Vista Camino Neighbors

Our neighborhood in Lakeside on the lower part of Vista Camino was brand new in 1960.  Since everyone had moved there about the same time, the neighbors were close.  And Mom was a central figure.  She loved all the kids on these two blocks.  Within the first year of being there, they sent her a get-well card.  It’s a great record of those children.Heidi
Andy Enzmann
Diana B.
Debbie Bacinett
Debbie McNamara
Jeffrey Brophy
Jimmy Brophy
Peter
Darrell
John LaBelle
Buddy
Robert
Perry
Bobby Robinson
Jean Robinson
Des Scott
Mike Scott
Steve Schumaker
Vicki Schumaker
Terri Schumaker
Tommy Schumaker
Eddie Griffin
Lisa

Organ Recital

One of Mom’s phrases was ‘organ recital’ and it has nothing to do with music.  It refers to a group of usually older people who talk about their health issues – ‘my liver this and my gall bladder that.”  I see it often now that I’m older, that health is a major topic when my friends gather.

Forgive me, I do not choose to join the organ recital.

Barb’s Coats

In Aunt Barb’s walk-in closet by the front door, she hung all her coats – car-coats, dressy coats, light jackets, in red or brown or green or black.

And in the pocket of each coat was a pair of matching gloves, 35 cents, two pieces of hard candy, and a handkerchief.

Daniel Pierce (1814 – 1902)

I’m reblogging this from my AlwaysBackroads blog. I posted many family stories there before I started this blog. They belong here.

Always Backroads

In my grandfather’s 1902 diary on April 27th he wrote about the death of “Grandpa Pierce” – this was Daniel Pierce, actually my grandfather’s great-grandfather.  Below is a transcript of his lengthy obituary.  My copy doesn’t give a source, but I would guess it was from the Sycamore, Illinois newspaper.

DANIEL PIERCE DEAD
Head of Sycamore Banking House
Passed Away Sunday
——–
Had Nearly Reached the age of Eighty-
eight Years – Was Taken Sick with
Pneumonia Last Wednesday —
Lived an Active Life
——–

   Daniel Pierce died Sunday evening at the home of his daughter, Mrs. E. P. Townsend, at 8:45.  He had been sick since last Wednesday.  Mr. Pierce was out the previous Tuesday for the last time.  The weather then was stormy and he contracted a cold which brought on pneumonia. Complicated with acute brights disease it was seen from the first that he could not…

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Delayed Birth Certificate

Mom hit a perfect storm when it came to a birth certificate.  She was born in 1914; she went to work after high school in 1931.  And she married in 1936.  She had never needed a copy of her birth certificate.

In 1956 when all her children were in school, she wanted to get a job.  Ah, but Social Security had been established since she last worked away from home – they required a birth certificate to sign her up.

Turns out the courthouse in DeKalb, Illinois had a fire that destroyed many records.  The data wasn’t collected on a state level until 1916.

So she applied for a “Delayed Record of Birth.”  Her father, Thomas L. Duncan, provided an affidavit and her marriage record provided a second source.  She received this embossed certificate.
Along with this postcard.
But it seems that wasn’t adequate when she filed for Social Security benefits.  In the early 1970s she sent for another copy and received this one.

Bressler Obituaries Nebraska

The Bresslers were a big family centered in Pennsylvania, but many of their offspring migrated west to Nebraska.  The clippings were copied from Ruth Bressler Claycomb’s scrapbook.  The original sources are not usually indicated.

Hezikiah Bressler was a half-brother of my great-grandfather, John Tannehill Bressler.  (1903).
Franklin Pierce Bressler was a brother of John Tannehill Bressler. (1933)
Mary Smith Bressler was the wife of Franklin Pierce Bressler.  (1939)

Andrew B. Duncan Death

Andrew B. Duncan was the son of David and Helen Lamb Barlass (spelled Barlis on this certificate) Duncan and grandson of our immigrant couple Thomas and Eliza Cation Duncan.  His middle initial may stand for Barlass, his mother’s maiden name.

Andrew was born in Wisconsin in 1873.  In 1900 he lived with his parents in Chicago.  By 1910 he had married (Helen) and was living in Denver with no occupation listed in the census.  They had a daughter, Gertrude, born in Colorado in 1911.  By 1920 they were living in Santa Monica, California.  Four years later he killed himself.  There’s more story here, but I don’t know it.

Yates’ Obituaries

These are obituaries for three members of the Yates family.  John Elvin Yates married Georgia Wild Townsend (sister to my great grandmother Anna Sarah Townsend Claycomb) 7 November 1889 in Sycamore, Illinois.  William Yates was their son.

All obituaries are from the Sycamore True Republican.

John Wilkins Bone

This is the Social Security application for John Wilkins Bone.  He married Ethel Duncan (daughter of David and Helen Lamb Duncan) about 1916.  The copies of these applications used to be reasonably priced; now they are quite expensive, so I post this in case I can save someone the cost.
I had great plans for this blog to post extensive stories and I hope I still do that.  But in the meantime I am posting snippets.  Otherwise I will never complete the task!

Florence Huckins Duncan Obituary

Florence Huckins was my grandfather Leroy Duncan’s second wife.  They had no children; she has no descendants that I know of.