Saturday in the Attic – 06/19/10

My mom gave her dad this card on Father’s Day.  Given the handwriting, she was probably pretty young.

Saturday in the Attic – 06/05/10

I found this business card among my family papers.  My mom thought her mom had acquired it somewhere along the line, but…. 

Oddly enough, a few weeks before I found this, I had been working on my Parks family, so R H PARKS, to me read, Robert Hall PARKS.  I thought it was a long shot.  Robert Hall PARKS was born in Michigan and lived in Illinois and at some point, Iowa.  What I didn’t know at the time was that he did actually live in New York.  I remembered that his daughter Isabel was supposedly married in New York.  I did confirm that through her marriage record.  But having this business card made me wonder if this was actually my Robert Hall PARKS,as he was tied to New York if only through his daughter’s marriage.

I started to dig around and found the marriage announcement of Isbael to Samuel Brewster in the New York Herald.  I then started to go through the New York City directories on Footnote and consistently found listing for Robert H Parks from 1880 to 1894.  What tipped me off that this was possibly my Robert, was the entry in the 1880 directory:

Although it lists him as a broker working at 5 New, his residence is indicated as Ill.  I found him, his wife, and his daughter in the 1880 census living in a hotel in NYC.  At this point, I had at least placed the him in New York, and it was apparent he had just moved around the time of the census.  As I made my way through each directory, I found the following listing in 1893; it’s the only one that has this business address (there were several other business addresses throughout the years).

 

Who knew this hunch would lead to anything.  All I had was this card (with initials only, albeit) and a dead-end for him in Lake County, Illinois in the 1870 census.  The information about his daughter’s marriage was initially vague and unsourced.  But once I confirmed that, I thought, maybe they all moved to New York and that’s why I can’t find any of them in Illinois.  All of this was confirmed when I found his obituary, which stated at the end “Chicago papers please copy.”  That right there tied him back to Illinois.  And because of this one little card, I was able to figure out when and where Robert and his wife died (both in 1894 in New York) and learn more about his daughter’s family.

Now whether my maternal grandmother actually found this or not is still a mystery, as Robert Hall PARKS is my first cousin five times removed on my dad’s side!

Saturday in the Attic – 05/29/10

This is my grandmother’s grammar school diploma, dated 15 June 1934.  She attended high school through her sophomore year, but dropped out when her mother died, so that her older sister could finish high school.

Saturday in the Attic – 05/22/10

This is a card the my grandmother, Joan Garrison McMAHON made when she was a child.  I found it in her baby book.

Saturday in the Attic – 05/15/10

 

This book first belonged to my grandfather, Harold Miller.  It was then passed on to his younger sister, Mildred.  When she got it, she covered it with paper to make a book cover.  The Evangelical Catechism was used for religious instruction, so I gather that they used it either in a Sunday School setting or for confirmation.

According to the United Church of Christ website, this version was approved by the Evangelical Synod of North America in 1929. 

“The Synod's roots were in the ‘unierte’ or ‘united’ church tradition in Germany. As such, it reconciled the separated Reformed and Lutheran expressions of the Christian faith, and affirmed the authority of both Reformed and Lutheran confessions of faith. The Catechism reflected the spirit of German Pietism with its emphasis on personal conversion to Jesus Christ.”

Through my research, I’ve known that this family was involved with Trinity Lutheran Church in Chicago, which was a Evangelical Lutheran church, for at least three generations.  Knowing that it was deeply tied to German beliefs, hopefully it will help me with further research whenever I cross the pond.

Although the family had been active in Trinity Lutheran Church, in fact, Harold had been baptized there in 1918, I’m not sure if this was the church they were attending at the time they used this book.  There is no church listed on the book, however, there is an address, which is where the family lived in the 1930s.  The church was quite a distance away, so I wonder if they found another church closer to home.  Further research will need to be done to determine this.

Saturday in the Attic – 05/08/10

This card was given by my mom to her mom on Mother’s Day.

 

Saturday in the Attic – 02/27/10

These are photos of my grandmother’s travel log.  She used to write about the trips her and grandpa took, recording not only where they went and what they did, but also the expenses.  I hope to transcribe this notebook sometime soon, and will post the transcriptions to my blog.  I’m sure it will be interesting to see how times have changed.

Saturday in the Attic – 02/20/10

This is my mom’s first paycheck she received while working for her dad’s miniature company.  She would have been just shy of 15 years-old when she got this check.

Saturday in the Attic – 02/13/10

This is a Valentine’s Day card from my grandmother, Marie ROTTMAN Miller, to my grandfather, Harold MILLER.

Saturday In the Attic – 02/06/10

This is the obituary for my great-grandmother, Anna E STOFFEL Rottman.  She died on 12 June 1936 in Chicago, Cook, Illinois.

Saturday in the Attic – 01/30/10

This is a copy of the marriage record for my  third great-grandparents, James MULLIGAN and Sarah Norton WEBSTER.  They were married on 5 November 1865 in Pontiac, Oakland, Michigan.

To my knowledge, James was married twice prior to marrying Sarah.  He was first marriage to a Margaret, and had at least four children:  Maria, Patrick, Michael, and Bridget.  He then married a Sophia, and had three children:  Joseph, James P, and Julia.

Sarah was first married to Abram Marshall COFFINGER.  The were married on 5 May 1850, in Michigan.  Together they had at least five children:  Esther Besty, Calvin William, Amos Parks, Emma Amelia, and Mary Ellen.  Abram died on 29 September 1863 in Pontiac, Oakland, Michigan.

James and Sarah had at least three children together:  Edward Peter, Sarah Jane, and Margaret Elizabeth.  Margaret died on 6 February 1886 at the age of 12.

James died on 8 September 1879 in Flint, Genesee, Michigan.  Sometime between 1888 and 1892, Sarah, Edward, and Sarah Jane relocated to Chicago.

Saturday in the Attic – 01/23/10

I really do wish this item was in the attic, as opposed to where I actually found it.  It would be so neat to have an artifact this old in my personal collection.

It’s a letter written by John Hopkins to Gov. John Winthrop.  It was found at the beginning of the book John Hopkins of Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1634 and Some of His Descendants (by Timothy Hopkins, Palo Alto, CA, 1932).

While the letter is in great condition, it is mounted on a page in the book and is bound with the pages of the book.  While the artifact is a wonderful addition to the book, the way it’s preserved, mounted, and bound is less than desirable. 

John Hopkins was born about 1613 in England and died about 1654 in Connecticut.  He and his wife, Jane Goody Strong, are my eleventh great-grandparents.  It is debatable as to whether or not John is the son of Stephen Hopkins of the Mayflower.  John left England and settled in Massachusetts, where he was made a freeman on 4  March 1634/35.  He later removed to Hartford, Connecticut.

Saturday in the Attic – 01/16/10

This is the obituary for my third great-grandmother, Margaret RYAN Murnane McMahon.  It, along with the 1880 census helped me to identify that she was married prior to marrying my third great-grandfather, Timothy McMahon in 1873.  The 1880 census provided the maiden names of the two daughters born to the first husband.  This obituary provides the married names for those daughters.  Eventually, this led me to discover an old friend was in fact a fourth cousin!

Source:  Obituary for Margaret RYAN McMahon, Chicago Daily Tribune, 25 July 1928, p 30.

Saturday in the Attic – 01/09/10

My grandmother, Joan McMAHON Cahill made many ceramics.  This one was made for me when I was born.  It’s in the shape of a large mug; my mom thinks it was meant to be a planter.

Saturday in the Attic – 01/02/10

It’s a new year, and time to get back to my Saturday in the Attic column!

This is a large pasta bowl that belonged to my grandmother, Joan McMAHON Cahill.  I have no idea where or when she got it, but it sure is a pretty dish.

Saturday in the Attic – 08/29/09

These are the patches I earned while bowling.  I was on a league while in elementary school and through high school.  Bowling was a lot of fun.  I wasn’t super by any means, just average.  I met some wonderful bowling buddies, especially during my high school years, many of whom I am still close friends with today.

I still have all my trophies…maybe one Saturday I’ll pull them out and post a picture.

Saturday in the Attic – 08/22/09

My dad was really big into CB radios.  This was my birth announcement.  Pretty neat!

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Saturday in the Attic – 08/15/09

As promised, I pulled out my Girl Scouts vest.  I also have several loose badges, which never quite made it to the vest.  Some day I will find the time to sew them on to complete the vest.

Saturday in the Attic – 08/08/09

This is my Girl Scouts membership card for 1986.  I was in Girl Scouts from first through fifth grade.  One of these days I’ll pull out my vest and take a picture and post it.

I know some of my friends read this blog, so if there are any out there that were in Girl Scouts with me, leave a comment of your favorite memory.  I have some fantastic memories of White Pines ;)

Saturday in the Attic – 08/01/09

 

My grandfather, Harold Leslie MILLER, would be celebrating his 91st birthday come August 4th.  To honor his memory, here is a birthday card my mom sent to him when she was a child.