Month: July 2017

by

Sepia Saturday – July 2017 – Everybody Say, “Cheese!”

The prompt picture I’ve chosen from Sepia Saturday for July is a group photo of the opening of the new pavilion for the Beverley Town Cricket, Bowling and Athletic Club, in Beverley, East Yorkshire.  It is Sepia’s number 376 which is out of sync with my ending 2016 Sepia Saturday numbering. I chose it for July because I have some interesting group photos in my collection that I’d like to share with you. I have a lot of yearly school class photos for me and my sisters but I won’t be including those here.

This group photo is a blast from the past for my sister Jill. In 1976, the United States Bicentennial celebration was in full swing. The Merriam Avenue School, Newton, Sussex County, New Jersey, had students from kindergarten to sixth grade. Most of the grades participated in some way. In Jill’s 2nd-grade class, the girls all wore colonial garb. Here is the photo with the girls all in the front row along with the teacher on the right. The boys, who don’t seem to be wearing anything special, are hidden in the back row. Jill is the third girl from the left and the teacher is on the right.

Jill Ann Strait’s 2nd grade Merriam Ave class

Inset from larger photo

This group photo is a blast from the past for me. Taken somewhere around 1980 or so, this is my 8th grade graduation photo. It was taken on the ground of Newton High School even though we attended Halsted Street School a few blocks away. I’m sure the facilities at the high school could accommodate the ceremony, students, and parents much better. I’m the leftmost of three girls standing between the two girls in pink tops second row from the bottom.

Jodi Lynn Strait’s 8th grade graduation class

Another group photo was taken on the occasion of a wedding in Germany. It’s from the collection related to my grandmother Etta (Pauw) Westra who had a sister named Martha Ewoldine (Pauw) Saathoff. She was known to us as Tante Dini. The couple that were married are in the center of the photo. Tante Dini is the third person from the left just peeking out from behind the second and fourth person.

A wedding in Germany

This photo has a listing on the back of it identifying some people and is in German. I confess that I haven’t fully translated it yet… I can pick out Tjard (who was Etta’s brother) and Albert and some wording about the young ones.

From my grandmother Beatrice (Repsher) Strait’s collection, I have a group photo that has many people. I apologize for the quality, it’s a photo of a photo not a scan of the photo. The original copy has been lost somewhere between the death of my grandmother Beatrice and the death of her daughter Sadie. I believe this a reunion photo for those who attended or were currently attending Vernon School in Vernon, Sussex County, New Jersey. I strongly suspect that the gentleman standing on the right side with the hat in his hand is Ora Simpson Strait, my great grandfather. And I also suspect that he wasn’t in the photo when it was taken! This photo has been tampered with. If you zoom in on his feet, you can see that he’s not standing on the actual hillside like the others. Additionally, he is way out of proportion to the other people in the photo. The other thing that is slightly wonky with the photo are the two kids on the far left. The discoloration coupled with an inspection of the gentleman’s elbow near them makes me believe that the pair has also been pasted into the photo.

A Vernon School gathering?

Another from my grandmother Strait’s collection is this lovely sepia photo of Beatrice’s brothers and their wives, circa 1943. I believe the couples are, from left to right, Bob with Jean, Hank with Laura (first wife), Art with Margaret, and Adam with Kitty.

The Repsher boys and their wives

Who said group photos had to be of people? Not me. The last photo to share with you is a happy group of windmills. My grandfather Albert Westra handcrafted and the sold or gave away many a tabletop version of windmills.

Albert Westra’s tabletop windmills

by

52 Documents in 52 Weeks #27 – David Curtain’s Social Visit

Person of Interest: David Curtin
Relationship: Absolutely none!

Source Citation: “A Pleasant Little Social Visit,” news, the Pittsburg Press (Pennsylvania), 27 August 1890, p. 7, col. 3; image copy, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com/image/141342906/ : accessed 30 June 2017), Historical Newspapers Collection.

Document Description: A digital clipping from a Pennsylvania newspaper found online at Newspapers.com.

Document Scan/Transcription: A Pleasant Little Social Visit.
Charles Munday and his wife were charged before Alderman Ayer with assaulting David Curtin. Curtin alleges that he went to pay the Mundays a social visit, when the whole family attacked him. Mrs. Munday got in several hard knocks on Curtin’s eye and then pulled his hair until he cried for mercy. She was arrested and in default of bail was sent to jail to await a trial. Her husband was released.

Analysis: It’s a holiday week and I’m also at the mid-way point of this 52 Documents in 52 Weeks (52D52W) project. So, this one is not family related and on a much lighter note. I was looking for a newspaper article about one Repsher (or relations) who visited another. What I was finding was a lot of little snippets, with no Repshers, which didn’t inspire a blog post, for example…[1]

or this…[2]

Interesting but not exactly what I had in mind. Then I came across the subject of this week’s post! It made me laugh out loud. There has to be a wonderful, untold story in this “pleasant little social visit” that turned out not so pleasant for one Mr. David Curtain and landed Mrs. Munday a trip to the pokey.

For me, so many questions pop out from reading this one paragraph:

  • How did David Curtain know the Mundays?
  • What was the motivation for David’s visit?
  • What time of day did this occur? What was the weather like?
  • How old were all the parties involved?
  • What are the nationalities of the parties involved?
  • What was everyone wearing?
  • What sort of house or apartment did the Mundays live in? Who were their neighbors?
  • What was said that caused made the WHOLE family attack him? Who did the whole family consist of?
    • Was there a daughter involved that perhaps David Curtain was seeing?
    • Perhaps David had a crush on Mrs. Munday and was professing his love?
    • Was there alcohol involved and a bit of liquid courage or belligerence going on?
  • What was the fight like?
    • What sort of punches was Mrs. Munday throwing? Jabs? Left hooks? All-out roundhouses?
      • Is pulling hair allowed in a fight?
      • What did David say when he was crying for mercy? “Uncle!” or “Mercy” or some other colorful phrase?
      • What was a good cuss phrase in 1890?
    • How loud was the ruckus?
      • Did any furniture get broken?
      • Did a physician attend to anyone’s wounds?
      • Who ultimately broke up the fight? Neighbors? The police?
  • Why did they not put up bail for Mrs. Munday to get out? Was the family in financial straits?
  • Why did they release Charles Munday? Was Mrs. Munday the only one doing the punching?

Giving this little snippet to a creative writing class as an assignment to write the background story would yield a bunch of wildly variant stories!

Genealogically, though, what is the value of this entertaining newspaper snippet? Well, it does serve a couple of purposes. It tells us that David Curtin knew a Mr. and Mrs. Charles Munday. Thorough research involves exploring all aspects of family unit, including friends, associates, and neighbors a.k.a the F.A.N. network. This vignette adds to the tapestry of the Munday’s story. Also, it tells us that there’s most likely court documents that we could pursue to dig up some information on the Mundays and possibly David Curtain. An exploration of their neighborhood in 1890 could provide some insight into the way they were living and/or stress they were under as they led their day-to-day lives.

CONCLUSION

Despite the headline, David Curtain’s visit to the Munday’s house could not have been pleasant for him. He ended up being attacked and, as a result, Mrs. Munday was thrown in jail to await trail on assault charges. The newspaper clipping provides a good jumping off point to dig up court documents and motivation to ferret out the “rest of the story!”

[1] “Society in Braddock,” news, the Pittsburg Press (Pennsylvania), 24 July 1898, p. 12, col. 5; image copy, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com/image/141935126/ : accessed 30 June 2017), Historical Newspapers Collection.
[2] “Gloucester City,” news, the Philadelphia Inquirer (Pennsylvania), 16 December 1894, p. 22, col. 5; image copy, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com/image/168073484/ : accessed 30 June 2017), Historical Newspapers Collection.

by

Sunday’s Obituary – Calvin C. Degroat – Died 04-December-2011

Relationship to me: husband of 1st cousin, 2x removed

This obituary was published in The New Jersey Herald on December 5, 2011, page A-3, column 2. It can also be found online at Legacy.com.

screen-shot-2016-11-17-at-4-13-07-pm

“Calvin C. Degroat” – Wantage – Calvin C. Degroat, 86, died peacefully at his residence surround by his family on Sunday, Dec. 4, 2011. Born in Wantage, he had been a resident of Wantage all of his life. He was the son of the late Ralph and Lizzy (Clark) Degroat.

Prior to his retirement, Mr. Degroat was employed for 30 years in the maintenance department of the Ames Rubber Corp., in Hamburg. A proud veteran of the United States Army, he served his country during World War II. He was awarded a Purple Heart for serving in the battle of the bulge. Most recently he enjoyed the sport of bowling with his friends and teammates at the Sparta Bowling Lanes. Last year he bowled a game with a score of 222, which helped his senior bowling league team win first place.  In addition to his parents, he was predeceased by his wife, Carolyn (Strait) Degroat, and several brothers and sisters; Elizabeth Wilson, Arnold Degroat, Ruth Beemer, Warren Degroat, H. Clark Degroat, Vivian Lockburner, Florence Card, Oliver Degroat and Elsie Dunn. He is survived by his son, Dennis Degroat and his wife, Linda, of Stillwater; a sister, Louella Opellar of Hawthorne; grandchildren, Kyle and Brian Degroat, and his loving companion of the past few years of his life, Victoria Sapone.

Relatives and friends are invited to attend his graveside funeral service with military honors Wednesday, Dec. 7, at 11 a.m., at North Hardyston Cemetery (meeting directly at the cemetery in the old section).  In lieu of flowers, donations in his memory would be preferred and may be made to the Karen Ann Quinlan Hospice Charitable Foundation, 99 Sparta Ave., Newton, NJ 07860. Arrangements by F. John Ramsey Funeral Home, Franklin. To offer online condolences please go to http://www.fjohnramseyfuneralhome.com.