“Lest We Forget” Wednesday, February 1913
Weather a little warmer The three of us stayed in the car all morning Cullerne working on a gravel Pit note Steve copyed note: I had a chance
In the afternoon I helped Steve to copy notes and check them
“Lest We Forget” Tuesday, February 25, 1913
Weather much the same I did a little work Carried water and filled the barrells
In the afternoon I went to the drafting room stay about 3 hr while Steve and Cullerne were working in the car. Stene went to the big Caldy [?] in the morning
Not much “construction” going on today…maybe too cold? If you can enlarge the photo, can you figure out what the “big Caldy” might be?
I’m getting caught up this morning on the past couple of days of diary entries in order to get ready for the next BU module. So far, everything seems to be going well with the course. But I’m also scheduled to be in Brimfield this afternoon to teach session 3 at the Hitchcock Free Academy. That’ll be 3 down, 1 to go!
Plenty of classes, lectures and series coming up:
1) Tonight I’m beginning another 5-week course at First Church in Ludlow with up to 12 participants. We’ll meet once a week for 5 weeks. That’s a good number so that I can dig into any interesting cases that come up.
2) I’m halfway through a lecture series at Hitchcock Free Academy.
3) The Western Mass Genealogical Society is sponsoring an open house in April celebrating the 40th anniversary of their founding. I’m been a member to a few years there but I’ll also be speaking at the event.
4) The first series of classes are now over at the Yellow House Center for Community Learning in Palmer. Apparently it was well received as they’ve booked me for 2 more series’. One will start in early June and the other in late July.
5) The weekly meetings at Chicopee Public Library will continue. March will bring an open house on the subject of genealogy with a number of speakers, myself including!
Please get in touch with me if you’re interested in attending any of these genealogical events! Comment here on the blog, call me at (413) 233-4866, or you can always check the web site: Old Bones Genealogy and Family Research. I’ll try to get everything updated on the site in the next day or so!
Had to share…
Carter Anthony Reid, 6 pounds, 4 ounces, 20 inches. He’s a peanut! I’m accustomed to 9 – 10 pound babies!
Carter Anthony Reid born February 7, 2013
It’s Friday, February 8, 2013 and we’re getting up to 3 feet of snow. What did the weather bring 100 years ago on Saturday, February 8, 1913? As usual, Clem always gives us a brief weather report:
We got up at 6:30 weather very nice a little cold till the sun came up and then it was warmer. Steve and I left Otley for Edson at 8:15 and walked all the way 27 miles arrived at Edson at 5 o”clock a little tired.
Cullerne came in with the outfit on the local from Otley got here about 10:15 then Steve and I went to dreamland.
Edson Joseph Chamberlin, President of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway. He took over from Charles Melville Hays who died in the RMS Titanic disaster
Although I can’t find a listing for Otley, there is a description of Edson, Alberta in Wikipedia [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edson,_Alberta] once again, mentioning an executive of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway:
The town was originally named Heatherwood, but the name was changed around 1911 in honour of Edson Joseph Chamberlin, vice-president of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway. Local history maintains that Edson (Heatherwood) was built in its current location because it was the first level spot after Wolf Creek. (The land at Wolf Creek was quickly bought up after the announcement of plans to develop a town there, which rendered it uneconomical for the railway.) When Edson was declared the local rail centre, smaller communities such as Rosevear (abandoned), Wolf Creek, Carrot Creek and Niton Junction fell into a decline that continues today. In the 1950s, upgrading of Highway 16 caused a dramatic increase in private, commercial and industrial traffic. Today, the Yellowhead Highway carries some of the heaviest traffic flow in Alberta and has been officially declared the second Trans-Canada Highway.
So it sounds like there were a few areas Like Rosevear that were abandodned. Otley must have been one of them! It was certainly there in 1913…Clem Dickson walked there with Steve!!!
From “Lest We Forget”, Clem Dickson’s diary entry for February 7, 1913:
Weather a little milder with sun shine all day. Steve and I took the Local from Otley to Leaman and walked from Leaman to Otley 15 miles. We got in about 4:30. We sat around the fire till supper. After supper I went out and had to cut some wood for the next day. Went to bed at 8:30 because we had a long walk.
[I can’t find any contemporary reference for Otley but Leaman is a “populated locality” in Yellowhead County, Alberta.]
Busy day for genealogy. The latest class began today in Brimfield, MA. This si the second series I’ve conducted at the Hitchcock Free Academy. Small group but we will still cover all of the material. As a matter of fact, we might even be able to get a little farther as there are fewer lines to research for the participants.
Next…and I should have been aware of this one… I had offered to make a presentation to the Western Massachusetts Genealogical Society “this spring”. I should have realized that February was the month that we discussed but I hadn’t put it in my calendar. So, as I was getting ready for Hitchcock on Wednesday (and Yellow House on Thursday AND all the classwork for Boston U) I received an e-mail from WMGS containing their newsletter. The newsletter announced that I would be making a presentation! So, I raced from the class in Brimfield around 5:00 to get to Agawam for a 6:00 meeting. Made it!
Take a look at Old Bones Genealogy and Family Research for what’s going on….but I suppose it would be a good thing for me to make sure it’s up to date!
There was a cartoon in the paper a while ago that I had to save: “Shoe” by Chris Cassatt & Gary Brookins. The character “The Senator” was being interviewed by the reporter who asks, “What initially inspired you to run for president?” The Senator goes on to explain his interest in tracing his family’s roots, searching through old records, etc. only to discover that it took too much of his time. So he decided to get into politics. “What does all that have to do with a presidential bid” asked the reporter. Holding up the newspaper, the Senator replies, “Now, you boys in the press are doing it for me!”
So the real answer is that there’s nothing simple about genealogy and the research it demands. Armed with the mantra that “Genealogy without research is Mythology”, we delve into areas that we really had no idea ever existed! I’m going to blog about what got me started (it wasn’t a presidential bid!) where its taken me and the challenges I face for my own background and that of the many people who have been attending my classes and asking for my assistance.
Suffice it to say for now that I’ve found many surprises, a few “lost inheritances” (NOT MINE!!!) and many new friends around the country who to whom I just happen to be related. The Moore’s in Alabama, the Robison’s in Missouri, the Robinson’s in Indiana, the Blodgett’s and the Lillie’s in New York and Massachusetts, the Casey’s in California, the Bassett’s in ….well… all over! Michigan, Ohio, Colorado, Massachusetts, Texas, Hawaii… the list goes on. These aren’t just names I found in old records; these are people with whom I’ve communicated, listened to their stories and discovered what a small world this really is.
I’m can legitimately count a couple of presidents in my “collateral” lines. William Howard Taft and I share a common ancestor, Deacon Samuel Chapin, one of the founders of the city where I was born, Springfield, Massachusetts. The deacon was also the progenitor of Harry Chapin and Marion Morrison who you would all know as John Wayne. Yes, they’re cousins, albeit distant! I can count pilgrims and Puritans (there’s a difference) from Plymouth Colony including a great grandfather who fell off the Mayflower and had to be rescued, John Howland. Look up his story! And I have no less than 12 direct ancestors who are Revolutionary War Patriots. My 4th Great Grandfather, Hezekiah Robion, was a veteran of the East Tennessee Volunteers in the War of 1812. I have direct ancestors who were Confederates and others who were Yankees.
And the list goes on and on. Stay tuned…
There’s a word or two in this post I can’t figure out for a couple of reasons: 1) Clem’s handwriting skill was atrocious and 2) Clem’s spelling skill was atrocious! So, here’s the best transcription I can offer based on the entry for Wednesday, February 5, 1913
The weather is much warmer but a high wind. And a little snow. Cullerne went to Edson this morning so Steve and I had the car to ourselves. Steve worked on nots [?] ahd I read Cradane [?] X all morning. This afternoon I went out and had to hunt for wood.
And Grampa, if you find the remote while your out there, text me!
From “Lest We Forget”, here’s my grandfather’s entry in his diary from Tuesday, January 4, 1913:
The weather is about the same 20 [degrees] below. We did not go out to work today because we had run out of coal and Steve and I had to look around for wood. Cullerne went to Carval and told us to get some wood. We asked he sec. man where we could get some and he told us he had some already cut. We went over and got it and told Cullerne that we had a hard time getting the wood.
First, telling his boss he had a hard time getting the wood strikes me as my grandfather’s wry sense of humor. Instead of being tasked with chopping down trees with Steve, they just had to walk a little and pick it up from a pile of wood ready to burn!
Second, I have to tell you that I couldn’t find the HDMI cable to hook up Karen’s laptop to the flat screen. I was a little cranked about that. I finally tracked it down. Someone (me) had wrapped it up and put it in my carrying case to take with me to the next class at the Hitchcock Free Academy in Brimfield, MA. More on that later…I’ll only have 4 or 5 students this go-around… No problem with that, I like small “cozy” classes! But when I read that my grandfather couldn’t work because they didn’t have any coal, it was too cold to work and their boss told them to go out and “get some wood”…kinda put things into perspective for me!
At least I haven’t lost the remote in the past few days…
This old wagon may have been around at the Carvel General Store when Clem was up there 100 years ago!
Here’s a link to the Carvel General Store: http://www.carvelgeneralstore.ca/about-us.html
