Same Name

Parents often want to honor someone in their family. My 2^nd great grandfather was named Charles Shoemaker Moore. That name was passed on to his oldest son who passed it on to his oldest son. When my brother was born there was a disagreement about his name. My dad’s sister wanted it to be Charles Shoemaker Moore, but my mom didn’t like Shoemaker for part of his name. On a hot August dinner after some arguing my dad said he would name him Terry after the Philadelphia Phillies manager, Terry Moore. My mom said fine, but little did she know that the next day my brother would be born premature. So, his name was Terry Charles Moore.

Other relatives sharing a name with a child or grandchild would have adjectives added to differentiate. So, there was Big Helen and Little Helen, Big John and Little John, Big Margaretta and Baby Margaretta. My name is a reversal of my mother’s. Hers Millicent Arline and mine Arlene Millicent.

In my husband’s family William is a very common name and not always bestowed on a child but a spouse marrying into the family having William as a name. My husband is William as is his oldest son. His father, both grandfathers and two great grandfathers are all named William. His mother’s brother and his sister’s spouse are Williams. Two cousins and a nephew are named William.

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Going to the Chapel

Bill and I decided to get married while at Annual Training for  the Army National Guard in June of 1981. We picked July 18^th giving us about one month to plan. My parents were probably thrilled I was getting married but I’m sure my mom was a little disappointed that it would not be the wedding she would have like. My parents were married in the home of my dad’s sister, Caroline. It was a simple affair with just a few friends.

We planned a church wedding at the First Methodist Church in Gloucester City, NJ – my home town. We only planned for a matron of honor and a best man. My matron was Letitia Sarracino. We were both teachers at the same high school where we were students just one year apart. My friend Irma Zank was the soloist and we three were active in that church. Jimmy Ridge, a distant cousin played the organ. Bill’s best man was his uncle, Joe Baker.

I had picked a gown that I easily got off the bridal rack at Penney’s. No alterations necessary. The day of the wedding came, and it was a sunny, hot July day. The photographer was someone my dad knew who took the Little League pictures. Our neighbor loaned us his nice car and one of the students from school asked if he could be the driver. We arrived at church, but Bill’s mom wasn’t there. After about a half hour delay she arrived with her sister-in-law and nephew Bill and his family. Nephew Bill couldn’t find his shoes and that held them up. Meanwhile my Bill was the room at the rear of the church not knowing what was happening. He worried I might have changed my mind. The ceremony continued without any other delays.

The reception was in my parents’ back yard. Me, my mom, her friends and mine all helped to make the food. My friend Judy made sure the food was ready to eat and her husband served drinks at a home bar set up in the yard. My mom wanted music and so she got some sheets of plywood laid down in the yard and my brother’s boom box provided the music. Friends, neighbors and relatives were invited. The high school softball team I coached all came too as did some of our army friends. Everyone seemed to have a good time. I had chosen my cake with several pastel colors. Letitia ‘Tish’ was pregnant, and I had told her to pick a dress she like in whatever color she wanted. She chose a peachy, melon color so the cake was planned to go with what ever she picked. Bill and I cut the cake and left the rest to be cut by Judy. When our first anniversary came around I asked if we were supposed to eat a piece of wedding cake. That’s when I found out that the top layers of the cake had slid off and onto the floor due to the high heat. No air conditioning at my mom’s house.

Eventually the day came to an end and Bill and I left for a trip out west. We stayed in a nearby motel that first night and then headed to New Mexico and Arizona for a two-week honeymoon. My mother-in-law took care of Bill’s 4 kids at her home in Cape May until our return.

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So Far Away

I grew up with only one set of living grandparents. My dad’s parents died 30 years before I was born. My mon’s parents lived in Tampa, Florida, 1100 miles away from us. In the 50s and 60s most people didn’t travel far very often. I would see my grandparents about once every two years. Sometimes we would go to Florida by car (a 3-day journey before interstate highways), sometimes by bus or train. Sometimes my grandparents would drive up here to NJ. There were letters and phone calls (not too often with those long-distance charges). But those things don’t make up for the loss of close regular contact with grandparents. My grandparents and parents made sure those visits were perfect. I loved and adored them. Of course, as and adult I would see their flaws. I loved them but grieve for not knowing them better and they not knowing me better.

I am so blessed to spend frequent time with my grandchildren. I hope that they will have many fond memories and feel they’ve been short changed with quality grandparent time.

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52 Ancestors 2018 -Lucky John Wiedrich

I wish I had a lucky story of someone winning the lottery, but my lucky story is of surviving an accident. My grandfather, Edward Wiedrich and his father John Wiedrich would go to the woods to cut wood to earn some money. John always wore a raggy sweater and my grandfather would warn him that is was dangerous when operating a chain saw. Sure enough, on one of their outings the sweater got caught in the saw and severed John arm. My grandfather made a tourniquet with his belt and was able to get him to a hospital in time to save his life. John was resilient and still found ways to get tasks done. When working in his garden he would tie a garden tool to his arm and dig or hoe or rake.

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Be My Valentine

Valentine’s Day has such a myriad of memories. My childhood ones are of making cards in school. Construction paper, paper doilies and crayons. Other times it was the packages of funny cards bought at the store. Then on Valentine’s Day everyone in the class had a paper bag that we decorated and had our name. We put our cards in everyone’s bags, shared candy and looked the cards we received.

At home I remember the special Valentine my dad would give my mom. It would be a large decorated heart candy box. Often on the top was a fancy doll. I would get a candy box too.

My maternal grandmother, Hazel Wiedrich was born on Valentine’s Day. One year I made a red ceramic double heart candy dish for her. After she died it was given back to me. Two years after she passed I was pregnant with my son Travis and my due date was February 14^th. He was going to be delivered by C-section and I was excited he would be born on my grandmother’s birthday. But it was not to be. Valentine’s Day fell on Saturday that year and the doctor wouldn’t operate on a Saturday. Now I celebrate the day with my grandchildren.

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My Favorite Ancestor Name

The very first favorite name that comes to mind is Sarah Angeline Corset Wiedrich. I love Sarah Angeline. It’s such a sweet name and it doesn’t hurt that I knew and loved her. My great grandmother was born in 1868 and was probably named Sarah after her maternal grandmother, Sarah Norton. I don’t know where the Angeline came from. I don’t know her father Edward Corset’s ancestry, but his surname suggests French.

Another name that appeals is Andrew “AJ” Moore. I don’t think of initial nicknames for those who lived mid nineteenth century but there are those Civil War generals like US Grant. The other part of the appeal is his tragic death at the Battle of Little Big Horn.

Then there are the not so appealing names. My maternal grandmother was named Hazel. Such an unattractive name for such a lovely person. She disliked her name and said she’d return to haunt anyone who name their child Hazel. Even worse is Elephalet, my Connecticut ancestor. When I first heard it, I thought it a misspelling of Elephant.

We are all at the mercy of being named by our parents. My grandmother, Hazel named her daughters: Yvonne, Bonalyn, Millicent and Constance. Her desire was to give them beautiful names. I received my mother’s name reversed, Arlene Millicent. My brother, Terry was named for a baseball player when there was family dispute the night before he was born. They did agree to a middle name after his grandfather, Charles.

My son, Sean was named after John Wayne’s character in the movie The Quiet Man with another Irish name, Patrick for a middle name. We were sure the next child would be a girl, so our plan was to name her Mary Kate after Maureen O’Hara’s character in that movie. We got a surprise when instead of a girl a little boy arrived. Bill named him Travis after the commander of the Alamo. And for a middle name it was my dad’s, Earl.

And when you find yourself a grandparent you have to rein yourself in and lets the kids do their own naming. You’ve had your turn and no matter the name it’s soon the one that rolls easily off your lips to brag to one and all.

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Your Invited – RSVP To Your Great Granddaughter

One of the prompts for the 52 Ancestors (2018) was “Which one of your ancestors would you like to invite to dinner?” Who would it be? Perhaps an ancestor I was privileged to know but failed to ask all the questions that I now want answers for. Perhaps it would be an ancestor that’s a brick wall. Maybe the dinner should be a reunion with them all. But a reunion could not be long enough get all the answers. Maybe just a small dinner party with just the brick wall ancestors but that would just push the wall back a few generations.

Charles McMechen would have to come clean about the tall tales he told about his brick wall parents. And what about changing your name several times. Did you leave a wife in Baltimore before coming to Philadelphia and marrying there? Why did you separate from that wife? And in what political riot did your dad die. 

Mary Hayes Mackin (McMechen) why did you sometimes us the name Bridget? Where in Ireland were your parents born?

John Moore, where were you born? Tell me about your parents and when did your ancestors come to America.

Ann Moore, was your maiden name Shoemaker and if not, where did it come from? You lost so many children who died before you. How did you cope?

Andrew Moore, you saw so much of the country before most people traveled very far from there home. You met Gen. Phil Sheridan and Buffalo Bill Cody. You served under George Custer. What were they like? What were you feeling during those two days in June 1876 at Little Big Horn? I want to thank you for serving your country and the sacrifice of your life.

Fanny Elizabeth (Reed) Moore, you died too young. I’m sorry you lost Charles after just a few years of marriage. To have to put your children in a home and later your oldest son in the home of your second husband’s parents because you couldn’t care for them had to be so hard. Then to lose your baby daughter. Is the unidentified picture of a young woman with a baby in her arms you? I think it is.

Edward Corsett, I want to know about your family. Did you meet Matilda in Michigan? How did your families get to Michigan?

For my ancestors that I actually knew, forgive me for not asking more questions about you. What was it like the first time you voted, rode in a car, what did you like to do, and so many more questions? I want to know all about you but then there may be some things that I may be sorry I found out.

I exist because of you. I stand on your shoulders. Thank you

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Sarah Angeline Corsett

1868-1968

Sarah Angeline Corsett was born on 20 June 1868 (although the 1900 census lists her birth year as 1867) to Edmond or Edward and Matilda or Mathilda (Norton) Corsett in Pembroke, NY. According to the 1880 census she was attending school. She worked as a hired girl for Samuel and Harriet Walworth. When Harriet died it wasn’t considered proper for an unmarried woman to live in the same house with a man to whom she wasn’t married. One month after Samuel’s wife died on 23 June 1892, Sarah married Samuel who was 77 at that time. It was always said that it was a marriage in name only but Sarah would be the only one who knew that. Samuel died on 11 February 1895. He left Sarah 188 acres in Indian Falls, NY. Sarah eventually deeded a piece of that land to the Tonawanda Creek Indian Reservation, home of the Tonawanda Seneca Indians. Part of their burial ground was on that piece of land. The family was friendly with that tribe and wanted to give them the land to preserve that sacred land for them. She married John Wiedrich on 8 March 1896 in Alabama, NY. She was 27 and John was 38. It was said in the family that he was a bit of a drinker and proceeded to drink away her inheritance from Samuel Walworth. By 1910 she was living in Pembroke, Genesee County, NY. Her children were Edward (McKinley?) b.27 Sep 1896, Lydia Ursula b. 07 Aug 1898, Helen Matilda b. 18 Aug 1900, Chester John b. 17 Jul 1902, Bertha May b. 11 Sep 1905, James Alfred b. 23 Feb 1908, John Henry b. 26 Apr 1913. By 1918 she was living at 1 Pearl St., Batavia, NY. Her husband, John died on 23 Jun 1942 in their home on Pearl St. By this time, she was 74 years-old. Her house eventually was up for sheriff’s sale for being behind on taxes. Her daughter Lydia’s husband, Neal Smock bought the house. Sarah continued to live there but now had as her bedroom a small room off of the entryway and under the stairs. All of her worldly possessions had to fit in that room. Neal took everything else that didn’t fit to the dump including paintings of her family in gilt frames. Years later he regretted this saying he could have got money for those frames (no regrets about the paintings). After Sarah died Lydia’s daughter, Dorothy trashed letters from Sarah’s mother, Matilda (Mathilda). She didn’t know who her great grandmother was and didn’t care. Everyone said Sarah had a great sense of humor and enjoyed life. She liked being with her son, Edward and daughter-in-law, Hazel and would visit them even after

they moved to NJ and then to Tampa, Fla. Edward’s birth had never been registered so when he applied for Social Security around 1965, Sarah went with him to swear to his birth and to register for Social Security herself. She also loved to visit with her son, Chuck (Chester) and his wife Ernestine. She was a little woman and was referred to as Little Grandma. She always had a large garden in the back yard on Pearl St. with lots of vegetables and flowers. Later she would garden with Lydia and Neal in that same yard. She was an avid reader, especially the newspaper which she read from cover to cover. She also was up on current events and ideas. She was not embarrassed to talk about abortion in her 90s. Amazing for someone born just after the Civil War. I remember her sitting in her chair out of the way in the entry way turned living room on Pearl St. It was behind the front door, next to the window and hemmed in by the couch. In her 90s she was still drying the dishes and ironing flat items like tea towels. She had cataracts taken off at Wills Eye Hospital in Philadelphia in her 80s. She had never been more than 30 miles from home until her 70s. She also never saw Niagara Falls (about 50 miles from her home) until her 80s when she went there with us (Midge, Earl and Arlene). When she went to Florida in her 80s she wore a 2 piece bathing suit (again amazing for a woman born just after the Civil War). I remember her talking about her little pony and cart. She said that every time she passed a certain spot the pony would get skiterich and be

difficult to handle. She also told me about the fact she didn’t wear a bra or as she would say a brassiere thing. Not surprising since she would have been in her 50s when they were invented. She wore an undershirt. She called my dad, Earl (her grandson-in-law) my big boy. She gave him her plate that had a dog on it. She said it came from Germany with her husband’s family. We visited her for a week every summer.

            Sarah died on 24 July 1968 at 8am in her home at 1 Pearl St., Batavia, NY. She was buried two days later in Maple Lawn Cemetery in Elba, NY.