On Christmas bazaars, ping pong tables and a pleading daughter

If you are reading this because the title intrigued you, you may be surprised to learn that this article is about Christmas ornaments. More specifically, it is about a woman, her dedication to the year-round crafting of such ornaments, and her grown daughter's desire to be the recipient of some of those creations.

Let me begin by introducing the woman herself (my Nana): Anne (Cowhey) McCue. When our story begins Anne is in her sixties and in ill health. She has raised her children to adulthood, though one still lives at home. She has more time on her hands than she has had for many years. Although she finds some days challenging because of her physical state, Anne has taken on a monumental task for herself: to design, craft, and sell loads of felt Christmas ornaments to raise money for the church bazaar at her parish: St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church in Massapequa (Long Island), New York.

Anne (Cowhey) McCue, 1978

Anne takes regular walks at the local mall, hiding a small sketchbook in her purse. Whenever she sees a character or other design that she thinks would make a good ornament, she takes a few minutes to sketch it, watching over her shoulder for clerks who might not appreciate her "stealing" an idea. She sketches figures of all kinds, including newly popular characters (this is before the age of the internet, so she can't go look Ziggy or the Hobbit up online when she decides to make them into felt ornaments).

Before too much of each year goes by, Anne's brainchild design ideas have been crafted into touchable felt ornaments. Where to store all these treasures while they await the annual parish bazaar? Her solution is her basement: on top of the ping pong tables that take up residence down there. Visiting grandchildren who love to play ping pong get ousted certain months of the year when the ornament population is high. The church bazaar takes precedence!

Speaking of visitors, one visitor and great admirer of Nana's ornaments is her eldest daughter. Whenever she is in town during peek ornament season, she enjoys taking the steps down into the basement to admire her mother's work. Walking around the ping pong tables, she admires the many characters, mentally choosing the ones she'd like for her own Christmas tree. But her wishes are in vain - her mother has dedicated herself to raising money for the church bazaar. Quantity counts, so the ornaments must remain in inventory!

Over the years, Anne's daughter is able to procure a very small collection of her mother's ornaments: sweet little winking mice, teddy bears, Santas, puppy dogs, even a Nativity ornament. Her collection, which is just a small sampling of her mother's work, is a family treasure enjoyed by herself and her children each year as they set up their Christmas tree many states away from Nana and her ornament workshop.

Anne McCue died in 1985 at the age of 71. Yet Nana is still fondly remembered in a special way each year at Christmas in my household and the households of other family members who were lucky enough to receive a few of her ornaments. When I unpack Santa (pictured above) each year, I can't help but think of Nana and wonder whose Christmas trees might also be graced by some of her handiwork and who might have benefitted from the church funds raised because of her valiant effort to fill a basement with Christmas cheer in the form of felt ornaments.

Nana with some of her larger hand-crafted friends

 ~

As Nana's eldest grandchild, I had the privilege of getting to know her better than many of my siblings or cousins. (Here I am with Nana and Mommy on my second birthday. Notice me eyeing the cake.)

Not only did I have the joy of getting to know Nana, but since I was old enough when she began making her famed Christmas ornaments, she spent some time teaching me how to make them. I made a handful of her designs with her help, and even created a few new ones myself. I still have some of Nana's unfinished ornaments in the box in which I keep my little treasured collection. Maybe someday I'll take up ornament-making again and finish the work she started. But I can't imagine filling up even one ping pong table-full (not without a team of little elves!).

This article is part of a series written in celebration of the Advent and Christmas seasons. It will be included as part of the Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories 2013, Day 9: Christmas Crafts and Day 15: Christmas Tree Decorations. For more Advent and Christmas memories here at Small-leaved Shamrock (going back to 2007), scroll through these articles or stop by my Pinterest page. Visit this preview for more details about the GeneaBloggers Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories and to get some inspiration to get yourself in the holiday spirit!

My take on the madness: The banning of vintage children's books

As a children's book lover myself and a mother of children who love to read, I am appalled by the recent events occurring in response to a ridiculous portion of a recent law: the CPSIA (Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act) and its ban on children's books printed before 1985. Supposedly a health concern to children because of the lead content in their ink, these books are being taken out of circulation (by libraries, used book sellers, etc.) in response to CPSIA. (The law took effect on February 10, 2009.)

Personally, my library is filled with these very items and I have often been on the lookout for more treasures like them. I am a junkie for used book sales at local libraries. My shelves are pretty much filled at this time, but I was making plans to soon part with some of my old treasures and purchase new ones. Now it looks like there will be no market for these books, and I will be hard-pressed to find "new" used ones to purchase, with the exception of those that now command a higher price and are marketed as "adult collectibles".

I was saddened this week when I visited my local library's book sale room to browse the children's used book section only to read the following sign: "We will no longer accept children's books." Sure enough, the former children's shelves (which my children had often enjoyed browsing) were now occupied with popular fiction. Sadly, the library's booksellers decided that it would be too difficult to separate the pre-1985 and post-1985 children's books, and therefore decided to avoid selling any books for children.

As a personal response to these new developments (which appear to be happening nationwide), I've chosen to participate in an "illegal book meme" and am posting the list below: a handful of the many books I own that have suddenly become contraband. (I'll add photos when I have the chance to photograph the covers.) My collection of pre-1985 children's books includes many covering various topics: fiction and nonfiction, picture books and novels, classics and just plain fun reading.

I've chosen here to include a few books that are actually personal family heirlooms. Yes, they could certainly fall under the "adult collectible" category, but one of the joys of owning them is to see my children turning the pages of these books just as one of their ancestors did when she was a girl.

Lead content, bahhh!

What are the proponents of this law worried about? Brain damage?

I personally have never been injured by the reading of a good book - certainly not because of the ink in which it is was printed. In fact, more damage can be done to children's brains by taking these literary treasures out of their reach.

Here is a tiny sampling of my suddenly "illegal" book collection, all owned at one time by Anna Cowhey:

The Bobbsey Twins in the Country
by Laura Lee Hope
published 1907 by Chatterton-Peck Company

The Bobbsey Twins on Blueberry Island
by Laura Lee Hope
published 1917 by Grosset & Dunlap

The Blythe Girls Three on a Vacation (or) The Mystery at Peach Farm
by Laura Lee Hope
published 1925 by Grosset & Dunlap

The Little Maid of Naragansett Bay
by Alice Turner Curtis
(title page missing)

Heidi
by Johanna Spyri
published by Saalfield Publishing Company
(title page missing)

As Walter Olson of Overlawyered wrote so eloquently in his article for City Journal:

"...ours will be a poorer world if we begin to lose (or 'sequester' from children) the millions of books published before our own era. They serve as a path into history, literature, and imagination for kids everywhere. They link the generations by enabling parents to pass on the stories and discoveries in which they delighted as children. Their illustrations open up worlds far removed from what kids are likely to see on the video or TV screen. Could we really be on the verge of losing all of this? And if this is what government protection of our kids means, shouldn’t we be thinking instead about protecting our kids from the government?"

For an brief overview of CPSIA visit The New Book Banning: Children's books burn, courtesy of the federal government or Warning! Eating books could seriously damage your health. For more current news related to CPSIA visit the American Library Association website or Overlawyered. (By the way, don't trust Snopes for details on this issue.)

To view the "illegal" children's books in others' collections, visit this Flickr group.

Six little girls on a summer day, 1922

In the midst of summer, June 18, 1922, six little girls posed for a photograph in Mount Carbon, Pennsylvania. All dressed in their finery for their big day, they were the first class of First Communicants in their new parish of St. Francis de Sales Catholic Church.

St. Francis de Sales First Communion girls photograph,

ca. 1922; privately held by Lisa, [address for private use], 2009.

Included in this photograph are two children of John Joseph and Frances (Owens) Cowhey: eight-year-old Ann Cowhey, top left, and her sister seven-year-old Frances Cowhey, bottom middle. The girls' seven-year-old cousin Anne Cowhey (daughter of Charles & Agnes Cowhey) is also pictured at the top right. I have yet to confirm the identities of the other three girls, but I have some guesses. If you can identify them, please contact me.

I'm pretty sure that most, if not all, of the little girls in the photograph have since passed away.

St. Francis de Sales Catholic Church

49 Main Street, Mount Carbon, Pennsylvania

This past year St. Francis de Sales Catholic Church experienced its own passing, so to speak. One of thirty-two churches of the Diocese of Allentown in Schuylkill County to be closed because of a local shortage of priests, St. Francis de Sales was consolidated into St. Patrick's Church in Pottsville on July 15, 2008.

In a way it had come full circle: Mount Carbon's Catholic residents originally attended St. Patrick's before St. Francis de Sales was founded in 1921.

A small parish at its closing with two-hundred seats and seventy-five members, St. Francis de Sales had been presided over for the past nineteen years by Fr. Edward Connolly who is also pastor of St. Patrick's in Pottsville.

This little Catholic church of Mount Carbon has a very special place in my heart. It was the focal point for many a sacramental moment for my family members throughout its eighty-six year lifespan.

I can't help but wonder if the church sometimes longs for the days it once knew: when little girls in white dresses graced its steps on their First Communion day.

For more information on church closings in the Diocese of Allentown see the diocese website's announcement of June 1, 2008 entitled Initial Parish Restructuring Plans Announced or read the Republican Herald's articles: Catholics Mourn loss of 32 churches in Schuylkill County and St. Francis de Sales, Mount Carbon.

This article has been submitted to the 10th edition of the I Smile for the Camera Carnival whose theme is "Costume". For more portraits of those dressed up for all sorts of occasions, visit footnoteMaven's Shades of the Departed.

Sources:

"Catholics mourn loss of 32 churches in Schuylkill County." Republican Herald 01 Jun 2008 http://www.republicanherald.com/articles/2008/06/01/news/local_news/pr_republican.20080601.a.pg1.pr01churches_s1.1717568_top2.txt : accessed 10 Feb 2009.

Kerr, Matt. "Initial Parish Restructuring Plans Announced." Diocese of Allentown 01 Jun 2008 http://www.allentowndiocese.org/news/nr060108a.html : accessed 10 Feb 2009.

"St. Francis De Sales, Mount Carbon." Republican Herald 16 Jun 2008 http://www.republicanherald.com/articles/2009/02/10/church_closings/south_schuylkill/region_1/pr_republican.20080615.a.pg3.pr15stfrancisdesales_s1.1747174_loc.txt : accessed 10 Feb 2009.

Zerbey, J.H., newspapers, Inc, and Joseph Henry Zerbey. Joseph Henry Zerbey History of Pottsville and Schuylkill County. Pennsylvania. [Pottsville]: "Republican"-"Morning paper" print, 1934.

Little light of the Cowhey household, 1915

"A newborn babe brings

light to the house,

warmth to the hearth,

and joy to the soul,

for wealth is family,

family is wealth."

~ Irish Proverb

It must have been with great joy that Charles and Agnes Cowhey welcomed Anna, their first child, in 1914. Known during her young childhood as Annie and during her adulthood as Anne, she is pictured above in her infant glory - a beautiful baby girl.

Anne went on to welcome her own children and grandchildren into babyhood. Unfortunately she passed away before the arrival of her great-grandchildren. It is my hope that the light of her memory will continue to burn brightly within the hearts of those that knew and loved her, and those that came after her.

This picture is part of an "online album" of baby photos which is the 7th edition of the Smile for the Camera Carnival entitled Oh, Baby! For more beautiful baby faces, see footnoteMaven's Shades of the Departed.

Vrrooomm!!! Vrrooomm!!!

An early "Wordless Wednesday" entry for you, sponsored by some favorite cars in Small-leaved Shamrock history...

This 1952 Studebaker owned by traveling salesman Charlie Stanton (beloved husband, father and grandfather; favorite uncle and great-uncle to many):

This 1956 yellow and white Pontiac, first car of the eldest daughter of George & Anne (Cowhey) McCue (photo taken in 1958 in Hicksville, New York):

For more family car photos (and stories, too!) see The love of fine cars: it's in the genes and A ring, yellow roses & a Flying Cloud over at 100 Years in America, or visit the 45th edition of the Carnival of Genealogy whose theme is Cars as stars!

A Wordless Wednesday entry (such as this one, which I've posted early on a Tuesday just to confuse you!) is a picture that speaks for itself without a lot of description. The picture may be one whose subjects are not yet identified or whose story is not fully understood. If you have any information about the subjects, date or location pertaining to the above photographs, please post a comment or send an email and share what you know.

Knock, knock...

Two-hundred and seventeen years ago yesterday, on August 1, 1790, census-takers went door to door knocking on homes in the young United States of America and the first official U.S. Census of the United States was completed. If you're old enough, you may remember participating in one or more yourself. (The last U.S. Census was completed in the year 2000.)

The U.S. Census is a goldmine for family history researchers and it was one of the first places I started when I began looking for information about our family. At this time, the most recent census information available to researchers is the 1930 census, and I started there and went back each decade as I learned more about different branches of our family.

Each census year provides a little bit different information, including home addresses, family members' occupations, ages, birthplaces, and more.

Below is an image from the 1920 Census showing Charles & Agnes Cowhey and their young daughter Annie and Charles' sister and brother Blanche & Ambrose residing at 68 Main Street, Mount Carbon, Pennsylvania.


If you are interested in taking a look at original census records yourself, you can access them free via Ancestry.com at most local libraries. If you have a library card, you can access the census records from your home computer via most local library websites' connection to Heritage Quest online. (Unfortunately, Ancestry.com does not allow remote access for library users, and their subscription prices are pretty steep.) Some census records are also available online at the LDS Family Search website. Each site has a different search engine so sometimes you can find your family census records on one site when you can't find them on others.

Family Tree Magazine's website has some easy to use downloadable forms for the U.S. Census and other family history purposes. Print out a stack of these for each census year that you are taking a look at and it will make it easier to understand what you are reading. I hope you'll enjoy trying your hand at a little family history research yourself. Please let me know if you make any exciting discoveries!

A baby girl in the family

Ninety-three years ago in 1914 baby Anne Elizabeth Cowhey was born to Charles & Agnes (Donnelly) Cowhey. She was their first-born child. She was baptized at St. Patrick's Catholic Church in Pottsville with the name Anna, and would be called Annie as a child (per the 1920 U.S. census), but later revert back to the more formal Anne.

This beautiful baby portrait is the only picture that I have seen of her as a child, with the exception of a group photo at her First Communion that was kindly sent to me a couple of years ago.

Fifteen years after this baby portrait was taken, Anne married her husband George Roger McCue, a young businessman from Quincy, Massachusetts. She became a mother and grandmother and was affectionately known as Nana.

I couldn't pass up the chance to share this beautiful baby photo of Anne on what would have been her 93rd birthday.

She never liked others to know her age. Hopefully now that she has passed to the next life , it doesn't bother her anymore. May she rest in peace - even though I told her birthdate!

Like father, like sons

Charles Cowhey had just turned five years old when his father passed away in the train explosion of Engine No. 563 on November 14, 1892. He and his older brothers Ambrose & Thomas, ages 9 & 10 respectively, probably had mixed feelings about trains for awhile, since their father had been killed in such a horrible accident. However, both Charles and Ambrose, and possibly also Thomas, went on to spend much of their working lives in and around the railroad.

The railroad was their world. It's true that coal was king, but coal needed transportation. The railroad provided that. The Schuylkill county canals, which had transported coal by water, had seen their peak in the 1850's and slowly lost significance as the railroad took over. Trains were in their heyday and they were the world of the Cowhey men and their families in the late 19th century and early 20th century. See Images of America: Pottsville by Mark T. Major & L. Ward for great pictures of the time period from the collection of the Historical Society of Schuylkill County.

From various records that I have found, here's an idea of what Charles Cowhey's resume might have looked like:

Charles W. Cowhey

• 1913 Foreman, Atlantic Refining Company
• 1920 Machinist helper
• 1930 Laborer on railroad
• 1939 W.P.A.
• 1946 Train runner
• 1957 Crane operator

His daughter Anne (Cowhey) McCue's address book lists his work address as: 129 E. 7th Street, Chester, Pennsylvania.

Here is a Chester to Philadelphia train ticket dated 1942:


Here is a photo of the old Chester train station:

Ambrose also spent alot of time around the trains, certainly as a brakeman (recorded on the 1920 U.S. Census) and also possibly as a "caboose man" (as remembered by his grand-niece, Nancy).

William Cowhey's childhood was spent during what could also be called the childhood of the steam engine. He lived his life in and around the railroad and those engines puffing steam into the air as they carried coal and passengers around Pennsylvania.

His sons also knew the steam engine well. Ironically, in 1957, the year that Charles Cowhey died, was the very year that the Pennsylvania Railroad ended its use of steam locomotives. The steam engine's era was over, and many of the most historic locomotives retired to a life of preservation at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania. By 1959 the national rail network had dropped to 220,000 miles. By 1971 the Reading Railroad Company had declared bankruptcy.

The era of the railroad was over. And life would never be the same for the Cowhey family and their descendants.

Under the shadow of the Cross

This is the steeple of the third St. Patrick's Catholic Church, Pottsville, Pennsylvania, whose cornerstone was laid was laid in 1891. This church (and the previous St. Patrick's Churches) has looked down upon many of my family's days. It watched as they walked into it's church for many Sunday Masses, as brides and grooms walked out to start their new lives together, as they visited again carrying new babies for Baptism, and again and again as they prepared to bury their loved ones.

William Cowhey married his second wife, Margaret Foley, in the 2nd St. Patrick's on February 23, 1878. The wedding was attended by Maurice Ryan and Clara Kitchen. They walked into St. Patrick's many times after that day for Baptisms of their new babies: Ellen (no date recorded), Elizabeth in 1881, Thomas in 1883, Ambrose in 1884, and Lena in 1891 and Isabella in 1892, among many others, whose Baptism records have not been as easy to find. (William had 12 children in all, counting both marriages.)

Sadly, the family would attend both Lena's and Bella's funerals shortly after their Baptisms. Both baby girls died very young.

Charles Cowhey, one of William & Margaret's children, walked through the doors of St. Patrick's in 1913 to wed Agnes Carmelita Donnelly. The couple found themselves there celebrating the Baptism of their baby daughter Anna Cowhey in 1914, who would one day be my grandmother.

Thanks to St. Patrick's for keeping good records so that I could learn a little more about the lives of these family members, most whom I never knew. Thanks also to the kind and generous staff at the church. As the older records become brittle and fragile, the church is protecting them by restricting access to them. A few years ago someone was working on entering the data into computer files, but has since passed away. I'm hoping that someone new will take on this volunteer task sometime in the near future, for the benefit of all those whose families lives passed under and around the steeple of St. Patrick's Catholic Church of Pottsville.