Daniel Newhall - Lettice Johnson Headstone

Direct from the South Kirby Cemetery in Kirby, VT, the headstone for Daniel Newhall and Lettice (Johnson) Newhall.

Daniel and Lettice were the parents of Merritt Newhall, father of Lettice Newton, who married Hubbard McKoy and came out to California during the gold rush.

Daniel and Lettice are your gr-gr-gr-gr-gr-grandparents.

Oakland's Orne Family Vortex

I'm in touch with an Orne family relative who shed considerable light on Eben/Edward T Orne (your gr-great grandfather) and his family. Early on, I was intrigued by Eben/Edward T Orne (hereafter referred to as Edward T). I couldn't figure out why he wasn't showing up on any Dubuque-area censuses after 1870, but it didn't seem that he'd left the family, since he and his wife Ellen were buried together. Turns out (with the help of a Higgins family relative) I was able to prove that he lived in Chicago, where he ran various businesses with his sons Freeman and Warren. He probably had the business in Chicago and went back to the Dubuque area when possible (on weekends?); it's only 160 mi. away. Most of his children were born in Chicago.

Anyway, through this new Orne family relative, I learned that in 1849, Edward T Orne left home at the age of 17 to make his fortune in California. His mother Elizabeth (that's her in the photo above) begged him not to go, but he went anyway. I have no documentation of where he was between 1849 and 1860 (one presumes California, but I have no proof). For many many years afterward, his mother asked every person she knew going to California to look for her son. Edward's younger half-sister, Eliza, helped in mother in trying to locate Edward. The following was passed down through family history:

"It was a sad day in 1849 when Eliza's half-brother, 17 year old, Edward decided to leave home and make his way in the world. Anna was 6, Eliza was 3, and Mary was 6 months at the time. Edward planned to go to California to mine for gold. Their mother, Elizabeth feared for his welfare and wondered when she would see him again. There were tearful goodbyes and no doubt the two little sisters were also crying. Three year old, Eliza never forgot that day and recalled the details of that day many years later. That was the last they ever heard of Edward but his mother remained hopeful, and asked any stray traveler who happened into town if they knew of her son Edward Orne who may have gone to California.

"The years went by and Eliza and her sisters were getting big. Sometimes they would go out on the hillside and gather strawberries and blueberries for their mothers delicious berry pies. Their father was a house painter and the family owned considerable property. When the girls were young ladies, their father sold their holdings and moved the family to Chicago, IL. Anna found the young man of her choice and became Mrs. Jewell. Eliza and Mary still lived at home. Eliza clerked in a bookstore and in their spare-time, both girls embroidered lamp-mats, throws, etc.

"One day her mother came in with some exciting news! She had met a man from California who had not only seen Mr. Orne, but could also give her his address. Eliza wrote a letter at once and they waited expectantly for Edward's answer, but when it arrived, it was not from their Edward but from a stranger, Ebenezer Orne who they knew nothing about. It would be only right, however that Eliza acknowledge Mr. Orne's kindness in answering her letter - and he in turn to assure her he would try and locate her brother. So began a correspondence, which resulted in the course of a year in Eliza's accepting Ebenezer's proposal that she come to California and be his wife. His next letter contained money for her traveling expenses and she, in spite of her father's objections, left off, making lamp-mats to concoct a lovely little bonnet and wedding outfit. She was 26 years old at this time. Her father raged, he would never have anything more to do with her if she left and married a man who she had never seen. Some of their neighbors were going to California soon and Eliza was to go with them. So on the starting day she had her little outfit ready - said her good-byes - and climbed into one of the waiting prairie-schooners for the trip out west.

"There were only 3 schooners starting at that time, but they made it safely across the plains and through the mountain passes. The trail sometimes became tedious and dusty but the novelty of entering new landscape each day compensated for that. Eventually, the schooners neared their destination."

Ebenezer and Eliza were married and lived the rest of their lives in California. One of their daughters lived to the age of 102.

In 1910, after Eliza was widowed, she lived about two blocks from where Dave and Pam now live... and about a block from where Mayme Ware -- Edward's daughter --- lived in 1929. I've now dubbed this Oakland neighborhood the Orne vortex (click to biggify):



Did Edward's mother ever find Edward? Apparently so. I'm ordering her death certficate, on which, supposedly, Edward is an informant, and one of his half-sisters is listed as a survivor in his obit.

Edward/Eben T Orne:



Still a mystery: why/when did Edward go by the name of Eben? I suspect he may have been going by Eben when he left for California, thus leading to Eliza being put in touch with Ebenezer H Orne.

And as a footnote, it turned out that Ebenezer H Orne and Edward T Orne were first cousins. Their fathers, Joseph Orne III and Ebenezer M Orne were brothers. Eliza was not an Orne, however. Her mother's first husband was Joseph Orne IV; Eliza's father was Henry Bates.

While we're on the topic of Edward T Orne, here's a letter he wrote requesting his great-grandfather's Revolutionary War service records... click the thumbnails to enlarge:

Page 1:
Page 2:

The Raysors in Sacramento

Jeff and I took a field trip to Sacramento today to get photos of the Raysors buried in the IOOF Cemetery on Riverside Dr in Sacramento. (The cemetery and Carl's house were both conveniently within 3 miles of both the church we go to in Sacto and Jimboy's Tacos.)

The three interred in this cemetery are Carl's first wife, Alice (who died of tuberculosis in 1925), and their two children, Frances and Carl Jr. (both of whom died of tubercular meningitis). It's a nice cemetery, well-maintained, with mature trees throughout. Alice is buried beneath a pine tree. The children are in an infants section. The headstones are made of cast cement, similar to many of the headstones we saw here. I'm not sure why these three are all buried in the IOOF cemetery. Frances, who was the first to die, is laid in a plot owned by a "Mrs Johnson." I have no information on who that is; none of Alice's sisters married a Johnson, so she is likely a family friend (Alice's family were long-time Sacramento residents). The IOOF did traditionally provide burial services for the indigent. Carl was not indigent, but perhaps money was tight, and a family friend offered a plot. (Or maybe he was an IOOF member at that time.) Carl is listed as the owner of the plots for Carl Jr and Alice. Another possibility for the choice of cemetery may be simply the proximity to Carl's home on W. St.

Carl's son, Carl Jr:

His wife, Alice:


His daughter, Frances Harriet Raysor:Frances' headstone is worn -- I'll take a rubbing the next time I visit.


Here's the home at 905 W St., where Carl and his family lived in Sacramento:

This is his listed address at least as early as 1916, up until Alice's death in 1925.

The house on W street is only a couple of blocks from the cemetery, and it parallels the freeway. It was probably a fairly nice house in its day.

The Helen Apartments

Arden recently unearthed this photo of the "Helen Apartments," which I'm reasonably convinced are located in Spokane (and Helen's age in this photo is consistent with the timeline). I googled "Helen Apartments" and found quite a bit of info on a Helen Apartments building in Spokane which was the site of an infamous and gruesome serial murder. Outside of Greece it's the only instance of Helen Apartments that I could find. (Using google maps' street view, I located the building in Spokane, which doesn't look exactly like this, but could have undergone "renovations" in the last hundred years. It's in what is currently Spokane's skid row area. )

I'm still working on identifying all of the individuals in the photo.

The tall gentleman on the far right is George Maltesta. It's possible that the young lady standing between Ella and George is Myrtle Kalas. She bears a resemblance to a newspaper photo I have of Myrtle at that time. If so, the young boys could be Quisty and Bud Kalas. The gentleman on the far left is probably Raymond Lavery ("Uncle Ray"), although William Lavery looked a lot like Ray, so it could be him instead.

Yesterday, Lorraine provided more information about the "Spokane Connection." Arden knew that her mother and grandparents had lived in Spokane for a short time, but didn't know when or why. Lorraine provided a few more puzzle pieces:

One of the essays I have that Helen wrote is titled "California, Here We Come!", and in it she states that in 1916 she and her Mother left Alameda for Chicago (for economic reasons) because her Father had lost his job and there being a recession at the time the chances of him getting another soon were slim. They sold all their household furnishings, and were in Chicago (probably with Aunt Mae) for four months.

She states that at that time he finally got located in Spokane, Washington, and they returned to California. She says she returned to the same school she had attended
before they left.

She says they had moved to California 9 years earlier (1907). That was about the time that gr grandmother Ellen died, which is in a letter I have that she wrote to my Mother stating that Ella had just arrived in California, and that she (Ellen) was sick. I think there was one other sister living in California at that time (probably Carrie?) (kmn's note: Carrie didn't move to the Bay Area until 1927; Lucy was the one living in California at this time.)

One last thing: notice Helen's long blonde curls? You can see them in person! Among the stuff Arden found in the garage was a bag of hair --- Helen's curls when she had them lopped off.

Lavery Family Photos

Recently, I was able to get in touch with Lorraine D, a Lavery descendant, from whom we have a letter written to Helen Raysor in 1981. She's 82 years old; she and Arden are second cousins. She is descended from Ida Raysor (Eleanor's sister), the oldest of the Raysor children. She had several family photos that she shared with me, and quite a bit of information on the Laverys and Daleys that I would not likely to have been able to track down on my own.

Anyway, here are a few of the photos she shared (CLICK to BIGGIFY):

The photo above is of the four Daily (Daley/Daly) sisters. The large photo is labeled. The top photo is Ellen, Alice, Catherine and Annie. Ellen (far left at top; far right on bottom) is your great great grandmother.

The Dailys were raised in an orphanage, likely orphaned by a catastrophic cholera epidemic in Chicago. Ellen was living on her own in 1860, at the age of 16. She married William Lavery in 1864... he had been in the hospital recovering from grievous wounds he suffered at the second battle of Bull Run (a mini ball hit him in one leg near the groin and traveled down his leg to a point a couple of inches above the knee; the ankle on the other leg was broken), and they married almost immediately after he left the hospital. (It is not known, but would seem that perhaps she was volunteering at the hospital and met him there).




This is Ellen's daughter Ida, with her grand-daughter Evelyn. Evelyn was Helen Raysor's first cousin (and Lorrain's mother). There's also a note from Aunt Lucy Lavery Kalas.



This photo shows Evelyn, Lucy and Ida. This is the youngest photo I have of Lucy. Arden and Lorraine both remember Aunt Lucy as being a lot of fun. When Arden traveled from Potter Valley down to Oakland to visit the orthodontist, they stayed with Aunt Lucy, and she remembers them stayed up late into the night -- they would make toast and tea and sit around the table playing cards and laughing... a lot.

The Maltesta Family is from Genoa

I was lucky to get two good death certificates yesterday. One, for Dominick Malatesta (Helen Maltesta Raysor's grandfather; your great grandfather), and the other for Walter Joseph Malatesta, who was Helen's great uncle (George's brother).

From these two docs, I was able to get a more accurate description of Dominick's parents (John B and Mary), his wife Ann (Gerrity) and a specific location of his hometown in Italy: Genoa. I've been unable to conduct further research on the Maltesta line without knowing where they were from in Italy, so this may be a big help.

You can click the following to enlarge:

Carl Raysor: When was the top photo taken?

This is the photo with the mystery date:In the photo above (you can click to enlarge and view details), Carl is on the far right. His collar suggests that the photo was taken before 1915, I think. Arden thinks it was taken in the mid-to-late 1920s. However, compare it to the following photo taken in the summer of 1930:

Although Arden thinks the top photo was taken between 1926 and 1930, it seems to me that, fashion aside, Carl looks significantly older in the bottom photo. His face has filled out, and seems to reflect the tragedies he's experienced in the previous 15 years. In the top photo he looks young, fresh-faced, full of promise.

I'm doing more fashion research to more accurately place the top photo, but my initial guess is that it was taken between 1910 and 1915. I'd love your input!

More Garage Goodies

The excavation of the garage continues, and a box unearthed yesterday (from a pile beneath the dryer vent) yielded unexpected treasures. The first was a letter from Aunt Mae (Lavery) Madden to Helen Raysor on the occasion of Eleanor's death (Click to biggify):

The second letter (from "Lorraine" to your grandmother) below is a puzzler. The topic of the letter is Lavery genealogy, with margin annotations which at first glance, appear to have been made by Helen. There are two distinct handwriting types on the letter. Maybe notes on the family that Helen is leaving behind for Arden? One in particular stands out: "My mother's father Wm D Lavery a brute my mother hated him". (Helen was beginning her descent into dementia at this point, and was not always remembering things clearly -- it could well be an erroneous memory. Lorraine says that her mother had fond memories of "Old Bill," but acknowledges that Ella and Helen did not share those fond memories.) This letter is mined with clues; I just hope we can make sense of them. Click to biggify:

At the bottom, Lorraine is musing on Wm Lavery's whereabouts between Nov 1862 and Mar 1863. Click here for more info on the 44th NY Infantry's involvement in the Civil War. UPDATE: I just received Wm. Lavery's entire Civil War Pension File, which described that he was gravely injured in the second battle of Bull Run at the end of August, 1962. His leg was eventually amputated (when he was about 50 y.o.) due to that injury. Subsequent to finding this letter, I was extremely lucky to be able to make contact with Lorraine through Ancestry.com. She had a ton of information on the Lavery family, including photos!

Also in this stash was a postcard album, with postcards dated from 1905 - 1912. It provided addresses for your grandmother and great grandparents in Chicago and Alameda for that time period. A couple of the postcards were incredibly politically incorrect, but typical of the time. I'll try to scan them this weekend.

A C Raysor

Here is your great-great grandfather, Abraham C Raysor and the photo was taken in the 1870s. He was a preacher at the Barkeyville Church of God, and instrumental in establishing the BCoG.

I was trying to get cemetery records from the Barkeyville Cemetery (where all the Barkeyville Raysors are buried), and ended up sending a request to the pastor at the Barkeyville Church of God, hoping he would know the sexton and forward my request for cemetery records to him. I hit pay dirt. Turns out, he is not only the pastor of the Barkeyville Church of God, but he's also a member of the Barkeyville Cemetery Board, a member of the Churches of God Historical Society Board AND the resident Barkeyville Historian. He responded enthusiastically that he had a lot of Raysor info, and as a teaser, sent along this photo. I can't wait to see what he has for me: he has promised some "cool surprises." He also promised to "say hello" to the interred Raysors when he went to the cemetery this afternoon.

Dominick Malatesta: Fireman

Your great great grandfather, Dominick Malatesta, was a Chicago fireman. I found this article in the Chicago Tribune dated 8 NOV 1872, announcing his transition from a probationary member of the Fire Dept. to a regular member. This occurred a year and a month after the Great Chicago Fire.

District Meet Programs

Here are downloadable programs from District Meets of yesteryear. We have the series from 1965 through 1975, excluding 1973, which may yet turn up in my diggings.

• 1965
• 1966
• 1967
• 1968
• 1969
• 1970
• 1971
• 1972
• 1974
• 1975

Where the Bodies are Buried

I received a death certificate for your grandmother, Kathleen Ware Glass, in addition to death certs for her mother (Mayme Orne Ware), her aunts (Emily Orne Hitchcock and Nellie Ware), and her uncle Freeman Orne. All died in the Los Angeles area. When I got the certs back, I was surprised to see that Nellie was listed as being buried in the Sunset View Cemetery* in Berkeley (now El Cerrito). So I requested her cemetery record, hoping to see if her husband Thomas Ware and/or your great grandfather, Charles Bennett Ware (Thomas' brother) were buried there as well. Per Arden, Kathleen and her mother had lived in Berkeley for a while, and Kathleen had attended Cal prior to marrying Joseph Glass.

I was surprised to find that the whole bunch of them (except Thomas Ware and Emily Hitchcock) were buried in Berkeley. The best new information was pinpointing Charles Bennett Ware's burial date (2 FEB 1929) --- up till now, I only knew that he died between 1920 and 1930. I imagined that he'd probably died in Illinois (they lived in Oak Park in 1920), and after his death Kathleen and her mother moved west to make a new start. Now it seems most likely that they all moved to Berkeley around the time Kathleen entered Cal, and Charles died a few years later.

Here is their headstone:



UPDATE: The two plots are side-by-side, but there is no marker for Kathleen's plot, even though the cemetery records indicate there is a monument there. At some point we may need to buy her a headstone. There is also no marker indicating that the remains of Nellie and Freeman are interred/inurned here. I need to follow up on that.
-------------------------------
* Financial Services mogul Dean Witter is buried here

Hubbard Wilson McKoy's OBIT

I was thrilled to find an obit for Hubbard Wilson McKoy (your great³ grandfather) in the Mountain Democrat Newspaper which served El Dorado County, CA. H W McKoy died in 1895. This article reprints an obit from the Santa Cruz Sentinel, and comments upon it. It was an especially "meaty" obit, since it detailed his life in El Dorado county (in the area above Placerville.)


(Click to biggify the image)



McKoy also contributed to the growth and development of Felton:

Other major components of the industry in Felton at this time were the lime kilns; by 1878 Felton was putting out $200,000 worth of lime annually. Limestone powder is a necessary part of concrete and mortar. The lime was shipped to Santa Cruz via the new railway. Many prosperous companies had their start in this ear; the Henry Cowell Ranch kilns just south of town; the IXL Kilns and the Holmes Lime Kiln quarries to the west of town.

From this industry in the 1870's the town developed the usual suspects; in short order there came a general store, a hotel and a saloon (built by Walter Cooper and JM Merrill); a man named Hubbard McKoy, Vermonter, opened a private post office and hauled mail; the same McKoy later opened a blacksmith's with master blacksmith Potter Paschall in charge; James F Cunningham and McKoy opened another general store in 1871, in anticipation of the settlement's growth. A constable and a justice of the peace set up shop there in 1878. Even the school district, which had been founded in 1863 at Ashley's on the San Lorenzo River, changed its name to the Felton School District and moved into town in 1875 to reflect the facts of population density in the valley. For by 1880 the majority of people in the San Lorenzo Valley lived Felton."

source: http://www.feltonfire.com/pictures/feltonhistory.html

An Orne Family Photo & Nellie's Passport

I was extraordinarily fortunate this last month to have been put in touch with M. Dale, a wonderful contact who has encyclopedic knowledge of the Higgins and Orne families. She was extremely generous with her time, and provided photos and information I'd never have had access to otherwise.

One of the best items was this photo of the Orne family. Ellen Higgins Orne is in the center, surrounded by her children. The date of this photo is likely the period between 1904 and 1913 - the time after Eben died, but while Ellen was still living.

Your great-grandmother, Mayme Orne Ware is in the lower right (you can see a resemblance to Tim). Years later, she, Freeman ("Uncle Free"), Nellie and Emily were all living in the Los Angeles area --- and they were all L.A.-area residents at the time of their deaths. Mayme and Nellie married the Ware brothers. Charles Ware (Mayme's husband) died between 1920 and 1930. Thomas was still alive in 1930, the last public census (until the 1940 census is released in 2012).



I also found Nellie Orne Ware's passport application (Click image to biggify):

Carl Raysor's Family Who Came Before

Carl Raysor was married with a family prior to meeting and marrying Helen Maltesta. The only thing we knew about this was from what Helen told Arden after Carl's death: Carl was married before and had a family, but they all died. Arden thought they'd died in a fire, but couldn't recall clearly, and she said she was so shocked by the news that she never asked her mother another thing about it.

Last Fall I was able to locate what I thought were the records of his first wife and two children. I've finally received the documentation supporting those findings, in the form of death certficates and cemetery records.

Carl's first wife was Alice Frances Clifford of Sacramento. They married in 1913. In 1916, their first child, Frances Harriet Raysor, was born. She died in 1917 of tubercular meningitis. In 1921, a son, Carl Raymond Raysor, was born. He died in 1922 when he was about 9 months old, also of tubercular meningitis. In 1925, Alice died of pulmonary tuberculosis. She'd had it for seven years. All three are buried in Sacramento's IOOF Cemetery.

Meet your great great great Grandparents

Meet Joseph Higgins and Mary Greer Higgins, your great-great-great grandparents. I was really lucky this week to be put in touch with a woman who has comprehensively documented the Higgins line, and she has a lot of photos in addition to family lore - these are two of the photos from her collection. She's been extremely generous in sharing information about the Higgins and Orne families.

Around 1861, Joseph and Mary moved to the Dubuque, Iowa area from Morrill, Maine. Mary died in Iowa in 1862 at the age of 54. Mary's father, James Greer, fought in the Revolutionary War (his Revolutionary War pension file is 99 pages long, much of it hand-written, and I'm still parsing that data).

A TR connection?

Today, I received a book -- a History of the San Lorenzo Valley, and inside, a cursory look revealed both a story about Bessie Glass helping to catch a diamond thief, and a photo of the Grand Central Hotel (of which Joseph was half-owner starting in 1905, and eventually ran in 1909.)

Taking another look at a photo (Felton Townspeople) that Sarah had provided, I was able to ID the building in the "Felton Townspeople" photo as also being the Grand Central Hotel. (The lady with the bicycle is Lucy Ball.) It also figures in several other Felton photographs from Sarah.

So what's the deal with Teddy Roosevelt? Well, biggify the top photo, and check out the 4th guy from the left. I mentioned off-handedly to Jeff, "Hey, look: Teddy Roosevelt!" At first, we were like, yeah, right, everybody looked like TR in those days. But then, looking at the facts, it didn't sound so crazy...

Why it might be TR:

• Teddy Roosevelt visited Felton in May 1903 to dedicate Big Basin State Park (he was instrumental in saving the redwoods here) - the photo is consistent with the time frame;
• Joseph Ball was county Supervisor at the time of Roosevelt's visit; he likely would have been part of the welcoming committee (I suspect that Joseph Ball is in this photo, but there's no way to identify him);
• Clothing is consistent with May weather. Some of the men are wearing straw boaters; Lucy is in white cotton.
• The Felton TR lookalike is holding up the kid that looks like Charlie McCarthy. That seems like something TR would do during a photo opp.

Why it probably isn't TR:

• Felton guy is a little frayed around the edges. TR was a dandy.
• When TR visited the San Lorenzo Valley, 12,000 people showed up. It would appear that if this were TR, there would be a crowd.

The probability is very low, but it's been a fun ponderable..... we need Archie from C.S.I. to do a biometric analysis.

Annie McCoy Ball's Obit

Last weekend we took a field trip to the Boulder Creek Library where we spent the day scrolling through microfilm looking at old issues of the "Mountain Echo," a newspaper published for the San Lorenzo Valley (Felton, Boulder Creek, Ben Lomond, etc.) around the turn of the century (about 1895 - 1915).

After wrestling with ancient microfilm technology (and reading through 167 ads for remedies for piles and catarrh), we came away with a ream of info on family members from the Felton area. The best find was a good obituary for your great-great grandmother (Annie McCoy Ball) who died suddenly at the age of 45. Here's the transcription:

DEATH OF MRS. ANNIE L BALL

Mrs Annie Letitia Ball, wife of Supervisor Joseph Ball, died suddenly and unexpectedly at the family apartments in the Hotel Ben Lomond last Sunday night at 10:30 o'clock. Mrs Ball had been subject to attacks of heart trouble during the past year and it was one of these that caused her sudden taking off as stated above, the immediate cause of death being diagnosed as paralysis of the heart.

Mrs Ball had been about her duties as usual the day before her death and seemed to be as well as usual and in good spirits. There was nothing to indicate her being called so suddenly. Like a thunderbolt from a clear sky the shaft of the destroyer came and in a few minutes after it struck the wife and mother had passed from the earth.

The funeral took place Tuesday afternoon and was largely attended. The home services were held at the Hotel Ben Lomond at one o'clock. Rev Wm Hicks, of the Presbyterian church of this place, officiating. The remains were then taken by the afternoon train to Santa Cruz, accompanied by many other friends and a long procession of carriages
wended its way to the Odd Fellow's cemetery, where the impressive burial services were conducted by Isabella Rebekah Lodge, I. O. O. F., of Santa Cruz, of which Mrs Ball was a member in good standing. Court adjourned and all of the county officials attended. Many beautiful floral pieces testified to the sympathy and good will of friends and the esteem in which deceased (sic) was held. Interment was in the family plot in the Odd Fellow's cemetery.

Mrs Annie L. Ball was a sister of Mrs L N Hayes, Mrs T B Hubbard and Mrs G C West, all of San Jose, and was the second daughter of Mr and Mrs H. W. McKoy, old residents of Felton, where her life from girlhood, until recently, has been passed. She was united in marriage to Mr Jos. Ball in the early seventies. Three children blessed the union, one deceased, and the two daughters, Lucy and Bessie, now grown to womanhood, and left to mourn the loss of a faithful, devoted mother. Mrs. Ball was a native of El Dorado county, this state, and was aged 45 years at the time of her death. Her bereaved family have the sincere sympathy of a wide circle of friends in their great and unexpected affliction.

DATE: 16 MAR 1901

Also found an obituary for your great-great grandfather, John Glass. He had no funeral ceremony other than the I.O.O.F. rites:

The funeral of John Glass took place in Santa Cruz last Sunday at 11 AM from Odd Fellow's Hall and the interment was in the Odd Fellow's cemetery. There was no ceremony other than the burial service of the order, which was used both in the hall and at the grave. The pall bearers were: A M Fraser, Dan Hartman, G P Lane and Thos Maddock of Boulder Creek; Jas. H Curtis of Felton and Prof W T Forsyth of Santa Cruz.

Date: 28 JUN 1902

The Mystery of the Uniform

Of all the photos Sarah has shared with us, this is one of my favorites. It's your great grandfather, Charles Bennett Ware (Kathleen Ware's father), in full uniform. I asked Sarah about the uniform, but she didn't have any info on his military service.

I once did a drawing of Teddy Roosevelt which featured a pin identical to the one on Ware's hat, and because it seemed he would have been of age to fight in the Spanish American War, I started by researching uniforms from that war. I got a match. Next, I looked up Spanish American War service records and got a hit on Charles Ware. Turns out, he served as a corporal in the Spanish American War, in Company E of the Illinois Infantry.

Recent coverage of Latin Mass at St Margaret Mary Church

KTVU coverage of the Traditional Latin Mass at St Margaret Mary Church in Oakland, CA on Easter (23 March) 2008.

Click the image to biggify it. It's an item your Dad sent in to a Herb Caen wannabe:

Arden and the Junior Women's Club

Click image to biggify:



You'll note that her beehive is woefully nonexistent. She should have consulted with Miss Pat or Miss Helen about getting bigger hair:

Passenger List for the Andrew Foster

You'll need to click the image below to enlarge it...

This is from the passenger manifest for the ship the Andrew Foster, from Liverpool to New York which arrived 9 JAN 1854. The entire manifest is here. I'm not sure, but there's a good chance this is your great-great-grandfather, John Glass (1841-1902), the father of Will Glass who went to the Yukon. The emigration date matches up to what he stated for the census, and he has a brother named Charles (a name which appears throughout the Glass family tree); so far, nothing to suggest this is not the same John Glass.

But the thing I want to call to your attention is the story behind the manifest. The mother (age 40) is travelling with the five children; the father is not on the manifest --- I'd guess that he may have come over during the famine years to earn money, then sent for them later, but that's purely speculation. (I did find a John Glass who arrived in NY in 1852.) So, the mother, Isabella, is travelling with John, age 12; [illegible] son, age 9; Charles, age 6; James, age 4; and Margaret, age 2. Now, scroll over to the far right column, in which it is noted the the mother, Isabella, died on December 15th (in transit), James and Margaret died on December 13th. My eyes well up just typing this. I just hope a father was waiting at the docks to meet them --- I can't imagine what it would have been like to be a 12-year old boy with his 9- and 6-year-old brothers in tow, alone in the streets of New York (they would have ended up on orphan trains were that the case.)

Walter J Maltesta and the 1920 GOP Convention

This article appeared in newspapers across the midwest. Walter J Malatesta (1887 - ?) was George Maltesta's (1878-1957) younger brother. I have about a 80% degree of confidence that the Walter in the article is the same Walter that was George's brother. I don't have much info on Walter. He was born in 1887. In 1910 he was a "Private Secy"; in 1917 he was a "Retail Sales Manager"; in 1920 he was manager at an ice company; in 1930, he was an investment banker. He was married to "Marian C.". He was the youngest in the family and his mother died when he was a toddler.

Transcription:

L.W. Henley and Walter J. Malatesta are the most popular persons in Chicago. The former is secretary of the arrangements committee and the latter is secretary of the Chicago convention committee.

They were nearly mobbed when ticket distribution took place. Malatesta had the worst time trying to divide 2,658 tickets --- Chicago's allotment for those who contributed the money for staging the big show --- among 150,000 applicants.

"I got 73,000 checks from people who wanted to buy tickets," said Malatesta. "It hurt like the dickens to return all that cash."

Helen Maltesta a Hit in Theatre Performance

This is from the 17 SEP 1926 San Mateo Times. Text:

"Helen Maltesta gave an impersonation of Pat Rooney in a dance number that scored a big hit. Cleverly costumed and excellent in her performance, the little lady was an instant success."

Not certain if this is the performing troupe that Helen joined that caused the rift with her father.

Arden's Departure for Hawaii + Carl's Obit

Here is the whole newspaper page (Oak Tribune, Thursday 26 Mar 1953), announcing Arden's Hawaii trip.

I also found Carl's Obit:



... and lastly, Arden and Bill's Wedding Announcement (click to enlarge):

Myrtle Kalas

Many members of the Kalas family are buried at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery, so having seen their headstones (and given the Star Trek connection), this family held special interest for me.

I've been fortunate in being able to find several items in the Oakland Tribune's archives on various family members, including several colorful ones involving Myrtle Kalas. The first was her "coming out" party, which featured a dramatic reading by Helen Maltesta (who was then about 12 years old):



(Click to enlarge)

When I showed this article to your Mom, she laughed. She was familiar with all the names of the attendees, and far from being a High Society Deb party, this was pretty much a family birthday party with classmates and young relatives in attendance.

The second article "Local Cupid Snubbed by 15-yr-old Neighbor" describes how Myrtle, when working in the Alameda County Recorder's office (next door to the marriage bureau), opted to apply for a marriage license in San Jose rather than have the snoopy marriage bureau employees find out about her impending nuptials. It was a whirlwind romance: Myrtle and Benjamin were engaged after knowing each other just three weeks:

When your great grandfather, George Maltesta moved alone to San Francisco, Eleanor and Helen moved in with the Kalas family (Anthony Kalas and his wife, Lucy, who was Eleanor's sister. The kids included Myrtle, Anthony, Charles "Quisty", Dolly and Bud.) Helen married Carl Raysor soon thereafter. William Lavery (Eleanor and Lucy's brother) also lived with the Kalases.

War of 1812 - Joseph Orne's Service

I am researching Joseph Orne's service in the War of 1812, since I had read a comment previously that he had been a POW in Ontario during that war. Today I found abstracts from the payrolls of regiments stationed at Burlington, VT. This is a "pay roll of a company of infantry commanded by Catpain Benjamin S Edgerton, of the Eleventh Regiment of th United States, for the months of September and October 1812":

(You can click to enlarge.)

He is listed here with an Ebenezer Orne. Not certain which Ebenezer this is -- there are several in the family. My hunch is that he's a family member. Joseph had a son named Ebenezer, born in 1796, and it's most likely him.

Keep in mind that I'm simply guessing that this Joseph Orne maps to the Joseph Orne in our tree (all I have is a name and a state to go by) but I do not yet have the pension files or other documentation to verify this. My degree of confidence is about 85%.

Will Glass / E J Rubottom Photo

This is E J Rubottom and Will Glass - they traveled to the Yukon together and were related. E J was married to Nellie Hickey, Will's Cousin (they had the same grandparents, Patrick and Bridget Hickey).

E J Rubottom was an interesting guy. I found four patent applications issued to him (you can see one here), two of which were beer-related. Another invention was mentioned in a local paper, but I haven't found the patent application, yet.

Jim Shaw (who is descended from the Hickeys) gave me this photo. He is extremely knowledgeable about Felton history and these families. Here's what he said:

"BTW, Mary Shaw's father, Michael Hickey, was foreman of the Lime Kilns for Henry Cowell. We have a very pretty bowl, made in Prussia, that was a gift to Michael from Henry Cowell. Also at the ranch are large portraits of Michael Hickey and his wife Catherine Quinn Hickey. They are buried in Holy Cross Cemetery in Santa Cruz.

"In addition to Mary and Nellie, there were two boys, John, who died in a train wreck two years to the day before Frank Shaw was killed in 1900, and Dan Hickey, who was wharfinger on the Santa Cruz wharf. He was found drowned off the wharf in 1923 and the family always suspected bootleggers.

"Dan's daughter Kate married and had a son, Harold Soper. After she was widowed she married a cousin, Charlie Glass, also an engineer on the South Pacific Coast. I interviewed Harold Soper about 1992, but my tape is packed away. I'll find it one of these days and transcribe it. I also interviewed Red Sinnott, another cousin from that side.

"Ok, I found the photo I was hoping to find. It's from a tintype I scanned. This is E. J. Rubottom, husband of Nellie Hickey, and Will Glass, when they went on the Alaskan Gold Rush."

I found this second photo in the book "Santa Cruz"--- a history of the Santa Cruz area:


Mary Hickey Shaw and Nellie Hickey Rubottom were sisters. They are your great-great aunts (granddaughters of your great-great-great-grandparents).

The date on this photo is incorrect. It was probably taken in 1913 at the time that Nellie was widowed (at which point she moved in with Mary, also a widow). Roy Shaw (the boy in the photo) was born in 1899.

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