Showing posts with label Cleveland. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cleveland. Show all posts

Saturday, March 9, 2024

Family History: The Good, the Bad, the Ugly


I'm preparing a photo book about the background of my husband's grandparents (Mary Slatter Wood, 1869-1925 and James Edgar Wood, 1871-1939). The content will the most wide-ranging of any family history project I've done to date.

It will cover the good, the bad, and the ugly of hubby's paternal family tree. 

If I don't convey the stories I've been told and the research I've uncovered, that info won't necessarily be passed along to future generations. I never want my family history or my husband's family history to be lost. 

Whether our ancestors' stories are happy, sad, regrettable, or something in between, I'm doing my best to share with relatives right now. The big exception: I'm not sharing the one or two stories that might be embarrassing or damaging to people still alive. Those particular stories are tucked into my surname files, to be inherited in the far future and rediscovered by my heirs, long after the people involved have passed from the scene.

The good

Mary Slatter, born in London, England, was a devoted, loving mother of four boys and a calming influence on her volatile husband, James. I have Mary's sons' own comments on this subject to add to the photo book. Given Mary's family background, this is an amazing outcome. In fact, the Slatter siblings all turned out well, despite their difficult early years. See the ugly below.

The bad

Well, James Edgar Wood had a temper and his four sons suffered as a result. I have James's sons' own comments on this subject, to be quoted in the photo book. No wonder the sons left home as soon as they were old enough, after their mother Mary died of a heart ailment. All stayed in touch with each other as adults.

James was in the building business in Cleveland, Ohio. He'd put up a house, move his family in after the framing, and they'd live in one finished room or even the attic (!) while he slowly completed the interior. Then he would sell the house even as he had another framed. James, Mary, and the boys moved every other year or, if he worked quickly enough and sold quickly enough, they moved every year. How do I know? Over the years, the addresses on the many postcards sent to one of the boys changed over and over as they moved from one new home to another. The sons didn't have fond memories of their many childhood moves.

The ugly

Mary's father was often out of the picture when she was a child. Poverty-stricken, desperate to survive, Mary and her mother and some siblings were in and out of workhouses in London for several years. Worse, Mary's mother was admitted to an insane asylum, and eventually died there. An ugly period in my husband's family history, but important to be included in my photo book so the names and stories won't be forgotten.

But still...

Despite this ugly start to their lives, the Slatter children grew up and did well. Mary was a dedicated wife and mother, her sister Ada was the same, and their three brothers were all respected military bandmasters in Canada. 

This photo book will have the good, the bad, and the ugly, ending with the resilience of Wood and Slatter ancestors over the generations. 

Friday, February 9, 2024

Donating the Hermit Club Book

My late father-in-law, Edgar James Wood (1903-1986) was a long-time member of the Hermit Club in Cleveland, Ohio, a cultural center for music. 

As a young man with a flair for playing the piano, Ed aspired to be a member of this well-known and rather exclusive club, which regularly sponsored musical plays and concerts.

In fact, he had his first date with his future wife at an informal musical evening hosted by a Hermit Club member. He discussed that date in an oral history recording made decades ago, and the member's name is shown in this book.

The Hermit Club's history was written by William H. Thomas, and Ed's copy was inscribed with a dedication by the author (see below).

Now our family is going to donate this specially-inscribed book to give it a safe home in a repository that collects artifacts about Cleveland. Not only will the book be part of the archival collection, so will Ed's connection to the Hermit Club and how it led to romance with Marian Jane McClure (1909-1983).

After approaching two repositories that already had copies of this book, I found a new home for it in the library of Ohio History Connection in Columbus, Ohio.

If you have items in your family history collection that relatives don't want, I urge you to make arrangements to keep them safe before you join your ancestors! For more detail on how and why to donate items, please see my book, Planning a Future for Your Family's Past.

Saturday, December 30, 2023

Happy New Year 2024 with a 1909 Greeting

In 1909, a Wood cousin in Toledo, Ohio sent this colorful penny postal greeting to his four-year-old first cousin in Cleveland, Ohio. 

Usually the postcards sent to this little boy were written by other children. This New Year's greeting was written by an 18-year-old cousin who had flowing cursive handwriting. Tracking him through the 1910 US Census, I learned he soon had a job in a local drug store.

May you enjoy all the luck of a bouquet of four-leaf clovers in 2024 and have a healthy new year! 

Friday, November 10, 2023

What Happened on the Eve of Mary Slatter's Wedding

Mary Slatter (1869-1925), my husband's only immigrant grandparent, was born in Whitechapel, London, England, on this day 154 years ago. She had a traumatic childhood, in and out of workhouses with some of her siblings while their mother was in asylums and father was out of the picture.

After their mother died in a notorious asylum after years of confinement due to "melancholia," Mary's older sister Adelaide and then Mary sailed from England to join their father across the pond, all making a fresh start in Ohio.

Most likely through her sister Adelaide, Mary met Toledo-born carpenter James Edgar Wood (1871-1939).

Mary and James were married on September 21, 1898 at the newly opened St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Toledo, Ohio. When I did an online search to learn what was going on in the city at that time, I was shocked to see this article in a California newspaper. 

The night before Mary's marriage, a giant grain elevator in East Toledo exploded in flames, with at least 16 dead and many more injured. The explosion was loud enough to be heard all over the city, according to this news report. 

The event was so horrific, with tremendous loss of life and property, that similar news reports appeared in other papers around the country for weeks afterward.

I'm sure the entire city of Toledo was still reeling from the aftermath of this deadly fire when James and Mary were married the next day at the church, which had opened its doors the previous year. See postcard view, below

Both bride and groom had family in the area, so I imagine relatives were in attendance at the ceremony. 


The couple soon moved to Cleveland, where James built dozens of homes in the early 1900s. They had four sons together, including my husband's father, Edgar James Wood (1903-1986). 

Sadly, Mary died of chronic heart disease in 1925, at the age of 55, much mourned by her family. Today I'm remembering this beloved ancestor of my husband on her birthday, November 10th.

Tuesday, December 20, 2022

Christmas Greetings from Early in the 20th Century



These penny postal greetings date from the early 1900s. They were received by my husband's uncle, Wallis W. Wood, who was then a youngster living in Cleveland, Ohio. 

Printed in beautiful color in Germany, some of the penny post cards sent to the Wood family were purchased in Toledo, Ohio, and others in Chicago, Illinois. All the cards are still in great shape, in the family's hands more than a century later!

Friday, April 22, 2022

1950 US Census: Seeking Big-City Ancestors on NARA site?

 

Having located nearly all of the closer ancestors I wanted to find in the 1950 US Census, I'm branching out to more distant ancestors.

At left, my search on the US National Archives site for someone living on East 141st Street in Cleveland, which is ED 92-945. 

Searching quickly only for Cuyahoga County, Ohio, ED 92-945, I was surprised to see "No Records Found" as shown here on the results page. 

Simply choosing the state/county and entering a specific ED is not enough to find ancestors living in big cities! 

Look for big city in NARA drop-down menu

NARA's drop-down menu for county does have a city/state choice of Cleveland, Cuyahoga. I didn't choose that option initially, but I quickly figured out how to improve my search.











Once I redid my search, and chose the city along with the county and the ED, the correct population schedules showed up in the results.

I checked with several experienced researchers and they confirm that if the city is one of the choices on the drop-down menu for county, be sure to select the city. 

Saturday, April 16, 2022

Penny Postcards from Easter of 1914

 

In April of 1914, my hubby's uncle Wallis W. Wood (1905-1957) received two colorful Easter postcards. 

He lived in Cleveland, Ohio and received penny postal greetings for every conceivable holiday, sent by his Wood and Slatter relatives.

Shown at left is the postcard from his aunt, "Nellie" Wood Kirby (1864-1954) and her husband, Arthur Kirby (1860-1939). 

Nellie was an older sister of Wallis's father, James Edgar Wood (1871-1939).

 

Although I've tried to find Nellie in the 1950 US Census, I haven't yet succeeded. I checked the 1949 Chicago directory (online for free at the Library of Congress) and didn't see her name listed under Kirby. 

Nellie was living in a nursing home when she died, and I haven't found her there in the 1950 Census, nor at the address where she lived in 1945, according to the city directory. I'll keep looking!

Here's a pretty postcard sent to Wallis by his aunt Ada Mary Ann Slatter Baker (1868-1947), who lived in Toledo, Ohio when she mailed this card.

By 1920, Ada and her husband, James Sills Baker (1866-1937) were living in Cleveland and most likely visited with Wallis and his family quite often.

Ada was the older sister of Wallis's mother, Mary Slatter Wood (1869-1925). 

Now 108 years later, these postcards live on in the Wood family's collection!




Saturday, December 25, 2021

Penny Postcard Christmas Greetings

 

More than 100 years in the past, this colorful penny postal greeting was sent by a loving aunt and uncle in the Wood family to a young nephew living in Cleveland, Ohio. 

This and other postcards are still in family hands today, much treasured and well preserved.

Dear readers, may you have a joyful Christmas!

Thursday, November 25, 2021

Penny Postcard Thanksgiving Greetings

 


More than a century ago, this colorful penny postal greeting was sent to my husband's uncle in Cleveland, Ohio. 

Wishing you and your loved ones a very happy and very healthy Thanksgiving! 

Saturday, October 30, 2021

Wood Family Halloween Postcards

 

Halloween is one of the many holidays when the Wood family sent greeting post cards to young relatives during the early 1900s.

These two colorful cards were sent to my hubby's uncle, Wallis W. Wood, in Cleveland, Ohio. The lad was in grammar school at the time and likely couldn't read the greetings handwritten in cursive.

The senders were his paternal aunt Nellie (Rachel Ellen) Wood Kirby and uncle Art Kirby, who lived in Toledo, Ohio. Nellie was the attentive older sister of Wallis's father, James Edgar Wood. 

The handwritten greetings on these cards were usually brief and affectionate.

Wally received colorful cards throughout the year, not just on Christmas, Easter, and New Year's, not just on Halloween and his birthday, but also for Abraham Lincoln's birthday and George Washington's birthday! And in between.

As Family History Month winds down, I wish you all many genealogical treats and no genealogical tricks this Halloween.


Wednesday, August 11, 2021

"Big City" Cleveland Ancestors in 1950











As I continue to prep for finding ancestors when the 1950 U.S. Census is released in April, I'm using my RootsMagic7 genealogy software's reporting functions.

When Census documents are initially made public on April 1, the only way to find ancestors will be to browse the proper Enumeration District. If I wait a few months, the Census will be indexed and I can search by name. But I really want to learn more about my ancestors sooner than that, which means preparing to browse by finding specific addresses and turning those into individual Enumeration Districts.

Who was there?

Above, an excerpt from one of the "Who Was There" lists I created with RootsMagic 7. This list covers ancestors who were in Cleveland in 1950. The report lists ancestors by surname in alphabetical order, shows birth and death dates, age in 1950, and a chronological listing of places for each ancestor (based on my research). As the image shows, the listing includes street addresses from my sources.

Interestingly, the software allows me to indicate an average life span to be considered when compiling the report. Sometimes I don't yet know an ancestor's death date, so this parameter helps me cast a wider net and include people who might be still alive and in that area, based on their last-known address in my database. I like this flexibility.

Edgar James Wood, my father-in-law, was one of many ancestors in my husband's tree who lived in metro Cleveland in 1950. By grouping these ancestors according to where they lived, it's more efficient for me to look up and browse their 1950 Enumeration Districts (see step-by-step process here). 

Context: Cleveland vs the Bronx

In 1950, Cleveland had 914,800 residents. It was truly a major city, the seventh largest in the United States, thanks to the influx of industrial workers during and after World War II. That year was a population peak for Cleveland, which had only 318,000 residents in 2019. 

My husband, a Cleveland native, often says he was born in an "Eastern" city. Because I'm a Bronx native, I respectfully refer to his home town as being solidly in the Midwest!

In 1950, the Bronx had 1.45 million residents. This will be the first Census where my parents are enumerated as a married couple, living in the Bronx, New York. If counted as a standalone city instead of a Big Apple borough, the Bronx would have been the sixth largest U.S. city in 1950. In other words, well ahead of Cleveland, where hubby's parents were living in 1950.

Just mentioning this factoid to put the 1950 Census in context for both sides of my family. Ahem.

-- "In the city" is Amy Johnson Crow's #52Ancestors prompt for week 32.

Wednesday, July 21, 2021

Negatives are time capsule of 1919 fashion

My late father-in-law Edgar James Wood (1903-1986) was a photo buff. After receiving a camera for his 14th birthday, he took it on family road trips with his father, James Edgar Wood (1871-1939) and his mother, Mary Slatter Wood (1869-1925). 

Ed saved hundreds of negatives (and a few prints) from 1917 through the 1940s, marking dates on the negatives and notes on the envelopes. I used the "scan, invert, enhance" process to turn the old negatives into clearer positives.

Visit to the Baker family in Toledo, Ohio

Thanks to Ed's notation that these negatives are of the Baker family of Toledo, I can identify the two young ladies shown at left as Dorothy L. Baker (1897-1981) and Edith E. Baker (1901-1989). I don't which young lady is which, unfortunately. The photographer didn't write an exact date on the negatives, but others in the envelope were taken in 1919.

These two ladies were Ed's first cousins, and he was in touch with them for the next 50 years. How fashionable they were, fur collar, hats, and all!

Fashion of the time

I did an online search for "ladies coat fashion 1919" and found similar outfits for that year. As a result, I do think the negatives were from late that year or perhaps the following year.

At right is Mary Slatter Wood, Ed's mother, in the warm coat and hat she wore during that same trip. 

Her husband James drove the family from their home in Cleveland, Ohio to Toledo, Ohio, stopping along the way to picnic and to fix flat tires. Mary and everyone else in the car were smart to bundle up against the elements, because their 1917 Ford probably had no built-in heater!

--

"Fashion" is this week's #52Ancestors prompt from Amy Johnson Crow.

Sunday, July 4, 2021

Fourth of July Greeting from Last Century

 

More than a century ago, this colorful Fourth of July penny postcard was sent to my hubby's Wood family in Cleveland, Ohio.

Aunts, uncles, and cousins in the family took advantage of every opportunity to exchange penny postcards and stay in touch with a few words. 

Still in the family are cards they sent for Christmas, the New Year, and Thanksgiving. 

We also have postal greetings from holidays like July 4th, President Lincoln's birthday, and President Washington's birthday. 

Have a happy, healthy, and safe Independence Day.

Friday, April 9, 2021

My 1950 U.S. Census Release To-Do List: Find Addresses


When the 1950 U.S. Census is released to the public on April 1, 2022, I want to be ready to find ancestors of special interest. I'm creating a list of priority ancestors and filling in their 1940 address/Enumeration District (ED) and then their 1950 address (see my previous post here). With an exact address, I can find the 1950 ED. This will enable me to browse images before the Census is indexed.










Sources for 1950 addresses

There are many possible sources for finding an ancestor's 1950 address, as shown in the above graphic. You may not find an address for that exact year, but one close to that year is a good starting point.

Today I'm on the trail of a 1950 address for my husband's maternal grandfather, Brice Larimer McClure (1878-1970).

Spoiler alert: I don't yet have the address. But I can share the steps I took to try locating Brice in the years surrounding 1950. And I may be successful in the end!

Where was this ancestor in the 1940s?

I know where Brice Larimer McClure was living during and after World War II. The last "known sighting" of an actual address is in Upper Sandusky, Ohio, where he and his wife Floyda Steiner McClure were living at the time of her death on November 2, 1948.

Family story: Not long after his wife died, Brice moved to Willoughby, Ohio and then later, around 1953, he moved to Cleveland to be closer to family.

My search plan for an exact address

I began with a "from scratch" search on all the major genealogy websites, entering Brice's information and specifying residence in Willoughby, Ohio, in the years 1949-1953. That didn't work.

Records show Brice's Social Security card was issued "prior to 1951." Actually, it was just after World War II, when he intended to retire and collect (which he did). Unlikely I will find a Willoughby address on that application (and it takes time and money to get this document). 

Moving on, the Willoughby-area newspapers were either too old, too new, or not very local for my purposes. 

Looking for a house purchase/sale would take time, digging into deeds, land records, etc. I set this aside for now.

Other non-official potential sources I tried, as suggested by Joel Weintraub on his super- detailed, info-rich page about the 1950 Census were: photographs (nope); address book (not that far back); diaries (none that far back).

Check the directories!

High on my list and on Joel's list were--directories! After a few false starts, I checked the local library in Willoughby. The website has a convenient "chat with a librarian" feature (see my screen capture at top).

I typed in a succinct chat question. Within a few minutes, the librarian typed back that directories from the 1950s era are most likely at the Willoughby Historical Society. She provided contact info, and I wrote an email, requesting a lookup when convenient. My husband remembers Brice having a home phone in Willoughby, so he should be listed in either the phone directory or the city directory.

Update: Librarian found no listing in the directory. 

-- For more about the 1950 Census, see my page here.

Thursday, December 31, 2020

New Years Greetings from the Past



Enjoy these colorful postal greetings sent by cousins and aunts/uncles to my husband's Wood family in Cleveland, Ohio, during the first two decades of the 20th century. 

May 2021 be a much better year for all!



Thursday, December 24, 2020

Postcards from Christmases Past

 


In the early 1900s, for Christmas and every holiday, my husband's father and brothers received postal greetings from aunts, uncles, and cousins near and far. Colorful illustrations on the front, handwritten notes on the back. Here are a few of the prettiest postcards from Christmases past. 


That's how the WOOD family stayed in touch even though they were separated by hundreds of miles...in Cleveland, Ohio...in Toledo, Ohio...in Chicago, Illinois...and beyond. 

These postcards are treasured examples of how our ancestors remained close at a time when there was no phone, no texting, no video calls, just the good ole postal service bringing greetings from one home to another.

From our family to yours, wishing you a healthy and hopeful Christmas!

Friday, November 6, 2020

Continuing to Curate My Genealogy Collection



As I curate my genealogy collection, I'm finding new homes for items with historical value but no real family-history value.

Case in point: The Cleveland Plain Dealer newspaper from Monday, December 8, 1941. Shown at top, it is intact and in good condition, despite being folded neatly for nearly 80 years.

My Cleveland-born father-in-law (Edgar James Wood, 1903-1986) and his entire family had gathered around the radio on the night of December 7th, listening to the terrible news about Pearl Harbor. When the next day's newspaper arrived, he wrapped it and put it away in a dry, safe place.

Because many families did the same thing, this newspaper is anything but rare. In fact, other historical societies and museums I contacted already had one or more copies of this day's newspaper and didn't want another. 

But after exchanging emails with a senior library official at Cleveland State University in Ohio about donating Cleveland theater programs from the 1950s, I brought up the subject of donating this 1941 newspaper. I explained my worry that the paper would inevitably deteriorate little by little unless kept under the proper archival conditions.

Understanding my concern, the official agreed to accept this issue of the Plain Dealer. My husband signed a deed of gift agreement, legally transferring ownership to the university library, found protective packaging to keep the newspaper safe during its journey to Cleveland, and sent it on its way. 

The acknowledgement of this donation arrived the other day. It feels good to know this item is in an appropriate repository, and will NOT be tossed in the rubbish or sold for pennies at a flea market after I join my ancestors!

--

Want to learn how to curate your genealogy collection? I'm giving a members-only virtual presentation to the Virtual Genealogical Association on Tuesday, November 24, starting at 8 pm. The VGA's membership fee is extremely affordable ($20/year), and includes benefits like webinars and discounts and more. Please check it out if you're not yet a member! 

Thursday, July 9, 2020

Start from Scratch on Multiple Sites For Family Mysteries

Marriage record of John Slatter & Louisa A. Hexter
Transcription on Find My Past, image on Family Search
I've long wondered where and when my husband's great-grandfather John Slatter remarried, to second wife Louisa. Periodically I've gone over my searches using the big genealogy sites and on Ohio sites, as well as newspaper sites.

Still, I had only three main clues: (1) 1894/5 Cleveland city directories showing the couple at John's home address and partners in his wallpaper cleaning business, (2) the brief 1895 Cleveland obit for Louisa, which listed her age, home address, and included the note "Cincinnati papers please copy," and (3) Louisa M Slatter sharing a headstone with John Slatter in Cleveland, Ohio.

Starting from Scratch on Multiple Sites

Knowing each genealogy site features its own search algorithms, its own transcriptions, and its own collections, I began this research again from scratch.

This time, I did my first search on Find My Past (I have access to North American records, thanks to my membership at the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society). I searched only for John Slatter, estimated birth year, birth place, residence in Cleveland, and wife's name of Louisa. To narrow the search, I focused on birth-marriage-death records.

On the first page of marriage results, I found a transcribed marriage license from Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, for a 52-year-old man named John Slatter, born in England. The bride was 41-year-old Louisa A. Hexter born in Cincinnati, Ohio. Image was available on Family Search.

I quickly switched to Family Search and began the search from scratch, adding what I found at Find My Past. The marriage license was the first result (see top of post). After checking the transcription, I clicked to see the actual document. The details clinched it: this was indeed hubby's great-grandfather!

John Slatter, a fresco cleaner, had been married before but "marriage was dissolved by the death of his wife." (First wife Mary Shehen Slatter had died 18 months earlier, in a London-area insane asylum.)

Louisa Hexter, no occupation, had previously been married but was now widowed. Louisa's birth year of 1849 is what I would have expected, given her age at death. Her birthplace was Cincinnati, which matches the clue from her obit ("Cincinnati papers please copy").

Finally, I redid the search from scratch on Ancestry, where I again found the Pennsylvania county marriage records and the image showing John and Louisa's 1890 marriage. The license solved the "where and when" mystery, but raised one more question.

Wait . . . Where?!

John and Louisa received their marriage license and were wed on the same day, by Alderman Gripp, on October 20, 1890, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Wait, where? Bride and groom lived in Cleveland. I would not have thought to search in Pennsylvania, even though it borders Ohio.

Pittsburgh, it turns out, was a Gretna Green, where marriages could take place immediately and at reasonable cost. The city was an easy train trip from Cleveland, where John and Louisa lived.

Thanks to searching from scratch on multiple genealogical resources, I solved this long-standing family mystery.

--

The #52Ancestors prompt for week 28 is "multiple."

Monday, July 6, 2020

John Slatter Reinvents Himself in Cleveland, Ohio

Cleveland cemetery card for John Slatter (1838-1901)
My husband's great-grandfather John Slatter (1838-1901) was born in Oxford, England. He made his way to London, where he married Mary Shehen (1837-1889) in 1859. John and Mary had six children between 1860 and 1869. He worked as a porter and laborer, according to the 1861 and 1871 UK Census records.

John Slatter Disappears

Beginning in 1873, Mary Shehen Slatter and five of the six children were in and out of workhouses in the notoriously poor area of Whitechapel, London, England. By mid-1874, Mary was diagnosed with melancholia. She spent the rest of her life in asylums. She died of phthisis (tuberculosis) in Banstead Asylum in 1889. Mary told authorities that her husband John Slatter abandoned her and their children.

In fact, I haven't yet found John Slatter in UK records after 1871. He seems to have disappeared, perhaps to avoid being responsible for his family or to seek work elsewhere (?). I will never know why, only that I haven't found him in the UK census of 1881. Nor have I located John in the US census of 1880. Too bad the 1890 US census burnt up. But I did have a clue to where John went later in his life.

John Slatter Reinvents Himself

Thanks to my late father-in-law, I had a cemetery card referencing John Slatter's burial in Woodland Cemetery, Cleveland, Ohio (shown at top of this post). I quickly found his obit: he died at the Cleveland home of his youngest daughter, Mary Slatter Wood (1869-1925).

This surprised me, as John had been absent from Mary's life during much of her childhood--and she, as young as five, had been in and out of workhouses and might be understandably upset with him. Then again, Mary was a loving soul, I gather from what her son said about her (in interviews conducted many decades later).

John reinvented himself in Cleveland. I found the earliest mention of him in the 1888 Cleveland directory. He was a plasterer (working solo), living at 251 1/2 St. Clair. Since this directory covered the period August 1887 to July 1888, he could have arrived as early as 1887 to be included. At this point, I haven't yet found his voyage across the Atlantic, despite searching for him arriving either in Canada or a US port. Clearly, he left the UK before his first wife died in 1889.

John Slatter Partners Up

Great-grandpa John didn't work solo for very long. In the 1891 directory, he's listed with the Slatter & Mead firm, specializing in wall paper with partner Samuel W. Mead. Same in 1892, but at a new location: 433 1/2 St. Clair, just down the street from their previous address. By 1893, John is solo again, listed as a wall paper cleaner at 433 1/2 St. Clair in Cleveland.

In the 1895 Cleveland directory, John is not solo--he's partnered with his 2d wife, Louisa M. (maiden name not known).

The firm is listed as "John Slatter & Co," featuring John and Louisa Slatter at 433 1/2 St. Clair.

By the time this directory was published, however, it was already outdated: Louisa Slatter died on February 24, 1895, at the age of 46. John was again solo, listed in the 1897, 1898, and 1899 Cleveland directories as a wall paper hanger or cleaner at 433 1/2 St. Clair.

The Cleveland directory for 1900 does not list John Slatter. From the obit, I know he moved in with his daughter Mary and son-in-law James E. Wood in Cleveland early in 1901. For the final six months of his life, due to debilitating illness, John Slatter was in the care of this daughter.

Two years after John died, Mary gave birth to the first of four sons--Edgar James Wood (1903-1986), my late father-in-law, who saved the Cleveland cemetery card for his grandfather he must have inherited from his mother.

Thanks to Amy Johnson Crow for this week's #52Ancestors prompt of SOLO.

Sunday, April 12, 2020

Easter and Passover, Past and Present

Marian McClure, age 4
Here's a delightful 1913 Easter photo of my late mother-in-law, Marian Jane McClure Wood (1909-1983), taken in Cleveland, Ohio, when she was four years old. Marian was an adored only child and the family is fortunate to have good photos from her early years.


Also, here is a pretty Easter greeting sent to my husband's uncle Wallis W. Wood (1905-1957) in 1914, in Cleveland, Ohio.

It was mailed from his "Aunt Ada" (Adelaide Mary Ann) Slatter Baker) in Toledo, Ohio.

Relatives sent the Wood children colorful penny postal greetings like this for nearly every occasion. Luckily, we have dozens from the first two decades of the 1900s, excellent sources of info such as home addresses.

Since my husband's grandfather moved his family from address to address during that period, as he built and sold each home, we can track where they were by looking at the addresses on these post cards.


Passover and Easter Today

During the coronavirus pandemic, we are staying at home for safety and aren't able to celebrate Passover or Easter with traditional family get-togethers.

For Passover this year, we participated in a small video-conferenced family gathering and sang some favorite Passover songs--with wine and matzo, of course.

For Easter, my husband and I are cooking a special dinner for two. Dessert: brownies brought by the Easter bunny!

It's a challenging time, and we really miss seeing family and friends, but better safe than sorry. Next year, we'll celebrate with loved ones in person.