Home again

I'm back home again after exactly 2 months away. I put over 10,000 miles on my car, which is about what I usually drive in an entire year! I only got one speeding ticket (41 in a 25 mph zone) and it came on my 2nd to last day of the trip. Who knew that in Montana you could pay your ticket in cash to the policeman right after he finishes writing it... He said I could have given him a check too.

I saw two of my father's cousins, and spent time with a 6th cousin once removed who I met through DNA. We had a good day trying to find a gravestone for one of his ancestors and chatting about genealogy in general. Although I did not get as much genealogy done as I wanted (do we ever?), I did visit cemeteries where I have ancestors in MA, RI, and PA, and made a few finds. I also visited a bunch of courthouses in RI and MA trying to track down some ancestors with only limited luck. But I did find bits and pieces of information that may provide clues once I sort through everything.

I visited a few old friends and drove around my college and old haunts of mine in Vermont. I did not get to visit everyone I had planned to see because of time and routing constraints but there are always more trips to come. I loved having my own car back east and may contemplate driving back again next year. I am truly my father's daughter when it comes to driving. As long as there is a new route and new things to see, I never get tired of driving. And neither did he.

Autumn color near Manchester, Vermont

Ninety years ago

My mom, Dorothy M. "Dottie" Veith was born on this date ninety years ago.

Dorothy M Veith - about 1946

Dot was born on 19 August 1922 in Englewood, New Jersey to Harold Veith and Minna Badendick Veith. She was their 2nd child and only daughter. She died at age 84 on 17 November 2006 in Pompton Plains, New Jersey.

I miss her every day.

Earlier posts about my mom are here and here.

2nd Rhode Island Infantry Monuments at Gettysburg

I spent today touring Gettysburg National Military Park, the site of one of the most famous and important battles of the Civil War.  The battle here took place on 1 July - 3 July 1863 and was a decisive battle for the Union. Interesting, the Union won the battle at Vicksburg Mississippi on the same day, and although the war lasted another 2 years, the tide had turned for both sides. General Robert E Lee retreated from Gettysburg with the remnants of the Confederate Army after this battle and never again invaded a Union state. In the northern newspapers, the victory for the north at both Vicksburg and Gettysburg resulted in the phrase "The Glorious Fourth". I had heard this phrase used in relation to the 4th of July, but did not know it originated in the year 1863. As the Park Ranger mentioned, this term was not used in the South!

One of the reasons I wanted to revisit Gettysburg (I had been here years earlier with my kids) was to see the places my great-great-grandfather, Zophar Skinner and his unit, the Rhode Island 2nd Infantry Regiment, Company C were during the Gettysburg battle, and to trace the role his regiment played at Gettysburg. I knew that most Regiments had monuments here noting their battlefield locations during the 3 days of the battle and I wanted to find the 2nd Infantry's monuments.

One of the Park Rangers  had a loose leaf book that gave the details of the state regiments and the location of Regimental or State monuments. His data page for Rhode Island showed that the 2nd Infantry had 348 men and suffered 7 losses, and that there were two regimental monuments documenting the location of the Regiment during the last two days of the battle. The unit was mostly held in Reserve on the 2nd day of the battle, and moved up to the center of the line late in the afternoon of the last day.

Monument near Little Round Top

Battle plaque near Little Round Top

"Army of the Potomac

Sixth Corps  Third Division

SECOND BRIGADE

Col. Henry L. Eustis

7th  10th  37th Massachusetts

2d Rhode Island Infantry

July 2  Arrived about 2 P.M. from Manchester MD and late in the day

  moved to the northeast slope of Little Round Top and held in

  reserve bivouacking for the night with First Brigade in the rear

July 3 Moved to the right Centre and reported to Major Gen.                 

  J. Newton and was held in reserve during the battle.

  Not engaged but subject to artillery fire

Casualties  Killed 3 men    Wounded 2 officers    39 men captured

or missing 25 men      Total 69"

Momument near Codori Farm, Emmitsburg Road in the center of the battlefield

Inscription on the monument near Codori Farm

"Skirmish Line

2nd R.I. Volunteers

Col. Horatio Rogers Jr.

2nd Brig. 3rd Div.

6th Corps

July 4, 1863"

I have a copy of Zophar's 1863 diary at home, and the entries for the days surrounding the Gettysburg Battle are in this post.

Flight 93 Memorial

I'm in Pennsylvania this week. I start Tom Jones' course at the Genealogical Research Institute of Pittsburgh on Sunday and I arrived a few days early to see my Aunt and to visit Gettysburg. My great-great-grandfather, Zophar Skinner, fought at Gettysburg with the 2nd Rhode Island Regiment, and his brother, Joseph, was wounded in a skirmish 10 days later while pursuing the enemy back into Maryland. I hope to visit the part of the battlefield where the 2nd RI fought, and to trace their steps south after the Union Army won the battle at Gettysburg.

However, I flew into Pittsburgh last night and while driving east on the Pennsylvania Turnpike today, I noticed the sign for the Flight 93 Memorial. I found it was about 18 miles north, and that I could continue from there on a 'back-road' to Gettysburg. Thus, I decided to visit the site of the crash of flight 93 on 11 September 2001.

Only part of the memorial is built so far. There are plans for a Visitor's Center,  but work there has not yet begun. A lot of tree planting has taken place in the last few months. A ranger told me that each of the 40 passengers would be memorialized in a grove of 40 trees for a total of 1600 trees in the groves. The crash itself was on a field just on the edge of a grove of mostly hemlock trees. Extending out from there are mostly barren fields, resulting from strip mining that occurred up until around 1995 (from what the park ranger said). In the far distance are giant wind turbines which were oddly beautiful as the blades rotated very slowly in the almost non-existent breeze.

There is a walkway out to the crash site, and a wall with the crew and passenger names engraved on it. The walkway itself defines the edge of what was the official "crash-site", and there is a large boulder placed where the cockpit hit the ground nose first at a speed of almost 600 miles/hour. Apparently the flight recorder was found at a depth of 25 feet, and crash debris extended 40 feet into the ground. I hadn't known that they had found enough remains of all 40 passengers to identify each of them.

Flight 93 Memorial Wall

It was a sunny day today at the memorial site, much like the day in Seattle (where I live) of the 9-11 attacks so far away. I will never forget the blue sky that Seattle day and the eerie knowledge that there were no airplanes in the sky with the exception of the military jets. There is something about the blueness of that sky, and the silence that will stay with me forever.
All in all, it was a moving experience to see the crash site and re-experience some of the emotions I felt that day almost 11 years ago.

Fourth of July 1962

4th of July parade - Chatham MA

When we were young kids, my family always went to our place in Cape Cod for two weeks centered on the 4th of July. One of the highlights for me was going to watch the parade in Chatham. I remember clowns and all kinds of floats and fire trucks and bands. I'm sure there must have been Veterans from various wars but they don't stand out in my memory. I don't remember parade participants throwing out candy to the watchers which seems to be common in parades now. I think that would have been a highlight for me!

In the evening we would go watch the fireworks in Harwich Center. I remember sitting on the bleachers on the baseball field and being absolutely awed at the fireworks display which seemed to go off right over our heads. I remember my dad taking pictures of the fireworks, trying to capture the perfect exposure - I have all those old slides somewhere. After the show ended, we would drive the mile back home and find our dog frantic and still panic-stricken from the noise even at that distance. Poor Nifty!

Valley Falls, Rhode Island

My Dad's mother, F. Hazel Skinner was born in Valley Falls, RI and her family had lived there for at several generations by the time she was born in 1894. In old family scrapbooks, there are numerous pictures of the area, most taken before 1920 or so, after which time my grandparents moved to New Jersey. Here are a few that were identified.

Valley Falls Station

This station, built in 1883,  was located at the foot of Chapel Avenue in Valley Falls. I found another view of this station at Rhode Island Railroads. This station served the Providence and Worchester Railroad which opened in 1846. According to the Rhode Island Railroads website, there was another station in Valley Falls around 400 feet north of this station on Titus Street. This smaller station served the New York and New England RR.


The two other pictures in this collection show the bridge over the Blackstone River which separates the village of Valley Falls from the city of Central Falls just to the south.  The streetcar used to run across this bridge and continued south to Pawtucket and Providence.

Approach to Valley Falls Bridge

Valley Falls Bridge

Father's Day 2012 - Warren Westcott Grant

Warren W Grant

My father, Warren Westcott Grant was born on 11 January 1922 in Passaic New Jersey and died on 22 January 2005 in Pomptom Plains New Jersey at the age of 83.
I have many old photos of my father and mother taken before I was born and/or before I have my own memories of where the photos were taken and who was in them. This one is probably from the late 1940s. It may have been taken at his friend's 'ranch' in Cedar Grove, NJ. This friend was named Tex and my Dad (and Mom) used to ride there but I don't know anything else about the place except it was long gone before I could remember.

Dad once told me that Tex drove down to Amarillo, Texas to pick him up after he had been discharged from the Army Air Force in late November 1945. They had been planning to make a road trip of it back to New Jersey but Tex apparently started getting very anxious and needed to get back home as quickly as possible. Dad said he drove for as long as he could before he told Tex he couldn't drive any further. Now, I wonder why Tex couldn't drive part of the way back (he clearly drove down to Texas).  In any case, it was not the road trip my dad was expecting!