Duchess & Sadie's Domain

Bayfield, Colorado - This is my mountain buddy, Ruff, that I like to start things with. We are the same age and grew up together over the last seven years.

We believe we have some memory joggers for some of you, especially concerning the 1930 Alva High Commencement, May 22, 1930, Alva, Oklahoma. Maybe your ancestors might have mentioned some of these names in their Alva High stories and memories.

I know NW Okie scanned throughout he 55 names and saw a few names that jumped out at her. Scroll down to the 1930 Alva High Commencement article and check it out for yourself and see if your ancestors are listed.

Duchess' stress reducing motto all us Pug dogs work under, "If you can't eat or play with it, pee on it and walk away."

Good Day & Good Luck! View/Write Comments (count 0)   |   Receive updates (0 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

Home Comfort Cookbook (1934) - Cream Fudge

America - This week's Home Comfort Coobook of 1934 comes from page 129, for Cream Fudge and some variations.

Cream Fudge
2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup rich milk
1 Tablespoon butter

Put milk and sugar into a saucepan, and set to boil; cook until syrup forms a soft ball when tested in cold water; add butter, take from fire, and beat steadily to a thick cream; pour into a well-buttered square pan, and when nearly cool, cut into small squares with a buttered knife.

If you like cocoanut, marshmallow, fruit, chocolate, then these variations might be your cup of creamy fudge.

Cocoanut Cream Fudge -- Follow recipe for Cream Fudge; add 1 cup finely shredded cocoanut during last half of beating; flavor with 1 teaspoon vanilla.

Marshmallow Cream Fudge -- Follow recipe for Cream Fudge; add 10 average marshmallows beaten to a cream; mix during last half of beating. Fruit Cream Fudge -- Follow recipe for Cream Fudge; add 1 cup finely chopped or ground dates, figs and nutmeats while beating.

Chocolate Cream Fudge -- Follow recipe for Cream Fudge; add 2 ounces (2 squares) bitter chocolate to milk and sugar in beginning, melting chocolate first.

Layer Cream Fudge -- Prepare and pour into a buttered pan in a shallow layer, any one of the above fudges; pour onto this a layer of different colored or flavored fudge; follow with third layer if desired. This makes an excellent fudge for parties.

Rich Chocolate Fudge -- 3 cups brown sugar, 1/2 cup rich milk, 1/4 cup butter, 1/4 cake chocolate. melt chocolate in a pan, and add butter, milk and sugar in order named and boil; when it will form a soft ball when tested in cold water, remove from fire; let cool a little and beat until thick; pour into a buttered shallow pan, cut into small squares and let cool.

Chocolate Nut Fudge -- Follow recipe for Rich Chocolate Fudge; add and stir in 3/4 cup chopped nut meats just after removing from fire. View/Write Comments (count 0)   |   Receive updates (0 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

NW Okie's R & R

Bayfield, Colorado - It is peaceful, cool in the southwest San Juan mountains of the Southwest corner of Colorado Rockies. Our Winter temperatures during the day here in Southwest Colorado have been in the range of the mid-40s, but I think we have another cold front moving in now or in a few days.

Have you been gearing up for the College football bowls and keeping track of those going to the bowl games? How about your Yahoo! fantasy sports? Where did you rank? This NW Okie came in 4th for the College bowl pickem. My oldest son was the first place winner.

Calling descendants of the Alva High Class of 1930! Do you remember this class motto for the Class of 1930: "The Path of Honor lies open to all." How about some of these class members: Ward Anderson, Opal Andrews, Edith Bloyd, Thelma Broomhall, Catherine Booker, Marguerite Bickel, William Black, Elbert Cunningham, Frances Clark, Joe Clark, Lowell Cline, Clifford Clinkenbeard, Myrtle Lee Curry, Bertha Donley, Florence Denison, Lester, Duck, Maudalee Duding, Vance Dickey, Howard Galbraith, Norma Gilliland, Otis Haltom, Lois Hall, Mary Hankins, Lura Horner, Lucille Holderidge, Ruth Marcum, Myron Maxwell, Roy Melton, Violet Maxwell, Doris Meek, Helen Moyer, Dorothy McCrory, Clay Noah, Thella O'Neill, Thurman O'Neill, Ruth Oliver, Lucille Prigmore, Mildred Parks, Raymond, Rudy, Meth Stewart, Marjorie Shipley, Mildred Schwennesen, Howard Schuhmacher, Forest Smith, Maxine Shea, Zelma Shea, Emil Strasbaugh, Newel STrasbaugh, Ruth STickler, Virgil VanWoert, Helen Wesner, Mildred Wookey, Robert Warren, martha Yearick.

The Superintendent was Charles Parker and the Principal was Lillian E. Dyer. The Commencement Sermon was May 18, 1930, without he commencement Address, May 22, 1930.

See if your family remembers any stories of the Class of Alva High 1930, Alva, Woods county, Oklahoma.

Here is wishing you all a safe holiday gathering during the last few days of 2010.

Good Day & Good Luck! View/Write Comments (count 0)   |   Receive updates (0 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

WWII - 75th Infantry Division Booklet

WWII - 75th Infantry Division Combat booklet -- Chris Consiglio's says, "My Dad served in WWII as a combat medic with the 75th in all these actions. He's now 86, and only just beginning to talk about some of what he endured. I would love to have a copy. Thank you so much! Chris Consiglio, Kenmore, NY.

I need to dig out the original booklet and do a complete scan, but until then, here are some more scanned images of maps taken from the 75th Infantry Division booklet:

* Route of the Fighting 75th Division
* Colmar Pocket map
* Battle of the Ruhr Map
* Battle of Ardennes map View/Write Comments (count 0)   |   Receive updates (0 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

1930 Alva High Commencement Booklet

Alva, Oklahoma - Joanne (Email: jnrax@earthlink.net) says, "Just found your Okie Legacy page. In my aunt's estate things I have found a darling little commencement booklet from Alva 1930. It has Mildred Wookey's card inside (must have been a daughter of a friend of my aunt).

"The booklet has a paper leatherette cover and lists 55 graduates on the class roll. Another page has the calendar (events throughout the year that graduates would want to remember). As well as the "requests your presence" page.

"Is this information needed for your Okie research? I was going to list it on E-Bay, then Googled Mildred's name and came up with your site (site says she married in 1932). The booklet is a 3-inch x 5-inch size. I don't know how it ended up in the estate things of my aunt." View/Write Comments (count 0)   |   Receive updates (0 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

This Day In History - December 6 & 7

United States - December 6, 1865, the 13th Amendment was ratified to the Constitution, officially ending the institution of slavery. With these words, "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction." It was the single greatest change wrought by the Civil War was officially noted in the U.S. Constitution.

December 7, 1941, 7:55 a.m., Hawaii time, was a day that would live in infamy, when Japanese dive bombers bearing the red symbol of the Rising Sun of Japan on its wings appeared out of the clouds above the island of Oahu. A swarm of 360 Japanese warplanes followed, descending on the U. S. naval base at Pearl Harbor. The surprise attack struck a critical blow against the U.S. Pacific fleet and drew the United States irrevocably into World War II.

Much of the Pacific fleet was rendered useless: Five of eight battleships, three destroyers, and seven other ships were sunk or severely damaged, and more than 200 aircraft were destroyed. A total of 2,400 Americans were killed and 1,200 were wounded, many while valiantly attempting to repulse the attack. Japan's losses were some 30 planes, five midget submarines, and fewer than 100 men. Fortunately for the United States, all three Pacific fleet carriers were out at sea on training maneuvers. These giant aircraft carriers would have their revenge against Japan six months later at the Battle of Midway, reversing the tide against the previously invincible Japanese navy in a spectacular victory. View/Write Comments (count 0)   |   Receive updates (0 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

History of Highland County Virginia

Highland county, Virginia - There is a History of Highland County Virginia out there that was written by Oren F. Morton, B.L., 1911. Oren F. Morton also is author of "Under the Cottonwoods," "Winning or Losing," "Land of the Laurel," "A History of Pendleton County, West Virginia," "Pioneer Families of Preston County, West Virginia."


View Larger Map

Highland County, Virginia lies between the parallels of 38 degrees, 12 minutes, and 38 degrees, 35 minutes, in latitude. As to longitude, it lies between the meridians of 1 degree, 20 minutes, and 1 degree, 48 minutes, west from Washington. A second glance at the map shows that Highland lies almost in the very center of the Appalachian Uplift.

East and west Highland has natural boundaries. In the former direction the line follows the crest of the lofty Shenandoah, or Great North Mountain. In the latter direction it follows the backbone of the Alleghany system. North and south the boundaries are very artificial, being arbitrary lines drawn circuitously between the main Alleghany and the Shenandoah ridges. The bordering counties are Augusta and Bath in Virginia, and Pendleton and Pocahontas in West Virginia.

Between the bordering ranges four parallel elevations run entirely through the county, dividing it into five well-defined valleys. Passing from west to east, we may term these the Alleghany, the Bluegrass, the Monterey, the Bullpasture, and the Cowpasture valleys. Several minor elevations occur, the most conspicuous being Middle Mountain, Little Mountain, and Shaw's Ridge.

The Main Alleghany, or Alleghany Front, is fairly regular in altitude, the average being about 4,000 feet. Lantz Mountain, forming the eastern border of what we have called the Alleghany Valley, is known in the south as Little Mountain. It is very perceptibly lower than the Alleghany Front and is steeper on its western side. The eastern slope is slightly scalloped at very short intervals, and against the sky-line the evenness of the summit is broken only by slight prominences corresponding in number with the shallow depressions of which we have spoken.

The next of the principal ridges is known as Back Creek Mountain south of Vanderpool Gap, as Monterey Mountain between Vanderpool and Crabbottom gaps, and as Backbone Mountain north of the latter. It is higher and broader than Lantz Mountain and its crest has less of a saw-tooth appearance.

Jack Mountain, the next of the Highland ranges, is the most elevated of those lying within the county. In the south and likewise in the north it is a single ridge, but in the center it becomes complex. There are here two closely parallel heights, the western being the watershed, and opposite Monterey they connect by a low divide separating the sources of Crab Run and Straight Creek. In the main arm of Jack Mountain, four miles south of the county seat, is the commanding eminence of Sounding Knob, 4,400 feet above sea. It is the highest land within the county, and with a clear sky the view from the top is very extensive, even though much is screened by the ranges on either side. North and south the vistas are far-reaching, including even the distant Peaks of Otter. The name of the knob is derived from the hollow sound produced by footfalls on a certain limited spot, apparently the roof of a cavern. From Sounding Knob lateral spurs are thrown off, especially to the west and southwest. Immediately to the north is a very conspicuous depression in the main range, dividing the waters of Davis Run from those of Dry Branch.

Bullpasture Mountain, the fourth of the leading internal ridges of Highland, is quite high, yet is less a well-defined range than any of the others. It is a belt of table land, occupying almost the entire breadth between its bordering rivers and cut by deep ravines into a labyrinth of hills.

East of Bullpasture Mountain is Shaw's Ridge, a low, narrow, isolated eminence entering from Pendleton and terminating abruptly at the mouth of Shaw's Fork. Still further east is the massive Shenandoah Mountain, its lofty sky-line being quite uneven and showing toward the southeast corner of the county a deep depression. Short lateral spurs, nearly as high as the parent ridge, are thrown out toward the west and sink abruptly into the valley below. Along the flanks of both the main mountain and its spurs are shallow ravines scooped out of the steep slopes by the storms of uncounted years.

Chief among the minor ridges of Highland is Little Mountain, a western offshoot of Jack Mountain. It enters from Bath and runs northward until it meets and even passes Dickson Hill, a divide coming from the direction of Sounding Knob. Another of the minor ridges is Middle Mountain, lying between Lantz Mountain and the Alleghany. Redoak Knob, its culminating point, is 4,300 feet high.

Along the Jack and Back Creek ranges are hills of varying length and moderate height. These are sometimes broken into knob-like prominences by transverse ravines. The conical knob is infrequent in Highland, although a few such projections are thrust up from the eastern face of Back Creek Mountain opposite the mouth of Bolar Run. Another is the isolated hill just south of Monterey.

A striking feature of the Appalachian system is the water gap, cleaving a mountain wall to its very base and causing a stream to leave one valley and flow into another. Several of the Highland ridges are interrupted by these narrow clefts. Lantz Mountain is thus broken by Mill Gap and Lower Gap, which are only a few miles apart. The Back Creek Range is interrupted by the Crabbottom Gap, near the north of the county and by Vanderpool Gap near the center. In Little Mountain is Bolar Gap and in the eastern arm of Jack Mountain are a few more, particularly the narrow pass on Crab Run. As passages for highways such gaps are very convenient and are nearly always thus used.

It is now in order to mention the five valleys of Highland. The westernmost, which we call the Alleghany Valley, is deep, quite narrow, and thinly peopled. In the south it is drained by Back Creek, flowing southward. In the north it is drained by Straight Fork, a tributary of the North Fork. Yet this northern section of the Alleghany Valley is in fact double, because of Middle Mountain, a spur of the Alleghany Front. The sub-valley between these two ranges is shallow and therefore very elevated. It is watered by Laurel Fork, which after meeting Straight Fork, beyond the Pendleton line, becomes known as the North Fork of the South Branch of the Potomac.

The next, or Bluegrass Valley, illustrates two other notable features of the Appalachians. It is crossed by slight divides rendering its drainage complex instead of simple. It is also canoe-shaped, being quite long in comparison with its breadth. Its length, in fact, is that of the county. At the Bath boundary it is brought to an end by interlocking spurs of Back Creek and Lantz mountains. On the Pendleton line it is again shut in in the same manner. In this direction High Knob, nearly as lofty as Sounding Knob, towers midway between the bordering ranges causing this end of the valley to have a double termination like the points of a bootjack.

In the northern half of the county, the Bluegrass Valley is much broader than in the southern, and is distinguished by the name of Crabbottom, a contraction of Crabapple Bottom. The upper and middle sections of the Crabbottom are rendered double by a very low ridge. The western and lower part of these sections is curiously interrupted by low, oblong hills, running not with the valley but across it. In the coves on either side of High Knob the surface is very broken. But toward the center is a large expanse of comparatively smooth land, almost suggestive of a Western prairie. This is the original Crabapple Bottom, the name not having been applied at first to the entire section of Bluegrass Valley now known as the Crabbottom.

To the immigrants, Highland must have seemed like a virgin corner of their native Europe. The temperature of these hills was the same as that of the homeland. The air was almost as soft. There was scarcely any acclimation to undergo. The forest trees were of the same types as they were accustomed to see, and where there was no wood there was a grassy sod, without which the new land would have been a desert in their eyes. They could grow the same staples to which they were accustomed, and there was no new method of farming to learn. Save for the temporary struggle with wild man and wild nature, the newcomer could feel quite at home from the start. It is very evident that with respect to physiographic conditions the European stocks have not in the least deteriorated in Appalachian America.

THE EUROPEAN FOREFATHERS

Causes of Early Immigration from Europe - Religious Intolerance - European Society - Why England Led in Settling the Colonies - Attitude of Other Countries - Elements appearing in the Immigration - The Scotch-Irish The Redemptorists and Convicts.

WHEN in 1607 there was an actual beginning of those Thirteen Colonies which grew into the United States of America, Europe had not more than a third of her present population. Even England, now the foremost nation to import grain, was until 1775 feeding her people from her own soil and building her ships from her own forests. The number of people in Europe was in itself a matter of no importance in causing emigration to America.

Neither was it a pleasure trip to cross the Atlantic. The voyage often consumed more than a hundred days, the speed of the sailing vessel being no greater than that of a man afoot. If the winds were very contrary, the supply of water and provisions might fail. Smallpox and other forms of disease were liable to cause havoc in the crowded and untidy ships. There was also the peril of shipwreck, but there was the further peril of capture by pirates. These robbers of the sea very often made good the adage that dead men tell no tales. The passenger might congratulate himself if simply his person were put ashore, no matter where the spot might be. Once safely across the ocean, the average immigrant was not at all likely to revisit his old home.
The prime causes for the settling of America were Religious Intolerance and Economic Oppression. View/Write Comments (count 0)   |   Receive updates (0 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

1954 - 2nd Graders, Dacoma, OK

Dacoma, Oklahoma - This photo appeared in Vol. 6, Iss. 43, of our OkieLegacy newsletter and was submitted by Rod Murrow. The photo was taken at Rod's brother's birthday party, May 1954, at the end of his first grade school year in Dacoma, Oklahoma. The teacher for the class was Mrs. Avis McCray.

The known students in the photo were numbered and identified by Rod as in the following list:
1. Zella Byrd;
2. ??;
3. ??;
4. ___ Hiatt;
5. Dale Ross;
6. ??;
7. ??;
8. ??;
9. ??;
10. ??;
11. Bill Hickman;
12. Randy Murrow;
13. Newton Baker;
14. (almost completely hidden).

Rod Murrow also believe that other known members of this class of students (grades 1 and 2, Dacoma Public School ) included: Marilyn Ratzlaff, Nancy Leeper (is she number 2 student in the photo?), Danny Rolfe, Alena Parson, Kerry Egner, Vicki Kassik, Stanley Zahorsky.

Someone wrote in and commented, "Wasn't Allan Gottsch, and Dorothy Chaffin in that class? How about Max Hofen?" -- 1954 2nd graders, Dacoma, Oklahoma. View/Write Comments (count 0)   |   Receive updates (0 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

History of the Edison Disc Phonograph

America - Remember the old wind-up phonographs, especially the Edison? I was doing some research on them recently and found out some things I did not know. Such as cylinder phonographs peaked in popularity around 1905. After 1905, the discs and disc players, most notably the Victrolas, began to dominate the market. Columbia records, an Edison competitor, had stopped marketing cylinders in 1912. I am still searching for the old disc phonograph that I had stored at my parents home during their probate. It was not an Edison, though. I think it was a Columbia disc phonograph.

The Edison company had been fully devoted to cylinder phonographs, but edition associates began developing their own disc player and discs in secret.

Dr. Jonas Aylsworth, chief chemist for Edison, and later after his retirement in 1903, a consultant for the company, took charge of developing a plastic material for the discs. The aim was to produce a superior-sounding disc that would out perform the rivals' shellac records, which were prone to wear and warping.

Another difference from competitors' discs was that the vertical-cut method was to be used for the grooves. In this manner, the stylus would bob up and down in the groove, rather than from side to side or laterally. Ten-inch records would run for 5 minutes per side at approximately 80 r.p.m.

The new Edison Disc Phonograph was shown for the first time publicly at the Fifth Annual Convention for the National Association of Talking Machine Jobbers at Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on July 10-13th, 1911. Press reported that the new machine was based on Edison's British 1878 patent in order to deter claims of copyright infringement with Victor or Berliner.

The new machine was also mentioned in the Edison Phonograph Monthly in July of 1911, but it was over a year before disc players or discs would be offered for sale.

By the end of 1912, three basic models of the Edison Disc Phonograph had been designed, ranging in price from $150 to $250, and the company salesmen took them around the country. Soon after, the choice of models was extended to feature less expensive players and luxury machines in stylish wood cabinets.

Prices for the discs started from $1.15 to $4.25, but later came down to $1.35 to $2.25. The discs were expensive to make because of the complicated chemical processes used for them.

The Edison cabinets were deemed to be less attractive than the Victrolas, and customers were required to buy Edison discs only for Edison players, since they were not compatible with other players. Edison claimed that his records could be played 1,000 times without wear.

For MORE INFO on the disc phonographs click this link. Here are some other wind-up Edison phonographs, model c19 chippendale edison diamond disc phonograph 1919 that we are interested in researching - 1916 C19 Edison Disc Phonograph - Edison C19 CHIPPENDALE PHONOGRAPH DISC PLAYER. View/Write Comments (count 0)   |   Receive updates (0 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

Raid At Kerr's Creek, Virginia - 10 October 1759

Kerr's Creek , Virginia - [people.virginia.edu/~mgf2j/warfare.html] -- On October 10, 1759 a Shawnee war party attacked the settlement of Kerr's Creek in present Rockbridge County, Virginia. and killed twelve people, among them John Gilmore, his wife, their son [James], and the wife of William Gilmore. Other victims included Jacob Cunningham, his wife, and their ten-year-old daughter Margaret.

Although Margaret miraculously survived being scalped, her wounds never completely healed, and she died in old age of "a cancerous affection." The Indians made prisoners of thirteen others and took considerable plunder.

The survivors sent for Captain William Christian who responded with "a Company of Volunteers." They trailed the Shawnee to "near the Allegheny Hills" and attacked their camp. The Indians made a feeble resistance, but shattered Halbert McClure's ankle with a musket ball.

The whites recovered 11 of the Prisoners, and 17 Horses, and brought in six white Scalps; some Money, Matchcoats, Blankets.

Anxious relatives had told the volunteers they could keep any plunder if they brought home the captive unharmed. One of the volunteers, George Wilson, took a fancy to a horse that had belonged to John Gilmore, assuming it was part of the spoils offered for the return of the prisoners. But Thomas Gilmore, whose father and mother were dead, did not feel bound by the pledge and sued Wilson for the return of the horse. View/Write Comments (count 3)   |   Receive updates (3 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe