Winter Activities

I picked a prior year prompt for this week's posting.  Some of this may have already been mentioned in prior postings.

Growing up, I had several winter activities.  I loved to read and spent a lot of time reading books (even in the summer).  This was a passion I got from my Mom.  I can remember reading the Little House series, series on nurses, Chief Joseph and the Whitmans were some of the books I read in grade school.  By the time I was in Junior High, I was reading adult novels by Mary Stewart, Victoria Holt, Agatha Christie series, and Harlequin Romances.  I'm still reading the Harlequins and other Historical Romance books.

My dad has a hobby with HO scale model railroad.  We spent a lot of winter evenings in the “train” room, creating trains and running them on the mainline. 

We also spent Sunday evenings as family game night.  We would play various games like Pa Cheesee, Aggravation, Careers, Life, Let’s Drive, Go Fish, Old Maid, Flinch, and Uno to name a few.

We also watched some TV.  Some of the shows we watched were Bonanza, Courtship of Eddie’s Father, Little House on the Prairie, Star Trek (original series), Charlie’s Angels, Six Million Dollar Man, Bionic Woman.

When there was snow, we would have sledding, snow forts, building snowmen, and snowball fights.

I had Barbie dolls to play with as well as other dolls.  My brother & I had legos, Lincoln logs, and Tinker Toys that we built lots of things.  We created blanket forts between our two beds (when we were younger and shared a bedroom until I got my own room).

It wasn’t all fun & games, we had chores to do too.  We had to feed the cows hay every morning (non-school days --- Mom did school days) and every night.  We had our own calf we were raising that we had to feed and muck out the stall.  There was baking to do every Saturday morning along with helping Mom do laundry.  Had to wash/dry dishes.  We also were responsible for cleaning our own bedroom.

#9 James Stead

James Stead is another one of my immigrant ancestors.  He is my third great grandfather on my mother’s side.

James was born c 1819 in England.  He married Mary Ann Tolson on 1^st of Sept 1851 in Leeds, Yorkshire, England.

James & Mary had six children:

1.  Thomas born Jan 1847 in England (my ancestor)
2.  Elizabeth Stead born circa 1848 in England
3.  William Talson born July 1851 in Seneca Falls, New York
4.  Mary Ann born 14^th Nov 1853 in Seneca Falls, New York
5.  Francis A born 23 Aug 1855 in Seneca Falls, New York
6. James D born Feb 1859 in Seneca Falls, New York.

Based on US Federal Census, the family lived in the following areas:

·        1860 – 4^th Ward Seneca Falls Village, Seneca County, New York.

·        1870 – Dundee, Kane County, Illinois.  Occupation is moulder.

·        1880 – Dundee, Kane County, Illinois.

I have some inconsistencies as to when James immigrated to the United States.  I’m not sure how he could have children born in New York, yet was married in England.  It is possible that there were 2 James Stead with a wife by the name of Mary who were born at the same time.  I really need to locate immigration records to verify where in England James was from.

#8 Charles Warren Davis

The Davis line is a difficult line to trace.  Such a common last name and he was born in an area that had lots of them.  Really hope to connect to family members with this posting.

Charles W. Davis was born 18^th of March 1838 in Virginia.  He married Lavina Morgan in about 1865 in Illinois.  He died in about 1921 in Los Angeles, California.

Charles & Lavina had the following children:

1.  Martin was born in Kansas.  According to cousin, Cecil Whitby, Martin was killed in a Sheep & Cattlemen’s War.  I also have notes saying he lived in the Seattle, Washington area and owned a lumber mill.

2.  Charles Warren “Oscar” was born on 9 April 1870 in Kansas.  He married (1) Alice Hall and (2) Elsie.  Lived in Mountain Home, Idaho.

3.  Mary was born in 1873 in Kansas and died about 1876.

4.  George Washington was born 21 Aug 1879 in Decatur, Kansas.  Married Martha Wilson.  His family lived in the Spokane, Washington area.  He was an engineer for Old Spokane Hotel.

5.  Arthur was born Jul 1882 in Kansas and died about 1895.  According to cousin, Cecil Whitby, Arthur was killed by a horse at the age of 18 probably as a result of a rodeo accident.

6.  Bertha was born 9 Apr 1884 in Laramie, Wyoming.  Bertha married Harry Swinehart in Hagerman, Idaho on 1 Nov 1903.  She died Aug 1930 in Lind, Washington. (I descend from this line).

7.  Amelia was born 15 Jun 1888 in Laramie Peaks, Wyoming.  She married Harry Whitby on 18 Oct 1908 in Shoshone, Idaho.  She died around 1980 in Alameda, California.

Have the following Census information:

·        1880 located in Grant Township, Decatur County, Kansas.  Occupation is farmer and indicates he was born in Illinois and his parents in New York and Kentucky.  His age is listed as being 38.  Children included David M (age 9), Charles W (age 6), Mary E (4) and Joel W (age 9/12).  All born in Kansas.

·        1900 located in Blaine County, Idaho.  Indicates he was born in March 1842 in Illinois and his parents were born in New York & Kentucky.  Children (6 out of 7 living) listed include George born in Aug 1879 in Kansas, Arthur in July 1882 in Nebraska, Bertha in Apr 1885 in Wyoming, and Amelia in Jun 1888 in Wyoming.  Listed as a farmer owning his own place.  His son, Charles (b Apr 1874 in Kansas) lived next door with his wife Alace.

·        1910 located in Buhl Precinct, Twin Falls County, Idaho. Just Charles & Lavina.  Indicates 5 out of 7 children are living.  Has him being 68 years old and being born in Illinois and parents in New York & Kentucky.  He is still a farmer but now is renting instead of owning.  Their daughter, Amelia, is living two houses down with her husband Harry Whitby and son W. Cecil.

Looks like I may need to change my data.  All 3 censuses are consistent as to his birthplace and year.  I’m also thinking I may need to update other birth dates as well.  Not able to locate him on the 1920 census nor do I have information for the 1870 census.

PS:  Since writing this, I have located the 1870 Census for Charles & Lavina Davis.  They were in Chandlerville, Cass Co, IL (no children).  I also found their marriage record in Cass Co, IL - 22 Dec 1869.  I also have reason to believe his parents are Joel W & Rebecca Davis.  Found an 1850 census that collaborates the birth information, birth places, etc.  So, I will need to update my family tree.

June 2016 - I have recently been in touch with a family member that has collaborated information and updated others.  I will be publishing a new blog entry for the Davis surname. 

#8 Grades 5 & 6

I’m still at Oakview Elementary School.  However, it has changed.  Instead of Grades 1-6, it now has Grades 4-6.  The first three grades now attend Fords Prairie Elementary School.  Grades 4 had the newer part of the school and 5^th Grade had the older part of the school.  6^th Grade met in portable classrooms.  There were four classes for each of the grades.

My 5^th Grade teacher was Mrs. Mabel Olson (no not the same one I had in 3^rd Grade).  This Mrs. Olson was my mother’s 4^th grade teacher!  One of the first things my mother told her was that we didn’t know our times tables.  Boy, did we have to learn them.  We were tested every week.  Not only did we have to learn our times schedules.  She made us practice our penmanship.  We also had to learn our State Capitols.  I can still remember most of them.

Made lots of new friends that came from Fords Prairie.  We still had classroom parties for the various holidays.  I can remember Mom helping out on Halloween.  As we were getting ready to do the parade to other classrooms, she asked me who the new student was.  I said we didn’t have a new student.  She didn’t believe me until she looked at the name plate on the desk after we left the room.  She cracked up laughing.  It was one of the boys who dressed up as a girl (borrowed his sister’s clothes, had a wig and make-up).  He did a fantastic job – Mom didn’t recognize him!

Mom made me a new dress for school – it was a real pretty pink and had ruffles.  Don’t remember too much about it but I wanted to wear it to school for the Christmas party.  I was all dressed up in it and went downstairs.  Told mom my backed itch and would she scratch it.  She started to then took a look . . . I had the Chicken Pox.   One of the kids took the treat bag to my Dad (he drove school bus and took kids who lived in Galvin/Lincoln Creek).  But what a way to spend Christmas.  And I gave it to my little brother.  When school started back up after break, I was wearing that dress but no teacher, she was ill.

So our Principal, Mr Robinson, taught us that first day until he could get a substitute teacher.  He was great!  By the way, he had a nickname for me = Zenkner Valley Girl.  I was the only student in the school that lived up Zenkner Valley.  My normal bus had to take students from Oakview over to the High School then pick up those kids that lived in the Valley then come back and get me.  School was out at 3:30 but I didn’t leave the grounds until after 4pm.  Mr. Robinson would sit with me until Mrs Clark came back to get me.

Other changes we had were music teachers.  We had a couple of guitar players that came in and taught us songs to sing.  We also had them in the 6^thGrade.  Some of the songs we sang included “Yellow Submarine”, “Eleanor Rigby”, “Blowin’ in the Wind”, “Lemon Tree”, plus others.  Math changed again.  Boy, no wonder I struggled, it kept changing on me.  And our teacher had to learn along with us.  We also had an opportunity to learn a band instrument.  I wanted to do band but we couldn’t afford it.  Band was done during the lunch periods.  6^th Graders got to help out in the lunch room (and you got free lunch when you did this) – so I did that when the kids who had band couldn’t work their shift.  Mr. Jensen and Mrs. Case (the lunch room workers – Mr Jensen was also the school janitor) loved it when I worked because I never complained and did a good job.

6^thGrade was my first male teacher and it was his first year of teaching.  His name was Mr. Arlen Branch.  That was the year I learned how to talk in class and not get caught.  It was also the year I came down with the flu and when the doctor prescribed antibiotics, I broke out.  He had mom discontinue and bring me in.  Instead of an allergy reaction, I had Rubella Measles (even though I had been vaccinated).  It was also the year that I had to start wearing glasses – I had troubles seeing the black board.

We were also broken up into level appropriate classes for Reading & Math.  I was put in the upper levels for both.  In reading, we created a newsletter and wrote various articles.  We also had to write up book reports.  Math was still a struggle for me.  However, we were in the gym where the Principal, Mr. Robinson, taught us.  One of the first things he did was asked what we were struggling with then he taught us shortcuts on how to learn it.  My main issue was fractions.  His help is what got me through basic math the rest of my school years (and one of the reasons why I’m an accountant today).  For Social Studies, we got extra credit if we obtained literature about foreign countries and did up a report about them.  I remember writing to several Consulates and getting literature.  One of the other classmates did a better job than me.  I was jealous.

5^th& 6^th grade was also the time that they brought in a female doctor (a rarity at that time) to teach us girls about puberty/menstruation.  We had to watch a film.  The boys were sent off to another classroom and I’m not sure if they had a similar topic on puberty for them or not.

One of the sad things, due to school levy failures for several years, we as 6^thGraders did not have the Outdoor Classroom field trip to Mayfield for a week.  Also, for the next year, several schools were closed.  More about that later.

#7 Grades 3 & 4

I had already talked about 3^rd Grade earlier so I will focus on 4^thGrade.  I was still at Oakview Elementary School and we still had too many students for just one classroom.  However, this was the first time that the class behind us also had too many students.  So, they created a split class.  We had one row of desks for 3^rd Grade (I think it was only 5 or 6 kids) and 3 rows for 4^th Grade.  Our teacher was Mrs. Calkins.  I really liked her.  We also had a student teacher that assisted the 3^rd Grade students.  I think sometimes, I also helped out by listening to them read.

The classroom was in the old Music Room in the older part of the school and it was next to the boys bathroom.  I can remember that the halls echoed when you walked down them.  There was only the 3 classrooms (5^th& 6^th Grade besides our room – I think one of those rooms was actually the 4^th Grade and the 6^th grade was down in the new part of the school near the Principal’s Office).  The play shed was also at the old end of the building.  It was where we lined up in the mornings to enter the school.  Grades 1-3 at one door and 4-6 at the other.

I was still involved with Girl Scouts and had my friends.  I probably made new friends as well . . . not sure if I had a “best friend”.  Those seem to change every year.  

#7 - Henry Reisner

Henry Reisner is another immigrant ancestor on my Dad’s side. 

He is my 2^ndGreat Grandfather.

Henry was born 19 Sept 1814 in Poppengrun, Bavaria, Germany.  He married Maria Margaret Haueisen around 1847 (before immigrating to the United States).

He came to New York in 1848 and went to Stoughton, Dane County, Wisconsin where he rented a place.  In 1859, the family moved to Fayette County, Iowa and in 1864 he had purchased land.

Henry died in West Union, Fayette County, Iowa on 19^th of December 1891.

Henry & Maria had 10 children.  The oldest, Christian, was born in 1850 in Wisconsin and the youngest, Louisa, was born in Iowa in 1871.

Henry had 2 brothers that also immigrated and lived in Iowa – Christian born circa 1809 and Adam born in 1823. 

#6 – John Reynoldson

John is my 3^rd Great grandfather on my mother’s side.  He was born 12^th of October 1819 in England and died 14^th of March 1903 in Barrington, Cook County, Illinois.

The 1900 census indicated that John immigrated in 1850.  However, other information I have has his first child born in New York in 1844.

John married Eliza Hougtaling (b 20 Jul 1827 d 17 Oct 1892) in New York (year unknown).  Their second child was born in Illinois in 1846.  They had a total of 12 children.

    1. Robert – b Oct 1844 in New York
2.  John A – b 1846 in Illinois
3.  Eliza J – b 1849 in Illinois
4.  Fannie M – b 1853 in Illinois
5.  Ellen A – b 1855 in Illinois
6.  Caroline – b 1857 in Illinois
7.  Thomas H – b 1859 in Illinois
8.  Samuel Peter – b Dec 1861 in Wauconda, Illinois (my ancestor)
9.  Franklin – b c1863 in Illinois
10.             Adelia W – b 1867 in Illinois
11.             Grace D – b Nov 1869 in Illinois
12.             John C – b Jan 1872 in Illinois

Looking for the following information:

·       Exact Location in England

·       When immigrated & port of entry

·       When John & Eliza married

·       John’s parents