Coincidence?? I wonder........

Doing research on family members often turns up some interesting connections with the past.  For example:

Earl is actually a non-blood who married one of Grampie Brown's granddaughters.  They apparently divorced and perhaps you'll notice he died the very same day Jim was born.  One door closes and another opens?  I don't know.....it was just interesting.

Also to note is that Judy and Patrick share an anniversary with Dad's aunt and uncle Florence (Pierce) and William Gleason.  Perhaps you remember Dad's cousin Bill Gleason.  His parents were married on Aug 10 1924 in Gloucester.  Whenever I see matching dates, I smile a little bit to myself.  I wish I had a picture of them to share with you.

Another interesting piece of the family history is that there are more twins on the tree than you may have expected.  On the Bentley side (Gloucester sea captain), there are twin boys Philip and Charles born in 1907.  The Ameros are related through the Handran side (Nanny Ryan's mother was a Handran) and they had boy/girl twins Edna and Reedy in 1898.  Another set of Handran twins are the Butler girls Anastasia and Ann born in 1873 in Gloucester.  OK, so maybe an entire century went by before there was another set of twins with Calvin and Claire, but still.......... Actually I can't say there weren't other twins in between.  I'm just not there yet and I've been surprised to run across what feels like so many sets of twins!  Somehow I did not expect that.

There are always surprises to find in this hunt. 

Summer 73 - Fall 74

I was listening to one of my favorite podcasts and she mentioned her oldest pictures.  I thought it might be fun to take a look at my very first pictures.  Pictures I had taken, put in an album and stored away.  I dreamed I'd write about the development of photographic technique  and blah blah blah.  Hang on--I knew I could make it interesting. Really.

My first official photo album is one of those magnetic page albums with a pink straw cover.  It's labeled Summer 73 - Fall 74 and numbered 1.  HEY!  I'm a librarian--what did you expect?  I realized right away this time period was a very critical one in our lives.  We moved to Walton in the Summer of 1973--40 years ago this year!!! Forty.  Four decades.

So the first pictures in that album are of the last summer in Silver Creek on Buffalo Street.  The very first pictures are of Kathy and I with a couple of the neighborhood kids that we babysat.  I think you've seen this before.  I have Marcy Homokay who lived in that house you see behind us.  I know Kathy has told me that name of that little boy she has but I can't remember (Scotty?).  I believe they lived right next door.  I"m pretty sure I made that top for myself. 

We must have camped at Allegheny that year too--funny I don't remember that trip being the same summer that we moved.  Obviously done deliberately by Mom, Dad, Jean and Burt.

I think you've seen this too but it's never too many times to see Mary Jane and Paula on this kid's motorcycle at Allegheny! 

Mom let me have a going away party and I thought it would be fun to have a "make your own pizza" party.  I'm pretty sure this is the SEX pizza--Sue Tampio, Dave Wilson and hello Paula!  Always loved that kitchen.

Then the first Walton pictures follow with Thomas boy from across the street (Paul?  the older one?).  Kathy and I went to Florida that year too.  I remember choosing to go to Florida rather than on the senior trip.  I didn't think I'd earned my way onto that senior trip like the others did and, for me, it was a no brainer to go off to get spoiled by Nanny and Weenie instead.  Weenie was really pleased that we'd choose to spend our money and vacation with them. 

Judy celebrated her First Communion Spring 74.  Isn't she cute?  And pious.......

Prom pictures--Kathy with Jim Grotevant and me in my Nanny made dress with Glenn Schmidt.  Graduation followed by one very sad graduation party in our garage.  Tim, Emmy, Kevin and Cathy came to visit.

Judy, Mary Jane and Cathy (about 2)

The ole fan-in-the-doorway trick even though that house stayed pretty cool considering.

And my first Geneseo pictures complete the album.  I was in a triple that freshman year.  One of the girls was addicted to nose spray and that sound still makes me cringe.  Forty years later.  Four decades.

That album covers just a little over one year and it contains so many pivotal events and memories!  The pictures themselves lack quality but they are very much cherished for the memories they bring.  I"m glad I got this album out again. My most recent album is number 37 but I don't think I'll go through them all tonight.

PS Happy Birthday shoutout to Kevin Kelly!

Happy New Year 2013!

I haven't been keeping up with the blog very well lately.  I have no good reason.  I've just been stuck.  But I think I'm un-stuck for now and I hope you're glad for a new post.

So here's a little bit of randomness:  the Board of Education accepted my resignation last night effective June 2013.  I've never actually resigned from a job before.  Huh. 

Speaking of random things:  here's some of the stuff I found in the Ryan family Bible:

I'm not sure who Richard Gordon Ryan belongs too yet but Richard and Ida Boulae Ryan's family members are very familiar to me.  Richard (with wife Ida) is Grampie's oldest brother as well as the oldest child in the family.  This likely explains how these children are well documented.  By the way, you might remember Ida from an earlier clipping I shared when she went missing for a time--apparently she returned safe and sound.

Another page:

This is a little messy so I think it's possible these deaths were noted together then later corrected.  In other words, this wasn't a Bible in which life events were recorded as they occurred over generations.  It appears to mostly have captured a period of time in the Ryan family. 

Here's an interesting little item that fell out of the Bible:  this was very carefully cut out of a book or newspaper:

He's very handsome but I have no idea why he's so carefully preserved in the Ryan family Bible.  Hmmm.  But the Nevins side of the family weren't the only ones with a legal career.  This Judge John J. Flaherty was the Essex County Superior Court Judge and State Chair of the Democratic party prior to his death in 1906 when he was only 47.  He was probably at the height of his career while Grampie and his siblings were growing up. 

Here's another interesting piece of  history:

The United War Work Campaign was a massive fund raising effort to support World War I.  It says "A Million Boys Behind a Million Fighters" at the bottom.  John  would have only been 11 when he donated this dollar toward the effort.  This was a time when civilians pulled together in huge efforts to provide support at home and abroad for their military.  It's interesting to me that American society has swung back in that direction now.  PS Remember that John was later accidentally shot by a buddy with a rifle.  Never said it was a boring family!