Dead Kirkpatricks....

I am sorting through all my papers in my genealogy files and I am trying to figure some out and share them with the world in the hope that perhaps someone will be able to benefit from the investment.

I am uploading the documents a Facebook page for Kirkpatrick Genealogy - so fabulous to have that resource.

But, here they are for the world to see. I have not connected these people to my own family, just the larger clan....

Harem Pants

So, who would have known that there is at least one web site dedicated to the sale of Harem Pants - of all sorts! Not that I know anything about this web site, but here it is.

What I wanted to talk about was the place I found in Istanbul where I bought some very fun pants. Two pair, actually. Los Banditos right near the Galata Tower in the Beyoğlu neighborhood.

Galata Tower

When one wanders around Istanbul - and much of southwestern Turkey, one will see tons of harem pants for sale. The fabrics are really pretty. But why I bought my pants here was because they told me they designed and manufactured their own line. I certainly didn't want something that every other tourist to Turkey bought....

I took this quote off the tag on one of the pairs of pants:

We've been partying at night running around all over the place during the day in Istanbul, so that we could design and manufacture these clothes. We wanted to keep everything natural, and make everybody happy.

I took this picture from their web site. I saw this fabric and liked it a lot, but, alas, they did not have something in my size. I ended up with a very bright multicolored pant and a standard black pant. I have been complimented on both. Their fabrics are unique, if not the idea of harem pants.



If in Istanbul and you seek original clothing, check out Los Banditos.



They claim to ship for free to Europe, the Middle East, Russia and North Africa....

Can we Identify Karolyn?

I had hoped the additional information of having Karolyn's brother's name would help me find her in the Census. But I don't know where she is born or where she and Herb met. It seems she had easy enough access to visit with Herb's mother Nellie Jane, so I assume she did not travel from Brooklyn to Troy, but I don't know. My sense is that she met Nellie Jane at Charles and Grace's wedding. We know she lived/served in Bridgeport, CT as a nurse during WWI.

What other hints do we have?

I assume she is Herb's age or maybe a bit younger.

I don't know her heritage - is she Irish? German? Here is a search in NY state for women named Karolyn. Only 8 of them. But which county? And no brother Ed for any of them. And some were very young in 1915, so Karolyn can't be Herb's Karolyn. I guess I should explore Connecticut and New Jersey, too.

September 1, 1918

Dearest Mother,

I haven’t much news for you. The week has been very uneventful – rather more so than usual. We’re still staying along in rest billets and taking things easy. Tomorrow, however, four of us go on permission. We’ll have seven days in the leave area clear, not counting the days going and coming, probably twelve or thirteen days altogether.

I had a letter from Charlie and Grace this week written while they were taking a vacation in Waterford, Connecticut. Chas mentioned the fact that he expects to be called pretty soon. I doubt very much if they’ll take him, however he said he had several letters from me about the time he wrote that was August 6^th. I’m glad of it because I was so afraid he had an idea that I’ve been neglecting him.

I also had a letter from Karolyn this week. Her brother Ed is in a machine gun company and was then expecting to lave very shortly. Unfortunately there were none of your letter in this week’s mail. Usually there are if there is any mail at all. I’ve been expecting a letter from Tom, too.

You know, that package you ordered me through Wanamaker’s never came through. There’s another chap in the Section who was supposed to receive one from them, but he never got one either.

The principal amusement lately is reading the war news. We manage to get the papers fairly regularly and they certainly read well. The British and French are progressing right along. I’m hoping for a good all American demonstration before the winter just to show Ludendorf [sic] what he can expect next spring. I think there are enough Yanks here to do it very nicely.

Your affectionate son,

Herb.

Van Gorder - Artist

I am gathering all my photos to go through them again and I came across this painting which was saved throughout time by my family members... So, a quick search does not help me discover who this artist was. It never struck me as a particularly fabulous painting... but it was saved, so it had to have meant something to someone...

So, was the artist special to someone in my family? Did a family member pick up the painting at a street fair? (When did artist street fairs begin?) Is Van Gorder a cousin of some nature?

I have sent an email to a living Van Gorder in wikitree. We will see if I get a response. Who knows what I might learn?



The painting measures a whopping 5" x 7".

Could the scene be upstate New York in the Fall? I am sure there are plenty of other places where this might have been composed.... but given where my family lived, I make the preceding guess. If anyone can help, I would be grateful!

The Belfort Ruse

I took this historical tidbit from the History Channel.

On August 30, 1918, in Belfort, France, a small town near the German border, Colonel Arthur L. Conger of the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) plants a copy of a false operational order for an impending Allied attack in a wastebasket; as intended, it is later found and removed by a German agent.

The Belfort Ruse, as the trick was dubbed, was the result of a suggestion by the French commander in chief, Philippe Petain, who was alarmed by the lack of security surrounding the upcoming Allied offensive near St. Mihiel, France. Planned for September 9, 1918, it was to be the first significant operation of the war under United States command; French troops were set to take part as well. The German-held salient near St. Mihiel, south of Verdun, had long plagued the Allies in France; it blocked the transport of troops and supplies on the railway line between Paris and Nancy, while posing a danger to any French offensive operation in the Meuse-Argonne region immediately to the west of the salient and providing the Germans with a forward defensive base that protected their all-important stores of coal and iron. The French had failed repeatedly to capture the salient; now it was time for another attempt.

After learning that the plans for the offensive were being talked about in Paris, Petain wrote a personal missive to the American commander in chief, General John J. Pershing, suggesting a ploy to misdirect the Germans as to the details of the upcoming attack. Pershing agreed, and with French assistance the Americans planted the false order in a Belfort hotel, presumably one where the French knew a German agent was on the staff.

The Belfort Ruse was designed to trick the German High Command into believing that the thrust of the Allied offensive, which would begin less than two weeks later, on September 12, in the St. Mihiel salient, would instead be launched near Belfort toward the German town of Mulhausen (Mulhouse), just across the border. The extent to which the ruse proved successful is debatable; some German divisions were indeed diverted to the Belfort region, but these troops did not come from St. Mihiel. The German command, aware of the impending attack on the salient, apparently made the decision not to hold it, and to withdraw from the area. This withdrawal was still in progress when the U.S. attacked on September 12, and by September 16 the AEF controlled the area.

World War 2 Photos - the Navy, USS Portsmouth & USS Portland

I found some slides in among my father's things... I am afraid I do not know when these photos were taken so I don't know on which ship they were on. I do know it had to be either the USS Portsmouth or the USS Portland.

Obviously my father was interested in the planes.... Or this was really unusual.

My father worked with radar, radio and sonar.

Wish I had a clue as to who the other guys/sailors might be.
























I don't know where I got thee photographs, probably ancestry.com... Thought they would be worth adding to this post. Maybe someone can identify which ship my Dad was on by comparing the images....

USS Portland

USS Portsmouth

Last year at this time I was talking about this...

Inflation Era Bank notes from Germany

Look what I found among my father's papers. Now, I can't figure out why he would have them... I mean, if they are from the 1920s, then a little early for him. And they are a little late for Herb's time in Europe... So, why would my father have them?

Looks like maybe it was printed in February 1923.

Fun to see, though.

Yale Law School in 1952

So, any interest in knowing what it cost to attend Yale Law School in the 1950s? Not much. Shocking, really...

According to Saving.org's calculator, the $526.50 owed was the equivalent of only $4,665.23 in 2015 dollars. Shall we discuss rising costs of education? Holy cow.

Gibson-Sullivan Wedding Annoucement from 1952

As an amateur genealogist I have been blessed by family members saving some interesting documents and (unmarked!) photos.

Today I came across this wedding announcement, but I am afraid I have no idea who the people are and when my father might have met them. Perhaps from his time at college, or at the Pingy School... No idea. I know he met them before he headed off for his graduate degree.

So let me post the invitation here so that it goes on to live where someone might find it one day and be delighted.

So, I did some more research and discovered that Dwight Sullivan went to Princeton and Lucinda to Wellesley. So, now we know where my father met Dwight....





I hope fortune and happiness smiled on this couple.

Hill Farmstead Brewery

Ok, this is not a blog about beer.... But this beer is pretty damn fine and I am mentioning it because they have used genealogy of sorts to name their beers. They have an Ancestral series of brews.

I have tried Mary, Edward, & Legitimacy #3. All very nice.

I know nothing about the brewers, and their web site doesn't seem to help me add to my information. All it says on the 'About Us' page of their web site is:

Hill Farmstead Brewery is the culmination of many years of travel and insight—of experience and education—of friendships and explorations.

The brewery is the revival and continuation of 220 years of Hill heritage and hand crafted history in North Greensboro, Vermont.

Its logo is retrieved from a sign that once hung in Aaron Hill's (our great(x3) grandfather) tavern, just up the hill, in the early 1800s.

And here is the logo - copied from their web site.

Their mission:

To hand craft succinct, elegant beers of distinction and to revive and diversify the farmscape of the Hill Farmstead in Greensboro...

If you are ever in the area - on a Wednesday thru Saturday - I'd serious think of getting some of their beer.