Dapper Days of Yore

Looks like we're back in business and I'm able to post photos once again (for free)!  Thanks everyone.

Today I'm featuring a photo of my great-grandfather, E.S. Goodner.  He is always well dressed in every photo I have of him, but particularly so in this one.  I can't tell what I enjoy more, the straw hat or the prices in the grocery store!

Dick Maas in a Sailor Suit

Today, I'm featuring a very early and prescient photo of my grandfather, Dick Maas, in a sailor suit.  He would later become a career officer in the United States Navy.

A later-in-life photo may be viewed HERE.

Uncle Clarence in a $1,500 Chalmers-Detroit

Today, I'm featuring an unwritten and unmailed post card from the collection of my great-grandmother.  Her older brother, Clarence Burrows, is again in a vintage automobile, this time it's a Chalmers-Detroit.  Chalmers, although out of business by the mid-1920s, was a pioneer in advertising, creating a campaign around the relatively inexpensive (for the time) price of their $1,500 car (about $36,000 in today's money adjusted for inflation).  Their 1908 slogan, which ran for several years, was, "This astounding car for $1,500."

E.S. Goodner and Wycliffe Bible Translators

E.S. Goodner

As I mentioned in an earlier post, it's Missions Week at our church.  It's always nice to hear from missionaries around the world.  Some of the missionaries I enjoy hearing from the most are from an organization called Wycliffe Bible Translators.  The goal of Wycliffe is to translate the Bible into every language on the planet.  Oftentimes this necessitates Wycliffe translators to create a written form for the language for the first time in history.  Bible translation and literacy go hand-in-hand and in many remote areas on our planet and in addition to bringing the gospel message, literacy allows people to improve their lives in other areas (such as improved agriculture and sanitation acquired through reading).

Literacy class in Chad

Today, there are over 6,800 languages in the world today.  Since 1942, Wycliffe has produced Bibles for the first time for about 700 of those languages and they are currently in active translation work in about 1,500 additional languages.  UNESCO estimates that there are about 750 million non-literate people living today and about two-thirds of those are women.

Language surveyor at work in Papua New Guinea

My great-grandfather, Ed Goodner, was on the Wycliffe Board of Directors from its founding in 1942 until his death in 1957.  My great-grandfather, known for his keen sense of humor, often journeyed abroad with other Wycliffe members to lay the groundwork for translation work in those countries.  Dawson Trotman (founder of another organization called the Navigators), often accompanied the Wycliffe people abroad.

I'll repeat a couple anecdotes about my great-grandfather from a book about Trotman called, Lengthened Cords, by Ethel Wallis:

     Daws was accompanied on his trips to Mexico by other Wycliffe board members, William Nyman, Dr. John Hubbard, and Ed Goodner.  The later was the object of most of Daws' jokes.  Ed, according to Daws, presumed to be able to manage fairly well in Spanish, so the other non-Spanish-speaking board members left the bargaining for taxi fares to him.  Ed had been instructed that a fair rate for a given distance was dos (two) pesos, and he developed a fixation for that amount.  When a certain taxi-driver came out with "uno cincuenta" (a peso and a half) in answer to "How much?" Ed Goodner stuck to his guns – "dos pesos."  After some argument, the taxi-driver gave up and accepted two pesos for a peso-and-a-half ride.  Ed Goodner's reputation asa  linguist suffered appreciably at that point thanks to Daws.

     Another time Ed Goodner saw a group of Mexican people all dressed up and walking down the street.

     "This must be a Mexican holiday," he said.  "I think I'll just step over and ask them what day it is."

     As he returned to the other board members he said, "Yep, just as I thought–it's a big holiday.  Today is Jueves."  Upon discovering that "Jueves" meant "Thursday," Daws had all that he needed for jokes on Ed Goodner for several conferences to come.  When I last saw Daws at our Wycliffe conference in September, 1955, he was still teasing Ed Goodner, privately and publicly, about his dos-pesos-Jueves brand of Spanish.

Curiously enough given his rudimentary foreign language skills, Ed Goodner's youngest daughter, Jane Goodner Nellis, spent her life working with Zapotec Indians in Oaxaca, Mexico, and was known for her work in the Zapotec tongue.

Extended Goodner family

Standing, back row: Jane Goodner Nellis and Neil Nellis

Seated, middle row:  Ed Goodner holding my father, Don Maas, and Mary Grow Goodner

Seated, front row:  brothers Dave Maas and Richard Maas

Maas Brothers' Snowman

I'll be moving past the family photo series, but one last parting photo today of the Maas brothers making a snowman.  My father is standing on the left, Dave is in the middle, Rich is on the right, and Bob is at the bottom left.

Dick Maas

This past weekend, I was attending backpack training with the Boy Scouts in San Pedro, California.  The Boy Scouts have a nice facility right on the harbor with campsites right by the ocean.  I know it sounds romantic to camp right by the beach, but for me, I'd still prefer to be inland a little.  The waves are rather noisy and being near the harbor there were fog horns going off all night.

I was surprised to see that they had moved the USS Lane Victory, a WWII era Victory Ship, to a new position right across from my campsite.  My grandfather, Dick Maas, was a naval officer during WWII and Korea, so couldn't help but think of him.

Today, I'm featuring a photo of my grandfather from World War II, when he served aboard the USS Boxer.

Crown Point Elementary School, San Diego, 1952

My father's third grade class at Crown Point Elementary School in San Diego, California, 1952 – Teacher:  Mrs. Chamness.

I count forty kids and one teacher!  Cute how a third of the boys are wearing their Cub Scout uniforms for their class photo.  My dad is the bottom left Scout.

Happy Valentine's Day

Today is Valentine's Day, so I'm featuring a very sweet photo of my grandparents asleep on a blanket.  This photo is precious to me for a number of reasons.  Perhaps if you look closely you may notice that they're probably not really sleeping, my grandmother has a curious smile on her face.  You may also notice that they're not really even in the same photo - Marymac cut out a photo of herself in a similar pose and pasted it next to my grandfather.  She was famous for this.  I can remember a number of pictures where she would cut people out or paste people in to make the perfect photo.

My grandparents were very much in love.  I remember my Aunt Marguerite (actually my great-aunt) talking about them.  Dick and Marymac were high school sweethearts, but Dick was a couple years younger than she was.  Marymac's father had a rule that the sisters could socialize with boys on the porch swing out in front of the house.  Marymac had several boys interested in her, so there was a rule that the first guy who came by after school was the one who could stay.  Dick was a couple years younger than Marymac, so the older guys with cars would sometimes beat Dick to the Goodner home.

Aunt Marguerite said that Dick would always look so dejected if he couldn't run there quick enough, so sometimes Marguerite would hang out and talk to him until the other guy left and her younger sister was free to talk to him.

One other sweet item of mention is that after they were married on October 23, 1936, my grandfather instituted a practice of celebrating what he called Monthiversaries.  On the 23rd of every month, he would get some kind of small gift or present for his wife.  Even when he was away at sea during World War II and Korea, he would send money and instructions for his father-in-law to deliver a note with flowers or some such thing for his beloved.

The glue on the photo has now gotten old and the two in the photo are not connected, but below you can see how my grandmother invented Photoshop.

So don't be bashful, take a cue from Dick and Marymac and let those you love know today!

Ready to Ride

While looking for a picture of my grandmother for yesterday's post, I stumbled across several other cute family photos.  Here's one of my dad with his brothers from 1956.  From front to back (and from youngest to oldest):  Bob, Don, Richard, and Dave.  Don is my dad.

Uncle Clarence in an Reo Roadster

Today, I'm featuring an unwritten and unmailed post card from the collection of my great-grandmother.  Her older brother, Clarence Burrows, is at the wheel of a Reo automobile (I'm no expert, but I'd guess about a 1914 Rio the Fifth roadster).  Clarence must have liked cars, I've come across several photos like this one.

Unknown Tintype 4

Today's image is the last of the four unknown tintypes I found in my late Uncle Jim's photo collection.  The previous ones being found HERE, HERE, and HERE.  I still believe they are family, but I'm unsure who they may be.

Unknown Tintype 3

Today's image is the third of four unknown tintypes.  The previous ones being found HERE and HERE.  I haven't given up trying to identify the people from these images yet, but it sure makes me reflect upon how I've labeled my own photos for future generations.

Jacob C. Grow

Today I'm featuring a photo of my great-great-grandfather, Jacob C. Grow.  He was born February 5, 1844, in Carrollton, Georgia (west of Atlanta, near the Alabama border), to Paschal Paoli Grow and Elmyra Wolcott Grow.  Carrollton was at that time a pioneer town and Jacob's parents had arrived a few years earlier, coming from Hartland, Vermont, in a Jersey Wagon to be the teachers at the first school.

When the Civil War broke out, Jacob's older brother immediately volunteered for the 8th Georgia Infantry and participated at the First Battle of Manassas but succumbed to typhoid fever in September of 1861.  Jacob and his younger brother, Lewis, were about to join when their father died, so after things were in order they both brought their horses to enlist the 7th Confederate Cavalry in the middle of 1862.  Lewis died at Petersburg in 1864, but Jacob was with General Johnston at the surrender of the Confederate Army.

Jacob returned to Carrollton, Georgia, and decided to become a minister.  He enrolled in Columbia Seminary and while a student, he met Margaret Scott from Sumter, South Carolina.  He graduated from seminary and they wed in 1873.  He went on to pastor Presbyterian churches (typically in rural and frontier areas).  His first pastorate was in what is now Lake City, Florida.  Form there he pastored churches in Jefferson County, Georgia, and then in 1887, out in Texas (Sulphur Springs, Llano, Burnet, Comanche, Dublin, and Hamilton).  He actually worked as a traveling minister often preaching in multiple churches each Sunday and riding between the congregations.  Working in poorer areas, he was often paid in chickens or other small livestock.

Jacob and Maggie had five children.  There was Paoli, Mary, Will, Elmira, and Marguerite.  Paoli became a Baptist minister.  Mary was my great-grandmother.  Will remained single and worked in the oil industry.  Elmira died at age seven in 1891.  I've seen several drawings that Elmira made for her father which he saved.  Marguerite was a surprise child, born in 1892, nine years after the last one.  Marguerite remained single and became a Latin teacher at the Hockaday Girls School in Dallas.

Jacob died in 1903 at age 59 and he's buried in Gainesville, Texas.

A few years ago, I discovered a letter written from Jacob's cousin to his now widowed wife. I'll copy it below:

          Valdosta, Ga.  Dec 26th 1903.

Mrs. J. C. Grow

     Gainesville, Texas.

Poor Stricken Soul:-

          I have just learned of the death of your husband & My Cousin, & I assure you it was a very severe shock to me.  When I met him in Fort Worth, Texas, at the reunion held at Dallas, Texas, he seemed in the best of health & spirits and I was wholly unprepared for the sad intelligence.

   He served under me three years in N. Carolina & Virginia & was absolutely fearless in the discharge of any duty assigned him.  He enlisted at Carrollton, Ga. June 16th 1862 and remained with his company until the close of the war in April 1865 - when we came back to Carrollton together.

   If I remember correctly, you & he were married in Florida, while he was in charge of the Presbyterian Church at Lake City, and another church near there.

   May he who tempers the wind to the shorn Lamb bind up your wounds & help you to

   “So live, that when the summons comes

   To join the innumerable caravan that moves

   To the silent halls of death.

   That you may go x x x

   Like the one who wraps the drapery of her

   Couch about her & lies down to pleasant

      dreams”

If you feel so disposed I would be glad to recieve the particulars of Cousin Jacob’s death.

   May God bless & comfort you is the prayer of Jacob’s Cousin

          Sanford T. Kingsbery

Unknown Tintype 2

Thank you all for your input on the previous unknown tintype.  This is the kind of mystery that I find so fascinating when going through old photos – how to recognize people from the past whom you've never seen and do not know?  When my uncle Jim died, pretty much every family photo he possessed came my way.  I'm just now starting to sort through the box of family photos he owned.  There were actually a few tintypes, all about the same size, right together, which has lead me to believe that they may have come from the same family.  Unfortunately, I immediately recognized none of them.  I can with confidence say they didn't come from my grandfather's side of the family since he left home young and didn't even have a picture of his own parents.  I can also say they aren't my grandmother's maternal side as I already have other photos and it doesn't look like any of them, so I'm pretty sure these photos are from my grandmother's paternal side.  The question is where do these people fit?  Here's another of the tintypes.

Part of my problem is that tintypes were in use for such a long period of time here in the United States (approximately the middle 1850s to about 1900).  I have a few guesses as to who these people are, but I think my best guess right now is that the older one is Adella or a close relative.  That would make the two in this photo some combination of Alice Livonia Benton (1871-1896), Delia F. Benton (1878-abt 1900), or Nellie May Benton (1886-1931).  The trouble is that they may be cousins or some such thing and then this whole scenario is off a bit.  I wish I was better and identifying fashions in time.  I can give a general range, but what do you think of the two in this picture.  If someone is an expert at guessing time based on dress, I'd appreciate your guess.

Adella Mariah Fowler

This is a photo of my Great-great-grandmother Adella Mariah Fowler.  She was born in Livonia, New York, in 1845.  She married my Great-great-grandfather William R. Benton in 1866, after he returned from the Civil War.  In 1871, they started a homestead near Blaine, Kansas, where they raised six children:  Allie, Frank, Flora, Delia, Will, and Nellie.  Eventually, William's failing health (on account of disease from the war) caused them to sell their farm and take up residence in Oakland, Kansas (a suburb of Topeka).  William died in 1894, but the now widowed Della, continued to raise her children until a trip to care for her flu-stricken in-laws in Cummings, Kansas.  It was here that she contracted and succumbed to the illness herself while caring for others.  She died in 1899, leaving the youngest two children, Will and Nellie, to be raised by her sisters in Wichita.

I only have two known photos of Della.  This one that was taken when she was young but married and another one which I had previously posted here.  What do you think, is this the same woman in the photo from yesterday?

Not only on this blog, but also on my Facebook account, linked to this blog, people commented that I should run these images through some photo recognition software.  Unfortunately, the two known photos of Della are taken straight on and the one I don't know from yesterday has her heard turned to the side.  Additionally, other identifying features, like her ears, are pretty hard to determine from the two known photos.  She parts her hair in the center, but many women at this time did.

I'd welcome your opinions if anyone has them.

Unknown Tintype

Today, I'm featuring a tintype I found in a pile of family photos my Uncle Jim had when he died.  I do not have a positive identification on her yet, but I think she may be Della Mariah Fowler Benton (1845-1899), my great-great-grandmother.  If it is her, it would be the first older photo I've seen of her.  She died in 1899 of the flu, contracted when she went to care for the family of her sister-in-law near Cummings, Kansas.

Cocaine Fiends (or The Pace that Kills)

A few days ago, I was taking my kids to the library and while they were looking for books, I took a quick browse through the video section.  As I was scanning the new titles, one caught my eye.  It was a compilation of three films from the 1930s:  Reefer Madness, Cocaine Fiends, and Sex Madness.  These were cautionary tale B Movies, mostly forgotten, but I guess now developing "cult classic" status.

When I was a child, my grandparents lived in the Toluca Lake area of North Hollywood about a block away from Bob Hope and a bunch of other stars.  I once jokingly asked my grandmother (the one in the skiing picture from yesterday's post) if she had ever wanted to be in the pictures and I was surprised by her reply.  She told me that my Uncle Dean (actually great-uncle), her older brother, was a B Movie actor when he was younger.  As surprising as this was to me, she said that one day she was on a movie lot with him and when he was away, some fellow was looking for additional people for a scene.  He turned to her and said, "Hey, you'll do just fine, come with me and we'll put you in this picture."  They were about to film when Dean spotted her and said, "Say, that's my little sister, you can't use her, go get someone else." So she was pulled off and some other girl put in her place.  She told me she resented her older brother for quite some time as she imagined that her appearance would have been her big break.

Dean did several more films in the 1930s and was a bit actor through the mid-1940s.  A few years ago, I searched his name on the Internet Movie Database and I was surprised to find that he was one of the lead parts in a movie called the Cocaine Fiends.

I haven't really hunted for the movie, but the title certainly is memorable, so I was quite surprised to see it on the library shelf.

Dean as Eddie Bradford

Dean plays the part of a waiter at a drive-in restaurant.  He is convinced by a co-worker named Fanny to go enjoy a night with her in the big city.  Unfortunately, the allurements of the city life are too much and Eddie and Fanny become unemployed dope addicts.  Fanny eventually ends up pregnant and walking the streets looking for money.

Eddie and Fanny enjoying a night on the town

Can't say I recommend the movie, but it was fun seeing a youthful Uncle Dean.

[Dean Benton was the third son of Jessie Burrows Benton (from the post card collection)].

Enid Benton

Today, I'm featuring a photo of my grandmother, Enid Benton.  I don't recall hearing much about her skiing ability, but she certainly looks stylish.

Jessie Burrows

Today, I'm featuring a photo of my great-grandmother, Jessie Burrows.  I just realized that I had completely forgotten to post a picture of the person with all the post cards.  Jessie was born in 1887, the youngest of four children, to Charles and Erie Burrows.  Her father was an early Police Chief of Wichita, Kansas.  She attended Friends University and taught at Stella Friends Academy in Cherokee, Oklahoma, a frontier school.  In 1909, she married my great-grandfather, Will Benton, a boy who lived down the street back in Wichita.  They first moved to Florida and for a time ran a celery farm, but a transportation failure one year caused them to return to Kansas and then eventually make their way out to California.  Eventually they settled in Laguna Beach, California, and ran a diner called Benton's Coffee Shop, down by the ocean.  Jessie Benton was particularly known for her good pies.  Jessie and Will raised five children together, but her life was cut short when she was killed by a drunk driver in 1960.

Ebenezer Benton

Today, I'm featuring a photo of my Great-great-great-grandfather, Ebenezer Benton.  He was born January 6, 1800, in Livonia, New York.  His father died when he was only three and when he was a young boy, he was sent to live with his aunt in Litchfield, Connecticut.  He married Lovinia Freeman in 1824 and they lived in Franklinville, Hemlock Lake, and later in Andover – all in New York State.  In August of 1859, Ebenezer fell from a load of hay and so severely injured his neck and back, he was nearly invalid for the rest of his life.

Ebenezer and Lovinia had four boys and six daughters, however the Civil War was particularly hard on them, losing two of their boys to the war.  The youngest son died at Deatonsville Road, April 8, 1865, the day before Lee surrendered.  The parents later received a pension from the government for the loss of their son.  Ebenezer died, September 16, 1880, and is buried in Livonia.