Keys to the Kingdom - Day 3

    

     How did you feel the day you got the keys to your first car? It was pretty amazing wasn't it? I sure remember mine - my grandparents bought me a 1961 Chevy Saratoga for my graduation in 1968. They had it fixed up and painted and it was a great old car. However, today is not about me, but the first person in my family to own a car, my great grandfather Peter Riess. My challenge is to write this as if I were Peter.

I moved to America as a young man and was lucky enough to find for me the streets were indeed paved with gold. I learned to be a furrier in Prussia and took my chances to start my own business in New York in 1882.  I had a beautiful house built on Newell Avenue bordering on the Bronx River with a factory in back and hired several people to help with the operation.

As time went on, I had more and more business
and became quite wealthy. When most people think of motor cars, they think of Henry Ford, but there was a man named Alexander Winton who started working on single cylinder engines in 1896. In 1897 he incorporated his company. The first cars were made by hand, had fancy painted sides, padded seats, a leather roof, and gas lamps.B. F. Goodrich made the tires for Winton. In 1898 he started selling them and I was determined to have one. They were so very expensive, but I was able to come up with the cash and bought the first car in the Bronx in 1899. The only other car in New York was owned by Rockefeller! I couldn't wait for delivery. It was such a beautiful car.

I couldn't wait to drive it around for all my friends and neighbors to see. I was amazed it could go over 33mph! It was difficult to drive sometimes due to all the horse drawn carriages in the road, but it was worth it! So much so, that a few years later I upgraded to a newer model. This one was made around 1900 and you can see my wife and children enjoyed it as well!

I had many cars over my lifetime, but I will never forget my first car!

Elsie Behrens - Ziegfeld Girl

                              Elsie Behrens - Ziegfeld Girl

My great grandfather Haindl's niece was a Ziegfeld girl. Her name was Elsie Behrens and she came to the US from Germany in the early years of the twentieth century. She was a beautiful girl with dark blonde hair and blue eyes. She studied dance in Germany under Albertina Rasch and must have caught the theatrical bug as she worked to break into show business here in the US. She never made it big, but she did work with a cavalcade of stars -

 Eddie Cantor in Whoopie!

 Fred Astaire, Marilyn Miller, Buddy Ebsen, Bob Hope, Rudy Vallee, Ethel Merman, Bing Crosby, Sydney Greenstreet, Fred MacMurray - what a list! I imagine she must have been thrilled to be working with these people even though they were in the beginnings of their own careers.

I think once she was clearly ensconced as a Ziegfeld girl, she must have been to many parties and soirees which would mean she would have been up to date on all the latest in fashion - one could not be one of the girls and not dress the part at all times. She was close to Ziegfeld and one day when they were out riding in his car, she mentioned being born in Germany. Well, Flo was shocked as the girls were the "great American beauties". He immediately drove her to the courthouse to start the process of her becoming a citizen!

There are a few newspaper articles about her, the above story is one of them and she is mentioned as attending a wedding of a Ziegfeld girl as well. She herself married an up and coming businessman named LeRoy Franck and her wedding was covered in the papers. After she retired from dancing in 1935, she still appeared at many places for fund raisers. Sadly she and LeRoy split up after having 2 children and she died in obscurity in Florida. I wrote to her grandson to see if he was willing to share anything with me, but he never replied.

I think it would have been interesting to know her - having been drawn to theater in my  younger years I like to think we would have had something in common!

Family Tree Magazine History Writing Challenge

     SO, similar to November's National Writing Month challenge for writers, Family Tree Magazine is kicking off the 30 day family history writing challenge - now most of you know what a procrastinator I am, but I am going to give it a go.
The first challenge is to write a letter to an ancestor you have never met. Include questions you've always wanted to ask him or her, plus some that reflect what you've already learned about your ancestor (for example, "Do you enjoy your new job?" or "How are you coping with your father's death?"), so here goes.

Dear Andrew Cotter,
                                I am your 4X great granddaughter and I have so many questions about you. I know you came from Ireland and settled in Missouri, but so much is a mystery! I have looked long and hard for your place of birth and I think I am closing in. Were you born in County Cork around Skibbereen or Schull? The reason I ask is you married your wife Johanna Stanton within a very short time after she "appeared" in St. Louis. My digging has found she is from that area and was married to a Denis Driscoll when she left Ireland during the Potato Famine in 1847. He died either on the way over or shortly after which means they were on a coffin ship which went to New Brunswick, Canada. I found her in the lost friends ads in Boston newspapers stating she was widowed and had run off from Duckville, MA with her two younger brothers Denis and James. Her arrival was in New Brunswick in 1847 and she ran away in April of 1849. Now her parents who placed the ad, were in Sandusky, Ohio, so why did she flee with her brothers and then marry so quickly to you? Did you know her in Skibbereen? There are Cotter families there though I have not found you there yet.

I have not found your immigration date yet, but have found two possibilities with a date Jan 28, 1848 and another of Nov 30, 1848 and I am hoping to figure which one was you.

After you two married, you moved to Linn, Missouri. It took me several years to find you as I kept looking in St. Louis. It was a real surprise to find you had 2 children besides my 3X great grandmother Hannah Mariah Cotter. Again I kept looking for you in the census and your little family with no luck. I did find Hannah working as a maid in Linn, but could not find her mother or siblings. Where did they go?
Recently I found you had died in 1855. My gosh you were so young! How difficult it must have been for your wife and children to be left alone. I found your probate records and noticed you bought a LOT of whiskey before you died -

April 20, 1855 1 gallon whiskey
May 1 - half gallon of whiskey
June 9 - 1 gallon of whiskey
June 18 - soap
June 25 - half gallon of whiskey
June 28 - half gallon of whiskey
July 2 - half gallon of whiskey
July 3 - 1 gallon of whiskey
July 7 - 1 gallon of whiskey
July 10 - 1 gallon of whiskey
July 12 - 1/4 gallon of brandy
July 17 - half gallon of whiskey
               1 hand saw
WHAT THE HECK DID YOU DO WITH ALL THAT WHISKEY??????? AND HOW DID YOU DIE??
One would think your liver might have exploded, but in reality, since you was a farmer, it could have been a farming accident as well.

What a short life. You had enough gumption to leave Ireland when people were starving to try to make a living in America. That in itself took great courage. Did you come alone or with family? I did see some Cotters living in Linn, but haven't found a connection yet. What happened to your children
James Andrew and Ellen Jane? Where did they go? I would love to know so much more about your family both here in America and in Ireland as well. I hope this year will give me some more clues to your life.
With Love
Linda

Celtic Thunder Legacy - The tour!

                                      Celtic Thunder Legacy

Ryan, Damian, Neil, Emmet and Michael

When the tour was first announced, I have to admit I went back and forth about getting a ticket. I saw this same show last year when they did a short run of it and while I enjoyed it, I wasn't sure I wanted to take the time to do it again. I've been following Celtic Thunder since they first came onto the scene usually seeing two shows each tour. I decided to go one last time figuring it was time for me to move on.

For those of you who haven't been following the CT news, there have been quite a few changes in the line-up. Colm Keegan has taken a year off to finish his Master's Degree in Education at the University of Glasgow. He also married Laura Durrant, CT's cellist who took time off to finish her teaching degree as well, so there is no cello on this tour. Emmett O'Hanlon who came on for the Christmas tour 2014 and the short tour (2015) has gone on to an internship with an opera company in Chicago. The big news of course is that after 10 years on the road with Celtic Thunder, Keith Harkin has said adieu, gotten married and is currently on his own tour. Truthfully, Keith's leaving was one of the big reasons I was on the fence about this tour. Dave Bakey who played guitar for the past few tours has gone and Conal Early has taken his place. Other changes in the band are the return of Barry Kerr on pipes, whistles and guitar and Charlie Foley on bass. David Munro as musical director is onstage as well as a new keyboardist named Cian Sweeny. Rounding the band out is Declan O'Donoghue on drums.  Now, the good thing is Emmet Cahill has returned as has original member Damian McGinty - both are talented and fun guys and add to the show vocally. The new lad, who is taking Keith's place is Michael O'Dwyer and I admit I was very interested to see how he fit it and what his voice was like.

Michael O'Dwyer

I was truly happy they were playing in Albany, NY which is close by - for the first time in years I didn't have to travel and get a hotel, a big plus! I went up early for sound check which is always fun. For me its not so much about watching the process - having done so many shows myself, I am well aware of what is or isn't done. What I do love about it is that you can as many photos as you like and as an amateur photographer, this speaks to me.  We received a lanyard with a guest pass and an autographed program which was a bit different than I expected. While the guys signed the front, the inside of the program was all about the people behind the scene including the band.

Ryan Kelly

I must admit it was a little strange to see no scenery on the stage, I have gotten used to the larger sets they have used in past shows. This time the downstage area was simply set with a few speakers in the front and the band was set upstage. As I mentioned there was no cello this time and instead of the large harp Seana Davey usually uses, there was a small harp which  she played standing up. To be honest, I really felt the lack of the deep tones of the cello, everything sounded a bit bright and I really hope next tour Laura is back.

Seana Davey

They began with Heartland minus the coats they used to wear which was a plus!  All seemed in fine form vocally and the mix was good. I sat in the 5th row stage right for the first half, then moved to an unused seat in the center in row 2.  There were a few times the sound overpowered the performance, but they were few and far between. One thing about attending one of the first nights in a show is that things like this are being worked on continually until everything is the best it can be. It did not detract from their performances at all.  I am not going to go into detail about every song they sang as I like to leave some surprises for those who haven't gone yet. They did of course include Life with You in honor of George Donaldson, an original member who has since passed away. I did notice that Michael's voice fit well with the others and was similar to Keith's. Emmet sang baritone on a lot of the songs as did Damian with some of his incredible bass notes added in.

Neil Byrne

Neil of course was up to his old tricks and absolutely hilarious during 7 Drunken Night. I always think he can't possibly ham it up any more than he already has, but I was SO wrong. I thoroughly enjoyed his Carolina Rua, which for me is the song he does best. It was interesting that they did not include his drum battle with Declan this tour, but Declan had fun all by himself and everyone loved it! I should also mention there were no solos with dancing by Nicole Hudson which I really missed. On the short Legacy tour last year, I saw Emmet O'Hanlon and Ryan Kelly do That's a Woman and was looking forward to seeing Emmet Cahill tackle it. Sadly it was not to be, nor was Heartbreaker, two of my favorite songs. Ryan did sing Desparado, a song he has really made his own as well as Streets of New York.
As always there were some fun bits like the aforementioned 7 Drunken Nights.

Nicole Hudson

Place in the Choir had the guys up to their usual antics and choreography.  Just watch what happens to poor Michael after the second chorus! You always have to be on your guard when the craic starts to fly! The funniest song of the night hands down goes to Damian as he recreates a Neil Sedaka tune with some new back-up singers. Emmet brought a rousing My Irish Molly with a few new photos in the background, dimples and sly looks flying and as always the longest note held in the business! In the four years he has been with Celtic Thunder, I have watched his already gifted voice grow into its own and I believe there wasn't a dry eye in the house with Danny Boy or Innisfree.
Damian's voice has also grown richer over the years and he has really learned to use his falsetto well.

So, that leaves us with Michael O'Dwyer. As I said earlier, I have been a huge fan of Keith's from the beginning and couldn't imagine the show without his beautiful tenor voice.

Damian McGinty

Barry Kerr

Let me tell you right now that as usual, Sharon Browne has worked her magic in hiring Michael and taking him under her wing. I first heard him as I came in for sound check working on Now We are Free. What a beautiful voice he has! I know some of Keith's fans are going to say no one can replace him, but it isn't about replacing him, its about the music and what it does to your spirit. While he was a bit nervous singing The Dutchman, (with Emmet Cahill on background vocals), he eased effortlessly into Now We are Free. It wasn't until I Wanna Know What Love Is that he showed his full potential. His voice absolutely soared with his amazing licks and I think he definitely won the crowd over.
Ireland's Call and the famous kilt twirls went over a treat with the audience out of their seats and dancing and their encore of Still Haven't Found what I'm Looking For  really left us all wishing that the concert would go on and on.

Emmet Cahill

After the show we went backstage for the VIP experience. Once again we received a program made for the event, but this time it was about the performers, and we also received a rubber bracelet.
  This year's idea was really fun. Ryan and Michael came in to play Mad-Libs with us in two teams. I was on Michael's  team and I think the funniest thing he said was when a noun was needed he yelled, "I have one - Cabbage!" and we all cracked up. Next was pictures with the guys and the opportunity to sign a special tour book.                        

with Neil

with David Munro

with Emmet before the show

with Michael and Ryan

 Am I glad I went????     You betcha I am! Don't miss it! Tickets available through www.celticthunder.com

Sex, Violence and Crass Humor - does it bother you?

I hate to rant about things, but I am just so over all the junk that is displayed as entertainment these days. I have been watching for the past few weeks and keeping a bit of a count as to what type of television is available these days. It seems almost everything is low class and crass. Why do we follow these shows and let our kids watch them?  I have to admit to watching two seasons of the bachelor when it was maybe in its 3rd and fourth season. I got hooked while staying at my daughter's after her baby was born and out of boredom got sucked in the last 4 shows of that season. It seemed so fairy-tale to me - doesn't every girl want to find her special someone, her prince charming? Then I watched the next season and started  to realize it for the train-wreck it is. Why in the world would you be willing to go on tv and lower your standards just to catch a man - the fantasy suite?? Ugh! I can't imagine why you would want everyone in the country know you slept with a guy...and why would you still want to marry him knowing he slept with one or two other girls the same week? We are trying to teach our young girls some sense of modesty, at least I think some families are...this surely doesn't help. If you add in shows like 2 Broke Girls, Lena Dunham's Girls and the ever-present vampire shows, there is no way our girls are learning things that will help them in life.

I also noted that almost every show this season had to have a gay character or couple. I get that the gay community wants to be represented, but sometimes it feels like its being pushed in  your face. Just this Sunday I watched one of my favorite shows, Call the Midwife and there was a gay story line. Now I have read all the books that were written by Jennifer Worth that spawned  the series, and most of the story lines are straight from the book, but there was never ever a story line that one of the midwifes was gay. I also noted that almost every show over the last little while had something detrimental to say about Christianity as if every Christian is from Westboro Baptist and is a gun toting homophobe, which just isn't true. You want to represent all kinds of people on TV, then at least be honest about it.

The movies are no better. I can't tell you how many I have recently had to return after watching the first few minutes because of pervasive language or sexual scenes. I am not a prude, but has anyone ever thought about this? When someone peeps through your window to see you undress or make love, what do you call him? A peeping Tom, a pervert? Well, then what does that make us when we look through that keyhole in a movie while people are having sex or undressing - scary huh? It took me aback when my husband first asked me that - now I think about it all the time. I don't want to be in that company, thank you. Do we want our children to be peeping Toms?

Music is also eroding into songs that tear a woman apart or make her a sexual object, or are so depressing we don't have to wonder why our children are struggling with depression. These songs don't help them, they just drag them in farther even though the kids say they help. I can understand the need to know that many people struggle, but leaving no positive solution is not healthy.

Look at our obsession with celebrity. I catch myself entering it often. Why is that? These are people, the same as you or me, that we transfer our hopes and dreams onto thinking they have the answer - perfect faces, perfect bodies, cars, money, fame...is that what life is all about? I think I really woke up when I saw how the Thunderheads who follow Celtic Thunder, spend countless hours following them online through twitter, Facebook, their website and dozens of chat rooms on Facebook dedicated to this member or that. Many fly or drive to several group shows and then all of their solo shows every year, so much so, that the guys have gotten to know these ladies. I got sucked in there as well for a while, but I noticed that their lives are so different when they go back to Ireland, there they are just someone from the community that is a normal person, he just has a neat job. No one follows them around, stalks them or hounds them as has happened a few times here in the US, and  they have noted themselves that people in Ireland and Europe don't go quite as crazy as we do in America...we seem to throw ourselves into their lives and I wonder why? What is it we are missing here in  the U.S? 

I would love to hear your comments regarding this - do you think there is too much sex and potty humor on TV?
Do you think father's are portrayed as knowledgeable or buffoons who can't solve a family problem?
Do you find yourself limiting movies you watch because of sexual content or violence? Or am I the only one who sees this??

Poverty in Appalachia: Can you help these people??

Back in the 90's I had a burden to try to help people in Appalachia. I spent some time trying to find a place there that could use children's clothing and toys and was happy to find a center I could help. I sent several packages there over time and one of the families there wrote me back and we kept up a correspondence for a long time. Eventually I got busy with other things and stopped sending packages.
I hadn't thought about that in a long time. Then Sunday I caught an episode of 60 Minutes ( http://www.cbsnews.com/news/60-minutes-overtime-on-the-road-with-the-health-wagon/)  and it really touched me. It was about health care in Appalachia. I guess I figured in this day and age, things were better there, but they are not. They are the same. Why are these people forgotten? You would think in this day and age, there wouldn't be grinding poverty in the US. You hear about "the projects" and African Americans who need help, but not about these people or this area. I think its time to change this!

Diane Sawyer has done a special about the children of the mountains (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lKx26ve1H8 and it is heart breaking.

My husband never made much money so we made do when the kids were growing, probably like many other families. Clothing was bought at the Salvation Army or given to us as hand-me-downs from friends, but we always made sure there were new  clothes for Christmas and Easter and filled in whatever else was needed. Sometimes when the kids were little, Christmas toys were things I bought at yard sales and cleaned up, but as they got older, we were able to get new things for them,
just nothing exorbitant. We ate pretty basic but healthy meals, we didn't have the money for dinners out, but we could manage Burger King kid's meals now and then. That being said, our kids never went hungry, and they always had the necessities of life. We didn't take vacations, but enjoyed what was around us - mountains, lakes and a large city nearby with plenty to see and do. I remember my daughter declaring she would never be poor, but I really never considered us poor, just average.

The children of Appalachia are a different story altogether. These families often are three times below the poverty level. Drugs are rampant (an escape from life's woes) and people turn to dealing them to make some kind of money (the moonshine of this day and age). It is heartbreaking. These children hardly have a chance to finish high school, much less go to college. It is an awful cycle of poverty.

This awakening coincides with my own personal quest to get rid of the excess in my home - I, like many, tend to impulse buy and have things I have never used in my house. I also tend to be a bit of a hoarder and have things like fabric, art supplies, books - even toothbrushes and toothpaste that I seem to have collected in abundance because of sale prices. Today I decided to find out if I could send any of these old new things to a place in Appalachia where they could be put to good use. I typed a simple query into google "how to help people in Appalachia" and  found several places that help and take donations. Some are Christian organizations, some are not, but all seem dedicated to help in one way or another. Here are just a few I came upon:
http://abcnews.go.com/2020/children-mountains/story?id=6845926
http://www.appalachianoutreaching.org/
http://www.appalachianministries.com/Howcanihelp.html

You can send old cell phones, new toiletries, used printer cartridges, books, even scrapbook supplies! They need undies, socks, clothing, computers, instruments, care bundles for newborn babies, small kitchen appliances..you name it, there is probably a need for it. You can go on work teams to help fix homes or do a VBS with the kids. There is no lack of things to be done. As Americans we usually send our money to outreaches in Africa, the Middle East, Asia etc., but folks, we need help here at home - how can we be the best country in the world with families living like this??

So, I will now get off my soapbox and hope and pray this will encourage you to look at some of these places and find where you can be a light to them.

Genealogy: Why the Soundex Is Important

     When I first started working on our genealogies in earnest, I didn't understand the importance of the Soundex. I seemed to find all I needed on Ancestry.com without having to learn it. But I kept seeing it at every archive and library I visited. Then I started working on my husband's missing family. We knew was that his father's parents basically abandoned him by the age of 5 and he was bounced from pillar to post until he was a teen. All he knew was his parent's names, Albert Lee and Mildred.
     I knew his dad was born in Nashville, TN and we had his corrected birth certificate which showed even though his original certificate said Lemmons, it was really Lemons. I looked at records for Nashville but found nothing. I found a marriage certificate for Albert and Mildred in Springfield, Robertson County, but no info was recorded about their parents names. I had tried the 1920 census with no luck, but at the Tennessee archives, they had photocopied Soundex info and a microfilmed roll of families for the state of Tennessee.

     The Soundex system takes the consonants of the alphabet and gives them a number from 1-6. All vowels are left out. Each Soundex code is made up of a letter and three numbers - correlating to the first three consonants in a name. Below is a chart for  you

Number        Represents letters
      1              B,F,P,V
      2              C,G,J,K,Q,S,X,Z
      3              D,T
      4              L
      5              M,N
      6              R

Notice that Y is not used, it is considered a vowel for Soundex purposes. You use the first letter of the name you are searching and then the three numbers for the consonants following - for example, the name Lemons is L-552 (LMNS) This allows the system to use any vowel in between, so you would get things like lamons, lemons, limons, lomons, lymons and any letters in between the  MN and the NS. It does give a ridiculous amount of records to look at, but when you are looking for that elusive record, it starts to matter less.  If you are confused by this, here is a link to a Soundex converter where you can put in your name and it will automatically convert it: http://resources.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/soundexconverter

     With my code in hand, I started going through the 1920 state list stopping at anything that might remotely be him. Finally in Putnam County, TN, a family emerged with a widowed mother and  five children...one of whom was named Albert L. The name looked to be spelled Lamons, but that could be a mistake, which I found it was once I was actually able to find it on  the census itself. You never know how a person sees letters and transcriptions are often misspelled. Now I had a possible county and a year of birth which fit the right time frame. But what happened to his father? Since I was already in the archives, I was able to look up his birth  certificate and found his father was a John T. Lemons and mother Mary B. Bowen. I looked in the death records and found John T's death certificate. He died in 1914 from pneumonia.

     None of this could have been found at the time without that Soundex code. Since then I have used it numerous times when looking through microfilm and really, if you notice on Ancestry and Family Search, they use the Soundex when they give you your list of possibilities. Thanks to the Soundex, I was finally on the way to breaking through this brick wall. Now I could start to look in depth into this family to see if it was indeed the right Albert Lee.