A heartfelt words of sympathy from George Washington to Mrs. Stephen Day

 From A Brief history of Chatham Morris County, New Jersey by Charles A.  Philhower - pg.  21. 

After the battle of Springfield, General Washington on his return to Morristown sent word ahead to Mrs. Stephen Day (2nd wife of Captain Stephen DAY) that he would stop off to see her on his way through Chatham.  Accordingly, Mrs. Day dressed herself in a fine black silk gown with a large white scarf about her neck and awaited the coming of her distinguished visitor.  A small mahogany table

(Not the Caldwell attack.)
Battle of Long Island, an 1858 painting
 by Alonzo Chappel

was placed on the lawn in front of the house, and a pleasing repast was prepared for the General.  The call was made and heartfelt words of sympathy were extended to Mrs. Day in behalf of the horrible murder of her sister Hannah (Ogden) Caldwell at Connecticut Farms.  Much appreciation was shown by the General for her hospitality and often afterword's it is said the Washington called at the Day Mansion.  Captain Stephen Day, the husband of Mrs. Jeremiah Ogden Day was on of the staunchest patriots.  He was justice of the peace under both the British and Continental rule, served in the army, and was on of the first to aid the Continentals when requisitions for supplies were made.  It is said the he gave a whole beef when the first call was issued.  

Historic Stephen Day House c. 1936

~~~~~~

Captain Stephen Day was my 5th Great-uncle.  -Jan

Born about 1733 in Newark, Essex, New JerseySon of  Joseph Day and Hannah Sargeant Day. Stephen Day commanded a company under Colonel Ford, Eastern Battalion, Morris County, New Jersey Militia, at the Battle of Springfield, Union Co., New Jersey, June 23, 1780.  This was one of the last major engagement of the Revolutionary War in the North and it effectively put an end to the British "ambitions" in New Jersey.  General Washington praised the New Jersey Militia in this battle, writing later, "They flew to arms universally and acted with a spirit equal to anything I have seen in the course of the war."  

Hannah (Ogden) Caldwell.  Hannah, wife of Rev.  James CALDWELL & daughter of John OGDEN of Newark, was killed at Connecticut Farms by a shot from a British soldier, 25 Jun 1780. 

Recognized by the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) as a female patriot. 

htps://www.americanrevolution.org/hannah-caldwell-biography/

Grave Inscription 

"was killed at Connecticut Farms by a shot from a British Soldier.  Cruelly sacrificed by the enemies of her husband and her country" 

Historic Stephen Day House image:This image or media file contains material based on a work of a National Park Service employee, created as part of that person's official duties. As a work of the U.S. federal government, such work is in the public domain in the United States. See the NPS website and NPS copyright policy for more information.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chatham_Borough,_New_Jersey#/media/File:Historic_American_Buildings_Survey_R._Merritt_Lacey,_Photographer_April_30,_1936_EXTERIOR_-_NORTH_ELEVATION_-_Stephen_Day_House,_62_Elmwood_Road,_Chatham,_Morris_County,_NJ_HABS_NJ,14-CHAT,2-1.tif

 

Pvt John Craig, who died in World War 1.

John Craig was my 1st cousin twice removed sharing with him grandparents John Craig b. 1834 and Mary McQuillan b.1835. John was born on 26 Apr 1892 in Belfast, Co Antrim, Northern Ireland.
He was a Private in WW1 and died in battle of  Flanders Belgium on 31 Mar 1917, age 25 and buried in Aix-Noulette Communal Cemetery Extension Aix-Noulette , Departement du Pas-de-Calais , Nord-Pas-de-Calais , France. He was in D Company, 2nd Battalion, Leinster Regiment. And the son of Patrick and Agnes Craig, of 22 Lady St., Cullingtree Rd., Belfast.

His father and mother received pension after his death. They are listed on the pension.

More at: https://www.wikitree.com/photo/jpg/Craig-17948-2

 

1899 Thanksgiving Menu in CENTS!

 

Family relationships

First-degree family links are those between parents and children. 

Second-degree links include brothers and sisters, and grandchildren and grandparents. 

At the third degree, there are great-grandparents, uncles and aunts, and nieces and nephews. 

At the fourth degree, we find a person’s first cousins.

MORE in the diagram.

In short, the degree of kinship represents the number of intermediaries between two people, going back to the common ancestor, then returning to them. 

 

A Prescription from Winston Churchill’s Doctor, 1932.

 

How Poor was Poor.

 There were times in history when urine was used to tan animal skins. AND, when a whole family would pee in one pot and the contents sold to a local Tannery.

These were poor families. Once a day they would take the pot and sell the urine to live on the money.  

These people were said to be, “piss poor.”  And worse than that, there were families that could not afford a pot, there for “didn’t have a pot to piss in”.

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History from McGee Equine & Livestock Farrier Service, Rescue, and Rehabilitation

Found at: Mc Gee Equine & Livestock Farrier Service, Rescue, and Rehabilitation – The Horse Manure Problem of 1894
The 15 to 30 pounds of manure produced daily by each beast multiplied by the 150,000+ horses in New York city resulted in more than three million pounds of horse manure per day that somehow needed to be disposed of. That’s not to mention the daily 40,000 gallons of horse urine. Read the rest and check out their posts. https://www.facebook.com/McGeeEquineLivestockFarrierServiceandrescuecenter

 

A Major Find for MY Family Tree

www.familysearch.org/en/blog/1850s-fashion-trends

For many years I have searched for the surname of my great-great-grandmother, Sarah Ann. A few years ago I found the marriage records for two of her sons which I blogged about at this link. A Mystery To Me: 

https://jdswritersblog.wordpress.com/2023/08/07/a-mystery-to-me/

Pair of Ankle Boot from the 1850

From the marriage records the spelling of their father’s name, George, was a major clue.  Until I realized this Sarah’s last name looked to me to start with an S and spelt something like, Suchel or Siskil. But once I saw the similarity from the G in George to the first letter of Suchel/ Siskel I realized my search was for something more like Guchel of Giskil. 
From there I searched the family trees of the people related to me through DNA looking for our common surnames. In this case the surname was GASKILL. Then I looked to see if the surname we shared linked us through common ancestors and especially Gaskill. That was how I found Sarah Ann Gaskill.

So You're a Cook. What Else Can you do?

 Doris "Dorie" Miller, Hero of Pearl Harbor, was born on 12 Oct 1919 in Waco, Texas, United States. His parents were Conery Miller, who was a farmer and Henrietta Murray.  

 ​He was a​ large man and had played high school football​. 

Dorie was a​ cook aboard the battleship USS West Virginia when it was struck by Japanese bombers in Pearl Harbor on ​December 7​, 1941. He help​e​d ​​take the wounded men below deck​. ​Then D​orie did not hesitate to defend the ship ​by grab​bing a machine gun.

His actions awarded​ him the Navy Cross, which was presented to him by Adm. Chester Nimitz, the commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet. He was the first African American to be so awarded.

Award

His citation reads: "For distinguished devotion to duty, extraordinary courage and disregard for his own personal safety during the attack on the Fleet in Pearl Harbor, Territory of Hawaii, by Japanese forces on December 7, 1941. While at the side of his Captain on the bridge, Miller, despite enemy strafing and bombing and in the face of a serious fire, assisted in moving his Captain, who had been mortally wounded, to a place of greater safety, and later manned and operated a machine gun directed at enemy Japanese attacking aircraft until ordered to leave the bridge."

Dorie ​Miller did not live past the war. He died on November 24, 1943 aboard the USS Liscome Bay (CVE-56), an escort carrier, at sea during the Battle of Makin in World War II.

Memorial: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/9955928/doris-miller

"MY COUSIN'S A SUPERHERO! Kids Tell TRUE STORY of DORIE MILLER: WWII HERO | Kidsplaining™️ | Ancestry." Ancestry (channel). 22 May 2021.

Stories From The Genealogist: Mary McNally 1812-1883

 My 3rd great grandmother on my mother’s side.

Mary, called Mamie, was born on Feb 19, 1812 in Leixpix, County Kildare, Ireland to Will McNally c. 1785 and Margaret Mary Kelly c. 1785. She and her husband, John C. Tyrrell Immigrated in 1848 with their children.

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Stories From The Genealogist: John C Tyrrell.

John was born in Ireland, probably Kildare due to his parents, Patrick and Jane both living there. He marries Mary McNally on Jul 1, 1833 Maynooth, County Kildare, Ireland. They immigrated to America in 1848. John and his wife, Mary lived in Paterson, New Jersey. John served as a Union Soldier in the American Civil War April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865.

John C. Tyrrell and Mary McNally were my 3rd great grandparents on my mother’s side. ~JD

Biography: Ira Reese DAY, Junor

Ike as Santa about
 1960 Prospect Park

 Ike was named after my father,  Ira Reese Day.  Ike was 13 pounds at birth. He was called Junior until he was 4, then they decide to call him Ike after President Dwight (I like Ike, was the saying ) Eisenhower. When I was five my father was asking the rest of us kids what we wanted to be when we grew

up.  Ike was three and he immediately started barking and said I want to be a dog.  At that time we lived in a house off a cemetery. I'm mother took Ike and the youngest brother for a walk in the cemetery in the dead end we lived on. Flags were on veterans graves. Ike was walking behind her plucking out the flags to wave. Mom had to ran around finding the graves and putting the flags back.

Ike Grad-Eastside High School 

We lived in Prospect Park New Jersey, a small community for some time that was adjacent to of Paterson new jersey, for about 7 years.  It was a Dutch community at the time and we were supposedly Irish so we thought, and weren't really accepted there.  Though now we know we had as much as they did.  My mother would get hang up phone calls in calls calling her names.  She always suspected The neighbors but I suspected it was my father's mother's friend old friend.  There was a small grocery store and butcher shop in the '50s and '60s on our block in prospect Park and my mother had an account there she would pay it weekly. 

One day Ike, age 5 or 6, not knowing you had to pay for things in store went into the corner store and told a candy bar and went on his very way.  The man called my mother and she said, sorry, just put it on our bill, thank you. 

Years later and after his parents died, his dad in June 1970 and his mom a year and a half later, Ike was orphaned at age 17 and lived in the YMCA, then with his closest friend, Tom G and his family. 

Ike went into the Navy. There was some high jinks with some friends one day and the police got involved and instead of going to jail the police drove him to the recruiting station where he enlisted in the Navy.  He much of his time on the USS Lyndsay McCormick (a battle ship) for about 4 years. After he got out,  for  a time he live with me, sometimes with Tom's family and sometime with his young brother and his wife in New York. He worked fixing cameras and as a letter carrier in the Post Office, Paterson, NJ. He along with Tom and his wife, Elaine, bought a house on 8th Street in Paterson. Ike finally received his college degree in history and Post Office a Postmaster. After his death, the family learned he would have gotten that promotion.

  I was working full-time and living next door to my mother-in-law during this time.  I wouldn't have lived there if I could have afford it somewhere else but it was a cheap place to live because it was lower middle class area.  My husband, Bud, a childhood name, as he was call was living in Pennsylvania with his aunt Lena, his mother's sister, while he interned at Temple University to be a nuclear medical technologist.  I always wanted to play the piano and Ike knew this and he wrote me a letter and said he was sending money for me to buy a piano.

Ike, and his friends Tom and Elaine had bought 2 houses together. One was on 8th Street Paterson.

It was a run down house but it was theirs. The other house was in Upstate New York and not in any better condition than the other one. 

Fortunately the property wasn't worth much with the house in less than livable condition. Heart disease in my family. Our Dad died at 49, and Ike died at 35 from a heart attack. We all care about Ike and he would tell us things that we felt were symptoms. He promise us all he was.  After he died, Tom and Elaine who lived up stairs in a house the three of them bought together told us Ike did not take care of himself. He would just tell us that. Ike would say I know I'll die young. Ike died on August 8, 1989. He was 35.

Biography: Carmelo ( Charlie) Amenta 1921–2014

Charlie, 1930 

     

Carmelo Amenta called Charlie most of this life, served in the USA army the length of WWll. While in the army he made $100 a month, half he sent home to his mother and to pay for life insurance on himself for his mother if he died in the war. Was a machine gunner in Europe: Italy, France, Austria, Germany, and in the Philippines before the war in 1939/ 40 and had yellow fever and sent to Panama because it was the only tropical disease hospital the army had. He told us that when the men ran a fever they would look for a stream to stand in up to their ankles to bring their fevers down. Then while he was recovering he was working fueling submarines using fishing boat and dressed as a fisherman from Panama to the Galapagos Islands to meet the subs and fuel them and give the men fresh water. He did this for months before going to North Africa. From there to Italy were they pushed the Nazis back into Austria. He was there at the battle of Brenner Pass, the main way into Italy where Charlie was wounded. He was sent to a hospital in Austria set up in an old castle. When he was back on his feet he and others, able to walk, decided to explore the castle. They ended up in the wine cellar and all took as many bottles as they could for all the wounded. On their way back, they came around a corner and right into the Major who was the higher ranking officer there. Seeing them with all the wine bottles he asked what they were doing. They replied, “exploring the castle, Sir.” The Major shook his head, grabbed a bottle and left. This was a jailing offense if caught.

Charlie was sent to a transport division afterward and was there when a concentration camp was entered. He said it was the worst thing he ever saw. Once back in the United States, -after the war, Charlie was stationed in California and with army buddies, one who was a priest named, Fr. Mike were helping to build a Shrine in (late 1940s). One day, this crew passed June Alison, the actress, whose car had a flat tire. They stopped and fixed it for her and the next day she came to the Shrine with a case of beer for them.

Carmelo (Charlie) Amenta (bottom left) with army buddies- Fr. Mike (top Left)-Building Shrine in CA 1940s -after or during WWll

Charlie served in the army for 9 years total. For servicing in WWII and he received medals; Bronze Star for 30 days or more straight in combat, the European medal, Pacific medal and a good conduct medal. He was a laborer working many different jobs after that. I don’t believe he was a happy person but he was a hero. He died on April 11, 2014, in Oregon, Ohio, at the age of 92, and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery, in Arlington, Virginia, United States of America.

Biography: My sister, Doris Day on The Gary Moore Show in 1959

Doris was the daughter of Ira Reese Day, an accountant for Curtis-Wrights Aeronautics 

Ind., and Ruth Catherine Dunn.  Her siblings were L Day, J Day, Ira (Ike) Reese Day, Jr, and D Day.  The family lived in and around the Paterson, New Jersey area.

When Doris as 11, my mother got a phone call for a kid who had got to school with my older sister.  She couldn't understand what he was saying, something about could Doris be on TV.  My mother thought it was a hoax and hung up.  Then a man called a few more times and she would hang up again.  Well, about an hour later Gary Moore called himself.  He started the conversation with "Don't hang up, Mrs. Day.  I'm really Gary Moore and we would like your daughter to take the place of the actress, Doris Day who is sick." That got her attention.  The father of the boy who called earlier, was a camera man on the show.  Hearing of the shows' dilemma the son told of a former classmate having a sister with that name.  So from there that started the ball rolling, and the phone calls were made.  My father drove Doris to New York City to make her star appearance.  For her performance, Doris got a Schwinn bike, $500 and a case of Winston cigarettes, for my father to smoke.   Watch the episode of the show at: https://youtu.be/XtnBPiYNmAg

 

Doris passed away on the 26 Nov 2017. She leaves behind a daughter, C.  Winterberg whom Doris said was her best friend and the light of her life.   https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/257793229/doris-ann-day