This week: "Still The One" Orleans~c.1970~
DID I WIN(?): I knew about this late last summer but didn't acquire this pic until sometime in October. Oddly enough the fellow who was actually running for this seat owns not only shares last name but also my first. I don't know the particulars involved in his running for office. This may be a state senate seat (as opposed to the U.S. Senate). And I'm also not entirely certain in what state he was running (Connecticut, Vermont?)- but it was "down-east" somewhere.
I wonder if I won?
THE BOYS ON THE WATERFRONT: Go back 60 years and take an afternoon walk along the fishing wharves along the Vermilion River waterfront, and what do ye see?
Why there are three little boys posing aside a 250# sturgeon that was trap-netted that morn on the Parsons' Fishery boat the "Don". On the right, with his arm up to shade his eyes from the sun and holding a gill, is little Donnie Parsons. And who's the fellow directly to his right (our left) on the other side of the big fish? That is, unmistakedly, Donnie's big brother Richie, who's holding the other gill. And then the boy with the little smile next to Rich? Why that's Jimmy Neiding.
That's what ye see - okay.
What a great snap. This is one of the pix that Tom Neiding sent me via the Vermilion Photojournal. It sure is easy to forget what the riverfront was like when the fish houses were still there.
One of the othere interesting things to note about this pic is that McGarvey's Restaurant is very visible in the background along with some (or at least one) of the old cottages that once existed in the area behind the eatery.
Just a beautiful, beautiful shot of old Vermilion town from Vermilionite Tom Neiding.
NINE BEAUTIFUL LADIES: This photograph came to "Views" via Wakefield-Horton-Parsons ancestors. And if one has no knowledge of the persons in the photo it is still a mesmerizing archive piece. But let me see if I can sort this out correctly.
Here is how it came to me: (The first communique is from Alice Wakefield to her cousins. She is forwarding a message and the picture sent to her from her cousin Marcia.)
Here's another picture of Grandma Franc Horton Parsons and some of her sisters and commentary from Marcia. Can you figure out who is who? Ladies of the Club Hi Alice, Here is the picture of the nine ladies that includes Grandma Franc. If you look at the picture, there are basically three rows. Two ladies seated at the lowest plane. Three ladies seated on the middle plane. And four ladies standing on the top plane. Our grandmother is the easiest to pick out as always. She's seated on the lowest plane on our right as we look at the picture. I think that her sister, Eliza (Aunt Lize) is also seated on the lowest plane on the left. I also think that sister, Mary Ada (Aunt Molly) is seated on the middle plane second from the left. Finally, sister, Mathilda (Aunt Lil) is standing in the top row on the far left. I'll be interested to hear what you and Molly and Fred and everyone else might think of my theory of who's who. Also the identity of the other five women in the picture...
Ladies of the Club
Hi Alice, Here is the picture of the nine ladies that includes Grandma Franc. If you look at the picture, there are basically three rows. Two ladies seated at the lowest plane. Three ladies seated on the middle plane. And four ladies standing on the top plane. Our grandmother is the easiest to pick out as always. She's seated on the lowest plane on our right as we look at the picture. I think that her sister, Eliza (Aunt Lize) is also seated on the lowest plane on the left. I also think that sister, Mary Ada (Aunt Molly) is seated on the middle plane second from the left. Finally, sister, Mathilda (Aunt Lil) is standing in the top row on the far left. I'll be interested to hear what you and Molly and Fred and everyone else might think of my theory of who's who. Also the identity of the other five women in the picture...
This, in essence, is investigative research using a team of relatives. Now a reply to this communique from one of the cousins:
Okay, here's my take on the sisters in the picture. Our greatgrandmother Franc we are agreed is the one seated to our right. Let's assume she is about 55 in that picture. Aunt Lize I believe is seated in the middle and could be about 57 in the picture. The mouth looks right. The beauty on the top left I would hope is Alice Horton, who was born in 1877 and is 16 years younger than Grandma Franc and looks about 40 in the picture. She looks just like she did as a little girl. I would like to claim the beauty seated in the front row left as our relative, but I don't quite see who she could be. She looks younger than Franc to me.That's my guess, anyway. What a fabulous picture...
And then Alice replies:
I think that Molly may be right about Aunt Lize based on the picture she shared earlier with her husband. But I don't think these ladies are in their fifties or if they are, they found an early version of clairol. Maybe 40's. Wasn't Grandma Franc a widow at 39?
At this point I make the following comment to Alice about the ladies in this communique:
Alice. I've looked at the photograph closely,and I'd place their ages between 35 and 40 years. When I get some time I'll date their costumes and hair. That should give you a real good date for the picture.
And she replies:
Clever idea. I date by wrinkles!
And then I took the time to try to date the pic by fashions:
Alice. Without counting any wrinkles the clothing and hair style of the ladies appears to date between 1900-1904. The fan one woman has in her hand would place it before 1900 (perhaps 1880). But the ribbons in their hair and on their dresses says no. So it's probably safe to date the pic.1904. The fact that fashions (among other things) - 100 years ago - were so rapidly and widely dispersed across America without the help of the current media forms - so that one can date these photographs with some accuracy - may tells us something about human character. I'm certainly glad that piercing and tattooing weren't popular among American women back then. (Note that none of the women have earrings.) What a nice photograph.
Alice replies:
Fashion is beyond my ability as a dating tool then or now. Here is the birth order of Benjamin Horton's family as I have it from cousin Molly who checked the 1880 census. The family debate is about who is who besides our great grandmother pictured bottom row and right. Grandma Franc was mother to Burdett (Molly's grandfather), Clift, Alice (my grandmother), Grace, Bob and Mary Parsons. Maybe these birthdates will help date the picture. In 1904, Grandma Franc would have been 43. About right??? Mary Ada 1860 Frankie 1861 Eliza G. 1864 Matilda L. 1870 Benjamin 1872 Alice A. 1877 Charles apparently not born by 1880
And my reply:
Alice. I believe that your grandmother's birthdate and her apparent age in the photograph are in sync. 43 would be about right. I don't know a great deal about the Horton family (I'm just putting it together in my head). John Horton came to our Archival Society meeting (last Monday). He has a DVD that has sundry films his father captured with a 16mm movie camera that he showed to the group hoping to get more info on the people in the pix. A few were known; Ted Wakefield, Charles "Chuck" Horton, John's father and mother, his sister and brother, the Stutz girls, and a few others. The DVD covers a wide territory - not just Vermilion (Florida, Texas, and places in the Mediterranean, etc.). Molly did indicate to me prior to the meeting (via e-mail) that John was her cousin. And I do believe it was you who said something about your relatives having helped build the Vermilion Township Hall. It'll take me some time to get all these relationships clear in my little brain. Maybe someday it'll all be clear to me. But back to the photograph - why do you suppose the ladies sat for this particular photograph? Was it because they were all related?
Then her final reply on the subject:
Well, it's confusing to us too. Benjamin Horton moved his wife amd family of five girls and one son from Michigan to Vermilion by the tug CHAMPION in the 1870's. Daddy wrote that a depression in the building business was the motivation for the move. Benjamin Horton continued as a builder in Vermilion. We always heard he built the town hall and one of the two piers. I think the west pier. He may have built his own house too and I will send on a picture we think is of his house. Maybe you can help us find out where it was and if it is still there. The last son, Charles Horton, was born in Vermilion. You met John Horton at the Archival Society Meeting. His grandpa Charles was my great grandmother's brother. There was a skipped generation there because Uncle Charlie was so much younger than Grandma Frank. Uncle Charlie was a captain on the lakes and lived in the house you identified and pictured recently on Vermi Views. His wife was Aunt Anna and they made a jolly couple. Daddy said Uncle Charlie was all business as captain but he was full of fun on shore. His two sons were John Horton who died recently and Charles who I always knew as "Red" Horton. John Horton lived in Cleveland and I didn't get to know his children very well but knew of them. John, who you met, was one of them. He attended New Hampton School in New Hampshire when I lived there in the late 1960's. Red lived in Vermilion was married to Helen and had two girls, Lou Ann and June Ellen, I think. We are in deep debate among the cousins trying to sort all this out for each of the five girls and two sons of Benjamin and Matilda Horton. It's better than Sudoku!!
And that, friends, is the way of it. Fun, fun, fun. And all from a single pic.
VERMILION GIRL SCOUTS: I'm sorry that I can't reproduce this pic on the page so that "Viewers" can see all the detail in it. The faces of the girls are so important.
The photo comes from a collection of pix that Jill (Young) and Marcia Martin were kind enough to allow me to scan a year or so back. Jill and Marcia are two of the late Glen Martin's daughers.
This pic was taken from (of course) the upper floor of the Fischer Building just across the street from Exhchange/Rubberneck Park here in Vermilion at 3:35 pm on a snowy day in December.
I would guesstimate that this is probably c.1952/53. If ye looks very closely the automobiles parked along the street above the Kishman fishery look to be from the late 1940's. But I don't believe this is a '40's pic.
The reason I'm implying that this is a Girl Scout/Brownie group is because of some of the women I recognize in the photo. I do remember them - and I do recall that they were involved with the scouts. Most notably I recognize Mrs. Malone and Mrs. Widdowson (both had only girls). There are some other faces I recognize. But I don't (at this time) recall their names.
This is (again obviously) a posed shot. Whom the photog was also escapes me. But given the locale and the estimated date it was like Paul Ludlow. (Mr. Ludlow kept a studio in that building).
ENTERTAINMENT/SPORTS PAGE: A tad more about Alta Weiss. I'm not altogether in the dark about her. But there is a pic that truly puzzles me.
There is a picture of her with her club (The Weiss All Stars) that appears in the 1937 Centennial Section of The Vermilion News with a caption that asks, "How Many Of the Players Can You Pick?" This implies (at least to me) that the players surrounding her were well known to Vermilion citizens. And that futher implies that some of the players were very local.
My assumption is that because this particular pic was cast for printing that it was used elsewhere. And if that is the case the names of the players must have been included when the photo was printed. And that is what I've been looking to discover.
Be sure to visit a new page put together just last week: Vermilion's Youngest Minstrels The photo isn't new - but I'm not entirely finished with the page or the concept (which is still in the development stage). But it is interesting.
This week the movie (shot 10-24-06) depicts the crowd in Exchange/Rubberneck park waiting in front of Santa's house for a ride through town on the horse drawn wagon.
Too bad is isnt' snowing.
COWBOY LIFE: During the last year I've learned more about horses and cowboys (real ones) than I ever dreamed. So infatuated with cowboys like Roy Rodgers, Gene Autry (I once saw Gene at the old Cleveland Arena) and Tex Ritter that when I was a kid (6 or 7) my neighbors called me "Tex". But my friend Jim Fischer has brought me up to speed.
The book he co-authored with Gary Johnston and Harold Geer "Custer's Horses" is a great starting text for the cowboy impaired like myself. That along with a story he wrote that appears in a book called Tales From Cowboy Country help me understand that these guys didn't go riding around on palaminos in clean, well-pressed, duds singing "Yippee-yi-ki-yo", and shoot bad guys in black hats. (It was a nice thought though.)
The above sketch by another friend, Frank Homitz, accurately (I believe) portrays the tough life of the American cowboy forever on the move. And the tombstone (below) sent to me by Jim tells of the wonderful cowboy sense of humor even when he stops moving. It is the very real headstone of Russell J. Larson in the Logan City Cemetery, Logan, UT. A Real Cowboy Tombstone.
Both naughty and wonderful...
THE NEW VAAS CALENDAR: It's out, and it's a keeper. From the Clubhouse at Vermilion-On-The-Lake to the hotel at Beulah Beach Vermilion's "Vacationland" Communities are there.
If you would like to purchase a calendar you can purchase one from myself or any member of the VAAS. They are $5.00. If they have to be posted an even $7.00 should handle the cost of postage and handling. The address for the VAAS is available below (in the "What's Afoot" section). Please make all checks/money orders, etc. payable to the Vermilion Area Archival Society.
If you want a calendar for Christmas I would suggest ordering/purchasing one soon.
They're great keepsakes.
You better hurry if you want one of these documents. They're going fast.
WHAT'S A FOOT: There will be no meeting of the Vermilion Area Archival Society until the 2nd Monday in January of 2007. But in the mean folks should understand that everyone is absolutely welcome to attend meetings and/or to become a member of the VAAS.
Lifetime memberships are $100. Yearly memberships are $10 a person; $18.00 a couple; and $5 for a student.Our address is:
And I keep on forgetting to mention the projects of my friend Bette Lou Higgins, Artistic Director, of Eden Valley Enterprises. Everyone is welcome to join them on November 29 at 7p.m. for STORIES FROM A CHRISTMAS PAST at the Nordonia Library 9458 Olde Eight Rd in Northfield. This storytelling program will feature holiday stories from history. It will be repeated on December 12th at 2p.m. at Ritter Library, 5680 Liberty Ave. in Vermilion. Both performances are free and open to the public. For more information, call the Nordonia library at 330-467-8595 or the Ritter Library at 440-967-3798.
To arrange for this or any of their programs to be presented for your group, contact Eden Valley directly by responding to this e-mail with your request. For a complete schedule of Eden Valley Events check out their calendar page at www.edenvalleyenterprises.org.
Please take the time to visit (or re-visit) the Hope Children's Home site linked below because there are some additions there that you might find interesting. With all the bad things happening on the "dark continent" and elsewhere it's really nice to know that there are some places where the light does shine brightly. Please keep in mind that the needs of Hope Children's Home are on-going. Partially due to the horrors taking place in the Mid-East the continued suffering of the peoples in Africa go virtually unnoticed by both our nation and the United Nations - and that should not be. Contributions to that home may be made to a Vermilion expatriot Larry Hohler in New York.
Last week I received the following communique from Larry:
"We're thinking about organizing an "Eco Cultural" Safari to Meru Kenya next February, that will include tours of our Home and the schools our kids attend, an SOS World Children's Village, an AIDS treatment Center, Meru Methodist University, and even a visit to nearby Game Park to view some wildlife. We think the cost for a 9 day visit will be about $3,000. (we can keep the cost low because we won't be viewed as typical tourists and will have the support of the Merian Community) Let me know if you know of anyone intersted in making such a trip."
So there you are folks. If you'd like to take the Safari let me know and I'll put you in touch with Larry. It's an opportunity of a lifetime.
Larry Hohler Hope Children's Fund, Ltd.
In relation to Larry's work with the Hope Children's Home I have recently received some very interesting biographies of some of the children who have come to benefit by participating in this project. I'd like to share one of them with you each week. The following is #3:
CLASS REUNION UPDATES: The VHS Class of 1957 are planning their Class Reunion for September 15, 2007. They cannot find addresses for the following classmates: William A. Brown, Carol L. Burkle, Eddie L. Davis, Robert W. DeLong, Jim B. Henry, Alexander J. Lutz, or Neil M. Marcussen. If anyone has that information please forward it to
Bob Ferry, is heading up the VHS Class Reunion for 1987...20 years.
I was unaware of it but more than just a few folks do use this site as a link to their respective class sites - so - here's the VHS Class of 1959's site back for your convenience too: Remember that site is located at: Class of '59 and it'll be updated it as Roger (Boughton) receives enough new pictures and information from classmates to make it worth reading. So send him any information that you would like to share with other classmates and he'll put it up for all to see and view.
It is my understanding that some of these links are not working, or not working well. If so it is a technical problem belonging to the respective parties operating those webpages.
The Beat Goes On: The page is generated by the dreaded Macintosh Computer and is written and designed by (me) Rich Tarrant. It will change weekly ~ usually on Saturday. Bookmark the URL (Universal Resource Locater) and come back at your own leisure. Send the page to your friends (and enemies if you wish). If you have something to share with those who visit this page, pass it on. And if you see something that is in need of correction do the same. My sister, Nancy, is a great help in that respect. It only takes me a week to get things right. And follow the bookmarks. You might find something you like. If you experience a problem with them let me know. Also, if you want to see past editions of this eZine check the new archives links below.
Links to other sites on the Web
Vol.4, Issue 36, November 25, 2006
© 2006 Rich Tarrant