Somehow Related: June 2019

Wednesday, June 26, 2019

Actress Nora Bayes ~ It Was a Stage Name!

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Week 26 (LEGEND)

For this week's prompt of LEGEND I am focusing on the famous relative I grew up hearing about - the actress Nora Bayes.

This famous relative was paraded out at all family gatherings. By the time my grandmother was growing up, Nora Bayes had passed away as a celebrity. Grandma saw her in movies, and listened to her songs. Nora Bayes was one of the first famous celebrities to exist in the early 1900s. If she were alive today she would be a coach on a reality music show.

In looking at her family history it's clear that there was a tremendous amount of dysfunction.

She fits nicely into my family story.

"How Ya Gonna Keep 'Em Down on the Farm?" (Nora Bayes, 1919)
Youtube Video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgqVCJpRqWQ&list=RDEMnfMJhGDQNHZ3KX3TTMQIaw&start_radio=1

This LEGEND was just that - a legend.

Nora Bayes' birth name was Rachel Eleanora Goldberg. BAYES was her stage name. My Bayes family line is British. Nora Bayes's family line is Jewish. Nora Bayes is not my relative.

How did she choose the name Bayes -- that will not be known for sure, but

"Eleanora tried out stage names including Dora and Nora, and eventually a last name Bayes. According to an article in the Jewish Telegraphic Agency printed the day of her funeral, it was a Jewish stage manager that informed her that Dora Goldberg was not a name under which she could make it on the stage. Nora was easy enough to adopt. However, he suggested going through the alphabet to pick a better last name — and not just any alphabet, but the Hebrew one with the Ashkenazic pronunciation. He started from the beginning, saying "Aleph, Bays…" when she stopped him right there and reportedly said "That's it! Bays." Thus, Dora Goldberg became Nora Bayes."1

Many times I have told my grandmother we aren't related to Nora Bayes. The last time she mentioned it again, I smiled & said how exciting that was. I realized that I wan't responsible for altering my senior grandmother's reality.

I'm the keeper of the stories - not the story police!

This is why I search -

Cause ...

You can pick your friends, but you can't pick your family you know!

***Any errors are my own. Please send me any updates or corrections via the comments at the bottom of this blog post***

Sources:

1 Edwards, Bill. Ragpiano.com, retrieved June 26th 2019 from http://ragpiano.com/perform/nbayes.shtml

Bayes, Nora. How Ya Gonna Keep 'Em Down on the Farm video, YouTube, retrieved June 26th 2019 from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgqVCJpRqWQ&list=RDEMnfMJhGDQNHZ3KX3TTMQIaw&start_radio=1

Links:

Amy Johnson Crow, 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge, https://www.amyjohnsoncrow.com/

If you reference or use my blog posts in any way please

include a link to the specific blog and

credit http://somehowrelated.blogspot.com/

My blogs are ©Deborah Buchner, 2014 forward.
All rights reserved.
Please & Thank you!

Sunday, June 23, 2019

Reposting ~ If I Were a Man, and Wore a Cowboy Hat

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Week 25 (EARLIEST)

For this week's prompt of EARLIEST I am reposting the first genealogical related blog I posted in 2014.

I started my blog a few months earlier for a work tech challenge. I decided to set it up initially in a way that it could evolve to a genealogical blog. It wasn't until I signed up for this challenge that the initial plan came to fruition.

I am grateful to Amy Johnson Crow (link to her page at the bottom) for helping me move into a committed relationship with my blog.

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

September 25th 2014

Recently a coworker (for privacy sake lets call her Kelly) emailed me letting me know that if I were a man and wore a cowboy hat I would look just like Clint Walker as he appeared on the front of the tv series Cheyenne Season 1.

I promptly ordered in season 1 of the tv series from my library, and realized she is right.

The why and wherefores of the mystery of my paternal grandfather is too big for just one blog entry. For this entry I will share that there is a missing 10 years from the time he left his family in Saskatchewan (with name #1) and when he met my grandmother in Calgary (with name #2).

If there was no mystery surrounding this one relative I might not be left wondering if I could be related to this actor. But since I know this, and many other mysteries, I am left truly wondering - could we be related.

My grandfather would have only been 17 when Norman Eugene Walker (better known as Clint Walker) was born, but the time of his birth fits into the missing 10 years. My quick online research reveals a twin sister, but no mention of other siblings or parents.

Then again - the library copy has shortened the cover and Clint Walker doesn't actually look like the cowboy on the front of the dvd cover either. I think we can call this mystery resolved - I am not a man, I don't own a cowboy hat, and this is not my relative.

source:https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047720/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

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

Looking back to the beginning to get direction to go forward.

This is why I search -

Cause ...

You can pick your friends, but you can't pick your family you know!

***Any errors are my own. Please send me any updates or corrections via the comments at the bottom of this blog post***

Links:

Amy Johnson Crow https://www.amyjohnsoncrow.com/

If you reference or use my blog posts in any way please

include a link to the specific blog and

credit http://somehowrelated.blogspot.com/

My blogs are ©Deborah Buchner, 2014 forward.
All rights reserved.
Please & Thank you!

Saturday, June 15, 2019

School Autograph Books, Calgary: 1927 to 1932 ~ Marion (Maisie) Thomson

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Week 24 (DEAR DIARY)

"These are my garden plots
To plant sweet forget-me-nots
~ Maisie Thomson"

These are the words inside the front cover of 1 of the 3 autograph books that were kept by Marion Thomson (known as Maisie) during her schooling years in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

Maisie was my grandmother Mary Elizabeth Thomson's sister. She was the only aunt my dad knew he had growing up. After Maisie passed away in 1996 her husband, Wally, sent these along with other treasures to my grandmother. After my grandmother passed away my dad gave them to me. He knew that I would keep them safe since I am the keeper of the stories.

The books are in surprisingly good shape given them are more than 90 years old, and haven't been stored in ideal conditions. The tape on the inside front cover of one has broken, but the other two are in very good shape. The writing is still legible. Most of the ink has held up better over time than some of the pencil. There is even a 1 cent stamp on one page.

There are a lot of pages about future marriages and children. One even references how it would be lucky for Auntie Maisie to have a son as her first born. Auntie Maisie never had any children. It's clear from reading the messages that most young women expected to get married fairly young, and have children.

My favourite entry was from Edra Hines on January 9th 1928.
She wrote:

"Dear Marion
Love many,
Trust few,
But always paddle your
own canoe.
~ Edra Hines"
***she didn't author it, but was passing a fine message along***

My grandmother and aunt were definitely before their time. They both had post secondary education, and careers. Edra Hines made several entries over the years. I feel she was a good friend to Auntie Maisie. Maybe they even stayed connected over the years. I would love to know what happened to Edra Hines.

I was thrilled to find 2 messages from my grandmother to her sister,

and 2 from their mother (my great grandmother).

And their cousins

Plus my X2 great aunt Mary

I was excited to see the famous Nancy Tuttle left a message. I grew up listening to Grandma talk about her friend Nancy Tuttle.
I'm guessing May must have been Nancy's sister.

This is not even half of the pages that the books have, but it is quite a few. I have uploaded them in no particular order exactly how Auntie Maisie's autograph books were. The dates span 1927 to 1932. There are entries for different years in pages next to each other.