Merry Christmas to All

My favorite Christmas song... (To see why...)




O Holy Night

O holy night! The stars are brightly shining,
It is the night of our dear Saviour's birth.
Long lay the world in sin and error pining,
'Til He appear'd and the soul felt its worth.
A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices,
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.

Fall on your knees! O, hear the angels' voices!
O night divine, O night when Christ was born;
O night divine, O night, O night Divine.

Led by the light of Faith serenely beaming,
With glowing hearts by His cradle we stand.
So led by light of a star sweetly gleaming,
Here come the wise men from Orient land.
The King of Kings lay thus in lowly manger;
In all our trials born to be our friend.

He knows our need, to our weakness is no stranger,
Behold your King! Before Him lowly bend!
Behold your King, Behold your King.

Truly He taught us to love one another;
His law is love and His gospel is peace.
Chains shall He break for the slave is our brother;
And in His name all oppression shall cease.
Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we,
Let all within us praise His holy name.

Christ is the Lord! O praise His Name forever,
His power and glory evermore proclaim.
His power and glory evermore proclaim.

Secret Penpal Revealed!

When Parsley of Seasons of My Mind organized a secret penpal for anyone that wanted to join in with writing letters to someone, I decided to join - We were to write around the first of the month for several months and then, this month, write and tell our secret penpal and tell them who we were.

I knew a couple things - one, writing someone a letter for several months would be difficult for me. I'm not a "creature of habit" and I rarely doing anything on a schedule - including, much to my Doctor's despair, taking pills and eating at a fixed time. On the other hand, I knew that whoever I would be writing to (I can't reveal that, or at least not just yet!) and whoever would be writing me, would be really nice people.

So I took the plunge and a couple months, had a struggle with "getting the letter" out the door. One of the things that kept me going was "I promised Parsley" and the other was the awesome letters from the secret person writing to me! Gosh, they were so nice - and so inspirational.

And at long last, I know who my secret penpal is!

She not only has beautiful handwriting and makes beautiful cards - her blog is beautiful too! Shelley's Artsy Fartsy Life. I found some photos of her enjoying her vacation with her family (here) and hey! Who can resist a Tow Mater And Lightning McQueen fan!

Had I know about her birthday which was December 10th, I would have given her a "Happy Birthday" shout out!

Thank you Shelley! I'm pleased to "meet" you! Thanks for all the Cones!

Thank you Parsley for organizing this whole thing!

And don't forget... "Talk To The Cone!" (The Orange Cone Museum is going to love him/her/it!)

:)

Been Very Busy...

I've been very busy. Things at work have picked up considerably and I've been getting out and around more too - So I "owe" you some entries - I've got one on the Packard Building, and one on the Hanger Festival at Massey Aerodrome... but they will have to wait until I get a few moments of quiet time.

-- In the meantime - in the spirit of the holidays --

Sing along with Bing Orangeby as he crones "Do You See What I See?"


Said the cold wind to the little lamb
Do you see what I see?
Over yonder there little lamb
Do you see what I see
A cone, a cone
Dancing in the grass
With a foot as big as its stripe
With a foot as big as its stripe...


Said the little lamb to the shepard boy
Do you hear what I hear
Ringing through the air shepard boy
Do you hear what I hear


A swan, a swan
Down 'neath the trees
With a voice as big as the sea
With a voice as big as the sea


Said the shepard boy to the mighty king
Do you know what I know
In your palace wall mighty king
Do you know what I know?


A frog, a frog
Shivers in the cold
Let us bring him water and bugs
Let us bring him water and bugs


Said the king to the O-Chas* everywhere
Listen to what I say
Pray for peace O-Chas everywhere
Listen to what I say

*Orange Cone Head Aliens


The cone, the cone
Sleeping in the night
He will bring us safety alright
He will bring us safety alright

Thank you Bing... and now for a word from our sponsors...


I'd like to build the world a home
And furnish it with love.
Grow apple trees and honey bees
And snow white turtle doves.


I'd like to teach the world to sing
in perfect harmony.
I'd like to hold it in my arms,
and keep it company
I'd like to see the world for once
all standing hand in hand.
And hear them echo through the hills
for peace throughout the land.

Keys to the Past

I am still going through the various bits and pieces of flotsam my grandfather left behind and today, I opened a small box that held, amongst other items, a bunch of keys on several key rings.

My grandfather owned the family business, the non-ferrous foundry, and because of that, he had a separate key ring with just "foundry-related" keys. I've not been to the foundry building in several years - it's been that long since my dad sold it and I helped him empty the building of eighty-four years of accumulated "stuff."

The keys in the very full key ring are worn and tightly bunched. I thumbed through them, thinking of each lock the key fitted, the front door, deadbolt, alarm box, fire-proof safe, supply closets, the men's lockers (which were never locked anyway, since the cleaning lady would take the dirty towels from them and wash them each week), the third floor roof access door, the side shipping door, the back door, the roll-up door, the lock on the oil tank cap, and so it went... I recognized most of them by their place in the ring.

...and then I hit two keys that put me in the way-back machine along with the bright flash and some magician smoke...

The foundry had a several "company cars and trucks". My grandfather had a copy of each vehicle's keys, and he had a hard time keeping straight which key fit which vehicle. So one day, he came into the office where my Dad and I were discussing rebuilding a furnace, as pleased as punch and he tossed this very key ring onto the big three person "army issue" steel desk and said, "There! I fixed that problem!"

My dad looked up, his feet up on the desk, and said, "What problem was that?"

My grandfather replied, "You know how the key for the Oldsmobile Toronado looks a lot like the one for the orange-brown pick-up truck? Well, I took out the metal letter stamps and stamped a letter on each of those keys so I could tell them apart! After three months of fooling with them...I got a 5 minute fix that will save me hours of time!"

My dad reached over to the keys and thumbed them - much like I was doing in the here and now, and grunted loudly and rolled his eyes when he came to these two keys...

He tossed me the key ring and said, "Well, what do you think?"

I looked at the two keys and saw that my grandfather had stamped one key with a "T" and the other one with an "O" and without thinking about the ramifications of what I was saying, blurted out, "How the heck do I know which is which??!? O for Oldsmobile and T for Truck?"

And my grandfather looked at me with a baleful glare and said, "No! of course not!! its O for orange-brown pick up and T for Toronado! Jeepers! I'm I the only one that can think in this place!??"

He then turned around and stormed out of the office into the backroom.

My dad looked over to me and said, "Betcha he gets them mixed up the very first time he uses them."

To which I said, "No deal," and broke out laughing.

Sure enough, that evening when it was time to head home, my grandfather spent a few extra moments fiddling with his keys at the door to the Oldsmobile Toronado... probably thinking, O? or T???

And I looked at those two keys and thought, "I wonder why he kept them? The Oldsmobile and the orange-brown pickup truck have been long, long gone...."

...but my memories of the keys are still with me.

Massey Aerodrome Open Hanger Party

I'm going to a par-tay!!!

An open hanger party which promises food, lots of little airplanes taking off and landing and good cheer!

I'm driving down there to meet my dad who is flying down there from Allentown! He is going with the guy that gave him his Christmas present flight.


In case you are wondering - NORDO, short for "No Radio", is a North American aviation term for aircraft flying without a radio.

The term originates from the 5-character uppercase abbreviated notation "NORDO" displayed on controllers' radar scopes when an aircraft transmits the "radio failure" code on its transponder.

I'll probably take way too many pictures of airplanes and people eating like I did last time!

:)

Orange, Lemon, Strawberry, and Raspberry

This past Thanksgiving, I went to my older brother's place in upstate New York where 19 people assembled for a wonderful meal cooked by my sister-in-law. She did a marvelous job! The next day, with my older brother acting as a tour guide, we headed out to a local rail trail and walked 7 miles. I was tired out - but oh so pleased! This was the best I've done in several months!

After the walk, and a swim in the motel pool, I spotted this brochure in the motel "tourist rack". I was unable to talk any of my family into taking a trip to the Jell-O museum so I had to settle for a visit to their website.


From their website:

"The first four Jell-O flavors were orange, lemon, strawberry, and raspberry. Lime was introduced in 1930."

"In 1897, Pearle Wait, a carpenter in LeRoy, was putting up a cough remedy and laxative tea in his home. He experimented with gelatine and came up with a fruit flavored dessert which his wife, May, named Jell-O. He tried to market his product but he lacked the capital and the experience. In 1899 he sold his formula to a fellow townsman for the sum of $450.

The buyer already had some success in manufacturing and selling. He was one of the best known manufacturers of proprietary medicines. Orator Frank Woodward was born in North Bergen in 1856 and moved with his family to LeRoy, New York in 1860.

Sales were slow and disheartening for the new product, but income from Grain-O (a roasted-grain coffee substitute) remained steady. One day in a gloomy mood "O.F." offered Sam Nico the whole blankety-blank business for $35. In 1900, the Jell-O name was first used by the Genesee Pure Food Company.

...On November 5, 1923 the Jell-O Company, Inc. was organized and took over the entire assets of the Genesee Pure Foods Company with no change in management or control. The purpose of this change was to protect the value of Jell-O as a trade name... The intent was to keep it from becoming a common noun.

On December 31, 1925 the Jell-O Company, Inc. was sold to the Postum Cereal Company, Inc. ...becoming the first subsidiary of a large merger that would eventually become General Foods Corporation. And so the little Jell-O package which was born in LeRoy, New York in 1897 grew from childhood to adulthood. ...Today Jell-O is manufactured by Kraft/General Foods in Dover Delaware."

I sure wish I could of gone though...

Barlow-Bush and the DAR

I've written about my mom's Granny Bush before - she is the one that wrote a long letter in pencil to my mom's father back on December 11, 1943.

My great-grandmother Margaret "Maggie" Shipman was born in northern Alabama on Oct. 11, 1869 and was twice married. She had a son named George from her previous marriage to a Mr. Deary and was widowed when she married my great-grandfather Joseph Black Bush.

Joseph Black Bush was also a widow and had three daughters, Virgie (Virginia), Lizie (Elizabeth) and Tommie Nell (yes, she was a girl!) from his first marriage to a Mary Dunn.

Maggie and Joseph went on to have 6 children together. Maggie died on Jan. 31, 1958 having outlived two husbands and many of those children.

What has baffled me is the "name du jour" that these folks had! In the 1920 US Census, Joe Black and Maggie are shown living with daughter Maggie, and three sons, Samuell, born about 1902; Allis, born about 1907; and Barlow, born about 1910.

No one knows who Sam/Samuel was. Allis' correct name was Alvis, and Barlow is now thought to be the "Bill" mentioned in Maggie's letter. The 1930 US Census shows Joe and Maggie living with a son named Bill born about 1911. I think I would prefer to be called Bill over Barlow myself... so I really can't blame the man...

And so, researching this "blended" family is complicated by both parents being married with children twice and living in at least five states in the meantime.


Joseph Black Bush is the white haired man in the center - this photograph was taken in 1926 during a family reunion.

Joseph Black Bush was a "hell and brimstone" preacher. He moved from Fountain Run, Kentucky to Bonham, Texas which is about 35 miles southeast of Calera, Oklahoma where he would end up with Maggie. Maggie moved from Double Springs, Alabama to Shelbyville, Tennesee to Honey Grove, Texas (a short distance from Bonham, Texas) after failing to find a "nice place to live" in the 1889 Oklahoma Sooner Land Rush.


Joseph's father was Ambrose Barlow Bush, pictured above. He too, was married twice.


Joseph's mother was Jane Elizabeth Barlow Bush, pictured above. These pictures came from distant relative Nancy Bush (who was the mother of Kay Bush that I mentioned in my last entry).

Ambrose Barlow Bush was the son of James Bush and "Betsy" Jane Barlow.

Ambrose Barlow Bush was named after his maternal grandfather, Ambrose Barlow.


Ambrose Barlow was born in July, 1766 in Culpepper, Virgina and served as a Private in the infantry during the American Revolution. He died on August 13, 1839 near Fountain Run, KY.

..and now you see why the Barlow-Bush cemetery in Fountain Run, Kentucky was of great interest to my cousin - she would like to see (or take) some photographs of the gravestones there.

And that leads us to the Daughters of the American Revolution. Ambrose Barlow is my mother's great-great-grandfather.

But... the DAR story doesn't end there.

Joseph Black Bush's wife, my great-grandmother Maggie Shipman cames from a family that was in America nearly as long as the Bush family.


Her great-great-grandfather Edward Shipman and his father Daniel Shipman both served during the American Revolution.

Edward Shipman served under Colonel Anderson in the 96 District Militia in South Carolina. His father, Daniel Shipman served in the militia in Wilmington, NC.

Maggie's great-grandfather, Hezikiah Shipman, was married to Hannah Rhodes (born in 1970 in Transylvania, North Carolina). Hannah's father, Peter Rhodes, served as a soldier under Colonel Hambright, in North Carolina. Colonel Frederick Hambright is known for his gallant fight during the Battle of Kings Mountain, October 7th, 1780.

And finally, Maggie's mother, Paratine Avery's great-great-grandfather Charles Avery served in Virgina.

I think with at least five ancestors that served during the American Revolution, my mother, cousin, and my niece should have little trouble becoming Daughters of the American Revolution - the hardest part might be picking one of them to put in their applications.

Jim Town, Kentucky

My cousin Laurie, my mom's brother's daughter, lives in Riverside, California. She recently e-mailed me saying she had found some photos from a trip our grandparents took from the Boston suburb of Alston to Calera, Oklahoma back in the early 1950's. She is sending me the photos! I'm eager to see them - for my mom says this was the only time she ever visited with her father's extended family in Oklahoma. She remembers that her mother was dead set against taking this "foolish, money wasting" trip to see some folks she didn't care to know. My grandfather, stubborn as a always, said, "He was a'goin' and if she didn't git in the car she was a'goin' to be left behind!"

So Granny relented and got in the car - which broke down somewhere in New York state - and after a couple days, they were back on the road to Oklahoma - all the while my Grandmother was saying, "See John, that's what happens when you do these things, things break and cause trouble."

My mom and her nephew Larry didn't seem to care - they were going to see their grandmom. My mom remembers meeting a whole bunch of aunts and uncles and cousins and left me with a bunch of names to follow up with - but it is slow going since those strange "Okies" seem to call each other exclusively by nicknames and no one seems to know what their proper names were! Lowell Lloyd Bush, was called Tack, and his son Lloyd Frank Bush was called Bubie. Ugh!

My cousin Laurie has also been looking at this old Bush family reunion photograph (here) and we've worked out "who is who" for nearly all of them.

But.. what I started to post about was Laurie asked me to find the old Barlow-Bush Cemetery (she said, it might be the Bush-Barlow cemetery, she wasn't sure) in Jim Town, Kentucky... She had found out that several of our mutual ancestors were buried there - and that the cemetery was in rough shape and on private property. She wanted to know who the current owner was - and exactly where the cemetery was - her only clue was... "it is in Jim Town, Kentucky, that is what an old family Bible says."


Suitably challenged, I started doing some digging... and one of the first things I found out was there is no town currently named Jim Town in Kentucky. There is a Jamestown but it wasn't in the right place - and as I dug some more - I found references to a Barlow-Bush cemetery in Fountain Run, Kentucky.


Frowning a bit, I redoubled my efforts to determine what had become of "Jim Town". After an hour or futile searching, I stumbled across a historical account of "Jim Town". It was apparently named after a James Barlow. I figured I was getting warm since it was the Barlow-Bush (or Bush-Barlow) cemetery I was looking for...

...and in this historical account, the author told of how the name was changed, first to Jamestown, which the post office objected to since there was already a Jamestown (the one that I had found previously) so the town's postmaster Dr. James R Duncan decided to name it Fountain Run in 1847. Ah ha!


Fountain Run is located in Monroe County near the point where Allen, Monroe, and Barren Counties come together, hence its nickname, the "Crossroads of Three Counties." It is near the oxymornic sounding, Barren River Lake.


While looking around at old photos from the area - I found this one of a little boy sharing his ice cream cone with a dog. I would have done this search for the cemetery just to find this picture!

I made contact with a volunteer at the local historic society and she told me about a distant cousin of mine, Kay Bush, that lived near the Barlow-Bush cemetery and that she would put her in contact with me.

...and all of this led to the next discovery... concerning the Daughters of the American Revolution... and my next post.

Thanksgiving Holiday

It might be a little early for the Thanksgiving holiday - but it's never too early to be thankful. I'd like to share some recent mail and e-mail and express my thanks.


A beautiful Thanksgiving Day card from my secret penpal! I can hardly wait to find out who this person is! They have send some wonderful mail over the past few months! I hope to be able to link to their blog soon! My thanks to Parsley for organizing the secret penpals!


A touching Thanksgiving Day and Get Well e-card from Pamela of The Dust Will Wait. I don't think there is anyway to say it better!


A touching "thinking of you" photograph from Betty and Koda of A Corgi in Southern California. A genuine Barbershop Cone-tet! And two big green boxies (the ultimate bass singers!)


Betty and Koda hit the jackpot! Dozens and dozens of brand new, never been in the wild, cones! This sweet sounding Choir is going to give the Harlem Gospel Singers and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir a run for their fifteen minutes of fame this holiday season!

And lastly (for now), I wanted to share some pages from the eclectic book ChicagoLady sent me. You can probably see why I find this book delightful!


Those Darn Squirrels! by Adam Rubin, illustrated by Daniel Salmieri Calrion Books, New York.

The story is about a grump named Old Man Fookwire. I clipped the page off when I scanned it in - the text reads:

"The only thing he liked was birds.

All summer long, the old man painted pictures of the birds that visited his backyard. There were whirley birds and bonga birds, baba birds and yaba birds. Even a rare floggle bird came by once or twice.

Fookwire's paintings weren't very good, but the birds never said anything."



"Not many people know this, but squirrels are the cleverest of all woodland creatures. In fact, they're fuzzy geniuses! They can make a house out of a tree, a bed out of a bunch of leaves, a box kite out of twigs, dirt, and squirrel spit. They are also excellent at math."

Old Man Fookwire does not like squirrels - in fact, he doesn't anything at all - other than birds. So you can imagine what happens when the crafty squirrels visit Old Man Fookwire's carefully tended bird feeders.

:)

Who's the Cool Dude?

Calera High School, Calera, Oklahoma - Class of 1915-1916

My mom's father is standing on the far right in the middle row. I wonder who else in this photograph? Does this school building still stand? What's with the "winter coats"?

I think the sport teams were called the Bulldogs. I think that suited my Grandfather. He was a stubborn guy - I think I inherited that from him - but not his tall and skinny genes!

My grandfather graduated and almost immediately entered the Navy and served during WWI. He met my grandmother while in Boston, MA.

Gramps seems to be a cool looking fellow in this photo!

Williamsport, PA - Birthday for Dad

This past weekend, my family converged on Williamsport, PA to celebrate my dad's birthday. We chose this location as it is central to Rochester, NY where my older brother lives and southeastern PA where the rest of us live. We enjoyed a very nice dinner and as a bonus, got to explore the town beforehand.

Williamsport was incorporated as a borough on March 1, 1806, and as a city on January 15, 1866.

In the late 19th century Williamsport was known as "The Lumber Capital of the World" because of its thriving lumber industry. It also was the birthplace of the national newspaper Grit in 1882. Williamsport once had more millionaires per-capita than anywhere else in the world. For this reason, the area's local high school, the Williamsport Area High School, uses "Millionaires" as its team nickname.

The city is also the original home of Little League Baseball, founded in 1939 as a three-team league.


Millionaire Row Street Sign

The wealthy families of Williamsport lived primarily on West Fourth Street - giving that street the nickname, Millionaire Row. Today, the street is home to many huge Victorian homes - in various states of preservation. Some of them serve as apartments for students attending the nearby Pennsylvania College of Technology, others are still private homes, and yet others are professional buildings.


Hermann Munster's House?

When we arrived in Williamsport, we parked on the western end of West Fourth Street and walked back toward the center of town - this Victoria home was across the street from where we parked. I was reminded of Munster's of 1313 Mockingbird Lane when I saw this home.

942-944 West Fourth Street. "Herdic Double." Built in 1875 by architect Eber Culver. To attract families to West Fourth Street, Peter Herdic built many double houses. They typically have a mansard roof and protruding center bay with a cupola on top. Second Empire Style.

Peter Herdic (1824–1888) was a lumber baron, entrepreneur, inventor, politician, and philanthropist in Victorian era Williamsport. He was the youngest of seven children born to Henry and Elizabeth Herdic on December 14, 1824 in Fort Plain, New York. Herdic's father died in 1826 and Elizabeth Herdic remarried shortly thereafter. She was widowed again prior to 1837. Herdic attended school for just a few years while he worked on his mother's 50-acre farm. Herdic left his mother's farm in 1846.

Herdic would go on to become one of the wealthiest men in Pennsylvania and was a major figure in the development of the lumber industry throughout North Central Pennsylvania. Herdic donated large amounts of land and money to various churches in Williamsport. Peter Herdic was the inventor of the Herdic cab (a precursor to the taxi), which was a two wheeled horse drawn carriage with side seats and a rear entrance. Peter Herdic died on February 2, 1888 as the result of a concussion sustained when he slipped and fell on ice while inspecting his waterworks in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania.


Notice the peacocks in the windows?

Much easier on the eye, was this home - I believe the style is called Italianate. An older gentleman was out front raking leaves and I asked if this beautiful building was his home. He replied, "It sure is!" and offered to let me and my mom take a peek inside the front door.


Eutermarks - Harrar House - 915 West Fourth Street

This house was built in 1870 by architect Eber Culver and was a wedding present for Lucy Filbert Eutermarks and purchased by the Harrar family in 1901. The original street address of 913 was considered unlucky and it was changed to 915.


Trinity Episcopal Church - 844 West 4th Street

Built in 1875 and consecrated in February 1876, it is the largest of the Episcopal churches in the city. The church was given to the parish by Peter Herdic.


Smith-Ulman House - 634 West Fourth Street

Historically known at the Smith-Ulman House and previously used as the rectory of Annunciation Church, this 1889 house with Italianate influence was built by Isaac Hobbs and is now the law firm of Raup, Wiley, and Mott.


William V. Emery House - 535 West Fourth Street

William V. Emery had Eber Culver design this handsome brick and cut stone home at 535 West Fourth Street in 1865. Emery was an associate of the Emery Lumber Company on West Third Street, which maintained a retail business for coal, ice, and lumber. Many retail lumber companies cut ice from the river in the winter and stored it in sawdust. On any warm day it was a special delight for children to chase the ice wagons, hoping to sneak a frozen sliver of the pure Susquehanna water.

There are more pictures in Flickr if you are interested in seeing them. I am working on identifying each home - but am not done yet.

Commander Franklin Mousley, USNR

To honor all the Veterans I've written about some of them before

My Great Uncle Russell

Veterans I Have Known

A Veteran No One Seems to Know

..and Robin Miller - A Local Veteran I Wish I Had Known and here

Today, I focus on just one - His career and service were not typical -


My Cousin (3 times removed) Franklin Mousley - "Old Stormy Weather"

Born in April of 1895 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, he was a licenced wireless amateur by 1908.

He pioneered in wireless telegraphy while working with both the United Wireless Telegraph and the Marconi Telegraph Companies.

He had world-wide service on sailing vessels, freighters and passenger liners. he made five trips through the Strait of Magellan and Smythe Channel at the southern tip of South America. He was a Radio Operator, Purser, and Supercargo (The duties of a supercargo include managing the cargo owner's trade, selling the merchandise at the ports to which the vessel is sailing, and buying and receiving goods to be carried on the return voyage.)

He operated a trading post and store in Alaska and was the Office Manager for a Salmon Cannery; He experienced shipwrecks, earthquakes, WWI German commerce raiders, bubonic plague and fire at sea. Before the US entered WWI, he served on British and Japanese vessels then in the war against Germany.

He served as the Deputy Registrar for the Universal Draft (WWI) in southwest Alaska. During WWI, he was Chief-in-Charge of radio maintenance and personnel on US and Allied vessels in the port of Philadelphia. He spent six years at Norfolk, VA with the US Shipping Board, serving as the Supervisor of radio and submarine signal equipment on the main fleet's approximately 1,000 ships.

In 1926, he entered the foundry business with his father, Thomas Charles and brother Marshall and my Great-grandfather Harry Davis Mousley where he was a brass hardware saleman.

In 1930-31, he became the State Radio Commander of the American Legion (see newspaper article)

In 1930, he was a Delegate to the US Naval Reserve Communications Conference held in Washington D.C.,

During 1928-32, he organized and commanded the US Naval Communication Reserve, 4th Naval District**

**The boundaries of the Fourth Naval District, to be headquartered at League Island Navy Yard in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, were established on 7 May 1903 and consisted of the following geographic areas: Pennsylvania, the southern part of New Jersey (including the counties of Burlington, Ocean, and all counties south thereof), and Delaware.

During the WWII years of 1942-1943, he served as the Radio Security Officer, Panama Sea Frontier.

Promoted to Commander, in 1943, he served from 1943 to 1946 as the Radio Traffic Manager, Navy Department Communication Office in Washington D.C.

He retired from the Navy in 1946 and became a genealogist - it is he that left me with the materials I have documenting my family tree.

Franklin married twice:
1 - September 19, 1921 Norfolk, VA to Elizabeth Christina LaGiglia (b. April 1902 Nicosia, Catania, Sicily, Italy) They had one child, a boy named Thomas Samuel who died as an infant in 1923. They divorced while Franklin was based in Norfolk and Franklin left active service for a time to work in the family foundry business.

2 - September 3, 1937 Philadelphia, PA to Lillian Hutchington (b. September 1905 Philadelphia, PA) They had no children. Lillian Hutchington was an established singing voice in the Philadelphia "Girls Chorus". She died in 1990 in Poquoson, Virginia and is buried in Wallingford, PA.

I have not been able to discover when Franklin died or where he is buried.

Commander Franklin Mousley, USN was not a typical veteran and lived a varied and fascinating life. I thank him for all his efforts to get secure radio communications on ships of all sorts - and US Navy vessels in particular.

Extra Special Good Mail

As you know, I had a love seat full of extra special, good mail when I got home from the "Spa" and inside the boxes and envelopes were some of the nicest thoughts - and oodles of laughs. I can't say thank you enough. I hope I've not missed anyone - if I have, please feel free to kick me in the rump.


Left-to-right, top-to-bottom: birthday card from Cindy, birthday card from my older brother and his family, A very cute get-well from Betty and Koda, get-well card from Rebecca, get-well card from an anonymous Orange Cone, autographed Tom Baker photograph, the Fourth Doctor Who, from Tori and Kelly.


A beautiful handmade get-well card from Punkn...


A hilarious audio card from LadyStyx... Don't forget to play the video!


A "double rainbow" card from my younger brother (inside it says, "I think I drank too much coffee")...


Life is Good t-shirt from my younger brother; a nifty handmade card, dog lover mug, and a British bird identification book (so now I'll know what those strange birds are in the photos that Tori sends me!) from Tori, Kelly and Kero; Hilarious Squirrel card and a way cool Spongebob nightlight from LadyStyx and Ranger; beautiful handmade card from Deanna, birthday card with super cool "invisible ink" letter from Rita; orange mints and York peppermint "flying saucers" from Parsley...


An eclectic "Those Darn Squirrels" book and some very nice cards from ChicagoLady; An Area 51/Roswell Space Alien and Welcome to Roswell with Orange Cones postcards and four "affirmation" cones (one of them Orange!) from Parsley; a very nice birthday card, comfy Camp Brule cap, an Orange Affirmation Cone (hey look! twins!) and some maps and news stories from upstate Pennsylvania from Alice Kay...


A closer look at those oh-to-cute affirmation cones and awesome Welcome to Roswell postcard!


A very nice Camp Brule T-shirt from Alice Kay and the Scuba Dude...and it fits perfectly too!


The Spongebob nightlight in action! It's so cool! It turns itself on when it gets dark!

I had the best "Spa" homecoming and birthday! Thank you! Thank you! Thank YOU!!!!

4 Miles in the Sunshine

Hi there!

I know I've not posted in a while - I've been "out of commission" for a couple weeks but am feeling much better each day. Today, I managed to walk four miles in the pleasant Indian Summer sunshine and am very pleasantly tired now.

While most of you know, I had several pulmonary embolisms (emboli?) and was (literally) knocked off my feet for the better part of a week - and forced to go to the "Three A-Em Acupuncture Spa" (otherwise known as Mercy Suburban Hospital) and turned into a human pin cushion. I'm still bruised from the various needles used to inject or pull out fluids. The food was okay - but the wee hour awakenings for blood pressure, blood samples, and injections of blood thinners kind of sucked.

Umm.. some of the nurses were kind of cute - but I didn't really care all that much - I just wanted to go home and take a shower pretty much from day one (hour one?)


I was greeted by a substantial pile of extra-special "good mail" when I returned home from the Spa. A long hot shower and couple nights of uninterrupted sleep were total bliss! I've been "faithful" taking my medicine - and have been given the green-light to return to work full time - and told to build up to where I was with my walking.

Today and yesterday the weather was perfect - and found me outdoors walking (oh-so-slowly) but steadily... passed not only by women passing baby strollers loaded with hundreds of pounds of baby, baby supplies and baby toys... but also by turtles, burrowing moles and even little ants.

But I felt marvelous - I took some pictures - but first I have to thank everyone for their get well wishes and for the extra-special good mail which I opened Friday and today - enjoying my birthday more that I have in years.

So what do you think is in those boxes, envelopes and behind the gift wrappings?

I'll tell you next time! :)

When all else fails, dazzle 'em with science

In my previous post, I introduced the McClurken boys and some of you commented that you thought the tallest of these skinny young men was on the far left. So I decided to take a closer look. A much closer look.

I recalled from an now ancient mechanical drawing class I suffered through, something about "vanishing points". To refresh my memory, I asked my good friend Google about it. He told me, "a vanishing point is a point in a perspective drawing to which parallel lines not parallel to the image plane appear to converge." Engineering drawings usually show an item in three flat, 90-degree views (top, side, and front) but there is another type of engineering drawing, called the orthogonal or one point perspective.

Noticing that the old photograph had a "vanishing point off to the far right, it was obvious to me that the left most objects appear bigger than they actually are - that is, as compared with objects to the right... (My apologies to my g-uncle McClurken for calling his lower leg an object).


So, I printed out a copy of the photo and determined just where the vanishing point was located. You see it there, way off to the far right. So what this means, is that the traverse lines at any distance from the vanishing point are of the same length (or in this case, height).


Looking more closely at the photo, we see the orthogonal lines passing through the top of the fence behind the young men as well as beneath them along the curbing of the flower garden (I admit, I "assumed" that the curb was parallel to the fence).


Interesting - the two young men on the left, appear to be of nearly identical height, although the one in the middle has a "longer" face. Going by a rough estimate based on the height of a typical forehead - the man on the left is about 3 inches shorter than the other two - which, as they say, "agrees well with the data" given we think one man was 5'7" and the other two were about 5'10".

So what does all this prove?

Well, absolutely nothing other than demonstrating the author of this post will go to great lengths to attempt to solve a perplexing problem (if he wants to).

Looking at the photo, I'm not even convinced myself.

What helped some was to locate the Selective Service Act of 1917 and learn that all males aged 21 to 30 were required to register for military service. At the request of the War Department, Congress amended the law in August 1918 to expand the age range to include all men 18 to 45.

This means originally, young men born between 1886 and 1896 were required to register (and hence drafted). Knowing this gives me greater confidence that the older and younger brothers where not drafted. It still leaves me with the possibility of four of the seven brothers being in the photo with Howard being left questionable as he was "just barely younger" than draft age.

So - does this mean James, Edwin, and George are in the photo (and not Howard)? I guess it will require further research to be sure - and finding WWI records that I have no known access to...

More Old Photographs

A while back, I wrote about my paternal grandmother's paternal grandfather and his numerous offspring. I am still going through the piles of old family photographs I "inherited," I've been able to identify some of the people that are in them, but sadly, most of them are unlabeled. Here are two that I'd like to share.


Someone once wrote that the poor were cannon-fodder for the rich. My great-great-grandfather Samuel McClurken was a poor Irish immigrant that lived in the "factory district" of Philadelphia called Kensington. Most of his sons served during the various wars the USA has been involved in. In the photograph, you see three of his sons, clowning around a bit in his backyard, sitting without a chair.

I think the three brothers in the photograph are James, Howard, and Edwin, but I'm not 100% sure which of these fellows is whom. I've found WWII draft cards for 4 of the 5 living brothers. It's amazing what you can learn from them.

Thomas (1880-1958) (WWII draft card image not available)

William Spence (1884-1924) (died in train-truck accident) Did not serve during WWI. He was my great-grandfather.


The only brother I've been able to determine to be in the photograph "for sure" is Corporal James (1888-1958) Co. D, 34 Infantry, 7th Division WWI (never married). James was a Chemist and he went on to make ice cream for Abbott's Dairy. He is listed as 5' 10", 140 pounds and light haired. He lived with his brother Raymond for a time.


George Richardson (1892-1976) is shown living with wife Emma and working for the John B. Stetson hat factory. 5' 10 1/2", 190 pounds and blond haired. With him being blond and husky (at least he was by 1940), I don't think George is in the old photograph.


Edwin Winfield (1894-1983) listed as married to Anna and also working for the John B. Stetson hat factory. 5' 7", 166 pounds, and brown haired. I think Edwin is the "short" guy on the far left in the old photograph.


Howard Wilson (1897-1982) 5' 11", 150 pounds, and brown haired. Howard is shown married to Edna and working as a partner with Morgan and Co., in the "Pakard" building. Howard was a CPA. I've not been able to determine where this building actually was/is, nor who the Morgan and Co. owners were. I guess the mailman knew how to find the place and I'll leave it as a rainy day project. I think Howard is in the old photograph. Being the tallest (but not by much) I'm guessing he is the one in the center.

Raymond Wesley (1901-1958) No WWII draft record. I think Raymond was too young to have served with his older brothers in WWI.

So there you have it, an educated guess (at best) that, from left to right, we see Edwin, Howard, and James in the old photograph.


This old photograph illustrates far more than what appears in it. You see two young babies, perhaps less than a year old - one with the hair parted in the middle and one with hair parted elsewhere. These two are twins and are my paternal grandmother's older brother William (center part) and his twin sister Margaret. Sadly, Margaret died at the age of five from childhood illness.

What has been a challenge to me - are the names. My grandmother's parents names were William and Margaret. They had the twins and named them after themselves. Margaret (Jr.) died - but William (Jr.) went on to marry a Margaret. Confused yet? My great-grandfather, in addition to being married to a Margaret, had a sister named Margaret. There are twelve Margarets in three generations in this family tree.

I know I'll never have any children, but if I did, I don't think Margaret would be on my list of possible names. I hope my ancestors can forgive me for that.