A Duh Moment

This morning while at work I had a Duh moment and I had to wait until this evening to post it. 

I know that the family story is my grandparents, my Dad's parents did not like my mother because she had been previously married and that marriage was annulled.  (According to my parent's marriage license.)  They considered her the "Gay Divorcee"  and not good enough for their son.  So the story continues they waited until my grandparents were gone to get married. 

After I started doing my Genealogy and paying attention to dates I realized that my grandmother has been gone three years and my grandfather two years.  So why the wait?  This morning while at working and showing one of my co-workers my lovely pages.  I was reading the area on Politics and look what I notice!

Is it because they waited for WWII to be over!  It sure looks like it.  The war ended in September and they were married October 9, 1945.

My Dad was exempted from going into the service during WWII because he was a New York City Fireman.  I would think it was still a very busy time for firemen.  Plus an unstable time in the country. 

I'll never know for sure but it sounds reasonable to be.

One small step for me and my ancestors.

Two More New Fun Pages

This is how I did the page for the year my Mother, Edith was born. I printed a scan copy of the youngest picture photo I have of her.  I used colored card stock and added a couple of cute things in the plain corners.  I did a punch design on the top and bottom borders and placed some color paper behind it. 

I like it!

For my parent's wedding day I used  

paper with a design.  Again I printed a copy of a scan photo I had.  I had a hard time deciding what color paper to use.

I did these two pages this way since I didn't want to totally rearrange the completed pages .

Find A Grave Update

On Tuesday I took a PTO day so I could take a sewing machine class but I used the morning to work on some genealogy.  I decided it was a good day to call back East to different Cemeteries and find the plot locations for my mother, my Dad, my Second-Mom and my grandparents. 

I had just finished placing all my requests and was checking them and one was already claimed. 

I sure was excited.  Well today I was even more excited when I checked my email and had a message that a picture was posted. 

I am not sure what the correct protocol is on re-posting these pictures to my blog, so I am going to play it save and place a link back to the Find a Grave site.  

Hartmann, Edith, Mary & George

Cristina the volunteer sent a note that Edith's name is not engraved on the stone.  I was really disappointed to hear that little fact.  I did see the grave when I was about 11 before we moved to Florida, my Dad took me.  I have no recollection of it.  I like to think that he was going to add her name later and then we moved to Florida and it never happened.  I am guessing that it is a family plot. 

The nice thing is Cristina went the extra mile and took pictures of the other names engraved on the stone, down at the bottom.  Why would you engrave names at the bottom?  Thee is plenty or room up higher.  They would be my Dad's parents. 

Now because stories always make things more interesting.  Here is a little story.  The way the story goes is my grandparents didn't like my mother, she was a divorced women and in the 40's well you know.  According to her marriage registration to my Dad, her first marriage was annulled.  My parents waited until after my grandparents died to marry.  Of course my question is why did they wait almost three years after my grandparents died to marry.  Inquiring minds want to know but Dad was never a talker about this stuff, so I won't know.  Oh Dad you had such a way of putting spin on things.

One small step for me and my ancestors!

PS I just went and looked at the plot information again and it Grave 81 to 85.  That would include my grandparents, Dad & Edith & I bet Dad's sister Emma, since she was still single.

Can You Read the Address??

From Marriage License 1945

On Sunday when I was making a study of all the address were my mother Edith lived I looked at this address on the marriage license and wanted to hit my head against the wall.  My Dad's address is clear but my mother's is not.  I know she was 28 when she married so my educated guest is the address is 108 W. 87 guess that is St. for street.  I sure wish the clerk had cleaned out his typewriter keys so they would have made a nice crisp imprint. 

Can anyone make out anything different from what I see?  I would appreciate any comment you would leave.



Did I Really Find the Right Building??



Edith on Roof

 I have a picture of my mother at about age 4 or 5 on the roof of the apartment the family lived in.  Notice the shape of the roof with the lower and two higher sections.   Last night I Googled all the addresses I have of where Edith lived.  Since she was born in December of 1916, and this picture could be about 1920 or 1921.  The address of the 1920 census was 958 54 St, Brooklyn, Kings, New York. 

Same address?

Now check out the roof line on this building.  Do you see something similar?  I do.  It was one of those exciting moment you have while doing Genealogy.  I am sure these buildings have been gutted on the inside and remodeled a few times in the last 92 years.  I do not always trust Google to give me the exact addresses. 



Close up of Edith



Here is a scanned close up of the same picture. 



Back of picture.



Here is what her older brother my uncle wrote about her outfit.  Sounds like an older brother.



Sorting Again: Old Photos

Back in December I started making a scrapbook of my mother's life.  Called Edith's Life Story here is the link to the first pages I made.  Yesterday I was able to spend some time with my friends and I made five more pages.  Today I spent time adding the finishing touches and the journaling. I also Googled the addresses from her Birth Certificate, 1920, 1930 Census, her marriage certificate and her Death Certificate. 




I added some transciption of a note I wrote to my Aunt Bea, Edith's sister and her reply.  While reading and typing the note I decided to look up the name of the park they were in.  It was Shore Road Park in Brooklyn New York.  So of course I Googled the park and have the links for the park.  I will be adding the park information to her life story also.

Someday I will make a Google Earth trip video of all the address I have on my mother.  Some of the buildings are looking very run down, but considering she was born in 1916, I guess they won't look brand new.

I did copy and reprint some of the pictures because they are deteriorating.  So you are not really seeing double.

I still have some journaling to finish.  I want to write about what I know about her fight with breast cancer.

It has been a fun project.  My next one will be about my Dad. 

Genealogy Fun

On Saturday the 8th, I had my two great nieces here visiting with me.  Heather the younger one came to learn how to sew a binding on a quilt.  While we were looking of pictures from Thanksgiving on my computer. I started showing her some of my family pictures of my grandparents and parents.  Later her older sister Amy came to pick her up and I was showing her my scrapbook pages I am making of my mother's life.  It was fun sharing these stories with these fun and charming young ladies.  They were interested and very encouraging.  It was very natural and fun to share family stories with them.  Amy even suggested I should make a calendar and use my old family pictures on my calendar.  What a clever girl!

The funnest part of the whole day was as I was showing them pictures of my parents I noticed writing on the back of a black and white copy of my parents wedding picture.  It said "Our Wedding Day October, 9, 1945".  Well it wasn't my father's writing and I realized with a shock that it was my mother's handwriting. 

I have owned this picture for awhile and I can't ever remember seeing the writing before.  So it was a thrill for me to realize that this was my mother's writing.  The only sample of her writing that I have.  It kind of boggles my mind that I never realized that before, then again I have never been this interested in my family history.  I am so glad I saw the back of the picture and realized the small treasure I found.

Sorting Saturday: Old Pictures



Edith's Story page 1


Many years ago I took the pictures I had of my Mother & Dad out of the magnetic photo album I had them in and put them in a shoe box.  Of course no one looks at them stored in a box.

If you click on the picture you can see the pages in the full size.








Edith's Story page 2



At the Arizona Family History Association fall meeting one of the vendors a professional Genealogist had scrap booking pages mixed in between her pedigree charts and family group sheets.  I liked the idea and decided to do the same.

Some of the old pictures I scanned and reprinted since they are so faded.  I am writing what little stories I know about her on each page.  I have also scanned the pack of the pictures and added that picture of the writing to the page.



Edith's Story page 3

 It is a big project but I am just doing a little here and there.  Here are three of the pages I did since last Saturday.  I have done a total of five pages this week. 

I started with the early years and I am moving to her adult years. 

Here the story is all on white paper but it was too stark for me and I reprinted it all on cream paper and swapped the paper out.  OK, I know I am a little compulsive when it comes to things looking good together.

I Found A Cousin!!!

About two or three weeks ago I did a white page search for a cousin I have lost contact with.  I wanted to re-establish our relationship, especially since I found our second cousins in England.  I found a listing for her and sent her a card in the mail.  I enclosed my email address and on Tuesday night I received an email from my cousin.   I did a happy dance! 

She was able to share with me some stories that I didn't know.   I have been able to share some things with her she didn't know.  So the fun and adventures continue.  She also has some wedding pictures of our grandmother and grandfather.  I am looking forward to seeing those.  

Story #1

Our grandfather was William Chaplin - I believe he was a motorman for a trolley or bus or maybe the subway?  He died when my Dad was 14; you Mom would have been pretty young, (She was 9) I think.  From the description I got my best guess is he had bleeding esophageal varicose, or a bleeding ulcer.  One of his favorite meals was beef and kidney stew and he drank tea, very, very black.  I knew the cause of death and his line of work but didn't know about the stew or tea.



My mother Edith age 6



Story #2 

"My Dad said your mother was always a jokster and used to put on skits and plays for the neighborhood was she was a little girl."

I had forgotten this.

Story #3

Oh - I remember my Dad telling me this story about Minnie that you will appreciate - she campaigned for the women's vote, and participated in suffragette marches.  When women finally got the right to vote and she went to the polls for the first time, she was told she couldn't vote because she was married to a non-citizen, thus was ineligible.  She was furious, because SHE was born here!  Now I never heard if that was simply the law at the time or if it was mix up, but I know that since hearing that story I can't miss voting because it makes feel guilty.  Even if there isn't anyone to vote for, I gotta go because I feel like it honors her and  all the work she and others who came first did for us.

I also vote in every election, I always think of it as my right and privilege for being a citizen.  Now I know it was very important to my ancestors as well.  My grandmother was the first one in her family to be born in this country.  Her parents and all her siblings were born in Germany. 

It has been very fun to learn more about my family. 

Sharing Memories: Grandparent's Work

Lorine at Olive Tree Genealogy suggested a blogging topic of Parents and Grandparents Occupations.

Well it took a little time to research all the different census records and to take notes but I finally came up with a list of occupations for my grandparents.  Since all my grandparents where gone before I was born I do not know them personally. 
I do know my adoptive grandparents and my Grandpa Alfred Corkish was a fisherman.  When I was little I was told he was a whaler and he sailed on ships to do the whaling.  He had a model sailing ship in a bottle on his mantel that I remember admiring when we went to visit when we were little.  He is the only male grandparent that did one career his whole life.  Every census record had his occupation as fisherman, except for when he was a kid.  I don't remember him telling us stories about fishing, but them I only remember seeing him twice, during two different summers. 
 
My other grandpas did several different jobs in their life time. 
George Joseph Hartmann
1930 Clerk
1920 Gas Maker for Presto lights
1910 truck driver
1900 at school

William Thomas Chaplin
1920 motorman for the rail road
1910 haven't found him yet
1901 England a baker
1891 scholar

Joseph Hartmann
1910 Retail merchant liquours
1900 Tailor and Hotel Keeper
1880 Tailor
1870 Tailor
1868 Farmer on passenger list

Walter Thomas Chaplin great grandpa
1901 Piano Dealer
1891 Furniture salesman
1881 shopman
1871 scholar

All my grandmothers and great grandmas were mothers and housewives both very demanding work.  One grandmother Minnie Elizabeth my maternal grandmother did work outside of the home.  The 1930 census list her as a clerk she had been a widow for 5 years at that time and my mother was only 9 when her father died, so she had to work as did the older siblings.  She had graduated from nursing school but I do not know if she ever worked as a nurse.  Maybe she did before she was married.

This has been fun to look at all the occupations and wonder about the work they did.  Or the adjustments needed to be made to be a farmer then a tailor.  I think of a tailor as someone who works in a small shop but maybe he was a tailor in a factory in NYC.  Did my great grandpa play a piano when he sold them?  I guess we are just going to have a lot to talk about when we all meet again. 

Sharing Memories: Mom's Work

Lorine at Olive Tree Genealogy suggested a blogging topic of Parents and Grandparents Occupations.

Here is a previous story I wrote about my Mom's work as a nurse. Lots of memories of this also. We use to meet her at the bus stop in Whitestone when she came home from work. My Mom didn't learn to drive until after we moved to Florida in 1959 at the age of 40. She never needed to drive in New York but she sure needed to in Florida.

When she first became a nurse she couldn't even take Vital Signs only physicians could do that. Nursing sure has come a long way, nurses now do very complex evaluations of patients when they are in ICU.

She use to come home from work, and take her uniform off, sit in the chair and role her stockings off down to the ankles in sit in the arm chair in her slip exhausted. I know the feeling. Her nursing cap was an oval shaped upside down cupcake cup, with a black ribbon. I wish now I had taken that from home when I left home. I don't have her school pin either. I'm not sure what school of nursing she graduated from but it was in Boston.   This picture of a nursing cap is very similar to my Mom's.

Mom was also an army nurse during World War II, again I have no stories about this or pictures.  When I asked questions when I saw some of her pictures when I was 11 she told me, I will tell you about it when you are older.  Well I never heard the stories.  I had her old army footlocker for years, that I used as a coffee talbe when I first left home and had my own appartment.
The only thing I know about my Mother, Edith is she worked as a secretary.  Maybe when the 1940 census comes out I will know more, she was only 13 on the the 1930 census and she was a student at that time.

The Unknown Couple

One of my new found cousins in England sent me this picture today. We do not know the couple, my cousin thinks the young man is a Chaplin. We know 3 Chaplin brothers came to the USA and lived in Brooklyn, New York. We know it was taken in Brooklyn New York. I think her dress is more 1890's in style than 1900's but I'm not a fashion whiz. In other words I have no clue what year the dress is from.

This picture evokes strong emotion in me, she almost looks like she is grieving a lost and he is comforting her. It is very tender and caring.



Here is a picture of my grandmother at about age 36, with my aunt Bea & my mother Edith. Do you think there is any resemblance? Part of me thinks there is, or is it just because I want it to be my grandmother and grandfather?

Fearless Females 6 Word Tributes

Lisa at The Accidental Genealogist is running a series of prompts for Women's History Month. Today's prompt is a 6 word tribute to a female ancestor.

Edith, My Mother: Looking forward to meeting you, someday.

Annette My Second Mother: Thanks for all you did for me.

Mary Paternal Grandmother: Has a smile and a twinkle? Pictured here about 1912, about age 24.

Minnie Elizabeth Maternal Grandmother: Widowed, worked to support her family.

Fearless Female: Females Who Died Young

Lisa suggestion for yesterday.
March 11 — Did you have any female ancestors who died young or from tragic or unexpected circumstances? Describe and how did this affect the family.

I had two mothers both who died early in their own lives and early in mine. My Mother was 32, my Mom or second mother (I don't like step mother for her) was 45. I was one week before my first birthday and my 17th birthdays.

I will probably never know the full effect of these events. I do know they shaped me to be the person I am today. Since I like being who I am even with my imperfections. I accept these events as bad as they were as worth it. Since I sincerely believe nothing happens in our lives that isn't meant to happen and make us the people we are needed to be. I accept these events as the life experience they are meant to be.

I came to this realization when I received an excellence in Oncology Nurse award in 2000. I needed to write a talk about being an Oncology Nurse. Since both of my mothers died of cancer, I am sure that was an influenced on my nursing career. I explained the impact of their illness on our family and the care they received compared to the care given today. I encouraged the nurses to be advocates for their patients, to be the life lines for the patients.



The stories go that after my mother died I spent each day that my Dad worked with a different Aunt. When my Dad was home he was Mr. Mom. He worked 24 hours on and 48 off as a NYC fireman. I am sure he kept a clean and orderly home. He was one of those people, everything had it's place and everything was to be in it's place.

After my Mom died I was angry and use to tell people I was tough on mothers, like it was my fault that they had died. As I grew in my nursing career I learned that sometimes in spite of what we do the disease is bigger than everything we do to irradiate it. As I grew as a person I learned that we must experience the special trails of our lives to learn of God and to learn to have faith in His Plan.

These event left my father a nearly destroyed man, he felt that the only thing that kept him going was his children, I have 3 younger half brothers. My youngest brother was 6 when Mom died and he has little to no recollection of her. My other brothers do not share any feelings on losing their mother.

Losing your mother at any age is hard. It is harder when you are young.

Fearless Females: Share a Name

This is my Paternal Grandmother Mary Jirak Hartmann, I just love the expression on her face in this photo. Doesn't it make you wonder what she is thinking?
To help celebrate Women's History Month Lisa at The Accidental Genealogist has posted Fearless Females 31 Prompts to Celebrate Women's History Month. I can't do all of the them, but I will do those I can. Today's prompt was: Do you share a first name with one of your female ancestors? I do share a first name of my grandmother Mary Hartmann my Dad's mother. I also share the same middle name as my Mother's mother, Minnie Elizabeth Chaplin. So I was named after both my grandmothers. My Aunt Bea, my Mother's sister told me they picked Elizabeth because my grandmother didn't like Minnie. So when ever I think of my maternal grandmother I think of her as Minnie Elizabeth. I never meet either of my grandmothers they were gone before I came along or shortly after. My parents always told me to respect my grandmothers and their names by being a good person. Not bad advice.


This picture is of my Mother Edith and my grandmother Minnie Elizabeth at Edith's 8th grade graduation. Minnie Elizabeth had been a widow for a few years by this photo. Her husband died when Edith was 9.

I should sign this post Mary Elizabeth.

Edith Inez Chaplin

Edith at age one and a half.
Today 61 years ago Feb 5, 1949 my mother Edith died from the complications of Breast Cancer. It was one week before my first birthday. I am really looking forward to meeting her in the next life.


Edith age six.

I have wondered what she was like and what she saw in my father. Remember all kids have a funny view of their parents. What things did she enjoy, her favorite color you know those normal things. Dad didn't tell me much about her maybe because he had a new wife and maybe because it was too painful for him to remember.



Edith with her mother Minnie and her sister Bea.

I can remember when they told me I had a different mother than my brothers. I think I was six. It was the second time, they told me about my mother. They had told me the year before but I didn't remember that. They gave me a compact with an "E" engraved on it and her picture. I unfortunately lost the compact.

I also wonder what she worried about as she lost her battle to cancer and what things she would have like to tell me if she could. She was diagnosed in August and was gone by February, after spending 25 years of my life as an Oncology nurse, I know she had a very aggressive kind of cancer.


Edith with her brother Bill 8th grade graduation.

What I do know about her I know from my Aunt Bea & Uncle Bill her siblings. Her nick name was "The Swede" because she was so blond when she was little, as her picture above shows. As a little kid she had an active imagination and was frequently caught talking to her boys, her imaginary friends. As a young girl of 9 her Dad passed away and she had to fend for herself after school as everyone else in the household had to go to work.

When I went to New York that summer I was 15, the first I did when i walked into Aunt Bea's house was kick my shoes off. My Aunt tells me, "That is exactly what your mother always did as soon as she walked in the house the shoes came off." It made me feel very good to know I had a habit of my mother's even without knowing it. She liked to sing and would sing harmony with Uncle Bob, Aunt Bea's husband.

As a teenager if she didn't want to go out with a guys again, or didn't want to give a guy her phone number she would give them the phone number to the police station. Now that sounds like something I would do. Come to think of it I have. And to think I got all my sass from my Dad.

She worked as a waitress and had office jobs. She eloped at 18 to a guy about 10 years older but that ended in divorcee. I guess when she married my Dad that was a very negative fact to his parents.

I call this picture Edith the knock out.

My Aunt Em, my Dad's sister like both of my mothers and enjoyed them both as much as if they had been sisters. I don't know when or how she & my dad meet. She became a Catholic to marry him. And that is about all I know. I like this last picture of my mother, she looks like a really classy gal. I also think some of the fashions from the forty's had a real classic style and made women look great.

I just remembered one more story. My Mom use to tell me that my Mother and Dad wanted to have children real bad, and they had been married for 3 years before I came along. The story goes that once the doctor told her she couldn't have any children she got pregnant. That was real cool of my step mom to share such a story with me.

As I re-read the letter from my uncle and aunts everyone expressed a lot of love for both of my mothers and that I was always to respect and honor both of them. I think I have.