Wordless Wednesday - 23 September 2009

Tombstone Tuesday - Robert J. Crist

This is the tombstone of Robert J. and Alice K. (Whiteleather) Crist.    They are buried in Moultrie Chapel Cemetery, West Township, Columbiana County, Ohio.    They are both cousins of mine, but from different ancestral lines.  Robert is, of course, from my Crist line, and Alice is from my Sanor/Zehner line.  Both of these families settled in northeastern Ohio in the early part of the 19th century.

This tombstone has some unique features; the first being that it has their marriage date, 27 March 1938, carved over wedding rings located between their names.  The second, and most unique, feature is the picture in the background.  It depicts their home and Crist Dairy Farm, which Robert co-owned, located in Homeworth, Ohio.  What an incredible memorial for future generations!

Here is a picture of the Crist Dairy Farm in 2005

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Note the three silos just like on the tombstone, and the house to the right of the farm buildings.

Happy 45th Anniversary!

Richard Livingston and Caroline Elbert were married on September 19, 1964 at Holy Cross Lutheran Church in Lake Ronkonkoma, New York.  It was a traditional wedding ceremony. The bride wore a beautiful white lace wedding gown with a huge hoop skirt underneath.  Three attendants dressed in teal gowns preceded the bride down the aisle.  The handsome groom and his three attendants stood waiting at the altar in their tuxedos.  The bride's oldest brother, Richard Elbert, gave her away since her father had died six years earlier.  After the ceremony, they rode to the banquet hall for the reception and catered dinner.  At the reception, they followed all of the wedding traditions.  They cut the cake, danced the first dance, and tossed the bouquet.  After the wedding, they settled down in a small gray house in the small town of Lake Ronkonkoma.

September 19, 2009 would have been their 45th wedding anniversary if they were still alive.  They celebrated 41 years together before my dad passed away.  Below is a photo taken at their 40th anniversary party, thrown by their three daughters.

Happy Anniversary, Mom and Dad!

Carnival of Genealogy, 80th EditionThe 1964 New York World's Fair

The subject of this edition of the Carnival of Genealogy is "Family Fun."  We were challenged to research an event our ancestor may have attended.  I chose the 1964 New York World's Fair.  My parents and both grandmothers attended this fair, and my parents spoke about it often.  The Fair was held in Flushing Meadows Corona Park in the borough of Queens.  The Fair opened on 22 April 1964, and ran for two six-month seasons ending on 17 October 1965.  The Fair called itself a "universal and international exposition", and covered a distance of one square mile of land.  The Fair's theme was "Peace Through Understanding" dedicated to "Man's Achievement on a Shrinking Globe in an Expanding Universe."  Catchy name, huh?  A twelve-story high stainless-steel model of the earth, named Unisphere, was built to represent this theme of global interdependence (see photo below).

The Fair had exhibits of corporations, countries, states, cities, and space themes, among others.  One of the more popular exhibits was the Vatican pavilion where Michelangelo's Pietà was displayed.  Walt Disney's "It's a Small World" was another favored exhibit, which was eventually rebuilt as an attraction at Disney World in Orlando, Florida.  General Motors Corporation's Futurama show, in which visitors seated in moving chairs glided past detailed scenery showing what life might be like in the "near-future" was the most popular of all the exhibits at the Fair.  There were a total of 140 exhibits in all, and quite a few of them remind me of Disney World, with audio-animatronics and moving exhibits and theaters.

The Fair was attended by more than 51 million people, but that was short of the 70 million the organizers had hoped for in order to turn a profit.  That caused a 5-year controversy with allegations of financial mismanagement, in which investors only received 10 cents on the dollar for their investments.  Most of the exhibits were just taken down within six months of the closing of the fair, however some were moved to new locations across the USA to be reused or re-purposed.  All in all, the Fair is best remembered as a showcase of mid-twentieth century American culture and technology.

This is a view of the Fair as seen from the observation towers in the New York State pavilion.  The large model of the earth is the Unisphere.

Tombstone Tuesday - 15 Sept 2009

Tombstone of John and Lydia (Messimore) Behner; located in Chambersburg Cemetery, Columbiana County, Ohio.  John and Lydia were married on 6 December 1838.

Inscription reads:
John Behner
Aug. 12, 1816
May 2, 1891
__________
Lydia
Wife of John Behner
June 30, 1816
Apr. 6, 1896

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - Trading Cards

This week's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun challenge was to make a trading card of yourself.  Randy Seaver (Genea-Musings) was inspired to suggest this challenge by Sheri Fenley's (The Educated Genealogist) blog post showing her trading card.  If you want to make a card for yourself, go to the Big Huge Labs website.  Here is the card I created:

Smile for the Camera, 17th Edition - School Days

The prompt for this edition of Smile for the Camera is "School Days."  Below are photos of Alliance High School, located in Alliance, Stark County, Ohio.  The building was built in 1868 as Alliance College, and was purchased in 1887 to be used as the high school.  It was located at the corner of Broadway Street and Linden Avenue.  Sadly, the building was demolished in 1910.  A second high school was built on the property in 1911, and was demolished in 1974.  It is such a shame to have lost a beautiful building that was so much a part of this town's history.

 

Wordless Wednesday - 9 September 2009

Wabash Avenue, looking east from Sixth Street.

Terre Haute, Vigo County, Indiana.

Tombstone Tuesday - 8 Sept 2009

This tombstone is located in Brown Cemetery, Blackhawk, Vigo County, Indiana.  The right pillar is for James Rudisel, born Jan 10, 1844 and died Aug 29, 1881.  The left pillar is for William Rudisel, born March 2, 1824 and died on Dec 1, 1881, and father of James.  William is the 3rd great gradfather of my husband.  According to information given to us by a relative, William homesteaded a section of land in Peirson Twp., Vigo Co., Indiana, where the small town of Blackhawk is located.  There is a street named for him, and possibly a creek.  He had three sons and three daughters, and they each had big farms.

Labor Day in the USA

Labor Day is a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of the United States of America.  Who founded Labor Day?  Well, that fact is not quite certain, even after celebrating 126 Labor Day holidays.  Some records show that Peter J. McGuire, general secretary of the Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners, and co-founder of the American Federation of Labor, was the first to suggest setting aside a day to honor those "who from rude nature have delved and carved all the grandeur we behold."  However, recent research seems to support that Matthew Maguire, a machinist, not Peter McGuire, founded the holiday. This research shows that Matthew Maguire proposed the holiday in 1882 while serving as secretary of the Central Labor Union in New York. What is certain, is that the Central Labor Union adopted a Labor Day proposal and appointed a committee to plan a demonstration and picnic.

This plan was put into action with the first Labor Day holiday being celebrated on Tuesday, September 5, 1882, in New York City.  The Central Labor Union held its second Labor Day holiday the following year, on September 5, 1883, a Wednesday.  Then in 1884, the first Monday in September was chosen as the holiday, as was originally proposed.  The Central Labor Union urged similar organizations in other cities to follow the example of New York, and celebrate a "workingmen's holiday" on that date. By 1885, Labor Day was celebrated in many industrial centers of the country as a result of the growth of labor organizations.

The first proposal of the Labor Day holiday suggested the way in which it should be celebrated  The celebration would include a street parade to show the public "the strength and esprit de corps of the trade and labor organizations" of the community, followed by a festival for the recreation and amusement of the workers and their families.  Speeches by prominent men and women came about later, as more importance was placed on the economic and civic significance of the holiday. Still later, by a resolution of the American Federation of Labor convention of 1909, the Sunday preceding Labor Day was adopted as Labor Sunday and dedicated to the spiritual and educational aspects of the labor movement.

Congress was slow to pass a Labor Day act making the first Monday in September of each year a legal holiday. Municipalities were the first to enact laws to celebrate the holiday, then states, and finally, on June 28 1894, Labor Day became a Federal holiday.  Labor Day has been celebrated every year since with parades, speeches, and picnics, all to pay tribute to the American worker, who is responsible for so much of the nation's strength, freedom, and leadership. So, on this Labor Day, I send out a big thank you to all the laborers of this great country, the United States of America!

Wordless Wednesday - Cousins

Wordless Wednesday
Cousins on Easter - circa 1968

Tombstone Tuesday - 1 Sept 2009

This tombstone was photographed in St. Joseph's Cemetery in Bloomington, McLean County, Illinois.  Note that I am not related to Josephine Majer, and have no further information on her.  St. Joseph's Cemetery was established in 1880.