Some Late August Birthdays

For some reason, just looking at birth dates like this makes me feel connected to a whole lot of people. These are names from the Crabtree ancestors (my mother's family) and from my husband Bill's Mallozzi/Zarges ancestors. Click on any name to see a profile, and on "share tree" to see each family tree.

27 Aug 1924: Lois Stockson [share tree]

Lois was my mother's sister. I really loved the sound of her voice. 

Kinney siblings; Richard is on the right in the back row

29 Aug 1856: Richard Wayman Kinney [share tree]

Richard was my great grand uncle. He was the son of "Sugar John" Kinney who brought his little 15-year old wife down the frozen St. John River in 1835 in a sled pulled by a Newfoundland dog. 

Mary is on the left with an unknown sailor at her sister, Delia's wedding.
Mary never married. 

30 Aug 1912: Mary Mallozzi [share tree]

Mary was the sister of Bill's mother, Delia Mallozzi Zarges. She came to America from Italy on the ship, The Roma, in 1927 or 1928. Our family stayed at her house in Stamford, Connecticut many times, and even lived there for part of one year. She lived to be 97 years old.

30 Aug 1928: Arnold McLellan [share tree]

Arnold was my maternal first cousin, son of my mother's sister, Alma Crabtree McLellan. He died in 2010. 

31 Aug 1885: Everett Crabb [share tree]

Everett was born a Crabb but later became a Crabtree after the family changed its name in 1910. He was my grand uncle (brother of my grandfather David J. Crabtree, Sr.) and died the same year I was born. 

Claude Bartley Remembers, Part 1

As I wrote in the last post, Sheila Antworth Lafferty put me in touch with her mother's cousin, Claude Bartley, neighbor to the Crabtree family in Beaconsfield, New Brunswick, Canada in the 1920s and 1930s.  Here are some of the memories Claude has kindly sent to me. [Comments in brackets are mine].

April 7, 2014

Hi, Clair.

I received the Crabtree Family Tree [the link to the Remember blog] from my cousin Carmen Antworth's daughter Sheila in Conn, that is where I got your e-mail address.

Going through this brought back many old memories, the Crabtrees lived on a farm next to my dad's farm in Beaconsfield, New Brunswick, Canada before moving to Maine. 

I remember going to school with Faith and there must have been more of the family that I went to school with because Lois was one year older than me [so Claude was born about 1925, as Lois was born in 1924]. The schoolhouse was on the line between the two farms. We used to carry water from the Crabtree's water supply to the school.

April 8, 2014

You asked about life growing up on a farm, if it was all work or some play?

The Crabtree and Bartley farms were very small and both families were very poor at that time.

There were ten in our family and of course all ten were not home at the same time. My oldest brother Martin (1909) was married in 1930, the year my youngest brother, Eugene, was born so there was quite an age spread there. My dad did well to feed and clothe us, I often think about how he did that, we only had a team of horses, no tractor and no car.

The Bartley family, [circa 1937-38?]
Front row, l to r: Eugene, Katrina, Wellington, Alice, Velma, Grace
Back row, l to r: Claude, Alden, Herman, Vivian, Martin, Austin
Photo courtesy of Sheila Lafferty

I think the Crabtrees was in about the same boat, although I do remember your grandfather having a car while in Beaconsfield.

As far as having fun, we had fun with things we would make ourselves, I remember making a pair of stilts out of two pieces of board and nailing square blocks on each one and walking around on them. 

Also when the McLellans [Alma's family] lived there the three oldest, Russell, Louie and Lawrence made a two seater ferris-wheel. It was a little scary, but we enjoyed riding on it.

By the Crabtree Blog, when it gave the McLellan family names it gave the three oldest boys names' as George, John and David, the birth dates were right I thought, but we knew them as Russell, Louie and Lawrence, perhaps nicknames? [Claude was correct about the names; the boys' names were George Russell called "Russell," John Lewis "Louie," and David Lawrence called "Lawrence."]

April 12, 2014

Little late getting back to you.

As I mentioned before about the difference in ages between my oldest and youngest brothers being twenty one years, the oldest of the family were up and gone before we got to know them very much.

Austin, the one older than myself, died in 1939 at the age of 15, that left a younger sister and brother and myself to help with the house and farm work.

Bartley's farm in Beaconsfield, New Brunswick
Photo courtesy of Sheila Lafferty

We had a very small farm (as your grand parents did). We had a team of horses, (no tractor). We grew potatoes, grain and hay and always had a large vegetable garden in which we all worked, 

Mother loved working in her gardens, (vegetable and flower gardens). We also had cattle, sheep, hens, and pigs. Mother was a very smart woman, she cooked a lot and kept us all in woolen socks and mittens, she also liked to sew. We never had electricity, pumping water and everything else was done the hard way, by hand, but not knowing any difference, we didn't mind what we had to do.

As I remember, your grandparents' family moved to Maine in 1934 and the McLellan family moved in on the farm the same year with seven boys [read more about the McLellan family here]. Audrey was born in Beaconsfield. It seems to me they were there a few years but the way the other dates I have they were there only about two years.

Enough for now, more later.

***
Part 2, and Part 3.

Aunt Alma: Memories

Young Alma; she is also the fourth from the left in the
front row of the family photo used as the header for this blog

Alma was my mother's oldest sister, the first child born to their parents. When she was born on August 20, 1900 in Easton, Maine, her father, David, was 25 and her mother, Edith, was 20. 

My mother Elva, born in 1914, says that by the time she was growing up, some of her older brothers and sisters had already left home. When Alma married George McLellan, my mother was only 6 years old, so the oldest of Alma's children weren't that much younger than my mother. 

Because our immediate family lived out in California, far from most of my mother's relatives, I only got to see my Aunt Alma a few times. The time I remember best was when Alma visited our family in 1955. She would have been 55 and I was 11 and in the sixth grade. 

Alma took me to church, because she never missed a Sunday. She found a church close enough for us to walk. It was an Assembly of God, which I see via Wikipedia originated from the Pentecostal revival of the early 20th century that made a huge impact on my mother's family. The service was nothing like the one in the quiet and conservative Presbyterian church I was used to: The praying was loud, and the music was absolutely wonderful. I never forgot that experience. 

Here is another memory of Alma. This one is from my cousin, Cheryl Blakely, daughter of Alma's sister Faith:

I remember back when I was maybe 15 or 16, Alma and I used to write to each other lot. She had such a youthful mindset. It was more like she was a teenager than a woman in her 60's. She told me of how she'd go over to the retirement home across from the assisted living place where she lived and play piano for the "old folks" on Sunday. Heck, half of them were probably younger than she was. Lol. She thought it was such a scandal when she married Guy [Nickerson]. Oooh...she was 72, he was only 69....a younger man.

A third memory comes from Sheila Lafferty, a librarian at the University of Connecticut, who kindly contacted me with information about Alma:

My family came from Aroostook [Maine] Pentecostal roots and knew the Crabtrees very well. Some are in ministry and still have close ties with the family. I knew Alma as a young person and she taught me how to quilt in my early teens. 

Alma was so sweet to the three of us young girls, and we will always remember her kindness. And now, I would like to share a news clipping that Sheila sent to me. It's an amazing story about Alma and her family.

Mother Of Five Veterans Has Two More Enter Service, By Joseph Stofko
The Hartford Courant (1923-1987); Aug 24, 1952;
ProQuest Historical Newspapers: Hartford Courant (1764-1987)
pg. A6A

Plainville [Connecticut], Aug. 23 [1952].When Robert McLellan, 22, and his brother Murray, 20, leave Monday for their joint enlistments in the Marine Corps, their mother, Mrs. Alma McLellan, will say goodbye to the sixth and seventh of her sons to don armed services uniforms. During World War II, her five eldest sons, Russell, John, Lawrence, Eugene and Arnold, all served in various branches of the service.
"And that isn't the end yet," said Mrs. McLellan, "my eighth and ninth sons are already asking when I might sign up for their enlistments. Ivan is 16 and Daryl is 15, so that won't come about too soon." The family lives at 141 Whiting St., and also includes two daughters, Audrey and Jane. 

Five Run Garage Speaking of the older boys' service, Mrs. McLellan explained that Russell and John both served in the Army during World War II. Although they did not travel together, one followed the other through campaigns in North Africa, Italy, Belgium, and Germany. Lawrence was a member of the Seabees and saw duty in the Pacific Theatre. Eugene served as a member of the occupation army in Germany, and Arnold, a member of the National Guard, returned July 1 from service in Germany. These five boys, she said, have banded together and now operate the Highway Service Co., Main St., New Britain. 

Raised Family Alone Mrs. McLellan, who is also the grandmother of five children, has had the sole responsibility of rearing her family for the past seven years, [since] just before the youngest, Jane, was born. Few mothers in the country have seen so many sons in the service. 

Caption for accompanying photo [not included here for copyright reasons]: Left to right above are Lawrence, 27; Eugene, 25; Ivan, 16; Arnold, 24; Daryl, 15; John, 29; Murray, 20; Mrs. Alma McLellan; Robert, 21; and Russell, 30. Murray and Robert are joining the Marines; Ivan and Daryl, high school students, assist part-time in the service station. 

One last note: Alma's boys were handsome, at least if they were anything like Murray. He stopped by to visit my family in San Francisco when he was on leave and he stole my [7-year old] heart!