The Jeweler’s Clock

Sometimes in the movies the story is told backwards.  That’s how I’m going to tell this true story.

A fascinating old clock hangs on the wall at my brother’s house.  Grammy passed it on it to him some 20 years ago.  The clock is a pendulum wind-up clock with gold leaf lettering from the establishment where it once hung:

The
J. Levinski Co.
Leading
Jewelers
417 Austin St.
Waco, Tex.

Prior to keeping time at my brother’s house in Tennessee, it hung on the wall in my parents home in Oklahoma.  Prior to that, it hung on the wall at Aunt Nettie’s house in Fort Worth.  Nettie Wilma Fitzhugh Lessor was my father’s stepmother’s sister.

We visited at Aunt Nettie home in the late 1960s.  The first thing my dad saw when we entered the house was the Jeweler’s Clock hanging over the fireplace.  He  complained that the clock was his and therefore shouldn’t be hanging at his aunt’s house.  Aunt Nettie was gracious and gave my dad the clock that day.

Aunt Nettie had probably had the clock for at least 20 years.  Her sister, my dad’s stepmother “Mother Nell”, had given it to her while my dad was in the US Navy during World War II.  Even in the mid-1940s, he had been upset and concerned that his parents had given away or disposed of some of his belongings in his absence.

The clock had no direct ties to the family back then.  From 1940 through 1943, before becoming an officer in the Navy, my father, Lee Edmonds, attended Baylor University, the hometown college, and commuted on the bus. In a family of 5 students (he was the middle child) money was tight, and he worked off some of his expenses with a campus job doing janitorial work.  As part of the job, he found the discarded clock in a closet on campus, inquired about it, and was allowed to keep it.  He lugged it home on the city bus.  That’s how the clock came into our family.

I found myself wondering about “J. Levinski, Jeweler” and did a little research.  I found a photograph of the interior of the jewelry store taken in 1907 in Waco Texas: A Postcard Journey by Agnes Warren Barnes at Google books.  In order to respect the copyright, I won’t include the picture here, but you can follow the Google books link to see it.

Jacob (Jake) Levinski is listed in the 1910, 1920, and 1930 census at 724 N 19th Street in Waco with his wife Sarah, daughter Ruth, and sons Julian and Philip.  His occupation is listed as owner of a jewelry store and his sons also worked at the store.  Bingo!  Depending on which census you want to believe, he was from Germany, Poland or Russia.  Further investigation turned up a 1892 Passport application which lists Prussia, in Germany, as his birthplace.  Russia on the 1910 census was probably just a misunderstanding.

According to that passport application, Jacob Levinski was 5 feet 6 inches at 31 years of age.  He had blue eyes, a large nose, a small mouth, around chin, an oval face, dark brown hair, and a dark complexion. 

Jacob Levinski died in September of 1939.  Jacob and his wife Sarah are buried at Hebrew Rest Cemetery in Waco.  Assuming that his sons did not take over (or succeed at) the jewelry store business, it probably closed shortly after his death.  This would explain the abandoned clock, but does not explain what it was doing in a closet at Baylor University.

Since there has never been any indication of a connection between the Edmonds family and the Levinski family, there is a another strange coincidence that I’d like to point out:  The Levinskis lived just 3 blocks from the Edmonds family.

Any curious researching souls are welcome to add comments about any tidbits regarding Jacob Levinski and his jewelry store.

Mystery Monday: Mystery Couple

Among the hundreds and hundreds of black-and-white negatives and photographs that I have scanned over the years, I found this one.  I have no idea who this couple is, but they definitely are handsome!

Here are some facts that I do know, based on the other photographs in the batch and on visual cues in the photo:

• The photograph was likely taken in Waco, Texas.
  
• Either the woman, the man, or both, are likely friends or relatives of the Lester Loyd Edmonds family of Waco.
  
• The picture was not taken at any of the family homes that I know of in the city.  There is a chimney (cropped out) that is different.
  
• The photograph was likely taken in the early 1940s.
  
• The couple does not appear to be married.  No wedding ring.
  
• The man is not wearing a belt, but does have a lapel pin.  Can’t tell whether he is wearing a white tie, or no tie at all.

I’m sure there are plenty of cues in the clothing that could more precisely pin down the date.  Comments are welcome.

Remembering Disc Negatives

Genealogists and historians often look back at the early days of photography and consider the type of photograph when determining the date when a particular photograph was taken.

When perusing old family photographs, we may see ambrotypes, daguerreotypes, tintypes, and cabinet cards – all from the 1800s.

Although most of us use a digital camera – no film – these days, we are familiar with 35 mm cameras and their film.  We remember Polaroid instant photographs.  Some of us may remember 110 and 126 film as well.

Recently, while scanning old photographs, I came across an envelope of photos along with the Disc negatives.

In 1982, Kodak introduced the Disc camera, aimed at the consumer market because of it's ease of use.  The Disc camera’s weren’t around too long, officially discontinued in 1999; however, I don’t think they were readily available for even that long.  Although I have no proof, my guess is that they were popular for Christmas 1982, then rapidly faded in popularity. 

One of the key reasons for the demise of Disc cameras would be the extremely small negative size:  just 11x8 mm.  That’s less than half the size of “pocket instamatic” 110 film, which I thought was really small.  A small negative typically yields a grainy photograph.  The ones I found were definitely grainy.

I’m definitely glad that I had the photographs, and not just the negative, though.  I don’t think there’s a consumer-grade scanner anywhere that would effectively scan these negatives.

For your entertainment, though, I scanned a whole cartridge and its sleeve.

Interestingly, the images here are about the actual size.  Fifteen photographs in that one small space.

The Collins Family Chest

I have never seen the Family Chest in person, but I hope to some day.  The story of the chest comes from the hand of my great grandfather, Albert Buell Collins, and was handwritten by him in 1922.  I have modernized the spelling and punctuation, and have added just a few editorial comments in [braces].

The tree that this chest was made from grew on my father’s, Thomas A. Collins’, farm in Russell County, Kentucky.

This farm was transferred to my brother, Samuel B. Collins sometime in the seventies [1870s].  It furnished shelter and shade for my brothers S. B. and Uriah when we were boys.  Uriah and I left there in the early eighties and went to Texas.  Sam remained on the old homestead or a part of it. 

After I had been away for about thirty six years, Wife [Amanda Jane Perryman] and I went back to visit our old homes, and while there found the old cedar grove nearly all gone.  In looking around, I found the trunk of one tree that had been cut about two years but in good condition.

Wife and I conceived the idea of having a chest made of it.

We told Sam our plans and he said, “I am delighted with it and I will haul it to my sawmill and saw the lumber for you”, which he did. 

Then we told my sister Susie Antle about it and she said, “My husband, Sampson Antle, who is a carpenter, will make it for you.” When she told him about it, he seemed to be delighted and took great pains with it.

Then my niece became interested – Kate Browning – and said, “I will have my husband Sam Browning to haul it to the station for you.”

After we got home in Texas, we decided to give it to our only daughter, Beulah Emma Williams who was living in New Mexico at that time.  Two years later, she came to visit us, at Abilene, Texas.  We presented it to her with this little history, hoping it will remain in the family as long as possible.

As you can see from the story, this is truly a Family Chest, as many family members participated in its creation.

83 Years Ago Today

1928 was a tough year in Grammy’s family.  Two children in the family died in separate accidents that summer.  One of those children was Grammy’s only sister, Carolyn.

Grammy and Carolyn’s mother had died in 1927, leaving Grammy’s father as a single parent.  Single parenting isn’t an easy job now; it was at least as hard if not harder back then.

Probably because of the family situation, Grammy and Carolyn spent the summer of 1928 with their grandmother, Susan Emma Prince, in the Boulder Colorado area.


One day that summer, the family was driving through the mountains – possibly in this car – and stopped to stretch legs and take in the view.  Carolyn ran across the road to join her Uncle Arthur, and was hit by a car.  She was not quite 5 years old.

We don’t talk about Carolyn much in the family.  Certainly her death was tragic and painful to all involved; however, I think the reason we don’t speak of Carolyn is that we never knew her.

We remember you today, Carolyn, 83 years after your left this world.

Adopting Grave Memorials

Recently, I’ve been “adopting” gravesite memorials at Find A Grave.  There are lots of generous people out there who have uploaded whole cemetery’s worth of memorials, including those of many who are strangers to them.  We can show our appreciation by adopting the memorials of our ancestors.

When adopting a memorial, the current custodian needs a few pieces of information:  your name, your Find A Grave id (accounts are free), and your relationship to the person whose memorial you want to adopt.

The best way to request a transfer is to do the following:

1. From the particular memorial page, click on the Edit tab near the top.
2. Click on the “Suggest a correction or provide additional information” link.  This brings up an e-mail entry form.
3. Provide the needed information:  your relationship to the person of the memorial, your name, your Find A Grave id number.
4. Click on the “Send This Message” button.

Here’s a sample e-mail text that has worked well for me:

If you are not a relative of John Parker, who was my 2nd great grandfather, I would love to take over responsibility for the memorial. Thanks. Your name here #12345678

 
From one memorial to the next, the only thing you would need to change are the parts in italics:  the name of the person memorialized and their relationship to you.
 
If you’re adopting multiple memorials, it is polite to send a message for each memorial.  Asking someone to do something like “transfer all of the Perrymans in the Oaklawn Cemetery” places a burden on the current custodian and should be avoided.
 
Sometimes you will find that the memorial is already maintained by a relative.  When that happens, you can get excited – you have just found a distant cousin.  I recommend contacting them via e-mail and sharing your connection.  You’ll likely receive a timely, equally excited, response.
 
Here are some graves that I have recently adopted:

• Lester Loyd Edmonds, Rosemound Cemetery, Waco, Texas
• Minerva A Green, Whitney Memorial Park, Whitney, Texas
• George Washington Perryman, Perryman Cemetery, Russell County, Kentucky
• James Nathaniel Prince, Gail Cemetery, Gail, Texas

By adopting memorials on Find A Grave, you can take ownership for the accuracy and completeness of the information online, and long lost cousins may also find you some day.

Looking for a Billion Graves

Find A Grave boasts over 64 million grave records.  I use it all the time as one source for birth and death dates.  I’ve used it to connect with a distant cousin.  I’ve even helped out someone I don’t know who lives half-way across the US by taking a few gravesite photographs at their request.  There's something very personal about Find A Grave – people create “memorials” for relatives who have passed on, and leave virtual flowers.

However, there is a new website in town for recording and researching graves sites:  Billion Graves.   I’d like to compare the two sites.

	Find A Grave	Billion Graves
URL	www.findagrave.com	www.billiongraves.com
Mission / Purpose	Primarily, to provide a graves registration website. Secondarily, to provide a site for memorials and remembrances. Third, to provide a genealogical resource.	To provide an expansive family history database for records and images from the world’s cemeteries.
Established	1995, first focused on the graves of famous people	2011
Number of gravesites	Over 64 million	Unknown
Process / Participation	Contributors add biographical information for a memorial.  Optionally, the creator or others can follow-up with photographs.	Contributors take photographs with cell phones, automatically uploading to the site. Contributors also transcribe uploaded photographs.
What makes it unique	Strong emphasis on famous people. Easy to add biographical information over and above what is on the grave marker.	Satellite images of cemeteries are available.Photos are geo-coded and can be located on a map or satellite image.
Ease of use	Easy to register a grave. Only one photo can be uploaded at a time.  Common-sized photographs must be manually made smaller before uploading.	Uploading a photograph via cell phone app (Android or iPhone) is easy. Transcribing is as easy as the clarity of the photographs.
Search	Search by any combination of facts:  name, cemetery location (country, state, county), year of birth, year of death.  Search by name within cemetery.  Several other searches.	Search by cemetery OR person’s name.  No combination searches.

One of the most helpful features is the geo-coded map.  A pin is shown on a satellite image showing exactly where the photograph was taken.  This is the feature that will make Billion Graves stand out.  At right are the markers for the photographs or graves that I took on July 3.

All in all, I think that Billion Graves has promise – but the website needs more work.  Here are some things that I would like to see the owners of Billion Graves address:

• Session timeout is too short.  It should give me the opportunity to save my user id and password for a longer period of time.  It’s not my bank account after all.
• The website needs the ability to search by person name AND location and by person name WITHIN a cemetery.
• The link to view a single grave on the map was not working when I last checked.

I wish Billion Graves the best of luck.  I’m all for anything that gives me even more ways to locate my ancestors.