Yucca Flat – 1955

Every so often I come across interesting tidbits of information while transcribing my great-grandmother’s diaries. For the most part she jots down her daily routine of house cleaning, after baking several pies and a couple loaves of bread!  Then she is off to the hairdresser or grocery shopping, and then home to work on the church history or some other project, while welcoming visits from family and friends. In late April 1955 there was a more serious matter to record.  

On 25 April 1955 Jessie notes, “Dave Garroway at Las Vegas but the experiment postponed, bad weather.”  I wondered, what experiment?  I kept reading.

27 April 1955 – “Las Vegas atom experiment put off bad weather.”

28 April 1955 – “Dave Garroway and John Cameron Sweazy both at Las Vegas, postponed again.

And then on 5 May 1955 Jessie noted, “ The atom bomb test was given this morning a little after 8 a.m. – 8:10.”

On 6 May 1955 she writes:  – “Pictures from the atom bomb given this morning. Also pictures of the test on the survival of concrete house, also brick, also frame houses (Today). Cameras put in these houses and will record the damage done to houses. 5500 feet house nearly wrecked. (Survival City) test houses – yellow frame house, brick house, concrete house dummies in houses wrecked, frame house completely down. 2 Story brick house badly damaged, concrete house suffered least damage, but badly hurt. “

As the Cold War escalated during this time, I suspect it was frightening to have the photos of the destruction coming right into their rural Jacksonville, New York home via the television set. They had just lived through the Second World War – was this type of warfare in the near future?

The story with photos of the Yucca Flat atom bomb test can be found online.

Willow Creek School Teachers 1898 - mid--1950s

One of my Willow Creek school classmates sent me a PDF of the 1848-1948 Centennial program for Willow Creek school.  My great-grandmother, Mrs. Arthur (Jessie) Agard, gave the historical sketch; the keynote address was given by Dr. Liberty Hyde Bailey, Professor of Agriculture, Emeritus and Director of Bailey Hortorium at Cornell University.*

The program listed the trustees and teachers from the year 1898 through 1948. Those educators in the one (then two) room rural schoolhouse were:

1898-99 - Rose A. Troy

1899-00 – Charles F. Smith

1900-01 – Grace I. Bardwell

1901-03 – Lottie M. Eddy

1903-04 – Gertrude E. Mortimer

1904-05 – Bertha Blauvelt

1905-06 – Cora Drummond

1906-07 – Eleanor D. Smith

1907-08 – Nellie Grey Wilson

1909-12 – Leah H. Clark

1912-13 – Ella M. Pierce

1913-16 – Pearl I. Houston

1916-17 – Gyda T. Rumsey

1917-31 – Sarah Tichenor

1931-33 – Esther Hopkins

1933-37 – Alice Viele  (Married Bill Agard in 1937; Alice died in 1939)

1937-41 – Marion La Rue (Married Bill Agard in 1941)

1941-43 – Ruth Holley

1943-46 – Lydia Sears

1946-48 – Marion Evans (tenure lasted until school was closed in mid-1950s)

With a couple of exceptions it is interesting to see in the early years teacher tenure lasted one year.  Since only one was male, I suspect the females got married. It would be interesting to confirm why these women left after only one year.  Another project to add to my list!

* What’s a Hortorium? Here is the description from the Cornell University website.

“Founded by Liberty Hyde Bailey in 1935, the Hortorium has historically been the major U. S. center for the systematics of cultivated plants. Today, the Hortorium's mission has expanded to include systematic studies of wild and cultivated plants, ethnobotany, molecular systematics, paleobotany, phylogenetic theory, biodiversity studies, and pharmaceutical studies of tropical plants.”

Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder

The month of September flew by and I feel a bit guilty about not producing a blog post during that time – with the exception, of course, of helping to locate the family of the Finison Family Bible.

States she plans to obtain licensure:
Florida, New York, Vermont, and Virginia

So what have I been doing?  We drove to Gainesville, Florida to attend the graduation of our daughter from the Academy of Five Element Acupuncture. We are very proud of our Master of Acupuncture daughter.  She is now busy studying for her national boards.  I started volunteering two mornings a week at the Historic Fredericksburg Foundation, Inc., and am getting their office and research files in good order. We enjoyed a lot of company this month, as well as a couple of day trips, one to Tangier Island in the Chesapeake Bay, and another to the birthplaces of Robert E. Lee and George Washington.  And in my spare time, research on my latest project, Life on the Farm, The Tuckers of Tompkins County, New York could not be done without transcribing the diaries of William Lanning Tucker, and his daughter, Jessie May Tucker Agard.

William’s diaries span the years of 1919-1929. William died in 1929 at the age of 90.  Jessie’s diaries span twenty-four years, 1944-1968, with the years 1945 and 1946 missing.  Jessie died in 1973 at the age of 97.  I am not transcribing every word, but I am capturing dates and important events during each year. Needless to say, it is a time consuming project, but a very worthwhile one. I am now able to document more of the life of Jessie’s sister, Addie Tucker, as well as her death, and the date and cause of death of many family members. 

I learned that on 14 April 1944 Jessie took the oath of office as Ulysses Town Historian.  And on 16 January 1947 Jessie began writing the history of the Jacksonville Community Church. 

Jessie and Arthur Agard at her 90th Birthday Party
January 1, 1966 held at the home of Merritt and Maude Agard

When not cleaning her house from top to bottom each day, after baking several loaves of bread, a couple of pies, and a pot roast, Jessie was busy making afghans and quilts for each family member.  All females received a colorful afghan; each male a quilt.  I still have mine.

I am anxious to get back at my genealogy research...and will try to be better at sharing same.  

Tuesday's Tip: Blogs and Journals - A Lesson Learned

My husband volunteers at the local Family History Center.  Recently one of the volunteers gave him a DVD of an April 2010 conference held in Salt Lake City, A Celebration of Family History.  The DVD is a wonderful compilation of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, a talk by Latter Day Saints President Henry B. Eyring, a talk by Historian David McCullough, and wonderful family history research stories.  In his talk, David McCullough stated he tells his students if they want to be famous, all they need to do is keep a journal. Keep a journal; write down what is happening and how you feel about it.  In our increasing virtual world that information is becoming scarce.

His words have been resonating with me, because I have tried to keep a journal; in fact I have at least four almost empty journals sitting on my shelves right now.  My plan for a page a day went awry when I found myself writing way too much, and so I got discouraged.

I know that through blogging I am sharing and preserving my genealogy research, but I also know I should document the other parts of my life. To do this successfully I need to develop a formula for journal writing.  I will work on that and then add to my Genealogy Goals for 2011 – Keep a Journal.  Wish me luck!

A Lesson Learned

I am in possession of twenty years of my great grandmother’s diaries. She started writing a diary in 1944 because of the war. I learned that she went to the small town of Jacksonville, NY each week to wrap bandages for the troops.  She would document how many bandages she was able to make. Occasionally there would be a birth, marriage or death mentioned, but for the most part the information was disappointing. I knew the temperature that day, and what area of the house she cleaned. I learned that my great grandfather came over from the barn for lunch, and that their son stopped by. But as for what was going on in the community, economic, social, political, there was nothing. And there was nothing of how she felt about her life or what was happening in the world.  I started to transcribe those diaries of Jessie Tucker Agard and have labeled the document, “Life on the Farm.”  They begin like this:

January 5 - Rather mild -Addie [Tucker] went up to Merritt’s while Arthur went to Trumansburg. She sent a box of clothing to Asbury Park by parcel post. Addie and I went to the Red Cross with Alice. There were seven of us to make surgical dressings. I made 110. It is very interesting work. January 6 -Not very cold -Addie went to Asbury Park today. Marian and I took her to the Black Diamond at noon. I did some shopping. It got colder in the p.m. Very windy. We got home at 3:30 in time to do some extra washing. I ironed two dresses. January 7 – Cold - Cleaned the rooms for the weekend. Was too tired to go to the WCSC tea at Julia Lueder’s. Have felt like grip, but guess I am going to fight it off by being careful. Got a nice letter from Adeline. The sun has gone back almost to the big barn when it rises. January 8 - 9 a.m. 2 above zero; cold wind -Emma Kelsey’s funeral. Went to spend Christmas with her brother, Tom. All had flue. Emma taken to hospital. Had pneumonia. Baked bread, blueberry pie, hickory nut cake. Martha Schwartz gave me the hickory nuts last year. Bill, Marian and Johnnie Will went to Ithaca in p.m. Stayed to supper at LaRue’s.

I suspect that our genealogy blogs and personal journals will greatly help future historians and genealogists with their particular research.