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MEETINGS
The next two meeting will be February 8 and March 8, at 7 p.m. in Kings Restaurant Community Room in Sarver. If you want to eat dinner with other members, come at 6:30.
WEB PAGE MESSAGE
Gray Waldron wrote on 11/21/06:
“Dear Freeport Area Historical Society, I want to say that I love your site. I have been tracing some of my family history and have looked over your site and found it to be very useful. During the research I have done, I have come across many of the names and places that are mentioned in your site. I was wondering if you knew or have heard anything about a “Freeport Bank and Trust Company” and what became of this company along the way? I have found a couple of documents with this name and was trying to fit it in with my family history. The documents are dated July 1, 1922, and have the name J. Homer Iseman (which would be my great-great grandfather). Thanks in advance for anything you could possibly tell me about (it).”
Ed. Note: Thanks for the kind words, Gray. If you have any information to share with Gray, please contact him
FLOODS
Spring is coming and with it, sometimes, comes flooding. In March, 1905, the Daily Dispatch had this article:
Rising Allegheny Raises Concerns
“The community is exercised about the high water state of the Allegheny River. There has been but one loss of life, although there has been damage to property interests. The plants of both local tin mills were closed, as well as those of the Pittsburgh Reduction Work and the Union Spring and Manufacturing Co. The Street Railway Co. suspended operations, and the West Penn Railroad was tied up between Tarentum and Pittsburgh.” And, speaking of floods, Jim Elliott recently came across some news clippings from the Freeport Journal. Unfortunately there is no date on the article, but it discusses the relief fund collected locally for those who suffered in the Johnston flood of 1889. We do not have space to include the entire article, but it was entitled:
Some Ancient History
It began: “In going over the papers and books of our father, the late H. B. McKee, we came upon a memorandum book containing the names of a number of subscribers to the fund for the relief of the sufferers from the Johnstown flood in 1889…The writer was only a boy in his teens at the time, but he has a vivid recollection of the big meeting in the old opera house in the Osterman building on Second St., next to the railroad. The place was crowded to capacity; all the ministers and the Catholic priest were on the platform. They were about to follow the old-fashioned program, which consisted of a lot of speeches, when the priest, who was called upon first (we believe it was Father Brady), turned the meeting upside down by walking to the table and saying, “this is my speech.” And laid a bill upon the table. Everyone present caught the spirit of the occasion and crowded forward to lay their offerings down.”
The writer went on to say that there were no speeches. The next day a committee consisting of O. J. Sarver, R. B. McKee, Fred Clark, Neale Gillespie and others, went to Johnstown carrying the donations. The city was under military rule; veterans of the Civil War were acting as guards and no one was allowed to enter the city. McKee got in touch with one of the guards and had himself arrested and taken to headquarters. There he explained to the Marshal the purpose of their visit. The marshal replied that there was no bank and thousands of dollars in checks had arrived, with no way to deposit them. “But this is currency” Mr. McKee replied. The Marshall then smiled and said “That is exactly what we need; this is the first actual cash contribution that has entered the city since the disaster.” Mr. Sarver was escorted into the city and turned over the funds, receiving a receipt that was framed and exhibited in the Journal office for many years. The receipt was in the amount of $159.84. The article went on to include a list of names with amounts given, as little as 50 cents and as much as $50 – an incredible sum in 1889. Included are some old time Freeport area names – besides those on the committee, you might recognize Fullerton, Renshaw, Seitz, Turner, Weaver, Taylor, Trefelner, Moyes, Brenneman, Bush, Blackburn, Shoop, Rowley, Ralston, Watt, Redpath, Sweeney, Kerr, Steele, Steislinger, and many others. And others in town took collections for the relief of Johnston.
1918 LOVE LETTER
Angelo Yerace has shared a love letter written by C. A. Atkinson in May, 1918, while at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, addressed to Miss Sue Moyes, Freeport, PA. (no street address and of course no zip code.) There is a “passed by censor” stamp on the front and the return address on the back is 126th Co. 9th Reg. USMC, New York City, New York. It bore a 3-cent stamp. The letter reads: “Dear Sue:
Well at last it came but do you know I have been waiting for it for a couple of weeks but can not blame you only for one weeks delay for the other was on account of the mail and we received the first mail today we have had for one week. But Sue I certainly am glad you did not forget me.
This is the fourth letter I have written today and I still have several more to answer for I only received eight letters, a postal card and the Journal, so you can easily see I will have to do some writing within the next few days but I think I can find time to do it all if I feel like writing at all, although there isn’t anything to write about down here.
I am writing tonight in the recreation building where we have a couple of golden oak tables about 25 ft. long and five feet wide to write on so it is much easier than writing in a tent with a board 1 ft. by 10 in. for a desk and a lantern for light while here we have electric lights but it certainly seems funny that this is the first time I have written up here although I come up almost every other day after books where we have about 750 good ones.
We started on our regular routine this week so drilled on Monday and Tuesday and had police work today but I didn’t mind the police work today for I had an easy job but we really enjoyed the drilling for we have not done any for about two weeks having been working on the rifle range and doing police and guard duty while the expert riflemen shot for gold, silver and bronze metal.
Next week we have guard and liberty and I expect to go to Guantanamo City and get my watch fixed. Someone knocked it off my boxes and tramped on its face so do not know whether its worth getting fixed or not.
Well you are pretty busy with your school Glee Club, play, parades and home talent shows and I’ll bet you get pretty tired of it all sometimes but you will wish you had it all to do over again when Commencement time comes and you see yourself and your friends starting out in the commencement of life for yourselves.
You certainly must be doing good work when knitting for the Red Cross but I guess there will be lots of fellows Over There who will need sweaters this next winter if the war keeps up. I have two in my sea bag I would like to get a chance to use Over There but unless I get transferred am afraid it will be the tropics for mine for the next year although am going to try to get away. The weather here is just about the same as we have had since arrived except it gets pretty warm out in the sun. But we generally have a breeze blowing. Well Sue I must close for this time, so don’t forget your friend ‘Ackie.’” Ed
Note: Sources tell me that when “Ackie” came back from the service, he and Sue expected to marry. Before that time he met a gal who was willing to do what Sue would not until that ring was on her finger. and a baby was the result. Sue wanted nothing to do with him after that and remained single her whole life.
PICTURES AND MORE PICTURES
Gay Revi continues to amaze us with the work she does. Currently she is working on scanning glass slides taken of people and places in Freeport in 1926. Clyde Leri was kind enough to share these treasures with her. These pictures were shown during intermission and before movies at the Ritz Theater in Freeport BEFORE TALKING PICTURES CAME TO FREEPORT! Take a look and see if you can identify anyone. She has also sent us the following pictures – do you know who they are?
MEMORIES
Here is another in our series on memories of long-time local residents. Grace Stokes McQueen
I was born on my Uncle and Aunts' farm, Clair and Lenora Stokes. They already had two sets of twin boys, only 18 months apart, but still offered their house for another childbirth. My brother Chuck was born and the doctor had Mom all cleaned up and discovered there was another baby…I was born an hour later. The Doctor delivered me and thought I was dead. He laid me down on the bed and my grandmother Stokes saw my big toe wiggle, so I got the life pounded into me!
Being the only girl among 4 boy cousins and a brother, I grew up to be quite a tomboy. We were all very close in age so that made for close relationships. It would be 10 years later that my little sister was born, Eleanor, (Rusty) with red curly hair. Having her was like having a live baby doll in the family.
Stokes School was about a mile from us on Iron Bridge Road where we lived and we walked to and from it. There were no buses then. The school is gone now with the Expressway being built, but it is near the current municipal building. There was another set of twins in the area, so there were 4 sets of twins in that school at the time I attended and prior to that there were two other sets. They always kidded that maybe there was something in the water around there! Mom dressed us as warmly as she could, but we usually had wet feet with snow to our knees. She'd feed us pretty heavy food, pancakes and so on, to keep us warm, and I'd be going to school half sick. We had an hour for lunch and some of us would walk down across the creek and up the hill where there were empty houses to "investigate"…these were houses for workers at coal mines in that area. One of these is now part of Fair Winds Manor. (Little did I think that someday my husband would spend his last days in that house.) We also had 15-minute recess in the A.M., one in the P.M. and were released at 4:00.
My first grade teacher was Mr. McClellan. Yes, that was unusual in those days to have a male teacher. My last teacher in 8th grade was Barbara Sipes, a maiden lady, whose brother was Senator Hale Sipes. Sipes Road in Slate Lick was named for him.
Stokes School had 8 grades, all in one room, and if you got bored, you could listen to what was being taught to the other grades. After the first 8 grades, we were sent into Freeport to High School. At that time, the road was being vastly improved and there were no buses from the country to town. My Dad bought me a bicycle, and I rode into school with all the other "boys", keeping up with them and not pushing my bike up the hills. They didn't have to wait on the only girl in the caravan. When the weather changed, Dad found me a ride with a senior boy, who had a car, and paid to have me be in comfort, while my brother and the other boys thumbed their way to school. The next year the road was finished and we had a bus!
When we were six, our parents started us with piano lessons (much later in life I learned to play the organ.) My grandfather Stokes gave us his pump organ and that was the beginning of music. Not knowing any better, we didn't mind pumping the pedals to make a sound (good experience.) When we were about 9, the Grange Hall decided to organize a community band and anyone interested could join. Dad already played the Coronet, by ear, he couldn't read music, and asked Chuck and I what we would like to learn to play. Chuck chose the trumpet and I the saxophone. Our two sets of twin cousins plus another older brother joined and played violin, banjo, trumpet, trombone and clarinet. It proved to be popular with everyone and it taught music to a lot of children and adults. My Dad would have all of us who played sit out on our front porch and practice. Cars going by would stop and get a free concert. That was the beginning of my music career, which took me to a lot of nice happenings -- Church Choir for over 55 year; a trio, the Singing Bells (Ruth Hale, Claire Leard and I, accompanied by Helen Galbreath) was formed and we entertained different religious functions and clubs; playing the organ and filling in when I was needed in my original church, Sraders Grove Presbyterian, and Freeport United Methodist church kept me into music, which I love.
After graduating from high school, my brothers and cousins were all in the service. They represented every branch of the military and all came back safely from WWII. I'd always played around with doing people’s hair and my Dad asked me if I would like to go to beauty school. I hadn't thought about that but it seemed the right thing to do. I went into Pittsburgh, traveling by train. Of course I had no way to get to the train in Freeport, so once again I depended on someone else. A man from Slate Lick named Lawrence Anthony worked in the mill and he would stop and pick me up on his way to work and drop me off at the station. This opened up a whole different world for me, going into the big city, at the age of 18. I soon gained some independence and “found” myself as they would say in today's world. I began in September and took my state boards in July. Kathleen Fuhrman Cassell hired me before I had my official license and I worked for her until she married and sold the shop to me. I had it for 10 years. It was across from the old fire hall, about where the parking lot is now. Mary Nowakoski worked for me and kept the shop going when I couldn't be there.
Having a job required a car! Dad took me to Brookville and we found a 1934 Chevy coupe: I don't remember the price or why we went so far. Dad had already taught me to drive and now I was independent! I loved that car and wish I had it today, as it would be worth a lot. I'd gather a lot of my friends, as I was the only one with a car, and we'd go roller skating, etc. There was a ledge behind the front seat and as many as could would climb up there to ride. Can you imagine that with today's restrictions? We really had some GOOD TIMES in that car. When it came time for vacation another friend and I would go to either Conneaut or Chautauqua. Ralph Myers or Frank Bures would check the car all over to make sure it would get us there and back safely. It always did. In 1948 I bought a brand new Chevy. I was so excited to own a brand new car. It cost $1,500 and was a better model.
In those days, the services done in a beauty shop were limited. Shampoo and sets cost $1.25, manicure .75 cents and perms ran from $5.00 to $10.00 and there were no tips. The $10.00 wave was a new thing that just came out called Cold Wave. Until that time we used an electrified machine with clamps that pulled down from the head of the machine. The bad thing about this way of curling the hair was, that if the clamps touched the scalp, you got a burn. This happened to me a couple of times. When Kathleen owned the shop she had two customers who colored their hair. This was secretive work, so no one else would be in the shop at that time. As this was not a popular thing to do, I wasn't taught how to do it in beauty school; therefore I didn't offer that service.
One evening I was cleaning up the shop to go home, and the phone rang. It was Joel: he had graduated from Freeport but was older and I didn't know him. He said, "you don't know me, but it was suggested to me by Dick Bartlebaugh that I ask you to go with me to a formal dance coming up the following week.” I didn't know what to say, but I thought - Dick and I were friends, and if Dick were recommending it, it would be okay. But, I said to Joel, "I'm off tomorrow and if I'm going to go I have to get a dress, but I don't know you and I need to meet you before I can say yes I'll go.” It must have been a crazy conversation for Mary to hear only one side of it, so of course she was curious to know what was going on. I suggested to Joel that we meet at the Picket after I was finished and we could have a hamburger and get acquainted. Now the Picket was the place to be! It was located where Camerlo's super market was for many years and a place for teenagers from all around to come and eat and dance to a jukebox. I had no idea what he looked like and I learned later that Joel was looking for the old car that Dick had described to him. Then I pull up in this brand new car, but I was in my white uniform, he was in a business suit, shirt and tie so we realized whom each was. All the kids hanging around outside were NOT in business suits, so it was easy to identify him. We had our food and I found him very easy to talk with, so I told him I would go to the dance.
So we began to see each other and I went to my first formal dance with a gardenia for a corsage, in April. I still have that dress! We had a great time at Brackenridge Heights Country Club. He didn't say anything about seeing me again and it was a week and a half later before he called the shop and wanted to know when we could get together. We went to a square dance at the Grange Hall, the same one that made an impact on my life in music, and our courtship began. In December of that year he gave me an engagement ring and we married the following year, June 18, 1949. We lived above Lee's Drugstore at first.
After three children and a mother-in-law and Joel & I living in an apartment - after me being raised in the country - I was desperate to MOVE! The Hughes house in South Buffalo Twp. became available, so we bought it and lived there for more than 52 years. Joel's mother lived with us for more than 14 years.
I was involved in lots of things when the children were little, the fire hall, PTA, church and did a lot of hair in my home. I decided to sell the shop after the third child was born and we had moved to the country. A lot of my customers still wanted me to do their hair so I did that for a lot of years. Gordon was born by then and the customers would sit under the dryer and read to him to keep him entertained. He still remembers those days.
Later on I baked bread, which Deb said was what paid for her college. And this is how that got started. One day I had made a bucket of apple butter and baked some bread. Gordon asked if he could have a quart of apple butter and a loaf of bread to sell and he set up a table in the front yard. I never thought anyone would buy it, but it went fast and he was back in the house wanting more! Knowing how people must want fresh food, I started a little business of bread baking. Before the expressway, people went by the house on their way to summer camps and would stop Friday evenings, pick up the baked goods and be on their way, eating it on their way out the door! That caused me to start baking Friday afternoons, go to bed for a short snooze, and start baking Saturday morning about 4:30. By the end of the day there would have been about 75 loaves of bread and 90 dozen buns sold. I also made doughnuts and cakes. This lasted until the expressway was completed, then I lost the customers. I still continued to make and decorate cakes, and am making them here in Colorado, too. It’s a hobby that I like to do and will do as long as I'm able.
Joel and I were married 57 years at the time of his death in November, 2005. Our children are Debra, Dianne, Gregg and Gordon, born 8 1/2 years after Gregg. Gordon was a "surprise" but he has been such a blessing and we're so thankful God chose to add him to our family. After Joel died, Gordon and his wife began to beg me to move to Colorado. Finally in late fall of 2006 I moved to a brand new state and a brand new life. The house sold shortly after that. I'm waiting to get into a retirement community and so far it is proving to be a good move. Although I miss my family and friends, I'm not regretting one moment of my decision to change my life.
Ed. Note: Grace would be glad to hear from PA friends – email her
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