52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Favorite Photo (Week 02)

This is a special treat for those that followed along all those years ago when I posted The Diary of Llewellyn for 3 years. Many will recall midway through the Diary, my Great-Grandpa Bill started showing up with his future wife. One of their favorite activities to do was dance.

I miss the Diary entries but I love filling in the gaps like this…

In fact, if you search this blog for “we danced” it comes up more than once!

William and Llewellyn Moore, 1972

This is one of my favorite photos because 50 years later and you can tell she still loved dancing with him!

Tombstone Tuesday: William and Llewellyn

Prospect Hill Cemetery, Caldwell, Essex County, New Jersey

William and Llewellyn Moore tombstone
William and Llewellyn Moore tombstone

My great-grandparents, William and Llewellyn Moore, are the topic of this Tombstone Tuesday. Their tombstone looked like the top picture when it was placed there in 1980. When Grandpa Moore passed away in 2012, we buried him in the family plot and added Llewellyn’s death date to her stone.

On their stones are symbols for the Freemasons and the Order of the Eastern Star, both of which were a big part of their lives.

Tombstone Tuesday is a daily blogging prompt from GeneaBloggers.com. For a full list of topics, visit the website for details.

Wedding Wednesday: Llewellyn and William

Welcome to another Wedding Wednesday! When I started posting this GeneaBloggers Daily Blogging Prompt, I never imagined I’d have more than that first entry. Until I run out of weddings to post about, I will keep posting. I’ve done my Grandma and Grandpa Moore’s 1951 Wedding in 3 posts (one, two, three) and my Grandma and Grandpa Mays’ 1947 Wedding. I also threw in a post for my Grandma Mays and her 2nd husband Wayne.

I’m moving up a generation in my Genealogy Do-Over, so it’s time for my Great-Grandparents to get their turn! We’re starting with William Lawrence Moore and Llewellyn Josephine Thorward. For an extra treat, you can always go back and read the Diary of Llewellyn.

June 12, 1926

1926 Wedding Invitation, William Lawrence Moore, Llewellyn Josephine Thorward, Llewellyn’s Boxes, 1986; privately held by Kathleen Moore, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,] Lexington Park, Maryland. 2005. This collection was taken from Llewellyn Thorward-Moore’s house after her death. They resided with her son until 2005, when they passed to Kathleen Moore.
One of my favorite finds from Llewellyn’s boxes is this wedding invitation from 1926. It’s almost 100 years old now, but in great condition. I have a few more items that pertain to their wedding day. A cool thing with this record is that to date, this is one of two mentions of Lewis’ middle name. There is clearly a G. after his name and I’ll have an eagle eye on all the other records I go through to see if I’ll finally learn what his middle name is. Probably George after his father, but you never know!

written on the back: “Llewellyn on her wedding day”

I love this picture, it’s definitely on the list of favorites. It’s even on my wall as I type this entry. I don’t know when I made the decision to re-scan most of my older documents and pictures but I sure did. Unfortunately, this one isn’t coming off the wall right now. I used those picture hanger strips from a well known name brand and I don’t have anymore to put it back up when I’m done. That means Llewellyn stays on the wall for now!

The Wedding Article

Newspaper article on the marriage

The wedding article is a favorite of mine because it helps to verify a lot of my other “evidence.” For example, it describes Llewellyn’s wedding dress, that helps me to confirm that the writing on the back of the above photo is correct. It also helps me to verify the wedding invitation is for the same couple as the newspaper article. It also parallels what I learned from Llewellyn’s diary by bringing in all the cast of characters I read about for the 3 year period before her wedding.

There is one thing that the article got wrong. The couple didn’t move into their home at 42 Park Avenue, it was 84 Park Avenue. I know that because I have all the mortgage and legal documents to prove it! Some time between when they moved into the house in 1926 and when Llewellyn died in 1986, the house address changed to 86 Park Avenue.

84 Park Avenue

The last picture on the top right is a current view of the home from Google Street View. The rest are from a collection of photos found in Llewellyn’s house.

Just Call Me Confused

My Mystery Monday to do list just keeps getting longer and longer. I’m currently scanning documents that pertain to my Great-Grandfather, William Lawrence Moore. Some I’d scanned before but could use a fresh scan. Others, I never scanned before so I’m getting my first look at them.

Perpetual Care

Cemetery Diagram

I know you guys must be getting sick of me saying what good record keepers my Great-Grandparents were. It bears repeating though since I just spent 20 minutes scanning correspondence between multiple family members about the family lot at Evergreen Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York. The above diagram was sent to William when he inquired in 1970 about keeping up the graves. From what I can tell Robert J. Moore Jr and his wife Gertrude were taking care of the graves until Gertrude’s death in 1970. Then Gertrude’s family and the Moores split the costs of perpetual care for the lot.

I had known the names of the people in the grave, but not in this detail. We called the cemetery back when we originally got the deed from my Grandfather. We just had the names, not the dates or anything like the detailed diagram above.

Figuring It Out

The List

Once again, I’m blessed that William wanted to make a list of the family members buried in the plot. He left it in the paperwork and correspondence for the perpetual care. The only one not on William’s list is “Baby Moore.”

Based on the burial date of 1909 and that the baby is in the same plot as Robert J. Moore Sr. and his wife, I would say the child would have been my Great-Grandfather’s sibling. I’ll have to look at birth and death records for Brooklyn to make sure.

The other interesting thing is that M. Moore or William’s mother, wasn’t buried until 1945. She last showed on census records with the family in 1910. In the 1915 State Census she is missing and in the 1920 United States Census, her husband is still listed as married. So where was Mary Johnson-Moore from 1910 to 1945?

Oops Moment

Looking at the paperwork from the cemetery, I know why New Jersey didn’t find a death record for my William H. Moore even after numerous attempts. He died in 1923, not 1928! Well that makes a big difference!

My Genealogy Do-Over is working already!!

Treasure Chest Thursday: The Bibles Part 2

thebibles

Here we are again with a new week and a new “bible”. Okay, so technically this week isn’t a bible. It is very connected to it though, so it fits with my theme from last week. This book is called Four Thousand Questions & Answers.

sundayschool-03

The copyright is from 1898, so for a book over a hundred years old, it’s in great condition. As you can tell from the title page, this book was for Students and Sunday-School Teachers. This wasn’t a surprise to me, because Llewellyn and her family were very involved with the church. I believe Llewellyn even taught Sunday School herself if her Diary is any indication. Before taking the pictures for this blog post, I just assumed this book was my Grandfathers since I have so much documentation from his early years.

sundayschool-02

I thought that until I actually read through the whole inscription.

Presented to William Moore by his S.S. teacher for his punctual attendance 51 Sundays. Xmas 1913

Well, that is definitely not Grandpa’s book because he was born in 1930. This must be his father’s book! To have such an old memento from the Moore family is very rare. In the first place, there aren’t a lot of people around that can identify any Moores in pictures. Secondly, for a few generations the mothers died early on and the children were working from a young age, leaving little time for many mementos. That’s what makes this one so special.

Great-Grandpa would have just turned 12 when he got this book from his teacher. In just a few years he will have started working for numerous companies as a bookkeeper. His mother could already have passed away. I haven’t found her death certificate yet, but it happened between 1910 and 1915. Within 10 years the whole family dynamic will change. They’ll move from their decades long residence in Brooklyn and move to Caldwell, New Jersey to live with his grandfather and aunt. There he meets his future wife, probably at church. His father and grandfather will pass away in 1925 and 1928. In 1925 he’ll go to work for AT&T as a bookkeeper and he’ll stay there until he retires over 35 years later. In 1926 he’ll marry Llewellyn and they’ll have one son and 5 grandchildren.

I never met William L. Moore, my great-grandfather, but from the records and memories he’s left behind I can tell you a lot about his personality. He came from a family who experienced a lot of hardships and instability. Even though the family was struggling, he still made it to Sunday School for 51 Sundays. He still graduated from night school. He got the education to work as a bookkeeper. From Llewellyn’s diary when they were dating, he worked a lot of overtime but still made sure to meet her at the train everyday. Amidst all that chaos and change, he became one of the most dependable men I think I’ll ever know about. Even through all the hardships they went through the decades they were married, to this day everyone remembers William and Llewellyn as being rocks of the community. They were there when people needed them and everyone speaks so kindly of them. It’s enough to make me sad I was born too late to know them.

Man, who knew I’d get so emotional about a little book, right?

Genealogy Do-Over: BSO ALERT!

genealogydoover

This series of posts is based on the Genealogy Do-Over Workbook by Thomas MacEntee. I highly recommend it. 🙂 I just want to say there are parts of this workbook that I am not posting about, so if you would like the full set of tasks, then visit Thomas’ page or purchase the workbook.

Hello everyone, I have had my first big temptation in the Bright Shiny Object category.

slides

The above picture is a small portion of the slides I inherited from Great-Grandma Llewellyn’s collection. I spent a long afternoon sorting them by batches and date. Now I am going through and scanning them to my computer. The reason I let myself get distracted by this, is I want to preserve these slides the best I can. To do that I’ve created a little wishlist for myself to slowly start buying the supplies I’m going to use to try and preserve these slides for as long as possible.

Unfortunately, the scanner I was using for this is pretty outdated. I was scanning along the other day and I’m pretty sure the light dimmed on me and stopped scanning as well. This scanner is probably almost 10 years old, so it’s not like it wasn’t on a replacement list anyway.

The slides are important to get scanned. They are a mixture of 35mm slides and 127 Superslides. The dates range from 1963 to 1971 from what I can tell so far. These slides represent my father’s childhood. The pictures vanished after his parents divorced. They all remember the pictures being taken, but had no idea where they ended up. I can’t say the exact percentage, but I can definitely tell these slides represent both my Great Grandma’s life and my Grandfather’s life. I would have to look deeper but it might even be as simple as the 35mm ones are Grandpas and the 127 Superslides are my Great-Grandparents.

greatgrandpa2

I was going through the slides using a slide viewer and my cell phone. Snapping pictures and posting them to Facebook for my family to see. I was even joking around that I was going to publish a book and it would just be Great-Grandpa standing and sitting next to things. I would title it, “Grandpa Standing and Sitting Next to Things.”

greatgrandpa

Then just when my family thought I was done spamming their day, I announced the follow up to my bestseller. This one would be titled, “Things Sitting on Grandpa.” Ha! It was all in good fun, but I think I might actually order a photo book of these photos when I’m done. I think it would be cool to take to the annual family reunion.

Previous Posts in this Series:

Wedding Wednesday: Miss Redford is a Bride

Newspaper, Marriage Announcement; Moore-Redford, Llewellyn's Boxes, 1986; privately held by Kathleen Moore, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,] Lexington Park, Maryland. 2005. This collection was taken from Llewellyn Thorward-Moore's house after her death. They resided with her son until 2005, when they passed to Kathleen Moore.
Newspaper, Marriage Announcement; Moore-Redford, Llewellyn’s Boxes, 1986; privately held by Kathleen Moore, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,] Lexington Park, Maryland. 2005. This collection was taken from Llewellyn Thorward-Moore’s house after her death. They resided with her son until 2005, when they passed to Kathleen Moore.
Here is a wedding announcement from an unknown newspaper. The newspaper is most likely the Caldwell Progress (theprogressnj.com). Most of the newspaper clippings that Llewellyn saved were from The Progress. This is the last bit of wedding memorabilia that I have for my grandparents wedding.

Treasure Chest Thursday: Thank You Note

This Treasure Chest Thursday post is a thank you note between my grandma, Florence Redford-Moore and her husband’s grandma, Jennie Love-Thorward.

Treasure Chest Thursday is a Daily Blogging Prompt given by GeneaBloggers.com

Wedding Wednesday: You’re Invited

You're Invited
Marriage Invitation for Florence Jean Redford and William Thorward Moore, Llewellyn’s Boxes, 1986; privately held by Kathleen Moore, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,] Lexington Park, Maryland. 2005. This collection was taken from Llewellyn Thorward-Moore’s house after her death. They resided with her son until 2005, when they passed to Kathleen Moore.
The marriage invitation for my Grandparents. Last week you saw the picture, and this week you get to see the invitation. Maybe I should have done that the other way around. Oops!

Wedding Wednesday: My Grandparents

William Moore, Florence Redford wedding photo
William Moore, Florence Redford wedding photo

As I go through my Genealogy Do-Over, I’m also going through all those photos on my hard drives. Everything is getting organized this time! That means you’ll see one family group pretty regularly before I move onto another family group. I’m still working on Grandma and Grandpa’s information. It’s a blessing and a curse that Great-Grandma recorded so much about Grandpa’s early years. There is a lot to go through!

Wedding Wednesday is a Geneabloggers Daily Blogging Prompt. Check out other prompts and entries at GeneaBloggers.com.