Follow Friday–Fab Finds for November 30, 2012

My Fab Finds for this week are (in no particular order) -

1. Leftover Ancestors - 2012 Edition by Destination:  Austin Family
2. Say ‘Prunes’, Not ‘Cheese’: The History of Smiling in Photographs by PetaPixel
3. Instant Replay: A Big Game for the Big Day by A Sense of Family
4. I'm Alive... but just barely. by Ancestral Breezes
5. Baby Talk and The Theory of Relativity by Notable Characters
6. Mappy Monday by Honoring Our Ancestors
7. In Defense of Beginners by The Who Hunter
8. Tuesday's Tip - Something For Everyone by The Last Leaf On This Branch
9. War of 1812 Pension Digitization Fund Receives Generous $250,000 Donation by FGS Voice
10. Do I Need to Blog Genealogy Every Day? by Blogging Genealogy
11. Step by Step Summary of Personal Archiving by FamilySearch Blog
12. The Path of a Beginner Genealogist by GenBlog
13. ANCESTRY.COM LAUNCHES NEW WEB SITE NEWSPAPERS.COM by The Olive Tree Genealogy
14. First Look at Newspapers.com by Dear Myrtle

New Blog Discoveries

• As Craig Sees It
• Lore, Legends & Lies
• Many Years Ago
• Bridge to the Past

Thanks for reading!


Copyright © Jana Last 2012

Those Places Thursday–Webster Family Road Trip: California or Bust!

This is part of a series of posts dedicated to the immigration story of Debs Webster and his family.

On July 7, 1952, my Grandpa Debs Webster and his family boarded the S. S. Brazil in Santos, Brazil on their way to a new life in the United States.  When they arrived in New York, they bought a car and traveled across the United States to their final destination in Southern California.

Here is the car Grandpa Debs purchased in New York.  It’s a 1951 Chevrolet Sedan.  My mom just recently showed me this awesome photo of the car with my uncles standing in front of it.  The car is parked in front of their new house in Pomona, California.  The lumber on top of the Chevy indicates to me that my Grandpa was working on some kind of project.  He was a very handy guy and always liked to have projects to work on.

1951 Chevrolet Sedan
Click to Enlarge

My uncle (the boy on the left in the photo above) wrote an email to me about his memories of their immigration to the United States and subsequent road trip from New York to California. As you read what he said, please keep in mind that they were traveling during the summer.  Here's a little snippet from his email:

"The trip was long—made longer by the heat!  We rolled down the windows and tried to be cooled by the wind as it passed through the car.  Unfortunately, the air was usually hot and we got little relief from it.  At the time, some people had a device that hooked on to the top of a window on their cars which they filled with a quantity of ice or dry ice (I really don’t know which).  This served as a scooping device that would chill the hot air from outside and circulate it inside.  This served as air conditioning in those days.  We had no such device!  Evenings were more comfortable, except that I found the concept of sleeping outdoors to be uncivilized.  After all, people were meant to sleep inside, or so I thought!  As I grew up I learned to enjoy camping out until being in Korea in the Infantry cured me of it forever!  Typically Pop would find a wide shoulder on the side of the highway where we could pull over and set up for the night."

I was intrigued by my uncle’s description of the cooling devices attached to car windows.  I had never heard of such a thing.  I did a little research on the internet to see if I could find anything about these cooling devices.  And, to my surprise, I found not only information about them, but photos too.

Wikipedia referred to this device as a car cooler.  The website stated , “A car cooler is an automobile window-mounted evaporative air cooler, sometimes referred to as a swamp cooler.  It is an early type of automobile "air conditioner."

If you’d like to read more about this fascinating early air conditioner for cars, just click HERE.

Below are photos of these car coolers from Wikimedia Commons.

Car Cooler on 1950 Chevy
Wikimedia Commons - Photo by Doug Coldwell
Click to Enlarge

Thermador Car Cooler
Wikimedia Commons - Photo by Doug Coldwell
Click to Enlarge



Car Cooler Front View
Wikimedia Commons - Photo by Doug Coldwell
Click to Enlarge

As “cool” as these early air conditioners look, I’m so happy for the modern air conditioning systems we enjoy today!

The next installment of my Grandpa Debs and his family’s immigration story will find them arriving at their sponsor’s home in Glendora, California.

Thanks for reading!

Jana


Copyright © Jana Last 2012

Sepia Saturday 153 ~ Two Sisters and a Cactus

Sepia Saturday provides an opportunity for genealogy bloggers to share their family history through photographs.

The Sepia Saturday photo prompt (at end of post) is a photo of Lala Williams and Elgie Crook.  In doing research on Google.com about Lala and Elgie, I found out the following:  When Elgie’s mother died, Elgie was sent to live with her uncle J. Shelby Williams, Lala’s father.  Elgie and Lala were first cousins, but Elgie grew up as a sister to Lala.

The adorable photo of Lala and Elgie, cousins who were more like sisters, provides me with the perfect opportunity to share this sweet photo of my Great-Grandmother, Hilda Carlsson Gillberg, and her sister Hilma Carlsson Taylor.




Two Sweet Sisters
Hilda Carlsson Gillberg (left) and Hilma Carlsson Taylor (right)

I love how Hilda and Hilma are holding hands.   Sweet, sisterly love on display!  Unfortunately, I don’t have any information about when or where this photo was taken, but it’s so precious. 

Hilda and Hilma were the daughters of Johan Erik Carlsson and Karin Johnsson.  Both Hilda and Hilma were born in Sweden and immigrated to the United States.

Hilda was married to my Great-Grandfather, Carl Albert Gillberg, and Hilma was married to Charles Alvin Taylor.

To see what other Sepia Saturday participants have written about this week, click HERE.



Thanks for reading!

Jana

Copyright © Jana Last 2012

Follow Friday–Fab Finds for November 23, 2012

My Fab Finds for this week are (in no particular order) -

1. Sepia Saturday: Book 'em by Jollett etc.
2. GRANDPARENTS - Saturday Night Fun by TWIGS and TREES
3. Ancestry.com houses new community support site by GeneaPress
4. Motivation Monday: My 200th Post! by A Patient Genealogist
5. “Don’t Publish Ages” by A Family Tapestry
6. Time to Pop a Cap in the Term "Drive-by Genealogist" by The We Tree Genealogy Blog
7. The Guide To Sourcing Images Without Landing In Hot Water by Simply Zesty
8. Blogging Genealogy: How do I figure out what to write? by Blogging Genealogy
9. It's About Time, Facebook! by Marian’s Roots & Rambles
10. Grand Theft Genealogy by Mascot Manor Genealogy
11. Birth Record Databases Updated at FamilySearch.org by GenealogyBlog
12. Solutions to File Format Challenges AND Getting Started with Digital Preservation by FamilySearch Blog
13. Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade Welcomes Two Girls From Milltown by The Irish In America
14. What Thanksgiving Looks Like by Family Stories
15. I Am So Thankful ... by Genea-Musings

New Blog Discovery

• From Here to There - A Searcher's Tale

Thanks for reading!

Copyright © Jana Last 2012

Thanksgiving in San Diego ~ 1952

This is part of a series of posts dedicated to the immigration story of Debs Webster and his family.


This is the last photo in my Grandpa Debs Webster’s 1952 photo album, which holds the photos documenting their immigration from Brazil to the United States.  I suppose you could call this photo album a "photo travelogue" of their immigration story.  Ya, it’s pretty cool that Grandpa put this together!

Thankfully, my Grandpa Debs wrote something around the edges of this photo to tell us a bit about it.  At the top he wrote, "Thanksgiving 1952."  And at the bottom he wrote, "San Diego  Casa do Jay" which means Jay’s House in Portuguese.  Jay was related to Grandma Willis by marriage.  He was an in-law to one of Willis' sisters.

Grandpa Debs and his family arrived in the United States on July 7, 1952.  So, this would be their very first Thanksgiving in America.

I can't say for sure if this was my Grandpa Debs' first Thanksgiving in America though, as he was the son of my "Traveling Dentist" Great-Grandpa Frederick Webster.  For all I know, Frederick and his family happened to be in America during Thanksgiving at some time.

Thanksgiving in San Diego, California - 1952

Click to Enlarge

I don't know the names of everyone in this photo, so I’ll just tell you who the people are that I do know.  Grandpa Debs is standing.  In front of him is my uncle.  Then, left to right is Grandma Willis, Helena Rohwedder Quillen, my uncle, and my mom shielding her eyes from the sun.

I’m sure my Grandpa and his family had a lot to be thankful for on that Thanksgiving Day in 1952, as our family does 60 years later in 2012.

Little Pilgrim

ClipartPal.com

And now I’d like to wish all of you, my wonderful readers, a very Happy Thanksgiving filled with fun, family, and delicious food!

Thanks for reading!

Jana


Copyright © Jana Last 2012