Remembering Their First Date on Valentine's Day

 

My husband's parents, Marian McClure Wood (1909-1983) and Edgar James Wood (1903-1986), had their very first date in Cleveland on Valentine's Day of 1934. Ed noted their "first date anniversary" on his daily diary every year and they always went to dinner to celebrate. 

Ed remembers his first date with Marian

How did they get together? As Ed told his son in an interview many years later, he was invited for a musical evening at the home of a friend on Valentine's Day. He remembered that a "gal in the office" named Marian played piano and expressed interest in hearing him play. Maybe he even told her that he had played piano to pay for college and still played on weekends while working as an insurance adjustor for the same company where she worked.

So it was on Valentine's Day of 1934 when Ed took Marian on their first date. He picked her up "not having any idea what I was getting into" (he told his son). They went out for a snack before going to his friend's house. The men, all friends, formed an impromptu orchestra and enjoyed playing for the ladies. Ed remembered that Marian fit right in from the very beginning and told him she'd had a good time.

Encouraged, he called for a second date the next week, and pretty soon they were going together. They married in 1935 and raised three children, including my wonderful hubby.

Pencil sketch for ancestor coloring book

On this 87th anniversary of Ed and Marian's first Valentine's Day date, I want to show how I turned their color portrait from the 1960s into a page for the ancestor coloring book I gave to the youngest generation.

First, I cropped the portrait to focus on their head/shoulders. Next, I used photo software to make the image into a black-and-white "pencil sketch" picture that can be colored. Finally, I positioned the portrait on a blank page, typed their names, and included their relationship to the recipients. I printed a copy for each of Ed and Marian's great-grandchildren, sending a digital version to the adults for reprinting in the future. 

"Ancestor coloring book" is just one of the bite-sized projects I'll be demonstrating during my talk for the all-virtual NERGC Conference in April. For more information, see the NERGC page here.

"Valentine" is this week's #52Ancestors prompt from Amy Johnson Crow!

Dad and His Dechelette with a Snowball Fight

 

With snow on the ground here in New England, it's a good time to write about a piece of art featuring what seems to be a snowball fight.

My father, Harold D. Burk (1909-1978), was stationed close to Paris in the spring of 1945, a part of the U.S. Army Signal Corps helping the Allies secure the area as World War II was coming to a close.

When discharged in 1945, Dad brought home a few pieces of art that he had acquired in France.

This painting, which looks to my eyes like a spontaneous snowball fight, was painted by the "naive" French painter Louis Auguste Dechelette (1894-1964). Although I don't remember it hanging in my childhood home, I inherited it when Dad died.  

I packed the oil painting securely this week and sent it to a new home (as I've been doing with many artifacts from family history). I included a brief bio of Dad and his military career, which lasted from March of 1942 to October of 1945. It was autumn when Dad finally arrived home, but the snowball fight will go on forever in this Dechelette painting acquired while serving his country in France. 

Have You Searched State and Local Genealogy and History Sites?

As handy as the big one-stop genealogy sites are for researching family trees, there are lots of other details available on U.S. state and local history/genealogy sites--sometimes free, sometimes at a very affordable price. Finding these state and local sites is easy--just try an online search for: 

historical society and [state or county] 

or 

genealogical society and [state or county]

That's how I found Ohiohistory.org, and ordered my late father-in-law's death certificate after using the site's death record index search. The cost was low (less than "official" records from the state). Plus I learned some new details from the certificate. This society also has free Ohio newspapers and many other wonderful resources for genealogy research.

While digging into the background of my husband's ancestors from Crawford County, Ohio, I searched and found that county's historical society website. It includes an alphabetical listing of "pioneers of Crawford County" -- showing the surname of my hubby's Rinehart ancestor. This confirms the family name was present in Crawford County prior to the end of 1850 and has led me to other info in the area.

So go ahead and try an online search for a historical or genealogical society in the state or county of your focus ancestor. Best of luck!

-- This is one of the tips from my "Free and Almost Free Genealogy" webinar. For more, also take a look at my summary of blog posts here. 

"Stinking Cheese" and Other Family Tree Traditions

Among the artifacts handed down in my mother's family were bound books of typed notes from 30 years of Farkas Family Tree monthly meetings. Founded in 1933 to keep the bonds strong among Farkas siblings, in-laws, and cousins, the Tree association celebrated every occasion (birthdays, anniversaries, Thanksgiving, start of summer, end of summer, etc.) with food. Hosting duties rotated around the tree, and hosts outdid themselves in feeding the many relatives who attended each meeting. 

Children and adults alike filled their plates during the main meal, then adults stayed at the table for the "business meeting" which consisted of a treasurer's report (yearly dues: $5 per adult), secretary's report (reading minutes from previous meeting), entertainment committee report (organizing card parties, fishing trips, picnics), and constitution committee (as children of immigrants, they believed in clearly delineating how the Tree association would function). 

What the hosts served changed with the seasons. Even the two "Bachelor Brothers" (my great uncles, Julius Farkas and Peter Farkas) enjoyed hosting and putting out a mouth-watering spread. As shown above in an excerpt from the minutes, when they hosted in April of 1937, the brothers and their sister-in-law Sadie served: hot dogs, sauerkraut, pickled tongue, pastrami, breads, mustard, and "stinking cheese." The brothers operated a dairy shop specializing in cheese, and the "stinking cheese" they brought to most meetings was a running joke and treasured tradition for 30 years. 

In all weather, in all economic circumstances, the minutes make clear that the family embraced its tradition of eating together, playing together, and staying together. When the older generation began to pass away, the family mourned together. My maternal grandfather Teddy led a moment of silence every March, honoring the memory of Tree members who were gone--but never forgotten.

This is my "In the kitchen" post for week 5 of #52Ancestors. 

Donating Artifacts with Inventory and Ancestor Bio

Three university libraries are receiving my late father-in-law's theater programs. One has a collection focused on Cleveland-area theatre programs, one has a collection focused on Broadway programs, and one has a collection focused on Boston-area programs. 

Inventory of programs

So the libraries and the family know what is being donated where, I created an inventory for each library of what it will receive. I listed the date of the program, the theater, the performance, and any notes (such as well-known stars or composers). 

As shown in the excerpt below, my document can be sorted by column. Here, I've sorted by date to show the oldest Broadway program from 1923. (That's not the first pro show my f-i-l saw--he was in the audience for the October 1922 performance of "Shuffle Along" with Eubie Blake in Boston.) But the inventory can also be sorted according to theater, if desired, or what is being performed.

Preparing the inventory documents allowed me to take time to look over each program and enjoy the cover art, the celebrities who performed, and the period ads for clothing, cars, and more. I'm keeping scans of selected programs before I ship the donations to their new homes.

Provenance of programs

Institutions prefer to know the provenance of the artifacts in their collections. 

This is my opportunity to provide a brief bio of f-i-l Edgar James Wood (1903-1986) and have his name/life story "on the record" at each institution. 

Beyond bare facts like birth-marriage-death, his one-page bio explains his lifelong involvement with playing piano and how he used every opportunity to see live shows while attending college at Tufts and, later, working in New York City and in Cleveland. 

The bio I wrote also mentions his prize-winning musical composition in a competition judged by famed composer George Gershwin in 1934. That achievement and Ed's life story add context for researchers who will study the programs in the years to come.

As a family historian, I feel a deep sense of satisfaction knowing that an ancestor's story will be kept alive for future generations by being represented in an institution's collection! 

Family History Includes New Homes for Old Artifacts

In my role as family historian, I do more than research and document names, dates, and photos for the family tree. 

I also find new homes for old artifacts that have no direct personal connection to the family tree. Not everything has to be in my collection! If relatives aren't interested, I research institutions that collect such items.

By keeping these things out of the trash or garage sales, and donating them to good new homes, I ensure that the items survive into the future. 

And I believe I am showing respect to the ancestors who saw value in these artifacts during their lifetimes. 

Theater buff = lots of programs

My late father-in-law (Edgar J. Wood, 1903-1986) played jazz piano to pay his way through what was then Tufts College. He was quite a theater and music buff. Over the decades, he attended performances in his home town of Cleveland, his college town of Boston, and on New York City's Great White Way. 

Happily, Ed saved nearly every program from plays or concerts he attended, beginning about 1923. And even better, the programs are in decent shape because they've been carefully stored. Now it is my honor and pleasure to find these programs safe new homes in repositories that collect and study such artifacts. 

Ask permission, take inventory, sign forms, send away

As always, it's important to match the artifact to a potential new home. In the case of these Cleveland-area theater programs from the 1950s, I researched historical societies and universities that collect and study items related to Cleveland. 

Narrowing it down, I had an email conversation with a librarian at Cleveland State University. I described how many programs I have and what condition they are in, and provided a photo similar to that above. I highlighted some specific items, such as programs featuring guest stars like Leo G. Carroll (Topper on TV) and Carol Channing (so well-known for Hello Dolly). 

The librarian agreed that these theater programs will fit into his collection, and he will accept our family's donation. If the library doesn't already have a copy, we will include Ed Wood's 1922 yearbook from Cleveland Heights High School, in great condition. 

As part of the process, we must submit an inventory of every program donated. We'll have to sign a deed of gift agreement, which gives full ownership of the artifacts to the repository. Finally, we'll pay to ship to the institution, a small investment to keep these programs in safe hands for academic study in the coming years.

Lots of possible homes for Broadway programs

Ed lived in New York City during the mid-1920s, trying to build a career as a jazz pianist. He went to the theater quite frequently, judging by the dozens of programs he amassed from that period (see photo above). Apart from holes that Ed punched to put these into binders, the programs are in surprisingly good condition for their age.

Finding a new home for these particular programs won't be too difficult. If you do an online search for "university collection of Broadway Playbills" you'll see how many institutions collect such items.

Sifting through the list, I've contacted a Midwest university with a sizable collection of Playbills from the 1960s and later. However, its library appears to have few programs from the 1920s and 1930s. I emailed the librarian, describing what the family would like to donate, and included a photo like this as a sample.

If this university isn't interested, there are many more I can approach. Meanwhile, I'm working on a complete inventory so I can provide lots of detail to any institution that winds up with these items.

My family and I agree that finding new homes for artifacts is an important priority, to honor the legacy of those who came before. My father-in-law Ed would certainly be delighted to know his collection of programs is in safe hands!

Grandma Minnie Goes to the Ball (Spoiler Alert)

This photo puzzled me for a long, long time.

I recognized my maternal grandmother, Hermina "Minnie" Farkas (1886-1964), who was born in Hungary and came to New York as a teenager, just after the turn of the 20th century.

I couldn't imagine what she was doing in this strange get-up, photographed in a  studio on the Lower East Side of Manhattan where she and so many other immigrants lived. 

The outfit and pose was uncharacteristic of the somber older woman I remember, to say the least. What was the back story? The spoiler alert is in the title, but please keep reading for the steps I took to come to this conclusion.

Comparing Faces in Photos

To date the photo and get more context, I compared the faces, hair styles, and fashions of all my old photos of Grandma Minnie. 

One stood out as very much like the head and shoulders of Minnie as pictured in the costume photo. It was a miniature headshot among a constellation of headshots taken to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the Kossuth Ferenc Hungarian Literary Sick and Benevolent Society. 

Minnie's brother Alex Farkas (my great uncle) cofounded this group, which helped immigrants pay for medical and burial services. Minnie was a member, as were other Farkas ancestors, paying dues and volunteering their time. I had inherited a few loose pages from this booklet, with names and faces of Farkas ancestors highlighted (by an ancestor in decades past).

Pages Lost, Pages Found, Mystery Solved

The pages I inherited were almost entirely in Hungarian, so all I could make out was that the booklet was produced for the group's anniversary.

Then a cousin sorting through her family history files found the entire glossy booklet and gave it to me. It was printed in Hungarian with a few key pages in English. 

The mystery was solved!

Shown here is the English-language title page of the booklet for this fundraising event. Grandma was almost certainly in costume to attend the Kossuth Assn's "Mask and Civic Ball" held on December 4, 1909 in New York City. The studio where Grandma Minnie was photographed in costume also produced all photos for this fundraiser, and was credited with an ad in the program as well. 

No wonder Minnie's miniature headshot nearly matched her face/hair in the costume photo--my best guess is she was photographed twice on the same day in the same studio. One photo was a sedate headshot, showing her in a fashionable dress with a long locket around her neck. The other photo showed her in her eye-catching ball costume. Minnie was in her early 20s and a lovely young lady! 

Sharing with Other Researchers

A number of archives collect booklets such as this, documenting immigrant life and the role of benevolent societies in New York City. My plan is to keep this booklet safe for the future by donating it to an archive that will preserve it and digitize it for other researchers to investigate in the years to come. 

Grandma Minnie would approve, I am sure, knowing that this donation will also keep our Farkas family alive in the archives while sharing the story of the Kossuth Assn with the wider world.

--

This is my #52Ancestors post for week 4, "favorite photo."