Wordless Wednesday: Sara Melzina "Millie" Wolfe, ABT 1910

 My maternal grandmother, Sara Melzina "Millie" Wolfe Guokas Archibald (1907-1997).  She looks to be about age 3 in this picture, so I'm guessing it was taken about 1910.

© Amanda Pape - 2013 - click here to e-mail me.

Sentimental Sunday: Addilee Shelton and Three Brothers, ABT 1901-1902

This is my maternal great-grandmother, Addilee Tennessee Shelton Wolfe Odom Harris (1890 – 1977), and her three (younger surviving) brothers, James Rufus Shelton (1899 – 1968), John Sidney Shelton (1891 – 1963), and Lee Thomas Shelton (1894 – 1967).  Rufus looks to be at least a couple years old, so the photograph was probably taken in 1901 or 1902 (the next child in the family was born in October 1902).  

On the 1900 Census, the children and their parents, Levi Marion Shelton (1863 – 1941) and Sara(h) Ann (Sarianne) Spikes (1871 – 1935) were living in Winn Parish, Louisiana, so it's possible this photograph was taken there.  The family moved to the Montgomery area in adjacent Grant Parish sometime after 1910 but before September 1918. 

Rufus (whose hair, according to his World War I draft registration card, WAS red, although I doubt that was why he was called Rufus) married Mary Ann Davis in 1919.  They had seven sons and two daughters.  When he died at age 69, he was a sawmill employee.

Sid married Sarah Corena "Cora" Hayles in 1913.  They were farming near Montgomery by June 1917.  Sid and Cora had seven sons and four daughters.  He was a retired mechanic when he died at age 70.

Lee was apparently the male black sheep of the family.  By 1913, Lee had met and married Rose Althea Lawrence, who was born in California.  Their first child, Leonard, was born in Louisiana about 1915, and their second child, Clarice, was born in California in October 1916.  By June 1917, they were living in Mendocino County, California, and Lee was working as a miner.  

Lee next appears on the 1930 Census - as an inmate at the Oregon State Penitentiary in Salem!  His wife and three children (Rosalee was born in early 1930) appear on the census that year in Myrtle Point, Oregon.  I have not been able to determine what crime Lee committed, but the sentence was fairly short.  He did not go into prison until after Rosalee was conceived in 1929, and by 1936, he is listed as a logger in the Myrtle Point city directory.

The family is gone from the 1938 city directory, though, and on the 1940 Census, they are in Big Valley, California, where Lee works as a cat driver in the lumber industry.  In 1947, youngest daughter Rosalie is a senior in the Siskiyou (County) Joint Union High Schools yearbook, and Lee died in this county 20 years later at the age of 72.

© Amanda Pape - 2013 - click here to e-mail me.

Those Places Thursday: Wortham Fountain, Tower, and Mausoleum, Houston, Texas

Wortham Mausoleum, Magnolia Cemetery, Houston, Texas
Photo courtesy Julie Karen Hancock (Cooper) Jackson

Above is a photograph I took of the Gus S. Wortham Memorial Fountain (better known as the Dandelion Fountain) and the American General Life Insurance Company building at 2727 Allen Parkway in Houston, Texas - today known as the Wortham Tower.

My father, Frederick Henry Pape, worked for the American General Life Insurance Company in this building from approximately 1965 (when the building was completed) through 1985 (when he was transferred to the Dallas area).  The fountain was constructed in 1978.

I worked here two summers as well - 1975 and 1976.  The first year, I was a mail clerk with the data processing department - but I was also taught how to code new insurance policies for keypunching (and, in fact, developed a little how-to manual for future employees).

American General was founded by Houston philanthropist and civic leader Gus Wortham in 1926.  Wortham died on September 1, 1976, and is buried next door to the Wortham Tower in the historic Magnolia Cemetery,   Dad told me the story that Wortham picked the spot for his mausoleum to give him a view of the company he founded.  I remember being able to see the cemetery from Dad's office.

The black-and-white photograph was taken by me in the autumn of 1981, when I was taking Art 365, Still Photography, at Corpus Christi State University, to refresh my darkroom skills for my new job with the Information Services office of the City of Corpus Christi.

© Amanda Pape - 2013 - click here to e-mail me.

Tombstone Tuesday: Charles J. and Martha Pape Bleidt

Charles Julius and Martha Elisabeth Pape Bleidt are my great uncle and great aunt.  Thanks to Jim Craig for taking this photo at St. Boniface Catholic Cemetery in Chicago.  Jim has two great blogs, Toloff Photography Evanston, featuring the work of photographer Joseph David Toloff, and Under Every Stone, which tells interesting stories about tombstones and the people under them in various cemeteries in the Chicago area.

© Amanda Pape - 2013 - click here to e-mail me.

Sentimental Sunday: Mom's Senior Year in High School

The photo at the top of this post is from my mother Geraldine Guokas Pape's senior high school yearbook, the 1945 Tatler of Incarnate Word Academy in Houston, Texas.  At right is an enlargement from that photo, and above is Mom's senior year report card.

© Amanda Pape - 2013 - click here to e-mail me.

Those Places Thursday: Miller Outdoor Theater, Houston, Texas - 90 years old

Symphonic [Miller Outdoor Theater, Houston, Texas, June 25, 2010] / Adam Baker / CC-BY-2.0

Last night I was feeling all nostalgic because I was missing the opening of Shakespeare in the Park at Lynndale Park in Lynnwood, Washington, something I went to every year in the late 1990s and early 2000s. 

My love of Shakespeare dates back to a class I took in my senior year of high school.  We chose two semester-long electives for English that year, and I chose poetry and Shakespeare.  The latter involved reading and discussing the plays, and going to some live performances.  I still have all of my old-style 1960s Folger Shakespeare Library paperbacks from that class (and I completed my collection of all the plays edited by Louis Wright and Virginia Lamar on my own).

That hooked me on Shakespeare.  The summer after I graduated from high school, in 1975, I dragged my boyfriend to the Miller Outdoor Theater in Hermann Park in Houston to see A Midsummer's Night Dream.  That was the first season for the Houston Shakespeare Festival, and apparently that performance starred Cindy Pickett (Ferris Bueller's mother in Ferris Bueller's Day Off) as Titania (her father, Cecil Pickett, was a long-time director with the Festival).  The show also featured actor Brett Cullen.  I'm not sure what role he was in, but he looks an awful lot like the guy playing Francis Flute (in the female role of Thisbe in the play-within-the-play) in this photo I took during the performance:

In my research for this post, I learned that the Miller Outdoor Theater is 90 years old this year.  The original opened in 1923 and was replaced with the current structure in 1968.  You can read more about the theater's history and see photos of the original in these two links:

http://blog.chron.com/bayoucityhistory/2012/06/a-brief-history-of-miller-outdoor-theatre/#5949-1

http://houstonhistorymagazine.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Harwell-Miller-Outdoor-Theatre.pdf

© Amanda Pape - 2013 - click here to e-mail me.

Tombstone Tuesday: Mary Malissa Hallmark Self, 1838-1902

photo courtesy Bob & Jeri Brock via FindAGrave.com

This is the tombstone for Mark's great-great-grandmother, Mary Malissa Hallmark Self, born January 11, 1838, in Alabama.  Mary Malissa Hallmark married Vincent Garner Self Jr. at age 16 on July 30, 1854, in Blount County, Alabama.  They had 10 children, including Mark's great-grandmother, Lucinda Vina "Lula" Self Gresham. The family was living in Arkansas in 1880 and in Oklahoma in 1900.  Mary Malissa died January 2, 1902, and is buried in Monroe Cemetery in Monroe, Le Flore County, Oklahoma.

The inscription on the tombstone reads:

In Memory of

Mary M

Wife of

V. G. Self

Born

Jan. 11, 1838

Died

Jan. 3, 1902

There appears to be some sort of circular design at the top of the tombstone, but it is too worn away to tell what it is in this photo.

© Amanda Pape - 2013 - click here to e-mail me.

Sentimental Sunday: Mark's Great-Great-Grandparents?

Vincent Garner Self (1834-1929) and wife Mary Malissa Hallmark (1838-1902).  Courtesy Al Lowe via FindAGrave.com

These may be some of Mark's great-great-grandparents on his father's side.  Vincent Garner (or V. G.) Self was Confederate veteran and an active member of the Methodist Church.  This picture was probably taken in the late 1890s or 1900-1901.

For some time, I've been trying to figure out who were the parents of Mark's grandfather, Marvin (or Mark) Ellis "M. E." Gresham (1886-1941).  M. E. had an older brother, W. E. (William Edward, 1882-1945), and a younger brother, L. E. (Luther Elton, 1891-1954).  Unfortunately, as they were all born after 1880, this meant I would not find them on the 1880 Census.  I did find death certificates for all three brothers, but the informants on the certificates did not know the names of their parents.

I did find M. E. and L. E. in the 1900 Census in Dallas county, Texas, living in the household of a Robert G(ranville) Young and wife "Lula," and listed as his stepsons.  Robert and Lula are listed as having been married 0 years, which means (if the census enumerator was following instructions), that they were married between June 1, 1899, to May 31, 1900.  That implied that the father of W. E., M. E., and L. E. was probably dead, likely between 1891 and 1900.  Based on the 1900 Census information about his sons, it was likely he was born in Mississippi, but I was no closer to finding out his first name.  Also according to that Census, Lula was born in April 1856 in Alabama.  On the 1910 Census, Robert Granville Young is listed as a widower, implying Lula has died.

Then I was poking around in some archived GenForum message boards, and I found a number of posts from a grandson of L. E.  I knew it was the same one, as he spelled out the name (Luther Elton) and all the other information he provided matched up.  Well - he also said he had "a hand written marriage cert. for a John L. Gresham and a Lucinda V. Self from Ozark, Franklin Co. ARK in 1880."

I contacted L. E.'s grandson (who would be Mark's second cousin), and he says he will send a copy of this certificate. I also found the record of John & Lucinda's marriage in FamilySearch, in Arkansas County Marriages.  They got the license and the marriage was performed the same day, July 1, 1880, by a Methodist minister:

Of course, I am not certain this the right couple, but the information fits. On the 1880 Census, taken the previous month, John (last name misspelled Grisham), born in Mississippi, shows up as a boarder and farm laborer with J. L. McKinny in White Oak in Franklin County, Arkansas.  Lucinda, born in Alabama, her parents V. G. and Malissa Self, and eight younger siblings, are in the same enumeration district in White Oak, which is just a few miles from Ozark, one of the county's two seats.   And oldest child Minnie Ursula "Soulah" was born in April, 1881, in Ozark.

© Amanda Pape - 2013 - click here to e-mail me.

(Not-So-) Wordless Wednesday: Mom's 7th Grade Graduation, 1941

At that time (1941), Catholic schools only went through grade 7 - grade 8 was part of high school.  Above is my mother Geraldine Guokas Pape's graduating class at St. Joseph Catholic School in Houston (click on the photo to see a larger version).  At left is my mother in her graduation finery, and below is what was printed on the back of all her St. Joseph Catholic School report cards.  Below this, a parent signed the card for each grading period.
 
© Amanda Pape - 2013 - click here to e-mail me.

Sentimental Sunday: Dick and Paul Pape, ABT 1901

 I believe my father found this picture in my grandparents' basement in early July 1970, while going through some of the things of his father, my grandfather Paul Robert Pape (1896-1970), who had died that April.  I remember being down in the basement of my grandparents' triplex at the corner of Hastings and Central in Evanston, Illinois, and I remember Great Aunt Martha Pape Bleidt (1890-1980), over there as well.  I imagine she was the one who identified the boys in this picture as her younger brothers, Otto Richard "Dick" Pape (1898-1972), and Paul.  She said they were ages 3 and 5 respectively in this photo, meaning it was taken about 1901.

I've written about Martha and Dick and their other siblings, Clara and Rhea and Lee and Walter, but I really have not written much about my grandfather Paul.

Paul Robert Pape was born July 1, 1896, in Evanston, Illinois, most likely in the family home at 1043 Sherman Avenue, where his parents, John Pape (1851-1945) and Gertrude Kramer Pape (1859-1919) and his four older siblings were living at the time.  He was baptized July 12 at St. Nicholas Catholic Church in Evanston.  He received his First Communion there on May 2, 1909, and confirmed there on September 24, 1911.

According to a 1917 Evanston city directory, Paul was still living in the family home on Sherman at age 21, working as a salesman.  In June 1918, he registered for the draft, and indicated he was working for U. S. Materials Company in Chicago.  A family photograph indicates that he served in the Navy during World War I, although I have not yet found proof of this.   By 1920, he was working as a salesman again, and still living at the family home.

Sometime that year, he met 18-year-old flapper Elizabeth Florence "Betty" Massmann (1902-2000) through a friend.  One of their most wonderful dates was when they took a romantic canoe ride on Lake Michigan and he sang "Indian Love Call" (lyrics here) to her.

Four years after meeting, Betty and Paul were married on September 3, 1924, at St. Jerome Catholic Church in Rogers Park, Illinois, in a beautiful large wedding and reception. They honeymooned in Woodruff, Wisconsin, where, unfortunately, it poured rain the whole time! So they returned to Chicago and enjoyed the shows and dinners out.

Paul and Betty were living in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, when their first child, Paul Robert "Bob" Pape Jr. was born in 1926.  By October 1927, they were back in Evanston, where second child and first daughter Elizabeth "Bette" Marie Pape was born.  She was followed by my father, Frederick Henry, and two sisters, Rose Mary (1931-2007) and Marilyn Electa, born in 1933.

On the 1930 Census Paul is still a salesman, this time with an oil burner company, but by the 1940 Census, he is an insurance broker.

From at least 1930 through at least 1953, Paul and Betty and their family lived at 2093 West Lunt Avenue in the Rogers Park area of north Chicago.  Then they lived in a duplex in Wilmette for a while, but eventually moved to the triplex at 2547 Hastings in Evanston in the early 1960s.  I remember visiting them there around 1964. 

My grandfather contracted lung cancer and died on April 24, 1970, in Evanston.  He is buried at All Saints Cemetery in Des Plaines.

© Amanda Pape - 2013 - click here to e-mail me.

Those Places Thursday: July 4 in Granbury, Texas

Fireworks from Mayor's party, Convention Center, 2009

The small town we live in really does Independence Day right.  Events vary somewhat from year to year, but three things are constants:

--The Hometown Parade at 10 AM.  This starts at Granbury High School and runs about 2 miles to the Courthouse Square downtown.  This is just half a mile from my house, which is great, as it means we can walk and not have to fight for parking.  The parade typically has about 100 entries.

--The Ranch Rodeo at 6 PM at the Reunion Grounds.  This is about a mile from my home, but parking is plentiful.  The amateur rodeo features real working cowboys from surrounding ranches, in typical rodeo events.

--The Fireworks at 9:45 PM over Lake Granbury.  We have a pretty impressive show, ranked in the Top 10 in the Southwestern USA and in the Top 50 in the nation.  Usually we can see most of it pretty well from lawn chairs in our front yard, but one year we were invited to a party hosted by the Mayor at the brand new Convention Center, which is right on the water, resulting in photos like the one at left.

Hometown Parade, downtown Granbury, 2006

Team Calf Roping at Ranch Rodeo at Reunion Grounds, 2011

© Amanda Pape - 2013 - click here to e-mail me.

Wordless Wednesday: Happy Birthday Brian!

 My brother Brian on a birthday sometime in the late 1970s or early 1980s.  I know he is older than the 11 candles I can count on the cake. :)

© Amanda Pape - 2013 - click here to e-mail me.