Fearless Females - Day 14 - Ada Merritt Hobbs Matthews

Lisa Alzo, The Accidental Genealogist, started a blogging-prompt series in 2010 in honor of Women's History Month and our female ancestors. If you would like to participate also, you can find the prompts on her blog here.

News-makers? Did you have a female ancestor who made the news? Why? Was she famous or notorious? Did she appear in the social column?

Ada Merrit Hobbs Matthews

My paternal grandfather's mother, Ada Merritt Hobbs Matthews, appeared several times in the Pittston Gazette/Evening Gazette over the years between her marriage in 1876 to her death in 1919.

She was neither famous nor notorious but she was well known in the small town of Pittston, PA where her husband was the owner of two businesses and the director of the choir at the Methodist Episcopal church.

Although I cannot reproduce the articles here, having found them on Newspapers.com, I can tell you that while Ada did not make the social column, per se, most of the articles pertained to social matters.

There was one appearance in the paper that surprised me, a notice that Ada and Arthur were being sued by the bank and that the sheriff would be auctioning of two parcels of their land. Then again, Arthur certainly had an entrepreneurial spirit. Perhaps he just wasn't as successful in real estate as his other businesses.

The rest of the notices were much more humdrum and every day, reflective of the times and the place. The Pittston and Evening Gazettes were like the Facebook of their day.  There were announcements of trips to visit family at Falls and Scranton, of Ada having the grip (which she once had while pregnant with my grandfather according to my calculations) and being taken to the hospital for an operation. There were also notices of upcoming meetings of the Ladies' Aid Society at Ada's home, descriptions of entertaining (feeding) the church choir after practice and the time she gave a banquet for the employees of Arthur's shoe factory.

Other than notices of births, marriages and deaths, Ada is the only female ancestor I have found in newspapers so far. It isn't earth-shattering news, she wasn't famous, notorious or wealthy, but these little articles are like gold to me because they help flesh-out an ancestor I never knew.

Fearless Females - Day 13 - Marjorie Elizabeth Dean

Lisa Alzo, the Accidental Genealogist, started a blogging prompt-series in 2010 in honor of Women's History Month and our female ancestors. If you wish to participate, the prompts are here.

Moment of Strength: Share a story where a female ancestor showed courage or strength in a difficult situation.

The Dean Family ca. 1908
James Louden Dean, Eva Maud Bean
Dorothy Irene, Marjorie Elizabeth and Kenneth Emery

In my last post I wrote about the illness and death of Eva Maude Bean, the mother of my maternal grandmother, Marjorie Elizabeth Dean.

The Dean family were farmers, James Louden having inherited the farm in North Hatley, Quebec from his father John at an early age. It was then, as now, primarily a dairy farm but also had a sugar bush, which means they produced maple syrup. Of course, a dairy farm isn't all feeding, milking and breeding cows, there is also feed to be grown. Four years after this photo was taken, when my grandmother was only eight, her father lost an arm in a thrasher and during his recovery she was at least partially responsible for changing his dressings. An eight year old girl on a farm didn't always get to be a child for long.

When Eva died, my grandmother was 12 with four younger siblings, the youngest, Lawrence Nimmo, was not quite two. Two of the middle siblings, Dorothy and John, were sent to live with Louden's brother Robert and his wife Georgia but my grandmother raised the baby.

As I said in my last post, my grandmother came from a generation who didn't talk much about their hardships as it would have been seen as complaining, so we don't know a lot about the eight years between Eva's death and Louden's remarriage to Lena Emma Hodge.  I can't imagine that my grandmother would have been able to go to school every day, but she must have continued her education because she was eventually able to attend High School.

There was a story that she shared with my mother about making meals for the men who came to help with farm work. In many farming communities, farmers will go in groups to help each other with big jobs like haying and thrashing, this was especially true in the days before they had the mechanical equipment that is available now. The work at each farm would take a few days, and during the time that a group of men were working a particular farm, that farmer's family would be responsible for providing the noontime meal to all the men.  When it was my grandmother's turn, sometime early after her mother's passing, she found a recipe for coffee cake, literally a cake with coffee in it. Unfortunately her baking experience was limited then and when the recipe called for 1 c. coffee, she put in the grounds. The men were very understanding and after the meal they told her that the cake was very good, but that next time perhaps she should leave out the grounds.

My grandmother may have had some help from her paternal grandmother, Elizabeth Nimmo Dean, but we don't know how much because she never mentioned it to my mother. We only know from the 1921 census that Elizabeth, or Bessie, was living with the family at that time.

But no matter how much help she had, it could not have been easy being thrust into the role of caretaker and mother at the age of 12 on a farm in a harsh climate. The work must have been back-breaking and never ending and she must have missed her mother very much.

Looking at the photo of Eva and Louden's headstone, I began to imagine my grandmother and her family making the long trip from the farm to the cemetery over rough terrain in the cold of early March in Quebec. It must have been heartbreaking and frightening.

And her heartbreak wasn't over. In April of 1945 she would loose the little brother that she raised almost on her own. He was killed in action in Nijmegen, Holland just six weeks before V.E. Day.

Fearless Female - Marjorie Elizabeth Dean.

Fearless Females - Day 11 - Eva Maud Bean

Lisa Alzo, the Accidental Genealogist, started a blogging prompt-series in 2010 in honor of Women's History Month and our female ancestors. If you wish to participate, the prompts are here.

Did you have any female ancestors who died young or from tragic or unexpected circumstances? Describe and how did this affect the family?

Amelia Hodgson Bean, Sylvia Emelia Bean, Eva Maud Bean

My maternal grandmother's mother, Eva Maude Bean, died just over 100 years ago on February 28, 1916, at the age of 41. She suffered from what was then called creeping paralysis. Creeping paralysis is most commonly defined today as Multiple Sclerosis but my mother believes, from my grandmother's description of her mother's symptoms, that Eva may have had Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), more commonly known as Lou Gehrig's Disease.

During Eva's lifetime, creeping paralysis was diagnosed as female hysteria and treated as a mental disorder, all in Eva's little head. Isn't it sad and frustrating that 100 years later, things haven't changed all that much. Think of a woman being asked if she has PMS if she isn't all sunshine and roses or the way women with Chronic Fatigue or Fibromyalgia have been treated because doctors didn't understand their condition or of all the women with heart disease who's symptoms are dismissed because they are women.

Eva's illness and death greatly affected her family, especially her five children. It couldn't have been easy for those little ones, who ranged in age from 2 to 12 at the time of her death, to watch their mother deteriorate little by little until she died.

As it went with her generation and hardship, my grandmother didn't talk much about her mother's illness or death. There is one story that she told my mother. We don't know how close Eva was to death at this point but she was either unable to walk or almost unable to walk when she was taken to her brother's home in the next village for treatment by a mesmirist. She was absolutely convinced that this treatment would cure her. My grandmother didn't know what the mesmirist did because although she and her eldest brother went along they were sent upstairs during the "treatment". When the "treatment" failed to cure or even improve her condition, Eva was devastated and had a complete breakdown.

Although there was no way that Eva could have been cured of her illness, even today, it is the way she was treated by those around her, including her own husband and family, that make her story important. Eva and Louden's youngest child was conceived when she was already very ill with greatly decreased mobility. If Louden had truly believed that she was suffering from an illness she could not control, I wonder if Lawrence would have been born. Obviously the prejudices of the time affected everyone.

It is so important that we learn this lesson 100 years later. If someone we know is suffering with symptoms we cannot understand or relate to, that does not mean they are not real. If a physician, who after all is just a human with specialized education and training, cannot give a patient a diagnosis, that does not mean their suffering and symptoms are not real.

In Sunday's post I will share more about the effects of Eva's death on her family, especially my grandmother.

Treasure Chest Thursday - If you don't need it, DON'T BUY IT.

Give your whole support to rationing and thereby conserve our vital goods. Be guided by the rule: 'If you don't need it, DON'T BUY IT."

The back of one of my grandfather's ration books.

Thus were US citizens urged to cut back and save during WWII.

These ration books were among the treasures that I found in my step-mother's basement this past Labor Day weekend.  There was also one in my dad's name and a couple in my grandmother's name.

I know very little about the experiences of my father and his parents during the war and they're all gone now, so it's too late to ask. The little I do know are my grandfather's written recollections about how things changed at work during the war and that he and my grandmother decided to sell their car "in a fit of patriotism." Luckily he only had blocks to walk to work and was able to take shelter in doorways along his route during the very cold (and windy, of course) Chicago winters.

My grandmother's Ration Book One had the same coupons intact.

My grandfather's War Ration Book Two had no remaining coupons.

There were many coupons left in the War Ration Book No. 3 that I have for both of my grandparents and my father. Each sheet had a different war-related symbol on each coupon, presumably because certain coupons were used at designated times.

The backs of the second and third coupon books say that instructions will be issued. I'm curious about this now and will have to do some research to learn more. I'll also have to ask my mother how rationing was handled in Canada.

Fearless Females - Day 7 - Recipes

Lisa Alzo, the Accidental Genealogist, started a blogging prompt-series in 2010 in honor of Women's History Month and our female ancestors. If you wish to participate, the prompts are here.

Share a favorite recipe from your mother or grandmother's kitchen. Why is this dish your favorite? If you don't have one that's been passed down, describe a favorite holiday or other meal you shared with your family.

When I think of my paternal grandmother and food I think of three things; her rich and creamy cheesecake, her pot roast with the darkest gravy you've ever seen, and her delicious Swedish meatballs.  I didn't have any of her recipes until I found her personal recipe book in my stepmother's basement in September.  I still haven't had a chance to try my hand at any of them myself or even scan or copy any of them, but I did recently scan some old slides and guess what we were eating! Here I am goofing around with my dad who took the photo. I can actually taste that cheesecake right now even though I haven't had it in over twenty years.

When I think of my maternal grandmother and food I think of her Christmas baking and her delicious chocolate sauce. My favorites were her lacy cookies, her melt-in-your-mouth shortbread and her Nanaimo bars. I'm making myself hungry! I don't bake cookies much, but I do make her chocolate sauce a couple of times a year. Although I am a chocoholic, this sauce is very sweet and is best served over french vanilla ice cream. I shared the recipe once before for Family Recipe Friday, you can find it here.

It looks a bit thin here but was probably just a bit too hot and settled
in the bottom of the bowl.

One of these days I will try more of these recipes for myself and share them on Family Recipe Friday, too.

Fearless Females - Day 6 - Heirlooms

Lisa Alzo, the Accidental Genealogist, started a blogging prompt-series in 2010 in honor of Women's History Month and our female ancestors. If you wish to participate, the prompts are here.

Today's post is about heirlooms inherited from a female ancestor.

I'm going to make things easy on myself today and show you some heirlooms that I've already photographed and shared on my old crafting, etc. blog when I participated in a weekly party called Vintage Thingy Thursday.

This charm bracelet belonged to my mother's mother, Marjorie Elizabeth Dean Smith. The charms were collected while traveling across Canada and in Europe on trips for pleasure and my grandfather's trips for business.

When she would wear it when I was little, my favorite charms were always the ones that moved or where interactive in some way.

This child's tea set belonged to my father's mother, Dagmar Alice Viola Anderson, and it was given to me when I was a child. I didn't play with it much, however, because I could only have it out with the help of an adult and under their strict supervision. It was a big deal for me to be allowed to use it. Today it is displayed in my china cabinet.

I think of my grandmothers whenever I use or look at these items.

Fearless Females - Day 5 - How They Met

Lisa Alzo, the Accidental Genealogist, started a blogging prompt-series in 2010 in honor of Women's History Month and our female ancestors. If you wish to participate, the prompts are here.

How did they meet? You've documented marriages, now, go back a bit. Do you know the story of how your parents met? Your grandparents?

I know a bit about my parents meeting, but it doesn't make for an interesting blog post, and my maternal grandparents met through work, but the better story is about my paternal grandparents and is actually something I was planning to post later in the month because the 27th will mark 90 years since the dance where they met.  If you read my Amanuensis Monday posts transcribing my grandfather's story, you might remember it.

Program from the concert and dance.

In March of 1926 my grandmother, Dagmar Alice Viola Anderson, had graduated from South Manchester High School but I don't know if she was working. My father had always thought that she never had a job, but the 1930 census says she was a stenographer at an insurance office.

My grandfather, Howard Bierly Matthews, was an undergraduate at Wesleyan University and a member of both their Glee Club and the Jibers quartet. Both performed at the South Manchester High School Class of 1926 concert and dance where he was introduced to my grandmother.

Former So. Manchester High School, now a senior residence.

I can even give you a little taste of what was heard that night. I stumbled on something called Wesleyan Sings a few years ago and while this recording of Campus Song, the first song performed that evening, does not include my grandfather, it does include my dad, a Wesleyan grad in 1958.

I don't know why it took a year before she became his steady date, but my grandfather wrote that starting with the Wesleyan University Prom Dances in 1927, my grandmother was his date at all dances until he graduated in 1928.

They married in 1931 after he received his Masters at Columbia University and my grandfather kept the program from that dance for the rest of his life.