Mary's Musings: July 2011

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Treasure Chest Thursday - Coulter Sisters Company

I recently found this picture of my dad's mother, Bess Coulter Post. I have many pictures of her and don't remember ever having seen this one before. It was in a stack of items 'to be dealt with' that had to do with my Coulter and Post family. It's a professionally taken photo but I'm pretty sure it's a copy and not the original. If you look on towards the bottom, third, right hand side of the photo you can see where something had been printed and is now cut off (maybe the photographers name or the photo studio?). On the back is written

Bess Coulter

~~Rich Western Co~~

Coulter Sisters Co

(note: yes, the 2nd line is crossed off). Also on one side (on back but at top of photograph) is written Aunt Bess. At the bottom is a label which says:

Bess Coulter-Post

Daughter of William D & Lucy Hays-Coulter

The top back "Aunt Bess" (written in red) tells me that someone had this besides my parents (who gave me all the other pictures I have). Several years ago I met some cousins who were the children of Bess' sister Harriet Coulter. I must have received this picture from them....but how it got lost for all these years is beyond me. It's now scanned and on a flash drive with other pictures of Bess, and the original (to me) will go with all other pictures of Bess (to be handed down to my niece upon my death).

Mary Post Warren

Sunday, July 17, 2011

Our Family Angel

Last month on Lucille's 106th birthday I went for a visit at the cemetery, which happens to be just a few miles from us here in Phoenix. (The above picture was taken last summer on the anniversary of her death). She was my dad's sister, although she died before he was born. Among my unidentified pictures I have this one to the right. This picture was with others from my dad's side of the family that were left to me. One of these little girls may or may not be Lucille. If one is her I don't know who the other one is. I have no other pictures of Lucille but I do have her death certificate. Can anyone out there in genealogy land help identify the time period of this picture?

Dad did not know a whole lot about his family. His father left his mother when she became pregnant with him. He had one (known) living brother at that time who was about 4-5 years older than him. He was told there was a child who died before he was born (Lucille, although he thought it was the brother, known as O.J.). He was also told there were several children who died at or shortly after birth. I have no confirmation on this. I do have a picture of dad (Hays Coulter Post) with his brother O.J. Post (assumed to be Orvey Jermain Post) and their grandmother Elizabeth Clayton Post. Dad's parent's names were Bess Coulter Post and Orvey Jermain(e) Post.

Know anything about anyone mentioned in this post? Please contact me using the e-mail address to the right under my picture.

Mary Post Warren

Thursday, July 14, 2011

52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy and History - Sewing

This is not a regular 52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy and History - it's one I made up on my own....just to be different!

My mom made 99% of of the clothes we wore as children. The only thing she did not make was the uniforms we had to wear to school. When I was in High School Home Economics was a required class. I had no real desire to learn to cook and sew but it had to be done. I remember one of the projects we had to do during our sewing lessons - that was to make a dress. Mom and I went out shopping for the required items and I picked out what I thought was a lovely pattern and some material. It was a shirt waist dress and blue/white seersucker material. When I took it to class the teacher took one look at the material and laughed....she told me it looked like pajama or nightgown material. I wasn't very happy about it and it kind of turned me off towards wearing that dress and doing any more sewing than I had to.

After marriage I again picked up sewing, I did enjoy it....I made clothes for the kids, dance costumes for my daughter and many in her class, Halloween costumes, etc. One particular dress I made for my daughter (wish I had a picture) was a Holly Hobby long dress with an old fashion bonnet to go with it. When the kids got to be teens I more or less gave up sewing as I was a such a perfectionist and it made me nervous if there were issues with the sewing and the kids at the same time. I spent way too much time being upset with the kids and I felt it just wasn't worth it.

I did keep my sewing machine though - purchased about 1979-1980 it's not at all like the machines of today that do everything. Last summer, I decided I was going to dig out the machine and start sewing during my 'spare time'...the first thing I did was go to the fabric store (fabric stores of yesterday are not like 'fabric stores' of today - yesterdays fabric stores were just that - fabric and patterns and sewing supplies. Today's 'fabric stores' are craft stores and the fabric and patterns are hidden way in the back left hand (or right hand) corner of the store). Hours of pouring over books I finally found a pattern that was suitable for me, easy to make (for a starter).....but boy was I surprised at the prices on patterns! Some ranging $20+.....I use to pay a $1.00 maybe, and could pick them up at yard sales for 25cents! It was real sticker shock to see today's prices. After much search I found one that was less than $5 and that also fit my parameters. NOTE: I've discovered that patterns are available to look at (and order) online at the pattern makers website....this is what I will do in the future.

Now get this, I bought the material/pattern, thread, zipper, and new sewing scissors last summer. GUESS WHAT - after much looking I found some material that was MADE IN THE USA! Last weekend I FINALLY got the machine up! It took me until today to lay my pattern on the material and get it cut out. I wonder how long I'll procrastinate until I thread up the machine?

I'm hoping once I really get going on this that it will be something that I put to use and get moving on.

Mary Post Warren

Saturday, July 9, 2011

52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy and History - Summer

Those Lazy, Hazy, Crazy Days of Summer

1940ish George Tullis, Margaret Troyer, Hays Post

Roll out those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer

Those days of soda and pretzels and beer

Roll out those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer

Dust off the sun and moon and sing a song of cheer

Just fill your basket full of sandwiches and weenies

Then lock the house up, now you're set

And on the beach you'll see the girls in their bikinis

As cute as ever but they never get 'em wet

Roll out those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer

Those days of soda and pretzels and beer

Roll out those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer

You'll wish that summer could always be here

Roll out those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer

Those days of soda and pretzels and beer

Roll out those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer

Dust off the sun and moon and sing a song of cheer

Don't hafta tell a girl and fella about a drive-in

Or some romantic moon it seems

Right from the moment that those lovers start arrivin'

You'll see more kissin' in the cars than on the screen

Roll out those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summe

Those days of soda and pretzels and beer

Roll out those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer

You'll wish that summer could always be here

Written by: Charles Tobias;

Music by: Hans Carste;

Sang by: Nat King Cole

#6 1963

Mary Post Warren

Thursday, July 7, 2011

The Haboob - The Storm of July 5, 2011

AzFamily.com

What's an Haboob? Randy Cerveny, a geophysical sciences professor at Arizona State University, explains it in this video from Arizona State University.

This video is very interesting, and only takes a few minutes of your time, it's worth your time to watch it. Before the other night I had never heard the term 'haboob'....now that's all anyone talks about.

It was amazing that the temps here in Phoenix were about 100+/- a degree or two....when this storm blew through. As we walked outside we could feel the temperatures actually dropping. When it was over it was about 80F. According to the news the dust cloud was 1-2 miles long and 60-100 feet high....that's a pretty big cloud!!! The storm lasted a couple of hours (including the rain after the initial cloud) ...Sky Harbor airport was closed down. The storm started to the south of us, although I do not know exactly where. It came through Tucson (120 south of Phoenix).

I would have loved to have stood out front during the storm....but hubs (and I) both knew that would not be good for us. We could feel the dust in the air and the next day I had a migraine that I'm sure was brought on by the 2-3 minutes we did stand outside.

Mary Post Warren

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Wordless Wednesday - Bess Coulter Post

This picture of my paternal grandmother was probably taken in the 1920s. My grandfather was affiliated with the circus and although they were divorced in 1913-1914 they continued theirs was an off/on relationship for many years after.

The diamond ring on her left had is a one and a half carat stone and was in it's original setting. I had it 'broken down' and reset, the setting was used for an amethyst stone which I gave my daughter on her birthday one year. The stone was reset into another setting and sits in a safe deposit box.

Mary Post Warren

Monday, July 4, 2011

Independence Day

Check out these five handsome guys...all from the same family, all serving at the same time (U.S. Army) in service to our country. What a giving family. The picture was taken at the wedding of one of their siblings. One is a good friend of ours. I believe there is one more boy in the family who is not old enough to be in the service.

Drafted by Thomas Jefferson between June 11 and June 28, 1776, the Declaration of Independence is at once nation's most cherished symbol of liberty and Jefferson's most enduring document. Here in exalted and unforgettable phrases Jefferson expressed the convictions in the minds and hearts of the American people. The political philosophy of the Declaration was not new; its ideals of individual liberty had already been expressed by John Locke and the Continental philosophers. What Jefferson did was to summarize this philosophy in 'self-evident truths' and set forth a list of grievances against the King in order to justify before the world the breaking of ties between the colonies and the mother country. You are invited to read a transcription of the complete text of the Declaration.

Mary Post Warren