52 Ancestors: Favorite Photo - It's not just a house

A house is not just a house - it holds special memories for generations.  One such house is this one - I doubt there are too many homes that a professional artist captured in color.  This "photo" hung on my parents' wall for years and I was lucky enough to take it home with me when we cleaned out the house in 2013.  Thanks brother and sister!  

Sig Levy house, Echo Avenue, Fresno - Artist Donna Locati

My grandparents, along with my Dad and his older brother, built and moved into this home in 1934 when my dad was just 7 years old.  I've written about the house HERE and HERE.  But to recap.....

The house looked a lot different in 1934 when they moved in.  I can just imagine the excitement of the young family as they looked forward to the many memories that would be made in that house.  Amazing what a little landscaping does.

In 1982 when my grandmother died, we went to finish cleaning out the house and I took a few photos.  It sure was bittersweet to see a 'For Sale' sign in front.

My 2nd cousin (our grandfathers were brothers) lives around the corner and knows the owners of the house, only the second owners since 1982.  I remember at one point my dad was in Fresno and because he was fearless, he stopped the car in front of the house and marched himself up to the front door and rang the bell.  Sure enough, the owners were home and invited him in for a tour.  

Google Maps shows it looks like this today.  Much nicer to see the foliage cut back so the house can be seen better.  I did like the dark trim and balcony railing, though.

I love having the painting in my home - it brings a smile to my face every time I walk by.  Be sure to take some photos today of your house, and other important houses, so you can see the changes as time goes on.  Remember, it's not just a house.  

52 Ancestors: Harvest

This weeks' blog prompt is HARVEST.   Hmm, while I'm sure that I had a few farming ancestors I really don't know too many specifics about what they farmed and, ultimately, harvested.  The only harvesting that came to my mind was my maternal grandmother and her husband, my step-grandfather, harvesting eggs.  I've written about that before but it's been a long time so I'll take the challenge one more time.

Clara (Fitzgerald) and Shell Hunter

Based on this newspaper article, they bought their property in late 1956 or early 1957.  In an instant, they were chicken farmers!

Fresno Bee, September 27, 1959

Retired Telegrapher Finds Poultry Flock Demands Work

When Sheldon A Hunter of 2341 West Olive Avenue, Fresno, retired in 1955 as manager of the Fresno office of Western Union, he recalls he did not know the difference between a laying hen and a bantam chicken.

Today the grey haired Hunter is the knowledgeable owner and operator of a 2,000 bird egg laying flock, who maintains he "never worked harder, made less or felt better."

Hunter and his charming wife, Clara, bought the one acre layout two and a half years ago when it included only 600 hens  They have expanded cautiously and only recently constructed a new cement floored laying house featuring the latest in wire cage operation.

Hunter, whose Western Union career covered 47 years, including 35 years in Fresno, credits feed company salesmen and breeder representatives with a big hand in helping him learn the poultry business.

"We thought this would be an interesting part time occupation," Hunter grins, "but we find there is always something to do, repair or change.  And these birds need a lot of care.  But we like the idea of keeping busy."

Meet Their Customers

Since all the Hunter eggs are sold directly from the small combination garage and egg processing room, the retired couple enjoy meeting people who stop to purchase the eggs.

Mrs. Hunter chuckles as she recalls a visit by a 10 year old neighbor girl.

"She wanted to borrow three eggs because her mother was baking a cake and didn't have enough," she says.  "But she assured me she would soon return them because her mother was going downtown and would buy some there."

Have Fruit Trees

Along with the modest sized poultry setup, the Hunters are proud of their variety of fruit trees, ranging from figs to persimmons, a vegetable garden and boysenberry vines.

While the Hunter operation ranks quite small as compared to some of Fresno County's sprawling commercial laying establishments, the owners keep abreast of the latest breeding developments.  They are grooming a new experimental White Leghorn strain obtained from Washington State which is said to lay larger eggs for specialized poultrymen, who have a market for them.

I even have the photo they included in the article in my collection (thank you, non-packrat Grandma!)

Sheldon Hunter, 1959

NEW OCCUPATION - Sheldon Hunter, a retired Fresno telegrapher, has found that "wire" means more than a telegram.  Here Hunter inspects his recently constructed wire cage house for his West Olive Avenue flock of white Leghorn layers.  Bee Photos.

I remember so much about the operation but some things from this article stick out in my mind.

Most of the operation was run from the garage.  Here we helped to clean and package the eggs.  Look at all the egg cartons!  My favorite part was weighing the eggs and then putting them in the appropriate carton - small, medium, large, extra large, and jumbo.  If we were really lucky, we'd get a "pee wee" egg which we loved to take to school for show and tell.  The weighing machine would have been behind the big stack of eggs above my head.

Sister, Grandpa Shell, Me
c. 1959-1960

Even little brother got into the act once he joined the family.  So many egg cartons!

Brother, Grandpa Shell
c. 1963-1964

Grandma spent a lot of time in the processing room candling the eggs to ensure that the eggs didn't have blood in them.

Clara (Fitzgerald) Hunter

The lights were turned down as Grandma put each egg into the lit container in order to see shadows of what was inside.  Then she’d turned it over and put the other end in and repeat the process.  This was a very delicate procedure and one we weren’t allowed to help with.  But while she was doing that, we’d sit at a table with baskets of eggs and one by one we’d clean them, careful not to break them.  And before the automatic egg scale, we'd put them on a manual scale and estimate their size.

Sister, Me, Grandpa Shell cleaning and weighing eggs

But before any of this could happen, we'd collect the eggs.  Even when the chickens were locked in those new wire cage houses, it was a bit overwhelming for young girls to be in there with SO. MANY. CHICKENS.  And while I realize the wire cage house wasn't something you'd see today and would probably cause a visit from animal rights activists, it did make it much easier to just walk by and pick up the eggs.

We were ready for this important job!

There were also areas that were like a big stall where the hens would all run loose.  I don’t remember collecting eggs in there so they must have been the young chickens who weren’t producing yet.  I didn’t really like going in there as those birds would run around and sometimes even fly at you.

I'm surprised that the farm was only 1 acre - it seemed so much larger to me.  Maybe their cautious expansion included buying some adjoining property?  I also don't remember fruit trees, a vegetable garden, or boysenberry vines.  There might have been a fruit tree here and there but I don't remember too many.  What I DO remember is a fish pond with abalone shells as the top layer of the sides of the pond - so pretty.  I think there were fish in there but I don't remember specifics.

I know these chickens were a lot of work.  When we’d be visiting, Grandma and Grandpa would have someone (normally Grandma's mother, Mabel (McAboy) Fitzgerald) come to the house to “chicken sit” if they wanted to go out to dinner with us.  And traveling even for one night was next to impossible for them.   I will always remember Grandma sitting in the warm Fresno sunshine, cleaning eggs while listening to her beloved San Francisco Giants on the radio.

Not your 'normal' harvesting but boy did we have fun helping harvest eggs!

52 Ancestors: Thankful

We are approaching the end of the Thanksgiving weekend, which is a perfect time to focus in on this weeks’ blog prompt – Thankful.



Sure, I’m thankful for so many things.  Thankful for my family and friends, plenty of food (maybe too much) on the table, a nice warm house, and, of course, my health and the health of my loved ones.  Those are all a given.

I’m thankful to have known so many of my ancestors in real life and through this journey, I’ve gotten to “know” so many more of them.  Who knew I had a 5x great grandfather who served in the Revolutionary War, a 3x great grandfather who served in the Mexican War and Civil War (and lived to tell about it), and numerous other veterans who are so dear to me, most importantly my dad, his brother, and their father?

I’m thankful that I’ve met so many cousins from all sides of my family tree.  For someone with only one first cousin, this has been quite exciting.  Who wouldn’t love to share not just names and dates with family but also stories and photos?  What a gift!

But today I’m especially thankful that my family, mostly on my dad’s side, were packrats!  And I’m even more thankful that my parents, when “gifted” with this stuff, not only didn’t find the nearest dumpster and throw it all in but actually paid thousands of dollars over 30 years to store it.  And could I be any more thankful to my siblings for not really caring about this stuff and entrusting me with it?



I first wrote about finding the stuff HERE.  We decided to tackle the storage unit once and for all, thankfully while my mother was still living, which was an unpleasant task for an arachnophobic – thank goodness for the brave men in my family.  While a lot did go into the dumpster (did we really need that 30 year old artificial Christmas tree?) or to my mother’s favorite charity (how many books can one family have?), much of it came home with me.  I remember finding boxes of letters, all in my grandparents’ handwriting, and when I picked up the boxes, they literally fell apart.  I threw the letters in a black garbage bag and stashed them in the car.

I found photos, scrapbooks, baby books, letters (I haven’t even started on the letters my dad either wrote or received during World War II), military uniforms, handmade quilts, Fresno memorabilia, and so many things I don’t even remember now.

I’m very thankful to have these two quilts that my mother’s maternal grandmother, Mildred (McAboy) Fitzgerald, made.  I remember using them as a young girl and I get a smile on my face every time I look at them.



I’ve done quite a bit of organizing but still have SO much to do – this will keep me busy throughout retirement and then some.

I first organized as many photos as I could identify into “family” boxes.  Those are now stored in several closets and while I know these boxes are not archival friendly, I feel like we’ve come a long way from the storage unit.



From there I scan them, label them with an acid free pen, and put them into archival boxes.  If it’s in the box, it’s labeled and scanned – boy do I love these boxes!



Some of the stuff is temporarily in the garage.  Thankfully we have a large home with lots of storage space but something had to give.  And someday, a few of those boxes, plus other things, will be donated to the Fresno Historical Society – road trip!



Back to the letters between my grandparents from 1916-1919.  From the black garbage bag the letters were sorted into boxes – one from Grandma to Grandpa and another from him to her.  This is what I have left to transcribe.




As I transcribe them, I’ve put them in archival safe boxes – I can’t believe how perfectly the letters fit.




Slowly but surely I’m transcribing them and am so thankful that my grandmother actually numbered each one so that there wasn’t much guesswork in figuring out the order they needed to go in.  I particularly love the first letter I found from August 14, 1916 with my grandfather’s loving words “Dear Miss Gunzendorfer”.  It was a love story they allowed me to share with them 100 years later.  Thank you, Grandma and Grandpa.

But most of all I’m thankful for my husband.  He has helped me clean out the storage unit and my childhood home, packed the car, driven the 1800 mile round trip journey (twice!), and humored me as I spread stuff out, photographed, scanned, blogged, all while listening to my stories.  I really couldn’t have done any of this without him.  I just hope that someday someone will be just as thankful that I’ve not only held onto this stuff for them but, hopefully, will make the journey just a little bit easier for them.

52 Ancestors: Lucky

This weeks’ prompt in the 52 Ancestors challenge is Lucky.  While it is St. Patrick’s Day and the luck of the Irish brought me my first grandchild 16 short years ago today, after some thought I’ve decided to focus on the lucky day of April 16, 1967.  Why this day?  Because on that day my grandparents were in a serious car accident and although injured, they quite possibly were lucky to be alive at the end of that day.



I have so many memories of that fateful day; however, I am also lacking so many memories of that day. 

I remember thinking that “old people” weren’t supposed to get into car accidents although now that I think about it, those probably are the people who got into car accidents.  I don’t specifically remember my grandfather’s driving skills, but I do remember that Grandma wasn’t really a great driver.  I’m not sure I’ll ever know exactly what happened with this car accident but I suspect that Grandpa was, at least, partially at fault because there is a memory stashed away of him feeling remorseful that Grandma was injured.

When I looked on Google Maps to see the location of the accident, I was surprised to see just how close the accident site was to the Community Hospital. 



If I have my directions correct, Sig would have been traveling in the direction denoted by the red arrow, and Mr. Bare would have been traveling in the direction shown by the green arrow.  And as I researched the Community Hospital, I learned it was originally the Burnett Sanitarium (both my parents were born there) and rebuilt at the current location in 1905.

The clear memory I have of this event was visiting my grandmother at home after the accident.  At the age of 71 (the article stated she was 72 but this is an error) and with a severely broken leg (I seem to remember her knee cap was shattered), a large two story home would have been quite a challenge for her.  Luckily, they had the means to have a hospital bed brought into the home and a nurse (full time, I imagine) to care for her.  But where to put the bed?  In the dining room, of course!  While I don’t have a picture of the bed, I do have a picture of the dining room.



The dining room table and chairs must have been moved out (where did they put that?) and replaced with a hospital bed so Grandma could be home where she felt comfortable.  When my dad was growing up, there was a live-in housekeeper so that bedroom, on the first floor, was the perfect place for a nurse to stay so she could be close by during the night if Grandma needed anything.

I don’t remember much else about the event – how long was she in the hospital, how long was her home recovery – but I do remember seeing quite a large scar on her leg after that.  And, sadly, about 15 months later Grandpa was gone so whatever lingering affects she might have had, Grandma had to deal with those on her own.

So much of this involved luck – lucky to have survived, lucky to have the means to bring her home so that she was more comfortable, and lucky to not have too much difficulty with her injuries later in life.  I’m so glad luck was with them!

Scrapbook #3 – 1914 Governor’s Day

Before I start, I have to say that I hate my cr*ppy memory!  Geez, I know I’ve seen this picture before but for the life of me, I can’t remember where.  And I don’t have the patience to look thoroughly so if I’ve shared this before, I apologize.

Now that I have that out of the way, the next page of the scrapbook showed me this from The Fresno Bee, Thursday, October 1, 1953, page 5-A.


EARLY DAY EVENT – Governor’s Day at the Fresno District Fair was quite an event in 1914.  Shown left to right in the grandstand are the late Frank Hill, Mayor Alva E. Snow, J.E. Dickenson, Governor Hiram C. Johnson, George H. Warlow, H. Wingate Lake, William Stranahan and H.E. Patterson and Sigmund Levy.


ExFair Director Recalls Governor’s Day Celebration


Governor’s Day at the Fresno District Fair in 1914 was recalled today by Sigmund Levy, a Fresno real estate and insurance man who was the fair’s director of exploitation from 1914 to 1918.

“I can remember it as though it were yesterday,” Levy said.  “We needed a lot of help in those days to put over the fair.  The governor drew a large crowd.”

Levy has a photograph taken in the grandstand that day.  In the picture are the late Governor Hiram C. Johnson, Mayor Alva E. Snow, Frank Hill of the Fresno Traffic Association, J.E. Dickenson, the fair director; George H. Warlow, the fair president; H. Wingate Lake, a hotel manager; William Stranahan, Fresno public works commissioner, and H.E. Patterson of the Fresno County Chamber of Commerce and Levy.

Levy declared the exhibits at more recent fairs were similar to those in 1914.  Each night a dance carnival was held in those days.

“It really packed them in,” he said.

C.G. Eberhart, a retired vineyardist who was the fair manager from 1911 to 1920, recalled one of the big features of the fair 32 years ago was a “train wreck” which drew an attendance of more than 25,000 persons.

Eberhart said two old locomotives, purchased from the Santa Fe Railway, were started from opposite ends of the infield, but many of the spectators decided the seeing was not nearly as thrilling as the anticipation of the collision.

“The grandstand was jammed,” he declared.  “There was a hush among the spectators as the locomotives approached.  Bombs on the engines enveloped them in clouds of smoke as they came together with a deafening crash.

He inaugurated the initial five gaited saddle show ring for purebreds during his first year as manager and said the fair boasted three of the fastest harness horses in the United States, trained by Billy Durfy and owned by Clarence Berry of Fresno. 

One more Fresno event my grandfather was involved in.  Who knew?

Scrapbook #3 – Forty Years Ago

Next up in the scrapbook is lots of little articles from The Fresno Bee telling us what was going on in the area years before - if we missed it the first time, we were able to read about it 40 or 50 years later!

In the 1950’s, there were many references to things Sig had done much earlier in his life and, as was his habit, he was sure to add the ‘clippings’ to his scrapbook.  Thanks, Sig!



Sig didn’t add the date but that didn’t stop me – off to newspapers.com to see what I could find.  Sure enough, there was the article on page 24 of the Fresno Bee Republican from April 28, 1952.  I guess in 1912 it was big news for two young men to visit Los Angeles.

And while I was looking, I also found this from March 22, 1952 – wonder how Sig missed this?  



Oh BOY would I like to know more about this!  Sig went to Tijuana?  And what did the excitement look like?  Did he have trouble getting back into the country?  I’m going to have to keep my eyes peeled for more information!

 

I know that Sig loved to play tennis and, apparently, was quite good at it.  I’m sure he was thrilled to see this in the newspaper on October 10, 1955.

 

 

It seems that Sig and E.A. Berg seemed to spend a lot of time together – this is the first I’ve heard about the Fresno County Fair.

 

Street dance?  Street dance?  I realize Sig was involved in a lot of organizations and activities but a street dance????



Now I need to keep my eyes peeled for the American City – I’d love to read more about the Fresno Commercial Club.  I know Sig spent the majority of his career in commercial real estate - I have a TON of scrapbooks with articles about development to prove it!

Earlier in the scrapbook (HERE) I shared a newspaper article and now I’ve found the original photo.  If not for the newspaper account, I would have no idea what was going on here on October 26, 1952.



And a very fun article (with a photo) from July 17, 1953.  I’ve found lots of photos and other ephemera from their cruises (HERE, HERE, and HERE) but I’ve not seen anything from cruising in 1953.  I’m so glad there’s a newspaper article to tell us and even show us a photo!



Six weeks?  Now THAT’S a cruise!

Thanks to both of my grandparents for being packrats and scrapbookers!

Hello Neighbor Excursion

I ran across another random photo today.

Interesting group photo – wonder who all these folks are?  Here’s my grandfather’s note on the back.

 

Hello Neighbor Excursion
Promoted by Fresno Republican
Sig Levy in charge
to create good relations with our valley cities
Away back about 1914
Fresno’s most prominent citizens aboard

 

So who would the most prominent citizens have been in 1914-1915?

There are some other notes on the back of the photo that lead me to think that this was used for some sort of “rememberance” because the date Jan 27, 1967 is stamped on the back.

I didn’t find too much information about it but I did find an article from the San Francisco Chronicle, 20 Oct 1915:

So my grandfather was a year or two off but it sounds like this is it.  And the photo shows Santa Fe, too!

Of course the first thing I did was scour the group looking for my grandfather – he’s not too difficult to pick out of a crowd since he was so short.  Here’s a close up – can you guess which one he is?

If you guessed the man 5th from the right, you win!  And no, I’m quite sure the other men were not standing on a step. 







Family Photos - It’s my birthday, have a party!

I continue to go through photos, albums, and other family items in order to document things for future generations.  Next up, a family photo album that was stashed away in my parents’ home.  To start from the beginning, click here.

Okay, so it’s really not my birthday but the next pages of the family photo album show my 5th birthday celebration – time to party!  Dad titled the next page Debby is now 5.  Huh?  Where did the spelling Debby come from?  So now I’ve seen Debbie, Debbe, and Debby and since then I’ve changed everything to Debi.  No wonder I was such a mixed up kid.

Uh-oh, looks like I might have been getting a little sassy with Dad.  Look at all those patent leather shoes!



Here’s the group.  I can only identify a few – my sister on the left in the back row; to her left is our dear next door neighbor, Mary K., 2nd from the right in the back row was our neighbor across the street, Diana B.; and on the far right in the back row is, I think, Merle.  I’m on the left in the front row (sitting down) and I feel like the girl who is kneeling was named Nancy.  But I could just be imagining that.




Time to blow out the candles!



And what in the heck is this expression?  And why are all the other kids sitting in a line?  I remember my mother always had games planned for our birthdays so maybe this was some game we were playing.



Looks like my sister wanted to help me open my presents.  I’m not sure if I’m agreeable or telling her to keep her hands off.

Birthday girl Deb

It looks like at about the same time we went to visit our grandparents in Fresno as Dad captioned the next page Down on the Farm. 

Not sure where this picture was taken as I don’t remember anything like this on my grandparents’ farm (aka chicken ranch).



We loved to collect eggs and help Grandma and Grandpa clean and weigh them.  I wonder how much we really helped vs. how much mess we made?

Hey, I remember these outfits from last week’s post here. 

My sister and me helping Grandpa Shell Hunter

Looks like Dad got things a little out of order because on the next page we go back to Halloween, which is 6 weeks before my birthday.  I will never forget this costume as long as I live – not too PC these days.  And for my family who knows this house well – there are no white rocks in the garden area!

Cary in Halloween Costume 1959

And just after my birthday was Christmas.  Yes, we celebrated both Hanukkah and Christmas but we typically got most of our gifts on Christmas.  My mom always said she just couldn’t take Santa Claus away from her children.  Worked for us!

Deb gets a store for Christmas

There are a few things in my childhood that I remember vividly and this store is one of them.  I loved stocking the shelves, ‘selling’ things to my friends and family, and most of all, I loved picking up that phone and making calls.  It’s amazing that I can’t remember things from last week but this I can remember. 

If this doesn’t look like one happy little girl I don’t know what does!

Corner Merchant

And one random photo.  I don’t know where we are and certainly don’t know what we were doing – perhaps we were posing for next year’s Christmas card?

What a pair