BAM! Walter Brown 1849-1908

A few posts ago, I mentioned that Walter Brown was bedeviling me in terms of "closing the door" on his life.  Walter was Grampie Brown's younger brother.  Unlike Grampie (William S. Brown), Walter was born in the United States.  Though an early census record indicates he was born in Albany County, a later census indicates he was born in Michigan (where his sisters settled).  I am more inclined to believe he was born in New York State since that earlier census record was recorded much closer to the actual event.  I have the family pretty well documented and I don't believe they were in Michigan in 1849, but I could be proven mistaken one day in the future.

Walter apparently worked with metal--his occupation was listed as tinsmith and metal laborer over the years.  He came from a long history of blacksmithing and tinsmithing seems not too far removed from that.  He married Sarah Armstrong and lived in the Buffalo NY area.  Sarah and Walter had two children William and Maria.  Again, not easy to locate yet another William Brown in Buffalo but the search will continue.

This case was cracked when I found Grampie Brown living with Sarah after Walter died.  I'd had this death notice but wasn't sure it was the right Walter until I found that little tidbit.

Further evidence was located in a gravestone picture located somewhat by accident while following Ancestry.com leads:

This picture wouldn't have made sense without knowing a little about Walter's wife Sarah.  It's in Holy Cross Cemetery (presumably Buffalo though I'm not sure--ready for another road trip to Buffalo, Paula?)

This is a case where several small clues lead me to conclude that our Walter Brown died in 1908:  the gravestone combined with the newspaper obituary combined with the census record.  None of these, standing alone, would lead to such a conclusion but TOGETHER they paint another picture of one of our family members.  It brings me great satisfaction to hunt these clues down and try to match them up.  I'm embarrassed to admit how many of these clues have been right in my files all along but that's a different story for another day.

Rose Ring 1973-2013

A while ago, I did some posts telling the story of some of my cherished possessions.  They included Mom's baby shoes, a charm bracelet from Nanny Ryan and Weenie's lighter.  It is important to document the stories behind these things so that, someday long into the future, our children can make informed decisions about what to do with them.  This is such a story.

My rose colored ring was part of my first major purchase once I had a "real" job at Brooks' in Walton.  I bought another ring at the same time from the jewelry store in town--Paveglio's maybe.  They were on sale.   The other ring had a small purple stone in it that fell out several years later but I had an engagement ring to wear on that finger soon after so I didn't miss that one very much.  But I've worn the rose ring every day since about 1973.

Until about a year ago.  I was gardening and went to dump the cart when my ring got caught in a nasty yank.  My finger was sore for several days and the ring was badly misshapen. 

The picture doesn't really do the damage justice.  Anyhow, I thought I could live without the ring.  I wore the "root beer" ring in my little finger instead but I came to the conclusion that I really missed wearing that ring so I took it in for repair.  Initially, they told me it would be about $40 to reshape the ring.  I figured $1/year maintenance wasn't a bad price to pay for something I was really missing. 

But, of course, it can't be that easy.  The phone call comes from the jeweler that the ring needs more significant repair at a price that was probably about 3 times its original cost.  Understand that this wasn't real high quality gold or anything, it just meant a lot to me because it was the first thing I bought with my own money (and it was pretty too), so the original cost wasn't more than I could pay on a part time minimum wage salary from Brooks.  Reluctantly I told them not to continue with the repair. 

Then--epiphany.  This ring is a symbol of my work life.  It was shiny and pretty back when I first started in the work world.  With retirement looming, the ring gets stretched and pulled so far out of shape that it can no longer be worn.  Perfect analogy for the ending of my professional career.  I left teaching feeling kind of wrecked and bent out of shape.  So I'm pleased to keep the ring to symbolize my working years.  And when I'm gone, it can be too.

A Father's Day post about our great grandmother

This started out as a post about my memories of Grampie for Father's Day.  You will soon see how far off base I've gone, if you haven't already figured out that Father's Day was last weekend.  I hope all the Dads and Dads-by-proxy out there had a great day.

I received this picture of our great grandparents William Ryan and his wife Katherine Bentley Ryan.  This must have been taken some time before William died in 1934.  I would check on women's fashions for the time period to narrow down the possible date but you can imagine how distracted I would get then!  Perhaps another day......  Anyhow, William died at a hospital in Danvers and I wonder if this might be a picture taken on a visit??

Katherine Bentley Ryan was the daughter of Captain John Bentley, a middle child out of six children.  Her father was lost at sea when she was about 14 and her mother died just 3 years later.  I've often wondered what those years must have been like for that family.  It must have been difficult for all of them and I'm quite sure these experiences impacted their adult lives.

Katherine and William had 9 children; Grampie was 6th in line.  Katherine spent 11 years as a widow following William's death.

Another cousin, George Handran, gave me a packet of papers many years ago originally regarding Katherine's death.  You can see it in the lower left corner above (if you click the image it will become larger and more read-able).  I've included nearly the whole page since it was so interesting to see the article about Cape Pond Ice preparing to harvest the ice that January.  Also included on this page is the notification that the World War II efforts would be requiring "every able bodied young man"--Dad included (though I don't think he was drafted).  Even more interesting is the "Lively Spirit" article about an event held in East Gloucester, which Dad participated in.  George was very pleased to point this out to me.  Dad was 17 years old at the time--I can only imagine how PERT those observations must have been.

Anyhow, Katherine died alone in her upstairs apartment and her son Paul (Grampie) was the one who alerted the firemen for assistance.  The article is mistaken that she was the daughter of William Bentley but otherwise listed survivors accurately.  It was one survivor, her brother Martin, which led me on another merry chase as I was preparing this post.

Of course, I mine such article for names and to make connections.  One name here, Joseph A. Fialho, verified a family connection I had pending.  I've had these articles many years and still find new stuff contained within!  You note that Dad was a pallbearer for his grandmother.  Katherine was buried in a different cemetery than her husband for reasons yet to be discovered (though I have some suspicions). 

Hey, wanna have lunch together?

One thing I have to say I miss in retirement is interaction and conversation with adults other than the tight social group with whom I choose to spend time.  This week's news and media storm over Bowe Bergdahl's release in exchange for Guantanamo prisoners just begs for lunchtime banter with a variety of people who get their news from an even wider variety of sources. 

I have formed some opinions but I wonder how they will hold up in public discussion.  Having people around every day (more than) willing to share their own opinions helps to structure and validate my own.  So I feel a little adrift without such an anchor in my everyday life. 

We generally surround ourselves with people of like minds so those people may not offer those other viewpoints that are so important when forming opinions on popular topics.  Sometimes we feel very strongly about something and we don't need or want validation from others.  We'll stick to our guns regardless.  I'm not referring to such times in this case.

As I said, in this case with Bowe Bergdahl and the surrounding controversies, I have formed some opinions but am open to discussion and further input so I can solidify my stance.  Our cats do not help me with this and they are the ones I usually share my lunch with these days.  So--to the adults in my past life--I miss you even if I may have thought you idiots in the not-too-distant past. 

Having said that, I am not one bit sorry I retired.  The transition feels nearly complete--I was told it takes about a year and I guess that means I'm right on schedule.  It does feel very weird to be a "retired" person.  Aren't those people old???

Random Stuff

Some randomness for you as you enjoy your long weekend and remember our veterans. 

1.  Can anyone tell me when (or why) the word I used to know as "yeah" or "yea" become "yah"?  I realize this sounds a bit like Dad, but taking the "e" out of that word also takes the "e" sound out of it, correct?  So, for me, "yah" should sound like the German word for yes: Ja.  (Shout out to Emmy).  It bugs me when I see this.  Let's put the e back into circulation when we are cheering.

2.  Overheard yesterday:  "Could you take a selfie of me standing over here?"  Hmmm.....(again sounding like Dad)....shouldn't a selfie be taken by the "self" involved????  I wanted to scream the same thing that woman in one of the insurance commercial says:  "It doesn't work like that.  None of this works like that."

3.  Speaking of Dad, I was thinking of him as I was madly trimming overgrown bushes in the garden this weekend.  Before I knew it, it was down to its nubs but it seemed like the thing to do.  Now I get it, Dad.  I do. 

4.  Those bushes I was trimming to their bases are spirea bushes.  I believe those are the kinds of bushes we had outside the front window on Dennison Road.  They had pretty white flowers and I wanted the same for my own house.  I wasn't able to find the white ones, but I did plant other varieties.  Recently I read this article that suggested that spirea was "old school". 

I believe our Dennison Road spirea came with the house, and Dad may have tried to kill them.  But I am the one that wants to bring it back to my own life.  Interestingly, those bushes I trimmed to their nubs had a tag at the base that I found when I made my way there.  Spirea.  Now nubs in my garden.

Bam!

I have made it my mission lately to try to "close the door" on the open-ended ancestors' lives.  There are no fewer than 820 living relatives currently in the family tree.  Of course, a number of these are people like you and I.  And then there are those who probably died over 100 years ago.  And I'd like to close that door by finding the death information for these people thereby lowering that number of living relatives to something closer to a reasonable number such as those you might invite to a wedding. When I find a death date and enter it into the family tree, I exclaim "BAM!" out loud.  Even when alone.  Retirement allows me many more opportunities for "BAM!" than ever before.  (I'm not sure that came out the way I intended)

I randomly select one of those living relatives that should be long-dead and start looking.  Pretty soon I'm wandering down a tangled road of maybe and perhaps and uncovering potential stories.  Sometimes I get lost and forget to blog. 

I thought you might be semi-interested in one such story.  Grampie Brown (Nanny Flynn's grandfather) had 5 brothers and sisters.  He had one older sister Drusilla and one younger brother Walter along with three younger sisters Jane, Elizabeth and Ida.  This family lived primarily in Buffalo until the children became adults.
Drusilla, Jane, Elizabeth, Ida and Grampie are all accounted for with full stories from birth to death. 

But Walter does not and he has bothered me for a long time.  I want to find his story, but Walter Brown is a fairly common name especially in a city like Buffalo NY.  Two of the sisters married and lived in Michigan.  Michigan is much more open than New York in sharing vital records like marriage, death and cemetery records so I was able to track them even though females are harder because you may not know their married names.  I was lucky to obtain their father's will which listed each of the children and their residence at the time. 

Furthermore, I was lucky that the youngest daughter Ida married a man with an unusual name Ivah Bradt.  They lived in Ellicottville and their mother lived with them after her husband died. Take note of this tidbit from the Ellicottville NY Post April 1889:

Take note of station agent I.N. Bradt losing his goose.  These people had a hard time keeping track of their geese (maybe you remember another lost goose during the Civil War period.....and maybe you don't).

Anyhow, my laser-focused attention on Walter's life has not produced anything definitive yet.  He might have married a Sarah Armstrong and lived in Buffalo himself.  Or it was another Walter Brown.  Sigh.  I'm going to put Walter aside and try for another "BAM!"  See you on the other side.

I have just returned from a quick visit to Erie to see Amy and help with some wedding planning.  I thought this would be a good time to update you all as well so you could plan appropriately.  Amy's wedding to Michael Heisler will be held in the Erie PA area in August 2015.  Although the venue has not been confirmed, she is planning to be married Sunday Aug 16 2015.  So--yes, the wedding is in Erie PA on a Sunday in August.

She is debating between two venues.  Nick's Place and the Ambassador Center.  I think you can get a hint from their names of the major differences between the two sites.  She has some tough decisions to make in this regard!!!

Nick's Place is 15-20 minutes from Erie closer to Edinboro (a college town).  If she chooses Nick's Place, we would probably arrange for rooms at a Comfort Inn in Edinboro as well as for rooms in Erie PA for those that might prefer to be closer to the highway and city life.

The Ambassador Center is conveniently located just off the highway in Erie and has two hotels available at the site.  If she selects the Ambassador Center, the reception would be held from 6-10 PM as per their policy.

In either case, it is her intention to hold the ceremony at the reception venue.  We understand this is both long into the future as well as a long trip for most of you so I wanted to get the word out for you to start thinking about your plans.  If you are interested in what goes on in Erie PA, check out www.visiterie.com 

Wedding planning is stressful for all as it tends to say a great deal about the personalities of the couple while at the same time attempting to appease the interests of the families involved.  Amy told me her main focus will be on making the day wonderful for her guests.  I remain uncertain of how to behave as a future mother-in-law.  When you have children, there are some helpful guidelines provided for how to be a good parent.  Not so much in this world of in-lawing.


Of course, this all brings to mind other Ryan weddings.  I think about what Mom and Dad must have been feeling.  It wasn't new to them as it is for us, but each child and spouse carry their own weight with their parents and in laws. However, to keep tradition alive, we will try to remember to provide a scoreboard to keep track of favorite uncle points :)