Sepia Saturday 460...Porches and Readers

Sepia Saturday 460 ...If ever there was a screened in porch as big as the prompt porch in my file of family porch photos, my Mother must have been sitting (not reclining) there reading.  Since she was the eye behind all of the pictures there are no screened in porch pictures.
       There are however, a few porches that serve as backgrounds like this one of my Dad and Dan. 
"Golden horses - that's what they call the palominos. And palominos have quite a history. You know, the history of my own palomino began right here at this ranch.  If I hadn't-a gone through that gate a few years back, I'd never have gotten my pal, Trigger."  Roy Rodgers, My Pal Trigger (1946).
     My Dad could have just as well spoken those words and been Roy Rodgers' double.  He and Roy had a lot in common beginning with their love of Palomino's.
      Their origin can be traced back to the Crusades and were often the choice of steed for many royal leaders.  Queen Isabella of Spain was so captivated by the Palomino's golden beauty, she wanted them to live on, breed and spread throughout the New World.
     From Mexico to Texas and throughout the Southwest the Palomino was the Native American Indian's choice of a mount for hunting and traveling.

     Not so much a porch, but more a stoop, Mother stood me there for what I can only imagine was a back to school day.
     In 1957, Saddle Oxfords were the trend in the ugliest, longest lasting shoes mother's could buy to put on a knobby knees, big foot ten year old. Notice, too, the rolled down Bobbie Socks.
     Then there was new jumper dress hot off her Singer sewing machine.  If anything was store bought it would have been the puff sleeved, Peter Pan collared blouse.
     I sure hope the wind was blowing and my hairdo was not a ponytail stuck on the side of my head.  It was also a back to school tradition to get a Toni perm rolled on the smallest rods made and always over processed. 
     Come to think of it...the wind was probably not blowing.  That wad of hair on the side was an attempt to hide the frizzed hair.
    
     As I mentioned, my Mother was a reader.  We didn't have a lot of what I would call Classic Literature reading material at home.
      More like the newspaper, paperback novels and westerns...Zane Grey was my Dad's favorite author. 
     Even at 35 cents, Better Homes and Gardens would have been a luxury coffee table piece of literature in 1959. 
     I can just imagine my Mother's gasp of shock at my paying $5 for this copy to add to my collection of Magazine Ephemera.

     When I came across Better Homes and Garden's  'Feature' book review of recently published books in 1959, I was surprised by several of the titles. 
Doctor Zhivago ,Charlotte's Web and The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters. 
     As I read the 'Feature', I was struck by the timelessness of these words written in 1959..."The great ease with which books are turned out these days, for all that might be said for it, imposes on the casual reader an almost insurmountable task of selection.
     Not so long ago, a man had time to read most of those volumes that pleased him, or at least the ones his salary could afford.  Today, with a busier society and a more exhaustive and inexpensive choice, he has trouble keeping up with the reviews, let alone the books to which they lead."
      I am only 56 years late in reading Gordon Greer's Review of Doctor Zhivago, Charlotte's Web and The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters, but read them I did.  About Doctor Zhivago he wrote...Boris Pasternak, the latest Nobel award winner, was kept from making an acceptance speech when the Soviet Government forced him to reject the prize.  A partly autobiographical, largely disenchanted study of Russia during the author's lifetime, Doctor Zhivago represents one man's willingness to stand up and be counted.  It is not an easy book.  It is a good one, though, written with great eloquence, and deserves everyone's attention.
     I wholeheartedly agree with Greer's review on Doctor Zhivago...it was not easy.  I won't read it again, but I may download The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters.  Greer describes it as a robust novel of a journey from Kentucky to California taken in 1849 by Sardius McPheeters and his 14 year old son Jamie.  Right down my history reading alley!!!

FYI...The Travels of Jamie McPheeters in 1959...$4.50   Today on Amazon Kindle $14.39/paperback $21.69.  I am on my way to the public library.  I'd rather turn pages! 

How about you?

Read any good books lately?

Sepia Saturday...Jack of All Moose Jobs

     Sepia Saturday458...now that is a well stocked bar...if you are there for a glass of wine or perhaps a cocktail.  There certainly are enough shelves of glasses as well as ones on the bar to serve a whole tour bus of wine tasters. 
      Let's hope the bartender has the tasting wine stashed under the bar.  He's going to need a ladder to get to the good stuff. 
      I haven't been to many upscale wine tasting bars.  As the daughter of an Iowa farm girl and a Texas cowboy growing up in West Texas, my idea of a fancy bar was 'The Jersey Lily'. 
       By the way, I should explain that in Texas...'Bars' were and still are known as Saloons, Watern' Holes, Cantinas and even Dives.  Some places you might not think of as a 'Bar' have names like 'The Blue Room' or 'Moose Lodge'. 
     Both of which gives the impression of either a cool, restful nights sleep or a vacation spot in Colorado.

     So, about the 'Moose Lodge'.  There may be one in Colorado, but it won't be for vacationers looking for a place decorated in a Early Log Cabin Hunting motif with moose heads hanging on the wall.
     I'm talking about the 'Moose Lodge' in West Texas where my Dad was the Jack of All Moose Jobs.  One of which was as Bartender where a glass of wine was never poured in a fancy glass.  There were no glasses.   Only bottles!
     On a good night, like when the Fireman's Ball was held, the bar was covered with bottles of Lone Star Beer.  There were other brands of course, but when in Texas...yada yada yada!
        Notice there are no bar stools in front of this Moose Lodge bar.  That's because there were lots of tables for the Moose (not Meese) to sit during meetings.  The tables could be arranged for a number of events including Moose Conventions, Birthday Parties,  Holiday Events and of course The Fireman's Ball. 

PS...About the 'Blue Room'...not a place for a cool, restful nights sleep. 
~But, a place where I learned to dance 'The Cotton Eyed Joe' and shoot a mean game of 'Eight Ball'. 
~My Dad was a 'Cowboy Minnesota Fats'
~Yep, we do have no frills, no deceiving named places in Texas like the 'Blue Room Bar'.

Sepia Saturday...Family Doubles & 1920's Photo Restoration

     Sepia Saturday457's  'Oh la la etalage'...or as we say in Texas 'Oh la la window display' didn't bring to mind any photos or ancestors/relatives that spoke any more French than Oh la la!
     However, the mannequins on pedestals, and their 1920's style clothes and hairdo reminded me of a Sepia photo of my grandmother's sister and my grandfather's brother.
      On closer inspection of the Oh la la etalage, the reflection of the trees and landscape sealed my decision to Show and Tell their Sisters to Brothers marriage story.
      That sounds kinda incestuous, huh?  So hang with me and I'll sort it out for you.  Here goes.  My grandmother Stella had a younger sister Mary Ella.  My grandfather Chappo had a younger brother Cobb.  Mary Ella married her sister's husbands brother and Cobb married his brother's wife's sister.  Got it? 
     That made Mary Ella and Cobb my Dad's Double Aunt and Uncle and all their children Double Cousins who looked more like siblings.

     This photo of Mary Ella and Cobb taken around 1920 must have been a favorite of her mother, my great grandmother Martha Jane.  It looked like it had been handled often with it's worn and torn corners.  Here's where the landscape reflection in the 'Oh la la etalage' prompt photo reminded me of the restoration I did for Mary Ella and Cobb's picture.  After enhancing and lifting shadows out of Cobbs face to discover the goggle's, I've often wondered if there was a motorcycle just out of the picture.

Double Cousin Servicemen about 1946

Navy son of Chappo and Stella.....Air Force son of Cobb and Mary Ella

   

Sepia Saturday...Gentleman Stetson Hat Tipper

     Sepia Saturday 455 had me wondering where in my family photos I would come up with anyone that would remotely fit the photo prompt.      

     The film aspect sure didn't work as none, nada, not one of my Texas ancestors/relatives/folks made it to Hollywood. 

   However, they were big fans of Western Movies and my Dad could have been a stand in for one of his favorites, John Wayne. 

     I could have used him as a 'Hat Tipper', but that black Stetson was a far cry from the film strip's Dapper Dude's hat.  So how about their attire?  Nope, Dudes and Cowboys aren't comparable.  Just imagine them switching hats or belts or boots.  Give a thought to them switching from a sidewalk to a cow patty pasture.  Guess I'll have to let that angle for a post...Go!

     Oh wait!  I do have a photo of a great uncle who made it to California, had a Dude friend, could dance in a chorus line, and was a gentleman hat tipper.
     Here's how I know he made it to California.  His first runaway from home happened in October 1908.  It didn't end well as he was picked up by the Sheriff who recognized the mule he was riding.
      Delsey belonged to Sheriff Christopher's father-in-law and the 'Wanted Poster' was the spittin' image of the 10 year old rider...the father-in-laws grandson.
       So, it was back to the farm, pickin' cotton and waiting for the next chance to head West and a life of exciting adventure.  It wasn't long until he hired out as farm labor cotton picker and worked his way to California. 
      He stayed in touch with his mother by letters with postmarks from across the southwestern states up the west coast and eventually from Canada.

     After that adventure he embarked on the next adventure... driving a team of mules pulling a covered wagon. 

     Destination...Ward County, Texas, where his mother, my widowed great grandmother, had acquired a parcel of land to homestead. 

     And homestead he did...several times across Texas and New Mexico with his final resting place back to that first homestead where all who knew him agreed with his headstone inscription.

     For sure, he was an example to his nephew, my Dad, as a seeker of adventure, a hard worker, and a gentleman Stetson Hat Tipper.

Sepia Saturday...Family Portraits by Cars

Sepia Saturday 454 has the makings of a Vintage Car Show, and inadvertently gives rise to what could have been a modeling career of underwear...or the models most embarrassing photo to emerge from the 'Shoebox Album'. 

First Family Portrait by Cars.  My grandparents, Minnie and Joseph with their 5 children on their Iowa Farm.  Portrait taken in 1938, but the Family Car was probably a late 1920's model.  From the looks of it, the car made plenty of trips on the dusty farm road. 

My Iowa Farm Family's most important motor vehicle was a tractor.  Pictured here is the all grown up little boy from the 1938 photo giving me a ride on the family's tractor from the same time period.  They take great pride in their vintage tractors and are still used today in parades and Tractor Shows.  My Uncle is standing next to my Mother, the youngest of the five children in the Family Portrait by Car.

Another Uncle, this one many miles from the Iowa kin.  He is one of those long, tall Texas guys who all of his life loved cars and trucks. 
     He was a fixer of motors and a tool guy with a knack at fixing just about any thing mechanical.
     Those mechanical skills served him well from 1942- 1945 as an Aviation Engineer in the US Army. 
     He did tours in French Haven New Guinea, Luzon Phillipines, and Tokyo, Japan.  Was awarded 3 Bronze Stars, World War II Victory Medal, and several other Wartime Medals.
     As seen in this photo, he had a special appreciation for older model cars.  I don't know if he ever had a brand new car.  However, like his brother, my Dad, driving a new car was not affordable and their passel of kids would not fit in a fancy new sports car.
     So it was older model big cars they drove.  My Dad's favorite...

A Pink Cadillac with a trunk bigger than Dallas...we say that in Texas when it's something really big...and room for his kids, their cousins and the whole neighborhood.  That's my cute sister in front of cousins modeling the latest in girls bathing suits in 1962.  Lucky for her she was not modeling her underwear and saved from an embarrassing photo to come out of our Mother's Shoebox Album. 

    At least I was wearing clean 'Big Girl' panties.

    

Sepia Saturday...Bull Durham, Camels and Matches

     Sepia Saturday 453 photo prompt is somewhat of a challenge for me with it's three story store front, Players cigarette advertisement, overhead wires, and barely visible clothes line. 
     My first thought was a picture of my grandmother's house whose backyard clothes line ran along the back of a feed store. 
     Can you imagine hanging out clothes and instead of sunny, blue skies and a fresh smelling breeze, the view is a huge tobacco ad plastered on the building that blocked the sun, and the breeze smelled like chicken feed.
     I couldn't find the picture in my files, so on to the next thought.

    My Dad's lifelong addiction to cigarettes and cigars. 
     He started smoking at the young age of ten and probably smoked grapevines and his Dad's Bull Durham tobacco.  

My Grandfather Chappo fishing and smoking.

     I know about that since, also at an early age, I was an expert at holding the paper in a half tube, tapping in the tobacco, pulling the Bull Durham string held between my teeth, rolling the papered tobacco, licking the glued paper edge, and lastly...twisting the ends just right.  

     That was an important last step to not only to keep the tobacco from spilling out, but to keep my grandfather from lighting a torch that had the potential to set his eyebrows on fire.
      I have no clue about Players Cigarettes, but I have first hand knowledge and experience with Camel Cigarettes.  Camels were my Dads brand of choice. 
      Lordy, those stunk, and as a young tobacco expert, I figured the stink came from the same ingredient found in Bull Dung Durham.  I could not imagine smoking Camel or Bull poop, so smoking behind the barn with my brother was limited to Mother's filtered Winston cigarettes.
      It only took a few puffs of choking, coughing and burning eyes for me to quit.  I think Mother did the same...she quit, too.  Now, my brother persevered, mostly because he liked matches. 

His young smoking days ended in a barn fire.

Sepia Saturday...Working For The Railroad

     Sepia Saturday Prompt 452's scene of a train accident and the subsequent work of men working on the railroad immediately brought to mind a first cousin 4x removed.  It also reminded me of the song 'I've Been Working On The Railroad'.
     The song and first cousin have several commonalities discovered during the research of my Atlanta, Georgia, ancestors.  Let's begin with a bit of era history that connects the two.
       Cousin Richard A. Pittman was a railroad man with The Western & Atlantic Railroad whose employment there would become the focus of his work history in more ways than is officially documented.  
     The W&A RR became a key link to the chain of Southern railroads connecting the Atlantic Ocean and the Mississippi River.  It was the foundation for Atlanta's emergence as a rail center. 



     By the time of the Civil War, the W&A had 46 locomotives, two of which were to become participants in the 'Great Locomotive Chase' of April 1862.  It played a major role in the Atlanta Campaign. It's loss to the South in 1864 was devastating to the Confederacy's hopes of victory, but at the same time played a major role in the rest of Richard Pittman's life.  It is likely he was there as a part of his military assignments when Sherman marched through Atlanta.   It is possible that he began his railroad career with the W&A and was instrumental in getting it back on the tracks during the Reconstruction Era.  We know from the 1870 US Census that he was a Conductor when the W&A's stock was leased for 20 years to a corporation made up of officers of the W&A's connecting roads headed by former Governor J.E. Brown.
      By 1880, Richard had been in W&A employment for more than ten years and had changed positions a number of times, most likely due to opportunities for better wages.  The fact that he was the son of a well known city official did not seem to have an impact on his railroad career of moving up the ranks in an administrative capacity.  On the contrary, he remained a part of the day to day work force which is indicated in the 1880 Census where he declares his occupation as 'Watchman'.

    Richards railroad career and life ended tragically two years later on December 4, 1882.

     As reported in the Augusta Chronicle almost three weeks after the accident, the first article reveals the 'horrible manner' in which Richard was called an unfortunate man.  This newspaper circulated widely to the smaller farming communities outside of Atlanta where many of Richards friends and relatives lived.  Had they not already known about the accident, the Chronicles report no doubt was read as insensitive and gory in the details and greatly lacking in relating Richards many years as an employee of the railroad.  The second article printed on page 1, four weeks after the accident, certainly showed a lack of information and disregard for all involved in what was certainly a tragic event for the Pittman Family and the Western & Atlantic Railroad. 
     To date, no information has been found or researched from the Atlanta Constitution which would have, in all likelihood, reported a more accurate account of the accident and possibly an Obituary for Richard A. Pittman, for the owner of the Atlanta Constitution was a relative of the Pittman Family.  Then there was Richard being the son and brother of Judges Daniel N. and Daniel J. Pittman.  His death would have been front page news and probably the beginning of an investigation into the circumstances of a trained watchman with years of experience in and around the workings of the railroad.  Hardly one to disregard safety rules or be less than cautious of passing trains, as is insinuated in the Augusta Chronicles report of December 24, 1882.

I've Been Working on the Railroad is an American folk song first published as a Levee Song in a book of Princeton University songs in 1894. (Wikipedia)
   The songs publication twelve years after Richards death must have been the final reminder of his working on the railroad.  For six of those twelve years Richards widow Nancy E. Pittman's name appeared in the Macon Telegraph newspaper. 
     The Pittman-Elder Case presented in City Court in October of 1885 was reported to have ended in a mistrial.  The case was settled the next year in November 1886 with Mrs. Dick Pittman receiving a settlement of $700 on a note of $4,000. 
     No details to the nature of the suit were reported, but it was stated that Nancy was the widow of Mr. Richard Pittman.  Another report from Ordinary Court was published May 8, 1888 granting letters of dis-mission to Nancy E. Pittman. 
     Six years after her husbands death, it seems Nancy was relieved of her duty as the executor of his estate with the settlements in all cases.
     Unlike Richard's widow's meager court settlement funds, the Levee Song has become an American Classic translated world wide, has been the subject for children's books, cartoons, and nursery rhymes.  The verses and chorus lyrics have been adapted to fit numerous other songs, movies and school spirit songs...for example:
      The Eyes of Texas" is the spirit song of the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Texas at El Paso. It is set to the tune of "I've Been Working on the Railroad" with alternate lyrics written in 1904. Students, faculty, staff, and alumni of the University sing the song at Longhorn sports games and other events. (Wikipedia)

SepiaSaturday...My Grandmother's Fur Coat

It's been awhile for Sepia Saturday to make a Saturday post here on CollectInTexas Gal.  However, in this coming New Year with a renewed interest in my Family History Blogs, it's back. 


For this first Saturday in January the 'Photo Prompt' features a model wearing the latest style of winter wear from coat, to gloves, to heels.  Notice, as well, the two boys. 


They appear to be not quite so well fitted in their perhaps hand-me-down over coats, baggy short pants and sagging socks.  Just guessing, but I'd bet this photo shoot picture did not make the cut for the models coat advertisement.


But, look, it made it's way to Flickr and now to CollectInTexas Gal and my Grandmother's Fur Coat.

In 1952 my Grandmother Estella from Anchorage, Alaska, came to Texas primarily to visit her Texas children and grandchildren...and probably to get away from the Alaska winter.  It had been close to thirty years since she had been to Texas in January, so it was only natural that she arrived in her accustomed Alaska attire including a 'Fur Coat' the likes of which we had never seen.

Everyone took turns modeling the 'Fur Coat', including my Dad.  In the high style of Texas, he donned his Stetson, tucked grandmothers clutch purse under his arm and stepped up on a platform in his Tony Lama Boots for the 'Fur Coat' photo shoot.  Then it was my Mother's turn.  As an Iowa born and raised girl, wearing the 'Fur Coat' was second nature, and posing as a model quite natural...even though it was probably closer to Texas' 65 to 70 degrees than Alaska's whatever below.

As for the style in Texas' January winter wear...you can see it didn't take long for the 'Fur Coat' to be stored in the trunk...of my Dad's Nash Rambler.  Pictured here in our winter wear are:  myself (5yrs), brother (4yrs), our Mom, Great Aunt Mary Ella, Grandmother Stella and Aunt Betty. 

I wish I'd gotten to model Grandmother's Fur Coat!