September 26, 2024
“Fleece Lined Bloomers”
“These were their settlements. And they kept good family records.”
Don’t
forget to look for the title which is embedded in the chronicle.
FAMILY ALBUM
I went through a binder last evening, looking for something which I
didn’t find, but I did find stuff I couldn’t find previously for looking.
Luther Holmes’ son, Ellery, died while he was in college, in a motorcycle
accident. I knew that, but I couldn’t find the source. I located it in a letter from Carleton Holmes
to Kirk Dickens, shared with me by Stoney and Jeanni Worster a few years back.
I updated my Ancestry notes.
In the photo above are the sons of William N Holmes and Anna C Heath.
Another son died in infancy. I think they are labeled correctly.
Charles, Luther, Ernest, Guy, William, Fenwicke, Jerome, Walter.
GRATITUDE
Thanks for this encouragement, Paula: ‘First of all, again I am overwhelmed by your attention to all of the details in your writing. Great job!’” My cut and slashed article about Daniel Holmes is in the hands of the editor. He is looking at it.
1924 to
1928
Those
are the years that our great or great-great grandparents spent renewing
relationships that had somehow fallen by the wayside but with organization,
letter writing, and challenging travel – by hook or by crook – they managed to
come together again. They reacquainted and rediscovered their family ties. And
then, one by one, they died, and many of those ties died with them.
2024 to 2028
At my last genealogy society meeting, our
speaker from Salisbury, gave a presentation about the 250th
celebration of the founding of Salisbury. I know my readers are familiar with
Petitcodiac, but maybe not so much with Salisbury. They are ten miles and
sixteen kilometers apart. Daniel and Charlotte lived closer to Petitcodiac, but
not ten miles apart (approximately four miles/six km to Petitcodiac and six
miles/ten km to Salisbury). Pretty
close to “up home.” Amongst other topics, she talked about the railway station
and the silver fox industry – the history of both is similar. Salisbury was
home to the Silver Fox business – but my great-grandfather and grandfather
raised silver foxes in Hill Grove for the owners in Salisbury. It brought
prosperity to the town of Salisbury. It is no longer in business, as you can
imagine. But, there is a big silver fox statue in the town, by the Big Stop
restaurant. What I found intriguing was what the young lady said about the
train station – and this would apply to all early train stations, at least in
our region. Not only people travelled on the trains, which had lines to all the
cities, towns, and tiny communities back in the day. They also shipped goods, packages
and animals. When
the local librarian retired and the town hired a new librarian, she (I think
she said she, could be wrong) took all the archival paper and books, including
that of the Silver Fox business and the train station records, and put them
curbside. Fortunately, someone rescued all or part of it. It is now stored in
boxes at the town hall. She invited us to go and have a look at it. Guess what
I’m going to be doing sometime in the next couple of months. Perhaps I’ll find
a Holmes family diary.
A RECIPE
For my genealogy
group’s next newsletter and workshop, we are to contribute a family recipe with
a story. I thought I’d share the recipe I chose with you. Mum's mustard relish
is the best. I know, everybody thinks their mother's is the best, but Mum's
really is. She called it mustard pickles, but I think of it as a relish. I haven't made them
yet - it is on my bucket list. She said they take a day to make. The last time
she made them, she and my aunt made them together - saved time and
energy. My uncle didn't eat
them as he didn't like pickles. But, in his old age, he sampled them. He was an
immediate convert; Aunt Nan couldn't make enough. I love them with just
about anything, but especially with a ham or pork dinner, or in a cold baked
bean sandwich. I'll call it the
"Holmes Sisters' Mustard Pickles."
The recipe is from the
kitchens of Margaret (Holmes) Moore and Nancy (Holmes) Lutes.
1 quart cucumbers
(take out seeds, leave skin on)
1 quart onions
1 cauliflower
1 bunch celery
1 small cabbage
2 green peppers and 2
red peppers (remove seeds)
3/4 cup coarse salt
Cut the vegetables up
fine. Mum and Aunt Nan did this by hand. (You could use a food chopper, but
make sure the vegetables don't turn to mush.) Cover with boiling water. Set 5
minutes. Put one quart of vinegar on to boil.
Make a paste of
10 teaspoons dry
mustard
4 teaspoons turmeric
1 1/4 cups flour
6 1/2 cups sugar
Mix with vinegar
(about 1 1/3 cups) then add to boiling vinegar. Stir constantly until thick.
Drain vegetables and add to mustard sauce. Simmer about 30 minutes.
News From Holmes
Congratulations to
Thomas and Violetta Beck on the arrival of their daughter, Kira Selina
Prossinger Beck, on September 2 in Dresden, Germany. Kira’s proud big brother
is Konstantin. Konstantin and Kira are in the Charles R Holmes line.
Kira – Thomas Beck and Violetta
Prossinger – Hermann Prossinger and Cynthia Bearse – Arthur Bearse and Ruth
Underhill – Carl Underhill and Ella Holmes – Charles R Holmes and Phoebe
McMonagle – Daniel Holmes and Charlotte Hoyt.
Congratulations to David and Autumn
MacKillop on the arrival of little wee twins, Bishop Aaron and Molly Wren, on
September 24th in Indiana. I’m sure big sister, Hannah, is excited
to lend a helping hand, but she will have to wait until about Thanksgiving
before they can come home. Hannah, Bishop, and Molly are in the Charles R Holmes
line.
Bishop and Molly – R David MacKillop
and Autumn R Schumacher – Raymond G MacKillop and Brenda Miller – Raymond L
MacKillop and Lillian Shipley – James W McKillop and Arletta Holmes – Charles R
Holmes and Phoebe McMonagle – Daniel Holmes and Charlotte Hoyt.
WHERE IN THE WORLD ARE . . .
Doug and Deb Holmes are travelling in
Europe. I didn’t snatch a photo as they all include other people, but they sure
do look like they are having fun. Doug is in the William N. Holmes line.
MUM’S MEMOIRS
We didn’t wear slacks then so in winter
we wore combinations (skirt & drawers all in one piece). We also wore
waists with garters attached. Our stockings were heavy wool. Mum bought the leg
part by the yard & Grand Mother would knit the feet – so scratchy. Over
those we wore fleece lined bloomers. It was quite a chore getting dressed in
the morning. It was very cold but Dad would make fires in the kitchen &
dining room before going to the barn. It was a race to get near the stove pipe
to dress. Some times Dad would hitch up the team of horses & take us to
school, sometimes we would snow shoe. Didn’t miss many days.
FAMILY HISTORY LESSON
My article is complete, so I am on to the next “Generations” article.
Might skip the next journal to give myself plenty of time to write it. I began
the research, and my Word document is a disorganized dump, a work in progress.
As some of you know, I researched Uncle Billy and Aunt Maggie and wrote a
creative somewhat fictional story about them. Paula once told me I should write
fiction. Sorry, Paula, I tried. I think I’m better off writing non-fiction,
gussied up a notch.
If asked to name my favourite people I have researched, I would have to
say Daniel and Charlotte (Hoyt) Holmes. A close second is William Oliver and
Margaret Eliza (Holmes) Snider. I now know more about them than I did when I
wrote my book, and I now have a mystery on my hands. It involves the years
between 1892 and 1916.
Uncle Billy and Aunt Maggie sold their property to their nephew, Ormond
Lowther Jones, son of Maggie’s sister, Hattie. They moved to Sussex, New
Brunswick, a bit of a jaunt down the road by horse and buggy, but not far today
on the highway. Sometime between 1902 and 1909, they returned to Portage Vale.
They had left their Portage House in the capable hands of Ormond in 1892, and
he moved back to Petitcodiac in 1902, selling the house. In 1909, Uncle Billy
started a guest book (not sure if it was the first book, but it is the last)
for his guest house he now called Riverbank House, in Portage Vale. However, I
have not found that he purchased any property since he sold in 1892.
Mystery is, where was his guest house? I think it was the same house,
but if so – did he rent it? This is my mystery. Where did he actually live
after he returned to Portage Vale from Sussex.
I emailed the provincial archives to see if Uncle Billy left a will. He
did not; at least, it didn’t go to probate.
He and Aunt Maggie died within three days of each other, in January,
1916. There is a joint obituary, and it says that Aunt Maggie died of a
sickness that began on the day of her death. There’s no clue to why Billy died
three days later. I have the mortuary records of the Dunfield Funeral Home in
Petitcodiac, but they burned in 1919 – so nothing when Billy and Maggie died.
I’m stumped. But, one way or another, I will write an article.
This ends
week forty of our centennial virtual
celebration.
