Treasure Chest Thursday: Frostburg Mining Journal

Let's see what's in the Olde Treasure Chest this week. So much to choose from... I'm such a lucky girl! Oh, here's a goodie. The Frostburg Mining Journal published in that Western Maryland town from 1871 to 1913. You can find it at the Maryland State Archives here. Here's what the MSA has to say about this publication:

The Frostburg Mining Journal was published September 30, 1871 [v. 1, no. 1] to April 17, 1880 [v. 9, no. 31]; April 24, 1880 [9th year, no. 32] to 1913. It was published weekly. It was also published as the Frostburg Journal and the Mining Journal. "Mining" appears in masthead ornament, September 29, 1883-December 1889. "Frostburg" appears in masthead ornament, January 1890-[1913]. The newspaper was continued by the Frostburg Spirit (Frostburg: 1913).

Mom and I were on a crusade to get the FMJ available online and then discovered that the Maryland State Archives was already doing just that. We sent them donations, and when they put up rolls of the microfilm they sent us a down loadable file of those rolls as a nice thank you gift for sponsoring that roll. Good all around.

The FMJ is the kind of thing you can spend hours browsing, and Mom and I do. I keep it as a reward for completing some particularly distasteful but necessary task. It whisks you back in time and gives you a real peek into the lives of the miners and their community of 15,000 strong by 1900 surrounding the market town of Frostburg in Western Maryland. Chickens gone missing, the mayor speaking to a ladies group, who wed whom, and which naughty married lady had run off with which fellow. It's all there. Life lived on Main Street in 10 point lead type.

So today I want to post a couple of items from the paper. The first is an ad for corsets. There were
plenty of ads and the income from them likely made the whole effort profitable for the paper's owner, J. B. Order.

 

 

Corsets not your thing? How about a cocktail?

 



 



 Christmas time was a boom time for J. B. Order when all the merchants ran ads!

 

Obits were common too and I like them because they went into depth and gave a feel for the lost beloved. This one below is for my great grand aunt, Elizabeth Jane Whetstone Clise. Enoch Clise, her husband, was mayor of Frostburg twice.

 

 

My favorite section is called Breveties. Here you'll find short mentions of all manner of information that didn't fit elsewhere. The one below is a story about my GGF Gus Zeller, owner of a very popular barbershop, receiving a shipment of 63 fancy goldfish. Some went in the big fish tank in the window of his establishment and others went into a pond on a property he owned. Mom has speculated that the reason he's mentioned so often in the Frostburg Mining Journal is that the publisher, J. Benjamin Order, must have gotten free services from Gus.

 

News to the left, ads on right. Entertaining stories of length (a substitute for TV) occupied the entire front page. My guess would be that mats (used in letterpress printing) were probably subscribed to and shipped in to newspaper printers because the stories on the front page were of general interest and not timely. Mr. Order was then left to typeset the rest and fill the four page paper with local ads and news. Here are some typical pages. Enjoy:)

May you find your own version of the Frostburg Mining Journal online containing the daily news of a town some of your ancestors lived in... that you can browse in your pajamas and fuzzy bunny slippers:)

Treasure Chest Thursday is a blogging prompt of GeneaBloggers.

The URL for this post is: http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2013/03/treasure-chest-thursday-frostburg.html

Treasure Chest Thursday: A Book About Frostburg, Maryland

The last time I was back East to visit Mom and the rest of the crew, Mom gave me this treasure of a book from her archive of stuff. Mom has the very best stuff, if you're me and researching the ancestors! She saves everything!

I've been working on a chapter for a book project and it's about the little Western Maryland town of Frostburg, Allegany, Maryland. I was sort of stuck because there isn't a lot in print about little Frostburg, except a couple of history books that focus in a more general way about the area and Wikipedia, and you can see that here. So I was moaning the blues about not having enough enriching source material. This treasure of a book I got from Mom, published about 1912 in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the town which was founded in 1812, is the very best source for information about Frostburg I've ever had the absolute delight to see! I'm thrilled to have it!! So thanks, Mom:)

This is a replica copy of the original 1912 edition, we believe. Mom and I both think that it was printed in 1962 to celebrate the 150th anniversary. This presumed replica contains no publishers information, not even a printers stamp. Unusual, as printers I've known are proud to show their civic participation and hide a mark somewhere ususally in the back binding area. So it bears more research to dig up its actual origins. Luckily, it also contains no copyright renewal or appropriation so I think I'm safe quoting and perhaps, as here, using images of pages, but I'm not a copyright attorney. Think I'll check over at the Frostburg Museum and see if they know anything about it. They know a lot over there. (The original 1912 book makes note of the publisher who was one and the same as the publisher of the Frostburg Mining Journal.)

The information that this book offers is amazing. It starts with a thorough history of Frostburg and some stuff I've seen elsewhere but also much more detailed information that goes well beyond the basics. At the close of the book is a list, quite extensive, of "home commers" who made the journey back for the festivities. The names include the place where the returnee lived in 1912, and get this, even in some cases a street address. Whoop! I found the street addresses in Chicago of two of the Zeller brothers, siblings of my great grandfather Gustav Zeller, the subject of recent posts here.

Below are just a few of the rich pages in the treasured book, Frostburg Maryland, 1812 - 1912.

Cover, displayed over family photos in my possession.

Street scenes, left, and the day the street car came to town on the left side of the right page.

If you look super close you can see GGF Gus Zeller in his white barber's coat

just below the front entrance to the car! How cool is that?

The right hand page touts the Frostburg volunteer Fire Department and

members in 1912.

Noted citizenry have their photos and a biography.

Programme for the Week opposite local photos.

This is a great treasure, right? And now... drum roll, please... just looked at a 1938 film (converted to video) all about Frostburg! Maybe next week on Thursday I'll share:) I'm stoked!! Here I was two weeks ago without enough source material and now, oh the bounty!!

Treasure Chest Thursday is a blogging prompt of GeneaBloggers. Find out more here.


The URL for this post is: http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2013/01/treasure-chest-thursday-book-about.html

Let's Explore Some Local History!

Am reading "Best Dressed Miners" by Katherine A. Harvey. It's a real treasure for me because, as I've said before, there's a lot of coal dust on my ancestors. It paints a detailed picture of the life and times of those mining coal in the Georges Creek area of Western Maryland, one of the richest mining fields anywhere, simply called The Big Vein. In 1892 it secured over 3 million long tons from the area mines, all mined by hand. Down from the previous year! I don't know much about coal mining but that sounds like a lot to me.

Before the Harvey book I read, "Allegany County - A History", by Stegmaier, Dean, Kershaw, and Wiseman, 1976. It's a wonder and treasure chest of information about the area compiled on the occasion of the county's Bicentennial. It traces the long history of the county and eventually gets around to mines, miners, and the economy of the area. AC - A History also underlines the importance of mining to the area and how the entire economy changed as the mines got mined out in the early decades of the 1900s.

Harvey gives an interesting picture of the miners and their work in her book, which is increasingly scarce as it was published in 1969. She contrasts the miners and their families of the George's Creek area with miners elsewhere. In reading it I've come to a better understanding of the area, the work, and my ancestor's relationship to it. And I've come to see yet again how important history is to a deeper understanding of genealogy!

One of the things I've often wondered about is why my ancestors all stayed so long - for generations - in this one small geographical area contained within about 15 square miles. Now I know: good work at a fair wage.

The earliest of ancestors arriving in the late 1780s were in search of farmable land and they found it in abundance. Then in the early to mid-1800s the ancestors came in dribs and drabs, often making their way from eastern parts of Maryland or Pennsylvania. The final wave came in the mid-1800s. They all stayed until work in Western Maryland became scarce after WWII. Then family members increasingly moved away. Today the cousins reside from coast to coast.

So here's a recap of salient points that shed light on my own ancestors. And I have both of those books, as well as Mom and Aunt Betty, to thank for it!

The miners of the 1800s were Welsh, German, and Irish. Some had their passage paid for by the mining companies who recruited them from mines fields in their native lands. While the various nationalities tended to live and worship with their former countrymen, they shopped and entertained together, thereby smoothing the assimilation process.

My Welsh miner ancestors lived near Welsh Hill in Frostburg and worshiped at the Congregational Church that was known early on as the Welsh Congregational Church.

Ladie's Aide Society of the

Welsh Congregational Church
Of Frostburg, Maryland
Their Picnic, about 1932.

My Irish ancestors were mostly railroad men. Interestingly, the RRs ran on Georges Creek coal. And of course they all worshiped at St. Michaels Catholic Church.

My grandfather wasn't lucky enough to be higher in the birth order so while his older brothers worked for the railroad, he had to go work in the mines. He eventually suffered from "black lung disease". Uncle Delbert remembers him coming home with 25 cents for  a day's work during the Great Depression. Good thing his father in law was the town's prosperous barber and had trained him how to cut hair in the little shop in back of the house. The income from haircuts given to miners on Saturday night carried them through the Depression.

My Grandfather,
John Lee Kelly, right,
and his brothers,

With their father the railroad man,

about 1912.

Employment in the mines was steady so miners often bought their own homes and put down roots, married and had large families. My GGF Daniel Williams was a mine supervisor and owned his own home... as well as two mines, which is another story I'll save for another day:)

This was not the case for the vast majority of mine fields. Workers tended to roam from mine to mine and sometimes state to state. They had no vested interest in the community and tended to be single and drinking men.

I keep reading and learning, soaking up as much as I can. It gives me a fuller picture of my ancestors.

If you'd like to peek into the daily lives of those living in the Georges Creek mine field in the late 1800s visit the Frostburg Mining Journal, some of which is now online through the gracious and wise auspices of the Maryland State Archive's state newspapers project. Find it at:
http://speccol.mdarchives.state.md.us/msa/speccol/catalog/newspapers/cfm/dsp_number.cfm?id=1024
Click here to find the microfilm now online: http://speccol.mdarchives.state.md.us/msa/speccol/catalog/cfm/dsp_film.cfm?speccol=5130&newsid=1024

The URL for this post is: http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2012/07/lets-explore-some-local-history.html

Any Quality Copy Is A Good Copy, If...

March 7, 1896 issue of the Frostburg Mining Journal, above, carried the obituary of the sister of my Great Grandfather, Joseph E. Whetstone. Mrs. Elizabeth J. Clise (nee. Elizabeth J. Whetstone) was, according to my Family Tree Maker relationship calculator, my great grand aunt. I don't have a photo of her, although I sure wouldn't mind having one. Bet there's one floating about in some relatives closet:)

If you happen to scroll down you'll see older posts about the Frostburg Mining Journal. It has not been available online until now, but quite recently the Maryland State Archive began the task of scanning all 10 rolls of microfilm. Good for them... and a blessing for the rest of us who are from Western Maryland and find in it wonderful bits about our ancestors! I've been having a load of fun parked on their web site looking through page after fascinating page, soaking up the place and time of the late 19th Century in Frostburg and vicinity.

The only problem I'm having is one of quality. Above you'll see what I mean when I titled this post, "Any Copy Is A Good Copy, If...". If it's the only copy you have access to.

Today's photo from my Archive, such that it is:

Enoch Clise, Husband of Elizabeth J. Whetstone,

Mentioned in the above obit,
in his Civil War uniform.

He was mayor when his wife passed.

The URL for this post is: http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2012/04/any-quality-copy-is-good-copy-if.html

 

Frostburg Mining Journal Online: A Dilemma

Can your read that? It's difficult, right? That's the quality of the Frostburg Mining Journal online at the Maryland State Archives based on the Baltimore microfilm. (See below.) Some bits are better than that and some much worse. Mom and I decided that it is not as clear as the microfilm over at Frostburg State University's Ott Library's Special Collections.

So the dilemma is this: wait for the FMJ to be put online at some future point by Frostburg State University or go ahead and sponsor pages at the Maryland State Archive. Something is better than nothing, I guess. And I did find the mention of my GGF, Gus Zeller seen above. That's worth a lot, although I don't think I'd be able to make out the words if I didn't already have that text from my file on him... taken from the Frostburg State University's library microfilm.

The URL of this post is: http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2012/04/frostburg-mining-journal-online-dilemma.html

A Big WOOP!

Two things to report and then I gotta get goin'. First, both of the films I ordered from the Family History Library have arrived at the local Center. The last time, the order process happened at mid-change over in the way they do it so it kinda got messed up. But this time, super fast and efficient!

The second item is a biggie for me, Mom, Aunt Betty! The good old Frostburg Mining Journal is going online!! First I need to explain what the Frostburg Mining Journal is. It was a small newspaper that chronicled life and times in the Frostburg Maryland area during the boom-time of regional coal mining in Western Maryland. From small news to big events, joyous and tragic, the FMJ covered it all. The FMJ was published from 1871 to 1904 and a good many of the original issues and the microfilm of those issues reside with Frostburg State University's Ott Library's Special Collection. They are preserved as best they can be but time is the enemy.

The library admin and staff know how important the FMJ is to researchers. They located the original masters of the film and that was the last I heard of progress toward getting it online... until yesterday!

From the FMJ, January,1898

Long story short, The Maryland State Archives is doing it from the City of Baltimore microfilm! And individuals can sponsor a roll for $60! There are 10 rolls and two have already been sponsored. Think I know what I'll give Mom for Mother's Day;)

Here's a link to the inventory of films and FMJ issue dates. As you can see, two have already been digitized and are ready for browsing:
http://speccol.mdarchives.state.md.us/msa/speccol/catalog/cfm/dsp_film.cfm?speccol=5130&newsid=1024

If Western Maryland history is your interest, here's the link to the sponsorship form:
http://www.msa.md.gov/msa/refserv/forms/pdf/microfilm.pdf

Print out the form and fill it in then mail to:
Allison Rein
Special Collections Manager
Project Director, Maryland Newspaper Project
(410) 260-6477
Maryland State Archives
350 Rowe Boulevard
Annapolis, MD 21401
allisonr@mdsa.net

Photo of the day from my archive:

My GGF, Gus Zeller, often mentioned in the FMJ

Me and Grandma Williams, Emma Susan Whetstone Williams.
Not relevant but I just like it:)

The URL for this post is:

GGF Gus Zeller (1858 - 1927)

My GGF, my Grandmother's Dad, was Gustav Zeller (3 FEB 1858, Frostburg MD - 3 DEC 1927, Frostburg MD.) He owned barbershops in Western Maryland that enjoyed success and allowed his family an affluent lifestyle by the standards of the time. He taught some of the sons and his son-in-law, my Grandfather Kelly, the barbering trade. He even had a small barber shop in the back of his house. His son Gus Jr. took over the barber shops when Gus Sr. retired.

Reportedly, he had a barber shop at 14 East Main Street that burned on December 14, 1917. Then he opened another one at 35 East Main Street making it bigger and better that the old one.

This photo documented the arrival of the trolley to Frostburg, MD from Cumberland.
That's GGF in his snappy white barber frock with his hand to head (signaling hair?)
on the lower step of the trolley. Smart PR!

GGF Gus Zeller was a real promoter of his business, never missing a trick to get mentioned in the most widely read local newspaper of the day, The Frostburg Mining Journal (the FMJ). The dominant job of the town was coal mining and the men put his barber shops to good use.

Today the The Frostburg Mining Journal is housed in the Ort Library on the campus of Frostburg State University, and has many mentions of GGF Zeller. Here are a small handful of them.

2/8/1896: Gus Wm. Zeller received a few days ago 68 fancy fish - silver and gold. Almost 20 were sent to his pond up the pike, 40 remaining here. (Note: they were put in a fish tank in his shop's front window.)

8/29/1896: "Stolen Pigeons", Seven pigeons were stolen by boys from Gus Wm. Zeller last Sunday. When the boys ascertained that Gus had a clue to their identity, they let the pigeons go. Two of them returned to Gus and some of the others flew to Hoffman, their first home. They belong to two branches of the pigeon family - the "Tumblers" and "Rattleshirts".

8/21/1897: "A Pretty Place" (Six paragraphs on the remodeling of Gus' barbershop in the Betz building.) "Quite impressive!"

12/23/1897: "Pretty Windows" (Two paragraphs on the windows of Gus' barbershop, including a large fish tank in one window and a rare stuffed white owl in the other.)

6/17/1899: One morning very recently, GW Zeller had the occasion to be up during the early hours. Standing inside his back yard he heard someone brush the fence going up the alley. Looking over, he saw a man with a pack on his back trotting low toward Union Street. Gus fired his pistol over the fellow's head. The chickens in the sack made a loud outcry and the fellow yelled, "Oh My God." He held on to the chickens. However Gus followed to Union Street. A man coming up saw Gus with a lantern and gun, took to his heels also and neither has been seen since. Gus was about to ask him to help catch the fellow with the sack but the Union Street early bird gave him no chance.

Grandma was the only girl and the apple of her father's eye. When she married, he even built her a separate kitchen onto the house so that she and Ma wouldn't lock horns over kitchen duties! Grandma Kelly was born and died in that house.

My Grandma Helen Zeller (Kelly) as a young girl,

all decked out and ready to have her picture made!

One of these days soon I've really got to dig more deeply into this branch of the family and see what pops up! GGF's parents, Charles and Anna Mary Zeller lived in Frostburg until 1884 when they moved to Chicago. Charles was a confectioner... and Anna Mary a diabetic! Many details of this branch and their family history escapes us in the present generation after the senior Zellers moved.

 Here he is, well coiffed... and look at the mustache!

The URL for this post is: http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2012/02/ggf-gus-zeller-1858-1927.html