Partners – 49 Years

Josie’s Ledger

I shared a poem written by my 2nd great grandfather, Washington Marion Crawford. While discussing this poem with my cousins, one shared a comment about his having a copy of Josie’s ledger of poetry. This comment reminded me that I have the actual ledger. In remembering this ledger, I realized that I hadn’t done enough to share with future generations.

When the Internet was young, I did transcribe some of these poems and contributed them to the Kansas Memory project. However, I did not submit all of the poems. Evidently, I also had never scanned the ledger. I have since scanned the ledger and created a document with the scanned image on the left and the transcription on the right. This PDF file has been uploaded as a memory to Josie Hammond’s profile on FamilySearch. I’ve also uploaded Josie’s Ledger to Archive.org. Thus, I’m hoping that her ledger will be preserved well into the future.

The Little Gray House

There’s a little gray house nestled down ‘neath the trees
It has stood there many a year.
And the roses blooming ’round the yard
Send their perfume far and near
And a gray hair woman sits alone
On the porch when the day is done.
And softly croons a lullaby
As she thinks of the absent ones.
For there was a time when the house was new
With its trees so young and small.
It so o’erflow with riotous youth
It scarce could hold it all
For often would the wall resound
With girlish laughter sweet
And there were sturdy boyish shouts
And the patter of baby feet
There came schooldays hurrying by
With the scramble for book and slate,
And the frantic search for coat and cap
For fear they would be late.

Then when school days are over,
Each takes up his own task.
Then by the window a coffin stands
For death comes in masked
Then the house sees happy brides
Going out to make new homes
so one by one they leave the nest
Till mother sits alone.
But once again the walls resound
With girlish laughter sweet,
And there are sturdy boyish shouts
And the patter of baby feed.
And the gray haired woman is busy now
No longer she sits alone
But still she hums a lullaby
For the grandchildren are at home.

Josie’s Ledger

I shared a poem written by my 2nd great grandfather, Washington Marion Crawford. While discussing this poem with my cousins, one shared a comment about his having a copy of Josie’s ledger of poetry. This comment reminded me that I have the actual ledger. In remembering this ledger, I realized that I hadn’t done enough to share with future generations.

When the Internet was young, I did transcribe some of these poems and contributed them to the Kansas Memory project. However, I did not submit all of the poems. Evidently, I also had never scanned the ledger. I have since scanned the ledger and created a document with the scanned image on the left and the transcription on the right. This PDF file has been uploaded as a memory to Josie Hammond’s profile on FamilySearch. I’ve also uploaded Josie’s Ledger to Archive.org. Thus, I’m hoping that her ledger will be preserved well into the future.

Lines to a Friend on Her Birthday

As we journey down life’s pathway
Past the milestones, one by one
And we see the shadows lengthen
As we go toward the setting sun.
It is good to feel the handclasp
Of the old friends tried and true;
And to see their smiling faces
And know the smile’s for you.
It is good to get the greeting
From the old friends far away.

And to read the wishful message
“Wish I were with you today”
It is good to pause a moment
As we journey down life’s way;
Just to stop to be a neighbor
And a word of kindness say.
It is good we can look backward
On years in this service spent.
Willingly we did each duty,
On this errands gladly went.
Till we can say with Paul of Jesus
As at last the end we see
I have fought the good fight, Master
I have kept the faith in thee.

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun

Calling all Genea-Musings Fans:

It’s Saturday Night again –

time for some more Genealogy Fun!!

Here is your assignment, should you decide to accept it (you ARE reading this, so I assume that you really want to play along – cue the Mission Impossible music!):

1)  Have you found a unique document or record (e.g., not a vital record, military record, probate record, etc.) that provided new and/or unique information for one or more of your ancestors?  How did it affect your research?  Please share your find.

To me, answering this question is a two part challenge. The first is to determine a unique record. To figure out the answer to this part, I scanned my list of sources. From that ‘scan’ I identified funeral home records as a possible unique set of records. At first, I was going to write about the funeral record for my Harding cousin who was buried in Rulo, Nebraska.

As I was starting to dig out that record, I remembered that I have a copy of the funeral record for my little brother, Duane Gail Crawford. (Hulpieu-Swaim Funeral Home, Dodge City, Kansas)

As I was going thru the documents I have for Duane’s birth and death, I came across an even more unique record: the church bulletin. This bulletin contained an announcement about the birth of twin boys and the death of one of the boys.

Mrs. Eugene Crawford, while visiting in Dodge City, gave birth to twin boys. One of the boys died shortly after birth. Apparently the other one is coming along all right. Mr. & Mrs. Eugene Crawford, who live at 901 Constitution, united with Grace Church this fall.

In addition to the church bulletin, I have a certificate of birth issued by the hospital where he was born.

These three records are each unique when compared to most of the records in my files. Together they tell the story of Duane’s short life.

Josie’s Ledger

I shared a poem written by my 2nd great grandfather, Washington Marion Crawford. While discussing this poem with my cousins, one shared a comment about his having a copy of Josie’s ledger of poetry. This comment reminded me that I have the actual ledger. In remembering this ledger, I realized that I hadn’t done enough to share with future generations.

When the Internet was young, I did transcribe some of these poems and contributed them to the Kansas Memory project. However, I did not submit all of the poems. Evidently, I also had never scanned the ledger. I have since scanned the ledger and created a document with the scanned image on the left and the transcription on the right. This PDF file has been uploaded as a memory to Josie Hammond’s profile on FamilySearch. I’ve also uploaded Josie’s Ledger to Archive.org. Thus, I’m hoping that her ledger will be preserved well into the future.

Just Thinking

A little line of poetry came to my mind ‘t’other day
And it sort o’ kept me ponderin’ as I ambled on my way
‘Bout how “it takes a heap o’ livin'” in a house to make
You sure will never have one if your allus on the roam
But you got to settle down somewhere
And plant some vines and trees
And some roses and some lilacs
To perfume the evening breeze
But these things are on the outside
And while the’re nice to own
It’s the family that live inside
That really makes it home
If Pa wants to be a real “old sport”
And spend his cash for “booze”
No matter if the boys and girls
Are needin’ clothes an’ shoes.
He’s a real “good Feller” with the “boys”
But comes home grouchy, cross
When it comes to makin’ a real home
That man’s a total loss.
And ma likes to spend most all her home
At dances or at shows
And goes to bridge club meetings
To show her good clothes.

She may even do some “uplift” work
For the pore folks in the slums.
While her own neglected children
Run round the neighborhood like bums
Home’s just a place to eat and sleep
Not a place for havin’ fun,
Or gettin’ help from Pa or Ma
To get their lessons done.
They just come in to eat a bite
Then out again they roam.
All their “childhoods happy memories”
Are of a neighbors home.
But if Pa and Ma are kind an’ good
An’ do the best they kin
To raise their children up to be
Good women, honest men,
Teach ’em to play fair and square
At home as well as at school
And raise ’em up to Fear the Lord
And mind the Golden rule.
They teach em that there is some task
For everyone to do
And then there’s jolly times for all
When the work is through

And so they grow up strong and brave
And go out to the strife
With characters so strongly made
They’re not afraid of life,
So Pa and Ma have really been
A help to their home town,
By brining up a family
They can be proud to own.
And even if great wealth and fame
Should pass ’em by for good,
A home like that’s a credit
To any neighborhood.

Josie’s Ledger

I recently shared a poem written by my 2nd great grandfather, Washington Marion Crawford. While discussing this poem with my cousins, one shared a comment about his having a copy of Josie’s ledger of poetry. This comment reminded me that I have the actual ledger. In remembering this ledger, I realized that I hadn’t done enough to share with future generations.

When the Internet was young, I did transcribe some of these poems and contributed them to the Kansas Memory project. However, I did not submit all of the poems. Evidently, I also had never scanned the ledger. I have since scanned the ledger and created a document with the scanned image on the left and the transcription on the right. This PDF file has been uploaded as a memory to Josie Hammond’s profile on FamilySearch. I’ve also uploaded Josie’s Ledger to Archive.org. Thus, I’m hoping that her ledger will be preserved well into the future.

Mercies

As I sat beside the ocean
The old song came to me
“There’s a wideness to God’s mercy.
Like the wideness of the sea.”
As I watched the waves come rolling.
Never ending, never s􀆟ll;
So God’s mercies roll upon those
Who strive to do this will.
Tho we say we see the ocean
Human eye ne’er sees it all.
So God’s wonderous love and mercy
Is more than enough for all.
But some􀆟mes a rock, upstanding
Parts the waters as they come.
Breaks the smooth incoming current,
Throws it back in seething foam.
So our human wills set, stubborn
In defiance of this plan
Breaks the steady flow of blessings
God would gladly sent to man
Let us then keep our wills humble.
Always try his will to see.
When all wills are all then submissive
Earth a paradise will be.

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun

Calling all Genea-Musings Fans:

It’s Saturday Night again –

time for some more Genealogy Fun!!

Here is your assignment, should you decide to accept it (you ARE reading this, so I assume that you really want to play along – cue the Mission Impossible music!):

1) Check out Lisa Alzo’s “Fearless Females 2023” blog post prompts and write about one of them.

2)  Put it in your own blog post, in a comment to this post, or in a Facebook post.  Please leave a link in a comment to this post.

Working girl: Did your mother or grandmother work outside the home? What did she do? Describe her occupation.

How many working women do you have in your family tree? While some might disagree, I consider all of my female ancestors to be ‘working women’. Today, many argue that being a ‘housewife’ should be classified as a job. Any many, including myself, would agree that there is a lot of work involved in keeping a house and raising a family. Thus, when one steps back in time to periods without many of our modern conveniences, my female ancestors worked even though they often did not receive payment for that work. Since many of my female ancestors were also farm wives, they acquired an added workload to help with the farm.

While most of my female ancestors did not receive payment for their work, I have a few that not only maintained a home but helped support the family financially.

• Roberta Crawford — For most of my childhood, my mother worked. City directories from Dodge City indicate that she worked as a stenographer for the Medical Center in 1958. When we moved to Lincoln, Nebraska, my mother’s full time job in a medical center was the primary source of income for the family since my dad had returned to college to work toward his doctorate degree. From Lincoln, we moved to Emporia where my mother took a short break from work. However, she returned to work joining the medical records staff at St. Mary’s Hospital. In 1973, she completed the requirements for certification as an Accredited Record Technician. In 1974, she was named as the director of the Medical Records department at St. Mary’s Hospital.

• Winnie Currey Crawford — My grandmother ‘left’ a children’s home to go to work in North Kansas City around the age of 13. She and her sister, Mary, lived with a cousin near where they worked. By the age of 16, Winnie was living in Dodge City, where she met and married my grandfather, Leon Crawford. During World War II, my grandmother became the operator of a ‘boarding house’. She rented out rooms to the wives of the pilots who were stationed at the Army air field to the West of Dodge City. Between 1953 and 1958, Winnie was employed by the Eckles Department Store in downtown Dodge City. Since Winnie and Leon lived close to the junior college in Dodge City, Winnie again turned her home into a boarding house during the school year, renting out rooms to male college students.
• Pauline Mentzer Briles — After the death of her husband in 1958, Pauline took on babysitting jobs to support herself.
• Mary Foster Crawford — Like my grandmother, Pauline, my great great grandmother Mary Foster Crawford found that she needed to support herself and her youngest son after the death of her husband in 1889. Thanks to the support of her brother-in-law, James H. Crawford, Mary Crawford was the owner of a boarding house at 911 Second in Dodge City. This house is the same one that her grandson’s wife, Winnie, would later live in when renting out rooms to college students.

Josie’s Ledger

I recently shared a poem written by my 2nd great grandfather, Washington Marion Crawford. While discussing this poem with my cousins, one shared a comment about his having a copy of Josie’s ledger of poetry. This comment reminded me that I have the actual ledger. In remembering this ledger, I realized that I hadn’t done enough to share with future generations.

When the Internet was young, I did transcribe some of these poems and contributed them to the Kansas Memory project. However, I did not submit all of the poems. Evidently, I also had never scanned the ledger. I have since scanned the ledger and created a document with the scanned image on the left and the transcription on the right. This PDF file has been uploaded as a memory to Josie Hammond’s profile on FamilySearch. I’ve also uploaded Josie’s Ledger to Archive.org. Thus, I’m hoping that her ledger will be preserved well into the future.

The Call of the Road

Oh, the luring road, the shining road

As it dips over the horizon’s rim

It seems to say “I’ll lead the way”

Till we reach the ocean’s brim.

I love the thrill of the lift over the hill

And the sweep of the downward glide

To the valleys deep where rivers sweep

Under the bridges wide.

When the sun sinks low in a golden glow,

Then I long to drop the load

Of all life’s care and free as air

Speed down the shining road.

Oh, the luring road, the shining road

Till with age my eyes grow dim

I will long to go where you lure me so,

As you dip o’er the horizons rim.

J.W.C.

Josie’s Ledger

Do you have family treasures in your genealogy collection? Have you thought about what might happen to that treasure once you no longer are doing genealogy?

I recently shared a poem written by my 2nd great grandfather, Washington Marion Crawford. While discussing this poem with my cousins, one shared a comment about his having a copy of Josie’s ledger of poetry. This comment reminded me that I have the actual ledger. In remembering this ledger, I realized that I hadn’t done enough to share with future generations.

When the Internet was young, I did transcribe some of these poems and contributed them to the Kansas Memory project. However, I did not submit all of the poems. Evidently, I also had never scanned the ledger. I have since scanned the ledger and created a document with the scanned image on the left and the transcription on the right. This PDF file has been uploaded as a memory to Josie Hammond’s profile on FamilySearch. I’ve also uploaded Josie’s Ledger to Archive.org. Thus, I’m hoping that her ledger will be preserved well into the future.

Below is one of my favorite poem

Our Golden Wedding

Fifty years, ’tis a long look back

To that far off winter day,

When we started out, just a pair of kids.

Together to tread life’s way

There were no airplanes or radios then

Automobiles were unheard of too

There wasn’t a telephone in the town

And electric lights were few.

When we started housekeeping by ourselves

There wasn’t much work to do,

For the house we had was very small,

And the table was set for two.

Then the babies started coming along,

And we worked early and late,

By the time we moved into a home we owned

The table was set for eight.

Then another girl happened along

But before she had a place of her own,

The oldest girl and the man of her choice

Had started another home.

Then two boys went away to war

And things were in an awful fix.

We worked for the Red Cross and sold liberty bonds

And the table was set for six.

Then the boys came home, but soon Cupid’s darts

Drove a boy and a girl from the hive.

And death’s cold hand took another boy

And the table was set for five.

Then a boy and a girl went away to school

A teacher and a nurse to be.

And now the table looks awfully small,

When its only set for three

The boy at school found a wee small girl

That he just must have for a wife

But the nurse still seems content

To live a single life.

Then the youngest girl met a farmer

And married as most girls do.

And we’re right back where we started from

And the table is set for two.

But as the years have come and gone.

And good times or hard times we’d see

I’ve never grown tired of seeing

That same face across the table from me.

Miscellaneous Records

Have you visited a Register of Deeds office? If so, did they have Miscellaneous Records books? My first experience with Miscellaneous Records was in the Ford County office. And those books contain a wealth of information ranging from military discharge papers to affidavits confirming someone’s identity.

When it comes to my Crawford research in Dodge City, those affidavits help confirm identities, especially when initials were often used.

Affidavit of H. B. Bell
Sworn 5 Nov 1918
filed 15 Jan 1929

States
he was well acquainted with Abraham L. Crawford patentee of lots 3 and 4 and S1/2 NW 1/4 S3 Twp 27 R25 Ford County Kansas filed 6 Dec 1894 Recorded Vol. C page 12.
A. L. Crawford gave mortgage on above lands
That the said Abraham L. Crawford and A. L. Crawford are identical.

Ford County Kansas, Deeds, Miscellaneous Book J page 222; H. B. Bell, 5 November 1918; Register of Deeds, Dodge City Kansas.

Affidavit of H. B. Bell
Sworn 18 Jan 1929
Filed 18 Jan 1929

that for 35 or 40 yrs was personally acquainted with James H. Crawford of Dodge City, who is named as grantee of George W. Reighard in a W.D. dated 22 Aug 1883 recorded Vol D page 151
…
further states that James H. Crawford was a large property owner in Dodge City, Kansas especially as to property south of the Arkansas River
…
said James H. Crawford frequently executed deeds as J.H. Crawford
…
further states that during the residence of said Crawford in Dodge CIty and in the month of June, 1908, when he died, there was no other J.H. or James H. Crawford and J. H. Crawford appear in the records of Register of Deeds of Ford County Kansas or in any other public record of Ford County with relation to any property whatsoever in Dodge City that the said names apply and refer to one and the same person, to-wit: James H. Crawford

Ford County Kansas, Deeds, Miscellaneous Book J page 224; H. B. Bell, 18 January 1929; Register of Deeds, Dodge City Kansas.

Affidavit of Warren V Brown
Sworn 26 Jan 1948
Filed 27 Jan 1948

acquainted with William N. Crawford named as grantee in WD executed by James H Crawford and E J Crawford his wife Aug. 20, 1888 recorded Vol 6 p 197
… and also with W. N. Crawford who with his wife Katie is named as grantor Vol 36 p541
… that he knows that William N. Crawford and W. N. Crawford are one and the same
… acquainted with John E Crawford named as grantee QCD 27 Aug 1907 vol. 1 p 182
… and with J. E. Crawford grantor QCD 26 Jan 1909 vol 1 p348
… that John E Crawford and J. E. Crawford are one and the same.

Ford County Kansas, Deeds, Miscellaneous Book 1 page 503; Affidavit of Warren V Brown, 26 January 1948; Register of Deeds, Dodge City Kansas.

While the use of miscellaneous records may vary from county to county, they are a source worth investigating.