Wednesday's Child - "The Boy in the Boat"

Louis Ernest Mieusset
b. 21 Dec 1881
d. 26 Sep 1886





This inscription is in French.  I believe it means "Well-beloved Son".
 Age 4. He was 3 months shy of his 5th birthday.

I ran across this gravestone when we were visiting Forest Hills Cemetery in Jamaica Plain, Mass to find my Great Grandmother and Great Grandfather. 

Tombstone Tuesday - James A. and Edna J. Mullens Blades



James Anthony Blades 1857-1917
Edna Jane Mullins Blades 1868-1950


James Anthony Blades was born November 22, 1856 in Oak Park, Shelburne, Nova Scotia.  He married Edna Jane Mullins, born March 5, 1868 in Shelburne, Nova Scotia on September 22, 1899 in Boston, Massachusetts.  Together they had two children James William Stanley Blades (1868-1958) and Grace Evelyn Blades (1905-1969).  Jamed Anthony (he was sometimes known as Anthony James) died at the age of 61 on December 15, 1917.   Edna Jane died December 31, 1950 at the age of 82.  They both are buried in Section 24 in Forest Hills Cemetery in Boston, Massachusetts.

Military Monday - William Robert Blades

Here is a picture of my dad with his group at the Navy Training Station in Newport, RI in December 1940.  He is standing to the left of the person holding the flag on the right of the picture.

Funeral Card Friday - Virginia Pauline Handy Clifton 1921-1991

Wordless Wednesday - Jack and Jill

Jack and Jill 2005

Tombstone Tuesday - Blades and McGarrell

The headstone below is for my Aunt Jenny(Virginia Blades), her husband George J. McGarrell and their daughter, Patricia Ann Marie Cohane.  They are all together once again at Gethsemane Cemetery in West Roxbury, Massachusetts.

Madness Monday - Frank C. Davis (1860-1910)

Here is an interesting newspaper article my older sister, Sharon found while doing family genealogy research on a trip she took to Exeter, New Hampshire in the late 1980's. The article is about my Great Grandfather Frank C. Davis born June 27, 1860 in Newfield, Maine and died in Exeter, New Hampshire on December 13, 1910.  

Suicide at the Jail

Frank C. Davis, aged 53, who had laterly lived with his daughter at Winthrop, Mass, committed suicide Tuesday afternoon a the jail by hanging himself from a door. The act was committed between 2 and 3 o’clock, during the absence of the Turkey Beverly S McGaughey at the station, whither he went for a prisoner, Oscar Santos of Newmarket, committed for stabbing Emmnuel Silver, a fellow Portuguese.

It need not be stated that Mr. McGaughey and his prisoner were startled at entrance to the corridor Santos was hurriedly placed in a cell and the officer then cut down the body, but life had sped. Santos, thinking the hanging an act of punishment and further frightened by the officer’s knife, was literally terror-stricken. For hours he lay with face covered.

Davis came last Saturday evening to the home of his father-in-law, Edward Nichols, High Street. Sunday morning, in sudden frenzy, he seized a hammer and dealt three blows at William Foss, of Lynn, Mass.. Mrs. Nichols’ brother-in-law, who was lying upon a lounge. Fortunately a chair before the lounge broke the force of the blows and Mr. Foss was not badly injured.

Davis was arraigned in police court Monday for assault with intent to kill and committed to jail. For four years he had suffered from locomotor ataxia, which doubtless affected his mind.

He was born in Newfield, Maine and was a carpenter. Besides the widow he leaves, in Winthrop, a daughter by a former marriage.

Definition: locomotor ataxia (noun) Wordnet
1. Syphilis of the spinal cord characterized by degeneration of sensory neurons and stabbing pains in the trunk and legs and unsteady gait and incontinence and impotence.



Suicide at the Jail
Exeter, NH
Frank C Davis
December 1910

 　

　

Sunday's Obituary - William G. Gregoire

William G. Gregoire was married to my 1st Cousin 1x removed, Leona Alcorn for 56 years before he died a couple of months ago.  He was born August 14, 1924 and died July 8, 2010 as a life long resident of Wales, Massachusetts.   I never met him, but I have met Leona, her children and lots of new cousins I found earlier this year, just by clicking on the flashing green leaf on Leona's Mother, Grace Evelyn Blades' (1905-1969) branch of my tree.  That's a story for another day.




This was posted on the William Gregoire Memorial
Page on Lombard Funeral Home's website
http://www.lombardfuneralhome.com/



Sunday's Obituary - Annie Myrtle Handy Goard



Annie Myrtle Handy Goard

My Aunt Myrtle Goard was born October 12, 1919 in Patrick County, Virginia and died November 22, 1978 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.  She is buried next to her late husband, Joseph Amos Goard at Forsyth Memorial Park in Winston-Salem.  At the time of her death, I remember Mom (Delcie), Paula and I were living outside of Orlando, Florida and we had to fly to North Carolina.  It was one of the few times I remember Mom ever flying on a plane. 

I emailed the Forsyth County Public Library in Winston-Salem and they emailed me back her obituary below.  Her obituary appeared in the Twin City Sentinel, November 23, 1978 on page 20.



Treasure Chest Thursday - Pictures Are Priceless



Hommer Handy



One of my favorite treasured items I don't even have, my Aunt Irene does.  After Callie Handy, her mother and my grandmother died in 2007 she had two scrapbooks made of Callie's life and family.  There had to be two books made because Callie Handy lived to be 107 years old.  Since then every time we visit my Aunt we take the scrapbooks out to look at them and she tells us the stories behind each picture.  My great nieces, Callie and Mary who are only 5 and 6 years old have visited her several times have enjoyed getting the scrapbooks out.  Callie, my great-niece always loves to see the pictures and hear the stories of the woman she was named after.  

One of those pictures from the scrapbook is of  Hommer Handy, my grandmothers brother.  He was born in October 1897 in Patrick County, Virgina to John William "Will" Handy (1863-1947) and Nancy Annie Belcher (1860-1911).  There is only one picture of him, taken in 1915 or 1916 before he left for West Virginia in to find work in the mines.  He died May 28, 1917 in a mining accident and is buried in Patrick County, Virginia at the Belcher-Hall-Howell-Pendleton-Underwood Cemetery.  I wish there would have been more pictures take of him, but I guess one will have to do.


Treasure Ches Tursday is a daily blogging theme from GeneaBloggers. Each day has a different them to help give ideas to genealogy bloggers share information.

Wordless Wednesday - Camps at Goffstown, NH

The Benedix and Blades Camps Goffstown, NH

Mom had an artist use several black and white photos

to paint this on the wall of her home. Sadly we had

 to paint over it to sell her home.

Wordless Wednesday is a daily blogging theme from GeneaBloggers.  Each day has a different them to help give ideas to genealogy bloggers share information.

Tombstone Tuesday - Callie Mae Handy and Daniel Lee (Justice) Handy

HANDY Headstone

These are the Tombstones of my Grandmother and Grandfather on my mothers side of the family.  Both were born and lived about 50 years in Meadows of Dan, Patrick County, Virginia.  You will notice that my Grandmother lived to be 107 before she died.  They are both buried at Evergreen Burial Park in Roanoke, Virginia.

Callie Mae Handy

D. Lee Handy

 Tombstone Tuesday is a daily blogging theme from GeneaBloggers. Each day has a different them to help give ideas to genealogy bloggers share information.

The Dad I Never Knew

William Robert Blades  1923

My Dad, William Robert Blades, was born May 23, 1923 in Boston, Massachusetts. He grew up mainly in West Roxbury, a neighborhood of Boston. He had 4 sisters and 2 brothers.  He joined the Navy in November 1940 and became a navigator. He did several expeditions with Admiral Byrd to Antartica and traveled all over the world. As you already know from the last blog, he and mom married in 1950 in Washington, DC.                  

Shortly after they married, they transferred to Boston where Dad grew up as a boy. My sister, Sharon, was born at Chelsea Naval Hospital. When she was a couple of months old, they transferred to Cuba for about 2 years. Dad was on a ship nearby and mom got a job as a telephone operator. After they transferred back to the states, they had four more children. We were Military babies each born in different states (except for the Twins). Westy was born in 1954 at Portsmouth Navel Hospital in Virginia. Debbie was born in 1960 at Bethesda Naval Hospital.

Daddy 1941

Daddy in 1964.  This is a rare
picture of  him out of uniform.

Finally, after Dad transfered to his final Duty Station at Little Creek Amphibious Base in the early 1960's, Paula and I were born. We were the first set of twins born in 1966 at the Little White Hospital (Dispensary) located on base.  Daddy retired in December 1969 from the Navy, after 29 years of service.  He died two and a half months later on St. Patrick's Day 1970.  Paula and I were three years old.  I don't have many memories of him, just stories that Mom, Sharon, Debbie, his brothers and sisters have told us over the years along with his papers and pictures I have found.

Daddy hard at work

A Wedding to Remember

My first post for this blog is Mom and Dad.  They are Delcie May Handy and William Robert Blades.  Mom was born in February 1927 in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, Meadows of Dan to be exact.  Dad was born in the big City of Boston, Massachusetts on May 23, 1923.  They met in another big city Washington, D.C. in the late 1940's.  Mom was working at the FBI filing fingerprinting cards at the D.C. Armory downtown or working at the local telephone company as an operator and dad was in the U.S. Navy (since 1941).  Mom told me one time that they met at Haynes Point when they were both with other friends and somehow bumped into one another.  They married at the First Baptist Church in Washington, D.C. on the Saturday before Easter Sunday in 1950 and used the flowers that were at the Church for Easter Service the next morning.   Here are a few pictures of them before they were married and of them walking down the aisle.

Mom and Dad Thanksgiving Day 1949

Mom and Dad at the Camp in Goffstown, NH 1950

Wedding Day April 8, 1950 Washington, D.C.