Wisdom Wednesday: New-to-me Cousins

My life at the moment is full of new-to-me cousins. Some have been found by connecting through Ancestry Member Trees and to be totally accurate, most found me. It's nice connecting that way because we can look at each other's trees and spot the connection pretty fast. Patti messaged me about a possible connection a week ago wondering about our relationship because we had so many matching people on our trees. I took one look at her tree and spotted a remote connection, went to Mom's GEDCOM on Family Tree Maker and looked at our cousin relationship... and it's so far distant I think it broke FTM. Kidding, of course. We're connected through Meshack Browning and you can read about him here.

Another new-to-me cousin is cousin Norma. We share a great grandfather and found each other on the Facebook group, You Know You're From Frostburg When... after I posted a photo of him in his Frostburg Fire Department uniform and you can see a post about that here. The historian from the FFD is still trying to determine the date range of the photo but meantime, it's hanging in the new Day Room in the fire house! Norma and I have been emailing and it seems we're about the same age and she still lives in Frostburg, as does Mom. They run into each other all the time at the Food Lion, but for the life of me, I don't think I've ever met Norma... or maybe the ol' memory is going:) Yeah, that's probably it.

DNA cousins are dropping in so often it's become an everyday occurrence. Am I becoming jaded about the magic and mystery of my DNA? Not really. It's just that as I come to see how powerful testing is and how important your results can be, I'm more impressed all the time with the marvel of the science of it. Perhaps in the not-too-distant future it will be something every genealogist does automatically at the very start of their quest to find family. Last weekend at a seminar here in San Diego I had the delight of sitting next to a man who found out that his presumed grandpa wasn't. But the next door neighbor's descendants were about as close a match as you'd every want. Now that's impressive. How would you ever know that otherwise?

It makes me super happy when I connect up with a new cousin. And about the happiest I can get is when I can share by email a PDF of their family tree. More and more I see that it's all about sharing your work... and those wonderful old photos!

New Price Day Room at the Frostburg Fire Department, in Frostburg, Allegany, Maryland.

(Our donated photo is in the upper right by the bulk head.)

 

Here's the image!

 

 

Many thanks to GeneaBlogger's for their blogging prompt called Wisdom Wednesdays.

 

The URL for this post is:  http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2013/09/wisdom-wednesday-new-to-me-cousins.html

Wordless Wednesday: Thursday Update

 And look! She has a star wand! What does it mean?!

 

 

This was my Wordless Wednesday post yesterday, and really, I did try to not blather on and on about it:) Then I talked to Mom this morning and she asked me, "Where did you get that picture?" And I told her I got it from her! She knew nothing about it!

 

This image is so charming that it caught my attention long ago. I've sent it to Mom by email a couple of times but she didn't comment on it and we moved on to other more pressing topics so it fell by the wayside. Until this week when I started reorganizing my photo file... again.

 

When Mom didn't know a thing about it, we came up with the idea to post it to the Facebook page, You Know You're From Frostburg When.... The group has been very helpful and just about everyone is interested in and passionate about Frostburg history.

 

Frostburg is the little mountain town in Western Maryland in Allegany County where all of my ancestors in the last three or four generations lived. Gosh, we have some lines that go back to the 1700s there, so Mom and I are always interested in whatever is going on about good old Frostburg. Recently I posted a photo of my great grandfather Joseph Hampton Whetstone (1858-1939) in a fire fighter's uniform and you can see it here. In the blog post I explained how the same Frostburg Facebook group had been instrumental in our learning about his work with this important element of the Frostburg community. More recently we found out by way of a connection I made on the Facebook group that Joseph H. and two of his brothers, Peter and Frank, all served on the FFD. During the same time period, their brother-in-law, Enoch Clise was mayor of Frostburg, twice. 

 

Here's what the Facebook group had to say about this mystery photo:

 

I posted: BTW, if it helps, Mom's family went to the Congregational Church on Bowery and Dad's family went to St Michael's. That truly is all we know:)

 

Next came: It looks like a May Day celebration. The steeple of the Methodist Church on Main St. is in the back ground (I think).

 

Alternately: My guess and it's only a guess is it may have been a Confirmation at St. Mikes.

 

Here's another good guess: Looks like a Pageant of some sort to me. Some of the children are wearing what looks like adult clothes...note the dragging on the ground of the dresses and oh my the boy to the right's pants are almost coming off:) the Bishop looks to be about 12 or 13. Oh maybe a mock wedding look at the girl in front, she looks like she is wearing a wedding dress and the boys with the pillows could be ring bearers?

 

Then I posted: A mock wedding! That looks about right... and the kid with falling down pants might be the little groom:) I remember we did those in the 1950s when I was a kid. Always hard to find a groom and it usually turned out to be some one's little brother!

 

A couple more votes for May Day and a couple more for confirmation.

 

Am thinking that there could be a little problem with May Day... it's Fburg after all! Here's a photo I took back in 2006 during the second week of May. The foliage in the pageant photo looks a bit heavier, but then again it's black and white. And, this photo was taken on an overcast day, so probably not the best comparison.

 

 

 



May Day, confirmation celebration, or mock wedding. Doesn't really matter to me because it's all cute!

Because Mom knew nothing about the pageant photo I'm wondering if it came from the Kelly side of the family, and that's Dad's people. Looks like something the Kelly people would do:)


The URL for this post is: http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2013/09/wordless-wednesday-thursday-update.html

Mystery Monday: That photo of Joseph Hampton Whetstone in a fireman's uniform

That's him on the right.

There's this old photo Mom has in her file of her mother's father, Joseph Hampton Whetstone (1858 - 1939). There he is in the photo in question, above. I have to confess, for quite a while (too long) I looked at the original of that image not realizing that it was backwards, and trying to figure out what was on their tunics! I swear! When I finally reversed the image it was abundantly obvious that the letters were FFD and stood for Frostburg Fire Department. It's funny how if you've always looked at a thing one way, it's hard to see it any other way... even if it's obviously so very wrong!

The original backwards photo.

Sure, like you would have known;)

Frostburg is the small town in the lovely mountains of Western Maryland, up in Allegany County, where most of my most recent generations of ancestors lived. Some lines in this geographic area go back to before the Revolutionary War. Mom still lives there, and Aunt Betty, too. It's a four-season place and embraced by the beauties of nature. Summer and fall are spectacular. It gets really cold in winter and the Fire Department is still called out on unfortunate nights to fight house and business fires. I remember growing up often hearing of someone having a house fire in winter. Everyone was sympathetic because it could happen to anyone.

There's a Facebook group called "You Know You're From Frostburg When..." and I joined not too long ago. I was pleased to see some people I know there and to read posts exploring the town and its history. It was quite interesting! Finally after just lurking, I posted the photo at the top and this text:

For anyone who is a fan of the Frostburg Fire Department and its history, here's an old photo from my Mom's collection, and Mom is Virginia Kelly. This is her grandfather on the right, Joseph Hampton Whetstone (1858 - 1939.) The family home burned to the ground, am not sure of the year. Perhaps it was after that he joined the Department. Mom's mother was real little when that took place and she was born in 1897. Do not know who the other two gentlemen are as only Joseph H was identified on the back of the picture.

One of the group members actually posts FFD history frequently and he chimed in with even more info about the uniform (red) and the big number 1.

He commented:
We are VERY interested in this or ANYTHING else that is FFD related. We are in the home stretch of completing a "Day Room" at the new Price Station firehouse, which will include a lounge area as well as an area designated to display memorabilia to include old badges, parade caps, helmets, photos, Chief's trumpet, etc. Please keep us in mind if you come across anything.

I quickly asked him more about the uniform, and he replied:
Don't know much about what exactly was "issued" by the department back then, during the first 15-20 years.  I know prior to the turn-of-the-century, they did issue a full uniform to include pants. It's likely that back than they just did the shirt and belt?? The two standing do have matching belts.  Looking at the helmet shield, it's pretty tough to make out what is on them, however when I enlarge the photo, it looks like your GGF's shield on the bottom ends with a "F"?? That could be Chief? I went through our records real fast but I don't see a Whetstone listed as a Chief but there are a few years that we are missing data. No info for Fire Chief in both 1882 & 1885. There is a Peter Whetstone who was our President in 1882. Did your GGF have any relatives named Peter?

Why, yes he did! His brother was Peter Yeast Whetstone (1847 - 1918)!

I took this image into Photoshop and did a little repair on it just to take out scratches and dust and dirt. Then I sent it off for use in the Day Room. Can't wait until the new Price Station firehouse opens and we can all go see it! Mom will love that:)

Joseph Hampton and Catherine Elizabeth House Whetstone (1865 - 1947)

at home with some of their grandchildren.

Mom sports the large hair bow!

About 1920.

Mystery Monday is a blogging prompt from Geneabloggers. That's for this one, guys!


The URL for this post is: http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2013/08/mystery-monday-that-photo-of-joseph.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