"Heirloom" - The Wood Family Watch

When my dad turned 21 in the mid-1960s, he inherited an heirloom watch from his father.

Dad wrote to his father asking about the watch's history; and my grandfather, John "Johnny" Egbert Wood (02 November 1919 - 29 December 1996), responded with the letter shown below.  The people mentioned in Johnny's letter are:

• My father, the addressee, "Son"
• My paternal grandfather, John "Johnny" Egbert Wood (1919-1996), letter writer
• My paternal great-grandmother, Susan "Susie" Bowers Wood (1860-1933), referred to as "Mother."
• My paternal great-grandfather, Albert Houston Wood, Sr. (1880-1967), referred to as "Daddy."
• My paternal great-great-grandmother, Susan Elizabeth Ford Bowers (1825-1901), mother of Susie Bowers who is shown above.
• Catherine Montye Foster Wood (1883-1965), wife of Albert Houston Wood, Sr. and my grandfather's mother.
• David Trousdale Foster (1880-1949), brother of Montye Foster Wood and Johnny's maternal uncle.

To further aid in understanding the context of the letter, here is a visual representation of the direct line lineage discussed in the letter:

Shown above the line of descent from my paternal great-grandmother to
my paternal grandfather. My father and I follow below Johnny in this lineage.

Page 1 of Johnny's original letter.

Page 2 of Johnny's original letter.

Transcription of the two-page letter shown in the above two photos.

In addition to the information in this letter, my dad shared with me that he had ascertained that the watch was made about 1903, as my grandfather had guessed.  Dad had to replace the casing of the watch, due to beyond-repair breakage, in the mid- to late-1980s.  The original watch case was circular, and he said it showed off the watch face much better than the current casing.  Also, the watch used to have a gold expansion band.  Dad replaced the expansion band with the leather one pictured after the gold band wore out in the 1980s.  The watch's crown (i.e., winder) has a stone set in it.

This heirloom turns 115 years old this year, and it's still worn almost daily and keeps on ticking.  What a wonderful treasure to have in the family!

Bibliography

• “Old Gold.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 4 Feb. 2018.
• “Elgin National Watch Company.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 13 Feb. 2018.

This blog post is part of +Amy Johnson Crow's 2018 #52Ancestors Challenge, as well as a #TreasureChestThursday post.

©Amy Wood Kelly, 2018 - I am happy to share my genealogical research and writing with others, as well as to help others with their research efforts.  However, please do not reprint or repost this in full or in part or use excerpts from it without giving full credit to me, Amy Wood Kelly, as the researcher and author as well as providing the permalink to this post.  Thank you, in advance, for showing respect for my request and the work I put creating this.

Charles Edward "Ed" Ashby (1887-1930), 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Week 20, "Black Sheep"

 Week 20's theme for +Amy Johnson Crow and NoStoryTooSmall.com's 52 Ancestors in 52 Week is "Black Sheep."  As one pursues building a family tree, it does not take long for the so-called black sheep to start appearing throughout one's tree.  My tree, like everyone else's, has its fair share of such individuals.  For this post, I have chosen to write about my maternal second great grand uncle, Ed Ashby, who was a violent individual.

Relationship between Ed Ashby and me.  My grandmother and mother,
both living, and I would be listed after Murl Sanders Litaker, Sr.

James Ashby and Angeline Thomas Poteet Ashby of North Carolina welcomed a son, Charles Edward "Ed" Ashby, in June 1887.1  (Note: I wrote a post about Angeline's father, Thomas Jefferson Poteet, Jr., in early February of this year.)  The first record available for Ed is the 1900 U.S. Census in which he is residing in Cabarrus County, North Carolina, with his parents, four siblings, and two servants.2

He next appears at age 15 in a 03 April 1903 article entitled, "Boy Shoots His Father."3 According to the article, James "Jim" Ashby, the father, was punishing his daughter for not getting up early enough that morning, and Ed intervened in an attempt to protect his sister from their father.  At some point, the interaction escalated, James threatened to kill Ed, and Ed "sent a load shot into his father's abdomen."4  An article from the 08 April 1903 Concord Times indicates that, just before James died on 04 April 1903, he expressed that his son was justified in killing him.5  The article goes on to say that it is the general impression that this is "a case of justifiable homicide."6  Another 08 April 1903 article from the Charlotte Observer indicated that the jury deliberated for less than an hour before coming back with a not guilty verdict in the case against Ed Ashby.7

On 16 June 1907, Ed committed murder a second time.  This time, he killed his brother-in-law, Daniel "Dan" S. Overcash, for allegedly having an intimate relationship with his neighbor's wife, Mrs. Reece Pethel.8  After 13½ hours of debate, the jury convicted him on 31 August 1907 of second degree murder and perjury and then sentenced him to ten years in the North Carolina state penitentiary in Raleigh.9

To date, I have not been able to find any type of death record for Ed Ashby.  In the 1930 U.S. Federal Census taken in Kannapolis, North Carolina, on 04 April 1930, his wife, Margaret (a.k.a., "Maggie) Overcash (née Pethel), is recorded as being widowed.10  Based on records found thus far, I must make the assumption that he died prior to the aforementioned 1930 census date.



     1  James A. Ashby household, 1900 U.S. census, Cabarrus County, North Carolina, population schedule, township No. 4 Cooks Cross Roads, enumeration district [ED] 0016, sheet 9B, family 159; National Archives micro publication T623, roll 1185.
     2  1900 U.S. census, Cabarrus County, North Carolina, population schedule, No. 4 Cooks Cross Roads, ED 0016, sheet 9B, family 159.
     3  "Boy Shoots His Father," the Charlotte Observer (Charlotte, N.C.), 03 April 1903, transcription; GenealogyBank (http://www.GenealogyBank.com : online search, 23 May 2015), Newspaper Archives collection.
     4  "Boy Shoots His Father," the Charlotte Observer (Charlotte, N.C.), 03 April 1903.
     5  "James Ashby Killed by His Son," the Concord Times (Concord, N.C.), 08 April 1903, transcription; Ancestry.com (http://www.Ancestry.com : online search, 24 May 2015.
     6  "James Asby Killed by His Son," the Concord Times (Concord, N.C.), 08 April 1903.
     7 "Ed. Ashby Not Guilty," the Charlotte Observer (Charlotte, N.C.), 08 April 1903, transcription; GenealogyBank (http://www.GenealogyBank.com : online search 25 May 2015, Newspaper Archives collection.
     8 "Ed Ashby Kills Dan Overcash," Greensboro Record (Greensboro, NC), 17 June 1907, transcription, GenealogyBank ((http://www.GenealogyBank.com : online search 26 May 2015, Newspaper Archives collection.
     9 "Murder in Second Degree. Ten Years Given Ed Ashby,” the Charlotte Observer (Charlotte, N.C.), 01 September 1907, transcription, GenealogyBank ((http://www.GenealogyBank.com : online search 26 May 2015, Newspaper Archives collection.
     10 Margaret Ashby household, 1930 U.S. census, Cabarrus County, North Carolina, population schedule, township No. 4 unincorporated Kannapolis town, enumeration district [ED] 0009, sheet 6A,   family 98; National Archives micro publication T626, roll 1677.


©Amy Wood Kelly, 2015 - I am happy to share my genealogical research and writing with others, as well as to help others with their research efforts.  However, please do not reprint this post in full or in part or use excerpts from this post without giving full credit to me, Amy Wood Kelly, as the researcher and author as well as providing the permalink to this post.  Thank you, in advance, for showing respect for my request and the work I put into creating this post.

Treasure Chest Thursday - My Maternal Grandfather's Rosary

This week, I am participating in +Genea Bloggers' Treasure Chest Thursday.

Years ago, my mom's family passed along my grandfather's childhood rosary to me.  Though my grandfather, Andrew Joseph Pampas, Jr. (1923-1995), grew up Catholic in Louisiana, my grandmother was Protestant.  After marrying Grandmama, he went to church with her and became a member of her church.  So, he was never a practicing Catholic during the years I spent around him.

I still clearly remember this rosary hanging on the top corner of the mirror of the vanity in my grandparents' bedroom, and I always thought it was quite lovely and a bit mysterious.  It is made of mother of pearl and metal (perhaps silver that has now tarnished?).  I haven't cleaned it, because I want to preserve it as-is.

Now that I have it, I store it - along with some other family heirlooms - in a unique, antique, compartmentalized box that my grandmother gave me.  (I will do a future Treasure Chest Tuesday post on the box.)

When my daughter moved from public school to Catholic school in 2013, my grandmama sent her a very similar rosary that also belonged to Granddaddy.  I didn't realize that he had owned more than one until then, and I was thrilled for her to receive such a meaningful gift to connect her to her great-grandfather, especially since she never got to meet him.

It truly seems to be the little things, like this rosary, that offer us strong connections to our ancestors and past.  I miss Granddaddy every day and am so thankful to have this piece of his life to treasure.

Granddaddy's rosary that was given to me.

A closer up picture of Granddaddy's rosary that was given to me.

©Amy Wood Kelly, 2015 - I am happy to share my genealogical research and writing with others, as well as to help others with their research efforts.  However, please do not reprint this post in full or in part or use excerpts from this post without giving full credit to me, Amy Wood Kelly, as the researcher and author as well as providing the permalink to this post.  Thank you, in advance, for showing respect for my request and the work I put into creating this post.

Joseph Homer Tathwell, Sr. (1903-1997), 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Week 19, "There's a Way"

"There's a Way" is the theme for Week 19 of +Amy Johnson Crow and NoStoryTooSmall.com's 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks.  I have an ancestor by marriage in my family tree that embraced the "There's a Way" approach to work and built better way to do common business tasks.  His research and development skills improved businesses' copying and payroll processes and brought greater efficiency to tasks that every company, as well as many non-corporate entities like schools and churches, needed to complete.

How I descend from Joseph Homer Tathwell's wife,
Catherine Lessie Wood Tathwell.  My father (living) and I 
would be listed below John Egbert Wood.

Photo courtesy of Steve Donlin, their grandson.

My paternal grand aunt's husband, Joseph Homer Tathwell (1903-1997), worked for a Chicago-based company named Ditto, Incorporated, that was a trailblazer in bringing copying machines into American offices.  According to the Early Office Museum website, Ditto sold gelatin duplicators - a.k.a., hectographs or jellygraphs - that could be used to make up to 100 copies.  The Early Office Museum site goes on to describe the process of using a hectograph in this way:  "When preparing the original, hard bond paper and a special kind of ink [containing aniline dyes] are used...The original is placed face down on the copying surface and smoothed with the palm of the hand or a roller. It is then lifted off, having left its impression on the gelatin. The blank sheets are placed one at a time on the gelatin surface and allowed to remain a few seconds until the imprint is made." The Ditto machine shown directly below was $200 (about $1,990 today). In 1925, other models ranged from $117 (about $1588 today) to $395 (about $5,361 today).1

Model E-41 made by the DITTO division of Bell & Howell, circa 1950s.
(Thank you to Mark, owner of the Early Office Museum, for
permission to use the information above from his website.)

During Mr. Tathwell's employment at Ditto, he conceptualized and documented new ways to improve hectograph-related business practices.  He applied for and received five United States patents for inventions between 1940 and 1966, and his inventions ushered in a more efficient process for making copies using these machines.

J. H. Tathwell, Sr.'s hectograph-related inventions included:

• Apparatus for and Method of Duplicating - filed 25 June 1938, patented 05 November 1940.  Patent US2220300.
• Hectograph Roll Cabinet - filed 19 May 1941, patented 09 March 1943, Patent US2313180.
• Hectograph Blanket Conditioning Container - filed 19 May 1941, patented 01 June 1943, Patent US2320835.
• Means for Maintaining Multiple Records - filed 21 March 1945, patented 17 May 1949, Patent US2470586.
• Accounting Forms (a.k.a., "Pay Dollars") - filed 27 Jan 1964, patented 08 Feb 1966, Patent US3233918.

Joseph Homer Tathwell, Sr.'s ingenuity and drive to bring his innovative ideas to fruition personify the spirit of "There's a Way."

1“Antique Copying Machines.” Early Office Museum. http://www.officemuseum.com/copy_machines.htm. Accessed 12 May 2015.


©Amy Wood Kelly, 2015 - I am happy to share my genealogical research and writing with others, as well as to help others with their research efforts.  However, please do not reprint this post in full or in part or use excerpts from this post without giving full credit to me, Amy Wood Kelly, as the researcher and author as well as providing the permalink to this post.  Thank you, in advance, for showing respect for my request and the work I put into creating this post.

Yandell Wood (1826-1906), 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Week 18, "Where There's a Will"

"Where There's a Will" is Week 18's prompt for the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks challenge hosted by +Amy Johnson Crow and her blog, NoStoryTooSmall.com, I selected my paternal third great-grandfather, Yandell Wood, for this week's post.  In reading his short will, I learned about something completely new to me at the time - Civil War compensation claims (a.k.a., "war claims").  Without his mention of this in his will, I may not have learned about:

• The legal action war claims allowed
• Yandell's occupation
• Yandell's business partnership with his brother, J. L. Wood

How I descend from Yandell Wood, my paternal 3rd great-grandfather. My father (living) 
and I would be listed below my paternal grandfather, John Egbert Wood, above.

15 March 1906 Davidson County, Tennessee, Will of Yandell Wood.
(Probated on 14 June 1906).

Using FamilySearch.org's Historical Records Collection, I located a digital copy of Yandell's will (directly above) in the Tennessee, Probate Court Books, 1795-1927, Davidson County Wills, 1902-1908, Vol. 36, Images 209 and 210.  The second and third sentences of his will read:

"I will and bequeath to my wife Fannie Wood* all of my personal property, which includes all the interest I have in a war claim I have against the Government of the United States of America, amounting to several hundred dollars and now pending before Congress.  Said claim is for flour taken from the Mill of J. L. Wood & Co. Millers at Alexandria Tenn, of which Company I was a member - being equal partner with my brother, said J. L. Wood, and al so [sic] for damages resulting from breaking our mill and stopping the use of , [sic] or operating the same for about a year - all by order of General Reynold & Col. J. T. Wilder, officers in the Federal Army - in 1863 - As to the amount and dates I refer to said claim as present ed [sic] to Congress by Senator Frazier in 1906."

*Note:  Fannie was Yandell's second wife and is not my paternal third great-grandmother.  He first married Harriet Sneed (circa 1835-1896), and she is my third great-grandmother.

The Archives of Appalachia website, hosted by East Tennessee State University, indicates the following regarding Civil War compensation claims:

"In 1873, Congress established the Committee on War Claims. This committee expanded on the former Committee on Revolutionary Claims to include 'claims arising from any war in which the United States has been engaged.' The Committee on War Claims provided an avenue for individuals who lost property during the Civil War (1861-1865) to file for compensation from the federal government...According to the Fourth General Report of the Commissioners of Claims (1874), Tennessee had the highest amount of claims filed at 554 with Virginia following at 475."

After gaining a better understanding of what my third great-grandfather was pursuing, I did more research into his particular claim and learned that it was presented to the Court of Claims on 10 July 1912.

Excerpt from page 2002 of Catalogue of the Public Documents of the Sixty-Second Congress
and of All Departments of the Government of the United States for the Period from July 1, 1911, to June 30, 1913,
Volume 11 by the United States Superintendent of Documents.
(Publisher: Johnson Reprint Corporation, 1915.)

I also discovered that, during the Court of Claims' December 1914 term, a motion to dismiss almost all war claims for "Want of Jurisdiction under Act of March 4, 1915, sec. 5 (the Crawford Amendment)" was made and that Yandell's claim was #1716 on the list of approximately eight-five percent of Congressional claims then dismissed.

Book excerpt showing dismissal of Yandell Wood's war claim.
(From page 306 of Congressional claims by United States. Court of claims.
United States. Dept. of Justice; Thompson, Huston. Published 1915.)

©Amy Wood Kelly, 2015 - I am happy to share my genealogical research and writing with others, as well as to help others with their research efforts.  However, please do not reprint this post in full or in part or use excerpts from this post without giving full credit to me, Amy Wood Kelly, as the researcher and author as well as providing the permalink to this post.  Thank you, in advance, for showing respect for my request and the work I put into creating this post.