A few posts back, cousin Mike remarked:
"Bob and I share some ancestry. I have it on good authority that it comes with the cousin gig. He is much more informed on it than I am, so I'm taking a bit of a risk here. I believe we have some Irish ancestors which makes the following story of interest."
Mike's been reading a book on the Brooklyn Bridge, and he went on to post about an Irish protest during the time approaching the Bridge's dedication (sounds like an interesting book, by the way).
I've been remiss in taking so long to respond. Then again, what better day to speak of one's Irish ancestry than St. Patrick's Day?
So Mike, that wasn't a risky statement at all. Our grandfather, Ira ("Poppy") Moore was Irish. Oh, you want details? That's where it starts getting tricky. My mom told me once that her dad was "half Scotts-Irish and half black-Irish". I didn't know what to make of that at first, until she explained that Scotts-Irish people were part Scottish and had red hair, and that "black-Irish" referred to a person who was Irish mixed with some ancestry other than Scottish. So instead of red hair, they were brunette - hence the "black" referring to hair color.
How much of each kind of Irish, and what were the other nationalities? Ask a genealogist and he or she will tell you that's not always easy to determine. Which is to say, I'm still working on it. In addition to the Irish and Scottish in Popppy's ancestry, it looks like he had some ancestors from England, and at least one who lived in Wales. I have to give credit to cousin Trish (Mike's sister) for that information, as she found it and passed it along to me.
And I doubt that Poppy knew any of that, except for the Scotts-Irish part. Our grandma had interest in family history, but not Poppy so much. Mom told me once that he said he wasn't interested in looking into that "because he might find a horse thief".
While that's interesting to me, a list of nationalities alone can be just names and labels. It doesn't shed light on the goodness of these people, their caring hearts and their sense of humor. But if I started on all that, where in the world would I quit? Another time perhaps, for the family stories.
Anyway, I'm wearing green today, not because I feel I have to, but because I want to. It's just fun. Whether you're Irish or not, here's my wish for a happy St. Patrick's Day to one and all!
Showing posts with label Genealogy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Genealogy. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Kiss me, I'm unpleasant
Bob and I share some ancestry. I have it on good authority that it comes with the cousin gig. He is much more informed on it than I am, so I'm taking a bit of a risk here. I believe we have some Irish ancestors which makes the following story of interest.
If we don't, it's still an amusing story.
At the time of the completion of the Brooklyn Bridge in 1883 large and festive celebrations were planned. (They had fireworks!) The citizens of New York City and Brooklyn were thrilled that the 14-year-long project had been completed and that they would no longer have to rely on ferry service to cross the East River. And, of course, many politicians got into the act - the two mayors, Governor Grover Cleveland, the next president of the U.S., and the sitting president, Chester Arthur, also a New Yorker.
But not all was sweetness and light.
Indeed the only people who seemed displeased with the arrangements being made were some of the more militant Irish, who in mid-April had suddenly realized that the 24th (of May) happened also to be Queen Victoria's birthday and so began angrily protesting the date selected. The Central Labor Union issued a statement calling on "all good men and women in both cities to remember this latest insult of the would-be aristocratic element in our midst." The (New York) Tribune answered that "it would be difficult, perhaps impossible, to fix upon a day that did not commemorate something or other unpleasant for Ireland," and as the appointed day drew nearer there was talk of Irish fanatics, "Dynamite Patriots," attempting to blow up the bridge.
Happily, the Brooklyn Bridge stands yet today, a perfectly gorgeous edifice in my opinion.
The story above came from The Great Bridge by David McCullough, a book that I am thoroughly enjoying. McCullough, you may remember, is the author of several historical narratives including Truman and John Adams.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
...and a western outlaw, too!
In 1964, actor Lorne Greene recorded the song “Ringo” (from the album “Welcome To the Ponderosa”). The lyrics were spoken, and spoke of outlaws and gunfights – themes familiar in the TV westerns popular in the early 1960’s.
I didn’t know then if Ringo was a made up character or was based on a real outlaw from history.
And who would have thought that I was related to the guy?
It turns out that the storyline of the song lyrics is pure fiction. The real John “Johnny” Ringo was an enemy of Doc Holliday, Wyatt Earp and his brothers, and he rode with the Clanton gang, “The Cowboys”. Cattle were rustled, stagecoaches were robbed, and there was drinking and gambling. Johnny was reported in the papers to have shot and wounded a man in a bar once, for not drinking whiskey with him. This was all in and around Tombstone, Arizona in the early 1880’s. For all that, there’s no record of his being involved in a stand up one on one shootout in the middle of the street, as is often shown in westerns.
Photo from the Wikipedia article (see below)
Johnny Ringo was found dead of a bullet wound to the head, and his death was officially ruled a suicide. There are also four murder conspiracy theories; some say Wyatt Earp shot him from a distance, others that Doc Holliday did it. Other theories involved either “Buckskin” Frank Leslie as the murderer, or a gambler known by the nickname “Johnny-Behind-the-Deuce”. For all of that, you can read the details here
...and you’ll also find more about his days in Tombstone, and his prior involvement in the “Hoodoo Wars” in Mason County, Texas (1875, I think), and his earlier life. Wikipedia also has this article.
Now for the genealogy angle. As I mentioned in my last post, the Ringo family has been thoroughly researched, and there are postings on genealogy boards online. I particularly like this comment by Jim Ringo, from Ancestry.com:
“…Was out to Tombstone, AZ in March 03 to interview with the local Newspaper, Tombstone Tumbleweed. The purpose of the visit and interview was to let people know what a nice family the Ringo's are. Not sure they bought it…”
There’s some disagreement between researchers about which is the best book on the subject. Some say, “John Ringo: The Gunfighter Who Never Was”, by Jack Burrows, others maintain that “John Ringo”, by David Johnson is more accurate. My library had neither one, but it had “The Life and Death Of Johnny Ringo”, by Ray Hogan, so I checked out and read that. Mr. Hogan admits up front there is some mystery about the life and death of John Ringo, but he took the facts he found and wrote his book “…narrated in a fictional form to make its presentation more appealing. It has been a matter of clothing a skeleton with flesh…it could have been the way he lived and died.”
Ray Hogan presents John Ringo as having more education than most around him; smart enough to stay away from some of the more extreme plans of the Clanton gang (he was apparently not at the famed gunfight at the O.K. Corral). At times Johnny would go off by himself, which was likely as much a result of his lonely, sometimes morose nature. He had few friends.
Also mentioned in the book was some years Johnny spent raising cattle. Even though he showed restraint at times, John Ringo was not what you’d call a good guy (but I suspect if you read much about Doc Holliday or the Earp brothers, you’d find they weren’t angels either). I gather that the citizens of Tombstone quickly learned who Ringo was, and knew it was wise to keep at a distance from him.
John Ringo was also a descendant of Philip Janszen Ringo (the Pirate – see my last post), but on an different branch of the family than I (I’m related to the Ringo’s through the Bird family, who married into the Yoakam family, who married into the Wingate’s). So if I’ve figured this right, Johnny Ringo was a fifth cousin three generations removed from me, on my Dad’s side.
Genealogists have told me before that it’s actually kind of fun to find a black sheep you didn’t know was in the family, a “skeleton in the closet” as the saying goes. They were right.
I didn’t know then if Ringo was a made up character or was based on a real outlaw from history.
And who would have thought that I was related to the guy?
It turns out that the storyline of the song lyrics is pure fiction. The real John “Johnny” Ringo was an enemy of Doc Holliday, Wyatt Earp and his brothers, and he rode with the Clanton gang, “The Cowboys”. Cattle were rustled, stagecoaches were robbed, and there was drinking and gambling. Johnny was reported in the papers to have shot and wounded a man in a bar once, for not drinking whiskey with him. This was all in and around Tombstone, Arizona in the early 1880’s. For all that, there’s no record of his being involved in a stand up one on one shootout in the middle of the street, as is often shown in westerns.
Photo from the Wikipedia article (see below)
Johnny Ringo was found dead of a bullet wound to the head, and his death was officially ruled a suicide. There are also four murder conspiracy theories; some say Wyatt Earp shot him from a distance, others that Doc Holliday did it. Other theories involved either “Buckskin” Frank Leslie as the murderer, or a gambler known by the nickname “Johnny-Behind-the-Deuce”. For all of that, you can read the details here
...and you’ll also find more about his days in Tombstone, and his prior involvement in the “Hoodoo Wars” in Mason County, Texas (1875, I think), and his earlier life. Wikipedia also has this article.
Now for the genealogy angle. As I mentioned in my last post, the Ringo family has been thoroughly researched, and there are postings on genealogy boards online. I particularly like this comment by Jim Ringo, from Ancestry.com:
“…Was out to Tombstone, AZ in March 03 to interview with the local Newspaper, Tombstone Tumbleweed. The purpose of the visit and interview was to let people know what a nice family the Ringo's are. Not sure they bought it…”
There’s some disagreement between researchers about which is the best book on the subject. Some say, “John Ringo: The Gunfighter Who Never Was”, by Jack Burrows, others maintain that “John Ringo”, by David Johnson is more accurate. My library had neither one, but it had “The Life and Death Of Johnny Ringo”, by Ray Hogan, so I checked out and read that. Mr. Hogan admits up front there is some mystery about the life and death of John Ringo, but he took the facts he found and wrote his book “…narrated in a fictional form to make its presentation more appealing. It has been a matter of clothing a skeleton with flesh…it could have been the way he lived and died.”
Ray Hogan presents John Ringo as having more education than most around him; smart enough to stay away from some of the more extreme plans of the Clanton gang (he was apparently not at the famed gunfight at the O.K. Corral). At times Johnny would go off by himself, which was likely as much a result of his lonely, sometimes morose nature. He had few friends.
Also mentioned in the book was some years Johnny spent raising cattle. Even though he showed restraint at times, John Ringo was not what you’d call a good guy (but I suspect if you read much about Doc Holliday or the Earp brothers, you’d find they weren’t angels either). I gather that the citizens of Tombstone quickly learned who Ringo was, and knew it was wise to keep at a distance from him.
John Ringo was also a descendant of Philip Janszen Ringo (the Pirate – see my last post), but on an different branch of the family than I (I’m related to the Ringo’s through the Bird family, who married into the Yoakam family, who married into the Wingate’s). So if I’ve figured this right, Johnny Ringo was a fifth cousin three generations removed from me, on my Dad’s side.
Genealogists have told me before that it’s actually kind of fun to find a black sheep you didn’t know was in the family, a “skeleton in the closet” as the saying goes. They were right.
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Pirate genealogy
I've recently - the last several months - gotten back into doing some family tree research. I've always enjoyed looking at old family photos and hearing the old family stories, and I started learning about genealogy in the late 1970's. I found out early on that my grandmother was interested in that too, and had a family tree on her side back several generations into England. My mom told me that grandma was the one in the family with the interest, and that my grandfather, the one we called Poppy, really didn't want to dig into all that. For all he knew, we'd find an ancestor who was a horse thief.
The internet has speeded up much of the research, compared with back when all we had to look at were old papers, published books, and the census and other records on microfilm rolls, which had to be threaded into these big viewers at the genealogy library (those microfilms are still very useful, but I won't go into all the boring detail now). Not that all the information online is necessarily more accurate, but it's quicker to get to.
So about a year ago, I came across information on some Dutch ancestry I didn't know I had, on my dad's side. One of my great-to-the-eighth-grandfathers came from The Netherlands to New Amsterdam (now New York City); another thing I found out about him is that he died and was buried at sea.
And while I still haven't found any horse thieves, it looks like I found a pirate in the family today. I was looking for dates on a couple of families, to get an idea of when they came to the US, to see which individuals would likely show up in census records. I thought hey, the Ringo family has been well researched, and I haven't checked online for any information about them in months. So I typed in Philip Janszen Ringo genealogy on my search engine, and found quite a bit. One thing I hadn't seen before was a posting on genforum, from a Jim Ringo (I haven't figured out what kind of cousin relationship that would be, but we're apparently related). I won't copy the whole entry, but here's part...
"Ringo family members like to say that Philip Janszen Ringo was in the shipping business...During the period 1645-46 he managed to capture the Spanish Ship, St Antonio of Havana at the Bay of Campeachy (sp?) near the Mexican coast...Philip Ringo personally overcame by force one Manuel the Spaniard...was held for ransom at the Ringo family home...The Spanish considered his actions as piracy. The English and Dutch considered it as privateering."
I told the kids (they're all into the Pirates of the Caribbean movies)...there was much rejoicing.
The internet has speeded up much of the research, compared with back when all we had to look at were old papers, published books, and the census and other records on microfilm rolls, which had to be threaded into these big viewers at the genealogy library (those microfilms are still very useful, but I won't go into all the boring detail now). Not that all the information online is necessarily more accurate, but it's quicker to get to.
So about a year ago, I came across information on some Dutch ancestry I didn't know I had, on my dad's side. One of my great-to-the-eighth-grandfathers came from The Netherlands to New Amsterdam (now New York City); another thing I found out about him is that he died and was buried at sea.
And while I still haven't found any horse thieves, it looks like I found a pirate in the family today. I was looking for dates on a couple of families, to get an idea of when they came to the US, to see which individuals would likely show up in census records. I thought hey, the Ringo family has been well researched, and I haven't checked online for any information about them in months. So I typed in Philip Janszen Ringo genealogy on my search engine, and found quite a bit. One thing I hadn't seen before was a posting on genforum, from a Jim Ringo (I haven't figured out what kind of cousin relationship that would be, but we're apparently related). I won't copy the whole entry, but here's part...
"Ringo family members like to say that Philip Janszen Ringo was in the shipping business...During the period 1645-46 he managed to capture the Spanish Ship, St Antonio of Havana at the Bay of Campeachy (sp?) near the Mexican coast...Philip Ringo personally overcame by force one Manuel the Spaniard...was held for ransom at the Ringo family home...The Spanish considered his actions as piracy. The English and Dutch considered it as privateering."
I told the kids (they're all into the Pirates of the Caribbean movies)...there was much rejoicing.
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Bob Day...the report
Cousin Mike's post was one of the highlights of the day. Can Bob resist making a few comments? Let's find out...
"No Bob Day Festival would be complete without fireworks, of course."
Well said; there's really nothing to add here.
"A lot of warehouse-type places are named for Crazy Dave or Crazy Joe or some other guy who is crazy. Sure you can buy an end table made of thick, heavy, dark wood in a style that matches nothing you own with a floor lamp sticking up through the middle of it for $39 from Crazy Bill, but your fireworks? From a crazy man? No."
I saw one of those heavy, dark end table lamp combination thingys at a garage sale for only $15, and I passed it by. I'm still kicking myself (figuratively speaking).
"Go to the garage and look for a box that used to have fruit drinks in foil pouches in it that you got from the bulk place (Crazy Egbert's!), but now has left over fireworks from the summer and you can use those for Bob Day. You may have to look behind the grass seed and some plastic device that came from an oscillating fan or an appliance or the car..."
Mike, how did you know where I keep my fireworks? That almost gives me the jibblies.
"...and you can't throw it away because you might need it some day."
Hey man, once it's gone, it's gone! Know what I'm sayin'?
"Anyway, light your left over fireworks for Bob Day and grab a Mountain Dew and raise a toast to Bob. If 78 percent of the fireworks go off, he'll be pleased."
Of course you realize that 78 percent of all statistics are made up on the spot.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Actually it was a good day. Kind of quiet, but that was what I had in mind. My lovely young wife took me for breakfast at IHOP (okay, second breakfast...I was working on a bowl of cereal when she told me her plan). Throughout the day I got three birthday phone calls, from my Stepdad, my Daughter in California, and my Sister. She sang the birthday song to me, and we had a nice long conversation. At some point we got into the subject of lightning somehow. Sis had seen a program (Discovery Channel maybe) where they showed a lake or a river in South America which has the most lightning of anyplace in the world. So I got curious and did a search and found this. Interesting.
Back to the birthday. Earlier in the week I decided I wanted to spend some time on my day, at the Midwest Genealogy branch of the local library. Any of you readers who are into genealogy at all (hi, Trish!) have got to come here. It's like a candy store.
So I went there Thursday afternoon. They have lots of neat databases on their computer system, but the only downside is that you're limited to an hour. That's an automatic thing though, and I probably should have asked for an additional hour since there were plenty of empty terminals. Next time. Anyway, I found a couple of old census records, made a copy of one, and after my computer time ran out spent an extra hour browsing the periodicals and the rack after rack of family tree books. I've decided that in order to really use that resource and make additional progress on the family tree project, I need to schedule time to go there on a weekly, or at least bi-weekly basis. That and I need to take time to make a detailed list of what I might want to look for, before I go.
The rest of the evening was a traditional, small birthday party; just the four of us at home.
Ice cream cake from one of the local supermarkets. Delicious!
And presents.
And yes, earlier in the day I had Mountain Dew. Of course, that's like pretty much every day, but hey.
"No Bob Day Festival would be complete without fireworks, of course."
Well said; there's really nothing to add here.
"A lot of warehouse-type places are named for Crazy Dave or Crazy Joe or some other guy who is crazy. Sure you can buy an end table made of thick, heavy, dark wood in a style that matches nothing you own with a floor lamp sticking up through the middle of it for $39 from Crazy Bill, but your fireworks? From a crazy man? No."
I saw one of those heavy, dark end table lamp combination thingys at a garage sale for only $15, and I passed it by. I'm still kicking myself (figuratively speaking).
"Go to the garage and look for a box that used to have fruit drinks in foil pouches in it that you got from the bulk place (Crazy Egbert's!), but now has left over fireworks from the summer and you can use those for Bob Day. You may have to look behind the grass seed and some plastic device that came from an oscillating fan or an appliance or the car..."
Mike, how did you know where I keep my fireworks? That almost gives me the jibblies.
"...and you can't throw it away because you might need it some day."
Hey man, once it's gone, it's gone! Know what I'm sayin'?
"Anyway, light your left over fireworks for Bob Day and grab a Mountain Dew and raise a toast to Bob. If 78 percent of the fireworks go off, he'll be pleased."
Of course you realize that 78 percent of all statistics are made up on the spot.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Actually it was a good day. Kind of quiet, but that was what I had in mind. My lovely young wife took me for breakfast at IHOP (okay, second breakfast...I was working on a bowl of cereal when she told me her plan). Throughout the day I got three birthday phone calls, from my Stepdad, my Daughter in California, and my Sister. She sang the birthday song to me, and we had a nice long conversation. At some point we got into the subject of lightning somehow. Sis had seen a program (Discovery Channel maybe) where they showed a lake or a river in South America which has the most lightning of anyplace in the world. So I got curious and did a search and found this. Interesting.
Back to the birthday. Earlier in the week I decided I wanted to spend some time on my day, at the Midwest Genealogy branch of the local library. Any of you readers who are into genealogy at all (hi, Trish!) have got to come here. It's like a candy store.
So I went there Thursday afternoon. They have lots of neat databases on their computer system, but the only downside is that you're limited to an hour. That's an automatic thing though, and I probably should have asked for an additional hour since there were plenty of empty terminals. Next time. Anyway, I found a couple of old census records, made a copy of one, and after my computer time ran out spent an extra hour browsing the periodicals and the rack after rack of family tree books. I've decided that in order to really use that resource and make additional progress on the family tree project, I need to schedule time to go there on a weekly, or at least bi-weekly basis. That and I need to take time to make a detailed list of what I might want to look for, before I go.
The rest of the evening was a traditional, small birthday party; just the four of us at home.
Ice cream cake from one of the local supermarkets. Delicious!
And presents.
And yes, earlier in the day I had Mountain Dew. Of course, that's like pretty much every day, but hey.
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
It's past time I should have posted this
Ira Moore, 1942 or 1943
I've wanted to keep The Porch a mix of things that I find either fun or interesting or important at the moment; cousin Mike does the same when he posts. That's why I've resisted getting fully into the family tree here, and just kept it to the occasional story or photo. Though I have an interest in genealogy, it can take on a life of its own and take over the content here. I am actually thinking of starting a separate genealogy blog; I haven't decided for sure yet. We'll see what happens.
Anyway, I've had a great time lately e-mailing cousins Trish and Ed, we've been sending each other scans of old letters, family photos and the like. We've each had "oh wow" moments when we've seen something for the first time.
Which by the way, I highly recommend if you have relatives separated by the miles, that you take advantage of this modern connected world and share copies of old family photos and letters with them. Find out what stories you had wrong, and fill in the gaps, so to speak. I'm having great fun with that.
So I came across this today; it's one of my favorites and it definitely deserves to be here.
My sister, the first of Ira's grandchildren, called him Poppy and that stuck with all of us. I'm not sure exactly when this photo was taken, but I think my grandfather was either 40 or 41 at the time.
He built the entire house, including the front porch.
Thursday, December 11, 2008
The Evening Rambler for December 11, 2008
Genealogy
I've enjoyed hearing family stories and looking at old letters and photographs about as long as I can remember. In 1979 I found out that one of our local libraries has one of the best genealogy collections in the country, and there were a couple of librarians who specialized in the study. I read a couple of books, looked at a lot of forms, learned how to view the census records on microfilm, and in the early 1980's took an adult education class on the subject. Genealogy has been one of my hobbies every since, but in a kind of half-hearted, on again, off again way. I would go through a phase where I would research and write down a lot of stuff, but not record the source.
Word to the wise: Don't do it that way. Always record your source for every bit on information...right from the start. That way, you don't have to do almost everything over, like (ahem) someone I know.
About a year ago I decided to stop worrying about my family tree not being complete, and go ahead and compile everything I had up to now, and get it word processed and scanned all in one place. Then, I'll make CD's for whoever in the family would be interested. Later I could continue my research when I could, and make corrections and updates as I went along.
But I did want to organize the information in the proper format, so it would make sense and not have to be done over again. I checked out a small book on "Numbering Your Genealogy", and learned that of the many numbering systems, four are currently used most. Of those four, I already was familiar with "Ahnentafel" numbering. You start with yourself (or with whoever you make the chart for), and that person is number 1. Then your father is number 2, your mother is number 3, your father's father is number 4, and so on. The more generations back, the larger the number. This is probably the most common system, and works great for ancestry charts, which often show six or seven generations on one page.
What I wanted to learn was a system where you started with the earliest ancestor you had information for, and numbered forward from him or her. I decided to try the "NGSQ" numbering, and started on my father's side, with my great-great-great-grandfather, John C. Wingate. That project is going well, and I really appreciate word processing software for this use. I know some of my information is still scattered about, and I will be adding and editing for a while.
Stories
A list of names and dates can get boring after a while, if there are no stories or photos to go along with the data. So I've started to word process what I can remember hearing about my ancestors. All I know about John C. are names, dates and places...no stories. All I heard about his first son, Isaac E. Wingate, was that his first marriage ended in divorce, and he re-married. I do have a few stories about Isaac's first son, Jacob Wingate, my great-grandfather. Here's part of what I know.
Jake and his horses
Jacob Wingate leased a farm near Beaverdam, in Allen County, Ohio. At one time he had two horses named Tom and Jerry. The photo below, taken on that farm shows Jake with two horses.
(I don’t know if these horses were Tom and Jerry, or two other horses.)
Jacob married Emma Yoakam, and Jake and Emma’s first child was Harry Dale, or as I called him, Grandpa Wingate. Harry had an interesting and exciting life, and there’s much I could say about that, perhaps at a later time.
The musical saw
One talent Harry had was that he could play the musical saw. I was told a story once that he started with a bow made from a piece of lumber the size of a yardstick – or maybe it was a yardstick – strung with hair from the tail of one of the horses. In later years he used a real bow…
Harry playing the musical saw, at his home in Lima, Ohio. Cousin Ron looks on.
(I’m going to guess 1971 here, but I may be off a year or two either way.)
The tie-in with Poppy's front porch
Harry could play entire songs. One summer, Grandpa Wingate came to our house, and then we caravanned south to Poppy’s farm (Grandpa Wingate preferred to drive as fast as he could keep his car on the road, and had little patience for riding with people who kept to the speed limit…people like his son, Albert. Dad didn’t want to ride with Grandpa; hence the two car, 212 mile caravan.)
One day, we were sitting on Poppy’s front porch, and Grandpa got out his saw and bow. We were all an attentive audience as he played. I was just a young kid at the time, but in later years my Mom talked about Harry playing an old hymn, “In the Garden”, and said “It brought tears to your eyes”. I think Mom meant this in a good way, that Harry could really put some emotion into it. What little I remember is that while I didn’t know the song to recognize it, I thought Grandpa’s saw music was nice.
Somewhere along the years, my sister Connie came to find out that our Dad also knew the basics of how to play the saw. In the late 1970’s (maybe 1980), she gave him a bow, and he got a saw and showed us how to play it. Dad made some different notes, but I don’t think he got a whole song out of the saw like his dad did. I then gave it a try and got a note or two, but I didn’t quite have Dad’s skill. And neither of us could play as well as Grandpa Wingate.
Not to change the subject, but...
...after all, this is the Evening Rambler. We had a beautiful sunset here yesterday, so I grabbed my camera. Enjoy...
And finally, here's a clever advertisement.
This came in the mail yesterday. It's a coupon from AMF for one free game of bowling for up to 10 people.
Keeping with the subject of kids and department store Santas, James Lileks posted a fun video on his blog today. Here's the link. Enjoy!
I've enjoyed hearing family stories and looking at old letters and photographs about as long as I can remember. In 1979 I found out that one of our local libraries has one of the best genealogy collections in the country, and there were a couple of librarians who specialized in the study. I read a couple of books, looked at a lot of forms, learned how to view the census records on microfilm, and in the early 1980's took an adult education class on the subject. Genealogy has been one of my hobbies every since, but in a kind of half-hearted, on again, off again way. I would go through a phase where I would research and write down a lot of stuff, but not record the source.
Word to the wise: Don't do it that way. Always record your source for every bit on information...right from the start. That way, you don't have to do almost everything over, like (ahem) someone I know.
About a year ago I decided to stop worrying about my family tree not being complete, and go ahead and compile everything I had up to now, and get it word processed and scanned all in one place. Then, I'll make CD's for whoever in the family would be interested. Later I could continue my research when I could, and make corrections and updates as I went along.
But I did want to organize the information in the proper format, so it would make sense and not have to be done over again. I checked out a small book on "Numbering Your Genealogy", and learned that of the many numbering systems, four are currently used most. Of those four, I already was familiar with "Ahnentafel" numbering. You start with yourself (or with whoever you make the chart for), and that person is number 1. Then your father is number 2, your mother is number 3, your father's father is number 4, and so on. The more generations back, the larger the number. This is probably the most common system, and works great for ancestry charts, which often show six or seven generations on one page.
What I wanted to learn was a system where you started with the earliest ancestor you had information for, and numbered forward from him or her. I decided to try the "NGSQ" numbering, and started on my father's side, with my great-great-great-grandfather, John C. Wingate. That project is going well, and I really appreciate word processing software for this use. I know some of my information is still scattered about, and I will be adding and editing for a while.
Stories
A list of names and dates can get boring after a while, if there are no stories or photos to go along with the data. So I've started to word process what I can remember hearing about my ancestors. All I know about John C. are names, dates and places...no stories. All I heard about his first son, Isaac E. Wingate, was that his first marriage ended in divorce, and he re-married. I do have a few stories about Isaac's first son, Jacob Wingate, my great-grandfather. Here's part of what I know.
Jake and his horses
Jacob Wingate leased a farm near Beaverdam, in Allen County, Ohio. At one time he had two horses named Tom and Jerry. The photo below, taken on that farm shows Jake with two horses.
(I don’t know if these horses were Tom and Jerry, or two other horses.)
Jacob married Emma Yoakam, and Jake and Emma’s first child was Harry Dale, or as I called him, Grandpa Wingate. Harry had an interesting and exciting life, and there’s much I could say about that, perhaps at a later time.
The musical saw
One talent Harry had was that he could play the musical saw. I was told a story once that he started with a bow made from a piece of lumber the size of a yardstick – or maybe it was a yardstick – strung with hair from the tail of one of the horses. In later years he used a real bow…
Harry playing the musical saw, at his home in Lima, Ohio. Cousin Ron looks on.
(I’m going to guess 1971 here, but I may be off a year or two either way.)
The tie-in with Poppy's front porch
Harry could play entire songs. One summer, Grandpa Wingate came to our house, and then we caravanned south to Poppy’s farm (Grandpa Wingate preferred to drive as fast as he could keep his car on the road, and had little patience for riding with people who kept to the speed limit…people like his son, Albert. Dad didn’t want to ride with Grandpa; hence the two car, 212 mile caravan.)
One day, we were sitting on Poppy’s front porch, and Grandpa got out his saw and bow. We were all an attentive audience as he played. I was just a young kid at the time, but in later years my Mom talked about Harry playing an old hymn, “In the Garden”, and said “It brought tears to your eyes”. I think Mom meant this in a good way, that Harry could really put some emotion into it. What little I remember is that while I didn’t know the song to recognize it, I thought Grandpa’s saw music was nice.
Somewhere along the years, my sister Connie came to find out that our Dad also knew the basics of how to play the saw. In the late 1970’s (maybe 1980), she gave him a bow, and he got a saw and showed us how to play it. Dad made some different notes, but I don’t think he got a whole song out of the saw like his dad did. I then gave it a try and got a note or two, but I didn’t quite have Dad’s skill. And neither of us could play as well as Grandpa Wingate.
Not to change the subject, but...
...after all, this is the Evening Rambler. We had a beautiful sunset here yesterday, so I grabbed my camera. Enjoy...
And finally, here's a clever advertisement.
This came in the mail yesterday. It's a coupon from AMF for one free game of bowling for up to 10 people.
Keeping with the subject of kids and department store Santas, James Lileks posted a fun video on his blog today. Here's the link. Enjoy!
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