Helen Korngold Diary: August 25-31, 1919

This year I am sharing the 1919 diary of Helen Korngold of St. Louis, MO.

Helen is enjoying a summer break after graduation from Washington University before taking up teaching.

Apparently, in October Helen tried to fill in some blank days in the diary. 

August

Monday 25
Worked around. Wrote letters in evening.

Tuesday 26
I think I spent most of this day in Granite City.

Wednesday 27
It is late in October now & I don’t remember much of what happened this day.

Thursday 28
Suppose I cleaned & ironed

Friday 29
Cleaned

Saturday 30
Fooled around

Sunday 31
Had a good time.

Notes:
Aug 26

Granite City in Madison County, IL is part of the Greater St. Louis metropolitan area. In 1906-7 a flood of 10,000 East and Central European immigrants settled there. In was the birthplace of Granitewear, granite coated tin cooking utensils that became a major U.S. industry.
http://www.granitecitygossip.com/HistoricalPagesGraniteCity.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Granite_City,_Illinois

*****

A new source on Newspapers.com is The Jewish Voice, published in St. Louis from 1888 to 1933, with papers available from 1888-1920.

In the social news, I learned that Helen's summer 1919 trip to Colorado Springs was to visit her uncle Joseph Frey! I have no record of his living outside of St. Louis, so he must have invited her to travel with him on vacation.

On his WWII draft card, Joseph (1884-1962) worked for the Levi Memorial Hospital as a traveling field sec. Joseph was 5'10", 185 pounds, with gray hair, brown eyes and a dark complexion. His WWI draft card showed he was a pharmacist and had black hair and eyes. He edited A Modern View, a Jewish newspaper. I do not find that he was married.

I quickly discovered articles written by Helen for the Junior Auxiliary Council of Jewish Women, articles about her father's involvement in United Hebrew Temple, her Aunt Beryl Frey's musical presentations, and poetry and articles published by her mother Eva Frey Korngold.

Our Home
Eva Korngold, St. Louis
(Sung to the air of America.)
The Jewish Voice, Nov. 11, 1915

Our temple let it be,
A home to you and me. All through, our lives.
Here let us learn to love,
And worship Him above.
Let praises fill the air Of God our King.

When sorrow fills our soul
And friends with us condole,
Oh, give us strength.
Turn not away Thy face,
But with Thy endless grace,
Help us to bear our woes,
Throughout our days.

When joy spreads far its light,
Throughout the world so bright,
Glory be Thine.
Loud let us then proclaim,
And glorify Thy name,
Let voices ring with cheer,
From far and near.

Let then our temple hold,
And gather in its fold, Those of our faith.
 And then from out our ranks,
We'll offer up our thanks,
For strength or joy that's ours,
To Him above.

You and I
By Eva Korngold
The Jewish Voice, July 21, 1916

If you would always say
Kind words the livelong day,
And I would always smile and bow
A world of friends we'd have by now. I

f you would always do
What you think good and true,
And 1 would follow close behind
A paradise on earth we'd find.

If you would thankful be
For gifts that God gave thee,
And in practice would put mine
The sun for us would always shine.

Our Moses
Eva Korngold
(Poem for Children.)
07 Apr 1916

The Pessach week is close at hand,
Which we celebrate throughout the land,
With feasts and prayers and hope and song
In the land of Zion to be ere long.

We think of Moses, the wonderful boy
Who filled our nation with so much joy;
We picture him into the water thrown,
Thank God, he was not left alone.

Sis' Miriam, with heart so good and true,
Walked back and forth the long day through,
'Till Pharaoh's offspring With maids so gay.
Came dancing along that very same way.

The golden-haired Moses in the basket they spied,
'Twas the voice of God, that through him cried,
That touched their hearts so big and fine,
To save from death this child divine.

Then Miriam with joy stepped forth to say,
That she a nurse could fetch that day.
And off she flew to bring his mother.
Who nursed the child as could no other.

To the palace in haste, the child was brought.
Where a home for him the princess sought.
The king, to please his daughter so fair
Allowed the child to stay right there.

Now he received much love and care,
Mid all that helped him well to fare,
He grew to be a man so great,
That none like him e'er lived to date.

In the ways of God he lived and walked,
Of Him so much he wrote and talked.
The fetters of the Jews he broke asunder
Great things he did to make them wonder.

When plague after plague was of no avail
It seemed as if his scheme would fail,
To lead the Jews from out the land
Where they were slaves at the king's demand.

But soon through the sea the Jews were led,
And into the desert with them he fled.
They had no time their bread to bake,
Unleavened food were glad to make.

For oven they used the sun so hot.
And all were pleased to bear their lot,
For now they felt that they were free,
As all the people on earth should be.

For years and years they lived in peace,
Until their worship of God did cease,
And now in memory of Moses' great feat,
The matzos in freedom and peace we eat.

ON SHABUOTH
 By Eva Korngold
The Jewish Voice, June 2, 1916

Like angels that are pure and heavenly
The messengers and servants of our God;
Like sun and moon and stars and all that's bright,
The wonder works that give our world delight;
Like budding trees and flowers of early Spring
That bid fair promise to blossom and to bloom
Just so pure, so radiant and full of hope.
This day with joy that words can never paint.
We see upon the altar of God and man
Our little children ready to embrace
The faith that stands for love, for truth, for hope;
They pledge the Ten Commandments to obey,
The laws that rule and govern all the world
Which on this day the Lord our God gave us.
The duties of the Jew toward God and man
Has been religiously on them impressed,
And when the holy blessings are pronounced
On heads that low before our Father, bow,
May the voice of Him be heard to say Amen.

June 9, 1916

Historical Fiction as Story, Interpretation, and Illumination

I read three historical fiction books at once, each about 400 pages long. They were very different not just in subject matter but in how they presented history.

Historical fiction can recreate history through story. It can reinterpret history through an author's viewpoint. And it can illuminate history for deeper, timeless messages. To me, each book represented one of these uses.

Recreating History Through Story: Lost Roses by Martha Hall Kelly

Lost Roses by Martha Hall Kelly is the prequel to her first novel The Lilac Girls. The Lilac Girls tells the story of Polish girls sent to Ravensbruck where the Nazis perform disfiguring operations on their legs. After the war, American socialite Caroline Ferriday takes up their cause and brings them to New York City for corrective surgery.

In her new book, Kelly turns her attention to Caroline's mother Eliza who was friends with Russian aristocrats, cousins of the Romanovs. Like others of their class, they lead a decadent and luxurious life. Kelly draws the daughters and their father to be sympathetic, their stepmother less so. With the toppling of the Tsar and the uprising against the aristocrats, the family finds themselves at the mercy of the Reds. The brutality of the Reds is depicted through two former prisoners who hold the family hostage.

Any 'White Russians' who could fled Russia. Meeting these refugee women, Eliza had compassion and organized to find them homes and employment.

The focus is on the aristocratic Sofya's search for her son who was both rescued and separated from her during the uprising. The boy was in the care of a peasant girl, Varinka, who disappears with him. It allows us to see two sides of the revolution while engaging our sympathy.

The novel was the May Barnes and Noble Book Club Choice. At our local group, several readers were swept into the story. Others wished there was a better grounding in the historical background of the Russian Revolution. It was agreed that family trees would have helped them.

Kelly fell in love with the Ferriday family while researching her first book. She is writing a second prequel about the family set during the Civil War. This book adds to the Ferriday family's history.

The novel is the May Barnes and Noble Book Club selection. I purchased a copy.

Reinterpreting History: Courting Mr. Lincoln by Louis Bayard

At the same time, I was reading Courting Mr. Lincoln, which the publisher offered me. Louis Bayard's novel is about the pre-marriage relationship between Abraham Lincoln and Mary Todd and Lincoln and his friend and roommate Joshua Speed. The novel is based on the myth created by gay activist Larry Kramer that Speed and Lincoln had a sexual relationship. Kramer claimed to have evidence but he never made it public.

I have read several books on Mary Todd Lincoln and had my own idea of her personality.

The novel begins when Mary arrives in Springfield to her sister's home to find a husband. The frontier town of 1,500 is described as primitive. I had read that Mary was well pursued and admired as a girl, but Bayard gives us a woman tipping into spinsterhood, surrounded by inferior suitors--except for Joshua Speed, who is dapper and handsome but standoffish with the ladies. Mary is at times audacious and has an unwomanly interest in politics.

Speed introduces Lincoln to Mary. Lincoln is stereotyped as a country bumpkin who must be educated to fit into society, a job Speed takes on. Bayard does not really convince me why Mary becomes attached to Lincoln. His character is the least developed. I had read that Mary strongly believed in Lincoln's political future. The book includes their falling out and coming back together leaving the lovelorn Speed to marry a woman who is happy to avoid the physical obligations of marriage.

I ended up speed reading through half the book. I do hope readers understand this is fiction! The portrait of Mary may surprise some readers who only know the yellow journalism view of her later life, the mad widow reduced to selling her clothing and sent to the asylum by her only surviving child. In the end, I see this as Joshua Speed's story, assuming he was in love with Lincoln.

I received a free ebook from the publisher through NetGalley. My review is fair and unbiased.

Courting Mr. Lincoln
by Louis Bayard
Algonquin Books
Pub Date 23 Apr 2019
ISBN 9781616208479
PRICE $27.95 (USD)

Historical Fiction as Illuminating: The Guest Book by Sarah Blake

The third novel I was reading at the same time was an ARC sent to me by the publisher, The Guest Book by Sarah Blake. It caught my interest early with beautiful, descriptive language and interesting characters. It is about the culpability of silence and the Milton family secrets, how wealth and privilege control the gates of power, and the acceptance of prejudice, racism, and anti-Semitism.

It is a family drama covering three generations of a wealthy, white family of privilege with deep American roots. There was a Milton in the first class at Harvard. They built a banking empire and thrived even during the Depression.

The first chapter is set in 1935 when young wife Kitty is filled with the joy of spring and ends with a horrible tragedy. I was hooked and compelled to read on.

The Guest Book recalled to mind E. M. Forster's Howard's End, one of my favorite novels. Forster's novel set in Edwardian England considers class and inheritance. Blake's novel considers prejudice and inheritance. Some characters can not give up their protected status of privilege and some rankle against it, hoping for a more just and equitable system.

In 1939, at the height of the Depression, Ogden Milton purchased an island retreat in Maine. Ogden hopes to begin anew with his wife Kitty after a tragic accident shattered their world. The island becomes part of their lives, representing all that is good and beautiful. It also holds them to the past, a place that resists change, from the upholstery and wallpaper to the ghosts that haunt it.

Milton's banking concern survived the Depression and continued to thrive during the war--partly because of German investments in steel which lead to business with the Nazis. When the steel magnate's daughter, who married a Jewish musician, asks Kitty to keep her child, Kitty turns her down. They return to Germany and are never heard of again. It is a guilty secret she keeps for decades.

Kitty and Ogden have daughters Joan and Evie and son Moss.

Evie behaves correctly, going to college and marrying the 'right kind' of man.

Joan has epilepsy and believes she will never marry. Then she meets Len Levy, a self-made man hired by her father's bank. He is a man of vision but his idea of opening the stock market to the middle and working class is rejected. Len is Jewish and people like the Miltons stick to their own kind. They keep their affair secret.

Moss is to inherit his father's position but chaffs under the expectations and prejudices of their aristocratic social class. He dreams of writing music for a new America and the changes he hears humming just out of reach.

On a fatal night in 1959, the family gathered on the island for Evie's wedding, two outsiders arrive at Moss's invitation. Len Levy and his Chicago childhood friend, Reg Pauling, an African American writer. Although they went to Harvard with Moss, these men know there are walls and gates that shut them out. In spite of Moss's vision of a new America of inclusivity--in spite of the passionate love between Len and Joan--they understand they are outsiders. The Miltons can be benevolent but they stick to the standards of the past.

What happens on that fateful day is kept secret. It is only known as the day Moss died.

After the passing of their grandparents and parents, Joan and Evie's children and their cousins must decide what to do with the Milton island home. Joan's daughter Evie can't bear to let go of the place, vivid memories mooring her to the island. But the family has run out of inherited money and the grandchildren have chosen idealistic careers that don't come with a large income. Evie's husband Paul, who is Jewish, can't understand her need to hang on to the island.

Evie is tormented by questions. Why did her mother Joan ask that her ashes be scattered on the rocky beach on the island? What was the story behind the photograph of their grandfather Ogden with a Nazi? How did Uncle Moss die? Why did her grandmother Kitty want the stranger Reg Pauling to get Moss's inheritance? Clues impel Evie to detangle the past until the family secrets are finally revealed.

In Howard's End, Forster asks who is to inherit Britain. In The Guest Book, the question of who is to inherit the island is at stake. The island becomes a symbol of the monied, white elite's world of privilege. Can they keep it?

I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

The Guest Book
by Sarah Blake
Flatiron Books
On Sale: 05/07/2019
$27.99 hardcover
ISBN: 9781250110251

Happy Birthday Aunt Pat

For my Aunt Pat Ramer's 80th birthday I researched her family tree on Ancestry.com. Aunt Pat married my mother's brother Dave Ramer. I discovered that her maternal line goes back to the earliest settlers in Connecticut! Aunt Pat is the proud wife and daughter of  Navy men, so I know she will be thrilled to learn that her ancestors served in the Revolutionary War, War of 1812, and WWII.

Aunt Pat and Uncle Dave

Maternal Family Tree of Patricia Margaret MacDonald Ramer

John Reynolds/Renalls 1637-1702

9th great-grandfather and first generation in America

*

Joseph Renalls 1660-1729

Son of John Reynolds

*

John Joshua Reynolds 1691-1742

Son of Joseph Reynolds

*

John Joseph 1727-1799

Son of John Joshua

*

David W. Reynolds 1752-1832

Son of John Joseph

*

Samuel Reynolds 1774-1850

Son of David W.

*

Samuel Reynolds 1803-1857

Son of Samuel

*

Edwin Miles Reynolds 1830-1857

Son of Samuel

*

Eugene F. Reynolds 1858-1956

Son of Edwin Miles

*

Eugene Heman Reynolds 1883-1971

Son of Eugene F.

*

Margaret Veronica Reynolds 1906-2000

Daughter of Eugene Heman

*

Patricia Margaret MacDonald

John Reynolds/Renalds/Ranells 

John Reynolds was born about 1637 and arrived in America in 1655. His father was one of three John Reynolds immigrants who came from England to America in 1635 and several who came via the Caribbean. Perhaps his father was John Reynolds of Wethersfield, CT who was in America by 1640.

John first is found in Old Saybrook (Lyme), Hartford County, Ct. on the east side of the Connecticut River now called Lyme.

Saybrook was settled in 1635-6 by John Winthrop, Jr. who built the fort and plantation or township. During the 1638 Pequot War it was a military base and continued in this use until 1647 when the fort burned.

In May 1659 the inhabitants of Saybrook were given permission to found the settlement they names Norwich, perhaps after their birthplace in England. The Mohegan Chief Uncas and his brother Wawequaw were paid for the land by the thirty-five settlers.

On December 3, 1659, John sold his house and land and with other Saybrook settlers moved to the wilderness to found Norwich, CT.

History and Description of early Norwich, CT
Norwichtown was founded in 1659 by settlers from Old Saybrook led by Major John Mason and Reverend James Fitch. They purchased the land "nine miles square" that would become Norwich from the local Native Mohegan Sachem Uncas. The 69 founding families soon divided up the land in the Norwichtown vicinity for farms and businesses. When the settlers arrived, “A few wigwams were scattered here and there, the occasional abodes of wandering Indians...But in every other respect, the land was in its wild natural state.” “The early houses covered a large area, but they were seldom thoroughly finished, and the upper rooms, of course, were cold and comfortless.  The old houses were generally square, heavy buildings with stone chimneys that occupied a large space in the center. The posts and rafters were of great size and solidity, and in the rooms heavy beams stood out from the ceilings overhead and projected like a low, narrow bench around the sides. The floors were made of stout plant, with a trip-door leading to the cellar. The line of shelves in the kitchen, called the dresser, often displayed a superb row of burnished pewter, performed the office of side-board and closet. The best apartment was used for the sleeping room and even the kitchen was often furnished with a bed. The ceilings were low, and the fire-place, running deep into the chimney, gaped like an open cavern. But when the heaped-up logs presented a front of glowing coals and upward rushing flame, when storms were raging without, or the heavy snows obliterate the landscape, such a foundation of warmth not only quickened the blood but cheered the heart, inspired gratitude, and promoted social festivity.”

He was a wheelwright by trade, took the Freeman’s Oath in 1663, and was a selectman (the board in a small town that acted as mayor) in 1669.

John died July 22, 170,2 in Norwich, New London, CT and is buried in the Founder’s Cemetery as an original settler of Norwich.  In his will he left his house, 79 acres, farm implements, and wheelwrights tools to his only living son Joseph.

John married Sarah Backus (1628-1702) whose father was William Backus, born in England and settled in Old Saybrook, CT before 1637 and died in 1661 in Norwich, CT. He arrived on the ship Rainbow. John later Married Judith Palmer (1646-1716)

John’s children included

• John b. 1655 in Saybrook. While spreading flax, he was killed and scalped  by Native Americans during King Philip's War on 1/24/1676
• Sarah b. 1656 married John Post
• Susana b. 1658 married Joseph Kelley
• Mary b. 1664 married Lothrop
• Elizabeth b. 1666 married Lyman
• Stephen b 1669 d 1687
• Lydia b 1671 married Miller
• Joseph  m Sarah Edgerton

King Philip’s War
A trial in Plymouth Colony resulted in the execution of three Wampanoag men. This caused their leader Metacomet to attack the city of Swansea, burning the town to the ground and killing many of the settlers. Over the course of the next year, 600 English colonists were killed and twelve towns completely destroyed. Around 3,000 Native Americans were killed and more were captured and shipped off to slavery. The few Native Americans left were eventually forced off their lands by the expanding colonists.

Headstone for Joseph Renalls

Joseph Renalls/Reynolds

Joseph was born in March 1660 and died in 1729.

In 1688 Joseph married Sarah Edgerton (1667-1714), who was the daughter of Richard (1620-1692) and Mary Sylvester Edgerton (1625-1692), founding settlers in Norwich. Richard served as constable and townsmen.

In 1714, John was licensed to keep a house of entertainment and rented to lodgers. “To be so licensed then, one must be a man of good repute and possessed of comfortable means.” John was a widower at this time. In 1718 he deeded the house to his son John.

Children of Joseph and Sarah

• John 1691-1742
• Mary 1693-1781 who married Robert Warren
• Joseph 1695-1756 who married Hannah Bingham
• Stephen 1698-1731 who married Mary Sanford
• Daniel 1701-1701
• Lydia b. 1702
• Daniel b. 1705-1706
• Sarah b 1707 who married John Calkins

John Joshua Reynolds

John was born Feb. 24 1691 in Norwich, New London, Connecticut and died on August 19, 1742, in Norwich. John inherited a large estate and was quite wealthy.

He married Lydia Lord, daughter of Captain Richard and Elizabeth Hyde Lord of Lyme, CT. Lydia was described as a “remarkable Christian woman” who lived to be 92 years old, 40 years a widow. The Lord family arrived in America in 1635, first settling in Cambridge before removing with Rev. Thomas Hooker and other settlers to found Hartford, CT.

Children of Joseph and Lydia

• John d 1752 when his horse ran against a tree
• Deborah b 1721
• Ann b. 173
• Sarah b. 1725
• Ruth b. 1727
• John b. 1730
• Joseph b. 1732
• Abigail b. 1734
• Lydia b. 1736
• Elizabeth b. 1738

Lt. John Joseph Reynolds

Joseph was born August 27, 1727, in Greenwich, CT and died on November 27, 1779, in Dutchess CO, NY. Joseph married Martha Tibbets.

Children of Joseph and Martha

• Lydia 1752-1804
• Eliphalet 1753-1849
• John b. 1753
• Israel 1753-1812
• Parker 1755-1833
• David Gardner 1756-1833
• Joanna/Hannah 1757-1826
• Asa 1759-1834
• Stephen 1776-1854
• Daniel 1778-1851
• John 1785-1862
• Silas 1786-1855

Joseph served in the Revolutionary War in the 1st Regiment CT Volunteer Artillery, having “joined and enlisted after muster in of battery” on June 28, 1798.

According to an application for Sons of the Revolution, Joseph served under Brigadier Gen. Nathaniel Woodhull during the Battle for Long Island. The soldiers were driving cattle away from Tory farms so they could not be used by the British and they prevented communication between the Tories and the British. Gen. Woodhull was ordered to fall back to Jamaica, NY where he was captured by the British and taken to a prison ship at Gravesend. His arm was amputated and he died Sept. 20, 1776. Gen. Woodhull’s brother Abraham was a spy for Gen. Washington, the story popularized in the television series Turn.

David W. Reynolds

David was born 1752 in Horseneck, Fairfield, CT and died March 31, 1832, in Dennysville, ME.

During the War of 1812 David enlisted in Lyme. CT in April 1777. He served under Capt. Ely for three years then was waiter to Lt. Col. Sills. He was taken prisoner at Tarrytown but escaped from a British prison ship at Passamaquoddy. He received a land grant in Maine for his service. His pension records show in 1818 he received eight allotments a year for a total of 48 pounds a year.

David married Hannah Hastings. Their children are

• Isaac P 1773-1850
• Samuel 1774-1850
• Rhoda 1780-1787
• Eliphalet 1804-1881
• Thirza 1807-1880
• Eliza 1810-1866

Samuel H. Reynolds

Samuel was born in 1774 in Horseneck, Fairfield, CT, moved to Yates Co, NY and then Allegheny Co, NY  then settled near Adrian, MI. He died suddenly in December 1849 in Lenawee County, MI. Samuel served in the War of 1812.

In 1803, Samuel married Abigail Belden or Belding (1777-1852) in CT. Abigail’s father Thomas Belding (1732-1782) was from Wethersfield, Hartford CT. He appears on the 1840 Fairfield CT census.

Children of Samuel and Abigail

• Leonard 1801-1882
• Samuel 1803-1857
• Almira 1805-1881
• Moses 1806-1886
• Mary (Polly) 1809-1893
• Julia Ann 1812-1900 m. St. John
• William Pitt 1816-1900
• Joseph Beldon 1818-1883

Samuel was a veteran of the War of 1812 and veteran records show he is buried in Rome Township, Michigan. Grandson, Wesley Reynolds in Illustrated History and Biographical Record of Lenawee County, Michigan by John I. Knapp states Samuel and family came to Michigan from New York in Sep. 1836. They "were farmers of Greene County, NY, Samuel was a soldier of the War of 1812. He came to Michigan with his wife late in life and died at his son William's at Wolf Creek, this county in 1850 aged 76. His wife died about two years after, aged 75 years.

The 1790 census shows Samuel living in Fairfield, CT.

Samuel Reynolds

Samuel was born December 1803 in Greenfield, NY and died March 22, 1857, in Humphrey, Cattaraugus, NY. He married Elizabeth Ann Hoyt (1812-1853) in 1826. He later married Lovina Slade in 1854 who had children Lucy and Edwin Hollister from her first marriage. Samuel was a farmer.

Children of Samuel and Ann

• Samuel b. 1825
• Cordelia Charlotte 1828-1916
• Lydia Ann b. 1833
• Martin Matillas 1835-1904
• William Hoyt 1837-1907
• Charles Elmer 1840-1848
• Almira C. b. 1845
• John Wesley 1847-1848
• Manly Frank 1849-1902
• Walter Wilden 1853-1941

Children of Samuel and Lovina

• Lucy b. 1846
• Edwin b. 1852
• Parley Hollister b. 1856

The 1850 Humphrey, Cattaraugus census shows Samuel as a farmer. The 1855 New York State census shows Samuel aged 51 and Lovina aged 39. A May 3, 1858 probate record show Samuel’s estate went to Lovina Reynolds and Chase Fuller.

Eugene Miles Reynolds

Eugene M. was born June 1830 in Livingston County, NY and died July 1901 in Salamanca, Cattaraugus, NY. He was a cooper by trade.

Eugene M. married Alzina J. Leonard, daughter of Edwin S. and Lydianne Leonard. Eugene M. and Alzina had children

• Ervine or Irvine M.
• Perry E.
• Mary Jeanette
• Eugene F.
• Lillian Blanche
• Eugene
• William
• Sylvester
• Rosalia

After Alzina’s death, Eugene M. married Lucinda B. Stoddard and they had children

• Ada B.
• Edwin S.
• Frank B.

The 1850 and 1860  Humphrey, Cattaraugus, NY Federal census and the 1855 NY census shows Eugene M. and Alzina farming.  He and Alzina lived next door to her parents. The 1865 Livingston County, New York State census shows Eugene was a cooper. The 1900 Cattaraugus, NY census shows Eugene was a dentist and a widower.

Eugene F. Reynolds

Eugene F. was born February 9, 1858, in Orlean, Cattaraugus, NY and died February 20, 1952, in Buffalo, NY.

Eugene married Margaret Ferrier (b. 1861) whose father was born in Germany and her mother was born in France.

Their children were

• Hettie
• Myrtil
• Sulter
• Eugene H.
• Luther F.
• Arlen Rollin
• Maleska Lillian
• Eleckta

The 1880 Cattaraugus, NY census shows Eugene was a fireman. The 1892 New Y0ok State census and the 1900 Concord, NY Federal census shows Eugene was a sawyer. The 1910 Concord, NY census shows Eugene worked as foreman of a railroad gang and Margaret was a milliner with her own shop. The 1920 Concord, NY census shows Eugene was a derrick engineer on the railroad. The 1930 Springville, NY census shows Eugene was 21 when he married and Margaret was 18. His son Eugene H. supported his parents as a telegrapher at this time. The 1940 Springville, NY census shows he was a laborer on the railroad and had completed high school.

Eugene Reynolds of Springville, photo from ancestry.com family tree

Eugene H. Reynolds

Born August 1883 in Springville, NY and died in 1971 in Tonawanda, NY.

Eugene’s middle name was recorded as Seaman on the Social Security application claims index. But on his WWI Draft registrations, he wrote it as Heaman.

Eugene married Mary A. Larkin, daughter of Adam Ferrier born in Germany, on October 13, 1904. Mary had an older brother named Heman. Heman is a Biblical name from I Kings. Its popularity peaked around 1900.

The 1910 census shows Eugene working as a telegraph operator living with his family in Cattaraugus. The 1915 NY State census shows Eugene living in Concord, Erie Co, NY. and two of Mary’s sisters lived with the family. The 1920 census shows the family living in Concord Twp, Erie County, NY. where Eugene was an operator for the railroad. The 1925 NY State census shows Eugene and Mary living with son Eugene who was now a telegraph operator while his father was a “bridge carpenter.” The family had a servant and Mary’s sister lived with them as well. The 1930 census shows that Eugene was a telegraph operator for the steam railroad.

Children of Eugene and Mary

• Tedman b. 1904
• Densmore b. 1905
• Margaret Veronica 1906-2000
• Irene May b. 1909
• Patricia Ethel 1910-1993
• Irene M. b. 1911

Margaret Reynolds

Margaret Veronica Reynolds MacDonald

Margaret was born January 6, 1906, in Springville, NY and died April 3, 2000, in Tonawanda, NY.
Margaret married Allan Campbell MacDonald on February 7, 1908, in New York and died March 13, 1984, in N. Tonawanda, NY. Allan was a WWII Navy veteran. He enlisted on March 29, 1944, and was released on December 10, 1945. His father may be Allan McDonald born 1882 in Canada and died September 30, 1927, in N. Tonawanda, NY.

Allan MacDonald

Allan MacDonald in his fireman uniform

Children of Allan and Margaret:

• Veronica b. 1934 
• Patricia Margaret b. 1939 
• Michael 

Patricia Margaret MacDonald

Pat married Lynne David Ramer in December 1950. Dave was born on Dec. 24, 193,5 in Kane, PA and died April 29, 1988 in Royal Oak, Michigan.

Children of Pat and Dave

• Debora Ann 1959-2018
• Cynthia Patricia b. 1960
• Linda Mary b, 1964

Aunt Pat and family

Dave served in the Navy.

He was on the crew of a mini-sub in the Chesapeake Bay, the SSX-1. I visited Annapolis twice while he was working on this sub in the 1960s. It was painted a fluorescent orange and patrolled the Chesapeake Bay.
http://www.navsource.org/archives/08/08548.htm
http://www.hnsa.org/ships/x1.htm

He also worked on the USS Angler 240.
http://ussangler.com/

Dave Ramer

The sub was declared to be toxic according to this article found at  http://www.maacenter.org/jobsites/navyships/ussanglersub.php

The USS Angler SS 240 has been declared to be toxic, asbestos was used as a construction material in items commonly found on large ships. Asbestos is made up of tiny fibers, so the asbestos on board the USS Angler SS 240 could have been inhaled by the members of her crew, or could have stuck to the items being delivered to other ships. Asbestos can easily cling to most surfaces, and then be released into the air later. This led to the possibility that any person on a ship which received goods from the Angler might also have been exposed to this toxic material and these deadly asbestos fibers were also utilized within the piping duct systems construction. Exposure to asbestos is very dangerous and can lead to potentially deadly diseases such as asbestos cancer otherwise known as mesothelioma.

Operation Pacific (Warner Bros., 1951) Under John Wayne's leadership, the submarine Thunderfish fights the Japanese and rescues nuns and children. This film, the first of a spate of World War II submarine movies released during the 1950s, was loosely based on the true stories of the USS Angler (SS-240) and Growler (SS-215). Admiral Charles Lockwood, the commander of submarine operations in the Pacific, served as technical advisor.

Obituary

Lynn D. Ramer, U.S.N., Retired

Lynne D. Ramer, U.S.N., retired, 52, a 19-year resident of Ferndale, died Friday, April 29, 1988 in William Beaumont Hospital, Royal Oak. He was born Dec. 24, 1935 in Kane, PA.

Mr. Ramer, who served in the US Navy in EN1 from 1955 to 1974, was a member of Fleet Reserve Association Branch 24 and the Solhin Club of Detroit. An employee of the City of Ferndale Water Department for 11 years, Mr. Ramer served as president of AFSCME Local 3120. he also belonged to the George W. Danuk American Legion Post 330 in Ferndale.

From 'We Notice That' column in Lewistown Sentinel, July 27, 1961. Submitted by Lynne O. Ramer to Ben Meyers: "July 16, 1961 "Arrived in 95-degree weather on the banks of the Severn River, directly across from the complex of our first USN Academy for would-be Admirals. Before the night was was in the innards of the USS-X1, our only four-man, 49-ft. sub, of which our son is a crewmember. Total of eight men in the crew." " July 4-10, Annapolis, MD. Daily jaunts into old Annapolis, around naval academy watching the X-1 crewmen doing aqua lung practices..."

New Project for Crewman Dave Ramer on Tiny Sub
We Notice That Column by Ben Meyers, in the Lewiston Sentinel, Lewiston, PA on May 6, 1968:

Loss of the atomic-powered sub the Scorpion was of special interest to Lynne Ramer. One of his twins sons is a submariner in the U.S. Navy, having been serving on the submersibles for 14 years or from 1954.

Lynne, a native of Milroy and now residing in Berkely, Michigan where he works for General Motors, reminded us about his son David while he (the dad) stopped here on his way to Annapolis to visit the submarine crewman.

Dave Ramer, with a rating of ENI(35), is one of the crewman aboard the Navy's only midget sub. It is based at Annapolis but is being moved from there for some special underwater project. The sub is known as the X-1 (SSX-1).

Now this streamlined midget weighs 30 tons, is 49 1/2 feet long, is diesel-electric powered and has a complement of two officers and six senior enlisted men.

The X-1 was accepted by the Navy and placed in service in October 1955 at New London, Conn. Test runs, extensive trials, and operations were made and then the craft received an availability. Then in December 1957 it was inactivated.

Lynne informs us that the tiny sub in 1960 was brought back into service as a Naval Research laboratory project. It operated in the Chesapeake Bay with a team of scientists watching it from a 10-ton aluminum cradle suspended from the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. Purpose of the project was to learn more about the basic properties and actions of seawater by direct observation of the Bay's eastern channel. Involved were weather forecasting as well as the fishing industry and military security.

"In 1969 the X-1 crew and families will be transferred to Panama City, FL, so this will be our last trip to Annapolis," Lynne informs us.

Over There: WWI Sheet Music

WWI songs reflect a spectrum of reaction to the Great War, from patriotism and support to homesickness,  mothers and children worried for their menfolk, and even pacifist songs.

One of the most well known WWI songs is Over There by George M. Cohen. An article from the Library of Congress gives the song's history:

George M. Cohan, a successful Broadway producer, playwright, performer, lyricist and composer, wrote "Over There" on his way into work. The headlines that inspired him the morning of April 6, 1917, were not ordinary. They announced that the U.S. had abandoned its isolationist policy and entered World War I on the side of the Allied Powers against the Central Powers (Germany, Austro-Hungary, Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire).

Cohan’s gingery song took its opening verse "Johnny, get your gun" from a popular American song published in 1886. He based his music on a three note bugle call. Although Cohan tested the song on a group of military men at Fort Meyers, Florida, without much success, the general public loved it.

"Over There" was first performed publicly in the fall of 1917 by Charles King at a Red Cross benefit in New York. But it was the popular singer and comedienne Nora Bayes who made the song famous. Cohan, it is said, personally chose her to premiere his song on stage. Bayes also recorded "Over There" for the Victor Talking Machine Company on July 13, 1917 (in a 78 rpm format).

On June 29, 1936, President Franklin D. Roosevelt awarded Cohan the Congressional Gold Medal for this and other songs.

Listen to George M. Cohen sing Over There here.

The cover illustration is by Barbelle. See other covers by Barbelle here.

Johnnie get your gun, get your gun, get your gun
Take it on the run, on the run, on the run
Hear them calling you and me
Every son of liberty

Hurry right away, no delay, go today
Make your daddy glad to have had such a lad
Tell your sweetheart not to pine
To be proud her boy's in line.

CHORUS (repeated twice):
Over there, over there
Send the word, send the word over there
That the Yanks are coming, the Yanks are coming
The drums are rum-tumming everywhere

So prepare, say a prayer
Send the word, send the word to beware
We'll be over there, we're coming over
And we won't come back till it's over over there.
Over there.

Johnnie get your gun, get your gun, get your gun
Johnnie show the Hun you're a son of a gun
Hoist the flag and let her fly
Yankee Doodle do or die

Pack your little kit, show your grit, do your bit
Yankees to the ranks from the towns and the tanks
Make your mother proud of you
And the old Red White and Blue.

CHORUS (repeated twice):
Over there, over there
Send the word, send the word over there
That the Yanks are coming, the Yanks are coming
The drums are rum-tumming everywhere

So prepare, say a prayer
Send the word, send the word to beware
We'll be over there, we're coming over
And we won't come back till it's over over there.

Over there.

***

Hooray for Uncle Sam, 1917, words and music by Della Williams Paine, is another patriotic rabble-rouser with a march tempo. Uncle Sam is featured in many songs. This one is particularly interesting for its invocation of God and how it imagines the whole world singing Uncle Sam's praises.

We are the boys of the USA,

We stand for unity always,

We pledge ourselves to you,

the Red White and Blue

and to you we'll be true.

We love each star and stripe to day

As o'er our heads you proudly wave,

We are your sons so staunch and true

And we are proud to fight for you.

Chorus:

Then Hooray for Uncle Sam

The bravest in the land,

We all salute you ev'ry day

The glorious flag of USA,

And may you never cease to wave

O'er this land of the free and brave,

United all we stand or fall,

We will be ready when you call,

For we are loyal o'er this land

Then Hooray for our dear Uncle Sam.

We give our all to you to day

As soldiers of the USA

And we will loyal be

on land and on sea,

Sweet land of liberty

To thee we sing our songs of praise

And to thy God our voices raise,

We ask thy help and aid today

To save our brothers o'er the way .(chorus)

When we from war come marching home

And lay our victories at your throne

You will be proud to see

the flag of the free

Still floating on the breeze,

So glor'ous will it wave that day

That other nations all will say,

Three cheers for you, the USA

May God your noble work repay (chorus)

***

America Here's My Boy was introduced in 1917 as reflecting "the sentiment of every American Mother." The prolific Andrew B. Sterling had a song for every new development from Ragtime to wartime. The music was by Arthur Lange. Here the recording here, complete with a bugle introduction and martial music. The cover illustration is by Andre' De Takacs. See his wonderful covers here.

There's a million mothers knocking at the nation's door
A million mothers, yes and there'll be millions more
And while within each mother heart they pray
Just hark what one brave mother has to say

America, I raised a boy for you
America, you'll find him staunch and true
Place a gun upon his shoulder, he is ready to die or do
America, he is my only one, my hope, my pride and joy
But if I had another, he would march beside his brother
America, here's my boy!

There's a million mothers waiting by the fireside bright
A million mothers, waiting for the call tonight
And while within each heart there'll be a tear
She'll watch her boy go marching with a cheer

America, I raised a boy for you
America, you'll find him staunch and true
Place a gun upon his shoulder, he is ready to die or do
America, he is my only one, my hope, my pride and joy
But if I had another, he would march beside his brother
America, here's my boy!

***

Just a few years earlier in 1915 the song I Didn't Raise My Boy to Be a Soldier came out, with lyrics by Alfred Bryan and music by Al Piantadosi. It was the first pacifist anti-war songs plus it had a feminist bent. Teddy Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman hated the song and many parodied it. Listen to an Edison cylinder recording here. The subtitle is "A Mother's Plea for Peace." Read more about the music here.

My copy has a photo of Chel 'Toy of the Ching Ling Foo Co. What is a Chinese lady doing on this sheet music? The Ching Ling Foo Company was a traveling vaudeville magic act troop out of China in the last years of the 19th c and into the early 20th c. Read more here and here. Although Chinese were prohibited from immigrating to the United States Ching Ling Foo was considered an artist and allowed into the country. He started a craze for Chinese magic acts. 

The various issues of the song featured minorities on the cover: Chinese, Native American, and African America.

Ten million soldiers to the war have gone,

Who may never return again.

Ten million mothers' hearts must break

For the ones who died in vain.

Head bowed down in sorrow

In her lonely years,

I heard a mother murmur thru' her tears:

Chorus:

I didn't raise my boy to be a soldier,

I brought him up to be my pride and joy.

Who dares to place a musket on his shoulder,

To shoot some other mother's darling boy?

Let nations arbitrate their future troubles,

It's time to lay the sword and gun away.

There'd be no war today,

If mothers all would say,

"I didn't raise my boy to be a soldier."

What victory can cheer a mother's heart,

When she looks at her blighted home?

What victory can bring her back

All she cared to call her own?

Let each mother answer

In the years to be,

Remember that my boy belongs to me!

Repeat Chorus 2x

***

The boys were sent off to war 

So Long, Mother, 1917, lyrics by Raymond Egan and Gus Kahn with music by Egbert Van Alstyne, was made famous by Al. Jolson and it was advertised as "Al Jolson's Mother Song". I can't find a vintage recording but hear it here. Read about the music here.

Oh mother dear a little tear is gleaming in your eye
Your lips are all a tremble as you hear me say "goodbye"
The Stars and Stripes are calling now
On every mother's boy
From Maine to dear old Dixie
They shoulder arms with joy.

Chorus:
So long my dear old lady
Don't you cry
Just kiss your grown-up baby goodbye
Somewhere in France I'll be dreaming of you
You and your dear eyes of blue
Come let me see you smile before we part
I'll throw a kiss to cheer your dear old heart
Dry the tear in your eye
Don't you sigh
Don't you cry
So long, mother
Kiss your boy good-bye.

Oh mother dear each volunteer must say good-bye today
Some leave a love who may forget
When he has march'd away
But I leave one who'll not forget
That's why I'm mighty glad
For you're the only sweet-heart 
That I have ever had. (Chorus)

***

Once the boys were overseas their thoughts returned to dear old Mother. There's a Picture in My Old Kit Bag by Al Sweet .

A soldier boy was writing home to his Mother o'er the sea
Telling of the strange and awful sights in this war for humanity
He told his love for loved ones so dear
As he brushed a tear away
And through her tears a Mother read
these words for her alone.

There's a picture in my old kit bag, in a worn old leather frame
It's a dear to me as our grand old flag and I'll cherish just the same'
On the long, long trail to No Man's Land,
When my weary footsteps lag,
There's a cheer all the while in my Mother's smile
In that picture in my old kit bag.

***

For Your Boy and My Boy Buy Bonds! Buy Bonds! "Hear the Bugle Call!" was another WWI song written by Gus Kahn and Egbert Van Alstyne. Listen to a recording here.  War bonds allowed the government to borrow funds for the war effort.

Hear the bugle call
The call to arms for Liberty
See them one and all
They go to fight for you and me
Heroes we will find them
Ev'ry mother's son
We must get behind them
'Till their work is done

Chorus:
For your boy and my boy and all the boys out there
Let's lend our money to the U.S.A. 
And do our share
Ev'ry bond that we are buying
Will help to hold the fighting line
Buy Bonds
Buy Bonds
For Your Boy and Mine

Hear the bugle call
The call to those who stay at home
You are soldiers all
Tho'  you may never cross the foam
Keep Old Glory waving
Proudly up above
Praying working saving
For the ones you love
(chorus)

***

What Are You Going To Do To Help the Boys? Buy a Liberty Bond!, 1918, is another Gus Kahn and Egbert Van Alstyne song for war bonds. Hear a recording here. The lyrics

Your Uncle Sam is calling now on ev'ry one of you

If you're too old or young to fight there's something else to do

If you have done a but before don't let the matter rest

For Uncle Sam expects that ev'ry man will do his best

Chorus:

What are you going to do for Uncle Sammy?

What are you going to do to help the boys?

If you mean to stay at home

While they're fighting o'er the foam

The least you can do is buy a Liberty bond or two

If you're going to be a sympathetic miser

The kind that only lends noise

You're no better than the one who loves the Kaiser

So what are you going to do to help the boys?

It makes no difference who you are or whence you came or how

Your Uncle Sammy help'd you then and you must help him now

Your brothers will be fighting for your freedom over there

And if you love the Stars and Stripes then you must do your share.

(Chorus)

 ***

The super-patriotism of these last songs were not the only kind popular during the way. Some songs did reflect the pathos suffered by families whose menfolk were in harm's way. 

Just a Baby's Prayer at Twilight for her Daddy Over There, words by Sam M. Lewis and Joe Young, and music by M. K. Jerome, 1918, has a Barbelle illustrated cover of a girl praying for her daddy. Hear Henry Burr sing it here. It is a sentimental and sweet song.

I've heard the prayers of mothers,
Some of them old and gray
I've heard the prayers of others
For those who went away

Oft times a prayer will teach one
The meaning of good bye
I felt the pain of each one,
But this one made me cry

Just a baby's prayer at twilight
When lights are low
Poor baby's years
are filled with tears

There's a mother there at twilight
Who's proud to know
Her precious little tot
Is Dad's forget-me-not

After saying "Goodnight, Mama"
She climbs up stairs
Quite unawares
And says her prayers

"Oh! kindly tell my daddy
That he must take care"
That's a baby's prayer at twilight
For her daddy, "over there"

The gold that some folks pray for,
Brings nothing but regrets
Some day this gold won't pay for
Their many lifelong debts.

Some prayers may be neglected
Beyond the Gold Gates.
But when they're all collected,
Here's one that never waits;

Just a baby's prayer at twilight
When lights are low
Poor baby's years
are filled with
There's a mother there at twilight
Who's proud to know
Her precious little tot
Is Dad's forget-me-not

After saying, "Goodnight, Mama"
She climbs up stairs
Quite unawares
And says her prayers

"Oh! kindly tell my daddy
That he must take care"
That's a baby's prayer at twilight
For her daddy, "over there."

***

After the War is Over Will there Be Any "Home Sweet Home" by E. J. Pourmon and Joseph Woodruff, 1917, has none of the bravado of the patriotic songs. THe lyricist instead writes about the somber realities of war. The composer's photo is featured on the cover.

Listen to a piano version here. 

Angels they are weeping o'er the foreign war,
Transports are sailing from shore to shore.
Brace heroes are falling to arise no more,
But will the bugle's calling every man to war.

After the war is over and the world's at peace
Many a heart will be aching after the war has ceased
Many a home will be vacant,
Many a child alone,
But I hope they'll all be happy 
In a place called "Home sweet Home."

Changed will be the picture of the foreign lands,
Maps will change entirely to diff'rent hands.
Kings and Queens may ever rule their fellow man,
But pray they'll be united like our own free land.
(Chorus)

Vintage Sheet Music: Humorous Songs About Men and the Racism Often Behind The Songs

Vaudeville and Music Hall songs were the pop music of their day. People enjoyed songs with humor and satire. Today, let's look at songs about men.

He's A Devil in His Own Home Town by Irving Berlin and Grand Clark was published in 1914 and sung by John Canfield. Hear a Victor recording by Billy Murray here. One online source states that Berlin also provided the sheet music cover art!

I've got an uncle by the name of Jerry
He's got a farm, a great big farm
Two thousand acres of the very, very
Best land in the whole United States
He's got a reputation in the village
Known as a dude, a gosh darn dude
He would never do in New York City
But in his home town

[Refrain:]
He's a devil, he's a devil
He's a devil in his own home town
On the level, on the level
He's as funny as a clown
He spends a five cent piece, thinks nothing of it
His pants all creased, red vest above it
And when it comes to women, oh! oh! oh! oh!
He's a devil, he's a devil
Telling stories in a groc'ry store
On the level, on the level
Has 'em rolling on the floor
Down at the fair with all the other heckers
He received first prize for playing checkers
And he cheated
Can you beat it?
He's a devil in his own home town

[2nd verse:]
He's got an overcoat that's fine and furry
Gold-headed cane that came from Spain
They've even got him saying "I should worry"
Just like all the sporty city folks
You ought to see the way he spends his money
He bought a box of hole-proof socks
They would never do for New York City
But in his home town (chorus)

***

Rube Goldberg's song I'm The Guy ('noise,' ie, music by Bert Grant) dates to 1912. Goldberg had a cartoon series in the newspaper called I'm the Guy, featuring a cantankerous man who asserted preposterous claims. Read more here. Here Billy Murray sing it here or here.

When they hear me talk, when they see me walk,
People turn around to say: "Who's That?"
All the people cry, all the ladies sigh,
'Till they know exactly where I'm at
The Kaiser shines my shoes
The Csar pours out my boose,
And the King of England cuts my hair,
I eat a bale of hay for breakfeast [sic] every day,
I'm here, I'm there, I'm mostly every where.

I'm the guy that put the salt in the ocean
I'm the guy that put the bones in fish,
I'm the guy can't tell a lie, 'I'll always live, I'll never die.
In the wishbone, I'm the guy that put the wish
I'm the guy that put the smoke in chimneys
I'm the guy that put the leave on trees
What's that? Who and I? Don't you know?
I'm the guy that put the holes in sweitzer cheese.

I wear stylish clothes, I'm the guy that knows,
Why a chicken goes across the street.
I'm the only man knows how old is Ann,
And I place each copper on his beat
My shoes are diamond soled, my bed is made of gold,
Twenty thousand servants bring my meals
I'm chased by pretty girls and Dukes and Lords and Earls,
And I'm the final court of all appeals.

I'm the guy that put the sand on the beaches,
I'm the guy that put the crust on pies,
I'm the guy that's far and nigh,
I take a bath and come out dry,
I'm the guy that puts the wings on little flies
I'm the guy that put the hump on the camel
I'm the guy that put the cough in croup
What's That? Don't you know?
I'm the guy, I'm the guy that put the noise in noodle soup.

When I take a car, going fast and far,
No one dares to ask me for my fare
Ev'ry one who knows, says "look, there he goes!"
Gee, there's nothing to it, I'm a bear
I've got a million wives who'll sacrifice their lives,
Just to make things comf'table for me,
I live on fancy things, prepared by Queens and Kings,
I go to ev'ry show admission free.
I'm the guy that put the notes in music
I' the guy that put the horns on deer,
What's that? Who am I? Don't you know?
I'm the guy that put the foam on beer.

***

The comedy patter song Oh! Mister Gallagher and Mister Shean was featured in the Ziegfield Follies of 1922. Al Shean (born Abraham Schoenberg; he was a brother to the Marx brother's mother) and Edward Gallagher performed together between 1910 and 1914 then reunited for the 1920 Frivolities review with Gallagher & Shean in Egypt. Read more here and here.

Shean: Oh! Mister Gallagher,
Oh! Mister Gallagher!
Gallagher: Hello, what's on your mind
This morning, Mister Shean?

Shean: Ev'rybody's making fun
Of the way our country's run
All the papers say
We'll soon live European.

Gallagher: Why Mister Shean,
Why Mister Shean.
On the day they took away
Our old canteen,
Cost of living went so high
That it's cheaper now to die.

Shean: Positively, Mister Gallagher.
Gallagher: Absolutely, Mister Shean.

Shean: Oh! Mister Gallagher,
Oh! Mister Gallagher,
If you're a friend of mine,
You'll lend me a couple of bucks.
I'm so broke and badly bent,
And I haven't got a cent.
I'm so clean you'd think
That I was washed with Lux.

Gallagher: Oh! Mister Shean,
Oh! Mister Shean,
Do you mean to say
You haven't got a bean?
On my word as I'm alive,
I intended touching you for five.

Shean: Oh! I thank you Mister Gallagher.
Gallagher: You are welcome Mister Shean.

Shean: Oh! Mister Gallagher,
Oh! Mister Gallagher,
Once I think I saw you save a lady's life
In a rowboat out to sea.
You were a hero then to me,
And I thought perhaps
You've made this girl your wife.

Gallagher: Oh! Mister Shean,
Oh! Mister Shean,
As she sunk I dove down like a submarine,
Dragged her up upon the shore,
Now she's mine forever more.

Shean: Who, the lady, Mister Gallagher?
Gallagher: No, the rowboat, Mister Shean.

Shean: Oh! Mister Gallagher,
Oh! Mister Gallagher,
What's the name of that game
They play on the links?
With a stick they knock the ball
Where you can't find it at all,
Then the caddie walks around
And thinks and thinks.

Gallagher: Oh! Mister Shean,
Oh! Mister Shean,
You don't even know a hazard from a green.
Its become a popular game,
And you don't even know its name,

Shean: Sure it's croquet, Mister Gallagher.
Gallagher: No, lawn tennis, Mister Shean.

***

People's sense of humor was very different a hundred years ago. Ethnic background and race and class were all standard comedic fare.

If You Knock the ''L' out of Kelly it Would Still be Kelley to Me by Sam. M. Lewis and Joe Young with music by Bert Grant, 1916. Illustration by the prolific illustrator Barbelle. This was a very popular song in both record and sheet music sales. Lewis also wrote Hello Central, Give Me No Man's Land and Where did Robinson Crusoe Go with Friday on Saturday Night.

Timothy Kelly, who owned a big store,
Wanted his name painted over the door,
One day Pat Clancy, the painter man came;
Tried to be fancy and misspelled the name;
Instead of Kelly with double "L - Y"
He painted Kelly, but one "L" was shy,
Pat said, "it looks right, but I want no pay,
I've reasoned it out in my own little way."

Timothy Kelly looked up at the sign,
He told Pat Clancy "that's no name of mine,
As a sign painter you'll never go far,
You're a fine painter like Kelly you are;
Shame on you Clancy, just see what you've done,
You've spoiled the name of an Irishman's son"
"Don't let an "L" come between us" said Pat,
"I've figured it out like a real diplomat."

Chorus
If I knock the "L" out of Kelly, 
It would still be Kelly to me;
Sure a single "L - Y" or a double "L - Y"
Should look just the same to an Irishman's eye

Knock off an "L" from Killarney,
Still Killarney it always will be,
But if I knock the "L" out of Kelly,
Sure he'd knock the "L" out of me.

***

Everybody Works But Father by Jean Havez was performed by Lew Dockstader and his Great Minstrel Company, published in 1905. Listen to it here and an orchestral version here.

Dockstader (born George Clapp) was the last great minstrel man who discovered Al Jolson. His comic monologues satirized Teddy Roosevelt. Today we view the minstrel show as having promoting racist stereotypes with its white men in blackface. This song is a good example of the stereotyping.

Every morning at six o'clock I go to my work,

With over coat buttoned up ‘round my neck no job would I shirk 

Winter wind blows ‘round my head cutting up my face, 

I tell you what I'd like to have my dear old father's place.

Chorus

Everybody works but father 

And he sits around all day, 

Feet in front of the fire 

Smoking his pipe of clay, 

Mother takes in washing 

So does sister Ann, 

Everybody works at our house but my old man.

A man named Work moved into town, and father heard the news, 

With work so near my father started shaking in his shoes, 

When Mister Work walked by my house he saw with great surprise,

My father sitting in his chair with blinders on his eyes.

(Chorus)

At beating carpets father said he simply was immense, 

We took the parlor carpet out and hung it on the fence,

My mother said:"now beat it dear, with all you might and main" 

And father beat it right back to the fireside again.

(Chorus)

***

I have trouble understanding how a song about an elderly man's pain was funny. I am sure that a hundred years ago that every man, if he lived long enough, suffered pain after the hard physical and manual labor his work entailed.

Written in 1912, the 'coast to coast hit' I've Got the Rumatiz by Carl Summers was performed by the Texas Four. This sheet music dates to 1918; the original showed an African American man with a cane indicating the song was one more that used African Americans as a source of humor.

I've taken every medicine that's said to be
The best for "rumatizum" but they don't cure me
most everything in the old almanac I use;
But it don't do any good it just gives me the blues.
I used to 'sing and dance the wing, most every day,
I thought that it would surely keep the pain away
But Lordy, the old things got me sore
And I' all crippled up and don't dance anymore.

Chorus:
I've got the 'rumatiz', Oh, gee whiz!
I've got the 'rumatiz' all over me,
I've got it in my ankle and I've got it in my knee,
Now if a Doctor doesn't come here and cure my pain
Then I am positive that I will go insane
'Cause I've got 'rumatiz' Oh, gee whiz!
I've got the 'rumatiz' all over me.

Oh! It's the worst pain that a fellow ever knew,
The doctors all look wise but can't tell what to do,
They use a lot of big words I don't understan'
Write some chinese [sic] on a paper for the drugstore man.
"Do what I say and I am sure I'll do you good"
Said one old doctor and I was quite sure he would;
He got all my money for his fee,
Bt still I have the 'rumatiz' all over me.
Chorus

***

Prohibition took away what little 'fun' a man had. Written by the stellar team Andrew B. Sterling and Harry Von Tilzer, Whoa January You're Going to be Worse than July) commemorated the last days of legal alcohol in 1919. This is another cover by Barbelle. Listen to it here.

The first of July they said we'd go dry,
And ev'ry one thought there'd be nothing to buy.
But you got yours, and I got mine,
And ev'ry one was happy we were feeling fine.
But soon we'll be through, then won't we feel blue,
No more we'll hear that "have another" sound.
Can you picture me saying "gimme some tea"
When Mister January comes around?

Chorus: Whoa January, oh January,
I hate to see you come 'round
July was mighty tough, but we could get enough,
And if we knew the barman we could get the reg'lar stuff.
But oh January, whoa January
I'm so sad I want to cry.
You're the month that's going to make my life a wreck;
I know I will turn into a horses neck!
Whoa January when you go dry
You're going to be worse than July.

Last night in a dream, how real it did seem,
A raspberry soda all smothered with cream,
Said peek-a-boo I'll get you soon,
The time is coming when you have to use a spoon!
They filled you I hear with two percent beer,
But soon you'll be an ice-cream soda hound.
There's drinks we can pick, but not one with a kick,
When Mister January comes around.

Chorus: Whoa January, oh January,
I hate to see you come 'round
July you made us think we couldn't get a drink,
But when we wanted something all we had to do was wink.
But oh January, Whoa January
So long good old rock and rye.
Mister Beethoven never made a hit with me.
'Cause it hasn't got the right authority.
Whoa January when you go dry
You're going to be worse than July, going to be worse than July,
Going to be worse than July.