Wordless Wednesday

William & Beatrice Chaplin

William & Beatrice Chaplin

These are my Uncle Bill & Aunt Bea my Mother Edith's older sister and brother.  Bea was born in 1909 & Bill in 1911. 

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. 

More Questions than Answers

While doing some 1881 UK Census research yesterday to write a post about the kind of work my grandparents did I found some interesting information.  In the first imagine we see my great x2 grandfather William John, his wife Elizabeth and two of their children.   I saw this census a couple of weeks ago and didn't notice anything strange.  I never thought about the other kids and where they were. 

So yesterday I went to look at the census of the same year 1881, to see what kind of work my great grandfather did.  It is easier to see the imagine of the census on line then printed out, I searched for him instead of his father.   And this is when I found the imagine below.  You also need to read the line that is crossed out.

William K, Walter T & Herbert H, were on 17 Mealcheaper St, and they all had jobs. It even said the head and the wife were away from the home right on the census record. William John & Elizabeth Jane where on 32 Broad St, with Ernest & Frederick. It looks like the same town when I Google map it, walking directions and it’s only .2 mile from each other.   That is not a very far distance.

This is just page two that list the other two brothers and Walter T is my great grandfather.

I mean I have no real idea of what life was like in 1881 and I'm sure there were very good reasons as to why they lived apart.  I just don't know the reasons and I wish I knew.  It just blew me away but then again I’m coming from my time frame and my life experiences. I can tell you when I was alone at 16 with a sick mother and three younger brothers I was scared a lot and after she died it was even worst. My Dad was a fireman and he worked 24 on and 48 off, so I was the chief cook and bottle washer when he was gone.   I didn't like it but I did what had to be done for our family just as my father did what had to be done for the family.

 He had to work he had four kids at home the oldest 16 and the youngest was 6. 

 I also believe my ancestors did what had to do but it gave me many questions. 

Why??

Where is Agnes? She should be 13. Was she sent to be a servant? I don’t find her when I search for her by name, I don’t see her on the 1871 Census either. I just found an Agnes Jane that died in the 3rd quarter 1868, on the FreeBMD Index on Ancestry. I wonder if it is my Agnes Jane?  I have a birth year of 1868. The FreeBDM Index list her as born in the 2nd quarter of 1868.  So that must be why there is no Agnes on the Census.


William John was the manager of the coffee tavern on this census, maybe he didn’t have room for all the kids, maybe they didn’t want to lose the other apartment?


Leaving 3 boys 17, 16, & 14 alone? It was a different age and I’m sure they were working too hard to survive to have energy for rough housing or other teenage boy mischief.

Treasure Thursday

I thought of this post just as I got into bed last night. Knowing me if I had gotten up and completed the post at that time it would be another hour before I went to bed and it was already late. So here I am early this morning.

This handsome couple are my Maternal Grandparents, William Thomas Chaplin and Minnie Elizabeth Spahn Chaplin. The picture was taken in 1919 or 1920. The occasion was a visit from one Grandpa's co-worker who took the picture.

They are on the roof of their apartment building in Borough Park, Brooklyn, Kings County, New York. The building in the background is the Convent of the Precious Blood. It ran for a whole block across the street from their home. That is not a pipe in Grandpa's month it is a pen mark.

I like the pose, so different then what we would do today and seems romantic to me.

An interesting tidbit is my grandfather purchased a Catholic prayer book from the convent when my Mother married my Father. She became Catholic to married my Dad.

This information was given to me by my Aunt Bea the oldest of the Chaplin children, my Mother was the youngest.

Ancestor Approved Award

Imagine my Surprise when I was in a boring meeting at work today and I check my home email on my blackberry and found a comment was posted on my blog. So I sneak on to my blog and I'm surprised again there is a second post. First Leah and then Cheryl both nominated me for the Ancestor Approved Award.
As recipient of this Ancestor Approved Award I must list ten things learned about my ancestors that have surprised, humbled, or enlightened me. The recipient then passes the award to ten other bloggers that are doing their Ancestors proud!

Here are my top ten things I have learned:
These are not in any particular order.

#1) Today before work I found some more information out about my Mom's (my second mother)parents. They are also the only grandparents I know. The surprise I learned is they had outlived my Mom, her Dad by 5 years to the ripe old age of 94, her mom by 9 years and made it all the way to 95. I don't remember hearing from my Dad when they had died. I know they didn't make it to the funeral, they lived in Nantucket Mass. and Mom died and was buried in Fort Lauderdale FL. In 1965 you didn't travel like we do today. They must have felt so helpless and so far away.

#2)Surprised that my great grandpa Joseph died of pneumonia secondary to exhaustion at the age of 69 in 1915. That's only 7 years older than I am now, so it hit close to home. Now a days he probably be treated and live longer.

#3)Humbled by my immigrant ancestors who traveled long voyages in cramped quarters, lived in poor conditions, such as tenements, did any kind of jobs to earn a living, wanted to be Americans, learned the language, told their kids they could have a better life. Pass on a good work ethic, believed there was no free lunch and if you wanted something you had to work for it, get an education, make something of yourself. This is evident by my father who was a second generation American had earned a college degree. The Tenement Museum looks very interesting.

#4) Humbled by my Grandmother Minnie Elizabeth who was a widow at the young age of 40, who had three children at home the youngest age 9 and worked to provide for her family.

#5) Humbled by my Great Grandfather Joseph who was a widower and at the age of 54 on the 1900 census had five kids at home, the youngest was 6 and the oldest was 17. That is hard on a man, I know because I saw how hard it was on my Dad when his wife died and he had 4 young kids at home from 16 to 6.

#6) Learned that my work ethic, stubbornest, worry wart behaviors and diligent natural come from a long line of people with the same characteristics.

#7) Wished I had know these people and the stories that went with them. Which means I need to share my stories with the next generation.

#8) Wished I had gotten into Genealogy when I was younger and still had some family around but I must admit I like doing so much research on the computer.

#9) I'm enlightened by the kind, supportive, encouraging genealogist I have meet at Family History Expo in Mesa and on line.

#10) Surprised at how addicting Genealogy and social networking are.

I am also suppose to pass this award on to 10 other bloggers. I'm going to have to do a little research on that to try and find a blog that hasn't received it yet. Just to share the wealth a little. So watch for a second post.