There were many one-room schools around in the 1930’s and 40’s. Then somebody got the bright idea of consolidating schools. We who were lucky enough to go to one actually got a pretty good education, better in many cases than the kids of today are now getting. We learned math, reading and writing. We had music class and learned many songs. I still remember many poems we had to learn to recite. The teachers supplemented learning with books, maps and many other learning aids. We had recess every day and played wonderful games of Go-in-and-out-the Windows, Pump-Pump, London Bridges, Tag and soft ball.
Marion School was in Springhill Township in Fayette Co., PA a mile or two north of Point Marion just off Route #119. The average enrollment was 40 or 50 students. The students were neighbors. They were brothers and sisters. They were cousins and sometimes even an aunt or uncle.
Most students were white, probably of Scotch-Irish heritage. However, there were two black girls who went there to school during those early years: Virginia Robinson and Dorothy Clark. They lived with their grandmother, Jennie, on a houseboat anchored near the bridge in the Cheat River. Dorothy and Virginia walked to school as we all did and we all played and studied together. In this election year, I wonder where they are and what they remember and felt during those years at Marion School.
Pennsylvania was better than most states in taking care of the kids. Remember this was the heart of the depression years. But we did not have to buy books. We were given tablets of paper and yellow, number 2 pencils. Kids in West Virginia, just nine or ten miles south, were not so lucky. It is true that sometimes the boys were paddled and the girls had their fingers cracked with rulers. We saluted the flag in the morning. I can’t remember if we said any prayers. In spite (or maybe because) of that, as far as I know, we all turned out to be good people of the world
e-mail trumpcard@gmail.com
Monday, July 21, 2008
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Gapen’s Dump
On a 90 degree curve of Route #119, the Gapen home was the largest and most prepossessing in the neighborhood. It was made of brick for one thing and I can’t recall many of those. And it was surrounded by a manicured lawn and cement sidewalks. Of course it had a large front porch comfortably furnished with rocking chairs. When I delivered the Uniontown paper, that is where the papers were dropped to be assembled and delivered.
The Gapens were older in years in my early life and I hardly knew them. They had two grandsons who lived with them, Duane and Gerald Smouse, who went to Marion School. Mr. Gapen owned quite a bit of the adjacent land and had several rent houses and a defunct garage on land along Route #119.
But the point of this epistle is the land behind this house. I don’t know when it started or how long it was open but I do know it was there in the late 30’s and half of the 40’s. It was a great mound of refuse five or six hundred feet behind the Gapen house. It was the refuse dump for the city of Point Marion. (At least there were no plastic bags in it).
email trumpcard1@gmail.com
The Gapens were older in years in my early life and I hardly knew them. They had two grandsons who lived with them, Duane and Gerald Smouse, who went to Marion School. Mr. Gapen owned quite a bit of the adjacent land and had several rent houses and a defunct garage on land along Route #119.
But the point of this epistle is the land behind this house. I don’t know when it started or how long it was open but I do know it was there in the late 30’s and half of the 40’s. It was a great mound of refuse five or six hundred feet behind the Gapen house. It was the refuse dump for the city of Point Marion. (At least there were no plastic bags in it).
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Sunday, June 22, 2008
Sugar Loaf & Indian Mound
Less than the length of a football field up the side of the mountain behind my growing up house is the Sugar Loaf. It is the top of the mountain. Uncle Walter once went there to get sassafras roots for what reason I don’t remember. This was long before they built the back bedroom and they still had a back porch. I have been told that up there, there was also an Indian Mound.
My friends and relatives have suggested I write about it. I can’t do it. I never went to the top of the mountain. I never saw the Sugar Loaf. I never saw the Indian Mound.
So help me out here somebody.
e-mail - trumpcard1@gmail.com
My friends and relatives have suggested I write about it. I can’t do it. I never went to the top of the mountain. I never saw the Sugar Loaf. I never saw the Indian Mound.
So help me out here somebody.
e-mail - trumpcard1@gmail.com
Were we the Only Ones?
It is not visible from the road. You couldn’t see it from an airplane either. Maybe from a satellite. I understand even ancient roads are visible from a satellite. But this is (or was) covered with a blanket of overhanging trees and vegetation. Which reminds me that I once read that before the landings in North America, a squirrel could have walked on the top of trees from the east coast to the Mississippi without ever touching the ground. But I digress.
It was what we called “the Hollow.” And that “hollow” amounted to a deep crevice in the side of the mountain. Under the overhanging trees, there was a steep climb with regular boulders substituting as steps. There it is silent, shady, and moist.
We (you know who you are) used it as a shortcut to go home after swmming in the Cheat. Were we the only ones? I wonder if it is still there or has time and running water worn it away…..If you want to go look, I can tell you where to find it.
e-mail - trumpcard1@gmail.com
It was what we called “the Hollow.” And that “hollow” amounted to a deep crevice in the side of the mountain. Under the overhanging trees, there was a steep climb with regular boulders substituting as steps. There it is silent, shady, and moist.
We (you know who you are) used it as a shortcut to go home after swmming in the Cheat. Were we the only ones? I wonder if it is still there or has time and running water worn it away…..If you want to go look, I can tell you where to find it.
e-mail - trumpcard1@gmail.com
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Hats off and a moment of silence for John Goff's old springhouse.
(stolen: two e-mails as follows)
One:
The springhouse is still there. Although, the water doesn't run quite as free as it used to. John uses the spring for the water in the house, so I think it doesn't have the velocity that it used to, because of that. My grandmother used well water at the sink, with a pump, until the last few years before they died, then they put the spring water in the house. It was my job to put the cool water in the cooling trough for the milk to cool, when I was at their house. I always loved the smell of fresh warm milk, and never could understand why it had to be cooled. Silly, eh?I used to sit behind the cows when my grandmother milked, and she would squirt milk in my mouth and then, the cat sitting next to me.What memories, my children and grandchildren will never know those things.
Two:
Yes, I remember the old Goff springhouse very well. Did you ever hear the story of the time John Goff chopped of the end of his finger (I think it was finger not a thumb). Anyway the Goffs used steel wool to clean all of their milk bottles in that cold water in the springhouse. John got a piece of steel wool in his finger and it festered and developed into what was called a fellon (not sure of spelling) and would not heal. It was driving him crazy. So he carried an ax down to Charlie Baker and told him to sharpen it as sharp as he could on the old grinder that Charlie had. After it was sharpened up he told them to call Dr. Hunger and then laid his finger on a fence post and wacked off the offending part. Dr. Hunger fixed up the wound and it healed. Didn't need an HMO back then.
e-mail: trumpcard1@gmail.com
One:
The springhouse is still there. Although, the water doesn't run quite as free as it used to. John uses the spring for the water in the house, so I think it doesn't have the velocity that it used to, because of that. My grandmother used well water at the sink, with a pump, until the last few years before they died, then they put the spring water in the house. It was my job to put the cool water in the cooling trough for the milk to cool, when I was at their house. I always loved the smell of fresh warm milk, and never could understand why it had to be cooled. Silly, eh?I used to sit behind the cows when my grandmother milked, and she would squirt milk in my mouth and then, the cat sitting next to me.What memories, my children and grandchildren will never know those things.
Two:
Yes, I remember the old Goff springhouse very well. Did you ever hear the story of the time John Goff chopped of the end of his finger (I think it was finger not a thumb). Anyway the Goffs used steel wool to clean all of their milk bottles in that cold water in the springhouse. John got a piece of steel wool in his finger and it festered and developed into what was called a fellon (not sure of spelling) and would not heal. It was driving him crazy. So he carried an ax down to Charlie Baker and told him to sharpen it as sharp as he could on the old grinder that Charlie had. After it was sharpened up he told them to call Dr. Hunger and then laid his finger on a fence post and wacked off the offending part. Dr. Hunger fixed up the wound and it healed. Didn't need an HMO back then.
e-mail: trumpcard1@gmail.com
Beautiful Places
I have been to some beautiful places - Machu Picchu, the Savanna in Kenya with its exotic wildlife, wonderful Jerusalem, Bavaria in Germany. You have probably seen some of those too. But maybe you haven’t seen this one.
The confluence of the Cheat River and the Monongalia River is a beautiful place. Imagine the people who have walked that hallowed ground. George Washington was here. Think of Friendship Hill and all those who lived and visited there. It is easy to understand why Albert Gallatin wanted to build his home there when you know he was an immigrant from Switzerland. The lay of the land must have looked very familiar to him.
Or next October, you could go to Point Marion and stand on the schoolhouse hill. Look west to the mountains in Greene County. Every color in the rainbow is there in the fall foliage across the rivers. The beautiful leaves will be all around you but that is a really striking sight.
Should you happen to be walking down “Jack’s Hill” (that’s what we called it- it is the side of the mountain that follows Rt. 119 at the junction of the road to New Geneva) some winter morning, you may not be able to see where the rivers meet because the fog will be so thick. Years ago, my very young son called it a “mystical” sight.
e-mail: trumpcard1@gmail.com
The confluence of the Cheat River and the Monongalia River is a beautiful place. Imagine the people who have walked that hallowed ground. George Washington was here. Think of Friendship Hill and all those who lived and visited there. It is easy to understand why Albert Gallatin wanted to build his home there when you know he was an immigrant from Switzerland. The lay of the land must have looked very familiar to him.
Or next October, you could go to Point Marion and stand on the schoolhouse hill. Look west to the mountains in Greene County. Every color in the rainbow is there in the fall foliage across the rivers. The beautiful leaves will be all around you but that is a really striking sight.
Should you happen to be walking down “Jack’s Hill” (that’s what we called it- it is the side of the mountain that follows Rt. 119 at the junction of the road to New Geneva) some winter morning, you may not be able to see where the rivers meet because the fog will be so thick. Years ago, my very young son called it a “mystical” sight.
e-mail: trumpcard1@gmail.com
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Do you know these people?
Top left: Marie Sturgill, typing and shorthand teacher at business school13 May 1930
Top right: Jean Shibler and Amalea Stewart, February 21, 1930
The one in the hat is Thelma Brand, February 28, 1930
To her right is Lenora Gans, February 28, 1930
These pictures were among my Aunt's belongings. I don't know any of them but somebody might like to see these pictures
The names on the pictures keep coming out wrong. Thelma is the one in the hat, Lenora is by the fence, the two together are Shibler and Stewart, and the other is Sturgill
e-mail: trumpcard1@gmail.com
Becky Blosser
Helen writes:
Becky BLOSSER lived in that big house overlooking the Cheat and Monongahelia Rivers. We passed her house along State Road #119 as we walked the mile and a half to town. Sometimes Mother would stop and sit on the porch and talk with her while Becky peeled apples or strung green beans. Mother said Becky had been a nurse for the Andrew Carnegie family in Pittsburgh and traveled the world caring for the family. When Becky retired, she bought a large tract of land in Springhill Township. Grandma and Grandpap knew her at the Disciples of Christ Church at Oak Grove near Morris Cross Roads. She sold them their farm on Blosser Hill across from John and Josephine GOFF’s dairy farm. (Josephine had come from Sweden, we were told).
When Becky died, she willed her lovely pump organ and victrola with many records of hymns to our family. I began to take piano lessons from Mrs. Howard Swyers and spent many long afternoons playing the records such as “In the Garden,” “I Would Be True,” and “Onward Christian Soldiers.”
e-mail: trumpcard1@gmail.com
Check this one out: http://www.pointmarionpa.org.
Becky BLOSSER lived in that big house overlooking the Cheat and Monongahelia Rivers. We passed her house along State Road #119 as we walked the mile and a half to town. Sometimes Mother would stop and sit on the porch and talk with her while Becky peeled apples or strung green beans. Mother said Becky had been a nurse for the Andrew Carnegie family in Pittsburgh and traveled the world caring for the family. When Becky retired, she bought a large tract of land in Springhill Township. Grandma and Grandpap knew her at the Disciples of Christ Church at Oak Grove near Morris Cross Roads. She sold them their farm on Blosser Hill across from John and Josephine GOFF’s dairy farm. (Josephine had come from Sweden, we were told).
When Becky died, she willed her lovely pump organ and victrola with many records of hymns to our family. I began to take piano lessons from Mrs. Howard Swyers and spent many long afternoons playing the records such as “In the Garden,” “I Would Be True,” and “Onward Christian Soldiers.”
e-mail: trumpcard1@gmail.com
Check this one out: http://www.pointmarionpa.org.
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Harold Menus Barnes
Harold
Well, your birthday is coming up. You would have been just 79 years old. Just in case there is a window of there in heaven and you can look down here, I want you to know that I’ve missed you. So have all your sisters.
You never wasted a word in your life. When we got old, we used to exchange a lot of e-mails. I once got one from you that had only one word. But it served the purpose well. You were shy, I guess. That runs in the family.
Uncle Walter called you “Old Sock.” And Uncle Paul tried to show you how to be a man. You tagged after him a lot. I think he taught you how to drive a car.
Save a place for us.
e-mail: trumpcard1@gmail.com
Check this one out: http://www.pointmarionpa.org/.
Check this one out: http://www.pointmarionpa.org/.
Memories of Benjamin Franklin Lewis
Grandpap sat on that double car seat he had on the lower porch . I also remember taking my shoes down to him for him to fix the soles. He had a last on which you put your shoe upside down and he would fix the sole for me so it didn't flap anymore.
He could do anything. He built houses, no small feat, and his lasted 100 years until some careless soul started a fire. He made baskets, knew every plant and animal alive by name.
Harold (BARNES) and I used to play on that inside stair case off the upper porch on to the lower porch which led to the downstairs kitchen. And the door in the kitchen that led to the cellar where the apples were kept in barrels and all those things Grandma canned rested on shelves.
When Paul (LEWIS) got married, they made that his kitchen and opened up the back bedroom so that they had a combination living room/bedroom. I remember that Aunt Sue (nee CONN)was often too sick to even make the bed back into a couch. She had asthma
When the kitchen was downstairs, I used to watch Grandma (Rosa Kirby LEWIS) make sauerkraut in a large crock. She kept it right by the coal stove with a plate on top of it. She always invited me to eat with her. After dinner, she would get down a candy dish in a beautiful small glass candy dish from the top shelf of that cupboard and say I could have one piece. She used to send Harold and me down to Debolt's store to get a loaf of bread or something and she would give us a penny or two to spend for us. We could buy a bunch with those pennies.
She would put newspaper down for Grandpap's place at the table because he was blind, ever the neat one. She once told me that when you were cleaning the table, you should never sweep off the crumbs onto the floor because you just have to clean them up again. Funny how those things stay with you. I loved the salt dishes she put out for Grandpap. Wonder what ever happened to them.
AND FROM ANOTHER COUSIN
Grandpap was surely a wonderful man. He could do anything - and all those plants he grew. One of those pictures is Lois by the well and the gooseberry bush. He had fruit trees of every kind, rhubarb, that big garden all the way to George KLINK’S house. We have such strong roots and I feel so blessed to have been part of the LEWIS clan.
Mom said Grandpap went blind before Tillie LEWIS and I were born in 1936. He knew we were coming but was blind by the time Tillie was born March 2 and I was born June 9. He could tell us apart - he knew which one we were by the sound of our voices but that was early on. He sang his songs and we watched him go thru the orchard using his cane and his wires to guide him. We watched him carry his apples to the basement and eat them on that double car seat. He didn't carry on very many conversations with us.
I remember eating one time at Grandmother's table with Grandpap there too and was amazed at how he could find his jelly and everything he needed - all because Grandmother had it placed the same way each time. I don't remember the salt dips you mentioned. He used salt shakers.
Grandmother was always good to me and Tillie while we were playing there. She never thought we were in the way. I can remember playing on those steps that went down to the basement from the living room door onto the porch and she would carefully step over our paper dolls we had there. I would have a landing and Tillie would have a landing and we spent hours and hours there. Another Grandmother might have told us not to play there but she was pleasant and didn't seem to mind making her way down those steps between paper dolls with her trusty cane and black heeled tie-up shoes.
Grandmother was always good to me and Tillie while we were playing there. She never thought we were in the way. I can remember playing on those steps that went down to the basement from the living room door onto the porch and she would carefully step over our paper dolls we had there. I would have a landing and Tillie would have a landing and we spent hours and hours there. Another Grandmother might have told us not to play there but she was pleasant and didn't seem to mind making her way down those steps between paper dolls with her trusty cane and black heeled tie-up shoes.
The box of candy that Dessie LEWIS brought on the Sundays she came to visit Grandmother was a Sampler box with 2 layers and we were not limited to one. I guess there were one 2 of us and so she didn't feel she needed to save any for the other grandkids. I remember biting into one and thinking I wish that was a nut or a caramel and carefully placing it back into the box - upside down - thinking it would not be noticed. Guess I thought everyone ate them in one gulp like I did. She never said anything about those little "disturbed and broken open" chocolates.
She would look in on us when we were playing up in the orchard - climbing trees and eating green apples with the salt shaker. But we thought she was just taking a walk -
She would look in on us when we were playing up in the orchard - climbing trees and eating green apples with the salt shaker. But we thought she was just taking a walk -
I remember Grandpap as a happy soul. And I remember Grandmother as serene with a quick smile. Don't think we could have had finer grandparents. We felt accepted even though it was not expressed in words. No, I do not remember the songs Grandpap sang. Was he the one who told the Taily Pole story? I heard it from my dad. I have the book you sent and keep it with other Pennsylvania memories.
Sunday, June 8, 2008
COLEBANK, BLOSSER, STEWART, BAKER
This is from a wonderful e-mail that I received some time ago:
Aunt Alice COLEBANK was like my third grandmother, as we lived beside her until I was about 10 years old. If you recall the two houses in the bend of the road on either side of the COLEBANK house. The small one going up Rt. 119 was what we called the Uncle Jesse BLOSSER house. He was an uncle to both Alice and Sylvia and like their second father. He was married to a sister of their Dad and never had any children so he and his wife, Aunt Myrtie, showered all his fatherly and motherly attentions on the STEWART kids. By the time you were small he may have been living with Alice, because my Mom and Dad lived for a time in his house. The other house toward Point Marion was lived in by Lloyd STEWART, who worked in the Point Marion Post Office and was a brother to Alice and Sylvia. So you can see none of this family got very far from one another. My Dad and Mom lived in this house too, after Lloyd and his family moved to Donora, Pa during World War II. From what I can recall my Dad saying the BAKER’S, COLEBANK’S STEWART’S and Uncle Jesse ate supper together almost every Friday night and just about every Sunday. Most of the time they were at the BAKER’S for these meals.
Aunt Alice was my Sunday School teacher too and I can still remember those little green chairs she had in her class room. I wish I had gotten one of them when the church closed. I too had a problem in Sunday School as to whether to call her Aunt Alice or Mrs. Colebank. I remember one winter night she was over at our house, baby sitting me I think. It was cold and icy outside and after my Mom and Dad came home I walked Aunt Alice back home. Ha, I was only about 6. But anyway she slipped and fell on the ice and broke her arm.
You were right about eating. One thing that Alice and Sylvia believed in was feeding everyone who showed up at the house. They both could make something out of nothing in no time flat. However, Sylvia was a much better cook that Alice, but Alice could always eat more. When they were doing the dishes after supper Aunt Alice would always finish everything anyone left on their plates. Nothing went to waste.
Just shortly before Aunt Alice died she took me aside and said she had something that I was the only one she trusted to give it to. I was then only 12. She gave me a 1818 fifty cent piece in almost perfect shape. She told me to keep it forever and I have. Later I showed it to my grandmother BAKER and she said that coin had belonged to both her Dad and her Grandfather STEWART. So I guess it had been in the family almost since 1818.
You spoke about Pearl HALFIN. She was a cousin of Alice and Sylvia. Their fathers were brothers. And then you mentioned Jessie NIEMAN. Well she was a cousin of Alice and Sylvia’s also. I don't think they had much time for Jessie. From what I gather they had to baby-sit her when she was a young child and they were a little older. Evidently Jessie was a rotten brat. Beside her sister married to Byron SECOY, Jessie had a sister who was married to Harold BIERER. Gets confusing after awhile.
You spoke of your dad working in the mine on Walnut Hill. I can remember in late 1940's, maybe 1947 or 48 of the men coming home from the mine in Bill HURSHMAN’S car. I think it was Bill HURSHMAN, your Dad, Harry DIEHL Lloyd COLEBANK and Ed SINES. They stopped in front of the COLEBANK house and unloaded. I watched and Uncle Lloyd COLEBANK was carrying a pint of ice cream. I beat him to his house. But before I could get any ice cream I had to wait until he took his bath in Oxodoyl soap. Then he had supper and then I got some ice cream. Lloyd always said he could never figure out how Harry DIEHLcould get home, clean up and be walking back to Point Marion for a beer before he could finish his bath. Uncle Lloyd was a great church worker in the Trinity Methodist Church as was everyone in this family.
You surely will agree that that was an e-mail well worth getting.
Thank you friend.
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
More Friends
Back Row:
Bob “Pig” LINCOLN, Bill COLEBANK, Theodore “Boots” KLINK
Front Row:
Jimmy BAKER, Jesse “Snitz” COLEBANK
This picture must have been taken shortly after the beginning of WWII because “Pig” Lincoln is not yet in uniform. He did serve and brought an English girl home as his wife.
Check this one out: http://www.pointmarionpa.org/
EMAIL:trumpcard@gmail.com
Friday, May 16, 2008
Friends
1923
Virginia COLEBANK, Annabelle KLINK, Dessie Lewis
Check this one out: http://www.pointmarionpa.org/
email: trumpcard1@gmail.com
American Legion Auxillary
Francine COLEBANK is one name I remember from the times I went to the Auxillary with Mother. She had a son who was an expert trumpet player in the Point Marion High School band. Anther member that we visited was Billie BERG’s mother. Billie taught my Sunday School class. She gave me a brown chinchilla coat one winter. Later, she moved to Philadelphia to get married. (Molly CAMPBELL taught mine says younger sister)
And of course, there were many visits to Bundy and John MCCLAIN. She had a nameplate on her front door that read, ‘Hemstiching.’ She was also pretty deaf. She was the one who handed out the red poppies for kids to deliver for Armistice Day.
The McClain’s gave us magazines such as McCalls, Better Homes and Gardens, etc. I read them from cover to cover and tried to make exotic flower gardens.
John McCLAIN worked at McCLAIN Sand Co., (probably owned it) and he was Sunday school superintendent at the 1st Disciples Christian Church.
Check this one out: http://www.pointmarionpa.org/
e-mail: trumpcard1@gmail.com
And of course, there were many visits to Bundy and John MCCLAIN. She had a nameplate on her front door that read, ‘Hemstiching.’ She was also pretty deaf. She was the one who handed out the red poppies for kids to deliver for Armistice Day.
The McClain’s gave us magazines such as McCalls, Better Homes and Gardens, etc. I read them from cover to cover and tried to make exotic flower gardens.
John McCLAIN worked at McCLAIN Sand Co., (probably owned it) and he was Sunday school superintendent at the 1st Disciples Christian Church.
Check this one out: http://www.pointmarionpa.org/
e-mail: trumpcard1@gmail.com
More from Helen
The HOSTETLER’s
Mother used to go to American Legion Meetings with Fleming and Anne HOSTETLER and leave all the kids together at the Hostetler’s. They had a shed where we played and some of the DILS kids would come up and play with us.
The HOSTETLER’s lived on what is now called Blosser Hill Road. It was set farther back than most with a long lawn in front. Another road ran perpendicular to Blosser Hill Road past one side of the house and the Dils lived below next to the Debolt’s on Rt. #119, which we called the “State Road.” (Later, this house was occupied by “Ham” Swift.) On the other side of the perpendicular road was a house belonging to Maggie and Harry DIEHL.
I once went with the HOSTETLER kids to visit their grandfather, Ambrose FRANKENBERRY who lived on the back road to Fallen Timbers. Grandfather FRANKENBERRY (whose nickname was “Groundhog”) stood on a chair to get down a jar of stick candy from a corner cupboard. The room was dark but we could see with the shaft of dust-speckled golden light streaming in the window.
(I think this is the same house where “Pig” Lincoln later lived. Not too long ago, I got an e-mail from a person in England who was related to “Pig” Lincoln’s wife and wanted some information about them.)
Coming up - the people I remember from going to the Amercan Legion Auxillary meeting with Mother.
Check this one out: http://www.pointmarionpa.org/
email: trumpcard1@gmail.com
Mother used to go to American Legion Meetings with Fleming and Anne HOSTETLER and leave all the kids together at the Hostetler’s. They had a shed where we played and some of the DILS kids would come up and play with us.
The HOSTETLER’s lived on what is now called Blosser Hill Road. It was set farther back than most with a long lawn in front. Another road ran perpendicular to Blosser Hill Road past one side of the house and the Dils lived below next to the Debolt’s on Rt. #119, which we called the “State Road.” (Later, this house was occupied by “Ham” Swift.) On the other side of the perpendicular road was a house belonging to Maggie and Harry DIEHL.
I once went with the HOSTETLER kids to visit their grandfather, Ambrose FRANKENBERRY who lived on the back road to Fallen Timbers. Grandfather FRANKENBERRY (whose nickname was “Groundhog”) stood on a chair to get down a jar of stick candy from a corner cupboard. The room was dark but we could see with the shaft of dust-speckled golden light streaming in the window.
(I think this is the same house where “Pig” Lincoln later lived. Not too long ago, I got an e-mail from a person in England who was related to “Pig” Lincoln’s wife and wanted some information about them.)
Coming up - the people I remember from going to the Amercan Legion Auxillary meeting with Mother.
Check this one out: http://www.pointmarionpa.org/
email: trumpcard1@gmail.com
Friday, May 9, 2008
Point Marion High School 1940
Helen writes:
Irene CORDERY taught algebra class at Point Marion High School in 1940. There must have been thirty-five or so students in the class. Students were always seated alphabetical…Frank BALINT, Helen BARNES, Dorothy BEECH….. and so it went. Today I am reminded of some of those thirty-five kids.
On the other side of the room was the star of the class, Ann WANECKECK from Green County. And then Virginia WYATT, one of the cheerleaders.
In the middle of the room was Sarah EMORY from the Gans area. Frank BALINT’s friend Joe SHEARER was also near the middle of the room. I remembered him from examination days in Springhill Township.
A+B=C was a new experience for me and Miss Cordery seemed to understand it all. She also taught Biology.
Miss Cordery’s homeroom was named “Poughkeepsie” because she had gone to college at Vassar.
e-mail: trumpcard1@gmail.com
Irene CORDERY taught algebra class at Point Marion High School in 1940. There must have been thirty-five or so students in the class. Students were always seated alphabetical…Frank BALINT, Helen BARNES, Dorothy BEECH….. and so it went. Today I am reminded of some of those thirty-five kids.
On the other side of the room was the star of the class, Ann WANECKECK from Green County. And then Virginia WYATT, one of the cheerleaders.
In the middle of the room was Sarah EMORY from the Gans area. Frank BALINT’s friend Joe SHEARER was also near the middle of the room. I remembered him from examination days in Springhill Township.
A+B=C was a new experience for me and Miss Cordery seemed to understand it all. She also taught Biology.
Miss Cordery’s homeroom was named “Poughkeepsie” because she had gone to college at Vassar.
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A History of the Blosser family of Blosser Hill
Blosser Hill in Springhill Township near Point Marion, PA was founded by John BLOSSER Sr. and John BLOSSER, Jr. John BLOSSER, Sr. was born about 1729 in Lancaster Co., PA and was the son of Abraham BLOSSER. In 1792 John BLOSSER sold the land he owned in York Co., PA and moved to Springhill Township. He purchased two tracts of land called “Dover” and “Greenfield” at the “Mouth of the Cheat” for 283 pounds of lawful Pennsylvania money. By 1795 tax lists show that he now owned 500 acres of land as well as 2 horses.
John Sr. married Catherine BEERY, daughter of Nicholas BEERY. They had seven known children: Abraham - who moved to Fairfield Co., OH; John who remained on the family farm; Jacob who appears in the 1810 and 1820 censuses but then disappears;
Nicholas who remained on the farm and married Ann CAGEY and died without children; Isaac and George also moved to Fairfield Co., OH; and Anna married Jacob CLEMMER. John Sr. and Catherine both died about 1814 are probably buried in the CAGEY-BLOSSER cemetery located in Greater Point Marion.
John BLOSSER, Jr. was born Nov 1, 1766 in York Co., PA and died Feb 7, 1829. He married Mary CLEMMER, daughter of Jacob “Jasper” CLEMMER and Anna Barbara NEFF. Mary was a sister of Jacob CLEMMER who married John’s sister, Anna. John Jr. acquired his father’s farm and other holdings which included two islands in the Cheat River. One of these still exists above the Cheat bridge. The other island was in the Monongahela River below the point and was dredged away many years ago. John Jr. and Mary had 12 children. Most of these children moved away from Blosser Hill except Isaac who married Rebecca GILLESPIE and continued to live on the family farm in Blosser Hill.
These are the folks who settled and lived on Blosser Hill. Today there are a number of people who live on Blosser Hill who descend from this family. Some may not even know it.
These are the facts. Now we need some flesh on the bones. I know somebody who may have some answers for that.
Stay tuned.
(An expanded form of this article was written by Gordon Baker and appeared in the Feb 28, 2008 Point Marion News. This blog publication was approved by the author)
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John Sr. married Catherine BEERY, daughter of Nicholas BEERY. They had seven known children: Abraham - who moved to Fairfield Co., OH; John who remained on the family farm; Jacob who appears in the 1810 and 1820 censuses but then disappears;
Nicholas who remained on the farm and married Ann CAGEY and died without children; Isaac and George also moved to Fairfield Co., OH; and Anna married Jacob CLEMMER. John Sr. and Catherine both died about 1814 are probably buried in the CAGEY-BLOSSER cemetery located in Greater Point Marion.
John BLOSSER, Jr. was born Nov 1, 1766 in York Co., PA and died Feb 7, 1829. He married Mary CLEMMER, daughter of Jacob “Jasper” CLEMMER and Anna Barbara NEFF. Mary was a sister of Jacob CLEMMER who married John’s sister, Anna. John Jr. acquired his father’s farm and other holdings which included two islands in the Cheat River. One of these still exists above the Cheat bridge. The other island was in the Monongahela River below the point and was dredged away many years ago. John Jr. and Mary had 12 children. Most of these children moved away from Blosser Hill except Isaac who married Rebecca GILLESPIE and continued to live on the family farm in Blosser Hill.
These are the folks who settled and lived on Blosser Hill. Today there are a number of people who live on Blosser Hill who descend from this family. Some may not even know it.
These are the facts. Now we need some flesh on the bones. I know somebody who may have some answers for that.
Stay tuned.
(An expanded form of this article was written by Gordon Baker and appeared in the Feb 28, 2008 Point Marion News. This blog publication was approved by the author)
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Hope Hollow 2
June 1939
On Sunday afternoons, Aunt Dessie took us on long walks to Hope Hollow. We didn’t know that she had gone there years before with her friends. In this photo:
Back row left to right
Herbert PORTER, Harold BARNES, Lois BARNES Holding Martha LEWIS
Herbert PORTER, Harold BARNES, Lois BARNES Holding Martha LEWIS
Front row:
Emma LEWIS, Aunt Dessie, Tillie LEWIS, Betty BARNES Aloma BARNES, Hazel PORTER, Ethel LEWIS, Fannie LEWIS.
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Emma LEWIS, Aunt Dessie, Tillie LEWIS, Betty BARNES Aloma BARNES, Hazel PORTER, Ethel LEWIS, Fannie LEWIS.
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Wednesday, May 7, 2008
1st Disciple's of Christ Church
HELEN WRITES
J. Lee YOUNG walked the pipeline past our house on Blosser Hill at regular intervals in the 1930’s. The line went down over the hill by Mary and Bill STAMMLER’S place on the way to Brown’s Hill (coal during WWI) and on toward Nilan. I wonder who owned the gas company. Was it Point Marion Gas Co. or Fayette County Gas Co. or Green Co. Gas Co,?
J. Lee YOUNG lived on High School Hill in Point Marion, PA overlooking the 1st Disciple’s of Christ Church on Morgantown Street. He taught the men’s bible class. Frank BOWERS was Superintendent of the Sunday School and led the singing of “Onward Christian Soldiers,” “I Would be True,” “Fairest Lord Jesus” and “Love Lifted Me.” John McCLAIN was also a prominent member of this church. Oren DICE and Robert EARLY, a graduate of Yale University, were ministers of the 1st Christian Church. Robert Early really concentrated on building a vibrant youth group . We had outings at Camp Buddy, Sunset Beach, at Lake Lynn and exchanges with other youth groups near Pittsburg. And there was an annual picnic at Shady Grove where we got to drive the Dodg’ems.
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J. Lee YOUNG walked the pipeline past our house on Blosser Hill at regular intervals in the 1930’s. The line went down over the hill by Mary and Bill STAMMLER’S place on the way to Brown’s Hill (coal during WWI) and on toward Nilan. I wonder who owned the gas company. Was it Point Marion Gas Co. or Fayette County Gas Co. or Green Co. Gas Co,?
J. Lee YOUNG lived on High School Hill in Point Marion, PA overlooking the 1st Disciple’s of Christ Church on Morgantown Street. He taught the men’s bible class. Frank BOWERS was Superintendent of the Sunday School and led the singing of “Onward Christian Soldiers,” “I Would be True,” “Fairest Lord Jesus” and “Love Lifted Me.” John McCLAIN was also a prominent member of this church. Oren DICE and Robert EARLY, a graduate of Yale University, were ministers of the 1st Christian Church. Robert Early really concentrated on building a vibrant youth group . We had outings at Camp Buddy, Sunset Beach, at Lake Lynn and exchanges with other youth groups near Pittsburg. And there was an annual picnic at Shady Grove where we got to drive the Dodg’ems.
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An Obituary -
Noelene HOUZE PACKRONE 93 years, of Point Marion, Pa., passed away peacefully in her home on Saturday, May 3, 2008.
Noelene was born in Point Marion, Pa., on December 10, 1914, the eldest Daughter of Noel J. HOUZE and Pearl A. Kincaid HOUZE.
After graduating from Point Marion High School, she went to work at the L. J. Houze Convex Glass Company, which was founded by her Great Uncle.
During World War II, she worked in the Goodyear Aircraft Defense Plant in Akron, Ohio.
Upon returning home, she worked at various local places including the Houze Glass Craft Outlet and The 119 Superette, from where she retired in 1980.
Noelene was a very faithful member of Saint Hubert Roman Catholic Church, Point Marion, and the Altar Rosary/Christian Mothers Society.
She was a local historian on the Houze ancestry and glass company.
She was most proud of her collection of World War II articles and photographs of local war veterans.
Friends will be received in the LOUIS E. RUDOLPH FUNERAL HOME, 15 Main Street, Point Marion, Pa., Thomas B. Rudolph, Funeral Director and Supervisor, on Monday, May 5, 2008, from 7 to 9 p.m., Tuesday, May 6, from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. and Wednesday, May 7, 2008, until 10:30 a.m. when brief Prayers will be said.
A Mass of Christian Burial follows in Saint Hubert Roman Catholic Church, Point Marion, at 11 a.m. with the Rev. Father Joseph A. Sredinski as Celebrant.
Interment will follow in Evergreen Memorial Park, Point Marion, Pa.
Memorials may be made to Saint Hubert Roman Catholic Church, c/o 50 Morgantown Street, Fairchance, PA 15436 and Friends of the Old Cemetery, Post Office Box 214, Point Marion, PA 15474.
©The Herald Standard 2008
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Noelene was born in Point Marion, Pa., on December 10, 1914, the eldest Daughter of Noel J. HOUZE and Pearl A. Kincaid HOUZE.
After graduating from Point Marion High School, she went to work at the L. J. Houze Convex Glass Company, which was founded by her Great Uncle.
During World War II, she worked in the Goodyear Aircraft Defense Plant in Akron, Ohio.
Upon returning home, she worked at various local places including the Houze Glass Craft Outlet and The 119 Superette, from where she retired in 1980.
Noelene was a very faithful member of Saint Hubert Roman Catholic Church, Point Marion, and the Altar Rosary/Christian Mothers Society.
She was a local historian on the Houze ancestry and glass company.
She was most proud of her collection of World War II articles and photographs of local war veterans.
Friends will be received in the LOUIS E. RUDOLPH FUNERAL HOME, 15 Main Street, Point Marion, Pa., Thomas B. Rudolph, Funeral Director and Supervisor, on Monday, May 5, 2008, from 7 to 9 p.m., Tuesday, May 6, from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. and Wednesday, May 7, 2008, until 10:30 a.m. when brief Prayers will be said.
A Mass of Christian Burial follows in Saint Hubert Roman Catholic Church, Point Marion, at 11 a.m. with the Rev. Father Joseph A. Sredinski as Celebrant.
Interment will follow in Evergreen Memorial Park, Point Marion, Pa.
Memorials may be made to Saint Hubert Roman Catholic Church, c/o 50 Morgantown Street, Fairchance, PA 15436 and Friends of the Old Cemetery, Post Office Box 214, Point Marion, PA 15474.
©The Herald Standard 2008
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Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Inspiration
After Linberg flew the Atlantic, the BAKER boys built an airplane. Here it is in the BAKER tire swing with Raymond GOFF riding it.*
*courtesty Gordon C. Baker
Hope Hollow
Hope Hollow
Well, surprise, surprise. We were not the first to go on long walks in Hope Hollow!
(Gordon, why did you call it “Minnie Lynn’s Hollow?“)Here is a picture of those who came before us:
Left to right
Annabelle KLINK, Dessie LEWIS, Virginia COLEBANK, Osborne BAKER, Quinter, BAKER
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Well, surprise, surprise. We were not the first to go on long walks in Hope Hollow!
(Gordon, why did you call it “Minnie Lynn’s Hollow?“)Here is a picture of those who came before us:
Left to right
Annabelle KLINK, Dessie LEWIS, Virginia COLEBANK, Osborne BAKER, Quinter, BAKER
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Swimming in the Cheat
Raise your hand if you have been swimming in the Cheat. This had to have happened after the 1st of June because we were never allowed to go barefoot until the ground cracked and that was always after June 1st. We hiked through the back trails and down the “hollow” to arrive at the intersection of Route # 119 and the New Geneva road. At that time, the McClain Sand Company was located there on the Cheat River. We crossed the road and went downstream a little way. And there was a beach just below the sand company. There must have been 10 or 20 kids who went swimming there then. Some were from the countryside and some from the town of Point Marion. We walked on the barges of the sand company. I once fell off the barge when I was 5 or 6 years old and Bob Fowler who much have been 14 or 15 years old (I’m guessing) jumped in and pulled me out so I wouldn’t go under the barge. Thank you, Bob! Once Margy Diehl and somebody else, I forgot who, swam the rivers. This is the point where the Cheat and the Monongahela Rivers come together and it is a long way across where they meet but swim across and back they did.
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LLoyd Colebank
Carol writes:
In the 1946-47 school year, Blosser Hill schools opened. That was the year I was in fifth grade. Miss LEONARD taught, in one building, grades 1-3, Mrs. HESS taught grades 4-6, in the other building. I don't remember the numbers of students in fifth grade, but in sixth grade we only had 6, Jimmy and Viola HUEY, Jack RHODES, Norma Jean SWIFT, myself, and I can't think of the other person. It might have been Steve PLEVEL. Anyway, I get sidetracked. Mr. COLEBANK was the custodian for the buildings, he lived across the road. He would come over, open up, get a bucket of water for recess drinks from the pump on the well outside. I am sure he kept the buildings clean, although I never saw him doing that. In the winter, Jack RHODES and I would help him build the fire in the pot belly stove toward the back center of the building. We would crack the ice in the bucket and prime the pump with the water if there was any. We would fill the bucket and put it near the cupboard where our water cups were kept. We thought we were really being a big help to him. I am not sure, but I think he would wash the blackboards while we were doing this. I do remember Mrs. HESS erasing what she didn't need for the next day, I am assuming so that he would know what portions to wash. Mr. COLEBANK was such a patient, quiet man. He was so nice to everyone. After Mr and Mrs. MUNSON moved into Helen ClLEMMER'S house, he would ride to church with them. This was after Mrs. COLEBANK passed away. My mother would try to have our dinner ready when we got home from church and would have a plate fixed for him. When he returned the plate he always had a treat for us. It was usually a package of butter mints. I loved those mints. Anytime I think of going to school there, and it is often, I think of Mr. COLEBANK and what a nice man he was. It is easy to think about it, as Mother's property abuts the school property. When we sit on the back porch, we face the schools. Mr. COLEBANK'S grandson, John BOHAN, lives in their home now. It is just as well manicured as it was when they lived there. Blosser Hill has many more structures now, than it did when we were growing up, and for the most part everyone takes very good care of their property. Thanks for starting the Clarion, I love reading the new additions. I have spread the word, so I hope lots of people will add their 2 cents.
I am curious as to why the schools reopened? They were supposed to have consolidated all those rural schools. I left in 1945 and didn't know they reopened.
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In the 1946-47 school year, Blosser Hill schools opened. That was the year I was in fifth grade. Miss LEONARD taught, in one building, grades 1-3, Mrs. HESS taught grades 4-6, in the other building. I don't remember the numbers of students in fifth grade, but in sixth grade we only had 6, Jimmy and Viola HUEY, Jack RHODES, Norma Jean SWIFT, myself, and I can't think of the other person. It might have been Steve PLEVEL. Anyway, I get sidetracked. Mr. COLEBANK was the custodian for the buildings, he lived across the road. He would come over, open up, get a bucket of water for recess drinks from the pump on the well outside. I am sure he kept the buildings clean, although I never saw him doing that. In the winter, Jack RHODES and I would help him build the fire in the pot belly stove toward the back center of the building. We would crack the ice in the bucket and prime the pump with the water if there was any. We would fill the bucket and put it near the cupboard where our water cups were kept. We thought we were really being a big help to him. I am not sure, but I think he would wash the blackboards while we were doing this. I do remember Mrs. HESS erasing what she didn't need for the next day, I am assuming so that he would know what portions to wash. Mr. COLEBANK was such a patient, quiet man. He was so nice to everyone. After Mr and Mrs. MUNSON moved into Helen ClLEMMER'S house, he would ride to church with them. This was after Mrs. COLEBANK passed away. My mother would try to have our dinner ready when we got home from church and would have a plate fixed for him. When he returned the plate he always had a treat for us. It was usually a package of butter mints. I loved those mints. Anytime I think of going to school there, and it is often, I think of Mr. COLEBANK and what a nice man he was. It is easy to think about it, as Mother's property abuts the school property. When we sit on the back porch, we face the schools. Mr. COLEBANK'S grandson, John BOHAN, lives in their home now. It is just as well manicured as it was when they lived there. Blosser Hill has many more structures now, than it did when we were growing up, and for the most part everyone takes very good care of their property. Thanks for starting the Clarion, I love reading the new additions. I have spread the word, so I hope lots of people will add their 2 cents.
I am curious as to why the schools reopened? They were supposed to have consolidated all those rural schools. I left in 1945 and didn't know they reopened.
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Marion School
Con’t
How I remember recess! We jumped rope while the boys played marbles. Paul had a drawer full of marbles in his room (lots of commies). One day I went into his room and took several commies. They were pinkish and cream colored, smooth, about the size of cranberries. As we walked to school that morning I displayed them and I was surprised that he knew where I had gotten
them.
I remember the pear tree on the school grounds. In the fall pears covered the ground with honey bees buzzing over them.
In the upper grades, we played soft ball. On friday we sometimes walked to Fallen Timbers to play a game. Helen and Hoffa SULLIVAN were superb players. The could knock the ball out of the park.
Marian COX was my favorite teacher. She made a bulletin board and she taught us about art. Her father drover her each day from New Geneva. Sometimes he was cranky if she kept him waiting.
Kate DAVIS came in 3rd grade. She had a bright smile and talked a lot. Later, when I graduated from high school in Moundsville, WV, she saw Mother in Nilan and suggested that I get a summer job with the Hot Shoppes in Baltimore and Washington D.C., owned by Marriott’s because they welcomed college girls. That too is another story
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How I remember recess! We jumped rope while the boys played marbles. Paul had a drawer full of marbles in his room (lots of commies). One day I went into his room and took several commies. They were pinkish and cream colored, smooth, about the size of cranberries. As we walked to school that morning I displayed them and I was surprised that he knew where I had gotten
them.
I remember the pear tree on the school grounds. In the fall pears covered the ground with honey bees buzzing over them.
In the upper grades, we played soft ball. On friday we sometimes walked to Fallen Timbers to play a game. Helen and Hoffa SULLIVAN were superb players. The could knock the ball out of the park.
Marian COX was my favorite teacher. She made a bulletin board and she taught us about art. Her father drover her each day from New Geneva. Sometimes he was cranky if she kept him waiting.
Kate DAVIS came in 3rd grade. She had a bright smile and talked a lot. Later, when I graduated from high school in Moundsville, WV, she saw Mother in Nilan and suggested that I get a summer job with the Hot Shoppes in Baltimore and Washington D.C., owned by Marriott’s because they welcomed college girls. That too is another story
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Friday, April 18, 2008
My sister Helen writes:
My life changed on March 4, 1931 when my father died on my 7th birthday in Republic, PA.
The next thing I knew Mother had moved the family of six back home to Blosser Hill. Once there, my grandfather, Benjamin Franklin LEWIS and my uncles, Walter, Hugh, and Paul built us a three room house while we lived with our grandparents. That is a story for another day.
Soon after arrival at my grandparents, my uncle Paul, who was in the 8th grade took me to Marion School (Marion School was a one room school where kids from the surrounding few miles when to school) and enrolled me in the 1st grade.
Miss MILLER, the teacher, was combing her long reddish hair at her desk. I remember walking in on the blackish oiled floor. There must have been eight or more rows of students in the school. Paul sat in the last row with my cousin, Lawrence STAMMLER, Raymond GOFF, and Cecil CROW. Another boy, Jack, walked from Nilan because he had been expelled from Nilan for his behavior. However, he seemed as normal as the other boys.
At age eighty-four, I am trying to remember the next years.
Teachers; 1930-31 Miss MILLER
1931-32 Kate DAVIS
1932-33 Art LACKEY
1933-34 Marian COX
1934-35 Marian COX
1935-36 Eunice VAN SICKLE
1937-38 Eunice VAN SICKLE
When Paul and I walked to Marion School each morning, we sometimes stopped at DEBOLT’s store at the bottom of the hill to buy a 10 cent loaf of bread for Grandma. She always gave us 2 cents for penny candy. Mr. Spencer DEBOLT always slid the sliding case for us to make our selection.
Then we proceeded down the State road #119 past the homes of Tom DILS and Del and Ed GANOE. Alice COLEBANK lived across from Marion School. Her brother, Lloyd STEWART, lived across from her. He worked at the Point Marion Post Office.
TO BE CONTINUED
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The next thing I knew Mother had moved the family of six back home to Blosser Hill. Once there, my grandfather, Benjamin Franklin LEWIS and my uncles, Walter, Hugh, and Paul built us a three room house while we lived with our grandparents. That is a story for another day.
Soon after arrival at my grandparents, my uncle Paul, who was in the 8th grade took me to Marion School (Marion School was a one room school where kids from the surrounding few miles when to school) and enrolled me in the 1st grade.
Miss MILLER, the teacher, was combing her long reddish hair at her desk. I remember walking in on the blackish oiled floor. There must have been eight or more rows of students in the school. Paul sat in the last row with my cousin, Lawrence STAMMLER, Raymond GOFF, and Cecil CROW. Another boy, Jack, walked from Nilan because he had been expelled from Nilan for his behavior. However, he seemed as normal as the other boys.
At age eighty-four, I am trying to remember the next years.
Teachers; 1930-31 Miss MILLER
1931-32 Kate DAVIS
1932-33 Art LACKEY
1933-34 Marian COX
1934-35 Marian COX
1935-36 Eunice VAN SICKLE
1937-38 Eunice VAN SICKLE
When Paul and I walked to Marion School each morning, we sometimes stopped at DEBOLT’s store at the bottom of the hill to buy a 10 cent loaf of bread for Grandma. She always gave us 2 cents for penny candy. Mr. Spencer DEBOLT always slid the sliding case for us to make our selection.
Then we proceeded down the State road #119 past the homes of Tom DILS and Del and Ed GANOE. Alice COLEBANK lived across from Marion School. Her brother, Lloyd STEWART, lived across from her. He worked at the Point Marion Post Office.
TO BE CONTINUED
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Route #857
Somebody should write an ode to Route #857. It has to have been an Indian path to begin with and then was surely used by the early settlers to travel to and from the vicinity of Morgantown, WV and southern Fayette Co., PA. Can you picture the horse or horse and buggy going to Gans, or Fairchance, or Smithhfield, Haydentown, White House, or Uniontown along that route? It could be fall with the leaves falling about or winter with snow underfoot. Spring would be even better. Spring is beautiful anywhere but spring in Fayette County is the most beautiful of all. When my sisters and I come back to visit, we usually stay at the Ramada in Morgantown and then drive 857 to our places of childhood memory. We still have a few cousins sprinkled here and there. Route #857 will take you past Cheat Lake. I remember Mother saying, "Oh, it's up there by Cheat Lake," and I had no idea where Cheat Lake was located. (Wonder how Cheat River got it's name? I hope not for what it might suggest!) You could find Fletcher cemetery on that route if you were looking for the last resting place of some of your loved ones of long ago. Now what else is along 857. Please write and tell me.
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Marion School about 1927
I'm guessing this was about 1927 but I don't know.
Row #1
Virginia STALNAKER, Clara STAMMLER, Herman STEWART, Velma DILS, Donald CROW, Edith CROW, Virginia COLEBANK
Row #2
Clarence STEWART, Nellie BROWN, Hugh LEWIS, Hilda WRIGHT, Ila DILS, Anna Belle KLINK
Row #3
Paul C. LEWIS, Mary BOARD, Raymond GOFF, Edna STEWART, Cecil CROW, Stanley DILS, James BAKER,
Row #4
William ECKERT, Elizabeth COLEBANK, Arbath BROWN, Osborne BAKER
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PMHS 1928
Row 1 (holding class banner)
Elizabeth Criner, Elizabeth Colebank, Ida Bertilett, Grethel Young, Margaretha Crowe, Jeannette Simpson, Marie Gans, Dessie B. Lewis
Row 2 (across)
Joe Maliska, Thelma Watson, Margaret Costolo, Kathryn Stewart, Fay Rudoph, Marian Beck, Doris Berg, Ella Trans (home room teacher), George Lefevor
Row 3 (across)
Arthur Robbins, John B. Conn, Robert Titus, Harold Hunker, Oscar Coudeau, Melvin Laing, Williard Conn, Enslo Lockard, Joe Periski
(The handwriting on the back of the picture was difficult to read so some of the names may not be quite correct)
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Aunt Annie - Ruth Ann Phillips Jennings
She would come up the hill with her umbrella every so often. I don’t know when she started coming but she was born during the Civil War so she couldn’t have been young. And that is quite a climb up Blosser Hill although it didn’t seem steep when we lived there. She had two reasons to come. Her sister, Sarah PHILLIPS STAMMLER, lived on the hill with her daughter, Maggie Diehl, and her brother-in-law, Ben LEWIS lived a couple of houses farther up the hill. The brother-in-law was my Grandfather. When this picture was taken she was coming to see my Grandparents. She married Henry Clay JENNINGS who was my grandfather’s half brother.
RUTH ANN PHILLIPS was born June 1863 in Pa, and died June 29, 1947. She married HENRY CLAY JENNINGS Abt. 1882, son of THOMAS JENNINGS and KATHERINE MURRAY. He was born March 04, 1868 in WV, and died October 18, 1930 in Springhill Twp., Fayette Co., PA. Burial: Brick Church Cemetery along Lake Lynn road Morris Crossroads, PA, also known as L.C. Cemetery
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1930, April 17. Fayette Co., PA, Springhill Twp., page 9a, Dist., 24, ED 26-96,
House #195
EMORY, Alice A., wife, live on farm, f., w., 66 yrs., white, married. 40 at first marriage, b. PA, F b. PA, M b. WV,
House #196
BAKER, William G., head, owns home $4,000, does not live on farm, male, white, 39 yrs., married, 27 yrs. At first marriage, b. PA, F/M b. PA, trucker, general hauling, veteran
BAKER, Ada H. B., wife, female, white 33 yrs., married at 21 yrs., b. PA, F/M b. PA
BAKER, William D., son, male, white, 11 yrs., single, attended school, b. NJ, F/M b. PA
BAKER, James M., son, male, white, 4 yrs., b. PA, F/M b. PA
House #197
WELTNER, George W., head owns home, has radio, lives on farm, male, white, 68 yrs., married at 25 yrs., b. WV, F/M b. WV, farmer
WELTNER, Mary F., wife, 67 yrs., married at 24 yrs., b. PA, F. b. MD, M. b. PA
WELTNER, Cordia M., dau., 36 yrs., single, b. PA, F b. WV, M. b. PA, school bookkeeper
House # 198
DAY, Ray M., head, owns home $3,000, does not live on farm, male, white, 38 yrs., married at 27 yrs., B. PA, F/M b. PA, laborer, road work, veteran
DAY, Leola, wife, 31 yrs, married at 18 yrs., b. PA, F/M b. PA
DAY, Jessie, dau., 9 yrs., b. PA, F/M b .PA
Day, Evelin (sic) J., dau., 3 yrs., b. PA, F/M b. PA
DAY, Minnie E., dau., 2 yrs., b. PA, F/M b. PA
House #199
GUSEMAN, Gale, head, owns home, $4,000, has radio, does not live on farm, male, white, 36 yrs., married at 21 yrs., b. MO, F/M b. WV, laborer, auto garage, veteran
GUSEMAN, Hattie E., wife, 32 yrs., married at 16 yrs., b. WV, F/M b. WV
GUSEMAN, Mary E., dau., 12 yrs., b. WV, F. b. MO, M. b. WV
GUSEMAN, Dorthy H., dau, 10 yrs., b. PA, F. b. MO, M. b. WV
GUSEMAN, James E., son, 8 yrs., b. PA, F. b. MO, M. b. WV
GUSEMAN, Fred , son, 6 yrs., b. PA, F. b. MO, M. b. WV
GUSEMAN, Robert Lee, son, 4 yrs., b. PA, F. b. MO, M. b. WV
GUSEMAN, Marjorie E., dau, 2 yrs., b. PA, F. b. MO, M. b. WV
House #200
DREW, Harry E., head rents, male, white, 29 yrs., married at 19 yrs., b. PA, F. b. PA, M. b. PA, laborer, auto garage
DREW, Laura K., wife, 28 yrs., married at 18 yrs., b. PA, F. b. PA, M. b. PA
DREW, Betty L., dau., 6 yrs., b. PA, F. b. PA, M. b. PA
DREW, Harry Jr., son, 4 yrs., b. PA, F. b. PA, M. b. PA
DREW Dolores, L., dau, 2 yrs., b. PA, F. b. PA, M. b. PA
House #201
LYONS, Guy W., had, rents, radio, male, white, 35 yrs., married at 34 yrs., b. PA, F. b. PA, M. b. WV, US Post office, veteran
LYONS, Evelin J., wife, female, white, 24 yrs., married at 23 yrs., b. PA, F. b. PA, M. b. PA
House #202
SHIBLER, Joseph, had, owns, $5,000, male, white, 78 yrs., married at 28 yrs., b. PA, F. b. PA, M. b. PA, salesman, general store
SHIBLER, Emma C., wife, 75 yrs., married at 25 yrs., b. PA, F. b. PA, M. b. PA
House #203
SHIBLER, Earl L., head, male, white, 47 yrs., married at 21 yrs., b. PA, F. b. PA, M. b. PA, laborer, glass factory
SHIBLER, Lenora M., wife, 45 yrs., married at 19 yrs., b. PA, F/M b. WV
SHIBLER, Dorcas E., dau., 22 yrs., b. PA, F. b. PA, M. b. PA
SHIBLER, Jeane, dau., 19 yrs., b. PA, F. b. PA, M. b. PA
SHIBLER, Rebecca, dau., 17 yrs., b. PA, F. b. PA, M. b. PA
SHIBLER, Robert, son, 14 yrs., b. PA, F. b. PA, M. b. PA
SHIBLER, Earl Jr., son, 10 yrs., b. PA, F. b. PA, M. b. PA
SHIBLER, Billy, son, 3 yrs., b. PA, F. b. PA, M. b. PA
SHIBLER, Joan, dau., 10/12 yrs, b. PA, F. b. PA, M. b. PA
Email trumpcard1@gmail.com
Point Marion 1945
Email :trumpcard1@gmail.com
In 1945, the Grayhound bus station was in Hunker’s Drug Store. Hunker’s was at the corner of Railroad and Main Streets. The train, seems like it was always the B & O, ran up down Railroad Street and the passenger station was on the other side of the street to the south. The town was at its apex of development. On Main Street, there were a number of stores including Klein’s Dry Goods, Siegel’s shoe store, Frere’s Hardware, a newsstand, Sadler’s Five and Dime and of course, Barney Maple’s theatre and restaurant. The post office was close to the shoe store but it seems like there was something else between them. There were two beer gardens and one state liquor store. One beer garden was DeGardyn’s and I have forgotten the name of the other. I’ve also forgotten how to spell Degardine? The A & P was next to the five and dime. Of course there was a bowling alley. When I was in about the 5th or 6th grade, Boyer’s Ice Cream store came to town. Next to that was the location of Ross’s Grocery. Sometime the Carlier Bakery appeared, I’m not sure exactly when. A little shoe repair shop nestled next to Hunker’s Drug Store. Sprinkled about town, there were other stores. Cupelli’s grocery store was several blocks away and the Rhodes had a grocery on Railroad Street.
On the way out of town towards the Cheat river bridge, on one side of the street you would pass the Maple’s stately home, the Frank Bowers home, and John McClain home. On the either side next to the filling station is where Dr. Hunger lived. I’ve always wondered why they put a filling station next to his house and whether he protested or not. Dr. Buvinger lived on that side of the street too. And of course there were a lot of other houses, I just didn’t know who lived in them.
In 1945, the Grayhound bus station was in Hunker’s Drug Store. Hunker’s was at the corner of Railroad and Main Streets. The train, seems like it was always the B & O, ran up down Railroad Street and the passenger station was on the other side of the street to the south. The town was at its apex of development. On Main Street, there were a number of stores including Klein’s Dry Goods, Siegel’s shoe store, Frere’s Hardware, a newsstand, Sadler’s Five and Dime and of course, Barney Maple’s theatre and restaurant. The post office was close to the shoe store but it seems like there was something else between them. There were two beer gardens and one state liquor store. One beer garden was DeGardyn’s and I have forgotten the name of the other. I’ve also forgotten how to spell Degardine? The A & P was next to the five and dime. Of course there was a bowling alley. When I was in about the 5th or 6th grade, Boyer’s Ice Cream store came to town. Next to that was the location of Ross’s Grocery. Sometime the Carlier Bakery appeared, I’m not sure exactly when. A little shoe repair shop nestled next to Hunker’s Drug Store. Sprinkled about town, there were other stores. Cupelli’s grocery store was several blocks away and the Rhodes had a grocery on Railroad Street.
On the way out of town towards the Cheat river bridge, on one side of the street you would pass the Maple’s stately home, the Frank Bowers home, and John McClain home. On the either side next to the filling station is where Dr. Hunger lived. I’ve always wondered why they put a filling station next to his house and whether he protested or not. Dr. Buvinger lived on that side of the street too. And of course there were a lot of other houses, I just didn’t know who lived in them.
Maggie Diehl
She was beloved. How else could this excerpt from a letter be explained
“My mind wondered back over the years to those days we lived on Blosser Hill; of how you came and did our milking when we were all sick, and how you used to birth all the babies or so it seemed. Remember ….the political rally we went to…and the story he told about going through the cemetery and came across a tombstone inscribed: “Here lies the body of Mary Ann Brown, When on earth, she weighed 200 pounds, and now in heaven, sweetly she rests on Abraham’s breast,” and some kid had scribbled below it ‘may be sweet for Mary Ann but it’s a heck of a load for Abraham‘… Maggie, I miss you my good friend.”
She was always busy. I never saw her sit down. Sometimes she was washing fruits or vegetables at the kitchen sink and getting ready to cook something tantalizing. Sometimes she was washing in her wash house out back. You had to go out the back door and up a flight of 8 or 10 steps because things are always up in the mountains. It was such a nice addition to her house, I thought, and Aloma and Margy used it as a play house. (But no matter how much I pounded on the door or cried real tears, they would not let me in) Some where along the line, she took her little girl by the hand and went to see Roger Houze. I don’t know what she said but he gave her a job at the glass factory. This at a time when it was almost impossible to find a job of any kind. And she was there for everybody. If you had a problem and you talked it over with Mag, she could usually think of some solution. I know many people must have bushels of memories of Mag. Please share them with the rest of us.
“My mind wondered back over the years to those days we lived on Blosser Hill; of how you came and did our milking when we were all sick, and how you used to birth all the babies or so it seemed. Remember ….the political rally we went to…and the story he told about going through the cemetery and came across a tombstone inscribed: “Here lies the body of Mary Ann Brown, When on earth, she weighed 200 pounds, and now in heaven, sweetly she rests on Abraham’s breast,” and some kid had scribbled below it ‘may be sweet for Mary Ann but it’s a heck of a load for Abraham‘… Maggie, I miss you my good friend.”
She was always busy. I never saw her sit down. Sometimes she was washing fruits or vegetables at the kitchen sink and getting ready to cook something tantalizing. Sometimes she was washing in her wash house out back. You had to go out the back door and up a flight of 8 or 10 steps because things are always up in the mountains. It was such a nice addition to her house, I thought, and Aloma and Margy used it as a play house. (But no matter how much I pounded on the door or cried real tears, they would not let me in) Some where along the line, she took her little girl by the hand and went to see Roger Houze. I don’t know what she said but he gave her a job at the glass factory. This at a time when it was almost impossible to find a job of any kind. And she was there for everybody. If you had a problem and you talked it over with Mag, she could usually think of some solution. I know many people must have bushels of memories of Mag. Please share them with the rest of us.
We are all one
Somewhere in your life travels, you surely have heard that all life is connected in some manner. You know about being your brother’s keeper, don’t you. The motto where I went to college was “God hath made of one blood all ye nations of men” (when the world turned to political correctness, they changed the “men“ to“persons“ but I like the original because it is so much more lyrical). And science tells us that the flutter of a butterfly’s wings may cause a hurricane someplace on earth. So as the years have gone by, I have been intrigued by the relationships between and among the people who lived in my childhood world. My maternal grandparents lived a few houses away and their children with their children lived above and below. My father’s sister lived a few houses away and her husband’s sister lived further down the hill. My grandfather’s half brother lived on Route #119 in a dangerous bend of the road and there were many brothers and many sisters who lived nearby. The relationships were often tangled and hopefully, some of the readers will tell us more about relationships. People did take care of each other as best they could in the worst of all economic times.
1930 Census, Springhill Twp., page 1a
1930 Census Springhill Twp., Fayette Co., PA, ED 26-96, p. 1a, April 2, 1930, John A. Lyons, enumerator
House #1
ROSS, Lewis R., head, owns, Value:$1500, radio, male, white, 40 yrs., married at 23, b. PA, F/M b. PA, laborer, odd jobs
ROSS, Wiles? M., wife, female, white, 38 yrs., married at 21, b. WV, F/M b. WV
ROSS, Robert L., son, male, white, 16 yrs., single, attended school, b. PA, F. b. PA, M b. WV
House #2
FRANKENBERRY, John, head, lives on farm, male, white, 70 yrs., single, b. PA, F/M b. PA, farmer
House #3
MACKEY, Robert, head, owns, lives on farm, male, white, 84 yrs., married at 25, b. PA, F/M b. Scotland
MACKEY, Emma C., wife, female, white, 82 yrs., married at 23, b. PA, F/M b. MD, farmer
House #4
TITUS, Garret S., head, owns, lives on farm, male, white, 49 yrs., married at 26, b. in TX, F/M b. PA, glass factory
TITUS, Anna T., wife, female, white, 53 yrs., married at 30, b. PA, F ather b. WV, Mother b. PA
TITUS, Robert L., son, male, white, 20 yrs., single, b. PA, Father b. TX, Mother b. PA, glass factory
TITUS, Mary M., dau, female, white, 12 yrs., attended school, b. PA, Father b. TX, Mother b. PA
House #5
ALLIPSCOMB, Albert, head, rents, male, white, 55 yrs., married at 24, b. WV, F/M b. WV, farmer
ALLIPSCOMB, Clara, wife, female, white, 40 yrs., married at 26, b. WV, F/M b. WV
ALLIPSCOMB, Opal, dau., female, white, 8 yrs., attended school, b. WV, F/M b. WV
ALLIPSCOMB, Floyd, son, male, white, 5 yrs., b. WV, F/M b. WV
House #6
MARTIN, Bud J., head, ents, male, neg., 46 yrs., single, b. VA, F/M b. VA, coal miner
House #7
GROOMS, Ben F., head, owns, radio, lives on farm, male, white, 70 yrs., b. PA, F/M b. PA, farmer
TAYLOR, Naomi A., maid, female, white, 20 yrs., single, b. WV, F/M b. PA
TAYLOR, Edward Lee, son, male, white, 2 yrs., b. WV, F/M b. WV
House #8
SCHROYER, D.M., head, owns, male, white, 74 yrs., married at 30, b. PA, Father b. MD, Mother b. WV
SCHROYER, Hannah M., wife, female, white, 67 yrs., married at 27 yrs., b. WV, Father b. PA, Mother b,. WV
House #9
HUNTER, Glenwood, head, male, white, 30 yrs., married at 22, b. WV, F/M b. WV, coal miner
HUNTER, Mabel M., wife, female, white, 27 yrs., married at 20, b. PA, Father b. PA, Mother b. WV
HUNTER, Doris Ann, dau., female, white, 6 yrs., b. PA, F/M b. PA
House #10
JARVIS, Helen, head, rents, female, white, 42 yrs., b. Russia, F/M b. Poland, speaks Polish at home, naturalized in 1907
JARVIS, John F., son, male, white, 15 yrs., single, attended school, b. OH, Father b. Germany, M. b. Russia
JARVIS, Helen, dau, female, white, 12 yrs., attended school, b. OH, Father b. Germany, M. b. Russia
JARVIS, Sophia, dau., female, white, 10 yrs, attended school, b. WV, Father b. Germany, M. b. Russia
JARVIS, Alex, son, male, white, 8 yrs., attended school, b. WV, Father b., Germany, M. b,. Russia
House #1
ROSS, Lewis R., head, owns, Value:$1500, radio, male, white, 40 yrs., married at 23, b. PA, F/M b. PA, laborer, odd jobs
ROSS, Wiles? M., wife, female, white, 38 yrs., married at 21, b. WV, F/M b. WV
ROSS, Robert L., son, male, white, 16 yrs., single, attended school, b. PA, F. b. PA, M b. WV
House #2
FRANKENBERRY, John, head, lives on farm, male, white, 70 yrs., single, b. PA, F/M b. PA, farmer
House #3
MACKEY, Robert, head, owns, lives on farm, male, white, 84 yrs., married at 25, b. PA, F/M b. Scotland
MACKEY, Emma C., wife, female, white, 82 yrs., married at 23, b. PA, F/M b. MD, farmer
House #4
TITUS, Garret S., head, owns, lives on farm, male, white, 49 yrs., married at 26, b. in TX, F/M b. PA, glass factory
TITUS, Anna T., wife, female, white, 53 yrs., married at 30, b. PA, F ather b. WV, Mother b. PA
TITUS, Robert L., son, male, white, 20 yrs., single, b. PA, Father b. TX, Mother b. PA, glass factory
TITUS, Mary M., dau, female, white, 12 yrs., attended school, b. PA, Father b. TX, Mother b. PA
House #5
ALLIPSCOMB, Albert, head, rents, male, white, 55 yrs., married at 24, b. WV, F/M b. WV, farmer
ALLIPSCOMB, Clara, wife, female, white, 40 yrs., married at 26, b. WV, F/M b. WV
ALLIPSCOMB, Opal, dau., female, white, 8 yrs., attended school, b. WV, F/M b. WV
ALLIPSCOMB, Floyd, son, male, white, 5 yrs., b. WV, F/M b. WV
House #6
MARTIN, Bud J., head, ents, male, neg., 46 yrs., single, b. VA, F/M b. VA, coal miner
House #7
GROOMS, Ben F., head, owns, radio, lives on farm, male, white, 70 yrs., b. PA, F/M b. PA, farmer
TAYLOR, Naomi A., maid, female, white, 20 yrs., single, b. WV, F/M b. PA
TAYLOR, Edward Lee, son, male, white, 2 yrs., b. WV, F/M b. WV
House #8
SCHROYER, D.M., head, owns, male, white, 74 yrs., married at 30, b. PA, Father b. MD, Mother b. WV
SCHROYER, Hannah M., wife, female, white, 67 yrs., married at 27 yrs., b. WV, Father b. PA, Mother b,. WV
House #9
HUNTER, Glenwood, head, male, white, 30 yrs., married at 22, b. WV, F/M b. WV, coal miner
HUNTER, Mabel M., wife, female, white, 27 yrs., married at 20, b. PA, Father b. PA, Mother b. WV
HUNTER, Doris Ann, dau., female, white, 6 yrs., b. PA, F/M b. PA
House #10
JARVIS, Helen, head, rents, female, white, 42 yrs., b. Russia, F/M b. Poland, speaks Polish at home, naturalized in 1907
JARVIS, John F., son, male, white, 15 yrs., single, attended school, b. OH, Father b. Germany, M. b. Russia
JARVIS, Helen, dau, female, white, 12 yrs., attended school, b. OH, Father b. Germany, M. b. Russia
JARVIS, Sophia, dau., female, white, 10 yrs, attended school, b. WV, Father b. Germany, M. b. Russia
JARVIS, Alex, son, male, white, 8 yrs., attended school, b. WV, Father b., Germany, M. b,. Russia
School buses & stuff
This from my cousin:
Finley Burchinal came to school when I was there too - not sure if he delivered those Pennsylvania map cover pencil tablets or not - but I would sure love to have one of those. Why didn't I keep one when I had one? I loved looking at the map "to see where I was." I think he was in charge of truancy when I was seeing him there. I have loved telling people who grew up in other states that I grew up in Pennsylvania and we had free tablets and pencils. It put me up a notch higher than some of those who didn't get anything at all in the way of supplies. Some of them had to write on brown paper lunch bags - every note they took that day in school went home on the inside and outside of their lunch bag. We can be proud of our school. Tillie and I had to walk too. Every year the school board would have a meeting about busses and other stuff. We lived exactly one mile from Point Marion. So the decision each year would be voted whether we could right or not. One year they voted we had to live more than 1 mile to ride it. Next year it was voted that if we lived a mile or less we could ride. Wouldn't you think that they could have made a change so we could ride since we lived that far. Not that it wasn't good for us - but the roads were really dangerous and Tillie and I walked side by side - not one behind the other. When Jean Swift (Ham Swift's daughter) started walking with us - because we were older than she was, we made her walk on the outside of us and so she was sometimes walking in the ditch. But we still thought that was safer than her walking on the road with us. That may explain why she is not in touch with us today. haha We really enjoyed having someone younger than us who we could boss around...since we were the youngest of the family of Lewises, Barnes and Porters. I get to laughing about it every so often but then I rationalize that we may have saved that kid's life.
Finley Burchinal came to school when I was there too - not sure if he delivered those Pennsylvania map cover pencil tablets or not - but I would sure love to have one of those. Why didn't I keep one when I had one? I loved looking at the map "to see where I was." I think he was in charge of truancy when I was seeing him there. I have loved telling people who grew up in other states that I grew up in Pennsylvania and we had free tablets and pencils. It put me up a notch higher than some of those who didn't get anything at all in the way of supplies. Some of them had to write on brown paper lunch bags - every note they took that day in school went home on the inside and outside of their lunch bag. We can be proud of our school. Tillie and I had to walk too. Every year the school board would have a meeting about busses and other stuff. We lived exactly one mile from Point Marion. So the decision each year would be voted whether we could right or not. One year they voted we had to live more than 1 mile to ride it. Next year it was voted that if we lived a mile or less we could ride. Wouldn't you think that they could have made a change so we could ride since we lived that far. Not that it wasn't good for us - but the roads were really dangerous and Tillie and I walked side by side - not one behind the other. When Jean Swift (Ham Swift's daughter) started walking with us - because we were older than she was, we made her walk on the outside of us and so she was sometimes walking in the ditch. But we still thought that was safer than her walking on the road with us. That may explain why she is not in touch with us today. haha We really enjoyed having someone younger than us who we could boss around...since we were the youngest of the family of Lewises, Barnes and Porters. I get to laughing about it every so often but then I rationalize that we may have saved that kid's life.
Nilan
Nilan is not Blosser Hill. But Nilan is relevant. I know very little about Nilan. I wish somebody from Nilan would write and tell me more about Nilan. I will tell you what I know about Nilan. It is on the other side of the mountain. But to get to Nilan, we had to go downhill so we must have been starting from almost the top of the mountain. The road to Nilan was cobble stoned. That was different. (you know, of course, that I am old and gray, and these are just my memories of long ago, and undoubtedly they are colored by age and sentiment, but that’s o.k., isn’t, it?) The road up Blosser Hill was first just dirt and ruts, and later the WPA came along and worked, leaving the road covered in black gravel. Some of the roads around were covered with Red Dog but cobblestones were new to me. We passed a house made of beige field stone owned by the Stronsky’s. That’s all I know about the Stronsky’s. Nilan was (and is) located along the shore of the Cheat River. In those years ago of which I am remembering, you would see a number of people who had set up shop to blow glass. This is great glass blowing country because it has some of the finest sand for glass making and that is another whole story. I just remember watching these men blow glass from a long tube…….Years later, I went to Italy and watched some of the most renowned glass blowers in the world but it was not as wondrous as that first time of watching them in Nilan.
The Goff's
My cousin e-mailed about her friendship with the Goff's. My sister in response replied the following:
I remember Mrs Goff, Josephine, in her neat spring house in her galoshes when we went over to get milk. The farm was lovely, I thought. Loved to climb the fences, sled ride in winter, roll in the long grasses in the summer time, and walking across the log in the farm pond which Harold fell into once upon a time. Harold said he and Herbert went over in the cow field to smoke when they were about 10 and when they came back Uncle Walter asked them if they had seen a fire because he had seem smoke over there. Cool, huh? And I remember watching from our bedroom windows when their house burned down.
Personally, I carried a lifelong grudge because my siblings did not wake me up to watch the house burning down. I slept through the whole thing.
I too, remember Mrs. Goff. I didn't know until I was old and gray that she had given my family milk to help Mother try to get us kids raised. She never said an unkind word that I know of. I remember John Goff as being tall, slim, dressed in brown. He would occasionally appear to fix a fence to keep the cows from getting out but otherwise he was a remote brown figure in the distance. He was never Mr. Goff or John - it was always JohnGoff as if that were one word.
I remember Mrs Goff, Josephine, in her neat spring house in her galoshes when we went over to get milk. The farm was lovely, I thought. Loved to climb the fences, sled ride in winter, roll in the long grasses in the summer time, and walking across the log in the farm pond which Harold fell into once upon a time. Harold said he and Herbert went over in the cow field to smoke when they were about 10 and when they came back Uncle Walter asked them if they had seen a fire because he had seem smoke over there. Cool, huh? And I remember watching from our bedroom windows when their house burned down.
Personally, I carried a lifelong grudge because my siblings did not wake me up to watch the house burning down. I slept through the whole thing.
I too, remember Mrs. Goff. I didn't know until I was old and gray that she had given my family milk to help Mother try to get us kids raised. She never said an unkind word that I know of. I remember John Goff as being tall, slim, dressed in brown. He would occasionally appear to fix a fence to keep the cows from getting out but otherwise he was a remote brown figure in the distance. He was never Mr. Goff or John - it was always JohnGoff as if that were one word.
Murial’s cabin
She lived at the bottom of the hill in a cabin behind her parents home. She wore a lot of make up and she dyed her hair red! As a child I sensed disapproval from the adults for such behavior but it didn’t matter. It was so nice to go to her cabin. She was so pleasant and gentle with the raggedy neighbor kids. There were rag rugs on the floor and quilts on her “day bed.” She had a hot plate and shelves and I can‘t remember what else. Did she have a fireplace? I’m not sure but my memory puts one in one end of the cabin. She made hot chocolate for us and, I think, let us roast marshmallows in her fireplace. We read the funnies from the newspaper. I still want a cabin just like hers
Barnes-Lewis Clarion
Hello friends and relatives.
Let us continue the saga of Blosser Hill. Blosser Hill is that wonderful place of our childhood. If you are from the vicinity of Blosser Hill, just north of Point Marion, in Fayette Co., PA, then I want to hear from you.
Let us continue the saga of Blosser Hill. Blosser Hill is that wonderful place of our childhood. If you are from the vicinity of Blosser Hill, just north of Point Marion, in Fayette Co., PA, then I want to hear from you.
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