Jan and Pop - Part II

As stated in the last post, Tim and I went and met with Fred and Marge to get another perspective on our grandparents. We were not disappointed. Jan could best be summed up as a homemaker and a homebody. She loved to cook, sew and manage her family. She was not interested in traveling and always wanted to be home by dark. Fred told us that he and Rosemary were frequently the excuse for why Jan needed to leave early. She always cited the need for them to go to bed as the basis for leaving and getting home before dark. Fred joked that she was still using that excuse when he and Rosemary were teenagers.

Everyone knows that Jan had a clear preference for little girls. Fred said that every Tuesday Jan would get on the East End street car, transfer to Rt. 68 on Delta Ave., and climb the steps from Mt. Lookout to their home on Kinmont. He was bored to tears because the day would generally be spent with Jan sewing clothes for Rosemary -- not exactly an exciting time for Fred. He felt even sorrier for his younger brother, Bob, who was seven years younger. He was too young to be included in the travels that he and Pop would undertake and not a girl -- thus missing out on the attentions of his grandmother.

When I told Fred about the difficulty Mary Elizabeth Wainright confronted raising three children in a pre-Social Security era, we all recognized the similarities between Mary Elizabeth's plight and Edith's plight three generations later. The difference was that Edith and her children could at least get Social Security. As Fred said, "I was a Social Security baby and now I'm on Social Security."

Even though they lived in a house that had been purchased outright, Social Security was not enough. Aunt Edith worked at the Mt. Lookout Five and Dime, later called Ben Franklin's. Fred said that Aunt Edith had a teapot she kept in a hutch and that anytime one of the uncles from either side of his family stopped by, $20 would mysteriously be found in that teapot. Aunt Edith never saw anyone put any money in, but would always find it there. Fred said that money in that teapot was food for them.

We shared other stories, like the time Tim walked with Pop down to the Fisher's, the small neighborhood grocery where for the first time he saw can goods priced at 13 1/2 cents in an effort to make you buy two of everything. Fred told of being sent down the street to the neighborhood saloon as a child to bring back a pale of beer for his Dad and Pop. He better have not spilled any on the way back. (It was a common practice to send kids to get beer on both sides of the river at that time. I've been told the same stories by the Hellmanns in Covington. It amazes me in light of the 21st Century laws that kids were frequently sent to pick up beer and cigarettes for their parents).

Pop was ready to go anywhere at anytime. Fred said he was good friends with the Rhodes, the funeral home directors in Mt. Lookout, and that they would ask him if he wanted to ride along if they got a call to pick up a body in Indiana or other locations. Pop was happy to go.

Fred told us of frequently being called in the middle of the night because Jan would get up to go to the bathroom and fall. Pop could not get her up alone and Fred was called upon to assist. As someone who has experienced the debilitating effects of arthritis and had knee and hip replacements, I cannot imagine the pain and suffering that both of them experienced just trying to get around.

Patty told me the story of the time that she and Tom placed Pop on the back of a motor cycle with a helmet on and took his picture. They did it just to aggravate Aunt Edith (Sis) with whom he was living. At the time, everyone knew that he was nearly blind with macular degeneration. Patty said she was visiting him at one time and she got all teary as she observed him holding that picture to the side and trying to get it within his limited field of vision.

She also said his favorite flavor of ice cream was butter pecan. It must be in the genes because it is my favorite flavor, too.

One final comment -- Fred was well-known for handing out silver dollars. My brother, Tom, is his Godson and frequent recipient. Tim was always jealous. On Fred's 70th birthday, celebrated at General Butler State Park in Kentucky, Fred gave everyone in attendance a silver dollar. Tim took his home and framed it. When we met with Fred and Marge and Tim brought up that story, Fred said he's now into two dollar bills. The picture in the previous post is of Tim holding his two dollar bill. Fred suggested Tim pass it on to his grandson, Will, and when Tim said he was keeping it, Fred gave him a second one to give to Will. It was great fun starting a new tradition.

Jan and Pop - Part I

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I felt like I had to go speak to an "older" cousin to learn what he could recall about Jan and Pop. My brother, Tim and I, went to a Panera near Miamisburg to meet with the "resident historian", Fred Breving and his wife, Marge. We spent two hours trading stories and it wasn't nearly enough time. For one thing, I wanted to share some of the things I had collected with Fred and Marge and that left little time for us to hear Fred's stories and compare our recollections of "the facts."

Fred lost his own father, Fritz, to illness. Fred was only 12 years old at the time. His father worked with lead as a typesetter. I looked up the death certificate and it said that Fritz died of a brain abscess due to bronchiectasis. Fritz was 11 years older than his wife, Edith, who became a widow at the age of 36 with three young children. Fritz (Frederick) Breving was a German who believed in paying cash for everything and bought their home on Kinmont outright.

The first thing I learned about Pop was that he really enjoyed looking at the ladies. Apparently, even when he was losing his vision to macular degeneration, he'd suggest to a granddaughter that she move within his field of vision so he could check her out.

Pop loved to travel. Jan loved to stay at home. Fred said Pop would call him up and tell him they were going on a trip. It was not a request. He remembers being 14 years old when Pop wanted to go visit Harley (his cousin) in Buffalo. Once they got away from the city, Pop would turn the driving over to Fred saying you've had practice pulling cars in and out of your Uncle Clarence's car repair shop -- you can handle it. Pop would sleep while Fred felt like the king of the world.

He said they usually slept in the car, bought a hamburger a day at a truck stop, and otherwise ate junk. Every Sunday they would go for a ride or Pop would buy a Sunday pass for the street car for Fred and they would ride into town and take the incline up to Mt. Adams.

Pop had a sister, Edith Hodges, who relocated from farm to farm never paying the rent. They would work the farm until they were asked to move on. Fred and Pop visited the Hodges on several different homesteads over the years and Pop remained very loyal to his sister. Apparently, Margaret Ann, was told that she was really one of the Hodges because she couldn't stay put.

Fred said that Pop absolutely loved his job and that the "car barn" was Pop's second home. When Fred would come and meet Pop at the car barn, he said that not only the mechanics, but all of the drivers knew and respected Pop. The drivers would want to let Fred on the bus for nothing, but Pop insisted that Fred put his fare in the box.

When Fred was about seven years old, there was a summer when both of his parents were in the hospital. Fred had to live at 2424 Eastern Ave. for the entire summer and the beginning of the school year. Sleeping in that house was quite difficult. There were no interstates and trucks were banned from Columbia Parkway. Not only did you have trucks and traffic along Eastern Ave., but also frequent trains on tracks up the hill from the house in the rear. In addition, there was the sound of boat traffic on the river. Fred was attending school at Christ the King in Mt. Lookout. Every morning Jan would put him on the streetcar and he would have to transfer to travel up Delta Ave. to get to school. That kind of independence for a young child would be unthinkable now.

When Fred got his first car, it must have been quite a clunker. He said it had a cracked engine block and that he, his mother, Rosemary and Bob took the car on a trip to Natural Bridge State Park. It was a '41 Chevrolet and he had to bring a lot of water to keep the engine functioning. He worked at his Uncle's car repair shop and saved the oil they drained from customer's cars to replace the oil in his own. It was a big deal and the only car in the family.

Pop suffered from arthritis and Fred said when he would first get up from a chair, you never knew which way he was going to go. Once he got moving, though, he moved everywhere fast.

When Jan died, Pop sold his house and moved in with the Brevings. Despite Edith's best efforts, Pop would not give up chewing tobacco. Around his favorite chair, Edith had to cover everything in plastic because he didn't always make the spitoon -- made all the more difficult since he had difficulty seeing.

Jan was another story -- one I'll discuss in Part II of this posting.

Religion vs. Faith

At this point in my family history, I feel that I must discuss this topic. I can still remember in the 5th Grade when the nun who taught us religion drew this family tree of religions to prove to us that since the Catholic religion was first, that we could conclude that it was the "one true faith." I also remember that same year that the nun made it very clear to me that I had "misunderstood" when I said my parents, one Protestant and one Catholic, were married during a Mass at their wedding. This is the first time I really understood about the supposed "problems" associated with a "mixed marriage." That's when a Catholic marries a non-Catholic -- at least that's what the term meant in the 1950s.

I was confused. Yes, my Dad was not Catholic, but that had no meaning for me. He attended Mass every Sunday with his family, belonged to the Holy Name Society at Nativity and worked all of the time to afford Catholic High School tuition. He was more "Catholic" than most "Catholics". Yet the nuns succeeded in making me feel that somehow my parents' marriage didn't quite measure up.

Dad's Mom, Norine, was very Catholic. St. Rose Church was her rock. I'm told that the Church was named in honor of St. Rose, the patron saint of seamstresses. Jan loved to sew. Rosemary even told me she was "named after the Church." On the other hand, Pop was a Protestant, Episcopalian I believe, although Dad claimed to be Presbyterian. How did that work, I wondered, because my Dad had to sign papers agreeing to raise any children Catholic. So why wasn't Dad raised Catholic?

This is where I would love it if those who read this post would leave a comment, because I'm telling the story as I know it. I'm sure your recollection is different from mine -- just as being the oldest in my family made my life experiences and recollections totally different from those of the younger members of my family.

This is the story as I recall it. Jan and Pop were married by the priest at St. Rose Church. Since Pop was not Catholic, they had to get a "dispensation" to be married in the Church. I've got a copy of the Church record where you can see they were given the required dispensation -- if you can read Latin that is.



Only someone raised Catholic can understand how they drum it into you how important it is to have a baby baptized as soon as possible. They used to teach us that babies who died before they were baptized went to "limbo" -- a place that was neither heaven nor hell, where the unbaptized innocents would remain for all eternity. I understand that recently the Church dropped the idea of limbo. So Jan, being a woman of strong faith, took her first-born Edith down to the Catholic Church to have her baptized. The Zins, from whom they rented, were the sponsors.

The way I remember the story, Pop was not happy about this. He wouldn't even have been so opposed to the baptism, but objected to not having much of a say about it. They then came to an agreement that all boys born of the marriage would be raised Protestant, and all girls would be raised Catholic. The score ended up being two Catholics and three Protestants.

When my Mom and Dad got married, Dad obviously had no negative feelings about Catholics -- his mother and two sisters were Catholic. From his point of view it was more important to go to Church as a family. And that we did.

Being Catholic was just the way it was. I was born into it. No room for or need for questions. But at the old age of 60, I guess I've realized how often someone's faith is not a matter of choice, but an accident of birth. In doing genealogy, I discovered that my husband Bill's grandmother was Catholic and disowned by her family for marrying "out of the Church." Bill, who long ago chose to convert to Judaism, is still thought of as "really being a Catholic" by my Aunt Evelyn because his grandmother was. Bill didn't even know he had Catholic roots until he was 67 years old, so how does that make sense.

In the process of discovering all of my roots, it is clear that I have a strong Catholic heritage. The Ryans, Cronins, Daileys, and Proberts were all Irish Catholic. The von der Heides were German Catholic, an accident of geography following the Thirty Years Wars between the Protestants and Catholics in Germany. One peace treaty required that everyone within a given district had to follow the same faith as the ruler. It just so happens that the majority of northwest Germany is Lutheran, with the exception of Oldenburger-Munsterland from whence my ancestors came. We could have just as easily been Lutherans.

On my family tree I've found Methodists, Episcopalians, Catholics and several other religions. In my own family, several family members have chosen to go a different direction than the Catholicism they were born into. I'm sure that was challenging for my parents given the times in which they were raised. But in my old age, I guess I'm more comfortable with the idea of "faith" vs. "religion". I feel there is more than one path to God and that a faith that is meaningful to the believer is the most important thing. Faith should never be reduced to an accident of birth, but rather be something actively chosen by the person.

Jan used to love the hymn "What a Friend We Have in Jesus", and hearing it would bring tears to my Dad's eyes. He always felt the connection to his mother when he heard it. I guess I'm just happy to have had ancestors of "faith" who passed on strong values to all of us -- including respect and tolerance. And by the way Sister Mary Alice, my parents were married at a Mass.

Sometimes there are surprises . . .

On August 31st I blogged about my trip to the Kentucky Archives in Frankfort and my trip to Mt. Sterling. I really felt like my trip to the archives gave me very little new information. As so often happens with genealogy, I was looking through my notes trying to make sense of the Mt. Sterling Proberts, Cronins and Daileys. I have a lot of information on the Proberts. Before Thomas was the town jailor, he had been a "confectioner". At that time, confectioners ran shops that sold sweets of all kinds including bake goods. In the History of Mt. Sterling, Kentucky, 1792-1918 by Carl B. Boyd, Jr. and Hazel Mason Boyd, it states:

". . . the earliest baker to build a significant reputation in the community was Thomas Probert, who was in Mt. Sterling by 1859. By 1871 he was listed as a confection and liquor dealer, and apparently went completely in the liquor business after that." p. 184 According to the 1870 Census, Thomas had transitioned to his job as jailer. In fact, the same book says on p. 107 that:

The jailor at this time was T.H. Probert, who was paid 75 cents a day for "dieting" prisoners. The county also assumed the costs of fuel, medicine and doctor's visits for inmates. City prisoners in this period were used as labor at a rock quarry on Queen St., working out their fines at $1.50 a day, or were used by the jailor in cleaning streets."

The 1870 Census lists Albert Storey and his wife, living at the jail in the same household as the rest of the Probert clan. Albert has transitioned to taking over the bakery business as evidenced by property deeds that I possess. Although the Census lists the name of Albert's wife as "Atlanta", I have other documents that list his wife as Addie, the oldest daughter of Thomas Probert.

Near the end of Thomas' life, things must have become extremely difficult financially. In December of 1875 a lien was placed on a billiard table and fixtures owned by Catherine. Thomas died in 1876 of cirrhosis.

But I just got off track -- here was the major finding. When I was at the archives, I noted (and unfortunately did not copy) that Thomas Probert of Lexington married Mary E. Dimond on either December 23rd, or December 30th 1846. Upon searching records once back home, I discovered that the Kentucky Death Records noted that Mary Probert died at the age of 29 of consumption.

That solves several problems for me. I now believe that Addie and Lucy were daughters of Mary E. Dimond Probert and not daughters of Kate. I think Kate was his second wife. I had never understood how Kate could have given birth to Addie at age 11 and Lucy at age 15. Kate is 13 years younger than Thomas.

In addition, the 1880 Census lists Mary Lou and Maude, two of her daughters as living with her. She states that she had six children and that only two are now alive. I always thought that was strange because I knew Lucy was still alive. Now I know that she did, in fact, have six biological children. Three died at the age of three and under as evidenced by the August 31st posting of their graves. Lizzie, who was one year old and living at the jail in 1870 apparently also died by the time of the 1880 Census but is not buried with the rest of the children. Catherine was stepmother to both Addie and Lucy.

I can't imagine losing four children before they reached adulthood. One other piece of evidence for Addie being the wife of Albert Storey is that their daughter, Maggie, is living with her grandmother (Kate)and listed as a granddaughter in the Census. I've spent the morning updating all of my records. Another problem solved.

The "Perfect Family" minus one

I love this picture. Rosemary Kramer let me copy it. She told me that it was taken shortly after my Dad, Johnny was born and they "thought" their family was complete. Pictured from left to right are: Fred (boy, is he handsome!), the "baby" Johnny, the big sister, Edith, big brother, Charley, youngest brother, Bob, and Norine. Little did they know at the time that their family would be completed with the birth of Margaret Ann years later. What a beautiful family!

The family was living on Eastern Ave., across from Highland Elementary and down the street from the beloved St. Rose Church.

The picture of the house was taken in 2001. When Jan and Pop owned it, it was painted bus company yellow as Rosemary would say. You can refer back to the blog on Pop with the buses to see that color.

Fred and Norine became the parents of five children:

Edith was born June 14, 1910
Charles Frederick was born July 4, 1911
Robert Leo was born July 15, 1918
John Thomas was born September 30, 1920
Margaret Ann was born January 22, 1928

After seven years, it is no wonder that Fred and Norine thought they had the perfect, and complete, family. From what I've heard, however, Margaret Ann was a delightful and cherished addition to the family. I'll have to let the Scardinas fill in the blanks about that when we get to the next generation.

The Scardinas let me copy this picture of their mother, Margaret Ann, the small child in the middle of the picture. It was taken in 1929 when Margaret Ann was two. I'm told she is surrounded by other East End friends. Note the river to the right and St. Rose Church in the background to the left. Love those nickers . . .

Norine, the early years . . .

What an image of my grandmother, Norine! The grandmother I remember, known to me as Jan, did not like to have her picture taken. I love this picture. She looks so sweet and happy. One of the things that jumps out at me is that the picture was taken in Lexington, KY.

As most of you know, I "inherited" family history notes from my mother. In discussions with Patty and Rosemary, I know that much of what she had was given to her by Margaret Ann and Edith. Here is what my mother's notes said about Norine:

Norine Augusta was born in Mt. Sterling, KY. Her mother, Lucy, was sick for a long while. Norine had a "Mammy" for a while. She later moved to Lexington, KY. Norine went away to school because her mother was ill. The notes get a little confusing when speaking about Josie, Lizzie and Gussie. Josie and Lizzie Williams were apparently school friends of Norine. Their mother was Susan Green. Gussie Green was their aunt.

Norine moved to Cincinnati where her brothers Joe, Albert, and Charlie had a grocery store located at 711 Main St. Her sister Addie married Fred Kincaid. Another sister, Annie (Margaret Ann), moved to California.

When Norine moved to Cincinnati to work, she did not live with her brothers. Instead she moved in to a boarding house in Norwood with Lizzie Williams and Gussie Green. She worked at the Manhattan Restaurant as a clerk in an office which was located at 5th and Race Streets where the Carew Tower now stands.

Mom's notes say that Norine's father was John Cronin. In a later post I will discuss some of the evidence disputing this fact -- an area I've been researching for the past six years. John Cronin was the father of the five older children.

"Jan" married "Pop" in 1909 at St. Rose Church in Cincinnati. They lived on Dandridge St. for awhile and then moved to 2416 Eastern Ave. to the Zins' home. The Zins ran a neighborhood saloon and the newlyweds lived upstairs. Their first child, Edith, was born there. They then rented an upstairs apartment from Uncle Tom and Aunt Ella, living at 2269 Columbia Ave. (now Columbia Parkway).

My mother's notes say that "Pop's father owned a four-family house on Gladstone." In fact, this house was torn down in the last few years. The original address was 632 Gladstone, but the streets of Cincinnati were renumbered and it had a different address later on.

Pop bought the family home in 1929, right after the stock market crash. He paid $5500 for it and sold it for $7500 in 1966.

I was lucky enough to have these pictures shared with me of Norine as a young woman.

Note: This afternoon I went to the Cincinnati Public Library and checked City Directories beginning with 1900. The first record of the Cronins in Cincinnati was in 1903. At that time Addie, Albert, Charles J. and Norine are all living at 326 E. 6th St. Charles is listed as being a clerk for Joseph R. Peebles and Sons. The 1904 Directory lists Addie, Albert, Joseph A., and Charles A. living in the same home with the boys working at a grocery at 711 Main St. Norine is living at 708 Broadway. In 1906, Addie, Albert and Joseph are living on Broadway and Norine is now living at 3641 Floral Ave. in Norwood. Notably, Lizzie Williams is living in the same boarding house as Norine. (When I left the library, I tried to find this address. It is now on property covered by Interstate 71.

The 1908 City Directories list Norine, Albert and Addie all living in the same locations as those listed for 1906. In 1907, Norine is listed as a check clerk at 17 W. 5th Street -- probably the restaurant discussed in Mom's notes. By 1909, Norine is living at 2953 Gilbert Ave. and Addie and Albert are living at 1306 Pendleton where Albert is a bartender. In December 1909 Norine married "Fred". In all of the City Directories, Norine is listed as a Cronin.

Where I've been . . .

August left me little time to blog. The first week of August I was involved in implementing a new course for teachers -- it was a great success. In addition to this, I didn't know what direction to take next. I'm to the generation of Joneses that includes my grandparents -- Jan and Pop as we knew them. I realized I just didn't know as much about them as I would have liked. I contacted Rosemary Kramer and Fred Breving and will post what I learn in a later post.

Meanwhile, I had the itch to get away and decided to go down to the Kentucky Archives in Frankfort, KY. I've been there before. It's an interesting place. You can pull up original documents, musty and moldy as they are, from Mt. Sterling, KY that were filed by T.H. Probert, Jan's grandfather (and our gg-grandfather). For years I've tried to research both William Dailey and John Cronin to determine who was Jan's father.





I was able to find some tax records from the 1880s, but no answers to my questions. I decided to drive over to Mt. Sterling and take some pictures. In an earlier visit to Mt. Sterling I had found the grave of T.H. (Thomas) Probert at the MacPhelah Cemetery on the outskirts of Mt. Sterling. I had a death record for him. He and his wife, Catherine Richardson, had lost three children as infants. The infants are buried on the same site.

There is one tall monument to the family. It is located in Section 9 and is near the top of a hillside that overlooks the entire town of Mt. Sterling. I always seem to be there just as the "golden hour" is upon us. I was touched by the quotation that was carved into the side of the marker.

My plan was to leave MacPhelah, take pictures in the heart of Mt. Sterling, photograph the grave of William Dailey in St. Thomas Cemetery and head back to Cincinnati. That's where things got really fun. I went to the center of town near the Court House and started taking pictures of the location where I know Thomas Probert had once served as the town jailer. In the 1870 Census, the Probert family is listed along with the names of the prisoners and a cook. Although I know the exact location of the jail, it is now the site of what is now the Historical Society for Mt. Sterling.

When I got there, there was a group of about 100 people attending a pot luck dinner. I found the door was open and went in to photograph a picture of the site when it was used as a fire station and then left. I was followed out by Miles Hoskins who is the president of the society and invited me in. They were having a speaker from the University of Kentucky, Becky Ryder, who was going to pick up originals of the Kentucky Sentinel, a weekly newspaper published in Mt. Sterling. She was going to take the originals, purchased by Miles in an estate sale, and have them digitized at the University of Kentucky. Once this process is completed, the papers will be posted on the web and be fully searchable. As someone who had just spent three hours at the library scanning microfilm of these historic papers, I can't imagine how helpful that will be.







Miles Hoskins is pictured with a copy of the Kentucky Sentinel, soon to be digitized and searchable online.

We all exchanged business cards and it was great fun sharing common history with Mt. Sterling residents. I know this will not be my last visit to Mt. Sterling. In fact I very much look forward to learning what I can and sharing what I have with the members of the Historical Society.

Modesty (continued)

So who knew? I certainly didn't. Article after article made me aware of just how much pride Pop took in his work and the amount of recognition he received for it. When he retired, he was the guest of honor at a dinner where his mechanics were recognized for going 250,000 consecutive hours without a disabling injury. The article said that Fred "Butch" Jones had been Foreman of the men for the entire period in which they made this record.

I also learned of his honesty. The News said that Pop ended a dispute between he and Bert Maddock that was the result of a mistake Pop had made in ordering an item -- thus clearing the air.

In the short time I was at the library I also happened upon birth announcements for both me and my brother, Tim. Since our Dad was also working at the bus company at that time, both the father and

grandfather were recognized. Mom always told me that she thought I was going to be a boy because of the way she was carrying me. Little did I know how much they really expected a boy.

Tim's December 31st birthday is also acknowledged.

I was wondering where Pop's motto, "Modesty Becomes a Young Man" originated. The quote is attributed to Plautus, a Roman playwright who lived a few hundred years B.C.E. I was also surprised to learn that Pop did not retire until the age of 72. I can't imagine how difficult that must have been. I know he suffered from arthritis, and unlike his granddaughter, he couldn't look forward to the relief from pain that a knee replacement can provide.

I know I've only begun to scratch the surface, but I feel that I was so fortunate to get to take a peek into the work-a-day life of a strong, loving man I wish I could have known better. The next posting will discuss family life.

The "wave of the future" -- this picture was taken in 1957, the year following Pop's retirement.

"Modesty Becomes a Young Man"

"Modesty becomes a young man."

For the first time since I started writing this blog, I am finally able to write about someone I knew -- or realized I didn't know. Charles "Fred" Jones, my grandfather, was born on October 16, 1884 in Cincinnati, Ohio, the middle child of Charles Henry Jones and Rachel Wainright. If I would ask my siblings what they remember, the list would probably include the following:

Jan and Pop (as we called them) lived at 2424 Eastern Ave. (now Riverside Ave.) in the East End. The small frame house was located directly across the street from Highland Elementary School with a clear view of the Ohio River. While I was growing up, the house was painted "bus company yellow" as Rose would say, and I still remember the faded line just short of the first floor ceiling that marked the level of the infamous 1937 flood.

I remember a man who chewed tobacco, had a spitoon, talked to his parakeets, and loved to go for "rides" on a Sunday afternoon buying ice cream cones for all involved. There was always a jar of caramels and we constantly had to be asked to stop playing with the pedal on the Singer sewing machine in their bedroom.

Pop was just short of 65 years old when I was born. Jan had a clear preference for girls, so I was "in". There was no thought of shortening my name from Kathleen to Kathy or "Kath" as my family knows me because Jan loved my Irish name and couldn't understand why anyone would want to mess with such a beautiful name.

I knew Pop had worked at the "bus company" as had my Dad when I was young. I recall stories of Jan and Pop living on Columbia Avenue (what is now part of Columbia Parkway) when they were newlyweds. Dad used to point out the foundation of the former house when we drove by and talk about horse-drawn wagons that used to deliver milk each day.

In the name of "progress" Jan and Pop moved down from Columbia Parkway and built their home on Eastern Ave. The Breving Cousins, Rosemary, Fred and Bob were older and I contacted Rosemary and Fred to "fill in the blanks" for me, as I realized how much I didn't know. I'll write about our conversations in a later post.

I was "googling" the Cincinnati Street Railway and the Cincinnati Transit Company on the computer. Much to my surprise I found that there was an organization called the "Cincinnati Transit Historical Association" with bus and rail aficionados as members. Bill and I attended a meeting, hoping to connect with the organization's "librarian". The library was scheduled to be open the next day, so I made arrangements to see what I might find.

I knew from Pop's death certificate that he was a "retired foreman." Luckily for me, the "bus company" published a magazine for employees that often featured a story based on information supplied by the company foremen.

The picture of a man I barely knew began to emerge. In the July-August edition of The News, the headline read "Butch Jones Too Modest About Record." Now there's a question I want answered -- why was Charles "Fred" Jones known by his middle name or more often by the nickname "Butch"?

Pop was the foreman of the Hewitt Avenue "car barn". He apparently took a lot of pride in his work and had quite a reputation. The article stated:

Because his motto is "Modesty becomes a young man," Foreman Fred 'Butch' Jones said not a word at the July Conference of Foremen about the fact that there was not a single P.C.C. car failure in Walnut Hills during the month of June. (P.C.C. stands for a special Presidential Cabin Car that was in limited operation at the time).

As I scanned month after month of publications I read citation after citation recognizing the work he oversaw (i.e., Mr. Jones' division had gone 630,000 miles with only one pull in).

At one point, "Butch" decided he wanted to paint his entire shop white. He offered to do it himself, if necessary. He was apparently proud of his white shop as a picture in The News pictures Pop waving his cane at another foreman who suggested that perhaps his shop was even better.

To be continued . . .

Wainwrights in the United States

In earlier posts I mentioned that the Wainwrights in the United States originally spelled their last name with two "w's". One record says that it was William Wainright (father of Britton) who dropped the second "w". I also stated that William Wainright was the son of Vincent, our family's connection to the Revolutionary War.

When I first started researching our roots in the United States, there was more than one record online. I try to document any individual that I include in our family tree. This is one instance where I accepted someone else's documentation.

There are three sources of information for the family pedigree outlined above. The first is Genealogy of the Family Line of Thomas Wainwright published in 1957 by Edith Wainwright and Halstead Wainwright. The second, and most important source is correspondence I have had over the last year with Rodney Wainwright of New York. He took a copy of the above publication and compared it page by page with the documentation he had. The vast majority of information was supported. The third source was the website for the Wing Family in America, Inc. http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?db=mewingnut Jane Wing was the maternal grandmother of Vincent Wainwright. All of this documentation seems to agree when it comes to the basic facts. Rodney Wainwright provided me with the majority of the information listed in the pedigree, especially in the maternal lines.

It became apparent that there was a lot of documentation from the time of William Wainright back, but little existed coming forward. Even the Wing Family site only listed Britton and Eliza Ann as children of William Wainright and Ruth Wright. I have spent the last year trying to find additional children with a fair degree of success.

As near as I can tell, William Wainright and his wife Ruth Wright had seven children. There may have been more but these are the ones I have been able to document.


William (2-23-1809 to 4-23-1834) -Listed in the 1831 City Directory as William Jr., a blacksmith, in business with his brother, Vincent. The Cincinnati Daily Gazette states in a death notice that he died of small pox at the age of 25.

Ann Eliza (1-4-1813 in New York City, died 1-12 1890 in Broadwell, Ohio near Athens. Married Henry (Harry) Broadwell in 1834 and relocated to Athens, Ohio and had many children.

Vincent - (abt. 1-10-1810 to abt. 7-19-1849) Married Mahitable Morrow on May 2, 1843. They had a son, Britton in 1848. Both the father and the son died in July 1849 in the cholera epidemic. As mentioned above, Vincent was a blacksmith in business at one point with his older brother.

Britton (9-26-1819 to 7-9-1863) -- Our gg-grandfather -- plenty was written about him in earlier postings.

Rachel -- married James Lusk in 1843 in Cincinnati. James was a ship's carpenter according to one of the Census documents. Ruth Wainright was living with the Lusks in Newport, KY when she died.

John -- married Elizabeth Raney on 12-22-1836. He also died abt. July 1849 making me speculate that he, too, could have been a victim of the cholera epidemic. I have a copy of John's will written July 1, 1849 naming his wife Elizabeth and children William Henry, David R., John B., and Jane Elizabeth as beneficiaries.

Daniel -- married Prudence Grapevine on November 6, 1842 in Cincinnati. Daniel's occupation was listed as a "drayman" in several City Directories. His marriage license states that he was married by Wesley Rowe, a minister who was listed as the officiant for several of the Wainright weddings. I do not know when Daniel was born, but he may have been one of the older siblings since the City Directory for 1839-40 says that he was born in New York.


There are a couple of other candidates for Wainright siblings, but the documentation is not strong enough to include them in this list. I leave it for future researchers.


Several Wainrights and Darbys fought in the Civil War. At some point I may post what I know about our family's participation in the Civil War. The participation was not limited to men. Some other time . . .