An alternative blog title: Why I Love Primary Sources

 I love the free resources that are available for research today, like ancestry and Family Search. However, since they are mostly reliant on volunteers to transcribe the documentation, there are lots of errors and such, mostly in spelling. Sometimes the names are spelled wrong and transcribed correctly, sometimes they are spelled right and transcribed wrong in a way that makes sense, and sometimes you wonder what the person was thinking. One of my ancestors, Genest, a male, was recorded in a census as a "Janet" and had the wrong sex. Census on either side had a person of the correct age and in the correct birth order named Genest, but that one particular one he must not have been home, and the recorder just wrote down what made sense to them. Janet is much more common a name than Genest!

So sometimes my searches are frustrated by spelling issues. Henry Attwell Post, my great grandfather, has his second (disambiguating, there are so many Henry Posts!) name spelled with 2 Ts, as I discovered on opening some books that are inscribed to/by him. In searching, I found records with both 1 and 2 Ts, so I was glad to have the final word from the horses' mouth! 

Attwell is Henry's mother's Maiden name, her name was Mary Josephine Attwell. Unsurprisingly, I found records that list her as Mary Josephine and as Josephine Mary. Hopefully something definitive will come to light. Henry is unique for his era in that he was an only child. The above and below texts are dedicated to him from his Aunt Catherine/Cassie, who was listed as the head of household in the 1900 census for New York. This is dated 1902, Christmas. Cassie was a schoolteacher and not married. The books she dedicated to him are part of the Little Women series, which I read many years ago. I hope he enjoyed them as much as she hoped he would! I love getting books for Christmas.

One of the other two books he inscribed himself, I must not have taken a photo of that one which defeats the purpose of this post slightly. However I can still state how much I love primary source info, and give big thanks to one Mr Guthrie at Shorewood high school for beginning that knowledge journey for me. 

A Bit of a War Story

My great-grandmother Olive (with whom I share a middle name) was the only girl in a family of six children. The family lived on both the East and West sides of the Cascades, the family finally settling in the Wenatchee area, Malaga specifically. I haven't delved into property records to see if the location of their orchard is able to be found. Many of the family members spent the majority of their lives in the area, although not all. Frank Chester Danner was the second oldest son of the family, born 10 Oct 1892 in St Paul, Nebraska. Initially I had found his World War I draft information via FamilySearch, and did some scrounging to find that he did die in France on 10 October (his birthday....) 1918. As Armistice day is coming up, Nov 11 1918, he was very close to making it home alive. And indeed his older brother Roy who was also fighting in France did make it home. They may have even been on the same fields of battle. 

Frank's VA Index card lists him as being in Company D of the 361st Infantry. This fantastic History Link article says that the 361st Infantry was Washington State's main fighting force, and was known as the "Wild West Division". They trained at what was then Camp Lewis (today Joint Base Lewis-McChord) and fought in the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, which was the final push to neutralize German forces at the end of the war. Initially I had guessed Frank had died in France, and then found his name listed in "United States World War 1 Expeditionary Forces Deaths" to confirm. Then I got this excellent article from the treasures in my grandmother's house. As always, the details are brought to life by the recorded story of a survivor. I don't know how well you can read the image, which I believe is a photocopy from the Wenatchee World newspaper. 

"Early on October 10th the Infantry began to push North. The woods provided good cover and the men had learned how to avoid the worst of the dangers, but it cost men to get the next mile. Private Frank C Danner, who was drafted from Route 1 out of Everett, but who's mother now lives in Wenatchee, was in an advance party of 14 scouts with two corporals and a sergeant that on the morning of October 10 went forth toward hill 288 with instructions to get into contact with the front German line. Danner was to bring back the news, and in about two hours he returned with news and with a package of German hardtack, from which he gave some to sergeant Alfred G Graebner of Girrodl, ID. He said his party had run into a lot of German equipment and that the Hun seemed to have gone in a hurry. He borrowed a drink from Graebners's canteen and set out again to rejoin the scouts.

 "When Danner was killed, the scouting party of 17 was up in the hill 288 horseshoe, with machine guns on three sides of it, those in front not more than 200 feet away. The men were almost in the barbwire at the bottom of hill 288, Sergeant Raymond Best of Densmore, Kan. had should a German snipper (sic), and Corporal Peter Colter of Reno, Nev could hear the Germans jabbering about it. They were telling one another to keep the machine guns still, except one or two as a blind, until the Americans got into the barbwire, so that they could all be killed there. Danner was about six feet to the left of the sergeant in charge of the party, William M Couts of Camas, Wash. He was resting his head on his elbow and hand. A machine gun from each side opened. A bullet went down in his chest. He said 'My God, I'm hit' and died instantly. 

"The party was then only 200 yards from the southerly crest of hill 288. The tangle of brush saved the party from annihilation".  

The History Link article states the 91st were moved to Reserve on 4th October, but for whatever reason, Frank did not go with them. I will have to look for more accounts of this group, which I'm sure exist. 

 This is a Master's thesis for a Military college degree written by Brian Woodcock in 1998 that has a fairly extensive history of the 91st division of the 361st. He states they went into the Meuse-Argonne offensive sorely undertrained and with no combat experience at all. The aggressiveness of their push through the end of September and beginning of October was disastrous for casualties and morale. Woodcock writes "The 91st had done its best to accomplish its objectives throughout the battle of the Meuse-Argonne. It reached the Kriemhilde Stellung first, the 1st Army objective, but there was no way it could continue forward, or hold its position. It was surrounded on three sides and did not have the support from other units to continue. The troops were tired, and they had captured the town of Gesnes at great loss". (The Kriemhilde Stellung was part of the defenses of the Hindenberg Line)

This document from PBS speaks a little more about Hill 288, stating it was one of the two dominant hills in the region (the other Cote de Chatillion) that needed to be secured when General MacArthur's troops arrived to support on 11 October. It was finally taken on 14 October, so one can imagine the danger the scouts undertook in scoping out this line at the time of Frank's death. 

 I look forward to learning more about this offensive and the experiences of the survivors. Perhaps next installment can cover his brother Roy's experience in France. It is very interesting the difference in tone of the almost diffident Wenacthee World article, and the graveness of the thesis and other coverages of the account. Possibly the desire to cover a local man's death and share his memory caused the writers to stick to a more positive tone. Each time I dive into one of these I learn so much, and its only the tiniest sliver, even of a short life like Frank's 26 years. 

The Wonderful Shapes of Backdoor Keys

 The title is from Dr. Seuss. I have a 16-month-old so there is a lot of Seuss happening. In clearing out my grandmother's house, among other doodads and treasures my mother has a jewelry-sized box of keys. Of course they are generally not labelled, but one was! And I have to say, I never expected something like a plain old house key to be beautiful. 

My mom recognized the address as my grandparent's very first house together. 5416 34th st sw, Seattle. You can see the teeny house, who knows if it is the same as it looked back then, but I imagine it can't have been changed too much, since currently any old house seems to just get knocked down and replaced with an ugly cube. Ah yes, useful but not pretty, just like keys. Russwin hardware is an American company (still exists!) located in Connecticut, and is a portmanteau of the founders Russel and Earwin's names. 

Here's the back. My grandfather lived here before he married my grandmother. His first wife passed from breast cancer and left him two little girls to care for (with the help of a housekeeper), so it was important to marry again. They met through the Mountaineers organization. My aunt told me it wasn't just convenience, they had a connection, and sometimes stayed up all night talking at her mother's house. I have lots of stories like this (and maybe even some love letters!) for another time. 

Save your Receipts

 Can you imagine documentation from the DMV or from your mortgage broker being interesting in 4 or 5 generations? Maybe it would be slightly more interesting to find proof of purchase of a sports car or learning to sky dive. I certainly I was excited to find proof that my great-great-grandfather had a mining claim in Dawson City, Canada.

Family history had claimed (pun intended) that he was a miner who did find gold. I had never quite believed this, as his age didn't quite jibe with the '49 gold rush. Little did I know as a child that the second gold strike was what really made Seattle, and ignited the hearts of treasure-seekers, my ancestor included. I'm referring to Colonel Joseph Green, who was a pretty interesting individual and I have rather a decent amount of primary and secondary source information for him, so stay tuned. (I don't have it all scanned or photographed yet. Real life gets in the way, you know).

This is a photo of a photocopy so the quality isn't fantastic, but it is a "Free Miner's Certificate". This is still something one would need to purchase to have the right to "acquire mineral and placer title", here is how you would go about getting one if you were in Canada today and wanted to go pan for some gold. (view the pdf linked at the very end of the post--this was the first year these certs were required!) The date of issue of this particular document is "9th Apr 98", issued in Dawson. This is to certify that Joseph Green of Dawson has paid me this day the sun of Ten dollars and is entitled to all the rights and privileges of a free miner, under any Mining Regulations of the Government of Canada, for one year from the 9th day of Apr 1898". Modernly it only costs $25 dollars, so this would have been very steep for 19th century people. The certificate also allows hunting, fishing, cutting of essential timber. He needed this certificate in order to do this: 

Although this document predates the above, its likely that he had gotten his certificate for 1897 and it wasn't saved. I am lucky enough that these came down to me! This is a Grant for Placer Mining, stamped Aug 30, 1897. "In consideration of the payment of Fifteen Dollars, being the fee required by the provisions of the Dominion Mining Regulations, by Joseph Green of Dawson accompanying his application number 658 dated 30th August 1897 for a Mining Claim in the Indian Creek mining Division of the Yukon district, more particularly described as Placer mining Claim N* 18 Below on Sulphur (sic) Creek in the aforesaid mining division". This gave him exclusive use of the ground for mining, and to use the water that flowed there in order to do placer mining, which is the mining of alluvial deposits. 

Here is another, for 1898:

This one is a receipt for a Mr HW Mobsely, who's claim was "Placer mining claim N* 19 on Gold River Creek (?) in the aforesaid mining Division". No idea who this person was and why it got saved. 

This one is another for Joseph Green, for a different mining concern. "Date April 18 1898, for a mining claim in The Swedish Creek Mining Division of the Yukon District. Being claim No. 585 above Dis(---)" the rest is not intelligible. It looks like the pen needed a fresh dip in the inkwell. 

This is also for other people, but is appears to be the same claim on Indian Creek as the grant from 1897. Perhaps Col Joseph was working with other miners on the same claim during this time? I'm not sure why he/the family would keep it, but it was clearly important for some reason. 

The miners are AE Griffin and HP Anderson. "30 August 1898, for a mining claim in the Indian Creek mining division being No 18 below Discovery on Sulphur Creek" 

I don't know if its possible that I should get so lucky to find a match to this mining site with just one google search, but "No 18 below Sulphur Creek, Dawson, Yukon" got me some plausible connections. It doesn't seem possible but perhaps it is the same place! One, taken by Frank E Wolfe. Suggested date range is 1898-1901. Could Joseph be in this photo? Or Messrs Anderson and Griffin? 

I wish I could go to the University of Washington libraries and check out the special collections myself! 

Here's another view of the same cabin, you can recognize the large upright timber. 

Another image of what is labeled the same claim but belonging to a Tom Mokelbast at the time, part of the University's collection also. This is a Larss and Duclos photo. 

I have many letters from the Col to his family (and from them to him!) that I need to parse and share but they are copies of the originals and some rather hard to read. (And also hard to read because of the content) Perhaps some will give context and information to flesh out these forms. 

Just another interesting note, a history of Klondike mining records, in case anyone else is on this search. 

Identifying a mystery location

 I have begun to scan photos borrowed from my mom's house (really they are all just boxed items she is going through from grandma's, they are not necessarily "hers") and trying to be clear about what things are and who is in each photo. This is a bit of a challenge because my mountaineering grandparents visited a lot of pretty places that look much alike. Also some of the sets of photos are clearly reprints, and removed from the original contexts (what pictures would have been in the same set with them indicating being taken at the same time, etc) makes it harder to guess! This photo stood out from the set I was scanning and I wondered why.

Before you begin to guess, we were able to figure out this location. My crack collection of knitting pals over the internet were able to ID the location as being the Dinant Citadel of Namur, in Wallonia, Belgium, as taken from the Jambes bridge over the Meuse. (Apparently this is THE location to photograph the citadel, as many photos from the web have the exact angle.) This photo has led me on a great journey of information since identifying it, for instance this river has been a strategic location since Roman times and there were significant battles here in World War 1 and 2. In fact, the Meuse was part of the forest of Ardennes which was thought to be impenetrable to tanks, and where the Battle of the Bulge was fought. I have, through family stories, been told that when my Grandfather served in WW2 it was as part of this campaign (thought he was a Technician and lucky enough not to have to fire his rifle). 

In searching for more information about this location and the War(s), I learned that this location suffered heavy damages and wondered what that meant for dating the photo. The current bridge (Pont Jambes) is made of stone and has large arches to allow boats to pass, constructed in 1961. The Wikipedia entry for the Battle of Dinant (first World War) shows the destruction of the buildings at the base of the citadel as well as another bridge that would probably be located out of the photo to the right, by the church building, indicating significant damage to the whole area. I can't tell anything about the materials or permanence of this bridge based solely on this photo, so the best guess for era would probably involve getting lucky and finding images that had the same perspective and matching the buildings in the background. The reason I am interested in the date of the picture is I am curious if it is a photo taken concurrently with my Grandfather's service, or if he (or someone else) returned and took it at a later date. Unfortunately my Grandfather passed when I was quite young, and while he did come and speak to my elementary school class about his service, I really don't remember much of his words, and what I do remember are mainly reinforced by 2nd hand accounts from other family members. So, we figured out part of the mystery of this location, but more remains to be learned!

Shiny Things

 Occasionally people find out I care about things which are old, or "nice" in the sense of not-every day, and they pass on their objects to me. I don't get to host any tea parties (even before Corona) but I do like nice objects. Craftsmanship is valuable!

I got these from my husband's grandmother. They are from various members of her family. The Daffodil-pattern spoon is from 1950. The small spoon is called "Lido" and is a WMA Rogers from 1938. Finally on the far left, a Derby silver spoon in the "Harvard" pattern from 1883! I love the deco patterning. This is a great website if you need to identify old silver patterns: https://www.sterlingflatwarefashions.com/. (That does specify American though)

These are items I got from my Grandma's estate. I don't necessarily have the need for a full set, but I really liked these particular items. On the right is a cake server. It almost looks like it should be paired with another for a mirrored image! Then a butter spreader, a funny cocktail fork, a butter knife, a salad fork, regular fork, and soup spoon. Oh, and a wee baby curved spoon across the top. The last two have been engraved, there are an H and P around a large swoopy A for Henry Atwell Post. However, the A almost appears to have another name inside, and the central letter looks less-deeply engraved as if it were older and the H and P were added later. Was this done? 

I am having some luck with some of these patterns, but need to ask an expert about some of them. The most exciting first was probably the funny cocktail fork. It's maker's mark is a crossed pick and shovel with the initials M and B, which stands for Joseph Mayer & bros. He was a Seattle silversmith, and I found another excellent local history blog with great info about the gentlemen and their work. The author says the brothers even went up to Alaska and Dawson in the Yukon to be closer to the sources, i.e. the gold and silver coming out of the ground. As I have letters from a relative who was trying his hand at his fortune in Dawson, that is a fantastic connection to make. Mayer also made clocks, here is an image of the Friedlander's clock. 

Taken from the collections of the MOHAI site, it stands on 2nd and Cherry circa 1920. The collection states "This street clock was made by Joseph Mayer & Brothers Company, a watchmaking and wholesale jewelry business begun in Seattle in 1897. Founded by German immigrants Markus (1878-1950), Albert (1872-1929), Emil (1881-), Herman, & Joseph (1868-1937) Mayer, the company existed in various form until 1991. About 100 Mayer street clocks were produced between 1909-1930, often placed in front of jewelers or watchmakers. As of 2014, 15 of the 46 confirmed Mayer clocks in Seattle survive.

This clock was made for Friedlander & Son., Inc., Jewelers, at 1300 Second Avenue. The view in this image is looking east across Second Avenue. The building at the left of the frame is the Arcade Building, built in 1903; it is no longer standing".

But, back to the fork: it's pattern is "1909", made in 1906. 1909 was the year of the Yukon-Pacific Exposition, and Joseph Mayer & Bros made commemorative spoons (not this pattern but others) and "dollars"/medals for sale. I'm learning fantastic things just from silverware and can't wait to find out more. 1906 would have been before my grandmother and grandfather were born, so perhaps this was an item belonging to one of their parents. Her mother did collect commemorative spoons, so perhaps it came from her items.

A Postcard

 When I share things I want to focus on the juicy details whenever possible. No one wants a big genesis-like list of names and dates. So items and photos especially, and where other information is warranted I will focus on facts that I can verify through primary documents, or if not, at least multiple sources. Regularly I see items on FamilySearch.org (its free! thanks Mormons!) where you can tell if someone had just viewed the source with their eyes instead of continuing to copy and paste they would tell what the record was supposed to say and not continued to pass on incorrect information. 

This postcard I found in a book I took from my grandma's house. I found other treasures in the book as well, we'll have those another time. The caption says "Winter Home of John D Rockefeller, Ormond Beach, Fla". Here's a nice overview of the house, which is called The Casements. It must be nice to name your house. Mine would be called something related to Hobbits, I think. 

It is addressed to "V-- H.A. Post, Coudesport, PA. Potter County" The text is as follows (as well as I can gather)

"Coronado Beach, Fla

10 December 1925

Dear Archdeacon,

    We are here enjoying the sunshine and the out-of-doors -- which for me means so much. The ___ is __ anxious for me to be back on the job-- __ only promise him to come just as soon as __. Our kindest regards to you and to Mrs Post from us all--

Ever yours, A.S.P."

As you can see I couldn't make out all of those words. If you can pick them out, please do. Paleography is quite the art form! As best as I can gather from census data and other sources, the family lived in Pennsylvania for some time (and non-consecutive times, as my grandfather was born in PA but his next sibling in Nevada, and the following two back in PA). From an obituary notice in the publication “The Living Church” which appears to have been a sort of church directory, vol 125 Nov 3 1952: "After a curacy on Staten Island, he was rector of the parishes in the diocese of Harrisburg and Erie PA, later becoming Archdeacon of Harrisburg for 5 years". However, a little tidbit from the religious publication “The Churchman” vol 121, (Jan 3 1920) says that Henry Atwell “Resigned the rectorship of All Saint’s Church in Harrisburg PA, and will become the rector of St Paul’s, Elko Nevada, and have charge of the missions at Wells, Clover valley, Palisade, Eureka and Tuscarosa”. Douglas was born in May 1920 in Nevada, and his next sibling Joe was born in July of 1921 back in Pennsylvania. So perhaps the rectorship in Elko was previous to becoming Archdeacon, and the "Living Church" blurb just didn't think to mention it as it seems to have been rather short!

I have no idea who A.S.P is. Henry was an only child (which seems very rare for his day), but I'd hazard a guess its another Post, perhaps a cousin. Maybe I will figure it out!