Milkweed Update

 Today I was out sprucing up my little patch where my milkweed grows.  Finally the Common Milkweed that I planted looks like it will grow to full size this year.  Unfortunately, I only have one of these growing and only one Swamp Milkweed there as well.  Of course, there are a few Swamp Milkweeds sprouting on a partially hard to access bank in our yard.  I will probably get some Monarchs this year and if there only a few, that is better than none.  Looking forward to the season.  Usually they appear in my yard at the end of June or into July.  The numbers of Monarchs that overwintered in Mexico are up a little bit from last year, so that is encouraging.  

Swamp Milkweed on the far left - tall and skinny leaves 

and

Common Milkweed is the other tall plant with broad leaves

The rather steep bank in my yard, Milkweed likes the middle of it!

Please give credit and post a link to my blog if you intend to use any of the information written here. My blog posts are © Ann M Sinton 2022. All rights reserved. 

Week 21 - Yearbook (52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks)

 With all the digitization of yearbooks in recent years, it would not be uncommon to find one of your ancestors' image and list of activities from High School and College somewhere.  But isn't it nice if you are fortunate enough to have their actual yearbooks.  The custom of signing yearbooks is probably something that most of us have experienced.  Extra things can be learned about your ancestor just from some of these brief yearbook moments.  

I am the lucky one to have my Dad's high school and college yearbooks as well as my maternal grandmother's high school yearbooks.  And, of course, my own and my husband's.  My grandmother's, being from 1930 & 1931, were especially interesting to read.  It really gives one a feeling for that era. An entirely different sense of humor that seems quaint today.  

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I found out that my grandmother, Helen Boardman, was a cheerleader and played basketball. She was also a member of the Biology Club and she co-wrote her class song. My mother never mentioned these things to us.  Helen whose nickname was Honey, appeared to be very well liked. She met her future husband, Charles Bonadio, while she was in high school, even though he was a few years older than her and had never attended high school.  But he is mentioned in several of the yearbook signings, so I can only assume that he was an accepted member of her social group.  I would love to know even more about her than this. Unfortunately, she died young when my mother was only 10 and I cannot even remember my grandfather ever mentioning her name let alone sharing stories of her.  But he did save these 2 yearbooks which were not found until awhile after his own death buried in the back of a rarely used closet where he lived with my mom.  

1930 Lock Haven Gazette

1930 - as a cheerleader during her Junior year 

and below chosen as the movie star Clara Bow

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1931 Lock Haven Gazette

Helen's Senior Photo

and on the basketball team

Below some of the memories of the Class of 1931

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My dad, John Heacock's, yearbooks fill out some stories that he would tell us.  He was pretty active in high school.  He played the cornet in the marching band and orchestra & played on the football team. He told us how he would have to change uniforms at halftime very quickly to perform with the band and back again for the games.  He was also an honor student, President of the Hobby Club and on the Student Council.  His first love tho, was wrestling.  As a junior high student, he started working out with the high school's team and in 1945 when he was a junior in high school, he became a Pa state champion.  He continued wrestling in college and even participated in an NCAA Tournament.  After college and the Army, he came back home and taught in his high school and so is in those yearbooks as a Faculty member and Coach.  He received his Masters Degree from and also taught for Penn State University and I imagine he is pictured or listed as Faculty in those yearbooks as well.  We do not have any of those.  I may have to look into that.  

1947 Bedford High School 

John's Senior Photo

Senior year Wrestling team

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In 1951 Lock Haven yearbook on the wrestling team

1952 Lock Haven State Teachers College

And John's sister Margaret graduated with him

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One other different kind of yearbook that my husband has is from the Air Force.  He enlisted in 1974 and at the end of Basic Training a book is made available with the pictures of all the Flights that graduated for that 6 week period of time.  There are also some candids of those flights depicting the things the recruits went thru during Basics.  Here is his Flight photo.  While he did not appear in any candids, some who became friends of his did. 

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My father in law, Gary Sinton, had a yearbook of sorts that detailed his Squadron's experiences during World War 2.  It's actually more of a history of the Bomb Group, but has photos and bios of the Group's members. I do not have access to it, but he once showed it to me and I have a copy of his bio page.  

I did find digital high school yearbooks for Gary from his freshman and sophomore years in 1941 & 1942 for Pottsville High School.  I do not know why, but he never graduated, but after the Army he went to school on the GI Bill and graduated with a Bachelors in Aeronautical Engineering.  

1941 Hi-S-Potts 

1941 - Freshman Class, 3rd row from bottom, 3rd from the right

1942 Hi S Potts

1942 - Sophomore class, 2nd row from top, 3rd from the right

1942 - the Associated Choir, 2nd row from top, 10th from the left

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I do not have my other grandmother, Elizabeth Arnold's, yearbook, but I do have a photocopy of her bio from the 1923 edition of the Bedford High School Echo. Elizabeth's husband, Floyd Heacock, graduated in 1924 from Bedford also.  I have not been able to find a yearbook from that year.  

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My mother in law, Caroline Betz,  graduated in 1942 from Tamaqua High School.  I found digitized copies of her yearbook, the Sphinx. She was a member of the Commercial Club.  After high school she did do some clerical work before getting married in 1946. 

Caroline's Senior photo, 2nd row center

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One person that I have not mentioned here is my mom.  She attended a small catholic high school and her graduating class had only 20 members in 1949.  There was no yearbook that I know of.  

I've really enjoyed pulling out all of these yearbooks to write this piece.  Yearbooks really do give us a feel for their particular eras.  And, oh yes, here are my husband and I from our yearbooks. 1970's.

Please give credit and post a link to my blog if you intend to use any of the information written here. My blog posts are © Ann M Sinton 2022. All rights reserved. 

Week 20 - Textiles (52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks)

 Textiles are interesting.  I think the first thing that comes to my mind would be quilts, but I feel like clothing, linens, samplers and embroidery work are included also.  I'm sure I am overlooking many other examples. Some are reminders of a special occasion and some are like comfort food. Many are hand made with much love or just as something the family needed.  Over the years, I have created my own textiles when I learned to knit, crochet and embroider/cross stitch.  Some I made as gifts and some for my own use.  Years later, some of the gift recipients said that they still have the thing that I made for them creating a new family keepsake.  Some of them came back to me when the owner of them passed away.  I'm glad that we save these things.  They, in small ways, tell something of each person who possessed or made them.  

 Some of the things from my family are pictured below that I keep on display in my home.  

My children's christening outfits from the 1970's that I arranged in a shadow box.  

The white quilt was given to me by my mother in law  when my first child was a baby.  She said that her mother made it.  The woven plaid blanket was from her also.  Also an embroidered pillowcase of mine. 

This quilt was almost thrown away.  I happened to be at my grandmother's house one day as my aunt was cleaning out some things and we went up to the attic for something and this quilt was there. It was going to be thrown out but I said I would take it. She looked at me kinda incredulous, but here it is.  I have no idea how old it might be and I can see why it might have been tossed but I like it.  

As I look at this photo, I realize that there are various textiles in it. The quilt was one that my mother was given from her mother in law's home.  She then gave it to me.  The children's clothing are again from the 70's.  And they are hard to see, but there are a few dressy hats , I think from the 50's or 60's that belonged to my mother in law.  

This twin size quilt is one of a matching pair that my aunt gave one of to me.  She tells me one was made by  her mother(my grandmother) and the other by her grandmother (my great grandmother).  

This is simple, but a favorite.  It hung on my grandmother's kitchen door for as long as I can remember.  It has a roller bar and a looped towel.  And a bonus embroidered linen also.  It now hangs on my kitchen door.  

So in writing this, I started to remember some other things that I have, which made me go open my Lane chest where I keep many of them.  Well, the things that you don't really forget but just don't think of often !      Here are an assortment from the chest.

This hand knit child's sweater is one that my mom kept in her cedar chest . All she knew about it was that it came from her Italian family and when she gave it to me, I was told to take good care of it and not throw it away.  I never wore it on my children because of that, but saved it just the same.

More hand knit baby sweaters.  The white one was mine and the yellow on was made by my grandmother for my children. My grandmother, Elizabeth Arnold Heacock, was the knitter and her sister Anna was a crocheter.

One more sweater - remember when?  My husband's from high school in the early 1970's

I rescued these doilies, among others, as well.  I do not think that they are handmade but they are from my mom's 50's home.

Here is a neat child's western themed hankie.  This was amongst some things from a great aunt's home. They never had children so maybe it was just a fun hankie to have.  

My dress white gloves that I wore to church many Sundays. 

Family reminders of days gone by.  All of this has also reminded me that I really do need to catalog what I have so others know what they are and whose they are.  My chest is full. 

ADDITION:  Since I wrote this and was ready to post it, I read some of the other posts for 52 Ancestors and saw some textile ideas that I should have thought of right away.  So here is a little more to this week's post.

I may have mentioned in another post that my grandfather, Charles Bonadio, worked in a mill his entire working life.  It was the Bloomsburg Silk Mill located in Lock Haven, Pa.  He worked as a warper, which is: a person or thing that warps. In Textiles - a machine used to wind warp ends in preparation for weaving. The mill made silk fabric. Early on he was a winder, who  was a person who wound the silk from silkworms cocoons onto bobbins.   His sister in law, Bertha Knepley, also worked there, first as a picker, then a floor lady and finally in a clerical position in the office.  She used to bring us seconds of fabric for my mom to sew with.  

Warper

  

Winder

Examples of what a warper and a winder do found at 

https://www.digitalcommonwealth.org/search/commonwealth:wd376999j

A postcard of the Mill that they worked in.  This would have been not many years before my grandfather began working there at age 16, which was in 1922, he retired from there in 1971. At some point in his employment here, he became active in labor relations for the employees of the mill. In 1964, he was an executive board member for the union which successfully negotiated a contract between the mill and it's employees. After his marriage, my grandfather lived probably about a mile or two from this mill and I imagine he would be able to walk to work.  

My mother in law, Caroline Betz Sinton, worked for many years as a seamstress in various apparel factories in northeastern Pa.  A way of life for women in that area during a time when much of our clothing was still made in the USA.  She was a staunch believer in only buying clothing made in the US.  She was also a sewer at home and made much of her family's clothing.  Her husband would joke that if she could make shoes they would not have to buy anything!  And my husband briefly worked in textiles also.  He was a Packer in an apparel factory when we were first married. He would pack boxes of apparel and load them onto trucks for shipment to department stores. He moved on, but at that time a job was a job.  And many, many people successfully worked their entire lives in these factories and  raising families.   Sadly, all of these factories are now gone. 

One more connection to the textile industry comes from my husband's relations in Northern Ireland.  Some of his Sinton family became prominent in the linen industry in County Armagh.  

Thomas Sinton's linen mill in Laurelvale about 1887

 Thomas's mills not only spun the yarn for linen but also manufactured heavy linens and sheetings, as well as household linens, cambric and linen handkerchiefs.  One mill produced a fine grade linen. He began his career in linen when he bought a 150 acre property at Laurelvale of which 4 acres were covered by mill buildings.  They contained 350 steam driven looms.  Nearly 700 people were employed there.  Thomas owned two other mills, one at Tandragee and one at Killyleigh.  Yarns from his mills were also sent out to as many as 1500 cottage weavers in the counties of Armagh and Down.  His four sons took over management of the mills in 1887 when Thomas died. As of 2003 the mill building was still in the Sinton family but not in operation.  Thomas Sinton is a 3rd cousin 5 times removed from my husband, also a Thomas.  

Please give credit and post a link to my blog if you intend to use any of the information written here. My blog posts are © Ann M Sinton 2022. All rights reserved. 

 

Week 19 - Food & Drink (52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks)

 Food & Drink connects us in so many great ways.  Recipes handed down or family favorite foods, dishes that  must always be served at certain holidays or gatherings, family picnics, these all fill our memories with aromas and tastes immediately connected to someone.   With my Mom being half Italian, you would think that we had many great family recipes, but sadly we don't.  The only Italian recipe I have that I can call a family recipe is the one my grandfather taught me just after I was married.  One day he visited and brought a large pot, and his ingredients for his spaghetti sauce and meatballs recipe.   We made it together and have had it countless times since.  Almost 50 years later, I still have the pot and still make his recipe in it.  My grandfather was a widower most of his life and working full time would not have had the time to be in the kitchen alot.  His recipe uses canned tomato products, but only takes about 2 hours of simmering to be ready to eat.  My daughter now makes it also. 

Some of the comfort foods that I cook came from my mother in law. Things like Creamed Dried Beef and Creamed Turkey. They don't look like much but they are delicious on toast! 

My mother in law was great for ways to use leftovers.  One we like uses the leftover gravy and meat from a beef roast, adds some onion and that goes on toast as well.  She also shared her mother's cookie recipes that we use at Christmas.  Michigan Rocks and Molasses cookies.  

My dad's mom was a good cook also. But I think the recipes that I connect to her the most were her Jello based salads and Sandtart cookies.  Sandtart cookies at Christmas that I still can't get just right.  And a different Jello salad every time we visited.  

I use my Mom's Mac & Cheese recipe which some of my grandkids request over that famous box product.  

One last recipe that is now a family tradition is Date Nut Bread.  I'm not sure exactly how it came to be but I think my grandmother got it from one of her daughters.  Grandma made it and then my Mom made it and I make it as well as my daughter.  It is also a Christmas recipe.  It has also become a favorite among some of my husband's family.  The recipe has walnuts in it which had to be eliminated due to some food allergies among a few family members inn recent years but it is still a requested food among us.  Slice it up and some eat it plain or some like it with cream cheese spread on it.  Not the greatest photo but here it is.

I am fortunate to have copies of many of our family's recipes and some cookbooks and recipe pamphlets that we all used to save.  It's more of a collection for me as I am not known for my cooking!  But these recipes provide a continuity and familiarity that we all need from time to time.  

Please give credit and post a link to my blog if you intend to use any of the information written here. My blog posts are © Ann M Sinton 2022. All rights reserved.