1947

I tried posting this yesterday but ran into problems...here it is, better late than never.

This is a 1947 Oldsmobile sedan and it closely resembles the one we used to make our vacation trips in during the late 1940's and early 50's. Ours had a visor over the windshield and these are the same colors as I remember them. Now imagine a couple of canvas water bags hung from the grill. That was how we looked as we drove north from Manhattan Beach on our way to a cabin at Tahoma, near Lake Tahoe. Now imagine 8 people in that car for close to 12 hours, potty stops included. Dad, Mom, Nana and Auntie Jay in the front seat and Cousin Jill, Julie, Kitty and myself in the back seat.

Another Memory

I just had another memory appear from nowhere...as most memories do.

During one of dad's business ventures, a time came when he and his partners were making a lot of money. This was when he was doing Navy work, replacing the firebrick in the boilers of Navy transport ships. Most of this work took place in San Diego, with some work being done in San Pedro as well. Dad, being quite the fisherman, had always wanted a boat and he wanted a big boat of course. The business venture allowed the company to buy a boat for "business purposes". They bought a 40'+ cabin cruiser, an older boat but all teak construction. And it came with a Captain as well. Dad and his partners would take clients out for fishing and drinking trips. The boat had a dock space in San Diego and rarely went north to San Pedro, so the family didn't get to see it very often. I remember being on it one time...

And what happened to the boat? It seems that the Captain had gone out drinking one night, using the boat to make his way to some harborside bars...and on his way back to the dock, the boat began to sink, for some reason never clearly explained. The boat settled onto the bottom of the harbor and since it wasn't that deep, the Captain simply stayed on the flying bridge and settled himself down on some cushions and went to sleep. That's where the Coast Guard found him the next day.

With insurance delays and other bad luck, the boat stayed under water far too long and the swollen wood made it a complete wreck. A disaster.

Dunnell

…Yesterday, as I was going through my collection of business cards, I found one of dad’s old ones. It was for the Dunnell Construction Co. - Refractory Contractors. I don’t remember the name so I will have to assume that it was short lived. And I don’t remember who his partner could have been, represented by the “ell” portion of the firm’s name. The office was located at 202 North Rose Street, Compton, CA. And the phone number was NEvada 6-9632. And the card had our home phone number on it as well, FRontier 2-4949. Now that number brought back some memories!

I know that dad went into business for himself at least twice. And neither venture was successful. It was the last one that had the worst possible luck, as he had a contract for the boiler work on the brand new Stardust Casino in Las Vegas. That was back in the days when the Mafia owned Las Vegas and their plan was to have the casino built while avoiding as many payments as possible, and then declare bankruptcy in the final days of construction. The assets, the casino…would be sold and the buyers would be the same people (under a different name) that had built the casino. Surprise! Almost every subcontractor on the project went bankrupt, dad included.

Comptometer

Not a good picture of a comptometer. I thought they were fascinating! All sorts of whirring and clicking would go on while the numbers revolved in the little windows. Finally, there would be one last, and grand "thump" from the machine and the answer would be displayed. Was it right?

Swally's

I didn’t travel with dad to all of the places he worked and could only go with him if it worked out with my school vacation times. But he did take me to work with him at times when he was going in to the office on a Saturday. And once in awhile I would get to spend the whole day with him during a regular workday; going to lunch with him and the other men in the office. Swally’s Key Club was the favorite hangout for lunch. And I remember dad buying a Racing Form newspaper just before lunch, studying it and then placing bets with a bookie in the club. (The bartender)

Sometimes dad would bring his work home over the weekends and take over the kitchen table with a pile of plans, his trusty comptometer and stacks of paper. And that work would include refractory product catalogs, which I always enjoyed looking at. The most common catalogs were those of the Gladding McBean Company, a name that I found to be comical for some reason.

(And I remember a patio that dad had built for his sister, Jay, at her home in Tarzana. He used firebrick for the patio and most were stamped, “Gladding McBean”.)

After awhile it was no longer a funny name, it was just part of what dad did for a living. So you can imagine my surprise when I found the Gladding McBean factory was located just a few miles from our house in Roseville.

Swally's? I looked it up on Google and found nothing at all...although I think mom was still using black Swally's ash trays until the very end of her life.

Travels

Industrial Furnaces. Quite a catchy name isn’t it? The company was owned by Mr. Fr*****r and his name was soon known by all of dad’s children. We heard his name at dinner, when dad was home…and that always depended on Mr. Fr*****r’s plans. We heard his name morning and night, weekends, vacations, Christmas, and always we wondered; why did dad work for him?

(It’s strange that my first memory of this time in dad’s life would include Mr. Fr*****r. Obviously he wielded a great influence in our lives.)

But I do think that dad enjoyed his job, the job outside of the office and away from Mr. Fr*****r. When I was younger, I would look forward to the end of school as that meant that I would have a chance to go on a business trip with dad. I didn’t get to go on all of them, but I certainly remember the ones I went on.

Dad had a major account with the U.S. Gypsum Company and that meant that Industrial Furnaces was always engaged in the relining of the calcining ovens at one or more of their plants. Calcining is the heating of the crushed gypsum ore, breaking it down into plaster. These plants were located in some very odd places and so it was a real adventure to go on a trip with dad. Let’s see…Gerlach, Nevada was one site, Plaster City was another.

And while I was traveling with him I got a chance to see how much he enjoyed the fellowship of the men that worked for him. And it was quite obvious that they enjoyed working for him. I was told, more than once, by bricklayers and hod carriers, that my dad was “great guy”.

Careers

More on Dad's careers...

Dad didn’t stay with the DWP, although I think he regretted that; as he told me more than once that I should get a job with them, or with Southern California Edison. He also told me that I should avoid getting into construction. The point being that DWP, or any utility, represented security and construction didn’t. I have a suspicion that he left DWP for a higher paying construction job, but I don’t know that for sure. (Good point...ask your parents those kinds of questions!)

I do remember him telling me that during the early years of World War II, he worked on a project to camouflage the North American Aviation plant in Burbank. That is now the Burbank airport. His job involved covering the entire plant with a special netting that made it appear as if the plant had disappeared and been replaced with acres of open fields, roads and trees. He told me that they placed artificial trees, cars and trucks upon artificial roads on the roof to protect the plant from the possibility of being seen from the air.

Other than that, I don’t remember any of his other jobs until I was 8 or 9 years old. That was when he was working for a company called Industrial Furnaces. He had a job as estimator, engineer and project manager; all in one. This company specialized in the relining of boilers and furnaces for commercial applications, such as power plants and steam generators.

This became his career and I will add some of my memories of those days tomorrow.

History

Part of the success of the project was the spectacular Boulder Canyon project, now known as Hoover Dam. The DWP, manager of its own hydroelectric power facilities along the Los Angeles Aqueduct, was instrumental in the struggle to gain federal approval for the project which combined flood control, water supply, and energy production for the three states that form the lower Colorado River basin.

Los Angeles, as primary consumer of the power, guaranteed its power purchases against the federal government’s costs for the dam. Completed in 1935, the dam began furnishing power to the city the following year over a 226-mile transmission line built by the DWP.

The story of Dad's work on this project also included working on the lines from Boulder to Phoenix. It seems that Arizona had negotiated a contract with the Department of Water and Power (DWP) to build their lines as well, since DWP had experienced crews.

1936? Dad was 21 years old.

An Imperfect Memory

When I began this series on my father's life, I thought I knew more than (apparently) I do...Dates that I should know, escape me and I look everywhere in my files, hoping to find more information. When did my mother and father marry? I have a photo of that day, but no date? I have even lost the date that he died; though I know that he was 65 at the time and that would have meant 1980; but what day and what month?

I will continue as best I can and then fill in the dates as I find them...if I do.

For some of the dates I can use historical events to place Dad there. For instance, I know that he worked for the Department of Water and Power, Bureau of Power and Light for the city of Los Angeles. He was a lineman and during his career, he worked on the building of the transmission lines from Los Angeles to the site where they were completing Boulder Dam. - "In 1938, generators N-5 and N-6 were installed and placed in operation. Generators A-7 and A-8 followed in 1939, bringing the capacity of the powerplant to 704,800 kw and making it the largest hydroelectric powerplant in the world - a distinction held until surpassed by Grand Coulee Dam in 1949." We have photos of Dad in those days, showing him working high above the desert floor as they built the transmission towers and I will try and scan a few of theose for posting.

Dad, at 19

Dad and his sister, Jay. Dad is 19 in this picture.

Dad

A brief view of my father’s life…from my imperfect memory. Part One

I never knew much about Dad’s early life in Minnesota, but one of the things that I do remember him talking about, was the weather. He said he would never go back to live there. He said the winters in Duluth were brutal; and as far I know, he only returned once, just for a brief visit. (The next photo shows Dad and Jay in Duluth...in the summer!)

I do know that Nana, (his mother) his sister Jay and his father, William Bernie came to San Francisco in the 1920’s. And that was where they were abandoned. According to the very vague stories I heard, Grandfather Dunn, said something like, “I need to find some work…I’ll be back” and then disappeared, leaving Nana to raise her two children all by herself. He was heard from much later, but that's another story...

One of the memories I have is of the time when Dad told me that he would sometimes steal food (vegetables) from vendor’s carts on Market Street in San Francisco. He wasn’t bragging about it, he was simply telling me how life was then. This was in the late 1920's and early 1930’s; and the Great Depression was in full swing. He said that he would tell his mother that the food was given to him. He was 14 or 15 years old.

That story effected me greatly. More later…

Older

Here's another...I think he may be older. And he was trusted with a knife. Wonder what he was planning on whittling?

Age of 4

Here is Dad at the age of 4 (1919). Summertime in Minnesota.

Father's Day

Since tomorrow is Father’s Day, I thought I would turn this genealogical expedition around and spend some time with photos and tales of my father’s life.

But first, a story about the origins of this holiday.

Sonora Dodd, of Washington, first had the idea of a "father's day." She thought of the idea for Father's Day while listening to a Mother's Day sermon in 1909.

Sonora wanted a special day to honor her father, William Smart. Smart, who was a Civil War veteran, was widowed when his wife died while giving birth to their sixth child. Mr. Smart was left to raise the newborn and his other five children by himself on a rural farm in eastern Washington.

After Sonora became an adult she realized the selflessness her father had shown in raising his children as a single parent. It was her father that made all the parental sacrifices and was, in the eyes of his daughter, a courageous, selfless, and loving man. Sonora's father was born in June, so she chose to hold the first Father's Day celebration in Spokane, Washington on the 19th of June, 1910.

President Calvin Coolidge, in 1924, supported the idea of a national Father's Day. Then in 1966 President Lyndon Johnson signed a presidential proclamation declaring the 3rd Sunday of June as Father's Day. President Richard Nixon signed the law which finally made it permanent in 1972.

And I always thought the holiday had been created, like so many others, by Hallmark…and the thought that Nixon had something to do with it makes me feel sort of creepy.

William Bernie Dunn. Born on the 7th of February, 1915. He was the last of two children born to William Bernie Dunn (Senior) and Eava Lena Dunn (Seymour). He was born in Duluth, Minnesota and I am certain that it was a cold day when he was born. Winter in Minnesota can be brutal! He was also an exceptionally large baby, weighing 13 pounds. He joined an older sister, Jay, born in 1912.

I wish I knew more about his early life. I have some photos taken while the family still lived in Minnesota and they don’t tell much of a story, but I will include them here for your own speculation.

After the photos, I will return with some more information about Dad.

Looks Like?

Here's a good photo of Grandpa Ray. Do you see any resemblance when you look in the mirror?

Who Are These People?

A little comedy...Grandpa Ray is the one with the Uncle Sam costume. Wouldn't you like to know more about this photo? What was the name of the play? How old were they?

No Date

I wish I had a date for this...Grandpa Ray at a very early age. So solemn.

Raymond and Dot

Here is a photo of Grandpa Ray and Dot. This was during happier times...And notice, he has hair! Not a lot, but you can see it.

Grandpa Ray

Let’s go back to Raymond Riddle Fifer…or should I say “go forward”? Either way, Raymond is my grandfather on my mother’s side. And he was the only grandfather I ever knew. My first memories of him are when I was about 6 years old, so they are hazy memories at best. We lived in Manhattan Beach at that time and Grandpa lived in Sacramento. That was a long ways away! There were no Interstate freeways and the only road to Sacramento was Highway 99. I remember spending a short period of time with my Grandpa and Elaine. (He had divorced and re-married) It was summer time and he and Elaine lived in the tree section of downtown Sacramento. I can still remember the trees arching over the street and giving our bare feet some relief by providing cool shade to walk in. I remember holding my grandpa’s hand as we walked to a community pool and then spent the afternoon there, beating the heat by sitting in the wading pool. I also remember the evenings, with the heat so thick that even conversations were muted. I would sit on the porch steps and listen to the sounds of summer.

Later, after an evening bath, I would lie in bed and listen to Grandpa and Elaine in quiet conversation on the front porch. A whirring fan as it pushed the hot air around. The crickets chirping. And I would fall asleep, quite content.

My grandpa had a hole in his head and he was bald! Well, not an actual hole in his head, but a BB sized indentation in his forehead and it always fascinated me! I always had to touch it…of course he made up stories of how that odd hole happened to be. And the fact that he was bald was a real plus as far as I was concerned.

I think I was about 8 or 9 when I visited him again, and once more it was for about a week. Only this time it was in Bakersfield. On Alder Street. Grandpa was a manager for General Motors Acceptance Corporation and had been transferred to this location. It was the last place he lived. And once more I remember falling asleep during a summer night, the swamp cooler fan squeaking rhythmically. And I was content.

I was 13 when Grandpa died. May 31st 1954. And I still miss him.

Oh, we went to see Elaine sometime in the 1960’s. Denise was just a baby, but she was walking. And she walked all around Grandpa’s living room, picking up little knickknacks and putting them in her diaper bag; to take home…I think Grandpa would have laughed.

That date, 1954…it’s important because Grandpa was only 60 years old. And his father, Great Grandpa Louis, was also 60 years old when he died. So you can imagine that I spent a few days wondering how far apart we were, genetically. Did I have that gene? The 60 year gene? But my 60 years have passed and I’m getting close to 65 now. Keeping my fingers crossed!

Thomas and Elenor

I can’t find out much more regarding the Smith’s…but with that name you have to expect some difficulty. But I do have more to tell you about Rebecca’s parents. Her father, Thomas Sinclair, (4th Great Grandfather) was born in October of 1772, in Rowan County, North Carolina. Her mother, Elenor Boone Power, (4th Great Grandmother) was 4 years younger, being born in November of 1776. She was also born in Rowan County, North Carolina.

Look at those dates! Declaration of Independence and the 4th of July! I wonder how long it took for the news to get down to some small village in the mountains of North Carolina? And what did our 5th Great Grandparent’s think of this event? Or was pioneer life so tough that simply making a living was worry enough? I like to think that they celebrated the birth of a nation.

I remember taking the bus from Jacksonville, North Carolina all the way to Washington, D.C. At the time, I was stationed at Camp Lejeune and three of us wanted to go to see all of the sites. We didn’t own a car, so it was the Greyhound for us. I remember that the trip seemed to take forever. Probably about 8 hours, as it was 375 miles. How long would it have taken our G-g-g-g-grandparents to make that trip by horse or wagon?

And now for the rest of the story…Thomas Sinclair and Elenor, his wife, were first cousins. On April 9th, 1799, Amos Sinclair purchased 300 acres on a branch running into Flat Creek, located in that part of Montgomery County, Kentucky which is now Bath County. His sons, John and Thomas, accompanied him there and on the 25th of July 1803, he deeded 150 acres to John and on Feb. 14 he deeded 150 acres to Thomas.

On 25 November 1819, Thomas signs with his wife Elenor when he sells 164 and one half acres on Flat Creek in Bath County. He then purchased of the United States Government at the land office in Jeffersonville, 160 acres of land in Jackson County, Indiana at $2.00 per acre. The family moves to Indiana. It is not a good move. Final certificate was given July 31, 1821.

According to family tradition, Thomas Sinclair and his wife, died suddenly and at about the same time. The last record of their being alive is on August 27, 1821, When Thomas Sinclair and his wife Elenor "of Jackson County, Indiana” sell 14 acres of land on Elkhorn Creek in Fayette County, Kentucky to Elenor’s brother, John Power. In Sept. 1823 Letters of Administration was granted Benjamin Snelling [brother in law of Thomas Sinclair] on the estate of Thomas Sinclair. In June 1824 Spencer Boyd was appointed guardian of the "infant orphans of Thomas Sinclair." The record shows that he traveled to Jackson County Ind. and returned the children to Bath County, Kentucky. So, sometime between August of 1821 and September of 1823, the two parents suddenly die.

The 1810 census of Montgomery County, Kentucky, and the 1820 census of Jackson County, Indiana indicate that they had ten children, six girls and four boys.

So, they died some time between 1821 and 1824. Rebecca would have been 17 or 20 at the time. Here’s a list of the children and their birthdates.
Martha_(Patsy) SINCLAIR b: 1795 in Fayette, KY
Miss SINCLAIR b: ABT 1799 in Fayette, KY
Willis P SINCLAIR b: ABT 1803 in Bath, KY
Rebecca SINCLAIR b: ABT 1805 in Bath, KY
Amos SINCLAIR b: 6 JUL 1807 in Bath, KY
Susannah SINCLAIR b: 1809 in Bath, KY
Elenor SINCLAIR b: ABT 1811 in Bath, KY
Thomas SINCLAIR b: ABT 1814 in Bath, KY
William P. SINCLAIR b: ABT 1817 in Bath, KY
Juliane SINCLAIR b: 1819/1820 in JACKSON, IN

(This information comes from a book, "Descendants of Israel Boone" by Alice H. Boone, Springfield, Mo. 1969)

See that name, “Boone”? Sound familiar?

Now Where?

Where do I go from here? That's about as far as I can go with the Riddles for now. I would love to know more but the trail grows cold in Tennessee. And if we go back to Grandpa Louis, we could follow the other side of that tree, his mother, 2nd Great Grandmother Sarah Jane Smith. Our ancestors go way back on that side!

3rd Great Grandmother Rebecca Sinclair married Ephraim Henry Smith. (That's where Sarah Jane Smith comes from) And it's Rebecca that I will tell you about first...Born in 1805, in Bath, Kentucky. If you can find Bath on your map, you will see that it is close to Sassafras and to Weeksbury, sort of in between the two of them, and about 40 miles from the Tennessee border. She had 8 siblings, 5 sisters and 3 brothers. She married Ephraim in 1823; a June bride! At that time they were living in Indiana, near the Kentucky border. She died during childbirth at the age of 44 while she was in Paris, Missouri. Her last two children were born in Paris and so we can assume that the family had moved there prior to 1845. Sad...

Today, Paris isn't near anywhere...State Route 15 is Main Street in Paris, but that's not saying much. I'm sure it's quiet and I would bet they don't have a Starbuck's.

More later.

The Fort

Now that you have a sense of where Fort Madison is in its relationship to the rest of the world, try these links to see some interesting images from there, and from neighboring Keokuk, Iowa.

http://www.oldfortmadison.com/index.html


http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/ia/lee/postcards/pcs-lee.html

Another map

Madisonia

Here is the news clipping I promised...

Madisonia…Reviewing our heritage

By Ted Sloat

The severe drought of 1839 left the Mississippi so low that an upriver steamboat remained out in the channel rather than attempt a landing here at the site of old Fort Madison and the captain hurried ashore in a skiff.

“We need a doctor bad,” he told the group at the landing. “We’ve got a mighty sick woman in labor aboard.”

Some hurried to fetch Dr. J. C. Walker who joined the captain and headed back to the steamboat.

“Her name is Mrs. Thomas Riddle,” the captain explained as he leaned to the oars. “She and her husband and their three sons rode up from Keokuk to Montrose on the stage wagon and I think the jolting must have started her. We were loading at Montrose and tried to talk her and her husband into staying at Montrose, but they wouldn’t listen. They were going to settle in Fort Madison, they said, and it was so close to the end of their journey.”

Dr. Walker helped deliver twin babies but was unable to save their lives or that of the mother. The bodies were brought ashore and, as was customary, a quick burial was made.

Family legend says the triple grave is in Old Settler’s Park, at that time called Upper Square, but it seems more likely that burial was made in City Cemetery which had been surveyed four years earlier when General John Knapp and his cousin, Nathaniel Knapp, founded the town of Fort Madison.

There were already several graves in City cemetery by 1839. The first burial there was that of General John Knapp who died in 1837 following a New Year’s party at his hotel, the Madison House. He became ill and quinsy developed which proved fatal.

His cousin, Nathaniel, was buried there six months later. He was slain at a small hostelry not far from Bentonsport where he and an acquaintance had gone on business. When they returned to the hostelry around midnight they found a man from Burlington in their bed and Knapp demanded to know what he was doing there. The man leaped up and ran Knapp through with a sword cane.

Thomas Riddle didn’t live long after his wife’s death, and left three orphaned sons, William, George and Alec. All three were adopted but information about George and Alec is meager.

George was adopted by Dr. Walker and his wife, Martha, a daughter of Dr. Abraham Stewart. She had come to Fort Madison with her parents in 1835 and married Dr. Walker not long after his arrival here the following year.

One of their daughters, Emily, became the wife of Rev. George Stewart, pastor of the Union Presbyterian Church here in the 1870’s.

George grew up in Fort Madison, moved to Montrose and later became manager of the Rand lumber Co. at Burlington. His son, William Oscar, married Katherine Eltinge, of Mediapolis.

The family’s search for the mother who died so tragically in childbirth aboard the steamboat here lasted for generations but no trace of the grave has been found.

This account is certainly interesting, although it is somewhat disjointed at times and hard to follow. Plus, there are now more questions…One account has three sons named, George, William and Thomas. Here we have Alec? And what about that murder with a sword cane? That’s an interesting side story.

One thing I did look up and that was the distances between the towns of Keokuk, Montrose and Fort Madison. It was a total journey of 20 miles on the river, with 8 of those miles between Montrose and Fort Madison. (I drive to Chico, 20 miles, quite easily and sometimes more than once a day.) Imagine the story if…if our 3rd Great Grandmother and Grandfather had listened to the advise of the captain and decided to spend a few days in Montrose before hurrying on to Fort Madison. Imagine how our 3rd Great Grandfather felt when he realized that he was now alone with his three small sons; alone on the edge of the wilderness. All of his plans and dreams were now gone forever. He was, I’m sure, a young man, probably in his late twenties or early thirties. In a few more years (1841) he would be gone and his children would be orphans.

(I will post a map in a few minutes and it will show you the relationship of the three towns mentioned in the news clip.)

A Thought

I just had a thought about Grandma Hattie...can you imagine her feelings when she left Iowa to come to Seattle with her young family? If you have never been to the midwest, let me tell you that everything in a small town is anchored to the local grain elevator. Your house is so many blocks from the elevator, the market is just south, or west or east of the elevator. You can see the elevator from every house in town. That obelisk dominates the view and anchors you to the prairie.

Well, she let go of her anchor...and that must have been exciting, and frightening. Seattle was evolving from a wild west boom town of the 1800's and into a dynamic city of the new century. There were no grain elevators to dominate the view, only lofty cedars and new iron buildings. The masts of the ships dominated the harbor view and off to the east and the north were volcanoes! Not many of those in Iowa...

Riddle

I think I have explored most of the information I have for Grandpa Louis. I wish I knew more about his wife, my 1st Great Grandmother Hattie Letha Fifer (Riddle). My mom didn’t have a lot to say about this side of the family, but I do remember her saying that she loved her grandmother very much.

I will tell you some more about the Riddle family and then, since that line fades away in the early 1800’s, I will then return to the late 1800’s tell you about my grandpa Ray, Dot and Elaine…and a little bit about Mary Jane Greenup.

OK, onto the Riddles; Hattie was born in Montrose, Iowa in 1866. Her father was George Riddle, (my 2nd Great Grandfather) and her mother was Margaret Watts, (my 2nd Great Grandmother). George had two brothers, Thomas and William. Their father’s name was Thomas M. Riddle (my 3rd Great Grandfather) and I haven’t found his wife’s name yet…

But I did find a real live second or third cousin a couple of years ago and she sent me a lot of Riddle information, including a letter from William, which I have typed into Word and now I will post that letter.

Riddle Family History

During the early years of the 1800’s, there lived in Greene County Tennessee, a Scotch family by the name of Riddle. I do not know how many there were in the clan, but one of them, “Jacob” Thomas Riddle, a mountain teamster, and his wife with their 3 little sons; William aged 6, years, Thomas Alexander aged 4 years, and George Riddle, aged 2 years, who came west by team to the Mississippi river and from there to Fort Madison (Iowa) in the year 1838.

Grandmother died on the boat coming up the river. Grandpa took up a claim and erected a log cabin near the site of the present High School building. There he lived with his 3 little sons until his death in 1840. (2 years after his arrival)

Grandpa and Grandmother were buried in what is now known as the old Atlee Cemetery. The little boys were then bound out (adopted) to different families to work for board and lodging. My uncle, William Riddle, was lucky in that he was allowed to get an education. My father was only allowed to go to school for one 6 month term, however he studied when he had the time and could read, write and figure quite well, despite the handicap.

When Grandpa Riddle came to Fort Madison, the town consisted of 6 or 8 houses near where the Schaefer Pen Company now stands, and the town depended on the well that had been dug, I believe it was inside the old fort before it was burned. All of the rest of Fort Madison was covered with heavy timber and the nights were made scary by the howling of the timber wolves. However, the 3 boys survived the hardships of pioneer life. William, the oldest, became a carpenter and helped to build the old Capitol building in Des Moines, making his home there until his death. His children were Alice, Emma, Belle, and John Riddle. John went to Indianapolis, Indiana and made his home.

Thomas Alexander Riddle, (my father) finally grew to manhood and in the winter of 1861-62, he enlisted in Company G of the 4th Iowa Cavalry., serving until the end of the Civil War. On September 10, 1865, he was married to Letha Malcolm. Their first son, Hamilton, died in infancy and was buried in Gilmer Cemetery, northwest of Fort Madison, near his maternal Grandfather. William (myself) was born near Viele on February 19, 1868. Frank Malcolm was born April 4th 1871 and died June 21st, 1943 and was buried in Elmwood Cemetery, Fort Madison.

On September 4th, 1893 William was married to Mary Florence Petty and made their home at Viele. Their son, Alex Ellsworth was born July 5th, 1894. William Howard was born March 20th, 1896. Russell Edward was born February 26th 1899 and James Warren was born August 11th, 1905.
Thomas Alexander Riddle died November 6th, 1904 at the age of 70. Russell Edward Riddle died November 20th, 1905

In the spring of 1902, we moved from Viele to a farm just north of Montrose, where we lived until, the spring of 1906, going from there to a farm 3 miles south of Montrose, where we lived until 1934. Mary Florence Riddle dying February 5th of that year.

Thomas Alexander and Letha Riddle are buried in the Wilson Cemetery near Fort Madison, and Russell E and Mary Florence Riddle are buried in the Elmwood Cemetery in Fort Madison.

(William Riddle was the cousin of my 1st Great Grandmother, Hattie Letha Riddle.)

And I have one last item; a newspaper column that was given to me by Sharon Little, our distant relative from Iowa. This item fills in some details of the death of our 3rd Great Grandmother. I will have to type it into Word so that I can post it.

Another "Tree"

Another tree to look at. As you can see, I'm still looking for information.

Pioneer Square - With Stolen Totem Pole

This picture is pre-1905 as that was the year that a cast iron and glass pergola was added to the Square. See the trolleys? Imagine a pergola in front of them but in the Square along the sidewalk. More info... http://www.answers.com/topic/pioneer-square-seattle-washington

1906

We know (vaguely) when Louis Fifer and his family moved to Seattle…the obituaries don’t give a definite date so I have to make some assumptions. One obituary states, “Some twenty years ago the Long – Bell Lumber Company by whom he was employed sent him to Seattle to manage its Pacific coast buying office.” So I would say that it was some time in the year 1906, but it could have been earlier than that.

Washington was a “new” state, only 17 years old when the Fifer’s arrived, being admitted to the Union on November 11, 1889, with the signature of President Benjamin Harris.

What was Seattle like in 1906? Well, it was very much a boom town. That was one of the reasons to send a seasoned lumberman to manage the business. The Klondike Gold Rush of 1897 had made Seattle a town to reckon with and very soon debates raged over whether Seattle should be an "open city," welcoming gold rush miners and allowing or tolerating services such as saloons and brothels. Some argued the city should be closed because of the presumed corruption brought by these activities. During the last years of the nineteenth century and the first years of the twentieth, open city advocates won. Downtown Seattle featured a variety of "services" for miners and thrived economically.

Here is a good link to Seattle history.

http://www.historylink.org/essays/output.cfm?file_id=3643

And how about this for some humor?
Horse harness makers unionize in Seattle in August 1906.
During August 1906, 22 horse harness makers and leather workers organize a union, Local 156. Most of the trade joins the union.
In 1908, the harness makers were earning from $2.75 to $3.25 per week. They worked a nine hour day, six days a week (a 54 hour week).

Another Map - Iowa

Here's a map of Montrose, Iowa and the adjoining city of Nauvoo, Illinois; less than a mile across the Mississippi River.

L. R. Fifer

I have spent some time telling you about Louis Riley Fifer, but I have only told you of his death and not much of his life. I can only guess at some of it, but I will tell you what I know.

“Grandpa Louis” was born on February 20, 1866, in the town of Montrose, Iowa. When he was born, he already had 3 older sisters, Mary Belle(1860), Retta Elma (1863)and Rose Ella (1864). A younger brother, William Albert, would be born in 1869. His father was William Riley Fifer and he was 30 years old at the time of the birth of his first son. Louis’s mother was Sarah Jane (Smith) and she was just 34 years old at his birth.

Iowa in 1866? What was life like in those times? Well, Montrose is located directly on the shore of the Mississippi River and directly across the river from Nauvoo, Illinois. Nauvoo has an interesting history and it must have had some effect on its neighbor across the river; although the river is almost a mile wide at this point.

http://www.nauvoo.net/history/

You have to remember that Iowa was on the frontier in 1866. The Indian wars continued in the neighboring states of Missouri and Nebraska. The Civil war was finally over, but the nation was still bitterly divided. No town or village had been spared the effects of that war.

And today? Here is a sample of what Montrose has become.
http://www.city-data.com/city/Montrose-Iowa.html

More About "Lou"

Here is another clipping I have concerning the death of Louis Fifer. The clipping doesn’t have any information as to its source and the date is June 1…so I presume it’s still 1926.

Hoo Hoo Club Honors Memory of Departed Brother

The members of the Seattle Hoo-Hoo Club at their meeting of May 2o in the Marine Room of the Olympic Hotel, honored the memory of the late L. R. Fifer, who had been a prominent and enthusiastic member of the club since its organization. The meeting was presided over by Alvin Schwager who was the first president of the club. Mr. Fifer was with Mr. Schwager, one of a group responsible for the organization of the Seattle Club. He rarely missed a meeting. The following resolution was presented and adopted:

“ Whereas, the Silent Messenger has called Louis Riley Fifer to the Great Beyond, and

“Whereas, Louis Riley Fifer, (№ 7048) was a valued and highly esteemed member of the Concatenated Order of Hoo-Hoo, being a member of the Board of Directors of the Hoo-Hoo Club of Seattle and Viceregent Snark of Seattle District at the time of his death and

“Whereas, he will live in our memories as one of the leaders of that great generation of inspired, far sighted men whose constructive work in laying the solid foundation of our order made it possible to accomplish all those things that have been worth while, and

Whereas, we owe him an everlasting debt of gratitude which can never be fully paid, and we can only in our feeble way try to show in some measure our respect and the high regard in which we held him by carrying on the work to which he has contributed so much, and

‘Whereas, due to his willingness to work unselfishly for the best interests of the lumber industry and for the widening influence of the fraternal spirit of Hoo-Hoo, with a foresight and vision second to none, the lumber industry and the Concatenated Order of Hoo-Hoo have sustained a loss which can never be filled.

“Therefore, be it resolved, that the Hoo-Hoo Club of Seattle, recognizing that they have lost from their counsels an outstanding man of recognized ability, sterling character, noble ideals and fine companionship, and that the Concatenated Order of Hoo-Hoo and the lumber trade in general has suffered the loss of one who gladly made sacrifices and devoted much time and earnest thought to the welfare of his fellow-lumbermen, we express our profound sorrow at the loss we have suffered and

“Resolved, further, that we express our sympathy to his family in their irreparable loss,

“Be it further resolved, that this memorial be spread upon the records of the Hoo-Hoo Club of Seattle and copies be sent to his family.”

Whew! Those testimonials were certainly flowery. And the sentences run on and on. Not withstanding the flowery and generous praise, I certainly wish I knew more about this great grandfather of mine. He sounds like a fascinating guy!

We found these clippings in my mother’s effects after she died. Now I can’t help but wonder why we didn’t know more about her grandfather. And it’s too late to ask. So if you have questions about your own family…ask now!

Ooops!

I forgot to turn on the Comments for anonymous users. It's back on now...

Our Best Guess

As best we can guess...the arrow points to Louis Fifer. Laurae says I have the same nose. Anyway, the photo is of Hoo-Hoo members at the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exhibition of 1909, held in Seattle.