Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Tombstone Tuesday -- My First Cemetery Adventure as a Volunteer

Last week you may or may not remember me being all a 'twitter' because I had no satellite or dsl modem thanks to the lightening. We also lost the a/c for a few hours. Boy -- did it get hot in here! Stupid lightening! 

Good ole @mitz said "@gen_freak That sounds like a day to get out of the house and do some grave yard hunting." What a great idea! I remembered that there were a couple of photo requests on Find A Grave at a cemetery in this area.


According to Find A Grave the Upton Cemetery was about 5 miles from my zip code just off the highway. So I grab my camera and jump in the car and head down the highway. (That sounds like a song.)


I drove down the highway all the way through town and didn't see one cemetery! So I turned around and came back through. I stopped at two different convenient stores and a funeral home and no one knew where this cemetery was. I know, can you believe that a funeral home did not know where a local cemetery was?!


Finally I stopped at the IGA and asked someone in there.  They said the only cemetery they knew of was right across the street behind the barbershop. So I head across the street and there I see right along the barbershop is a little narrow street disguised as a parking lot. The cemetery was on Lima Street, 3 miles from my house!


So I drive down this narrow little driveway called Lima Street until I saw a gate and a big field behind it -- this was a cemetery -- I wanted to cry.
Piney Grove Cemetery
I still didn't know if I was even in the right cemetery, you can't read the sign. I ventured through the weeds and the mosquitoes in my flip flops (I swore I would never do that again) to have a look around. 


I took a photo of the second thing I saw that made me sad (the first being the condition of the cemetery).
These four unmarked headstones. One is being pushed out by a tree root and the two in the back are crowded with weeds and tree overgrowth.


Then there was this unique little grave marker.


After I left I found out that the Upton cemetery I was looking for was a small family plot right smack dab in the middle of this bigger cemetery called Piney Grove.
Upton Cemetery
There are 12 graves within this small area and it is also in sad shape. I went back there  yesterday, this time wearing long pants and my chuck Taylors. I finally found the headstone I was looking for, but I had to scoop out a layer of muck to be able to read it.


Next time I will go in more prepared, with a squirt bottle and whatnot. Seriously thinking about packing a rake.







Thursday, August 26, 2010

Friday, August 20, 2010

A Festival of Postcards -- Locomotion

This Edition's (9th) theme of A Festival of Postcards is Locomotion. I was able to find a postcard among grandma Hazel's stuff that fit into this category.

I can't really tell who was "caught with the goods" here, the people in the carriage making it's way down the road, or the man reaching out. Mainly because I can't tell what the man is holding in his hand, a garden tool, or the tongue of a trailer (could you hitch a trailer to a carriage back then?).  If the latter is true, then he is definitely the culprit!


The postcard is address to Mrs. W. C. Piggott in Pegram, Idaho.  It reads:

Jan. 16_'11
Dear Hazel & Will;
I suppose you think
I have forgotten you
but I have not I have
just been to lazy to
write. Merlin was
over yesterday also
a week ago or else
I would have been
dead for it is offel
lonesome here. How
are you? Are you
still alive? I guess
you have heard about
Levi Long's wife leaving him.
When are you coming down.
Ans soon. Love from Mattie

I wonder who poor Levi Long was?


Thursday, August 19, 2010

Treasure Chest Thursday - Treasured Tidbits Of Time

An Informal History of Bear Lake Valley, by Jens Patrick Wilde
I borrowed this book from grandma Blanche probably around 1990. It was among the things that I brought back from Idaho last May. I guess I never finished reading it because I found a homemade bookmark inside. Grandma passed in 1993 before I had a chance to return the book, so I guess I will just hang on to it.
 This book is filled with morsels of Bear Lake Valley history. It tells the story of the legend of the "Bear Lake Monster" and other folklore and human interest stories.  It also recants the bank robbery by Butch Cassidy.

I have three 2nd great-grandfathers mentioned in this book.

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Hollis Powell 1944 Yearbook Autograph Page 2

As promised here is another autograph page from Hollis Powell's annual. 

I know one side is kind of blurry so I want to transcribe one of the autographs.
Hi Hollis,
I'll never forget
the time you started 
car before I had completely
gotten out & what do I do
but fall right out on the 
street.  I guess I'll forgive you.
Remember me your neighbor,
Carmen
Other signers of this page include: Robert Reher, Barbara Moore, Don Smith, Thelma Fairchild, Jeanette Murraz, Eddie Beiler, Pat Patten, Betty Tripleil, Milton Simon, Maryann Youngdale, Lorraine Garcia

If anyone needs a look-up from this 1944 Turlock Union High School, let me know and I will see if I can find a photo of your relative.

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Treasure Chest Thursday -- The Salt Lake City 14th Ward Album Quilt, 1857

While cousin Cindy was in Salt Lake City digging up everything she could find on our Piggott ancestors she found the book "The Salt Lake City 14th Ward Album Quilt, 1857" by, Carol Holindrake Nielson.  Included in this book is a three page history on my 2nd great-grandmother, Elizabeth Edwards Cannon, and her mother, Mary Edwards Cannon Taylor, as well as photos of the quilt blocks that they made.  In her awesomeness she sent me a photocopy (thanks cuz!).

Apparently Elizabeth used her step-father's last name which I did not know until I saw her embroidered signature in her block.

How awesome to be able to see a sample of their needlework.  Would sure love to see this quilt in person.  This book is actually available at the following places:
  1. Amazon
  2. Barnes & Noble
  3. Borders

Thursday, August 5, 2010

Treasure Chest Thursday -- James Poulsen Book




 

This is another book that my great-uncle Ezra wrote.  It is about James Poulsen, my 2nd great-grandfather.  My grandma gave it to me (and then husband) for Christmas in 1988.

I want to share a paragraph from chapter 13 entitled INCIDENTS REMEMBERED on page 63.

      Anecdotes concerning James Poulsen as an individual have accumulated through the years.  He was camping one night with a group of people somewhere between Paris and the lower valleys, when an event occurred which revealed his temperament in a surprising manner. In those days of wagon travel, certain favorable camping places where there was water and wood, would often be crowded with travelers, some going one way, some another.  As one might expect, there were all kinds--Mormons, non-Mormons, good, bad, and indifferent.  On such occasions, it was customary to sit around a central fire and spin yarns or swap experiences.  Sometimes, a fast talker might capture the audience, as one did on the particular night, and get rather loose and abusive with his language. James, who usually had little to say, listened for awhile, becoming first disgusted, then angry, when the speaker made some offensive remarks. Finally, he sprang to his feet, grabbed the loquacious man by the collar of his hickory shirt, and shook him furiously, after which he threw him back to the ground, and ordered him to keep his mouth shut. Needless to say, the conversation was rather slow after that, and the party soon crawled into their blankets for the night. It has been said that this same man later camped on Sager's Creek; but when he discovered he was on Poulsen's land, he immediately moved camp.
  

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

1944 Turlock Union High School Yearbook



I found this Turlock Union High School annual called "The Alert" in the Ribbons of Pink Antiques store in Jacksonville, FL. This particular book belonged to Hollis Carroll Powell.  There are a few pages of colorful autographs included.  I will post one page of autographs per post.  
Hollis Powell -- Senior -- 1944




 I was not able to find much on Hollis.  He only died last month and there wasn't much to his obit. I have a feeling that he was never married or had a family.

 POWELL- Hollis Carroll Powell, 84, of Jacksonville, FL, passed away 6-28-10. Hardage-Giddens Town & Country Funeral Home, 7242 Normandy Boulevard

Florida Times-Union, The (Jacksonville, FL)
Date: July 1, 2010
Record Number: 143863303
Copyright (c) 2010 The Florida Times-Union


Hollis Carroll Powell
Birth Date: 31 May 1926
Gender: Male
Mother's Maiden Name: Carroll
Birth County: San Francisco


Source Information:
Ancestry.com. California Birth Index, 1905-1995


Name: Hollis C Powell
Birth Year: 1926
Race: White, citizen (White)
State of Residence: California
County or City: Stanislaus

Enlistment Date: 13 Jul 1944
Enlistment State: California
Enlistment City: Presidio of Monterey
Branch: Air Corps
Branch Code: Air Corps
Grade: Private
Grade Code: Private
Term of Enlistment: Enlistment for the duration of the War or other emergency, plus six months, subject to the discretion of the President or otherwise according to law
Component: Reserves - exclusive of Regular Army Reserve and Officers of the Officers Reserve Corps on active duty under the Thomason Act (Officers and Enlisted Men -- O.R.C. and E.R.C., and Nurses-Reserve Status)
Source: Enlisted Reserve or Medical Administrative Corps (MAC) Officer

Education: 4 years of high school
Marital Status: Single, without dependents

Source Information:
National Archives and Records Administration. U.S. World War II Army Enlistment Records, 1938-1946
 If anyone knows someone else that went to this school, let me know and I will do a look up for a photo.






*UPDATE: I am happy to announce that this lost family treasure has been found is on it's way home!

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