Artifacts are an important part of our family’s history. They tell the story of what was cherished, and what was well used in the workday world. Some objects tell both stories, such as the above drum of Abram Furman Springsteen (1850-1930).
Previous posts have discussed the life of Abram Springsteen and how he ran away from home to join the Union Army as a drummer boy. But how did he get to that point at the ripe old age of ten?
Apparently, from a very young age Abram loved to bang on things with a stick. Kitchen pans, “wash boilers,” pails, or anything that would make a sound that pleased his ears became a drum to him. He actually had the talent to produce a rhythmic beat, unlike many toddlers. By the age of six his talent was so good that his family would “exhibit him as an infant phenomenon at church entertainments and Fourth of July celebrations.”
Abraham Lincoln 16th U.S. President (1861–1865), via Wikipedia. Public domain.
Little wonder then, that when the call to arms came from President Abraham Lincoln in April of 1861, the enthusiasm of boyish war games took hold of Abram, and he ran away from school. He found a recruiting officer who would pay him to beat his drum outside the office, hoping to get the attention of strapping young farmers and laborers coming into town for supplies; he also got the attention of schoolboys and businessmen, and helped to increase the number of men enlisting for Union service in the Civil War.
Jefferson Springsteen (1820-1909) must have remembered his spirt of adventure at the same age- he had, after all, run away from home to join the circus- and he and his wife Anna (Connor) Springsteen (1824-1887) were probably hoping it was just a phase.
However, as Abram saw the young men go into the recruiting office as farmers, laborers, etc., and come out as soldiers, his yearning to be a part of their company would have increased to dangerous levels for a ten year old. School could never be as exciting as what was going on in the real world, and Abram hatched a plan to be a part of that excitement.
To be continued…
Notes, Sources, and References:
“Hoosier Youngest Civil War Soldier,” by Louis Ludlow, in The Evansville Courier and Press, Evansville, IN, page 4, columns 1-3, via GenealogyBank.com.
“Wash boilers” are just what they say they are- a big sheet metal pan for boiling clothes as part of the washing process. Many of them were oval with high sides, and antique wash boilers are often used to hold magazines or firewood inside. Copper wash boilers are especially beautiful and coveted as they have a fantastic patina after years of being put over a fire.
“Diary of Abram F. Springsteen” transcription, done by family members. Thank you for sharing!
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Family history is meant to be shared, but the original content of this site may NOT be used for any commercial purposes unless explicit written permission is received from both the blog owner and author. Blogs or websites with ads and/or any income-generating components are included under “commercial purposes,” as are the large genealogy database websites. Sites that republish original HeritageRamblings.net content as their own are in violation of copyright as well, and use of full content is not permitted.Descendants and researchers MAY download images and posts to share with their families, and use the information on their family trees or in family history books with a small number of reprints. Please make sure to credit and cite the information properly.Please contact us if you have any questions about copyright of our blog material.
Surveillance camers via Wikipedia.org, CC BY-SA 3.0 license.
AncestryDNA is emailing customers with a new promo offer to refer a friend, who will get a 10% discount on their AncestryDNA kit. The person who does the referring will get a $10 Amazon gift card. Sounds like a great deal, right?
Before clicking the “Tell a friend” button, make sure you click the ‘Terms and Conditions’ link first:
Wow. They can use your first and last name, the actual words from your email to your friend, any information you provided in your profile, such as where you live, your age, your picture, etc. etc. for both you and your friend. Would your friend (or family) like giving away their personal information in this way? What if you are referred by someone but do not want to be- can they use this information without the ‘friend’s’ permission?
AncestryDNA can even use the email you sent to that family member for Ancestry publicity- “Let’s find out if grandpa was illegitimate after all.” They can use any of that information in any way for anypublicity now and into the future without asking your permission- because you are GIVING them your permission by clicking the link and taking the offer. You could be watching tv one day and your info pop up in an Ancestry ad (the above grandpa might have a heart attack), or it could be in an ad in a publication in one of those countries where people like to collect such data for identity theft and fraud. Either are possible. (Yes, a lot of that info is already out there, but this connects people and places and etc. easily.)
So, 10% off a $99 test kit is $9.90. A $10 gift card from Amazon makes the deal basically a discount of $19.90, divided between two people. Those who use this program are selling the privacy of two people and future use of their information for publicity for the low, low price of $9.95 per person.
Is this amount worth it???
We won’t even get into the audacity of Ancestry for requiring this. Especially when they say, “protecting your privacy is at the core of what we do”…
We recently asked a cousin if they had taken a DNA test, and her reply was no, that she did not trust anyone to not take the resulting information and use it in nefarious ways. At first it seemed somewhat paranoid, but now… a slippery slope??
Google, Facebook, etc. mine our data and sell to the highest bidder. When things are free, like Google and Facebook, we know that “if you aren’t buying a product, YOU are the product.” (Read the Terms of Service for these websites and all that you use.) But when something is paid for, like an AncestryDNA kit or Ancestry subscription, we shouldn’t be the product.
So think twice before clicking a button on any website, and do your homework- AKA ‘due diligence’ in today’s jargon. Then make an informed decision.
Be careful out there.
Just sayin’.
Notes, Sources, and References:
AncestryDNA Refer a Friend Terms & Conditions (see #5): http://refer.dna.ancestry.com/terms-and-conditions/55e0d3a363616e6796000009?o_xid=69620&o_lid=69620&o_sch=Email+-+Campaigns
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Original content copyright 2013-2015 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and pmm.
Family history is meant to be shared, but the original content of this site may NOT be used for any commercial purposes unless explicit written permission is received from both the blog owner and author. Blogs or websites with ads and/or any income-generating components are included under “commercial purposes,” as are the large genealogy database websites. Sites that republish original HeritageRamblings.net content as their own are in violation of copyright as well, and use of full content is not permitted.Descendants and researchers MAY download images and posts to share with their families, and use the information on their family trees or in family history books with a small number of reprints. Please make sure to credit and cite the information properly.Please contact us if you have any questions about copyright of our blog material.
Abram F. Springsteen (1850-1930) was considered by many to be the youngest regularly enlisted Civil War soldier, and his picture as a drummer boy was in a museum stating this fact. Mary T. (Helbling) McMurray remembered seeing it when she went to Indianapolis, Indiana, as a young girl, for the funeral of her maternal grandmother, Anna Missouri (Springsteen) Beerbower. Anna was Abram’s older sister, but he had predeceased her, so Mary never got to meet her Great-Uncle Abram at the 1939 funeral, but she always wished she had known him.
Not only did Abram serve admirably and also survive the war, but he worked for the War Department in Washington D.C. and advocated for veterans the rest of his life. He was very active in the G.A.R.- the Grand Army of the Republic. The GAR was a fraternal organization, born out of the need for Union veterans of our most terrible war to share their experiences, both during the war and after. So many were wounded or had health problems stemming from their service, and the camaraderie was good for them. It started out with secret handshakes and rituals, but the GAR also worked politically, supporting the effort to make a national holiday on Memorial Day, fighting within Congress and the government for veteran’s pensions, working toward voting rights for black veterans, and even campaigning for Republican candidates. (The GAR had incredible political clout, and 3 presidents were GAR members.) The GAR promoted patriotic education and commemorative monuments, as well as organized veteran marches in parades on holidays.
The USS Kearsage on display on the Indiana statehouse grounds at the 1893 GAR National Convention. Abram F. Springsteen attended this encampment. Public domain via Wikipedia.
Local posts were formed beginning in 1866, and at its peak in 1890, the GAR had 490,000 members. Membership was only available to “veterans of the late unpleasantness,” although they did have an auxiliary for their wives. (There were also 2 women who served in the Civil War who were members.) When the GAR’s last member died in 1956, the group ceased to exist. Its work has been continued by the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War (S.U.V.C.W.).
The 27 September 1915 Elkhart Daily Review (Elkhart, Indiana) headline read: “Youngest Drummer Boy to Meet Hoosier G.A.R.” Abram F. Springsteen was working in Washington, D.C., and planned to meet his former comrades-in-arms of the Indiana delegation at the train depot “with his old war drum to escort the Hoosiers from the depot to the Raleigh Hotel.”
Grand Army of the Republic ribbon authorized by Congress to be worn on uniforms by Union Army veterans. Public domain, via Wikipedia.
Abram also regularly marched with his drum on patriotic days, at GAR encampments, or even to help recruit soldiers for World War I. It was evident that he was proud of his service, and that of his comrades. He surely wanted younger folks to have that same sort of commitment to our country, and he worked tirelessly through his life to achieve that.
Reverse of Grand Army of the Republic ribbon authorized by Congress to be worn on uniforms by Union Army veterans. Public domain, via Wikipedia.
Since Abram worked in the War Dept. in DC, he had some pretty good connections. His request for government workers to be granted extra days of paid leave so they could attend the 1915 encampment in Washington, DC went all the way to President Woodrow Wilson and was approved. Abram set up the Pension Department, where he worked, so that veterans could tour it and also review their pension file. They could discuss with staff any changes needed, and the decisions made concerning their pension or rejection of their claim. He also set up special rooms in many of the hotels for the Indiana Regiment in which he served. Abram was in charge of many facets of the 1915 Encampment, including the RSVPs of about three thousand Indiana veterans and their spouses.
GRAND ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC, PARADE AT 1915 ENCAMPMENT AT Washington, D.C. CEREMONY BY VETERANS OF G.A.R. IN WEST GALLERY OF CAPITOL; J R. WHITTLESAY OF MO. WITH FLAG, RELEASING WHITE DOVES OF PEACE; DR. JOHN M. ADAMS OF CINCINNATI, STANDING, RIGHT; FRANK KIRSCH GASSNER, COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF OF SONS OF VETERANS. LOC, no restrictions on publication.
The 1915 Encampment was a very special event- it was the fiftieth anniversary of the end of the Civil War, when troops marched in review down Pennsylvania Avenue in our Capitol. The veterans planned to recreate that march, though sadly, the Union numbers were quite smaller in 1915. The passage of time contributed heavily- a young man of 20 enlisting in 1861 had aged to 74 by 1915, and many men who served were older than 20 at their enlistment. This encampment was thus considered to be the last held by the GAR- “at least the last one to be held on anything like a pretentious scale.”
The military continued to be a part of the lives of all these veterans through the GAR. Even their death was honored by their comrades- the GAR provided help when a member was ill, and a color guard with full military honors at their funeral.
So Abram Furman Springsteen, beating his drum at the 1915 encampment, had much to reflect upon. He was 65 years old, but again calling to his comrades with the steady beat of his drum.
Addendum: The 83rd National G.A.R. Encampment in 1949 was in Indianapolis, but there were only 16 veterans still members. Just six were well enough to attend, with 100 years old being the youngest, and the oldest 108 years of age. Joseph Clovese, 105, attended for the first time in 1949. He had been born a slave on a sugar plantation in Louisiana. Sadly, Abram was not present, since he had passed away in 1930, and there were no Indiana veterans left. It was fitting that this last encampment was held in Indianapolis, as the first had been held there in 1866. The last of the GAR vets died in 1956 (Albert Woolson was 106, and had enlisted as a drummer boy in 1864, at about age 15; his unit never saw service in battle), and the GAR was officially disbanded.
Notes, Sources, and References:
“pretentious scale” quote from “Hoosier Vets Asked for Address” in Evansville Courier, Evansville Indiana, page 6, column 2, via GenealogyBank.com. (Great newspaper website!)
Elkhart Daily Review, 27 September 1915, page 4, column 1, via GenealogyBank.
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We would love to read your thoughts and comments about this post (see form below), 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.
Original content copyright 2013-2015 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and pmm.
Family history is meant to be shared, but the original content of this site may NOT be used for any commercial purposes unless explicit written permission is received from both the blog owner and author. Blogs or websites with ads and/or any income-generating components are included under “commercial purposes,” as are the large genealogy database websites. Sites that republish original HeritageRamblings.net content as their own are in violation of copyright as well, and use of full content is not permitted.Descendants and researchers MAY download images and posts to share with their families, and use the information on their family trees or in family history books with a small number of reprints. Please make sure to credit and cite the information properly.Please contact us if you have any questions about copyright of our blog material.
John Springsteen was the maternal great-grandfather of Anna May (Beerbower) Helbling, wife of William Gerard “W.G.” Helbling. He was born in New York per the 1850 US Federal Census, but also lived in Ohio and Indiana.
The obituary reads:
SUDDEN DEATH.– On Tuesday, the 19th,
about half past one o’clock, Mr. John
Springsteen, father of Abraham and Jeff.
Springsteen, died very suddenly. He was
sitting in his chair, conversing with his
grand-daughter. He remarked that he felt
strange, believed he was going to die, and
immediately expired without a struggle.
His funeral will take place from the resi-
dence of Jefferson Springsteen, 117 Spring
street, to-day at 3 o’clock P.M. The friends
of the family are invited to attend.
Notes, Sources, and References:
Obituary- Indianapolis Herald, 21 March 1867, page 1, column 5.
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Original content copyright 2013-2015 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and pmm.
Family history is meant to be shared, but the original content of this site may NOT be used for any commercial purposes unless explicit written permission is received from both the blog owner and author. Blogs or websites with ads and/or any income-generating components are included under “commercial purposes,” as are the large genealogy database websites. Sites that republish original HeritageRamblings.net content as their own are in violation of copyright as well, and use of full content is not permitted.Descendants and researchers MAY download images and posts to share with their families, and use the information on their family trees or in family history books with a small number of reprints. Please make sure to credit and cite the information properly.Please contact us if you have any questions about copyright of our blog material.
W. C. Fields (above) was a curmudgeon, and on the anniversary of his birth on 29 February 1880, we celebrate all the curmudgeons we know and love- or try to love.
What is a curmudgeon, you may ask? Generally described as a complaining, crotchety, critical old man, in the interest of equal rights we will include women as possibilities too. “Snarling contempt” is a good phrase that can describe the opinions, attitudes, and writings of curmudgeons. The very best curmudgeons, however, will add a bit of humor or dry wit to their scathing words, and give us an insight into the human condition; sometimes they even make a career out of it.
W. C. Fields is famous for many a curmudgeonly phrase, some from his movies, and some said on his own while in character (he was said to personally be a kind man). Many other quotes have been attributed to him but may not be really his words. Here are a few of his most famous:
“I never vote for anybody, I always vote against.”
“If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. Then quit. There’s no point in being a damn fool about it.“
“If you can’t dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bull.”
And the quote that sums up his character:
“I am free of all prejudice. I hate everyone equally.“
Title page of the First Folio, 1623. Copper engraving of Shakespeare by Martin Droeshout. Public domain, via Wikipedia.
The characters of William Shakespeare issued their share of curmudgeonly insults to each other long before- and now after- W. C. Fields:
“There’s no more faith in thee than in a stewed prune.” (from Henry V)
“Thine face is not worth sunburning.” (from Henry V)
“Your brain is as dry as the remainder biscuit after voyage.” (from As You Like It)
“You are as a candle, the better burnt out.” (from Henry IV, Part 1)
Nowadays, we may have to extend the definition of ‘curmudgeon’ to include cartoons (Lucy always complaining and nagging Charlie Brown), puppets (Oscar the Grouch), and even internet memes (Grumpy Cat). And when you put two together you get…
Isn’t the internet wonderful??
We all know some curmudgeons, and likely have a few in the family, though it is doubtful that any of our dear readers would fit into that category. We won’t name (many) names, but we do have a few ancestors who are long gone that we could possibly honor as Curmudgeons on this very special day.
OK, OK, it’s not really that special a day, as any true curmudgeon would proclaim.
Samuel J. Lee in His Drugstore in St. Louis, Missouri, possibly 1940s or 1950s?
Samuel J. Lee (1879-1964) ran a drugstore in St. Louis, Missouri. As the neighborhood changed and got quite a bit rougher, it is understandable that he might have turned a bit curmudgeonly. Only apparently Sam sort of was that way even before. A nephew who worked for him said that it did not take much to get Sam upset. He actually had a peephole in the wall of the drugstore- something common to many stores so that an owner could truly ‘keep an eye’ on things. The nephew stated, however, that Sam would monitor his work performance through the peephole, to make sure he did not dish out too much ice cream to a customer at the soda fountain, or even worse, sample the ice cream himself.
Sam was a quiet man, according to another family member. He didn’t talk much, and in the evenings would just go sit in the sunroom of the house on Alamo, read his paper and smoke a cigar. So maybe he was more a quiet man, and people just took that silence as curmudgeonly?
Gerard William “G.W.” Helbling in his garden in St. Louis, Missouri. Date unknown, likely 1920s.
Gerard William “G. W.” Helbling (1882-1971) did not have the benefit of much formal education, but he was a brilliant man. That brilliance could drive some people crazy, though, like one of his daughters. She said he always had a criticism for a movie, an article, or whatever. He would explain how it could not really happen, why it wasn’t true, the facts that were missing, or how it was biased. He was most likely right, as he was a prodigious reader and knowledgeable about a whole lot of things. He would often guess what would happen next, and spoil the plot line.
He could be a very loving man, however, and the love he showed for his dear wife, Anna May (Beerbower) Helbling, was the kind of love women (ok, men too) dream about.
So maybe we can’t officially call him a curmudgeon? Maybe just a part-time curmudgeon, who was usually right.
Hannah Melissa Benjamin with her great-grandson, Edward A. McMurray, Jr., about 1926.
We don’t really know enough about Hannah Melissa “Malissa” (Benjamin) McMurray (1854-1932) to officially proclaim her a curmudgeon. We don’t know that she was a complainer- her life was filled with work on the farm until her mid-fifties, and raising five children. She must have been a special woman to have endured it all, and some complaints, if any, should be excused.
But asking a descendant to identify the above picture was interesting. There was no name, and the informant was the young great-grandson pictured with Hannah Melissa (Benjamin) McMurray above. At first he did not recognize her through the fading lenses and memories of the 70+ years that had passed since that picture was taken. Then he looked up, in a somewhat taken aback fashion, when asked if it could be Hannah Melissa (Benjamin) McMurray. (Possibilities had been narrowed time-wise.) “Yes,” he replied. “She was VERY stern.” He was one who always gave people the benefit of the doubt, but apparently she curbed the enthusiasm of a toddler quite significantly, and he remembered it deeply when asked so many years later. He wouldn’t elaborate on whether that sternness was due to her complaining or just silently expecting him to toe the line; so maybe she was a pseudo-curmudgeon.
Headstone of Jonathan Benjamin (1738-1841) in Old Colony Burial Ground, Granville, Licking County, Ohio, with kind permission of photographer.
Jonathan Benjamin (1739-1841) was the third-great grandfather of Malissa (Benjamin) McMurray. Maybe Malissa got some of his ‘stern’ DNA.
The 1881 tome (816 pages!) compiled by N. N. Hill, Jr. called “History of Licking County, O., Its Past and Present: Containing a Condensed, Comprehensive History of Ohio, Including an Outline History of the Northwest, a Complete History of Licking County … a History of Its Soldiers in the Late War … Biographies and Histories of Pioneer Families, [and it goes on…]” tells Jonathan’s story the best:
Jonathan Benjamin was in some respects an extraordinary man. He was a person of rather coarse features, but of strong muscular powers, with a still stronger will. He was very determined in all his undertakings, and of an unforgiving temperament. Having passed through the French and Indian wars, and through the war of the Revolution, and having suffered much and long by Indian depredations, both in the loss of friends and property, the finer feelings of his nature had become blunted to such an extent that he seemed to have lost most of his sympathy for his fellow man. Still he was a man of religious habits, and of good morals, but was generally considered to be a man that was naturally morose and unsociable, and was not known through life to have expressed his forgiveness of the Indian race…. Mrs. Benjamin possessed social qualities that in great measure compensated for lack of them in her husband.”
Jonathan had lived through Indian wars in New York (and/or New Jersey), Maryland, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania, as well as in Licking and Fairfield Counties, Ohio. He witnessed his family members killed or carried off in Indian raids, and he had fought in military battles from at least the age of fourteen. He lived to be 102 years, 10 months, and 12 days old, and his demeanor never mellowed. His curmudgeonly attitude was likely fueled by the sorrows and hardships he had experienced in his long life. We can put on our psychiatrist hats and say maybe he was covering up the pain. Or maybe he was a quintessential curmudgeon?
It is hard to actually know if these folks were truly curmudgeons or not, as we only have a part of the story. They all had hard lives, so I do apologize to them if they were not curmudgeonly just for the sake of curmudgeon-ness.
So, who will you honor today on “Curmudgeon Day”??
The “remainder biscuit after voyage” refers to the saltwater-soaked, then dried out, wormy biscuits that are all that is left for sailors and travelers to eat at the end of a very long voyage on board ship.
Jon Winokur wrote The Portable Curmudgeon and a variety of sequels which are just delightful if you enjoy this genre of humor and quotations.
History of Licking County, O., Its Past and Present: Containing a Condensed, Comprehensive History of Ohio, Including an Outline History of the Northwest, a Complete History of Licking County … a History of Its Soldiers in the Late War … Biographies and Histories of Pioneer Families, Etc., compiled by N. N. Hill, A. A. Graham & Co., 1881 may be found at https://books.google.com/books?id=_Xw8AAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false. Jonathan Benjamin bio on p. 602.
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We would love to read your thoughts and comments about this post (see form below), 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.
Original content copyright 2013-2015 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and pmm.
Family history is meant to be shared, but the original content of this site may NOT be used for any commercial purposes unless explicit written permission is received from both the blog owner and author. Blogs or websites with ads and/or any income-generating components are included under “commercial purposes,” as are the large genealogy database websites. Sites that republish original HeritageRamblings.net content as their own are in violation of copyright as well, and use of full content is not permitted.Descendants and researchers MAY download images and posts to share with their families, and use the information on their family trees or in family history books with a small number of reprints. Please make sure to credit and cite the information properly.Please contact us if you have any questions about copyright of our blog material.
