Posted: November 29th, 2008 | Author: Mark | Filed under: Ohio | Tags: byesville | No Comments »
It was many years ago the last time my father mentioned it, and to be honest it could have been the only time. You see, Pop didn’t talk about his personal experiences much, a trait that seems to have been handed down by his father. While few details accompanied the story, I distinctly recall his saying that he and his father saw the wreckage of the Shenandoah, the the first rigid airship built in the United States. Caught in a severe storm on the morning of September 3, 1925, the enormous ship was torn in two by a series of violent updrafts and downdrafts. The control car broke free and crashed near the farmhouse of Andrew Gamary, killing the seven occupants. The stern portion, over 400 feet long, came down a half-mile away and dragged along a treeline, eventually coming to rest on a nearby hillside. The 200 foot bow section, controlled by seven crewmen, remained airborne for nearly an hour, eventually coming down on the farm of Ernest Nichols, six miles southwest of the stern.
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Posted: November 26th, 2008 | Author: Mark | Filed under: Genealogy, Ohio, Tiptonville, Tennessee | Tags: caldwell, hopson, parker, stevens | No Comments »
It dawned on me recently that many people find this site while looking for relatives, and I haven’t made things easy for them. If someone arrives here after having Googled “stevens genealogy”, or “caldwell family”, they’ll find a frustrating lack of organization. But I must say that I prefer a more casual, “organic” layout, and find that excessive structure only serves to infuse the subject with banality, and genealogy needn’t be boring.
In order to clarify my family tree a little, here’s a quick-and-dirty outline of the family: I’m Mark Stevens, born in 1957. My father was Homer Douglas Stevens (”Doug” 1915-2007), and his father was Homer Stevens (1888-1961). Homer’s father was Albert Stevens (1852- ?). Albert’s father isn’t known, although there was a John J. Stevens that’s a possibility. All the Stevens mentioned here lived in Ohio, primarily in Guernsey County. My grandmother was born Goldie Irene Parker (1888-1979), and her father was Henry G. Parker (1840-1914). Her mother was Emily R. McMurray (1846-1930). Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: November 25th, 2008 | Author: Mark | Filed under: Ohio, Vintage Postcards | Tags: cambridge, school, yearbook | No Comments »
This vintage postcard, a surprisingly common card, shows Brown High School in Cambridge, Ohio, probably in the ’40s. Doug Stevens, my father, graduated with honors from BHS in 1934 and went on to attend Ohio University in Athens. Although I have all four of dad’s yearbooks, they reveal little historical information about the school. In fact, the only date I’ve found is the year the school opened, 1909, and that’s only because it appears on the postcard! One internet source reports the building shown here to have been demolished long ago, but when the school closed is unknown. I’ll keep searching, and post any new findings!
Posted: November 24th, 2008 | Author: Mark | Filed under: Childhood Memories | Tags: amusement park, aquarena springs | No Comments »
No, these aren’t passengers on board the Titanic, but are in fact visitors to Aquarena Springs’ Submarine Theater, waiting as the water level slowly rises. The history of the park, and my family’s patronage of it, was addressed in a previous post, where I stated that the theater was introduced in 1951. That makes these October 1950 photographs, taken by Life Magazine photographer Joe Scherschel, among the first views of the attraction.
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Posted: November 19th, 2008 | Author: Mark | Filed under: Fort Worth, Vintage Postcards | Tags: seminary south | 1 Comment »
Anyone who grew up in Fort Worth in the 1960s has great memories of the Seminary South Shopping Center. Built on a location previously occupied by Katy Lake, Seminary South opened in 1962, and offered a vastly superior shopping experience to the strip centers of the day. It was the first commercial venue in the area that encouraged shoppers to browse many stores, all in a beautiful open-air setting. While often described today as a “mall”, I don’t recall that name applied to it at the time. The first true mall, the fully-enclosed Southdale Center in Edina, Minnesota, opened in 1956.
One of the most appealing aspects of Seminary South was the diverse selection of stores, ranging from the large department stores like Striplings, Sears, J.C. Penny, Leonard’s and G.C. Murphy, to smaller establishments like Spencer’s Gifts, Chess King, Kinney Shoes, Hobby Hub and the Book Oasis. There was truly something for everyone.
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Posted: November 17th, 2008 | Author: Mark | Filed under: Ohio | Tags: goldie, ouija board, stevens | No Comments »
Had this tale reached me a couple of weeks earlier it would have been perfect timing for Halloween, but better late than never, right? Sure, I could have kept it under my hat until next year, but this bit of family weirdness can’t wait. There’s not much to the story, really, and certainly everyone has heard more eerie or horrific tales, but I’m absolutely floored that this sort of thing took place in my family. Dad’s side of the family consisted of miners and farmers, conservative Ohio folk that were known for their dignity and moral propriety. It’s their upstanding demeanor and quiet reserve that makes this tale of the occult truly extraordinary.
My grandmother, Goldie Stevens (born Goldie Parker), was almost seventy in 1957, the year I was born, but I got to know her well enough to see her as guiding force behind dad’s strength of character. Goldie passed on in 1979, and my grandfather, Homer Stevens, died in 1961. I was too young to remember my grandfather, but from all accounts he too was possessed of a character that was beyond reproach. Not much was known of the Stevens or Parkers beyond my grandparents generation, and no prospects for further information were in sight until a few weeks ago. In the course of doing our genealogy research my sister Carol has corresponded with our aunt Dorothy Jean, hoping to add a generation or two to the family tree. Little was gained in that regard, but instead what surfaced was a number of priceless family anecdotes. This one, set somewhere around the year 1900, is centered around Goldie’s childhood and the family pastime, playing with a Ouija Board.
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Posted: November 11th, 2008 | Author: Mark | Filed under: Childhood Memories, Fort Worth | Tags: carol, cordone, home movies | No Comments »
Yep, that’s me, taking a bite out of my sister Carol’s knee. I don’t recall this incident at all, but thanks to the miracle of 8mm home movies, the moment has been brought back to life and captured for posterity. This would have taken place at our house on Cordone St., shortly before moving to a new home in the nearby, and rapidly growing, Wedgwood neighborhood. This still image isn’t nearly as funny as the actual movie, so I’ll try to find the time to include the film clip here in the near future. (I’ll bet she had it coming)
Posted: November 9th, 2008 | Author: Mark | Filed under: Tiptonville, Tennessee | Tags: theater | No Comments »
Those who were intrigued by my previous post about Tiptonville Tennessee’s Strand Theater might be interested in some new information that was brought to my attention by Julie Haynes. I wasn’t able to find too much about the theater on the internet, but Julie, learned historian an unofficial family genealogist, has come to the rescue.
While the theater’s earliest history is yet to be found, it appears that George William (”Will”) Haynes and Lillian Haynes owned the Strand beginning in the early 1930s. The couple owned 25 or 30 theaters in all, located in Tennessee, Mississippi and Arkansas. Their good friend Utra Burton managed several of their theaters, including the drive-in movie in Wynnburg. It has been stated elsewhere, and repeated by me, that Utra Burton owned the Strand, but that appears to have been an assumption on someone’s part. Utra certainly would have been a frequent, authoritative presence in the theater, making the assumption a logical one. Will died in 1942, but Lillian maintained ownership of The Strand until 1965, at which time she sold it to the Mason Lodge. Lillian died the following year.
Posted: November 6th, 2008 | Author: Mark | Filed under: Tiptonville, Tennessee, Vintage Postcards | Tags: reelfoot | 1 Comment »
Remember the earlier post where I remarked that Tiptonville was a popular tourist destination? Well here’s why: Fun! Unfortunately I don’t remember their being a miniature train, and wonder when it was put into operation. Judging from the cars visible on this postcard I’d guess that the photo was taken in the mid to late 1950s, just slightly before my time. As is often the case with postcards of this era, there’s a description on the back: Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: November 4th, 2008 | Author: Mark | Filed under: Genealogy, Ohio | Tags: albert, byesville, Homer, stevens | No Comments »
I’m new at this genealogy stuff, and must admit that it’s proving to be more difficult than I anticipated. How is it that generation after generation of Caldwells, Hopsons, Tunes and Tiptons (Mom’s family) can be found with relative ease, while the Stevens, Parker, Hockenberry and McMurray clans reveal nothing? It’s as though Dad’s family tiptoed through the nineteenth century undetected.
What little information I have on the Stevens Family is thanks to what I will hereafter refer to as “the family outline”, a compilation of data that my sister Carol gathered many (many) years ago for a school assignment. Our Mother and Father each completed a page outlining their place and date of birth, marriage date, occupation, major place of residence, and religion, with similar pages being completed by, or on the behalf of, the other family members. Access to this type of first-hand information should have put us on the fast-track to a genealogical epiphany, but that has not been the case.
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Posted: November 1st, 2008 | Author: Mark | Filed under: Tiptonville, Tennessee, Vintage Postcards | No Comments »
There are two reasons that Tennessee (Mom’s family) is represented more prominently on StevensFamilyTree.com than Dad’s Ohio side, and I wanted to take a moment to address this imbalance.
Reason One: Mom’s family is fairly large, whereas Dad’s has all but vanished. As a result, I have many sources of information about the Caldwells, Hopsons and Tiptons of Tennessee, so it’s only natural that I share, and build on, the data I have access to. Dad’s family is a real mystery, with almost nothing known beyond my paternal Grandfather, and precious little about him. The majority of my efforts go towards the Stevens’ side, but the bulk of what I have to share pertains to the Tennessee folks.
Reason Two: Tiptonville, Tennessee has a long history as a tourist attraction, and as such there’s all sorts of items promoting that aspect of the small community.
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It was many years ago the last time my father mentioned it, and to be honest it could have been the only time. You see, Pop didn’t talk about his personal experiences much, a trait that seems to have been handed down by his father. While few details accompanied the story, I distinctly recall his saying that he and his father saw the wreckage of the Shenandoah, the the first rigid airship built in the United States. Caught in a severe storm on the morning of September 3, 1925, the enormous ship was torn in two by a series of violent updrafts and downdrafts. The control car broke free and crashed near the farmhouse of Andrew Gamary, killing the seven occupants. The stern portion, over 400 feet long, came down a half-mile away and dragged along a treeline, eventually coming to rest on a nearby hillside. The 200 foot bow section, controlled by seven crewmen, remained airborne for nearly an hour, eventually coming down on the farm of Ernest Nichols, six miles southwest of the stern.
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