Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Wordless Wednesday: Postcards from Mexico, Part 1



Benita (McGinnis) McCormick (1889 - 1984)
Phillip C. McCormick (1892 - 1981)


"Tipos Mexicanos," or "Mexicans," reads the
caption at the bottom.  1937; from Benita
(McGinnis) McCormick's scrapbook
.





My great aunt and great uncle, Benita and Phillip McCormick, were enamored of Mexico and bought quite a few postcards during their visit there, mailing a number of them to their son and daughter, Phillip "Bud" and Jane.  These first two samples begin a series of their artistic and historic collection.




Taxco, Mexico.  1937; from Benita (McGinnis) McCormick's scrapbook.



To read the other installments in this series, please click on the links below:


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Copyright ©  2014  Linda Huesca Tully



Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Travel Tuesday: Vacationing in Mexico, 1937


Benita (McGinnis) McCormick (1889 - 1984)
Phillip C. McCormick (1892 - 1981)


Caption by Benita reads, "Phil
& I at Fountain."  Mexico, 1937;
exact location unknown. From
her scrapbook.
In the summer of 1937, my great uncle and great aunt, Phil and Benita McCormick, traveled from Chicago to Mexico for several weeks, leaving their eight-year old son and daughter, Bud and Jane, in the able care of close relatives back home. 

As the freight service manager for the Baltimore and Ohio (B & O) Railroad in Chicago, Uncle Phil enjoyed the enviable benefit of free rail travel for himself and his family.  Though we do not know the route they traveled, they might have taken one of the B & O's "streamliner" trains, such as the Abraham Lincoln, from Chicago to Saint Louis.  From there, they most likely changed trains once or twice before arriving at their destination on one of the trains of the National Railways of Mexico. 



Timetable Brochure,
National Railways of Mexico,
July 20, 1937.  From Benita
(McGinnis) McCormick's

 scrapbook. 




During their Mexican sojourn, Phil and Benita visited not only the capital, Mexico City, but also many Mexican villages. They fell in love with the country, and Benita took several art classes while there.

They traveled the country with a tour group, a safe way to travel in 1937 for those who spoke little or no Spanish.  Uncle Phil probably had some working knowledge of the language; when I was young, I remember he was always studying Spanish!  

In the photograph above and below, Benita and Phil sit contentedly in front of a lovely unidentified fountain.   The next photo shows them in front of the same fountain with their tour guide and a couple they met on their trip, John and Mary Coates. 




Caption reads, "4 Americans & Guide."  From left to right:
John and Mary Coates, unnamed tour guide, and Benita
(McGinnis) and Phil McCormick.  Location unknown.
Mexico, 1937.  From Benita McCormick's scrapbook.


************

Copyright ©  2014  Linda Huesca Tully




Monday, June 23, 2014

Motivation Monday: Eight Years of Blogging - and Here's to Many More!




Eight years...can it really be that long?

My trusty Underwood typewriter, its ribbon now worn,
keeps  me company as I write.  A gift from my great-aunt
 Detty, it once belonged to my great-grandfather Thomas
McGinnis, who used it to write an autobiography
of his adventures at sea.
Actually, it's eight years and two days...171 posts, and 30,959 page views.

That's right. According to Google statistics for this blog, Many Branches, One Tree has had 30,959 page views since it debuted on June 21, 2006.

I remember my first post, a "welcome" message to my new readers and a hesitant dip into the world of family history writing.  For as long as it took to get started, it was a good thing I wrote that piece on the longest day of the year.

To be sure, 171 posts over eight years pale next to the number of posts written by some of my more prolific family history colleagues who impressively post a story (or more) every day.  By comparison, 171 posts works out to more like 21 stories per year, or almost two posts per month.  

At this rate, I won't break any records.  On the other hand, despite the urgency I feel to write about the lives of the people who have paved the way for us, I also struggle to fit it into the balance of family time, work, and play. 

So I write what I can, the best way I can, as often as I can.  And it comes down to this:  if you, dear reader, not only learn the facts about the people who appear in this blog but you also can picture yourself in their shoes, in their predicaments, in their journeys; if you can feel the air about them and hear the rhythm of their hearts through their words and actions, then I have done my job.

Don't ask me to pick a favorite blog post.  That's like asking which of my three children I love the most. The answer is that each post is different, yet I feel attached to all of them.  Whatever I am writing becomes my "favorite" at that moment.

It's easier to look ahead. My future plans are to explore my husband's family, the Tullys, Barons, Hoppins, Makepeaces, Fays, and Rineys. It's only fair that our children know more about my husband's side of the family, a fascinating group of people with an amazing history.  Eventually, I will come back to my ancestors, as the McGinnises, Huescas, Perrotins, and O'Gradys still beckon for attention.  

Is there a book in here somewhere?  Some have suggested there is and have encouraged me to write one.  It is a tempting thought.

Lastly, my own children have asked me to write autobiographical pieces, so they will know their own mother's stories.  I want to do this for them but am somewhat reluctant to do it here. We will have to explore the options.


Here are some fun statistics about this blog.

According to Blogger, the five most popular blog posts of all time:

1.  Family Recipe Friday:  Arroz con Leche, the story of my Abuelita (Grandmother) Catalina (Perrotin) Huesca's comfort food, Mexican Rice Pudding, wins the prize for most views at 1,194.  If only there were a prize - I suppose it would have to be a dish of the real thing.

2.  Madness Monday:  Cold War Mania, about my family's experience during the Cuban Missile Crisis and my parents' decision to move us to Mexico.  That story has been viewed 505 times.  It was not viewed much when it appeared a year ago, but every day it seems to attract more readers.  I can't figure out why.

3.  Remembering Mary Jane and Elizabeth Gaffney garnered 410 views. My best guess is that people liked my mother's first-person childhood memories of her grandmother and great-aunt, who raised her during the Great Depression.

4.  Family Recipe Friday:  Abuelita's Mexican Rice.  This was another story about my grandmother's cooking.  Well, she was known for her culinary talents and her warm way of making people feel loved. Whether it was cooking for my grandfather, their 11 children, her mother and sister, or the family's guests at their hotels and restaurants in 1920s Mexico, her most important ingredient was the love she put into it - and that made it memorable.  363 views.

5.  Patricia Ann Fay, a biography of my delightful mother-in-law, was viewed 284 times.  I only wish she were still alive to see that, but at least my darling husband can enjoy the thought that his mother has touched many people's lives.

Those readers, and more, come from all over the world.  Sitemeter, a visitor counter, counts the top ten countries, along with the number of readers in each:

United States     17,948
Russia                   5,099
Mexico                     794
Canada                     732
Germany                  637
France                      527
United Kingdom     511
Poland                      315
Ukraine                    210
China                       208


Readers are split almost evenly among the sexes, with 46% females and 54% males.  Though many are referred here by other blogs and websites (most of them genealogy-related), the majority come from Google searches, Pinterest pages, and the Geneabloggers website.  Some of the most popular phrases in Google searches have been:

cold war
many branches one tree
Schiavon
Conneaut Ohio
Nickel Plate Railroad Conneaut
Hyde Park
origin of Huesca name
Orizaba
Gaffney

It has been a joy to memorialize family members (and occasionally, close family friends) on this blog and to hear your own insights.  Sometimes you offer thoughtful speculations and  share new revelations.  Sometimes you discover a common ancestor, or something our ancestors had in common with us.  The best times are when you rediscover family  you either thought you knew or never knew - or we discover each other.  It sends a chill down my spine every time.  You make this blog worthwhile.

I am pleased and honored that you have taken the time to share your own memories and insights.    Sometimes, I have even had the thrill of meeting "new" cousins, from near and far.  What blessings you are!

Many thanks to all of you.  Whether we share a common ancestor or simply a common love of family, tradition, and a good story, I am grateful to you for reading, commenting, and even sharing this blog.  

Now, let's get back to those stories.


************

Copyright ©  2014  Linda Huesca Tully


Wednesday, June 04, 2014

Not-So-Wordless Wednesday: It's All Relative


Phillip Eugene "Bud" McCormick (1927 - 2004)
Benita Jane "Janie" (McCormick) Olson 
                                                          (1927 - 2011)
Joan (Schiavon) Huesca (1928 - 1987)

My great-aunt "Detty," or Benita (McGinnis) McCormick, and her younger sister (my grandmother, Alice (McGinnis) Schiavon), lived several blocks apart on the South side of Chicago, both from each other and from their mother, Mary Jane (Gaffney) McGinnis.  Their children - my mother, Joan Schiavon, her brother Tom (Thomas Schiavon), and Jane and Buddy McCormick, played together happily most days.  

Usually, my uncle Tom, ever the bookworm, kept to his inventions and scientific experiments, while my mother, Joan, was a tomboy and usually played outdoors with Buddy and his best friend, Jack O'Brien.   Jane, on the other hand, was more ladylike, preferring books and dolls to climbing trees and catching bugs.  They also acted in a children's play, Darby and Joan, at the Medinah Chidren's Theater in downtown Chicago.  

This photograph, taken in about 1931, during the height of the Great Depression, must have brought many a smile to Benita, Alice; their husbands Phil McCormick and Ralph Schiavon; and their extended families. Jane and Bud look to be about five or six years old here, while my mother would have been about four.  

Nothing is cuter than small children, except maybe small children with small animals. One can easily imagine people who desperately needed to make money to feed their own children, bringing their domestic animals up and down residential streets, perhaps borrowing cameras, and offering souvenir snapshots to those who answered the door.  



My mother, Joan Schiavon, and her cousins Jane and Bud McCormick, pose
on a billy goat and cart.  Chicago, Illinois, circa 1931.



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Copyright ©  2014  Linda Huesca Tully

Monday, June 02, 2014

Matrilineal Monday: Two Little Bundles of Love


Benita Elizabeth (McGinnis) McCormick (1889 - 1984)
Phillip Columbus McCormick (1892 - 1981)
Phillip Eugene "Bud" McCormick (1927 - 2004)
Benita Jane "Janie" (McCormick) Olson (1927 - 2011)


Christmas 1927 brought a very special gift to my great-aunt and great-uncle, Benita and Phil McCormick.  


These two little cherubs, "Buddy and Jane," or Phillip Eugene and Benita Jane 
McCormick, were named after their adoptive parents, Phillip Columbus and Benita 
Elizabeth (McGinnis) McCormick.  Chicago, Illinois, December 1927.

Make that two special gifts.  


Unable to have children of their own, Benita and Phil adopted two infants, a boy and a girl.  Given their adoptive parents' first names and the respective baptism (middle) names of their uncle Eugene McGinnis and grandmother Mary Jane (Gaffney) McGinnis, Phillip Eugene and Benita Jane were nicknamed  "Buddy" (later "Bud") and "Janie," names that stuck with them all their lives.  


 Adoption announcement card, designed by Benita
(McGinnis) McCormick, whimsically depicts two
young babes in diapers knocking on the door of the
McCormick home.  
Though the blond, blue-eyed babies were referred to as "the twins," the newest little McCormicks may have been about the same age but in fact were not related by blood to each other at all. Bud was born on February 26, 1927, presumably in Illinois.  Benita Jane, called "Janie," was born Shirley Ann Althaus on May 20, 1927, in Iowa, to a young German-American farm girl named Bernice Althaus.  


Benita designed a whimsical adoption announcement heralding the new additions to the McCormick family. The pen and ink illustration on the card depicts two young babes in diapers, clutching small suitcases.  Standing on a welcome mat, they rap confidently on the front door of their new home.  The "8032" on the door was the street number of the family's residence at 8032 Vernon Avenue, on Chicago's South Side. 

The idea of Benita and Phil ringing in the New Year by inviting friends and family to join them in welcoming two little cherubs into their world was typical of a couple who enjoyed celebrating life and loved ones.

Inside of adoption
announcement and invitation
to meet Buddy and Jane McCormick
on New Year's Day, 1928.



Mr and Mrs. Phillip C. McCormick,

8052 Vernon Avenue, announce the 

adoption of Benita Jane and Phillip

Eugene, December 18, 1927, and request
the pleasure of your company on
New Year's Day to meet their
son and daughter.
From 8:30 p.m. to 12 o'clock    R.S.V.P.


************

Copyright ©  2014  Linda Huesca Tully

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