Happy 3rd birthday Miriam!

After waiting all day on April 6th for Miriam to be born, Grandma Stacia and I finally left the hospital around 11:00 pm to relieve Paul who was staying with Mason.  We finally went to bed about midnight, exhausted but worried....until we received this picture from Mark!!

Happy 3rd birthday ladybug!  Baba and I love you very much!

Happy Birthday Nan!

Today is my grandmother's birthday.  She would have been 116!

In honor of her birthday, I thought I would post some pictures of her childhood home, Chateaugay, NY, a tiny town near the Canadian border.  

In 1986, and again in 1987 we took her back there.  In one trip we went with my Aunt Esther and, I think, my Dad.  In the other trip it was me, Paul, Nan, and my Aunt Dot.

I'm so glad we took her there before her eyesight got so bad. 

The farmhouse was still there and the owner was working near the barn.  He stopped to talk to us and then had his wife come out.   My grandmother told them that she and her family lived there when she was young.  I wish we had asked them if we could go in.  

We also went to the cemetery in Malone, at Notre Dame church, where her parents are buried and also two baby girls who died in infancy.  

We drove around the downtown area and Nan told us where one or two of her brothers worked.  I wish I had taken notes because I have forgotten a lot of the things we saw. 

We also met a member of her family who still lives in Chateaugay.  We went to her house and talked with her but I can't remember who she was.  I sure wish I was doing my blog then!

In looking through old pictures I found some pictures that Paul and I had taken in 1998.  I had totally forgotten that we took a trip to Chateaugay then.  And actually, I really don't remember much about that trip, but the pictures show more of the barn and farm area.  

Paul and I have been working on the Bessette genealogy on and off for years.  In 2003 I found a Bessette message board on Ancestry.com and this is some of the information I found (Thomas Bessette is my grandmother's grandfather).  

"Thomas Bessette married Marceline Martin and he had a brother, Francis Bessette, that married Lucie Martin. Marceline and Lucie were sisters. Frank and Thomas came to Malone in the mid 1880s and built houses just outside the Malone Fairgrounds. Those two houses are still there today."

I really want to go back there again some time soon.  I want to find those houses.  I want to see if they have a Historical Society in Chateaugay, or at least Malone (the nearest city).  I want to see if the farm house is still there.  Maybe I can go in this time!

Thowback Thursday - Uncle Harold Wait's Camp at Lake Sherman

A couple of weeks ago Paul and I went kayaking at Lake Sherman in Brimfield, MA.

Before Paul and I really got into doing genealogy, we went to the Wait Family Reunion in 2002. While we were there we met a lady (my grandfather's sister's son's wife, got that?) who was really into genealogy.  She brought her book that she was working on and went around gathering everyone's information.  

It was around 2003 that Paul and I started getting interested in genealogy.  Some time later in talking with my Aunt Esther about some of what we had found out she gave me this lady, Ann Bonneville's, email.  We corresponded back and forth and she eventually mailed us her book that she was still working on.  It had a lot of information and pictures that I had never seen.

One of the pictures in her book was of Uncle Harold's "camp" on Lake Sherman in Brimfield, MA.  

I remember talk of this camp.  My Dad used to love going there.  My Aunt Dot said she never liked going in the water there because there were blood suckers.  

This picture was from Ann's book.

Last fall I decided that I would like to try and find out if this camp still existed.  We found the lake, but couldn't identify the house.

My Dad told me years ago that he tried to find it and he had to hike from the road to get to it.  The picture we had was from the water, so I thought maybe we could find it from the kayaks.  Believe it or not, we found it and it didn't look much different than the picture we had.  

Through landmarks we were able to find the camp from the road.  No one was there at the time.  When we got home we looked up the deed and found that Uncle Harold's son Jim sold it in 1990.

It was so much fun actually finding this place.  I was really surprised that it was still there.  

In going through my grandmother's photo album this week I found this picture.

On the back of the picture, this was written in my grandmother's handwriting.  

1957  Camp at Lake Sherman, Brimfield Mass.  

Donald Merz Wait, Feb 6, 1900, my grandfather.

David Reed Wait, Jan 19, 1907, his brother.

Can I say it again?  I LOVE doing family history.  

Throwback Thursday - Julia Christina Merz Lamson

On April 21, 2016, Paul and I went to the wake of Doris Hubbard.  Doris was married to Bob Hubbard, and Bob's mother Lucy was my grandfather's sister.  While we were going through the line, two of Doris's sons, Barry and Bobby, mentioned something of interest to us.  

This is what I journaled about that: 

Both Barry and Bobby told Paul and I about a picture that was hanging in Doris's home. It was a picture of Julia Merz Lamson. They told us that she was buried in White Church Hill Cemetery in West Springfield. Neither of them really knew how she fit into the family. So of course Paul and I got right onto it. We went to White Church Hill Cemetery which is just across the street from Kristen and Toby's house. It's proper name is Meeting House Hill Cemetery. We weren't able to find the grave but came home and looked her up on ancestry.com. In just a little while we had figured out that Julia was Dora Merz Wait's sister. Dora was my grandfather Donald's, and their (Barry and Bobby Hubbard) grandmother Lucy's, mother; so Julia was Donald and Aunt Lucy's aunt. We also found out in looking through the censuses that the Waits and the Merzs were from Greenfield, but Julia married a man from Northampton and moved to West Springfield. Bob Hubbard's parents lived on the same street, Larone St., that Julia and her husband lived on. I'm wondering if when Lucy and her mother Dora went to visit aunt Julia, that Lucy met Bob who lived on that street with his parents, and that is how Lucy and Bob came to live in West Springfield and, ultimately, how my grandfather Donald came to live in West Springfield because my aunt Dot told me that my grandfather wanted to get transferred (Western Union) to West Springfield to be near his sister Lucy. I love doing genealogy!!

Hopefully, that wasn't too confusing!

It's amazing what just talking to Doris Hubbard's sons lead us to - another piece of the puzzle for our family tree.  By the way, we did eventually find her grave.

801 Merion Square Rd, Ardmore, PA

Back in 2010 I wrote a post about my maternal great grandfather, William Ross Harper.

He was born in Thomas County, Georgia in 1874. He married Virginia Jeanne Sims Stapleton in 1894. They had 4 daughters and 1 son. The son, William Ross Harper, Jr., died when he was a year old.

William's first wife died shortly after their last child was born in 1902. Somewhere around 1905 he remarried and his new wife and the four girls moved to Philadelphia, PA.

One of the daughters, Eleanor, was my mother's mother. I never knew her as she died a month before I was born. The only thing, really, that I knew about my mother's mother's side of the family was that they were from the South and they were wealthy.

A couple of years later, April of 2012, I got a notification that I had a comment on the post of William Ross Harper. All of a sudden I had a new found second cousin who knew a lot about that side of my family. Our grandmothers were sisters! We corresponded back and forth, and I was thrilled to hear all of her stories. She told me about this "big house" as we now call it, just outside of Philadelphia that William lived in.

I knew that Paul and I were going to the Philadelphia area in April for a 90th birthday party for Paul's aunt. I got in touch with my cousin to see if she had an address for the "big house." I wanted to see it. She didn't have an exact address but she knew it was in Ardmore, a suburb of Philadelphia.

I knew that Paul didn't like to go looking for places that we really have no idea of where they are, but I thought that we could look in one of the libraries around there and maybe find a City Directory and find the address.

Who knew that Philadelphia didn't have city directories?

We spent most of the day that we were driving home trying to locate this house. We found several other houses that he lived in before moving to the "big house."

We actually found the house on Merion Square Rd, but we didn't have a house number. One house on the street was not a private home. It was owned by the Philadelphia Motherhouse of Deaconesses.

After we got home we started doing some research and I found two articles written by The Lower Merion Historical Society.

One of them said:

Its new owner, William Harper, a Philadelphia musician, lived at "Skylands" until 1952 when he sold it to Joseph Newton Pew, Jr. The next year, Pew donated the property to the Philadelphia Motherhouse of Deaconesses, who nearly doubled the size of the residence with northeastern additions.

The other one said:

The Skylands mansion was built in 1928 on a 16-acre site for William Wood and his family. The house was originally named Stonecroft. Wood was involved in the woolen industry and did quite well for a time until the Depression hit and his business began to crumble. In 1938 the couple were so broke they put their house up for sale.

Two years later it was purchased by William Harper and his wife, who breathed life back into it. Known for their entertaining skills, the Harpers’ house was filled with music from two grand pianos in the Great Hall and dancing in the third-floor ballroom. They even had individual members of the Philadelphia Orchestra perform at the home, according to a 1999 Main Line Times history page.

In 1952 the Harpers sold the mansion to the Pew family for $100,000, even though the original cost of the home was closer to $500,000.


There were also pictures, the most impressive being this one.

Paul and I have entered all of this in our Family Tree Maker.  I really love doing this, even though it is a lot of work and can sometimes be very frustrating.

I wish my mother were still alive and of sound mind.  It would be so much fun to show her all of this and talk with her about it.

Throwback Thursday - Table pictures

I guess my habit of taking pictures before holidays or birthdays (actually, anything special) started early on.  Maybe Paul started it since he is the one taking the picture.

It must have been my mother-in-law Priscilla's birthday because the date on the back of the picture is April 1973. Priscilla's birthday is April 1st, and we moved into our house in the middle of April that year.

I remember being very nervous about cooking that meal.  I think we had a canned ham; I had kind of gotten that down pat. I see mashed potatoes (pretty easy).  I wonder what the veggie was, hmm..

Throwback Thursday - Bethany Pictorial Directories

Tonight Paul, Marley and I are going to Bethany to have our picture taken for the newest Bethany Pictorial Directory.

This will be the 5th time Bethany has done a book, and the 4th time we have done it.

The first time was in 1984.

The second time was in 1994.

Bethany did another book in 2002 but we didn't have our picture in it.


The third time was in 2008.

The fourth one is tonight.  I'll post it when it's available.

UPDATE***

We got our pictures back finally that were taken on March 19, 2015

It was so much fun having them taken with Marley.  She is almost 14!

Who is this woman?

This is a picture that I found in my Aunt Dot's photo album.  I know everyone in the picture except one lady.  I don't know the year, but my grandmother looks like she might be in her 70's, so maybe 1970's.  I also don't know whose house they were at.

From left is my grandmother Lucy Wait, my dad Dave Waite, my aunt Lucy Hubbard (my grandfather's sister), ???, aunt Lucy's son Bob Hubbard and daughter Nancy.

I have asked my aunt Dot and my aunt Esther if they knew who this lady is.  Neither one remembered.

I'm wondering if it was uncle Harold Wait's wife, aunt Tilly but I really don't know.

I guess now I'll never really know.  I wish I had paid more attention to details when my grandmother was alive.

****Update - In a Messenger text with Greg Hubbard in February 2015, I sent him this picture and asked him if he knew who this woman was.  He said that he was not 100% sure but he thought that it might be Aunt Marion Crawford (my grandfather's and his grandmother's sister).

Throwback Thursday - Remembering Billy Pentz

Last week our church family lost one of its long time members and a personal friend of ours, Billy Pentz.

This picture of Billy (bottom left) was taken with his family in the 1950's.  Happier days.  

His family was close friends of Paul's family.  Paul's parents knew them from church in Quincy, MA before either family moved to this area.  

His death was unexpected, only being in his 60's.  A reminder to never take anyone for granted.

Throwback Thursday - 5th Grade version of "Alice in Wonderland!"

The year was 1985 and Mark's 5th grade class performed their version of Alice in Wonderland.  Mark was the March Hare, and his two classmates on either side of him were Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum.  Together they sang "A Very Merry Unbirthday to You."

I was looking through some old pictures the other day, actually looking for pictures of my grandmother and her sister Sadie, when I came upon this picture.  Every time I see it, it makes me laugh.

I talked to Mark about it the other night because I wanted to get the facts straight (before I can't remember anything about it, LOL).  He told me that his friend Andy's mother, Norma Turcotte, just happened to have this large rabbit costume.  I don't think he was too thrilled to have to wear it!

Another story saved.

Throwback Thursday - Nan's sister Sadie

In keeping with Nan's family that I talked about last Thursday, this story is about going to visit Nan's sister Sadie.  The year was 1991 and Sadie was in a nursing home in Ulster County, Kingston, NY. She had had a 99th birthday party.  We were not able to make it to the party, but we went to visit her shortly after.

My two aunts - Dot and Esther, me, and my grandmother went to see her.  Sadie's daughter was there with her.  I believe that the last time they saw each other was in 1979.  Sadie was blind at this time and when we got there, my grandmother when up to her, took her hand, and said, "Sadie, it's Lu.  I've come to visit."

It was kind of tense and I thought my grandmother might start to cry.  Sadie hesitated for a moment, and then she said, "Where the hell have you been all these years?"  At that point we all burst out laughing, the tension was broken, and we had a wonderful visit!

Sadie was the oldest of the four girls, and my grandmother was the youngest.  At this point, Sadie was 99 and my grandmother was 90.

I blogged the picture below before, here.  Sadie is the one in the  dark dress, and my grandmother is the baby.  The other two girls were Eldora (left) and Marion (right).  There were also four brothers, and two baby girls who died before their first birthday.

I'm so glad we had the opportunity to visit with Sadie that one last time.  I just don't know why we didn't do it more often!

Throwback Thursday - Thanksgiving in the '50's

Oh my, how times have changed.

How many men eat Thanksgiving dinner in a dress shirt and tie anymore, especially in their own house?

My grandfather is on the far right.  I remember him as a t-shirt and flannel shirt kind of guy.  Not on Thanksgiving, I guess. The guy next to my grandfather is my Uncle Bob, and then my aunt Ettie.  The couple next to them were friends of my aunt and uncle.  I can't remember their names.

I'm so thankful to have these old pictures; slides that my aunt Dot took.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Berta, Nancy, and Edward Radtke

This is a picture of Paul's grandparents and his Aunt Nancy. My father-in-law has been visiting his sister in the Boston area quite often lately as she has been having some health concerns.


This Fall, on our way to the Cape, we stopped by Blue Hills Cemetery in Braintree to see his grandparents' graves. It was the first time that I had ever been there.

I have a pact to take pictures of as many family graves as possible.

Throwback Thursday - Our Wedding Reception

This is a picture of one of the family tables at my wedding reception.  I love this picture.  Every time I look at this picture, I wonder what my Aunt Esther (Ettie) is thinking.  Obviously my father said something that made her look at him like that.  Her expression makes me laugh.  I have always wished I knew what he said.  It is such a "sister-being-upset-with-brother" look. 

The people at the table are my father, Ettie, Aunt Lucy, my grandmother Lucy, and Uncle Ross (my mother's brother). 

My wedding reception is such a blur to me.  About the only thing that I remember is that I could not eat anything, and that Paul on one side, and Danny (best man) on the other side were eating everything in sight!

Seems like a lifetime ago!

Father and Son

This is my grandfather, Donald Wait, and my father David Waite. I know, why is the last name spelled differently? It goes back to when my Dad went into the Navy. He had to get a copy of his birth certificate and low and behold there was an "e" on the end of his name. The Navy made him spell it with the e on it, and instead of getting it changed later, he decided that he liked his name spelled that way. In his words, "It looks more like a real name."

I don't know when this picture was taken, but my Dad looks to be maybe in his late teens or early 20's. He was born in 1927, so the picture is probably some time in the mid to late 40's.

A couple of handsome dudes, right?

Throwback Thursday - Yardstick Bubblegum

When I was a kid, my cousin Lynda and I used to take turns visiting at the other's house for the summer. They lived, at the time of my story, in New Jersey and I thought it was such a long trip. My uncle Bob, who was a minister, used to have contests for kids at his church. I'm not sure if it was Vacation Bible School, or a promotion for Sunday school, but he used to have these prizes that he would promote throughout the contest. One of these prizes was a yardstick of bubble gum. I'm sure I never won it, but I always thought it was the greatest thing!

So you remember that Lyn?

Fast forward a million years, and while we were on vacation this year we went to Smoky Mountain Knifeworks, and there it was - the yardstick of bubble gum. I couldn't believe it. I hadn't thought of that in years and years.

I looked at it for awhile and we actually left the store, got out to the parking lot, and I just had to have it.

After I took some pictures of it, I gave it to Marley. Here are a few pictures of it.







Isn't it amazing, when you least expect it, memories come flooding back and it's almost like you were there again. I hope I never lose my memory!

Dot

Now that Dot is feeling a little more comfortable in her new surroundings, I want to start bringing over some of her pictures. This picture was taken some time in the 1960's I think. She and Emilio DiLorenzo (who, by the way, had the best Italian tenor voice ever) used to sing together on the Bethany Hour, a radio program on Sunday mornings. This picture, along with a plaque, was given to her as appreciation of her 20-year committment to the Bethany Hour.

Today I put the picture and plaque up in the little memory box that everyone has next to their bedroom door to identify their room.

Throwback Thursday - 1940's Bethany weddings

Today at church a friend of ours gave Paul a DVD; on it were videos of weddings in the 1940's from my church - not the whole wedding, just pictures of the bride and groom, the wedding party and whatever guests were milling about. Evidently the pastor's wife of our church at that time did the videotaping. There is no sound, just the movies. I didn't even know there were video cameras back then. Somehow this friend and her mother were in contact with the daughter of the pastor's wife and obtained them.

One of the couples was Paul's parents; they were married in 1949. I have seen this picture before, but to actually see them in a movie was so cool. You see them actually getting into the car and driving off.

Many of the couples were parents of our friends and we knew them well. Actually, one set of Toby's (my son-in-law) grandparents were on this too. It was so much fun to watch this. What a treasure to have.

When Marley saw Big Baba, she said "Oh my gosh!"

Throwback Thursday - Dad and his sister Esther (Ettie)

My dad has been in the hospital for a few days and today Kristen and I went to visit him. We got talking about old pictures and this picture came up. It is a picture of my dad and my aunt "Ettie". Maybe he is making that weird face because of the socks he was wearing!

This has been a strange week, a week of reflection. I hope he's going to be okay.

277/365 - Nan and her mother

This is a picture of my paternal grandmother, Lucy Bessette when she was about 10 (circa 1911) and her mother in front of their home in Chateaugay, NY.  Her mother, Linda, died when my grandmother was about 20, which lead to her eventually leaving the farm and moving in with her sister Marion who was married and living in White River Junction, VT. This is where she met and married my grandfather who was working for the Western Union there.

Also pictured is her dog, Bruce!