(Not So) Wordless Wednesday: Siblings of Thomas Jefferson Moore, before 1926

Another picture from Mark's cousin Tom: Half-siblings of their great-grandfather Thomas Jefferson Moore. From the left: John Matthew Moore (1858– 936), known as Matthew; Susan N. "Sue" Moore Robertson (1867–1926); Seaborn Moore (1869–1940); Stephen Alford Moore (1871–1964), known as Alf; and Rever Lee Moore (1873–1955). The photo was obviously taken before Sue died on July 13, 1926. I am guessing that it was taken after September 16, 1914, which is when their sister, Ida Virginia Moore Chambers, who came with them to Texas, died.

© Amanda Pape - 2010

Sentimental Sunday: Moore Family and Homestead, Denton County, TX, c.1900

Thomas Jefferson Moore family, circa 1900-1, outside their home west of Flower Mound in Denton County, Texas

Mark's cousin Tom sent another picture, which I believe was taken the same day as this one of their grandfather Tandy Clayton Moore (1878-1964) and his younger sister Beulah Burtice Moore Street (1885-1904).  Notice that Beulah is wearing the same dress in both photographs. Apparently the unknown itinerant photographer took a number of photographs that day and the family kept at least those two.  Today's photograph also helps date both photos, as youngest sister Jewis, the baby in the photograph, was born March 21, 1900, yet Tandy, who married Nancy Flora "Nannie" Jones on August 7, 1901, on their way to Oklahoma, is in this photograph. Below is an enlargement of just the people in the photograph above:

Thomas Jefferson Moore family, circa 1900-1. 
From left:  Thomas Jefferson Moore (1852-1904), Charles Hollis Moore (1888-1964), Bernice Howard Moore (1893-1983), Angeline Elizabeth "Lizzie" Peach Moore (1859-1924) with baby Jewis Evadna Moore Crawford (1900-1991), Tandy Clayton Moore (1878-1964), Beulah Burtice Moore Street (1885-1904), and Jonathan Guy Moore (1891-1975)

Cousin Tom wrote:

Thomas Jefferson took off his hat for the picture, and it is at the base of the big tree on the left.  The farm is in the Flower Mound area about 6 miles or so west on Highway 1171.  Just east of where the farm once was is Shiloh Baptist Church, where Mark's [and Tom's] Great Great Grandfather [Milton Jonathan Moore, 1830-1912] ... and many of the family are buried.

They arrived in Lewisville from Salem, Alabama in ...[October 1883] with (Uncle [Jonathan] Guy [Moore] told me) used train tickets and $40.  I don't know how they managed to buy the farm, but they bought 120 acres (with house and a dug well) for $600.  The family sold it in the 1940s for $12,000 to a doctor, who built a large home on it.  He later sold it for over $100,000 to Walt Garrison, a Dallas Cowboy football player, who used it to raise horses.  He sold it for around a quarter-million.  In the 1960s, it was sold to an investor ([Edward] Marcus?)  for a price in the millions.

© Amanda Pape - 2010

Open Thread Thursday: Genealogy Blog "Bling"

The Open Thread Thursday theme at Thomas MacEntee's Geneabloggers poses four questions this week:

1.  What do you consider essential in terms of widgets, sidebar items, etc. for a genealogy blog?

Judy Webster of Queensland Genealogy in Australia (the inspiration for this topic) considers the following as “must haves” in a genealogy blog:

• About me - I agree.  I also added an "e-mail me" image link.
• Subscribe option - definitely!
• Follow option - I agree, although I think Subscribe can suffice, and I don't think "Follow" is an option on Wordpress. I do like seeing the little photos of followers on Blogger blogs.
• Labels/Tags (as a cloud or list, with or without numbers?) - agree, and I don't think the format really matters, although a cloud without numbers is easier to deal with for lots of labels.  I think the labels used should be minimal - surnames and places at a minimum, and maybe daily blogging themes or other labels you use frequently.  I'm a co-administrator on a team blog at work, and I need to get in and clean up our too-numerous labels as they have become a hindrance rather than an asset.
• Blog archive - yes.
• Links to other blogs - depends.  I have one of those widgets that highlights the five most recent posts from the genealogy blogs I follow, but that's about it.  Oh, and of course I link to my own book blog!  I think, like labels, this is something else that can get too lengthy. 
• Links to Websites about related topics - I don't do this, but I could see why others might feel these are essential.

DearMYRTLE suggests some things I like, such as PrintFriendly to allow easy printing of single blog entries without all the sidebars and bling.  I've thought about  removing the Blogger.com banner, except that I often use it myself to navigate to the Dashboard!  I use AddThis with each blog post to allow myself and others to share to Facebook, Twitter, Delicious, and other social sites. And I will have to explore her suggestion about using Odiogo to translate text to podcasts.

Kerry Scott of Clue Wagon suggests an option to subscribe to comments, which I think is a good idea and something I will add.  I don't agree with her about a big picture of myself on my About Me page, but that is because I don't photograph well. :)

D. Kay Strickland of d kay s days also recommends a copyright statement or Creative Commons badge.  I have a copyright statement on each blog post, but I think I'll add it somewhere on the main page as well.  She also has pages for annotated family trees or Ahnenfatel charts (the latter is what I have - I borrowed that idea from Tina Lyons at Gen Wish List). 

Geniaus says it's important to ask first, "Is the blog for entertainment, education, advertising or promotion?"  I think this is key.  My genealogy blog is just a place to record family history for my relatives and friends, who I think would prefer my simple layout that emphasizes the photos I post.  I can see where professional genealogists and others using their blogs to advertise or promote their services or abilities might want a little more "bling."  Geniaus also recommends a search tool (I use Google Search) "so that the blog can be searched by keyword, and [that one] provide a link for the reader to contact the blogger," although the latter could go in the "About Me."

Finally, I think it was my old friend Amy Coffin of We Tree who convinced me you should list all surnames you are researching right up top so browsers can see if they have any names in common.

2. Have you taken steps to minimize or streamline your blog in consideration of dial-up and even mobile users?

No, I have not done this intentionally, but I feel my blog is pretty minimal/streamlined as it is.  To be honest, the issue is more that I don't have TIME to play around dressing up my blog that much anyway!

3. Where should the “bling” be placed – sidebar, header, footer, other location?

I think this depends on the layout of the blog.  If it's truly "bling" and not really essential, I'd rather see it in the footer or additional pages.  I'd really rather only see the essential stuff in the header and sidebar(s).

4. What about other blog template items such as font size, background color, etc.?

I HATE blogs with light-colored writing on a dark background.  I can't read them!  Fortunately, I have not encountered many (any?) genealogy bloggers who do this.

Kerry,  D. Kay, and I all agree about a clean look, and "less is more."   I think my blog fits that criteria, although I would like to dress up the header a little.  I went with a template that uses the width of the page as I like to have plenty of room for the photos I post.

Like me, Kerry prefers "comment spam filtering that happens on the blogger side, not the reader side. I get frustrated with all of the Captcha codes, etc. that are required to leave a comment."  My blog is not very popular and I don't get a lot of spam (or many comments), however.  Blogger does have a spam filter, though, and it has been catching spam on that team blog I co-administer.  I have the settings on both set to moderate comments on posts more than 14 days old, as I really don't want to discourage conversation on more recent posts.  I'll be interested to read what others think about this.

© Amanda Pape - 2010

Wordless Wednesday: Moore Siblings (& Spouses), 1955

Surviving Moore siblings around August, 1955: Bernice Howard (1893-1983), Jonathan Guy (1891-1975), Jewis Evadna (1900-1991), Charles Hollis (1888-1964), and Tandy Clayton (1878-1964), Mark's grandfather, probably at the latter's home in Marlow, Stephens County, Oklahoma.

The photo below includes their spouses: Ruth Mary Bradley (1896–1987), Lela Agnes Waggoner (1895–1979), Fred Cowan Crawford (1897-1974), Eula Belle Cross (1891-1980), and Nancy Flora Jones (1882–1969).

© Amanda Pape - 2010

Sentimental Sunday: Brother and Sister, 1900

Mark's cousin Tom recently e-mailed this lovely photograph of their grandfather, Tandy Clayton Moore (1878–1964), and great aunt, Beulah Burtice Moore Street (1885-1904).  The photograph was probably taken around 1900.  Beulah married Joe Street on October 12, 1902, in Denton, Texas.  She gave birth to son Burt on January 12, 1904, but sadly she died of pneumonia on March 16 of that year.  Tandy's and Beulah's father, Thomas Jefferson Moore, also died of pneumonia eight days later.  They are both buried in the Old Shiloh Cemetery near Flower Mound in Denton County, Texas.  Burt later contracted diphtheria and became deaf; the 1920 census shows him living at the Texas School for the Deaf in Austin as a pupil.

© Amanda Pape - 2010

(Not So) Wordless Wednesday: My Little Sister Mary, Christmas 1966

Recently I received an e-mail from my youngest sister, Mary. She needed pictures of herself from around ages 2-7 and discovered she didn't have any. As the fifth of five children, by the time she came along, our parents were no longer getting portraits of their babies at three months, six months, one year, two years, and so on, as they had when I (the eldest) was born.

However, I got my first camera when I turned nine, which is when Mary was one-and-a-half. Luckily, she made a pretty good subject back then so I had a number of photos of her. They were taken on a Brownie camera so they are grainy and not very good - but hey, at least they exist. I scanned a bunch of these pictures the last weekend, ordered some prints for her, and also sent her the scans (and the originals so she can get them scanned someplace better if she desires).  This particular picture was taken on Christmas morning in 1966, just a couple months after Mary turned two.

© Amanda Pape - 2010

Sentimental Sunday: Happy Grandparents' Day

These are Mark's maternal grandparents, Tandy Clayton Moore (1878-1964) and Nancy Flora Jones Moore (1882-1969), in front of their home in Marlow, Oklahoma.  The photo is stamped August 1962, but it may have been taken a year earlier, before Mark started at Texas Tech University in Lubbuck, Texas, probably when his family was en route there to drop him off.

Clayton was born August 22, 1878, in Salem, Lee County, Alabama, the oldest of Thomas Jefferson Moore (1852-1904) and Angeline Elizabeth Peach Moore's (1859-1924) eight children.  By 1900 the family had moved to Denton County, Texas, where Clayton married Nancy Jones on August 5, 1901.  The family lived in various places in North Texas, including near Azle in Tarrant County, and by 1920 they lived in Marlow, which is in Stephens County, Oklahoma.

Nancy was born February 24, 1882, in Denton County, Texas, the sixth of ten children of Wiley Thomas Jones (1829-1902) and Sophronia Jones (b. 1850).  Nancy and Clayton had seven children:  Thomas Gurth Moore (1902-1935), Velma Moore (1903-1910), Ivis Moore Mew (1905-2004), Ruby Clayton Moore Albillar (1908-1967), Beulah Mabel Moore (1910-1932), Audie Ruth Moore Cook (1911-1969), and Jewel Moore Gresham (1914-1994), Mark's mother.

© Amanda Pape - 2010

Happy Anniversary!

Frederick Henry Pape and Geraldine Margaret Guokas, Dad and Mom, married September 11, 1954, at Annunciation Catholic Church, Houston, Texas.  Photo by Kaye Marvins.

Also married on this date:  Dad's sister, my Aunt Betty, and Uncle Bud, in 1948; and my cousin Jim and his wife Karen, in 1976 (note his shoes - click the photo to make it bigger):



Happy 56th, 62nd, and 34th anniversaries respectively!

© Amanda Pape - 2010

Sentimental Sunday: Diarymen's Country Club History

After posting a few weeks ago with a photo of my dad and his two older siblings at Dairymen's Country Club in Wisconsin, I decided to learn a little more about this place that has such good memories for my dad.

I found a book via WorldCat called The Story of Our Club: An Interpretive History of Dairymen's Country Club, Boulder Junction, Wisconsin, by Felix B. Streyckmans, published in Evanston, Illinois (my birthplace) by Schori Press in 1968. I requested it through interlibrary loan and the 79-page book arrived a couple weeks ago.

Dairymen's Country Club was established in 1925 near Boulder Junction in Vilas County in north-central Wisconsin, by a small group of Midwestern dairymen, primarily from Chicago and Milwaukee, with the purchase of the 1500-acre A. B. Dick estate on what was then known as Big Clear Crooked Lake (now known as Home Lake). The estate had nice woods with virgin timber, the big lake (with a beautiful white sandy beach and stocked with muskies and walleyes), cabins, a dining hall, boat house, barns, and other improvements, along with equipment such as farm implements, an automobile, boats and canoes, firefighting apparatus, and road machinery. The estate had originally been the Oliver Goff public resort that had opened in 1895, with the oldest cabin dating to 1892. Fifty members were able to use the facilities as they were in the summer of 1926.

A golf course was built in 1930. Additional major land purchases in 1937 and 1945 as well as some smaller purchases (in 1952 and 1963) brought the size of the club up to around 6000 acres in 1968. These acquisitions included complete control of six additional lakes and access to four others, as well as other resorts. Camp McKinley on the southern shore of Wolf Lake, just to the north (established in 1901 by the Oxley family), which at that time could accommodate 35 guests, was acquired in 1937, and the Mel Majors resort, also on Wolf Lake at Piney Point, was acquired in 1963.

Besides its lakes, fishing, and forests, Dairymen's is also known for Patsy, the pet deer (c. 1931-November 14, 1949), the longest-lived deer on record (in 1968), and the trio of rare albino deer that lived on the grounds in the late 1940s and early 1950s.

Camp McKinley and its facilities eventually became known as Wolf Lake Lodge, while the original facilities were called Home Lake Lodge. In 1968, there were accommodations to lodge 100 people at Home Lake in 28 cabins and a dining hall that would seat that many, as well as a clubhouse, shuffle board, tennis courts, swimming beach, diving area, and boat landing. Wolf Lake had 12 cabins and a chalet that could accommodate 40, with a dining hall/clubhouse that could hold 50, while Piney Point had five housekeeping cabins. Besides typical summer activities, Dairymen's is used in the winter for cross-country skiing, ice fishing, snowmobiling, and snow shoeing.

On July 10, 2005, fire destroyed the Wolf Lake Lodge. A new 11,450 square-foot lodge was finished in June 2007. It's topped with a muskie weather vane pictured above (photo taken by Fabian A. M. on August 4, 2007, and used under a Creative Commons license).

Despite the name, Dairymen's has long included members beyond the dairy industry.   According to my Aunt Beete, my grandfather Paul Robert Pape (1896-1970) was the insurance representative for a Chicagoland dairy company and that's how he got to become a member. (Thanks cousin John for this information!)

© Amanda Pape - 2010