July 21, 1901

Howard Bierly Matthews, son of Arthur William Matthews and Ada Merritt Hobbs, was born on July 21, 1901 at the family home, 13 Nafus Street, Pittston, PA. He was my paternal grandfather.

 

Here he is lighting the candles on his own cake at his 75th birthday party.

Treasure Chest Thursday - Howard B Matthews

I have two New Testaments to share with you this week. Both belonged to my paternal grandfather, Howard B. Matthews. And this post just happens to fall on his birthday, he was born on July 21, 1901 in Pittson, PA.

I have previously posted my grandfather's story in his own words, but to summarize, he was the youngest of eight children and only fourteen when his father died in 1915. Almost two years later he left school after his sophomore year to help support the family. After two near-death experiences as a miner, he found a mining job above ground but ultimately he wanted more for himself and knew that a good education was the key. In 1922, three years after the death of his mother, he talked himself into a scholarship at Wyoming Seminary, a Pennsylvania prep school.

And as he prepared for this new challenge he received these two Bibles, presumably as tokens of well wishes. This one, from a friend named Billy, is a Scofield Reference New Testament, unfortunately in very bad condition.

Wikipedia has a full article on Scofield Reference Bibles which you can read here. Apparently they were very influential and are still printed today although altered, since the Scofield Bible is now in the public domain. The verses referenced in the center column seen below were related to the verses on each page, allowing the reader to follow threads through books and chapters.

The second New Testament, "New Testament in Modern Speech" was more of a surprise.

A very unassuming looking plain brown book with the cover missing at the spine, little did I know the surprise it held for me clipped in the back. First were some short, personal prayers.

Behind these were notes that puzzled me because of their more political content until I remembered something else from my grandfather's story. "All students were required to take a once-a-week course in public speaking. Preparation consisted of reading a short article in a magazine and then using it as a topic for a speech. No notes were permitted. One you were called upon, you were on your feet and on your own. Some of the speeches on the outlawry of war (remember, WWI had just ended) interested me so that I joined a group of students who spoke on that subject in churches up and down the Valley."

I believe these notes were either his reference materials for these speaking engagements or they were the way that he worked through his thoughts before going out with his fellow students. A real gem of a family find for sure, but another reason they were so fascinating to me is that we are still (hotly) debating these topics today; nationalism, immigration, international aid, our role in the world and more. It has been very interesting for me to see him sort of working out his feelings and beliefs.

To be honest, I have held back a couple of pages. Some of the views that my grandfather expressed were a bit too negative for me to share here. I am not trying to hide who he was or censor his beliefs because I disagree with them, but this is the internet and it can be an ugly place when people disagree, especially in the current climate. I would never expect that from any of my fellow genealogists of course, but once something is online it is out there forever and I would have no control over the audience.

Many of the Bibles and prayer books that I found last year represent a milestone of some sort, a birthday, a first communion, a confirmation. Next week I'll share some of my dad's journey through Bibles and prayer books that he received and that he gave.

84 Years Ago Today

My paternal grandparents, Howard Bierly Matthews and Dagmar Alice Viola Anderson, were married 84 years ago today in Manchester, Connecticut. I shared these home movies here in August which start with their wedding reception.

Watching those movies I realized that I had no idea who my grandmother's maid of honor might have been (although I thought she looked familiar) or my grandfather's best man (although he certainly looked like a brother) and there was no one to ask since my father was an only child and he died ten years ago.

Unbelievably, only one month later, I have many of my answers.

Only a couple of weeks after I received the MP4 file, my step-mother called to say that she was having a friend move in with her and she needed me to go through things in the house asap. Although it was an unexpected wrinkle in my plans to relax over the Labor Day weekend, I'd have gone right that second if she wanted me to since I'd been dying to go through the house for a very long time. As we packed china and explored boxes and closets an application for my grandparents' wedding certificate and check for $20 sat in my purse. I never had to mail it.

Wedding Service of
Howard B Matthews & Dagmar Alice Viola Anderson
September 19, 1931

When I first pulled this from one of the manilla envelopes I was hopeful that it would be from my grandparents' wedding. I turned the pages almost frantically hoping to find something that would identify the bride and groom and finally, there it was!

This is indeed the service from my grandparents' wedding. And there at the bottom of the Marriage Certificate are the names of their witnesses.  My grandfather's best man was a brother, his brother Charles Arthur Matthews, and although I did not recognize the name of my grandmother's maid of honor, she could possibly be the sister of my Great Aunt Anna whom she decidedly resembles, I'm still working on that.

And just as good as the marriage certificate - if not better since I cannot get this at Manchester Town Hall - was this page, the Guest List. My head almost came off! I'm still amazed at my luck. It means that I can pretty well narrow down some of the people in the photos and movies.

These photos I already had.

The happy couple with their officiant,
Dean Chanter of Wesleyan University

These photos were found at my step-mother's two weeks ago.

L-R: Dagmar Anderson, Howard Matthews,
Dagmar Peterson, Charles Matthews,
Little Girl-Unknown

L-R: Bess Matthews Ahlers, William Ahlers, Howard Matthews,
Dagmar Anderson Matthews, Nellie Jones Matthews, Charles Matthews

This is very exciting, especially because I had never seen identified pictures of my grandfather's siblings before and someone had most helpfully written names on the back of this last photo, confirming my guesses. I mean, who knew there was a Matthews nose, and these three all had it!

There are still other photos and documents and even a few pieces of china that I hope to find somewhere in my step-mother's house, but even if this is all there is, I will be very satisfied.

There will be much more to post as I organize and scan all of the photos I brought home two weeks ago and I'm still working on that Military Monday post so I can brag on my other grandfather. In the meantime, I will be heading back out to my step-mother's today to go through my dad's books and see what else I can find.

Have a great weekend!

Amanuensis Monday - Howard Matthews' Story #21 - "Retirement"

After my post last week I realized it would be better for there to be two more posts of my grandfather' story so this will be the second to last installment and next week will be the last.  In this installment we learn a bit more about his time with Wesleyan and then his 'retirement'.

It was necessary to purchase many neighborhood properties to provide land for this construction, to protect the neighborhood and to provide faculty housing. This involved the purchase of 204 properties in the immediate vicinity of the campus at a cost of $6.4 million.

Negotiations with the City of Middletown made possible the closing of Mount Vernon Street between Church Street and Wyllys Avenue and the widening of Vine Street and construction of the retaining wall along its east side, both of which streets were important to the later development of Foss Hill; and the closing of Wesleyan Place to make way for the first stage of the Science Center.

Along came the probability that coeducation would be resumed at Wesleyan and the question of how and where the ladies would be located,-on the existing campus, on a new campus adjacent to the men's campus, or at a distance? It seemed wise therefore to acquire land as a "hedge against the future". This was accomplished, 1960 to 1967, by the purchase of four large farm properties south of the city near the Durham line for a total cost of $1.14 million. When, later, it appeared that coeducation could be accomplished on the existing campus, the farm properties were named Wesleyan Hills and the Hill Development Corporation was formed to develop it has a housing project.

All of these things, plus frequent travel to Columbus, Ohio, in connection with the Press, added to the 'normal' day-to-day operations of the University and budgeting and spending and reporting to the President and the Board and its Committees, made up a very busy and interesting life for me. I always regarded it as 'more fun than working'. Nevertheless, somehow I found time to participate in outside activities, such as:

• A corporator of the Liberty Bank for Savings for 27 years.
• A corporator of the Middlesex Memorial Hospital.
• Chairman of the Advisory Board of the Middlesex Area of the Connecticut Bank & Trust Company.
• President of the Rockfall Corporation.
• President of the Russell Library.
• Member of the Board of Finance, the Retirement Board, and the Mayor's Advisory Committee of the City of Middletown.
• Member Republican Town Committee.
• Chairman Woodrow Wilson High School Building Committee.
• Member Town Hall Building Committee.
• Member State Republican Planning Committee.
• Director Middletown Chamber of Commerce.
• Member Commission on Aid to Higher Education, State of Conn.
• A Commissioner of the Jones Fund for Charity.
• A member of the original Advisory Committee on Middletown Redevelopment.

Victor L. Butterfield, who had been in poor health, resigned the Presidency of Wesleyan in 1967 at age 63. He was succeeded by Edward D. Etherington who resigned shortly thereafter to run for public office who was succeeded by Colin G. Campbell. Mr. Etherington urged me to stay on after I reached the regular retirement age of 68, but I declined and retired as of October 31, 1969 after having served Wesleyan for 19 1/3 years as its Vice President for Business Affairs and Treasurer.

I have found plenty to do to keep me active both mentally and physically. I continued as President of our town library until 1975 when we completed, after many months of study, a revision of its By-laws which did away with the self-perpetuating Board and, under the revised rules, gave citizens nominated by the City membership on the Board. This made possible city financial support of an addition to and renovation of the building, completed in 1984.

I remained until 1977 on the Commission for Aid to Higher Education (Federal grants) to which I had been appointed by Governor Dempsey in 1967.  I continued as Commissioner of the Jones Fund until 1975. I took on a few new ones: served for two years on the Finance Committee of the American Council of Learned Societies, and am currently on the Investment Committees of the Church of the Holy Trinity and the Saint Lukes' Home.

The care of our yard at 147 Old Mill Road has very happily consumed most of my fair-weather time. Our interest in the growing of roses began with four bushes we planted 20 or more years ago at 135 Mount Vernon street, and we brought them with us in 1970 when we moved here. Here, although the yard was well-equipped with shrubbery and grass areas, it had no flower beds or vegetable gardens, so we first developed annual and perennial beds and, later, other areas for raspberries, strawberries, vegetables and, finally, seven beds for roses and mums. Over the years we have planted a total of 72 rose bushes of which 48 survive. The survivors are a mixture of Hybrid Teas, Grandiflores, Floribundas, Flora-Teas, Climbers, Shrubs and the 'unknowns' from Mt. Vernon St.

In the next installment of my grandfather's story, he looks back on a life in a time of great change.

Amanuensis Monday - Howard Matthews Story #20 - Wesleyan University

The 20th and second to last installment of my grandfather's story brings us to another big change in his career and brings him back to Wesleyan.

Olin Library, Wesleyan University 1952

In March 1945 both Swarthmore College and Brown University tried to persuade me to consider joining their respective administrative staffs as Treasurer. President Wriston of Brown was a member of Wesleyan's faculty when I was an undergraduate and I took one of his history courses. He was President of Lawrence College for 12 years before he became President of Brown. In addition to writing me many long letters, he telephoned me frequently, usually at breakfast time, trying to persuade me to come to Brown as treasurer. Finally I settled it by saying I was happy at Chicago where I was making good progress both as to salary and responsibilities. I gave the same answer to President Nelson of Swarthmore.

In late '48 or '49, Billy Calder, a banker, who was filling in as Wesleyan's Treasurer, wrote to ask whether I would be interested in moving to Wesleyan. I indicated some interest in looking into the position as Connecticut had always looked inviting compared to the flatness of Chicago. I had kept in touch with Wesleyan, somewhat, through the Chicago alumni club of which I was President and had visited the campus for class reunions, and the comparison with the University of Chicago made Wesleyan with its endowment of around $9 million, look rather small. And it was at this time that I had been promoted to Business Manager at Chicago.

After being visited by the Chairman of Wesleyan's Board of Trustees, talking with the Chairman of the board's Finance Committee while vacationing in New England and being visited by President Butterfield, finally Wesleyan's offer came.  The title would be Vice President for Business Affairs and Treasurer, although at an initial salary slightly lower than Chicago's. We decided to make the change.

33 Lawn Avenue, Middletown - The Matthews new home

My training and experiences at Chicago plus that of CPA provided an almost perfect background for the usual responsibilities of a college business officer, and my 7 years in public accounting with PMM & Co were invaluable in what was required in Wesleyan's purchase, operation and (15 years later) sale of that fine publisher of elementary and high school books and magazines, such as Current Events and My Weekly Reader, American Education Press, to the Xerox company for 400,000 shares of its common stock, worth at that time $56 million.

The net benefit to Wesleyan for the 15 years it owned and operated the Press, after taxes and all other editorial and operating expenses, was $32 million, but the sale over a period of years of the 400,000 shares of Xerox common stock, increased the total benefit to Wesleyan to more than $100 million.

During the 19 years of my tenure, the aforesaid plus gifts and legacies, such as the Davison bequest of $6.2 million and the Surdna (Andrus) Foundation gift of $8 million, plus gains of $29 million on sales of other investments, even after the appropriation of $36.6 million for physical plant improvement and expansion, increased Wesleyan's endowment to $150 million at book (cost) and $145 at market value as of June 30, 1969.

The prospect of these financial gains enabled Wesleyan, even as early as 1951, to initiate planning which resulted in the following:

• faculty salaries and related fringe benefits increased to the "AA" rating of the American Association of University Professors
• kept the student tuition fee to 30% of actual cost per undergraduate
• improved and added to the physical plant

The major new facilities added during this period were: Davison Art Center, Library Rare Book Room (both made possible by gifts of Harriett and George W. Davison), Public Affairs Center, Foss Hill Dormitories #1 and #2, Lawn Avenue Dormitories and Butterfield Colleges, McConaughy Dining Hall, Science Center and Science Library, Hockey Rink, John Wesley House and addition, Judd Hall major alteration, North College major alteration to centralize Administration, Bridge to South College and major alteration of South College, renovation of the President's house, new Tennis Courts and parking area on Vine Street, Center for the Humanities (behind Honors College) to provide large meeting room and to restore original decorations first floor. Planning for the Center for the Arts was included in this period although construction did not begin until after my retirement.

The aforesaid required enormous amounts of my time in working with the Building and Grounds Committee of the Board, in the selection of architects, in the awarding of contracts and competitive bidding, in travel to New York City to confer with architects and the drawing of plans and actual construction proceeded, in weekly meetings with the architects on the site, etc.

Next time, we learn more about my grandfather's time at Wesleyan and how he still kept involved in important work in retirement.

Amanuensis Monday-Howard Matthews' Story #14-On to Wesleyan

Eclectic House - October 1924 (Second Row from Bottom-Fourth from left)

In the 14th installment of my grandfather's story he tells us about life at Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT.

In my undergraduate days at Wesleyan, freshman and sophomores were required to take courses from a list designed to assure that they were exposed to all of the disciplines. Only in the junior and senior years were we allowed freedom in the choice of courses outside our Major.

As I said before, I continued Greek, language and literature and art, under Professor Heidle all four years. But I majored in Philosophy under Professors Andrew Campbell Armstrong and Cornelius Kruse. Armstrong and Woodrow Wilson, following their graduatation from Princeton, joined the Wesleyan faculty in 1888, and Armstrong stayed for life.

I tried to broadened my interests by taking a variety of courses. I had European and USA History under Dutcher and Wriston (Wriston later became President of Brown); Biology under Greenleaf, and a magnificent Physiology course for seniors under Schneider; Geology Religion and Ethics under Dean Chanter; Astronomy under Sitterly and Slocum; Psychology under Landis, Economics under Tuttle, German under Baerg; Philosophy of Education under President McConaughy and Logic under Kruse. In addition Physical Education was compulsory.

Annual Invitation Banquet of Phi Nu Theta - 1924

Eclectic House ca 1924

I was fortunate in my choice of Phi Nu Theta (Eclectic) as my fraternity. It was the oldest of the 12 fraternities then at Wesleyan, housed in a fine new house built in 1916, designed by Henry Bacon who designed the Lincoln Memorial in Washington. In addition to all of the fraternities, Eclectic was essentially a literary society, which, through its Wednesday evening meetings provided each of its members with four years of experience in the writing of essays and critiques. In addition to the critique of a brother's essay, the chair called on each member present to express his reaction to the paper. The meetings were formal, coats and stiff collars were required attire. No one had the floor unless he addressed the chair and was recognized by the chair by name. The latter was quite a task for the senior who occupied the chair at the initiation meeting in the autumn and at the annual meeting in June for these were attended by large numbers of alumni each of whom had to be addressed by name. I had the assignment for the annual meeting in my senior year. I spent the entire day at the front door of the house obtaining and memorizing the names of returning alumni. At the meeting I missed one name; that of an alumnus who arrived late!

Eclectic was usually the first, never lower than second or third, in the academic standing lists issued by the Dean's office. The upperclass brothers really worked on the freshmen and went out of their way to help them. We soon learned that it mattered not that you had been high man in your prep or high school; here practically all of the competition had that background.

My extracurricular activities at Wesleyan included singing in the college choir Sundays both for the pleasure of singing second bass in a male group as wel as for the 50 cents per week that we were paid. In those days daily and Sunday chapel attendance were required. Two proctors who sat in the balconies made note of the empty seats, which, if they were not accounted for by excuses from the Dean, merited demerits.

Jibers - Bohn, Sid, Cal & Howard

 I sang second bass in the Glee Club all four years and in the Jibers (quartette) for two years. In the latter I took the place of Wendell Phillips '26 for whom I substituted occasionally in my sophomore year, after having learned all of the songs by ear.

Next week, more about the Glee Club and how it changed his life.

Sunday's Obituary - Arthur W Matthews

Last Monday in my Amuensis Monday post we got to the part in my grandfather's story where his father, Arthur William Matthews, passed away.  Last year I was lucky enough to find his obituaries on Genealogy Bank.

A large concourse of sorrowing friends and relatives were in attendance yesterday afternoon at the funeral of Arthur Matthews, which was held from the family home on Nafus Street.  Services were conducted at the house by Rev. L.E. Van Hoesen, pastor of the M.E. Church.  The services consisted of a prayer, suitable address, the reading of Tennyson's "Crossing the Bar," and the singing of "Abide With Me," by a quartet composed of Fred Fear, Harvey Harris, Mrs. Lillian Daniels and Mrs. Charles B. Smith.  The floral tributes were many and completely covered the casket.  The pall bearers were four sons and two sons-in-law of the deceased.  They were William, John, Leroy and Fred Matthews, Floyd Hunter and William Ahlers.  Interment was in Pittston Cemetery.

I love the melodrama in that opening sentence and of the elements of  service.  I don't mean to make light of his death, though, it changed everything for my grandfather who was the youngest of his eight children and only 14 when Arthur died at 71.  If you're interested, you can read more about that in my Amanuensis Monday posts.

Amanuensis Monday - Everything Changes

This is the 9th installment of the autobiography and family history written by my paternal grandfather, Howard Beirly Matthews.  It is December of 1915, my grandfather is 14 years old and everything in his world is about to change.

Arthur William Matthews

Dorothy has said that Grandpa Matthews, my father, must have had a good position for the family lived well and he worked at the mines only the first two hours of the day and that he was a very generous man.  Perhaps he had been too generous; when he died there was very little left but life insurance, the family home and a bunch of debts remaining, perhaps, from his oft expressed boast that when Arthur Matthews needed money he just went to the Bank and got it.  I remember that when I needed a pair of new shoes my father always said go get them and charge them to Arthur Matthews.  My first long-trousered suit was a Hickey Freeman, which cost $15!!!

So a year or so later the house was sold and we moved to Forty Fort, Pa. near Wilkes-Barre to be near Will Ahlers' office and that of my brother Charles at the Maltby mine of the Lehigh Valley Coal Co.  I commuted to Pittston to complete my Sophomore year at its High School.

In those days very few from our area went to college, altho Floyd Hunter's sister graduated from Cornell, and not many even finished High School.  And since my brother Charles, then 21, wanted to plan on getting married, it was decided that I should not return to High School but get a steady job and contribute to the family income.

In the summer of 1917, with World War I creating a great demand for coal and so many jobs vacated by men joining the armed forces, I found it easy to get a job, underground, at the Maltby mine of the Lehigh Valley Coal Co., whose Supt'd. lived just a block away from us.  He hired me as a "mechanic's helper" and told me to be at the mine shaft at 6:30 am, properly clothed and equipped by which he meant overalls, a cap and an acetaline [sic] (gas) lamp, a full lunch pail and, most important, a Union button on my cap indicating that I had joined and paid my first month's dues.  I complied.

Despite the fact that I was raised in a region that had many mines and that my father worked in one, I had never been in a mine.  Access to the Maltby mine was by cage, two cages in parallel shafts, one cage coming up while the other went down, but suspended on heavy steel wire cables, activated by a single stationary steam piston engine which turned two large drums on which one cable was wound while the other was unwound.  During the day these cages were used to hoist loaded 3-ton mine cars and, simultaneously, drop empty cars 600 feet down the shaft.  The same cages were used to lower workers into the mine in the morning and bring them up to the surface at the end of their shifts,--presumably at a lower speed!

I stepped aboard that first morning, packed in among the miners, and the cage dropped into pitch blackness at what seemed to me terrific speed, and then a fast slacking which buckled my knees, and with a bang and a bump we were in the mine.  But to me it didn’t look like a mine as I stepped off the cage into a wide, white-washed tunnel, its roof supported by steel beams, lighted by dangling electric light bulbs.  Down the middle of the tunnel were parallel narrow gauge tracks, one bearing loaded mine cars, the other empties.  To the right, behind the windows, was the Superintendent’s office and to the left were stables housing dozens of mules which were used in the far reaches of the mine to haul loaded cards out of the main tunnels.

Soon I learned that the real mine began just beyond that whitewashed and lighted area, for those loaded cars waiting to be hoisted one at a time up the shaft had been hauled through miles of pitch black tunnels which sloped down to lower and distant levels where loaded cards were assembled by electric locomotives (actuated by overhead electric wires) and then were drawn up the slope to the foot of the shaft by a long steel wire cable activated by a stationery electric motor. The long line of cars, hooked together, were drawn at terrific speed and the tail-end car had a cable attached to it which in turn would serve to pull the empties down the slope.  The noise was deafening and no one walked these slopes.  There was a parallel tunnel for walkers.  Neither was lighted.

The excitement of these new surroundings dispelled in me, a 16 year old, any thought of danger or fear.  and the seriousness of this change in my life did not hit me until mid-September when I realized it meant the end of High School for me and I would not be joining my schoolmates Malcolm Miller and Clinton Myers there.

Amanuensis Monday - Visits to Uncle Joe's

In the 8th installment of my grandfather's story we learn more about his Uncle Joe Hobbs, brother of his mother Ada Merritt Hobbs.

Uncle Joe was a locomotive engineer for the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western RR.  By virtue of seniority he had his choice of trains so he chose the line's top passenger train, the Chicago Limited.  He left home around 5 pm every second day, dressed like a banker, and went to the Scranton station, changed his clothes and climbed aboard the enormous steam engine which stood there, all spit and polish, emitting that familiar "panting" sound as it and he awaited the arrival of the west-bound section of his train which had begun the first lap of its journey in Hoboken, NJ.  When it arrived its engine was unhooked and Uncle Joe backed his in its place.  At exactly 6:20 pm, upon signal from the Conductor, Uncle Joe gently gave it the gun and his train began the second lap of its trip--Scranton to Elmira, N.Y., which at 70 miles per hour it reached around 10pm.  There Uncle Joe stepped down and walked to the RR YMCA and slept until about 4 am when a "call-boy" awakened him.  He went to the station where his engine had been serviced, washed and polished awaited the arrival of the east-bound section of his train which Uncle Joe would then pilot to Scranton.  I don't remember the exact time but he was always back home by mid-morning and was free until 5pm the following day.

Several years later, Uncle Joe purchased a home and small farm in Clarks Summit, just north of Scranton.  There, around 7 pm every second day, Fred, Milton and I stood on a small bridge over the tracks to see and wave to Uncle Joe as his train picked up speed after the steep grade out of Scranton.  He never failed to toot the whistle and wave to us.

Our days at Green Ridge were spent swimming or exploring Nay Aug Park or going to Emily's home (Harrison had built a find new house near the Church of the Good Shepherd)  where we were always assured of "eats".  Some of our time was spent planning what we should do if Aunt Ella gave a bad report when Uncle Joe arrived home as, usually, his first question was "have these young bucks been behaving?"  Our preparation usually involved stuffing towels, pot lids, etc in our pants to protect our bottoms.  Sunday always meant attending the Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd as the Hobbs retained loyalty to their Anglican upbringing.

Amanuensis Monday - Chores and Earning Money

It has been some time since I have posted from my grandfather's story. This is part Six.  My grandfather wrote about his house chores and how he earned spending money.

It was my job each day to shake down the kitchen stove fire, remove the ashes, and refill the coal bucket with anthracite which I brought up from the large coal bin in the basement.  And I went through the same process with the large hot air furnace in the basement which heated the upper floors through ducts leading to registers in the floors of each room.  Each Saturday morning I hauled the ashes to the local dump, using my sled when there was snow and my small wagon in milder weather.  Another chore each Sunday night was to take our laundry to the home of our wash-woman who lived beyond the cemetery at the head of Nafus Street.  To a 10-year-old this seemed a treacherous journey and I am sure I broke speed records going past that burying ground.*  On Tuesday nights I retrieved the laundry, all clean and ironed.  I can still smell the wash-lady's kitchen-hot, steamy, soapy and that odor of freshly hand-ironed things.

I was always encouraged to work to earn money for things I wanted.  This included selling and delivering the Saturday Evening Post and the Ladies Home Journal.  Among my favorite customers were the two sisters who operated the German Kitchen on Broad Street.  They always treated me to a dish of ice cream.  One of the sisters, Anna Dommermuth, became the wife of my brother Roy.

One year I had an out-of-town paper route, delivering only the New York and Philadelphia papers.  These came in on an early Lehigh Vally RR train and I delivered them by 8 a.m. via bicycle to the homes of the well-to-do who lived along the riverfront in West Pittston.  I bought the bicycle with money earned selling "Larkin" soaps, etc.

One summer, when I was 13 or 14 I worked on a truck farm, weeding, cultivating, picking strawberries, and preparing, bunching vegetables for delivery to local markets--10 hours a day, 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., six days a week for 15 cents per hour!

But not all was work; school, skating, sledding in the winter, baseball with grownups in the evening, hiking and bicycle trips.  And lazy hours after dark, when the family sat on the front porch, eagerly awaiting my mother's announcement that it was now time to bring out a pitcher of lemonade or, that as soon as Nick Sardoni came along in his wagon, we would have ice cream.  I have never since then tasted as good ice cream.

*My great-grandparents are now buried in this cemetery along with two sons (including Roy, mentioned above) and a daughter-in-law.  You can read a bit about that here.

Shopping Saturday - Shopping in Pittston, PA

This is one of those frustrating photos that provides a certain window into the past, but just doesn't come with enough information give you more answers than questions.

I found this completely unmarked photo in a box of things belonging to my grandfather that my father had in his basement when he died.

All I can say for certain about this photo is that people are shopping.  Even saying it was taken in Pittston is an assumption, although if all of the people on the customers' side of the counter are together, then I don't think they would have traveled to another town's (what appears to be) General Store with the men in filthy work clothes.

The older male in the photo certainly looks like the only photo I have of my great grandfather, Arthur Matthews, and the older of the women certainly could pass for my great grandmother, Ada.  But there isn't enough detail in her face to say how old she is here.  The older male could be Arthur's eldest son William. I have no photos of the older children, so it all hinges on the year the photo was taken and I have no idea.

Sometime this fall I should be going to my step-mother's house to help her sort through my dad's things and I'll find out if there are anymore things of my grandfather's in storage.  Who knows what I will find - answers or more questions?

Sentimental Sunday - The Haddam Neck Fair

I am feeling very Sentimental today.  Yesterday Donald & I went to the Haddam Neck Fair in Haddam Neck, CT, something that I did with my parents and my father's parents when I was a child.

Labor Day 1972

Also Labor Day 1972

I hadn't been to the fair in many years, but Donald & I were looking for something relatively inexpensive to do last year and I thought of this and we obviously had a great time because we went again this year.

Walking from the parking field to the tractor pulling ring it almost seemed as if I had stepped back in time.  It looked as though nothing had changed from the 70s until I saw the ATM tent and the Tai food vendor.   Even so, it still feels like a slice of another time.

This was the 103rd year of the Haddam Neck Fair which runs from Friday afternoon through Monday night every Labor Day weekend.  Next year I want to go on Labor Day as we did when I was young and see the antique tractor pull instead of the modified tractors.

Missing from the old days was the volunteer firefighter's dunk tank and pie-in-the-face fundraisers which my father loved to try his hand at, but a wonderful newer addition is a church that fundraises barbequing half chickens over a huge pit served with the sweetest, juiciest corn I've ever had, no condiments necessary.

Due to scanner issues, I don't have any pictures of the five of us at the fair that I can share, but here is one I took of my parents and grandparents in my bedroom at our old house (click to enlarge if your eyes can handle my totally 70s wallpaper!).

Getting to Haddam Neck from Long Island means going through Middletown, home of Wesleyan University, where my grandparents lived from the time I was born until they died and where they are buried, at Indian Hill Cemetery, adjacent to the Wesleyan campus.

Both my father and grandfather went to Wesleyan, and my grandfather spent the last twenty years of his career there, as Vice President of Business Affairs.  So the whole town is like a trip down memory lane and even driving through it makes me sentimental.

When we visited the cemetery last year, we found my grandparents headstone tipped over.  The cemetery management took care of the issue right away. We went back yesterday and took these photos.

Click on the last photo to see the view from their plot, it really is spectacular in person.

It can be hard to revisit places like this when three of the four people you shared them with are gone (my father died in 2005) but we made new memories, and we will definitely keep going back.

Have a wonderful Labor Day Weekend!

Wedding Wednesday-Dagmar Anderson & Howard Matthews

I recently discovered that a box of what I thought was saved business correspondence belonging to my paternal grandfather also contained personal correspondence relating to the search for family information.

Tucked away inside these letters were also some clippings and photos, among them, my grandparent's wedding announcement.

It is another reminder that I have to ask my stepmother for my dad's home movies that include some wedding footage, although I do have this wonderful photograph of the bride and her gorgeous bouquet.

Dagmar Alice Viola Anderson Matthews
October 19, 1931 - Age 25

Miss Dagmar Viola Anderson, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Carl J. Anderson of 68 Garden street, will be married this afternoon to Howard Beirly Matthews of New York City. The marriage will take place at the home of the bride's brother and sister-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. E. C. Anderson of 34 Elm Terrace, at four o'clock. Dean W. G. Chanter of Wesleyan University, Middletown, will perform the ceremony, using the single ring, Methodist service. The bridal music will be played by Mrs. A. H. Anderson, and Mrs. Charles A. Matthews will sing "I Love You Truly."
The bride will be attended by Miss Dagmar C. Peterson of East Walpole, Mass., as maid of honor. Charles A. Matthews of New Jersey will be best man for his brother.
The bride will wear a gown of flesh chiffon with veil of flesh tulle falling from a cap of Princess lace and orange blossoms. She will carry a bouquet of Madam Butterfly roses and blue delphiniums. The maid of honor will be gowned in turquoise blue chiffon and her arm bouquet will be of Briarcliff roses and gypsophilia.
The ceremony will be followed by a reception for 35 guests at the home of the bride's parents, which is decorated with palms and ferns. Later the young couple will leave for an unannounced wedding trip, the bride wearing a brown traveling costume with accessories to match. They will be at home to their friends after November 1 at 106 Arlington avenue, East Orange, N. J.
The bride was graduated from Manchester High School with the class of 1923. Mr. Matthews was graduated from Wesleyan University, class of 1928. He is a member of Phi Nu Theta and Mystical Seven fraternities and is now on the staff of Peat, Marwick, Mitchell and Company, public accountants.