Harrison 1840 - 1923

Copyright 2013, The Hopelessly Hooked Genealogist (B. Harrison)

Mary Jane Coppedge Harrison 1840 - 1923 

We don't know if my paternal great-grandmother ever had a marker for her gravesite, or if she may have originally had some sort of wooden or stone marker that has long since deteriorated into oblivion.  But, at long last, this ancestor in my tree has a legible headstone to mark her final resting place next to her husband, John Milton Harrison, Civil War Veteran.  They were my paternal great-grandparents, long passed before I was born.

Mary Jane Coppedge Harrison (1840 - 1923) and John Milton Harrison (1836 - 1899) are both buried at Dillon Cemetery in Phelps County, Missouri. Mary Jane also has a memorial page on www.findagrave.com ,  Find A Grave Memorial# 53272446 . She was the daughter of George Helm Coppedge and Margaret "Peggy" Kitchen Thornton Coppedge. She was the granddaughter of Travis Coppedge and Elizabeth Helm Coppedge, and Thomas Thornton III and Nancy Kitchen Thornton. Her great-grandparents were Moses Aaron Coppedge and Mary Jane Catlett Coppedge, George Helm and Mary Frances Calmes Helm, Thomas Thornton II and Lucinda Waters Thornton, and (possibly) William Harrison Kitchen and Nancy Anne Harrison Kitchen. Among her great-great-grandparents were Charles Coppedge and Lucy Sarah Lunsford Coppedge, John Catlett and Mary Ann Grayson Coppedge, Captain Leonard Helm (Revolutionary War) and Elizabeth Calmes Helm, Thomas Thornton I and Lettice Peyton Thornton, and Thomas Harrison V and Mary Ann Butler Harrison.  It appears, thus, that Mary Jane was a Harrison descendant herself as well as marrying a Harrison, her distant cousin several generations removed. I doubt that she even realized there was a chance that they were distant cousins.

The cemetery where May Jane and John Milton Harrison are buried is on private property in Phelps County, Missouri. It is a small country cemetery that is well-maintained by the current owner of the property. For generations, John Milton Harrison had an original Civil War Veteran's headstone that was gradually deteriorating from age and exposure to the elements, but there was no visible marker for his wife who was laid to rest beside him.  At the time of Mary Jane's passing, her husband had already been gone for a few years. Mary Jane died as a resident of the Soldiers Home hospital-nursing home in St. James, Missouri.   She had been placed there for long-term care after being found incapacitated by a local court. This appears to have transpired when her senility became too much for her caretaker daughter, Georgia Ann Harrison Finn, to deal with. We may surmise that she may have been afflicted with something akin to Alzheimers disease as we know it today. As a tragic side note, George Ann Harrison Finn died of a heat stroke or heart attack while walking to visit her mother in the Soldier's Home on one hot summer day. Mary Jane passed away shortly thereafter.   We can only guess that financial constraints may have been a reason that no individual permanent marker was placed on Mary Jane's grave. The death certificate confirms that she is buried at Dillon Cemetery.

In 2012, with the assistance of my 4th-cousin on the Harrison side of my tree who lives in Phelps County, Missouri; we were able to get a new headstone placed for John Milton Harrison (see above photo).   His original headstone had deteriorated beyond repair and was no longer legible due to being covered with algae, mold, and fungus.    Recently, in 2013 we were able to set a new marker in place for his wife, Mary Jane, as well.   Their markers now stand side by side, as their souls rest for all eternity.

Bachelor Maids Clubs, circa 1915- St Louis, Missouri: "Unwed and Loving It"

             Copyright 2013, The Hopelessly Hooked Genealogist (B. Harrison)


Bachelor Girls Club of 1915, St. Louis, Missouri-

Among the family heirloom photos in the collection that had belonged to one of paternal aunts, is a photo depicting two of her sisters as young women with a group of their friends.  The photo is labeled: "Bachelor Girls Club of 1915", believed to have been taken in St. Louis, Missouri. The women in the photo all appear to be in their late teens or early twenties. They are all wearing fancy hats and suits that were fashionable in that time period.   My copy of this photo was made years ago on a xerox machine, long before digital photography came along, so the copy I have is not very good.  The original photo has long since been lost or packed away in storage in the estate belongings of my late aunt Lona, which passed to her son.   Her sisters "the Bachelor Girls" are in the far right of the photo. Here it is:

My aunts; the Bachelor Girls of 1915: top row, right- Gladys Harrison, age 19.  bottom row, right- Edna Harrison, age 20.

Looking at this picture peaked my curiosity about these two aunts of mine.  Ironically, both of my aunts married within a year of the above photo being taken.  But, before they were wives, they were Bachelor Girls. Just what were these "Bachelor Girls Clubs"  (or "Bachelor Maids" as they were often referred to) all about back then, anyway?  Certainly, they weren't "old maids". I knew that both of these aunts had married fairly young and raised children with their husbands.  They were both quite a bit older than their baby brother, my Dad, so I had grown up knowing them from afar simply as my elder "widowed" aunts, each old enough to be my grandmother. Looking at this photo now reminds me that each of these women had once been young, vibrant, fun-loving and free-spirited girls; before the cares of adulthood burdened their worlds.   Each woman ultimately matured to face particularly challenging lives in their later adult years, filled with much personal difficulty, serious health problems, and loss of loved ones.     But, once upon a time, they were "Bachelor Maids".

I decided to learn more about these "Bachelor Maids" clubs of the early 1900's, and take a peek into the lifestyle of my young aunts during that period of their lives.   A quick search online pointed me to this explanation offered by the Library of Congress, at http://www.loc.gov/rr/news/topics/bachelor.html :
"Bachelor maids were a cadre of single women in the late 19th, early 20th century. Not to be confused with “old maids” (or “spinsters”), these women opted to be independent of men, live on their own and manage their own business affairs. Young, unmarried women’s social groups, known as Bachelor Maids’ Clubs, began in cities such as New York and Washington, DC. Soon thereafter, smaller clubs began forming in cities and towns around the country."

"Before there were Carrie, Miranda, Samantha and Charlotte, there were bachelor maids – turn-of-the-century single gals opting to play by their own rules of the time. These women of the late 19th and early 20th centuries had acceptable ways to earn money and no longer regarded marriage as necessary for financial stability or for self-respect.    That's not to say that all women were against the idea of matrimony, but rather they set standards for suitors to meet and waited to marry, if they married at all.   'The Bachelor Girl does generally marry. However, I have noticed that the marriages of girls who have followed some useful and interesting business before they married turn out happiest,' said Ellen Adair in her article in the Jan. 26, 1915, issue of Philadelphia's Evening Public Ledger."- http://www.loc.gov/wiseguide/nov11/unwed.html

An amusing and somewhat derisive poem was published in the Oct 11, 1896 issue of the San Francisco Call, describing the Bachelor Maid New Woman:  " She could never be persuaded to marry, Never husband shall order her life.  As for children, she never could stand them, With their noise and perpetual strife.  Yes, dear bachelor maiden new woman, The men are a despicable lot; It may be you'd refuse to marry, It may also be true that you'd not". 

Below is a photo of another of these groups, the Bachelor Maids Club of Ames, IA- circa 1895- courtesy of Ames Public Library.org. 

On the other hand, the following article appeared in the January 16, 1898 issue of the San Francisco Call, describing the Bachelor Maids as a group of young ladies on the hunt for suitable husbands:  "If you wish to see a group of pretty, vivacious, intelligent and thoroughly independent nineteenth century maidens, of a true American type, just stop long enough at Cape May, New Jersey to catch a glimpse of the Bachelor Maids' Club, an association of twelve charming, marriageable young women, who have banded together to protect themselves from the unworthy members of the other sex. The perpetuation of celibacy is not contemplated, as every member is in favor of marriage, but it must be a marriage of the ideal standard set by the club.  Accordingly the twelve young men somewhere in this broad world who would willingly marry these twelve winsome misses must throw away their vices and prepare themselves to answer some questions like these:   Do you drink, or smoke, or chew, or wear a silk hat in summer with a blue suit, or lie in bed in the morning while your father shovels coal into the heater, or give expression to wicked words when you strike your thumb with a hammer?  Do you earn enough to support a wife?  Can you see a flower store without being directed to it?  Do you write love letters with a pencil?  How many cousins of the feminine gender do you have? What becomes of your temper when you lose your collar button?  Do you ride a last year's wheel?  Are you fond of ice cream and soda water and poetry?   It frequently happens that the carefully groomed and industrious young men of the wave swept city are asked to attend informal receptions and musicales, and the promptness with which they pen a reply to the daintily perfumed card of invitation is sufficient evidence in itself of the high esteem in which the Bachelor Maids Club is held". 

Apparently some of these clubs were operated as boarding houses or dormitories  for young women who had either taken jobs, or were training at some trade or vocational skill, in larger cities.  I think this scenario would probably have been applicable to both of my aunts, who were living in St Louis in 1915 while they were both members of a  "Bachelor Girls Club".  An article in the Washington, D.C. Evening Times of June 5, 1896 announced that  "A unique club for bachelor women has just been organized in Chicago.  It's headquarters will be in a large flat building on Power Avenue.  Last night, an advance guard of a dozen young women took possession of the new quarters, each proud of the possession of a latch-key.  The plan of management is this:  Each young woman who becomes a club member pays a minimum price f $3.50 per week.  For a single room the price will be from $4 to $4.50 per week.   For each suite of eight rooms there is a large double parlor, fitted up handsomely.   Besides this there is a big, plain room set apart for sewing, darning, handkerchief washing, and the like.   One feature is a large assembly room, which can be used for meetings, lectures. etc. It is also planned to allow young ladies who wish, to furnish their rooms, wholly or in part, according to their individual tastes.  The club is admirably situated as to car lines, being withing a short distance of three downtown lines".   (It is assumed this is referring to cable-car lines). 

Not all of society approved of these "Bachelor Girls", apparently. Some considered them to be rather spoiled and self-indulgent.   An article published Dec 27, 1894 in the Evening Dispatch of Provo, Utah stated: "...the blame must rest with their mothers. It is a careless, selfish, irresponsible epoch in which the daughter studies her own convenience and pleasure solely; and the mother by foolish indulgence, aids and abets her.  Once a girl is free from the trammels of the schoolroom and is fully fledged in society, nothing is denied her.  She may lie in bed, perchance take her breakfast there, while she skims a novel belonging to the 'new' order of fiction.  Her day is compassed with no single duty save to look her best and enjoy her life. "   Well, that really does not sound much different that the life of a typical teenager or young twenty-something when I was growing up, or today either for that matter.   Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, after all, and enjoy life.   Given the chance, who wouldn't want to lounge over breakfast in bed, and only rouse ourselves to receive gentlemen callers laden with gifts of flowers and poetry?  I can imagine that in their later years, when life was no longer filled with laughter and gentleman callers; my aunts would look back upon that time in their lives fondly and wistfully, longing for their carefree days among girl-friends in the Bachelor Girls Club of 1915. 

Wednesday's Child- Remembering Elizabeth Octavia Harrison, 1858- 1876

               Copyright 2011, The Hopelessly Hooked Genealogist (B. Harrison)


"Plucked By God To Bloom In Heaven"
E. Octavia- Daughter of John M and Mary J Harrison
Born Dec'r 10, 1858 - Died August 15, 1876
"No Sin Could Blight Or Sorrow Fade. Death Came With Friendly Care."
"The Opening Bud To Heaven Conveyed, And Bade It Blossom There."


So reads the original inscription on the headstone of my grand-aunt Elizabeth Octavia Harrison, who passed away barely past her 18th birthday in 1876. She was the daughter of my great-grandparents, John Milton Harrison and Mary Jane (Coppedge) Harrison, and sister of my grandfather John P Harrison.

Though worn by time and barely legible now, the headstone inscription was thankfully earlier recorded by local historians and transcribed in a booklet entitled: "The Cemeteries and Headstones of Maries County, Missouri- A Personal History", compiled by Gail Howard and Mozelle Hutchinson.


Hers was one of the first headstone inscriptions I came across when beginning to research my ancestry several years ago.  I have always wondered what took the life of the young lass called Octavia, whose headstone bore such a touching inscription of tenderness. She was apparently the eldest sibling in a family of 11 children, the first-born child of my great-grandparents.  "Plucked by God as an opening bud...to bloom in heaven".  Next to her lies her father, the Civil War Veteran who outlived her by 23 years.  This week, with the help of a cousin who lives near this country cemetery that is now on private property, a new headstone is being placed for her father John Milton Harrison, to replace his worn and badly deteriorated stone. I hope in the coming year that we can manage to get Octavia's stone cleaned and restored as well.

Advent Christmas Calendar- Remembering Christmases Past: Christmas Stockings, And Other Things

Copyright 2010, The Hopelessly Hooked Genealogist (B. Harrison) 

Today's blogging prompt on genealogist and geneablogger Thomas MacEntee's Advent Christmas Calendar blog, is to share our memories involving the tradition of Christmas Stockings.

"Did you have one? Where did you hang it? What did you get in it?"

I do have a special memory involving Christmas stockings, but it was not from my childhood. I will get to that later. The house I grew up in, in Southern California, did not have a fireplace. Like many of the modest one-level tract homes in the neighborhood where I grew up, we had a kitchen, a big dining room area that doubled as the "family room", a living room, 3 bedrooms, and one bathroom...shared by 5 people. We had no fireplace, no mantel. None of the then-newish homes in our tract had fireplaces. Ours was a working-class neighborhood, and the homes were built with just the necessities. Californians did not need a fireplace back in those days, it was thought. Today most of the newer homes do have them, but they are mostly for ambiance. Thus, back then...I do not remember having stockings as part of our tradition when I was a youngster. That tradition would come later.

Harrison family home in Westminster, CA circa 1960

We put up a brightly decorated tree every year, of course....using many of the same ornaments year after year. I wish that I still had some of those ornaments, which would be family heirlooms today. I still remember the delicate opaque glass bulbs with "Silent Night" etched on them, along with the outlines of a church and steeple covered in snow. We got those at Sears Roebuck. I loved those ornaments then, and would love to have even just one of them now. I was not thinking of preserving family heirlooms back in those days, however. I don't know what happened to them once our parents were gone. Lost in the shuffle.

 

 Vintage Silent Night Ornament from 1960s era - from Pinterest

Though we didn't have a real fireplace, I do recall that later on, those little portable folding cardboard fake "fireplaces" became popular, along with fake tinsel trees. For a couple of years we did use one of those cardboard fireplaces, which had a single plug-in light bulb that gave off a very phony-looking flickering glow that was supposed to look like a flame. I have noticed that another blogger has shared this same memory, so I guess those little folding "fireplaces" were a popular fad. We used ours until it started falling apart after a couple of seasons, and would no longer stand on it's own. I think we might have taped decorative stockings to it one year, with nothing in them since the thing would not support much weight. 

(Vintage cardboard fireplace circa 1960s era- image from Pinterest)

That was probably the same year we had the shiny aluminum-foil looking fake tinsel tree, which is my child-eyes was the most beautiful thing that I had ever seen. That tree shimmered with the lights on it like none other. I thought it was just beautiful, then. My brother Dave and I would lay under that tree at night, before Santa had brought any presents to be placed under the tree, and we would gaze up at all the amazing sparkling colors of the lights reflecting off that shiny tinsel tree. Funny how such simple things used to amuse and fascinate kids back in those days, isn't it? That was long before video games, desktop computers, and all the electronic toys and gadgetry of today. Long before Facebook, of course. And it was "only" the late 1950- early 1960's....not THAT long ago....and yet, it seems like light years ago. And it was decades ago. How did that happen? The years seem to have flown by now, looking back.

 (Images of silver tinsel trees similar to those my family had in the 1960s- found on Pinterest)

The Christmas Stockings tradition would start later in our family, when we three kids grew up, married, and started having kids of our own. By then, Californians had discovered that they did indeed "need" fireplaces after all, apparently...because it became pretty common for most houses to be built with them starting in the seventies. Suddenly we all "HAD to" have a fireplace in any home we lived in...how did we ever survive up to that point living in a house with no fireplace? Of course our kids HAD to have Stockings hanging from the mantel every year, and even the family pets get their own stockings now. And so, we instilled the Stockings ritual in our kids that we had missed out on growing up.

Vintage Pet Stockings, image from Pinterest

It really was not until many years later though, that I realized just how much the Stocking Tradition meant to my brother Dave. By the time he had grandchildren, it became his personal tradition to make stocking bags for every person who would be spending Christmas Eve or Christmas Day in his home, which was often quite an assortment of people. He would typically invite assorted relatives, friends, and neighbors over to participate in the Stocking tradition. Frequently, guests receiving a stocking would include any friend or acquaintance who had no place else to go to celebrate the holidays.....all were welcomed, and all received a stocking. These stockings were stuffed with assorted goodies; mostly candy, cookies, nuts, and an assortment of gadgets and trinkets from the Dollar Store. My brother especially liked putting little Dollar Store "toys" like puzzles and spinning tops, jacks and pickup-stix, into the stockings of adults and kids alike. He painstakingly wrapped each and every one of these items by hand, individually, to be placed in every stocking. He wrapped each item so that nobody could "peek" ahead of time, wound tightly with loads of tape and paper. He was reliving his own childhood days, when "peeking" into his own presents was his specialty. He took great glee at the reactions of all of the adults, opening his "stupid little stocking stuffers". These Stockings were usually the hit of every Christmas Eve gathering at his home. We all loved the laughter and giggles that filled the room as people opened their intricately wrapped little surprises in their stockings.

Sadly, my brother passed away a year ago this December. At his memorial service last year, one of the guests got up and spoke of how he had been touched to receive one of those special Stockings from my brother one year. That was the year that this friend had separated from his wife, and felt like he had no place to go to spend Christmas. My brother welcomed him with open arms, and presented him with a Stocking stuffed with these little goodies, much to the friend's surprise. It was such a small thing, and yet it meant so much to the friend. At the memorial, the friend spoke of how much that small act of kindness had touched him, and how he had cherished the memory of that simple gesture of friendship and tradition all the following years. He said he still had one of the little stocking-stuffer spinning tops, all those years later, that he kept in his desk drawer; and that it would be a lasting momento and reminder for him not only of his friend, my brother...but of the true spirit of Christmas, the sharing of friendship and a simple act of kindness.

Now, whenever I see Christmas stockings, I always remember with a smile and a chuckle those Stockings filled by my brother with lots of stupid little stocking stuffers, the love that they were presented with, and how much joy he got from sharing this tradtion with others.