Sentimental Sunday - Grandparents Day 2014

Remembering my grandparents on Grandparents Day 2014...

Royce and Edna Councill, 1958

Royce Councill and Edna Willis were married on June 13, 1925 in Chestertown, Maryland. They had four daughters and fourteen grandchildren. They were born in Queen Anne's County, MD and lived much of their married life in Pennsylvania and Delaware. Their grandchildren used to call them Mom Mom and Pop Pop. While I don't have too many memories of Pop Pop, I remember a visit to their home when I was around six years old and visits with Mom Mom when she came to our home in Florida.

Anna Lee Pulskamp, April 1930

Robert F. Creeden, April 1930

Robert F. Creeden and Anna Lee Pulskamp were married on December 27, 1930, so these photos were taken a few months before their wedding. They had one son and two grandchildren. I never met my grandmother Anna Lee, but we had lots of visits with my grandfather when I was growing up and I still have many of the cards and letters he wrote to me. I don't have many photos of the two of them together, but I'm guessing that they took these photos of each other somewhere near their home in Celina, Ohio.

Mystery Monday - Dennis Creeden Part 2

I first posted about the mysteries surrounding Dennis Creeden about a year ago. Dennis was one of the sons of my 2x great-grandfather Timothy Creeden and I hoped that tracing Dennis might shed some light on Timothy. Instead, it just raised more questions!

When I saw that FamilySearch.org recently added more indices to its California County Birth and Death Records, 1849-1894 collection, I searched again for Dennis and came up with a hit.

Death Certificate for Den Creedon, 1929, French Camp, CA

According to the certificate, Dennis died on January 17, 1929 in the town of French Camp, California. His date of birth was given as Sept. 8, 1882. his occupation was blacksmith and while his parents' names were unknown, Dennis' birthplace was given as Ohio. From other records, I think his year of birth was 1879, but the other data was a match.

There are several new pieces of information on the death certificate, the most intriguing being that Dennis was a widower. The certificate states that he had lived in California for 10 years and that he was buried in the San Joaquin General Hospital Cemetery, #2524 on January 19, 1929. The informant was J. Hogan. If he was in California for 10 years, then he should be in the 1920 census, but I haven't had any luck there so far.

Posts on RootsWeb in the CASANJOA-L Archives state that the graves in the San Joaquin General Hospital Cemetery were moved to either the Cherokee Memorial Park in Lodi, CA or the Stockton Rural Cemetery in Stockton, CA in 1989. I didn't find anything on FindAGrave for any of these locations, so the search continues.

Church Record Sunday - First Communion, Celina, Ohio, 1942

First Communion Day, May 10, 1942, Immaculate Conception Church, Celina, Ohio

The Immaculate Conception Class of 1952 received their First Communion on May 10, 1942 in Celina, Ohio. My father is the 3rd from the right in the 3rd row in the photo above.

According to a history of the class printed for a reunion in 1972, Father George Hindelang was the pastor and the class was confirmed on December 6, 1942 by Bishop George Rehring. The class had 43 students when they started as First Graders in 1940 and had a graduating class of 26 students in 1952. Interesting that they received First Communion at the end of second grade and Confirmation in the next school year. When I was attending school, it was more common to receive Confirmation several years later, usually in the eighth or ninth grade.

My father kept the holy cards he received for his First Communion and Confirmation.

Holy Communion Card, May 10, 1942

The First Communion card was signed, To dear little Timothy from Sister Mary Protas May 10, 1942.

Confirmation card, December 6, 1942

The Confirmation card was signed, In loving memory of your Confirmation Day, Dec. 6, 1942.

Sentimental Sunday - ICHS Junior-Senior Reception of 1951, Celina, Ohio

My Dad was in the Class of 1952 at Immaculate Conception High School in Celina, Ohio. One of the mementos he kept from his high school days was the program for the Junior-Senior Reception in 1951. I'm guessing from the cover of the program that this was similar to the Junior-Senior Proms we have today.

The inside of the program listed the events for the evening, the menu, and names of the faculty and students. I was surprised to find that my Dad was Toastmaster and that he'd kept a type-written paper with the toast tucked away inside the program.

The toast reads as follows: Reverend Father, Mr. Reichert, Graduates, and Juniors. We are assembled here this evening to honor the graduating class of 1951. We'll miss them next year when we try to fill their vacancies, but lets hope that our loss will be their gain. And now I'll turn it over to our good friend, teacher, and pal, Father John.

 The pages above list the program and menu. I wonder what was in that Special "51" Salad!

The next pages listed the colors, flowers, officers and students for the Junior and Senior Classes and the faculty members of the school.

The high school closed in 1972, but the parish continues to operate a preschool and elementary school. The Immaculate Conception Church is celebrating their 150th anniversary this year and has been posting history and photos on their 150th Anniversary Facebook page.

Sibling Saturday - Camping in the Keys

This shot of my sister and I munching on raisins always cracks me up. Check out our skinned up knees, not to mention my sister's hat and sunglasses! My Dad used to call her Miss Hollywood in that outfit. My Mom was always big on using napkins even when we were camping and I see I have one on my lap. Too funny!

We used to go to the Keys during Spring Break and in the summers. These photos were probably taken at one of the campgrounds in Marathon sometime in the '70s. Our tent is in the background and I can still remember the musty smell of a hot tent in Florida. A few other things I see in the background are a Coleman grill and propane, Lux liquid soap, Musselman's Apple Juice, and laundry hanging on a line. This was one of the trips where my best friend and her family joined us at the campground. She's on the right in the second picture, also enjoying some raisins. We had a lot of fun and adventures on those trips!

Sibling Saturday, a daily blogging prompt suggested by Susan Mosey of Ancestry Binders.