Old cars and new dresses

When your grandmother is a seamstress, your mother takes your measurements and sends them off to here a few months before birthday, Christmas and Easter. Then surprise, a new dress arrives, for both yourself and your little sister!

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Old cars driving on crowded city street - for Sepia Saturday this week.

Here I stand proudly on my 8th birthday in a new outfit (red and blue plaids) made by my dear grandmother back in San Antonio TX. My little sister has the same plaid I think. We're in front of a beautiful Studebaker on the street of our first apartment (5530 Cates Ave) in St. Louis MO. Yes,  I remember not only the address but probably the phone number and another license plate!

When, in 1975, I attempted to show my own sons (then at age 8 and 11) the old apartment building, it had burned down and was an empty lot. You really can't go back. (We drove our camper from Tampa throughout the summer of '75 as far as Wisconsin and Montana to Arizona and back.)

Back to the 1950 photo... besides the AAA emblem on the license tag, I'm not sure if it was still from Texas, or then Missouri. No amount of stretching, changing contrast etc. would let these old eyes figure it out. But the dark colors do remind me of 50s Missouri tag colors.

The main emotion I have? Why on MY birthday did my sister also get a new dress? What about turning 8? Wasn't that something special?

OK, maybe that’s petty. After all my family moved away from Houston, I was without any friends, about to start going to a new school, and my parents were looking for work to support us. I also remember that mid August it was so cold we tried lighting a fire in the fireplace in the new apartment…with disastrous results. Either we didn’t open the damper, or the chimney had been closed off above us. Many coughs and wearing all our sweaters later…

We also had to wait to get our furniture, as it had been put in storage when we arrived and so we stayed in furnished places until we found this apartment in walking distance of the school we would be attending (private, for Christian Science kids.)

I think we had some WW II surplus army cots to sleep on.

Boy life was so different then.

No air conditioning either, and hanging out clothes (washed in basement 2 floors below) was in an ugly back yard. (I was too short to do that.) Mom tried to plant some zinnias, but the ground was pretty awful. No hanging out clothes in the winter, because everyone heated with coal (including us.) Lots of dirty coal dust floated down on everything! Clothes were hung in the basement to dry.

And then that winter we got to walk to school in snow. Nobody plowed the sidewalks! And often they had more snow because the plows went by on the streets! Well, we had at least one day when school was closed...maybe more! We had galoshes for our feet, not that great when snow was more than 8 inches deep! But my dad got us a sled, and we found Art Hill in Forest Park, which was great long sliding down...but then someone had to pull the sled (and my 4 year old sister back up the hill - Daddy of course!)

I did have a good life, all in all. I survived childhood illnesses without any medicine...being prayed over only. My parents stayed together and I eventually figured out their way of silent communication was a form of love.

And my sister and I got a good education.

Sitting on the edge

 People are being rescued who have fallen from our many waterfalls these days. After Hurricane Helene changed the paths of many of our water courses, the falls and pools below them are much more dangerous. But the park service which looks after the grounds, paths, parking lots and restrooms are diligent and trying to keep things safe.

What about those who want a photo with the pretty scene in the background?

Did you notice this is a winter-time shot?

Space Shuttle Atlantis docked with the International Space Station. Who is taking this photo?

Granddaughters dangling their feet over the inland waterway in St. Petersburg FL.

Two granddaughters at the fort in St. Augustine FL

Second cousins about 10 years ago.

The many overlooks on the Blue Ridge Parkway aren't having as much traffic this year, as some of the road has still not been repaired.

Sharing with Sepia Saturday this week, where a young man doesn't look particularly happy sitting on the fake balustrade.

A studio photo of my youngest son at around 3. At least he isn't posed on a fake parapet! 

Today's quote:

When we’re feeling lonely, we’ve lost the idea that we’re all one, and none of us are separate from the whole

Getting there is the journey

 A couple of "before and after" shots...

Starting with Rte. 66 across America:

TAMIAMI Trail (U.S. Highway 41) opened Feb 1, 1929

Actually US 41 across Florida to Miami, is pretty dull.

A postcard of the Western North Carolina railroad between Old Fort and Black Mountain!

My mother, holding the Keystone motion picture camera (8 mm) next to a train which might have carried her grandfather, Charles Herman Miller, in Texas as the passenger conductor. The train was in a museum in Missouri when we visited in the 1950s.

When Great grandfather Charles Herman Miller got married back in 1896, there was this notice given in the Houston Post.

The Houston Post Oct 30, 1896 - perhaps a bit fallible, since Charles Herman Miller came from Germany as a child (unknown how old) and no information has yet been found on his parents. One story is that he stowed away on a ship to Galveston (a big port at the time). Perhaps he had foster parents in Bellville, TX.  Or this was convenient...since the marriage was in Hillsboro TX where the bride's family lived.. quite a way from Houston. But it does give him membership in a secret benevolent order, as a Knight of Pythias. 

Wikipedia lets us know some vague facts about the order...

Membership has historically been open to males in good health who believe in a Supreme Being. Maimed individuals were not admitted until 1875. Members are accepted by blackball ballot.

A member must be at least 18 years of age, and must take the following oath:

I declare upon honor that I believe in a Supreme Being, that I am not a professional gambler, or unlawfully engaged in the wholesale or retail sale of intoxicating liquors or narcotics, and that I believe in the maintenance of the order and the upholding of constituted authority in the government in which I live. Moreover, I declare upon honor that I am not a Communist or Fascist; that I do not advocate nor am I a member of any organization that advocates the overthrow of the Government of the Country of which I am a Citizen, by force or violence or other unlawful means; and that I do not seek by force or violence to deny to other persons their rights under the laws of such country.

By the end of the so-called "Golden Age of Fraternalism" in the early 1920s, the order had nearly a million members. By 1979, however, this number had declined to fewer than 200,000.

In 1892, the Supreme Lodge ruled that the work of the order would only be conducted in English. This upset some members who were accustomed to using German. After this ruling was reiterated at the Supreme Lodges of 1894 and 1895, a number of German-speaking Pythians split off and formed the Improved Order, Knights of Pythias at a convention in Indianapolis in June 1895. The new order was reportedly not very popular, and a movement toward reconciliation occurred a few years later.

The fact that enough Knights of Pythias wanted a German language organization for a while at least, would have been attractive to Great Grandfather Herman Miller, since that was apparently his native language.

Knights of Pythias Castle, Houston, Texas (postcard, circa 1898)

Two other interesting documents are on my Ancestry file on Great Grandpa Miller:

On Sept 11, 1937 he applied for US citizenship, stating his birthday as July 18, 1868.

But wait, he again applied on Oct. 9, 1939.

This time he had witnesses, Willis E. Long, and Jack E. Adams both of San Antonio TX. I would imagine this time there was more caution about Germans becoming US citizens, since Germany was beginning the events that led to WW II.

So finally this widower at age 68, and then age 70 by 1937 may have become a citizen of the USA. 

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For this week's Sepia Saturday post

I love riding through the mountains...much as this person did so many years ago!

Father's Day memories of ...

 Thomas Joseph Naglieri...my daughter-in-law Michelle's father.

In blue is my daughter-in-law's mother, Joanne, with her husband, Thomas Naglieri. Jerry Fiori on far left is Joanne's cousin, with his wife, Liz.

I would need help from Michelle (my daughter-in-law) as to who all of these relatives are. The man in the middle in red striped shirt is her father, Thomas. She is leaning forward over his back, with high curly hair, wearing white. Her mother, Joanne is right above her with short dark hair. I don't know who the two little children are he's holding. **

** UPDATE: Michelle gave me some identifications. Back from left to right: Grandfather Joe Fiori, John Nichols, wife Debbie, Joey, Joanne, Grandma Rose Fiori, Vicki (Joe's second wife.) Children are Michelle's cousins Justin and Stephanie.

For a man full of life, Tom was killed in a boating accident when he was only 56 on April 17, 1994. Michelle was almost 26 and living in New York City. Her parents were living in Greenwich CT. I think the publication refers to the Greenwich newspaper where Tom worked for 10 years.

Michelle speaks so fondly of her father whenever he's mentioned. You can tell they had a special relationship. I wish I knew more about Tom Naglieri.

Tom and Joanne had friendships with another couple who lived nearby. Gerhart (Gerry) Kurth and his wife Carol Jaroszewski Kurth. The story I was told was that the husbands had an agreement, that if either would die, and one of their wives might die, they would take care of the other's family. Perhaps one or the other of them was sick at the time. Gerry and Carol had more children than Tom and Joanne (who had 2). I can't find more details about Gerry and Carol's family, except the two sons who died - as living relatives on Ancestry are kept private.

Anyway, Carol Kurth died in August of 1994, a few months after Tom Naglieri. Gerry's address for the next few years was in Hawaii.

In Oct 1997 Joanne Naglieri and Gerry Kurth got married. 

Michelle keeps calling him Gerry, which is normal enough for a step father of a grown woman. Joanne kept her Naglieri name as Tom's widow. My son Russ and Michelle were married 25 years ago, in 2000.

Joanne and Gerry now live in Florida, having sold the family home in Connecticut several years ago. 

Joanne's wedding to Gerry, with her daughter, Michelle 

Another artist in the family (by marriage)

 

Early Moonlight Naragansett Bay 1877. by Arthur Quartley

I have a great times two grandmother, Ellen Ann Delameter Webb (born 25 JAN 1842, New York or Alsace-Lorraine France, died 15 JUL 1876, Clinton, DeWitt County TX) . She was on my mother's side of my tree.

She was born in New York, then marred in Texas, where she and her husband raised their 8 children, though only 4 lived to adulthood. Her husband, Samuel J. Webb fought in the Civil War.

On the death certificate of one of her children, the informant said she'd been born in Alsace-Lorraine France. But that may be simply a fabrication since the artist, Arthur Quartley (her husband) had been born in Paris France.

But I'm getting ahead of the story.

Ellen Ann is in several New York census' with her parents, William Delameter (1816-1881) and Sarah J. Lester Delameter (1822-1898). And sometimes it looks as if her name were Ann Ellen.

 That other woman Ann E. apparently didn't move to Texas, and did live to marry in New Yrok, after our Ellen Ann had died and was buried in a Texas cemetery. So maybe it's Ellen Ann who had a few fabrications in her life.

I get very riled up about this. And if I hadn't found Arthur Quartley married to Ellen Ann's sister, I wouldn't have bothered about it.

My line is through Ellen and Samuel's eldest son, Leroy (L. F./Leary) Francis Webb (1857-1921). I've written about him earlier.

Ellen Ann Webb, wife of S. J. Webb, born Jan 25, 1842, died July 15, 1876. Her headstone.

Samuel James Webb, born Jan 28, 1827, Died Aug 15, 1877. Husband of Ellen Ann Delameter Webb.

Located in The Old Clinton Cemetery, DeWitt County, TX, pictured below.

The most exciting part of Ellen Ann's life was her moving to Texas  and marrying Samuel Webb, at the age of 14. She had just passed her birthday a month ago, but there are Texas records of the marriage. I wonder how she lied about her age. Not to mention, how the heck did she get to Texas on her own?

Her family was still in New York, if indeed they were her family. 

OK we do know about her children's births in Texas. After L. F. in 1857 there were three girls who didn't live very long. Next came a daughter, Phinnie Flore Webb in 1868 who lived till 1902. 

Then came Joe Friend Webb who became a preacher (1870-1928), then Daisy Ellen Webb (1873-1941) and then Samuel James Webb Jr who lived just 16 years (1876-1892).

No, none of Ellen Ann Webb's children married Mr. Quartley the artist. It was her sister!

Laura Louise Delameter was born in 1848 and died in 1881. She met and married Arthur Quartley (1839-1886) in about 1864. But she died suddenly at age 38, and he died just five years later. Their youngest son also died just 2 years after her death. The three older children, Adele, Grace and Arthur Jr. lived much longer lives.

Wikipedia actually has a site about Arthur Quartley Sr. and includes the painting shown at the top of this post. It says:

Quartley moved to New York City in 1875. New York at that time had become a premier center for notable painters. From there he painted seascapes of Long Island bays, New York Harbor, the New Hampshire Isle of Shoals, and Naragansett Bay in Rhode Island.

The Hudson River School was waning at this point, so that other groups were forming, among them the Tilers, of whom Quartley was a founding member. The Tilers was a group of artists and writers, that included Winslow Homer, William Merritt Chase, and Augustus Saint Gaudens. They met frequently to exchange ideas and decorate ceramic tiles in promotion of their works. They also took excursions for painting, such as the 1878 pilgrimage to Eastern Long Island by Quartley and ten others. On that trip Quartley painted Seascape and also a blue painted tile of an introspective girl at the beach. The journalist and philanthropist John W. McCoy promoted the careers of Quartley and of his friend, the sculptor William H. Rinehart.

In the year 1876 Quartley was elected to the National Academy.

How am I related to him?

He's the husband of my great grand-aunt.

Laura Louise Delameter Quartey - as posted on Find a  Grave.

Cousin Connection Number 2

 There it was in black and white...

and then I got up from my desk to stretch my legs (at least once an hour, but I think I fail at that)...

and I couldn't pin it down, which son married his mother's brother's daughter?

OK I know it's the same family which I talked about for Memorial Day, General John Archer Elmore's family (1762-1834)

In one publication by the DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution) he is listed as someone's ancestor, married to "2nd wife," Anna Martin. (Note, I don't always find the DAR records to be accurate.)

My records are based on about 13 other records saying his second wife was Nancy Ann Martin Elmore. (1786-1855) So it's ok to call Nancy Ann by Anna, apparently for those descendants. I'll stay with Nancy.

One of the General's and Nancy's sons was John Archer Elmore Jr. 1808-1878 (also known as Captain).

Captain Elmore Jr. married Laura Maria Martin Elmore (1817-1877). How is she related to his mother?

Nancy Ann Martin Elmore's parents were Major General John Martin (1749-1813) and Elizabeth Dickerson Terry Martin (1760-1800) 

Nancy Ann Martin Elmore had a brother (a Judge) William Dickerson Martin (1789-1835) who married Mary Harrietta Williamson Martin (1791-1824). Their daughter was Laura Maria Martin Elmore (1817-1877).

So Captain Elmore married a first cousin. I won't say anything about their living in Alabama. They had eight children.

And the descendants who've written comments on my old blog included Patricia Elmore a descendant of Henry Marshall Elmore (1816-1879), another son of General John A. Elmore. She contributed that "John Archer Elmore married the niece of Supreme Court Justice John Marshall, Nancy Martin." I haven't put that connection onto my tree yet.

Then I got a comment from John Rugely Elmore, also a descendant of Henry M. who wanted to have his nieces and nephews know of the honor in the family, since some relative was "slandering the good name of his late father to his grandchildren." I hope his efforts helped.

Another comment was a gold mine, from a person who owns the antique table that belonged to General J. A. Elmore...and he's not related at all. But "Old School_Man" sent several photos of the table and the inscriptions on the table along, which I added! (See my post on Memorial Day this year for these comments and more!)

These comments were made between 2013 and 2019. At that time I was thrilled that people were interested in my blog, apparently by searching the name of General John Archer Elmore.

My line isn't through Nancy Elmore, the second wife, but through his first wife, Mary Ann Sarah Saxon Elmore (1771-1804).

And my relation to him? Ancestry does the work for me...He's my...

 "maternal grandfather of the husband of the mother-in-law of my great grand-aunt." 

 It would be fun to put the names to each of those relations, but I think I've typed enough for today. 

Photos?

The General

The Captain (John Archer Jr.)

John Archer III.

Today's quote:

Simply going through the motions of life puts us directly in the passenger seat — when we should be in the driver’s seat.

The cousins married...

 Updated June 2, 2025

Great Uncle Chauncey Sweet was a banker in Galveston. He and his wife had a huge house where my grandmother and her cousins visited frequently. As a matter of fact in one census year my teenage grandmother and her sister were included in their household as well as their own family's home.

Known as "Auntie," Ada Pulsifer Granger Sweet (Mrs. Chauncey Sweet) had been orphaned at the beginning of the Civil War, and she and her sister (my great grandmother) were raised in the homes of her mother's sisters. That was how she grew up with Chauncey Sweet, who was the son in one of those households. 

They married, and the family apparently approved, or at least didn't make a public fuss. They had no children of their own. When Auntie died at the ripe old age of 71, Chauncey at age 67 moved to California and married a year later to Genevieve Frazier (age 41). Genevieve was  from Tyler TX, a stenographer and had been quite athletic when in school back in Texas.

Unfortunately nobody saved the names below...so we don't know which sophomore was Genevieve Frasier. Do you have a guess?  ** See note below!

** Thanks to fellow blogger, Mike Brubaker, here's the rest of the yearbook posting:

But in 1911 when she was a Senior at the Tyler Texas High School, she and other athletic senior girls challenged girls in other grades to a track meet at 4 am! It was so unusual that the San Francisco Call and Post gave it a short article. 

Though the print is pretty bad, Genevieve won 6 of the events herself.

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Then there's the one piece of art which has been handed down since Great Uncle Chauncey gave it to my Grandfather, who gave it to my father, and thus I inherited it. I blogged about The Laughing Dogs.

A famous Chicago cartoonist sent Uncle Chauncey this cartoon...kind of a spoof on the country dog with the sophisticated city dogs making fun of him...perhaps that was how Uncle Chauncey appeared to the artist. It does have an inscription by Dick Outcault. 

 

And though one of my family members thinks she'll get rich by selling it, it's just a print on rather poor newsprint paper. But the fact that an artist dedicated it to an Uncle may influence later generations.

My own Uncle Jimmy became an artist. And his son, John is a gifted musician.

I called myself an artist, but didn't ever really make a living with it...though it makes me happy still (sharing what I've created!)

It's interesting to learn as much as this about ancestors!

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Sharing with Sepia Saturday. I may not be sharing a radio voice, but all bloggers these days are similar to being voices that are continuing while many have become silent. Much like our paper newspapers are no longer out there. 

And just because I had nothing better to do, I found another ancestor who married his cousin. Soon!

Today's quote:

Something precious is lost if we rush headlong into the details of life without pausing for a moment to pay homage to the mystery of life and the gift of another day.

Kent Nerburn