Edward A. McMurray, Jr., with his first daughter, 1955
There is a sadness in my heart today because on Father’s Day, I have no dad here to visit or call, none to cook dinner for, to hug, to tell him I love him. There is no father-in-law, nor grandfathers, or great-grandfathers left in my family either. I am thinking of them so much today though, so it is a Sentimental Sunday, and I appreciate all that they gave to me of themselves over the years to make me who I am today. I feel that one truly and fully understands the sacrifice of a father for his descendants once one has their own family. Even after being a parent for so many years, I still think of the events, wisdom, love, genetics, even quirks imparted by these paternal ancestors, and the light bulb goes on and I say, “Wow. They cared so much that they would even ___.”
This care and love extends to their participation in the military, too. Most were not fathers when they enlisted, but they already had that ‘take-care-of-the-future” thought strongly in their minds- enough to risk their very lives for it. Thankfully, none of my paternal ancestors gave their life in a battle to protect our freedoms, although some were wounded, either physically or mentally. All were changed by the horrors of war, but still went on to become fathers, hoping that future generations would be able to live more peacefully.
How can “Thank you, I love you.” ever be enough to say on this day, or ANY day???
A father is… PROUD.
Lloyd Eugene “Gene” Lee with his son Robert “Bob” Lee, winter of 1936. Bobbie was four years old.
A father is… a TEACHER.
Edward A. McMurray, Jr., with his first grandson, about 1989.
A father is… LOVING.
Bob Lee and two-day old son, June 1959.
A father is… FUN.
Irving I. Cooper and his first grandchild, Feb. 1962.
A father is… a HELPING HAND.
George A. Roberts with his grandson, about 1926. Caption written by his grandson.
A father is… PROTECTIVE.
Dr. Edward A. McMurray, Sr. with his son, about 1924.
A father is… a PROVIDER.
1954- Edward A. McMurray, Jr., feeding daughter.
A father is… A BUDDY.
A father is… SURPRISING.
G. W. Helbling in his garden, August 1934. I had not know that he loved roses and gardening until I saw this picture, long after he passed away.
A father is… LOVE.
Dec 1998- Hug
Thank you, Dads.
Notes, Sources, and References:
1) Family photos in possession of author.
Please contact us if you would like higher resolution images, or to post images on other websites.
Copyright 2013-2014 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and pmm.
We would love to read your thoughts and comments about this post, and thank you for your time! All comments are moderated, however, due to the high intelligence and persistence of spammers/hackers who really should be putting their smarts to use for the public good instead of spamming our little blog.
Due to WordPress emails not showing the posts well on all computers, I have changed so that feeds so only receive a summary of a post is emailed. The email will contain a clickable link to take you to the remaining/actual post. This system will also help when posts are updated- you will always have the most current info by clicking on the blog post. Hope this doesn’t inconvenience anyone, but it will be the better choice now for the blog.
On June 14, 1777, the Second Continental Congress adopted the official flag of the United States of America. That date has been commemorated throughout the years with parades and picnics, a rite of summer across the land. Although the oldest continuous Flag Day parade may have been in 1909, Flag Day was not officially proclaimed a holiday until 1916, when Woodrow Wilson established June 14 as Flag Day.
The people of America didn’t need an official proclamation, however, to celebrate their pride in our flag and all it represents. Our Helbling family documented their Flag Day celebrations through the years, and preserved them in family photo albums.
From left: Vi Helbling, May Helbling, and Edgar Helbling, in front of their home at 5136 Page in St. Louis, Missouri.
The above image shows the children of Gerard William Helbling (AKA G. W. Helbling) and Anna May (Beerbower) Helbling in front of their home at 5136 Page Ave. in St. Louis, Missouri. Edgar Helbling was about 9, May Helbling 6, and Vi Helbling just 4 years old.
From left: Edgar B. Helbling, (Anna) “May” Helbling, Vi Helbling, and Gerard William Helbling, on Flag Day 1914.
Other photo albums hold earlier years of Flag Day celebrations. This picture shows G.W. Helbling in front of their home with their three oldest children. (Three more were to be born to them in subsequent years.) Edgar looks so stoic, the little soldier, the big brother, flag on his shoulder, ready to march off into history to show his pride. (…in his little short pants ;D) Little May Helbling is upset- is she scared of all the flags? Not wanting to pose for a picture? Maybe it is that giant bow on her head??? G.W. seems like such a loving father, trying to comfort her and get her to participate. (His youngest daughter, however, remembered him as very stern.) Cute little Vi Helbing, just one year old, is taking it all in- she always was so even-tempered when I knew her as an adult, and being a middle child, may have been that way too when young.
Note the sign on the house- “G. W. Helbling, Undertaker.” The 1914 St. Louis, Missouri, City Directory lists Gerard W. Helbling as being “with Ellis Undertaking Co, 727 King’s Highway boul.” His daughter Mary remembers that 10-15 years later, when she was young, he had his undertaker’s equipment down in the basement of the house. Visitation for the deceased’s family was on the first floor living area, and the children would stay upstairs on the second floor and have to be quiet. Wonder why the funeral home address was given in the City Directory, when he had the sign in front of the house? Maybe he had left the employ of Ellis Undertaking by this date and had his own business.
People were much closer to death, back in those days. Mary remembered that it didn’t seem strange or creepy at the time to have a dead body in the house- mostly, it was just hard to be stuck upstairs and be very, very quiet as a young child.
The family was living at 4927 St. Louis Ave., St. Louis, per the 1914 St. Louis City Directory. This address is between N. Kingshighway and N. Euclid Avenue, and has sadly declined very significantly. (Although valued at $40,000-50,000, the building sold in 2013 for just over $7,000.) Today’s websites, like GoogleMaps, Trulia, or Zillow indicate that the home was built in 1906 and currently has 2,482 square feet; it has 4 bedrooms and 2 baths. It is currently a multifamily home, and probably also was when the Helblings lived there. Husband and wife, Grandma (Anna May’s mother) and three children, all in 2 bedrooms and 1 bath- people lived a lot ‘closer’ back then.
Of course, back then you didn’t just display the flag in front of the house- you participated in a parade!
Anna May (Beerbower) Helbling holding 16 mo.old Viola Gertrude Helbling, Anna May’s mother to her right is Anna Missouri (Springsteen) Beerbower with 3 y/o Anna May Helbling (called May), and 6 y/o Edgar Bradley Helbling in front by steering wheel. Flag Day, June 1914.
It didn’t always go well, however. Getting everyone dressed, primped, hats attached so they didn’t blow off in the wind (long hatpins to the rescue), finding umbrellas to shade delicate young (and older!) skin from the brutal St. Louis summer sun, and into the car was probably a challenge, especially with three little ones.
G. W. Helbling, Flag Day June 1914, and portion of scrapbook page.
Oh, oh- trouble! A slight delay…
Looks like G. W. was a master of all trades- artistic and creative, but he could also build a garage or repair an automobile. The caption on the scrapbook page was written by Anna May (Beerbower) Helbling, we believe. G.W. had wonderful handwriting too, so it may have been his note.
Note that the steering wheel is on the right, and the windshield is split (on purpose). The lights that can be seen on the sides of the car would help in identification of the car type, and although I have looked, it is hard to determine which model they had. (Car model ID is definitely not my forte.) It may have not been the most current model, especially since there appears to have been some trouble. Hope they got to the parade or picnic on time!
Notes, Sources, and References:
1) Flag Day Poster, 1917- United States Library of Congress‘s Prints and Photographs division under the digital ID cph.3g06262. Public Domain.
2) Flag Day entry on Wikipedia, Accessed 06/08/14. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_Day_(United_States).
3) Gould’s St. Louis [Missouri] Directory for 1914. Ancestry.com. Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1821-1989 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011. Accessed 06/07/14.
4) 4917 St. Louis Ave was sold in 2013 for just $7,237- sadly, the neighborhood has been in decline for a long time.
5) A great website of images of American autos through the years may be found at http://www.earlyamericanautomobiles.com/1900.htm. Pages 9-12 have some charming photographs of cars out on the streets of America, sometimes with famous people in them or nearby.
6) Helbling family photo albums owned by the author.
Please contact us if you would like a higher resolution image.
Copyright 2013-2014 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and pmm.
We would love to read your thoughts and comments about this post, and thank you for your time! All comments are moderated, however, due to the high intelligence and persistence of spammers/hackers who really should be putting their smarts to use for the public good instead of spamming our little blog.
Irving I. Cooper’s Needlework- Tiger, early 1970s.
Needlepoint done by Irving I. Cooper (1908-1992).
Notes, Sources, and References:
1) Family treasure owned by one of Irving’s daughters.
Please contact us if you would like a higher resolution image.
Copyright 2013-2014 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and pmm.
We would love to read your thoughts and comments about this post, and thank you for your time! All comments are moderated, however, due to the high intelligence and persistence of spammers/hackers who really should be putting their smarts to use for the public good instead of spamming our little blog.
Hannah (Ford) Benjamin- Family Bible Record Transcription
Sorry I have been MIA, but there has actually been a lot of action around here! Family things, of course, but I have also been working on an article to be published this month. I will share more once it is in print, and am really excited since it has to do with my great-great grandfather, Edward B. Payne, that I have been so obsessed with researching.
I thought I could get back to the blog once the article was submitted and image permissions secured, but then remembered- on Friday- that Fri-Sun was the Southern California Genealogical Society’s famous “Jamboree.” Thankfully they are on Pacific time, so I had not missed any of the sessions as I quickly registered. “Jamboree” is a fabulous conference, but even MORE fabulous is that they offer free live-streaming (partially underwritten by Ancestry.com) of one session for each block of time during the three days. (This year they also offered a for-pay streaming event of their DNA Day on Thursday. Recordings may also be available to SCGS members, which is worth it for the access to databases and archived webinars for members. Webinars are free at the time of broadcast.) I try to work in as many sessions as I can, and today, while listening to D. Josh Taylor talking about the excellent resources at the DAR Library, my mind circuits were hoppin’. He mentioned that the resources of the library were behind database walls, so Google and other search engines cannot pick them up. The light bulb went on- among other items posted, the above image of the bible page of Hannah Ford Benjamin, already posted in Sentimental Sunday:Jonathan Felix Benjamin, will probably only have her name picked up, because it is in the caption.
I already type out full names, and if there are initials or nicknames, try to make sure my post includes that name alongside the surname, so Google can find all those variations. (I know it seems redundant, but it is important to be smarter than the search engines.) The above transcription, being typed, may not be picked up, at least until image recognition is improved. So I thought I would list all the information as search engine bait, and add a few details about the people listed, so that other researchers in the future can find their ancestors. It will need to be broken up into multiple posts since I am adding information. I am also including marriages and deaths with the names as listed, for clarity. All my notes are in brackets: [ ].
An ‘Amanuensis’ is a person employed to write what another dictates or to copy what has been written by another.
Please note that this page has been transcribed, so error may have occurred in transcription, plus the bible was printed in 1837 so some of these records were recorded long after the fact.
This is just one page from a typewritten copy given to me by family back in the 1960s entitled:
“Notes on
the Life and Family of
JONATHAN BENJAMIN, 1738-1841,
Frontiersman and Revolutionary War Veteran,
________
Compiled from Local Histories
and Family Records,
with a List of Some
of His Descendants.”
This information was collected and edited by Robert Benjamin Kilduff, with the mimeographing sponsored by Bert R. Benjamin. It was printed in Chicago, Illinois in 1943, and passed on to my McMurray family in Iowa.
BIRTHS, MARRIAGES, and DEATHS as RECORDED in the BIBLE of HANNAH FORD BENJAMIN
(Bible printed by H. & E. Phinney, Cooperstown, (N.Y.), in 1837, and now [1943] owned by Orletta Hatch Foreman.)
Births:
Arestine P. Benjamin [born] 4-13-1843 [Daughter of Jonathan N. Benjamin and Hannah E. Ford. She married James Polk Hatch, and their daughter, Orletta, had the bible in her possession when the history was written in 1943. Arestine died 12-3-1914 in Newton, Jasper, Iowa.]
Cordelia A. Benjamin [born] 9-12-1830 [Daughter of Jonathan N. Benjamin and Hannah E. Ford, married William Dixon and died in Oregon City, Clackamas, Oregon on 18 June 1905.]
Dorinza E. Benjamin [born] 12-18-1823 [Daughter of Jonathan N. Benjamin and Hannah E. Ford, name also spelled Derinza; middle name was Emaline. Born in Licking Co., Ohio. She married __Ryan, child Mabelle b. 1862. Dorinza died in Peoria County, Illinois, on 17 Feb 1903.]
Edson V. Benjamin [born] 1-29-1863. [Son of Jonathan Felix Benjamin and Hannah E. Marple, b. in Ohio. Married Martha Jennie Munger, and died on 23 Mar 1901 in Washington state.]
Emma A. Benjamin [born] 8-5-1872 [in Iowa to Jonathan Felix Benjamin and Hannah E. Marple. Married Herman B. Lufkin and had a son, Percy Lufkin, about 1895 in Iowa. She died 18 May 1953 and is buried in Newton, Iowa.]
Jonathan Benjamin [born] 10-14-1739 [per bible, but 14 Oct 1738 in Goshen, Orange, New York per other research. Revolutionary War soldier, married Margaret Brown. Maternal grandfather of Hannah E. Ford, bible owner. Died 26 Aug 1841 in Licking Co., Ohio.]
Jonathan Benjamin [born] 10-11-1797 [per bible, but 10-12-1799 per other research. Middle initial probably N. Son of David Benjamin and Elizabeth__ -maiden name unknown. Married Hannah E. Ford, who owned this bible and recorded some of this information.]
J(onathan) F(elix) Benjamin [born] 10-3-1838. [Son of Jonathan N. Benjamin and Hannah E. Ford; born in Licking Co., Ohio. Married Hannah E. Marple, six children: Edson, Roland E., William -2 of them?- Emma, and Orlin Dell Benjamin. Died Mar 1913 in Jasper Co., Iowa.]
Mary Benjamin [born] 3-22-1777 [Lycoming Co., Pennsylvania, to Jonathan Benjamin (1738-1841) and Margaret Brown. Married Phineas Rowlandson Ford and was the mother of Hannah E. Ford, the owner of the bible.]
Roland E. Benjamin [born] 10-16-1868 [in Iowa to Jonathan Felix Benjamin and Hannah E. Marple. Married Sarah __ and had three children: Evert Benjamin, Viola Benjamin, and Don Benjamin. Lived also in Minnesota and Wisconsin.]
S(ylvanus)R(ufus) Benjamin [born] 2-20-1819 [other research states birth year as 1821, in Licking Co., Ohio to Jonathan N. Benjamin and Hannah E. Ford. Married Sarah Ann Palmer and had four children: Cynthia Adeline Benjamin, Frances “Fannie” Drucilla Benjamin, Jonathan Elliott Benjamin, and Hannah Melissa Benjamin. Died 30 July 1892 in Newton, Jasper, Iowa.]
Syntha A Benjamin [born] 3-2-1828 [Daughter of Jonathan N. Benjamin and Hannah E. Ford. Has old headstone with name as Syntha, newer stone with Cynthia. She was only 16 months old when she died.]
William R. Benjamin [born] 10-4-1866 [son of Jonathan Felix Benjamin and Hannah E. Marple. Probably married Elizabeth __ and lived in Newton, Jasper, Iowa, at 1900 US Federal census.]
More to follow next Monday!
Notes, Sources, and References:
1) “Notes on the Life and Family of JONATHAN BENJAMIN, 1738-1841,
Frontiersman and Revolutionary War Veteran” edited by Robert Benjamin Kilduff, typewritten copy owned by author.
2) Edited slightly for clarity 6/13/14.
Please contact us if you would like a higher resolution image.
Copyright 2013-2014 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and pmm.
We would love to read your thoughts and comments about this post, and thank you for your time! All comments are moderated, however, due to the high intelligence and persistence of spammers/hackers who really should be putting their smarts to use for the public good instead of spamming our little blog.
