A Big Snow.......

It is a weekday in 1957, March 26th and the day before it had started to snow.  Down on the farm in southern Iowa we had good snow storms but this one was a heavy snow with strong winds.  School was cancelled and it was my birthday.  The farm buildings were lined up in a row with an opening for the tractors to drive through between the barn and the grain shed.  When the wind would blow in a certain direction, I am guessing out of the east, the buildings would collect lots of snow and created big drifts.

I had turned seven and it was exciting to look out of the house and see such tall drifts.  It was cold in the morning but I put on two pairs of jeans and my winter boots to go wading in the snow.  I really liked my red coat and the artificial fur was to help keep the person warm that lined the hood.  The strap, that is supposed to help keep you warm as it snapped across you chin would get wet as the breath put out moisture. I had unsnapped it as it was wet and you didn't want to taste it.  I doubt the drawstring to the hood was tied and the sun is shining.

We never took pictures of the snow or people in the snow but my mom ventured out to snap my photo. Later my brother three years older than me, came out and we together made caves and tunnels. I really don't know of any other photo taken of our family in the snow.  The photo brings back so many memories of winter and the two buildings behind me.

In March we would venture into the barn to look for new born kittens and visit dad while he milked the cow. Young twin calves were brought to the barn to help them survive another storm sheltered in the barn  During rainstorms we would run barefoot in the puddles and mud. Both buildings are gone now as the new owners let the barn roof cave in and the building to the left had to be moved as their tractors were too large to go between the buildings.  They moved the building behind the barn where the strong winds rolled it down the hill one windy day leaving it in a heap.  I have many memories of my older brothers and me sledding down our backyard hill and the use of one pair of wooded skis that had a single leather strap to hold your feet to the cheap wooden piece. The hill was steep as it is southern Iowa and the exhaustion one would have trudging up and down the steep incline made everyone very tired. We would never have thought to take a camera out there to capture those memories.

Others are sharing family photos with snow. Click here to visit all the others on the Sepia Saturday site.

World War !

From last weeks prompt I was brought to a realization that I only focus on WWII history.  Being born right after that war and having my father serve in that war, it does make sense that I would have a stronger base for covering that time period. The Sepia Saturday blog has inspired me to seek more info about the people who are buried on the top of the hill of the Murray Cemetery of Murray, Iowa.  The last time my wife and I were down there we did take a walk through the oldest part up on the hill. It is the part that has ancient old cedar trees growing and the stones are of an older style. I saw where they were buried and I did have my interest peeked.

The first big thing that I found on the net about the cemetery is that someone has generously created a list of every person's grave and placed the names in the sections easy to find.  I can now preview all the people in the different sections on that hill as well as the whole cemetery. The town of Murray became an official town in 1868 so the graves are from the middle 1800's to the 1920's are mostly on that hill.  Originally there was a small grave yard that was full located east of town and they moved the graves to the new larger Murray Cemetery. A good thing about the list is that if there was information on the stone, they marked that the person as a veteran of the different wars. 

This is a stock picture from the internet that I have borrowed to spruce up my post.   Some of the vets' names listed are shown below.

5-9   James F. Stiffler, Nov 14, 1902-Apr 14, 197_, Iowa Pfc. B try B 16th Fld. Arty.
                                                                                    World War I

22-17 George Christy, Oct 15, 1842-Feb 28, 1918 (Vet) (questionable dates)

33-3  Harry H. Lochrie, Sept 4, 1888-Dec 14, 1959-Iowa Cpl. Marine Corps. WWI

Two of the men who were in WW1 lived until 1959 and also 1970.  The man named George Christy  is a mystery.  He was born in 1842.  The birth date on this stone was not recorded correctly or the death date is wrong.  That would have made him a 76 year old veteran and died in 1918.  The cemetery itself was establish in 1855. If he is marked a vet in that area of the cemetery, he definitely was a WW1 Veteran just not such an old one.

  

I have seen this photo used in local newscasts so I am assuming it is community property as I found it on the internet.

The town of Van Wert is a small town, like Murray, and there is a photo on the net showing these guys who are ready to go. They must have had some basic training as the five of them are already in a common uniform.  I can imagine that the boat ride overseas was an eyeopener for them.  I am sure they are all farmboys headed to war.

An  unknown soldier from the United States stands straight to have his photo taken.  My knowledge of the  history of those who fought in the first war is still pretty weak.  I thank the blog prompter who set it up for bringing into another realm.  I am not done looking for information about those people who served in early times overseas.

The finding of the cemetery log is going to be fun for me.  I have found relatives of my Abernathy roots who have three people buried in the Murray Cemetery.  Why they are there is a mystery as all other Abernathys are buried in a rural cemetery north of town on a gravel road in Union county.  I also found my Aunt Ruby's grave with her husband in the old section of the cemetery.  She is buried up there as her husband's family had many plots for about three generations to use. I knew she was buried there but never way up on the hill with the old stones.

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Family Collections But Not Mine.........

I have posted photos before from another album that had 1880's images.  Most of that album is full of people of the past from the Osceola, Iowa, Graves Photography.  This book is full of photos from the Fort Wayne, Indiana area.  There were two different photography studios that this family used in having themselves photographed.  The album seems to be of a similar time period as the Iowan album.  It has many family members in it that look alike.

I will retell the story of how the two albums that I have were left in an abandoned house.  My dad tore down the house to create a new home.  I am sorry if you have followed me for a while because I do find myself repeating things as the years go by.

The older Victorian had been empty 20 years or more. My dad saved most everything that he could like trunks and small items.  I had never thought about it before but someone must have moved the last family in the house out of it.  No furniture was in the house except for a weathered upright piano and a couple of trunks.  The house had been boarded up for many years because the windows had been broken out of it to require it.

When I sold the newer home that replaced this one in the picture,  I had a realtor that went to school across the street from the old house  He remembered it always being there his elementary school years. He also said kids had nicknamed it the towns haunted mansion.

Being these photos are not of people who lived in the house, the only connection to the story so far is that the album from Fort Wayne, Indiana was in the house and was left behind by relatives.  Maybe it was on an in law side of the family and those who emptied the house just didn't want to bother with the trunks.

Jarrard Photography was the business that took most of the photos. I don't see any identity of a company on any of the smaller shots.

F. Shanz Studio was another business that took some of the photos.  The couple in the left photo above were not to be wed for long as the guy died,  They used a different pose of the man as they made up his funeral card. The photo has the studio identified and even the street number but no name or date was included on the card.

A not so clear photo from the album shows sisters maybe.  At first the top person looked like it could have been a guy but the hair seems to be more like a girls hair with a hat pressed down over it.

Boy or girl I do not know but the young child reminds me of the adults in facial features. It looks like a boy to me but I am sure others could see something differently.

I would like to scan all of the photos someday and put them through a facial recognition program to see what the full grouping would be.  I think their are brothers and sisters in here.  I am assuming some of the smaller ones are cousins to the whole group.  That mystery continues to be until I get my act together.  Right now I am Act 2 and someday will come to Act III when I get some of it figured out.

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