Another Remarkable Yearbook Find

I actually discover this a few months back and posted about it on FaceBook but didn't blog about it. It's one of the coolest genealogy finds I've had in recent days. On May 6, 2022, I came across another beautiful yearbook entry in Ancestry's online  yearbook collection. 

It was in my paternal grandmother's high school yearbook. There were many pictures of my grandma, Clare Henry-Earle, in there but here is her portrait. Oh that's not the cool part, though. I had seen this photo before.

She was very active in high school. She was in a sorority, student council, performed in a play, and played the flute in the marching band. You can't see her in the band photo below though.

She is little, under 5'. At her full height I think she hit 4'9". At 93 years old today she has shrunk some since high school; which, if you ask me is criminal. If my 4'9" Nanny has to lose any inches, you 6' folks out there should have to lose a foot, at least, but I digress. As she played the flute, so she's somewhere in the middle of a band photo where flute players assemble. Oh but the band wasn't really the cool part either. This was...

...she signed this yearbook!! 

"Best of luck to a swell kid. Love, Clare"

Which ever classmate's yearbook Ancestry got a hold of and digitized, my grandmother signed it. That is unmistakably my Grandma Clare's handwriting! Very cool.

Cranky at Questions

I'm cranky. Tis the season I suppose. Just through the holidays, still in the depths of the cold and dark winter, illness around me. 

I just haven't felt well for months now. First a battle with an adjustment in meds, just getting that worked out and now I have COVID. Oh, I'm fine. Thank God for vaccines. I'm double boosted which is what I attribute my mild case to. Honestly, I've gone to work much sicker than this back in November when I had, what I think was a sinus infection and that too high dose of medication. I'm a little underwhelmed really. This is COVID? I feel worse with seasonal allergies. You mean everyone doesn't feel like this September through May? I'm lucky.

In any case, I'm finding myself extremely annoyed by some of the genealogy groups I follow on Facebook so much so that I have nearly dropped them all.

With not much else to do in my room, I'm spending a lot of time reading and scrolling through social media. Just bored.

There are some things that novice genealogy researchers are asking that just grate on me. I know they are new and learning. 

I know, I know, I'm a librarian. I'm supposed to be all wide-eyed and bushy tailed waiting with baited breath for your very personal question, all too eager and delighted to direct you to what - the stapler? Like Julie Andrews twirling on some mountain top of information or a bespectacled Snow White with little woodland creatures gathering about me ready to flit off at my startling notice of you. "Oh, why, yes. How can I help you?" 

My New Yorker comes barreling out, "Yeah, over there with the pencil sharpener. Open your eyes, buddy." 

I'm cranky but also despite what your grade school teachers told you, there are dumb questions. 

I know, I know. I'm an educator gearing up for another summer course. And I know that if you're new at something and you don't ask, you'll never learn. That's what you think, right? But actually that's not true. You don't have to ask to learn. You can read. Oh yes you can. You can read to learn. I do it all the time. Day 4 of my quarantine. 9 books into my to-be-read pile. Reading teaches you tons of shit!

Like....

No. You're not going to find your 7th great grandfather's birth certificate from the 1720s. New York State didn't issue certificates until 1881. Look it up.

And No filing a FOIL request won't change that. (Jesus, save them.)

No. You can't edit the way your family's race is recorded in the 1860 census. You're not an enumerator and this is not 1860. Enumerator? Look it up.

No. Your parents aren't related just because you have a single 10 centimorgan match to some random dude in the middle of Great Britain that Ancestry says matches parent 1 and parent 2.

Ugh, God, no. Parent 1 isn't always the farther.

Oh the DNA questions. People, read.

No. You're not adopted just because your ethnicity estimate says you are 24% Welsh and your sister is 2% Welsh. She matches you right? Estimate? Look it up.

And some of these Facebook group admins. I've left a few groups because the admins shut down posts just because the author asked a question barely outside the parameters of the groups intent. But oh..oh...why don't they turn off comments for the post that already has 500,000 replies all saying the exact same thing.

Yeah, I'm cranky.

I’d Like to Meet...

In 2022 I participated in Amy Johnson Crow's 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge, and I am quite proud to say, I accomplished it! I blogged every week, writing to a majority of the themes she put forth. This year, I commit to writing at least once a month and I may at times use her prompts to stimulate and inspire my blogging. I would however, also like to commit some time to making more discoveries in my personal genealogy research. Writing takes time. Search takes time too.

The 52 Ancestors Challenge theme for this week, though, is "I'd Like to Meet..."

Pondering the past tense of that theme, I would have liked to have met my maternal grandmother, Marilyn Irene Fay-Gardner (August 28, 1930 - June 5, 1972). She passed away so very young, at the age of 41, the year before I was born. I had all three of my other grandparents until my Grandpa Earle died in 2000, shortly after my 26th birthday. Grandpa Gardner passed in 2004. Grandma Earle will be 94 in February. Sadly she no longer recognizes her family due to the ravages of Alzheimer's disease but she's otherwise hangin' in there. So I knew my grandparents. I can tell you a lot about each of them, well, except Grandma Gardner who no one, not my grandpa, not her children, no one spoke about. 

Prompted to want to know more about my Grandma Gardner and having tapped out the resources on Ancestry.com, I went looking in other databases, namely MyHeritage. My subscription runs out there in February so while I have it and the time off from work during this holiday week, I went looking. 

I think I have found my grandma's high school yearbook photo. I'm not sure. I've only seen 2 other images of her. Once a long time ago when I was a kid my mother showed me a photo of her mom. I want to say it was taken at a baby shower. Marilyn, or Lynne, as everyone called her, did have a bunch of babies so I'm not sure when it was taken and I don't have the image to refer back to as, sadly, I am estranged from my mother. The other image I have of Lynne was from about 1950 from an unidentified newspaper announcement of her engagement to my Grandpa. It's terribly unclear, graining like most newspaper photos.

The new image I found is from the 1948 yearbook at Newtown High School in Elmhurst, Queens, New York. The name, year, and location fit. I think it's her.

The day I found the image I sent it to all my siblings as well as the two cousins with whom I have any contact information. Being the eldest grandchild I didn't think any of them would be able to identify the grandmother we never knew but I thought they'd appreciate having it. I showed my father, who knew Lynne. Not only was she hid mother-in-law, he grew up next door to her. He was not confident that it was her though. She died 50 years ago and this high school yearbook photo was taken long before he knew her so I understand his reluctant to confidently identify her. I showed his brother, my Uncle Allen, and he too was unsure. I know my mother would recognize her, but again, I have no contact with her nor do I have contact with either of her sisters. Well, one I could email I guess but she was only 2 when her mother passed. Hmm. Anyway - - -

The following day it dawned on me that I should look in that same school's yearbooks for Lynne's sisters; one of them I knew. When I was in my teens, every summer I would go to Florida and spend a month with my grandfather and he would always make sure I spent a day with his sister-in-law, my Great Aunt Ann. I could probably count on my fingers how many times I saw Ann in my life, however, I am 100% sure this is Aunt Ann's yearbook photo from Newtown High School, 1938. 

The discovering of Ann in the the same school's yearbook at the right time period, I am not confident that this is a picture of my grandma Lynne.

Hi grandma.

52 Ancestors Challenge Week 52: "Looking Ahead" - Will I do this Challenge Again?

This weekly blogging challenge was an excellent exercise. I am glad I did it. It increased my readership, made me examine some records more closely, and helped me to discover more details about the history my ancestors lived through.

Honestly it was a big time commitment though, and I don't know if I will have the stamina to accomplish it every week for the coming year - I mean, I do have a full-time job and several part-time gigs. A girl has to sleep sometime. 

I would like to commit to continuing to write more, though. That is, after all, why I started a blog in the first place. Typically I just write when a random discovery is made AND if I have the time to write. Those two factors don't often intersect and it does take time to just make discoveries. Prior to accepting this challenge my posts were infrequent, at best. Thus, I'd like to set some attainable goal. 

So, I am committing to doing this challenge again in 2023 but as a monthly activity, making additional entries when and if time permits or discoveries arise. 

Thank you, Amy Crow Johnson for the inspiration.

I wish you all a 2023 riddled with family history dirt.

52 Ancestors Challenge Week 51: "Perseverance" - Great-great Grandma Annette Hinch-Henry Survives Strife and Helped Others to do the Same

The word "perseverance" brings to mind my great-great grandmother, Annette "Anne" Hinch-Henry (February 22, 1868 - March 2, 1952). In fact, I feel like Anne's life would make for a good movie and I know exactly who I would have play her... Can you guess who?

...Julia Roberts! I think she looks a lot like her. I didn't get those genes.

Anne was born in Barnamelia, by Knockanna, Co. Wicklow, Ireland in 1868. As far as I can tell her mother, Jane Kavanaugh-Hinch died in about 1875 leaving 6 children ranging in age from about 10 to 2. I have not been able to find a death record for Jane in any Irish registers. In fact, many of the details I have about the Hinch family are vague at best. 

For instance, I don't know when Anne came to the U.S. from Ireland. Various census records note her arrival in 1886, 1887, and possibly 1890. I did find a record for a Jas Hinch or Hench arriving on June 6, 1885 aboard the H.M.S. City of Chester with 2 daughters, Anne 22 and Sarah age 20. Now her father James Hinch did have 2 daughters, Anne and her younger sister, Sarah, but the ages are off a bit, not that that ever matters. I do think that 1885 arrival date is correct though. It is said she came to NY from Ireland with her widowed father after the death of her younger brother; that could be them. As if the loss of her mother and a younger sibling weren't enough tragedy, her father James dies in the City of New York on January 29, 1886, not long after their arrival in the U.S. I can only assume that her paternal uncle, Charles Hinch, assumed a role of father figure to Anne.

Nine years later, though, her uncle Charles Hinch dies on January 24, 1895. That same year Anne married to Victor Henry on June 18, 1895, maybe with the hope of finally having some security and a family of her own. The following year she gives birth to their first child, my great grandfather, Charles Aloysius Henry. The couple has six children in all. Only 3 of which survive to adulthood. The 10 years between the birth of her first child and the death of her 6th child, again, seem to me wrought with tragedy:

• March 26, 1896 - Child #1, Charles Aloysius Henry is born
• December 8, 1897 - Child #2, Mary Anne Henry is born
• April 6, 1899 - Mary Anne dies before her 2nd birthday
• November 14, 1899 - Child #3, Jane Veronica Henry is born
• July 10, 1902 - Child #4, Victory Henry is born
• June 24, 1904 - Child #5, James Henry is born
• July 16, 1905 - James dies shortly after his first birthday.
• February 7, 1906 - Child #6, Robert Henry is born
• February 10, 1906 - Robert only lives 3 days.

Oh but it gets worse. 

On June 23, 1907 her husband, Victor Henry, committed a murder-suicide. Being widowed with 3 small children (Charles 11, Jane 7, and Victor 4) would be hard enough but add to that the shame of losing a husband to suicide in a very public display must have been a horrendous weight to bear. To make matters even worse, Victor's victim was Anne's first cousin, her Uncle Charles Hinch's daughter, Mary Ann Hinch-Cassidy. Scandalous articles appear in local papers speculating that Victor was enamored with the Widow Cassidy if not outright having an affair with her. Mary Ann's death also left 3 orphaned children.

Anne had to find someway to financially support herself and her three children. A story shared by my grandmother's cousins was that initially she put her children into an orphanage. Where ever this home for children was, it was located near a beach. Charles, being the oldest child, saw that his siblings weren't being properly fed at this facility, so he would hide food from his lunch in his pockets, take it out to the beach, and bury it. Later, his siblings would retrieve the food so they would have something to eat. Anna learned of this and immediately brought her children home. She took on odd jobs, mostly cleaning for people. At one point she worked at Aquaduct Raceway in Queens cleaning at what is a pretty well know horse racing track. She also took in foster children which I am sure came with some money from the state as it still does today. In several census records I saw children other than her own living with Anne.

In the 1915 NY State Census, Anne had 6 children living with her; the three that we know are her biological children and Joseph (age 3), Frank (age 1), and Antonio (age 1) all listed as with the surname Henry. In the 1920 U.S. Census she had three "foundlings" in her care; George Hula age 4, and twin girls age 2, Marah and Mary Gericie. In 1930, Victor is the only one of Anna's children still living with her but they also had an 8 year-old "boarder" named Edward Reed.

My Great Uncle Bobby told me Edward died of appendicitis while in Anna's care. He recalled that his grandma, Anne, took Eddie to the doctor's office with terrible stomach pain and the doctor dismissed his ailment as an act; that Eddie's was just trying to get out of going to school. Apparently though, he was treated for appendicitis because according to his death certificate, Edward Reed died on December 7, 1937 at the age of 16 at Jamaica Hospital of gangrene following an appendectomy conducted on November 19, 1937. He is buried with Anne at St. John's Cemetery in Queens, NY. Anna signed his death certificate as his guardian and Uncle Bobby recalled Anne was devastated with grief at Eddie's death.

Edward, George, Marah, Mary, Joseph, Frank, and Antonio are just the 7 foster children I know of; I imagine there were many others.

Now burying one child is horrific enough, Anne buried 3 of her own babies and a foster child and goes on to outlive 2 of her own adult children. Both my great grandfather, Charles, and his younger brother Victor predecease their mother. On September 30, 1940, Victor drown at the age of 38, overcome in a storm while fishing with his brother-in-law Clarence Edsall (July 26, 1890 - March 30, 1955). My grandmother recalled the day her Uncle Victor died. She was just 11 when the police arrived at their door in East Hempstead, Long Island, now Uniondale, to inform her father, Charles, that Victor had died. 

My great grandpa, Charles, died on June 14, 1949 at the age of 53 from a rare form of cancer; cancer of the peritoneum. The peritoneum is a thin layer of tissue that lines the abdomen. It is believed he may have developed the cancer because of chemicals he was exposed to while carrying out his profession as a paint manufacturer.

Although I did not know my Great-great Grandmother, I know Anne must have been a strong woman with a gentle heart. She seems to have showered great kindness on the unfortunate, even though she herself was likely viewed as unfortunate. That's a nice legacy to leave behind; to survive strife and help others to do the same.

52 Ancestors Challenge Week 50: "Traditions" - Record Your Personal Traditions

This theme had me a bit stumped and so I reached out to my friends and family via FaceBook to see if they had any ideas about traditions in our family. My Cousin Joan reminded me that I personally have a tradition of taking most of my younger cousins, and a few friends' kids, on road trips when they turned 15 or 16. It's not that I had forgotten about that, its just didn't strike me as a family tradition related to genealogy but it absolutely is! 

Perhaps it didn't dawn on me to write about it because it is not about my ancestors, it's present day, well, maybe not exactly present day. I took my first trip with Cousin Meghan in July of 2003, nearly 20 years ago. These are events, though, that I created and that happened in my own life, not that of my ancestors.

I just recently gave a presentation at the Montauk Library on collecting oral histories from family members. That is a truly critical part of genealogy research because someday each of us will pass away and with us will go all the memories we hold. Whether those histories are recorded in a written or aural manner doesn't matter too much, as long as they are recorded. In a hundred years, or maybe not even all that far off, some descendant or relative will be struggling to label that photo, or be pouring hours into unpuzzling some family mystery that is no mystery to you, or simply be craving the story only you could tell. So recording your own personal history now, in whatever format, will be an important genealogical resource in the future, if it is preserved. So...  Here goes...

Cousin Meghan to Newport, Rhode Island, July 5-7, 2003 

 

Cousin Megan was the first of my cousins to join me for a special 16th birthday road trip. We went to Newport, Rhode Island and toured the great gold coast mansions and their gardens including the Green Animals location pictured above. Meghan and I are second cousins; we have the same great-grandparents in common.

Cousin Andrew to Hopewell, Virginia and Washington, D.C., July 22-25, 2005

Cousin Andrew is my first cousin on my father's side of the family. There is a 15 year age gap between me and Andrew. The same distance as there is between me and his father. 

First we stopped in Hopewell, Virginia to visit the newly issued headstone of our great-great-great uncle, Benjamin Franklin Losee, Civil War soldier. Ben died in Point of Rocks, Virginia of dysentery in one of the hospital tents during his service in the Union Army. For over a century his remains laid under a misspelled headstone. I petitioned the government to get that stone replace, and there it stood. 

After Hopewell, it was off to D.C., a great location to take kids. I'm not the only one to think that as you can tell by so many of our photos from that trip, the Boy Scout agreed with me. We happened to be there the same week as the National Boy Scouts Jamboree. Boy Scouts were everywhere. We toured all the city monuments at night; boy scouts were there. We went to many of the Smithsonian museums; boy scouts were there. We went to the ESPN Zone - boy scouts, the Navy Museum - boy scouts, the International Spy Museum - boy scouts, Arlington National Cemetery to see the changing of the guard - boy scouts. We capped the trip off with a final stop at Mount Vernon, and as I recall, there were boy scouts there too.

Cousin Rachel, Massachusetts, June 30 - July 3, 2006

Cousin Rachel and I are also second cousins; our dads' mothers were sisters. When I say my Cousin Rachel and I went to Massachusetts, I mean we went all over Massachusetts. We started at the Dr. Seuss Memorial in Springfield, MA, followed by the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, MA, then the Emily Dickinson House in Amherst, Sleepy Hollow Cemetery and the Alcott home in Concord, the House of Seven Gables in Salem, and finally the Fisherman's Memorial in Gloucester.

Cousin Zachary, Baltimore, Maryland & D.C., June 22-25, 2007

Rachel & Meghan's brother Zachary was the next to venture out with me on a road trip. I asked each of them where it was that they wanted to go and like the others, Zach left it up to me. I had enjoyed my trip with Andrew to D.C. so much I thought it would be a good spot for Zach and I too. However, I wanted to something a little different so first Cousin Zach and I hit Baltimore's Inner Harbor. 

In Baltimore we saw babe Ruth's Birthplace, looked for Edgar Allen Poe's home, went to Geppi's Entertainment Museum (which no longer exists. It closed in 2018), and the Hard Rock Cafe. 

The remainder of our trip was spent in D.C. doing hop-on, hop-off bus tours and sprinting through Smithsonian Museums.

Cousin Ashlee, Pittsburgh, PA and Cleveland, OH, August 15-18, 2008

Of all the cousins I ever traveled with on one of these jaunts, Cousin Ashlee was the only one who when asked for a destination knew right where she wanted to go; the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. It was a lot further than I had taken any of the other cousins but hell, she had a destination and so we went. 

Our first stop was at the Church Brew Works in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvannia. Yup that's right, I took a kid to a brewery in a former church. That has sort of set the tone for every trip I have ever taken with Cousin Ashlee who is now traveled with me as an adult on at least four other trips. Four? Montreal, Salem, down to New Orleans, and across Canada, well at least from Toronto to Vancouver. Yeah, that's four.

Once we made it to Cleveland we spent a lot of time in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. On the way back home to New York we stopped in Pittsburgh again to see the Andy Warhol Museum and caught a tour at the Frank Lloyd Wright designed Fallingwater in Mill Run, PA.

Cousin Adam, Pennsylvania, July 3-6, 2009

The following year when it was Cousin Adam's turn to travel with me I suggested returning to PA and seeing some of the sights Ashlee and I did not see. After all I didn't want to do the same trip with each kid and I wanted him to see something different than his brother Andrew had seen with me.

Our trip began in Philadelphia. We made stops at Independence Hall, the steps of the Museum of Art made famous by that scene in Rocky, and then Eastern State Penitentiary. 

I had never been to the prison museum before but it is one of my very favorites. I recommend it to everyone who heads to Philly. I have been there several times since. Go if you can.

From Philly we headed west. We went to Gettysburg, Hershey Park, the Antique Auto Museum at Hersey, and the Harley-Davidson Factory in York, PA.

Cousin Vanessa, Cape May, New Jersey & Washington, D.C., August 13-16, 2010

Unlike her sister Ashlee, Cousin Vanessa wasn't sure where she wanted to visit either so, like with many of the other cousins I traveled with I decided to take her to D.C. It has a lot of free sites and museums to explore. If it's free, it's for me. But to mix it up just a little bit for both Vanessa and I, I wanted to add in a location neither of us had ever been to so we could share something the others and I had not. So our first stop was Cape May, New Jersey.

There we did a dolphin cruise which if you ask any of my other traveling cousins will attest to the fact that I am not built for water. That will probably be the only dolphin cruise I ever do.

We did other firsts too, now that I think about it. Cousin Vanessa and I went to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing when we were in D.C. Again, a free experience but we had to be up super early to get online to get tickets for the much coveted tour. No wonder I had never been to it before. Hmm, maybe I was there when I was a girl scout. I can't recall. I know I was there with Vanessa though.

We also visited the Postal Museum, which I had never visited before. We chose that in honor of her Grandpa Stanley who had worked in the U.S. Post Office for a long, long time.

Cousin Elizabeth, Cape Cod, MA and Newport, RI, July 4-7, 2012

Cousin Elizabeth is the youngest of my paternal cousins and so it was kind of meaningful to bring this traveling cousin tradition full circle and take her to Newport, Rhode Island where I had my first cousin birthday trip with Cousin Meghan.

In addition to gold coast mansion tours, we also went out to the very end of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, to Provincetown.

We stopped to eat a sandwich in Sandwich, MA where I snapped this photo that still stares at me in my office.

We also hunted down the headquarters for the famous TAPS team of Ghost Hunters fame in Warwick, RI.

One thing that stands out in my mind from this trip is R. Kelly's song, Feelin' on Yo Booty, stuck on replay. Don't ask. Cousin trips get crazy. The other thing that still makes me giggle is Elizabeth asking me why this statue of a water nymph was holding a corn dog. "A corn dog?!?! That's a cattail plant!" Hmm. Cattails do kind of look like corn dogs. 

 

Like Elizabeth Shown Mills's FAN method, which stands for Friends, Associates, and Neighbors, I've included "like family" kids into my road trip adventures. When researching your family history it isn't just relatives by blood that have details about your ancestors' lives. Those people had contemporaries too who they spent time with and who might have actually known them better than their own family members.

Miss Nicole, Philadelphia, PA, August 22-25, 2015

Miss Nicole is the daughter of my very best friend from my undergraduate days at community college. Her mother and I met in art history class and have been friends every since, nearing 30 years now. Hard to believe.

Nicole had heard of all my road trip adventures with my young cousins so I promised her when she was old enough I would take her on a road trip adventure sans parents. We could do whatever she wanted to do; stay up late, eat crap, flirt with boys, whatever.

She and I headed down to Philadelphia for an excursion much like the one I had with Cousin Adam but much more concentrated on Philly.

We did make a visit to Eastern State Penitentiary. I couldn't help it. I love that place. 

We visited Independence Hall as well and made sure to ring that Liberty Bell. (Ya can't really touch it but you can act like to you're going to.)

 

After gorging ourselves on cheesesteaks, we went to see one of the locations used for the film The Sixth Sense. Set in Philadelphia, the main character, Cole, seeks sanctuary inside this church, St. Augustine's, where he chats with Bruce Willis's character, Dr. Malcom Crowe. Great movie. You have to see it if you haven't. Cole sees dead people!

The furthest we got west of Philly was to Hershey Park. It's not a road trip with a kid if there isn't some excessive regional candy present. This was the first time I got to make my own candy bar at Hersey's.

Master Laszlo, Buffalo, NY & Toronto, Ontario, Canada, June 27-30 2019

Speaking of excessive regional candy...

Nicole's younger brother has traveled with me too. He had a destination in mind, though, which I love and of course had to honor. With his parents permission he was the first and only kid I have taken to a foreign country. Laszlo wanted to go to Toronto! YES! Canada!

I was game. I had never really been there before unless you count sitting in the Toronto airport waiting 45 minutes for a terrible hamburger. Ugh.

 

After a quick stop in Buffalo to have some wings with my Cousin Lisa and her family, Laszlo and I made it to Niagara Falls, Ontario where we experienced every Canadian candy the gift shop had to offer while looking at the falls from our hotel room. Nice view, right?

 

From there we headed up to Toronto for a full day in the city. At his request I stomached my crippling fear of heights and ventured up to the top of the CN Tower. I've actually have done that twice now. Once was enough really.

For the long drive back to NY, we made a stop in Corning, NY - gotta have something to do on the way back - and went to the Corning Glass Museum. I love it there too. Laszlo got to make his own art glass piece which was very cool.

And that is the history of my road trip adventures with teenagers. Maybe I will someday add to this when my nieces turn teens.

Family history is perishable. It disappears as minds soften, memories fade, and loved ones pass away. Preserving a record of the present or somewhat recent past is a truly an important part of family history. Preserve your personal story now for future generations of your family to help know and understand you and the life you led.

52 Ancestors Challenge Week 49: "New Horizons" - Street Name Change

I am an academic librarian at Farmingdale State College, a college of technology in the State University of New York (SUNY) system on Long Island, NY. Back on June 1, 2022, I received a call from the local public library that they received an inquiry regarding the families from whom the State had purchased the property on which to establish our school back in 1912. So I went poking around to discover the names of Richard Smith Mott (April 17, 1851 - June 26, 1916), Ezekiel Ketcham Smith (October 1, 1840 - January 1, 1920) and Judson Floyd Ruland (March 8, 1952 - January 1, 1925).

They weren't the only three landowners but their farms comprised the majority of the land on which our school still exists; the Mott farm was 167 acres, the Smith farm 45 acres, and the Ruland farm 50 acres. The additional land was formerly owned by Molly May Lazarus (17.5 acres), Timothy Terry (14 acres), John C. Merritt (10 acres), Zachariah P. Henderson (4.5 acres), and Mary Seaman (1.38 acres) for a total campus size of about 333 acres to be used as an agricultural school. It should be noted here that most of those former landowners have old Long Island surnames. Lots of nearby towns and roads share those names - towns like Smithtown and Terryville.

Being a public historian with genealogical inclinations, I went looking to learn more about the lives of these individuals that once owned the College's property. Obituaries are always a wealth of information but I did not anticipate what I found. (Transcription beneath the image).

 

Judson Rouland (sic) Buried at Farmingdale

That faithfulness brings forth a just reward was demonstrated at Farmingdale Sunday afternoon, when such a large gathering from all over Nassau County and the western section of Suffolk County assembled to pay their last respects to Klansman Judson Rouland, that it needed four members of the New York State Police to direct traffic at the church and at the Lower Melville Cemetery, where he was finally laid at rest.

Mr. Rouland, who was 72 years of age, died on New Year's morning of apoplexy, after a short illness. Not only was he a faithful Klansman, but he was a member of the Farmingdale Methodist Episcopal Church all his lifetime, and a member of the Executive Board for the past eighteen years, He is survived by a widow, who is his second wife, and several children.

It was decided on Friday to hold a Klan funeral and word was immediately passed along to the Klans for several miles in all directions, with the result that Sunday afternoon over 200 Klansmen, in robes, but not masked, gathered at his home, from Babylon, Lindenhurst, Seaford, Freeport, Roosevelt, Valley Stream, Hempstead, Hicksville, Huntington and Port Washington.

After a short prayer at the house, by the Rev. Fred Wilcox, pastor of the Methodist Church, the remains were removed to the hearse by robed Klansmen, six in number, acting as pall bearers, and the entire Klan delegation, led by the Hempstead Klan, with their color bearer, carrying the American flag, and their cross bearer, escorted their comrade to the Methodist Church where, throughout the entire service, the flag bearer stood at the head of the casket and the cross bearer at the foot. There was also a guard of honor consisting of Dr. William H. Kingston, Exalted Cyclops of the Farmingdale Klan; Paul W. F. Lindner, Exalted Cyclops of the Hempstead Klan, and a third Exalted Cyclops, whose name could not be ascertained.

At the close of the church service, which was also presided over by the Rev. Mr. Wilcox, the Klansmen accompanied the cortage (sic) to the grave at the Lower Melville Cemetery. It was at this place that the most of the Klan ceremonies were held.

As the pallbearers bore their comrade to the grave in the center of the cemetery, taps was sounded by a bugler, and when the casket was lowered a quartet of Klansmen sang "The Old Rugged Cross." At the close of the prayer by the Rev. Mr. Wilcox, a solitary Klansmen stood on guard over his comrade's grave.

He was seen to lean over a miniture (sic) cross that had been placed at the foot of the grave and the next second the blaze flared up, enveloping the entire cross. The guarding Klansman remained like a statue, at Klan attention with arms crossed, until the cross had burned out, when he came to Klan salute and departed.

I was disturbed to say the least. Now Judson Ruland does not appear to have held any leadership positions in the KKK, as did Paul Lindner who was the Cyclops (chapter president) of the Hempstead KKK. A road in the Village of Malverne, NY named after Lindner was recently renamed after a petition was put forth by a group of high school students. There was clearly no shame in proclaiming Judson was a member, though. 

You'll note the misspelling of his surname in the article; Rouland instead of Ruland. I think it is just a typo but I do wonder if it was done intentionally; perhaps to disassociate the individual from his family name. As you will note it does not name his wife or offspring; unusual for an obituary.

There is a road named after Ruland on the boarder between Melville and Farmingdale; an east to west road between Route 110 (also known as Broadhollow Road) and Pinelawn Road that leads to what was once the northeast corner of his property. Judson Ruland purchased the land on May 14, 1888 from Jesse N. Seaman and sold it to the State for the purpose of our College in late 1913; for 25 years Ruland owned 50 acres that he sold to the State 110 years ago. That's all. He is not a historical figure in the annals of our community. He was an ordinary resident who is on the wrong side of our history.

Discovering this, I instantly felt the compulsion to get this history recognized and that street name changed. The values upheld by the Klan do not reflect the values of the present-day community; nor should they have ever in my opinion. That organization teaches hate, pure and simple. 

I believe that doing nothing about what you know to be a disgrace is silently approving. So I wrote a letter to the Town of Huntington asking for the road to be renamed. They listened to me but it turns out it is a county road so now it is a project for Suffolk County to address. They too seem on board with making the change. At present the story has been picked up by several news sources both local and regional; The Long Island Press, News12, Newsday, CBS News, ABC7 New York, radio and other online community outlets. 

For those out there who want to say that what I am doing is erasing our history, and there are several, I don't want to hear it. I have not erased anything. I cannot erase something that you didn't know. The obituary is still right where I found it. I am shining a light on that history; trying to make everyone aware of the existence and history of racial discrimination on Long Island. The Klan doesn't just hate blacks, they hate minorities of all ilk, immigrants, Jews, Catholics, etc. They burned a cross at his grave. Mr. Ruland was not a historical figure. No one knew who the road was named after. Besides, you can count on one hand how many homes are on the road. It is mostly industrial. Just change it. Do better.

That being said, I do have concerns for those who live and work on that road who will hassle with needing to have their addresses updated everywhere but I believe when most of them learn the history behind that name, they too will be happy to see the change. In fact, I have heard from residents who have said as much. 

I do have concerns for descendants of Judson Ruland as well and I started to wonder what their reactions would be to learning this detail about their ancestor if they did not already know. So, again, I went looking. Not with the intention of contacting them but just for the awareness of how many this change might directly impact. Judson Ruland had nine children. Not all of them lived long enough to procreate. Of the seven who lived to adulthood, it seem very few of them had offspring.

When I went looking for his daughter, Jane Belle Ruland, on Ancestry, I was dismayed to find the top user created family tree containing her name was, indeed, my very own tree. No shit! Jane Ruland married into my family.  Her husband's great grandparents - Uriah Smith (about 1785 - before 1829) and Elizabeth Raynor-Smith (1790 - July 20, 1855) - are my 5th great grandparents. I was beyond shocked because here I had been researching this person for months never once considering I'd have any connection to his family.

I was able to confirm Judson Ruland's descendants and I are related through a DNA match. Yes, I have a DNA match to Judson Ruland's great grandchild. It is a small match, 10 centimorgans (cMs), but other known relatives of mine who have also tested their DNA also match that Ruland descendant; my father (42 cMs), my uncle (33 cMs), my sister (21 cMs), 2 of my first cousins (33 cMs & 31 cMs), & a second cousin (22 cMs). It is not "Ruland" DNA, its Raynor-Smith DNA, but they are Judson Ruland's descendants nonetheless and they are my cousins.

Does this change my perspective on renaming that road?

No.

DNA does not cause one to be a racist, of course. Racism is a learned behavior. I mean, sure sometimes you could learn it from your family but it really comes from the environment you are surrounded by; your friends, your associates, your neighbors, etc. 

Were there other klansmen in the neighborhood? 

Of course! 200 hundred of them showed up for the funeral.

But in my 35+ years of doing genealogy research, I have read hundreds, if not thousands of obituaries and I have never seen one like that before.

It is not my desire to bring shame to that family name. It is just time we do better. Judson Ruland owned a farm for 25 years, he sold it nearly 110 years ago, and the road leading to his once farm has held his name for far too long. He's been dead nearly 98 years. He didn't even live on that road or own property on it, it just lead to his farm. Just rename it.

Just do better!

So unless you live on that road, own a business on that road, have the last name Ruland, or are a descendant of Judson himself, expressing your disdain for me voicing my discovery falls on deaf ears here. Express your feelings to the representatives in office. Maybe they can stop what I have put in motion. Rest assured, they won't.