More great-grandparent stories. WIlliam A. Reed is another great-grandfather of my friend.

​William A. Reed was born on 01 Jun 1875 in Dunkirk, Hardin, Ohio, United States as the first child of Albert Reed and Sylvia M Razey. He had one sibling, namely: Clarence Alden. He died on 21 Oct 1963. When he was 26, he married Rena Bella Slocum, daughter of Calvin R. Slocum and Sylvia C Amidon, on 30 Oct 1901 in Canisteo, Steuben, New York, United States.

We first find William in the 1880 Census as a 5 year old living on his father's farm in Ohio. His father and his father's parents are listed as having been born in Ohio, while his mother Sylvia was born in New York, as were her parents. William was born in Ohio.

By 1910 William is married to Rena, living in Steuben New York with their 3 children and working as a Manager in a Silk Mill.

William A. Reed and Rena Bella Slocum had the following children:

• Edna Ardinell Reed was born about 1903 in Niagara Falls, New York, USA.
• Sylvia P Reed was born about 1907 in New York, USA. She died about 1992.
• Merle Alden Reed was born on 17 Dec 1908 in New York, USA. He died on 25 Jul 1999 in Englewood, Sarasota, Florida, USA. He married Ruth Ross about 1936 in New Jersey, USA. He married Evang Thomas on 02 Dec 1961 in Westport, Connecticut, USA. He married Miriam Hadlock Bowker on 28 Mar 1984 in Charlotte, Florida.

In the 1920 Census, the family is still living in Steuben New York with all three children at home. William is working as a Bookkeeper in a Silk Mill.

By 1930, William and Rena were both 54 years old. Only Merle was still at home; William's mother, Sylvia was also living with the family as well as a servant. William is again shown as a Manager in a Silk Mill. I can't seem to find him in the 1940 Census. But we know that he and Rena lived to celebrate their 65 Anniversary together.

William Reed is the father of Merle Reed who is the father of Peter Reed.

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Ricardo Savio was my great-grandfather, the father of my Noni, Palmira Savio Osto. He was born on 14 Mar 1888 in San Giorgio delle Pertiche, Padova, Padua, Veneto, Italy as the second child of Bendito and Maria Savio. He had two siblings, namely: Romano, and Achille. He died in May 1955 in Somerville. When he was 25, he married Catterina "Catherine" Borlin "Burlin", daughter of Antonio Burlin and Giuditta Volpon, on 03 Apr 1913 in San Giorgio delle Pertiche,Padova, Italy.

He and my great-grandmother, Caterina Burlin Savio, arrived in the United States in December of 1913. So here's another weirdness: their marriage date (from the Italian documentation) shows that they were married in April 1913, my Noni's birthday is March 1913. And they arrived here just 9 months after my Noni was born. I feel like there's another story there...

According to the Immigration record, they were traveling with Riccardo's cousin, Galliano Anselini (?). They were all from the same part of Italy, San Giorgio in Padova. They were all going to join Luigi Borlin who was listed as the cousin's friend and the brother-in-law of Ricardo (so, Caterina's brother) at Bedford Street in NYC.

Ricardo registered for the WWI draft in January 1917. He was living in Brooklyn, NY and his occupation was listed as Uniform maker and he reports he is married with 2 children (this is before my Noni came over from Italy.) He is listed as having a medium height, medium build and is blond haired and brown eyed.

I can't find record of him in the 1925 NY Census or in the 1920 Federal Census, but they do show up in the 1930 Census. Ricardo and his wife, Caterina are living on Easton Turnpike in Somerset New Jersey. They have 3 children: Pauline, Eugene and Mario and a boarder, Primo Osto (who evenutally married Pauline/Palmira). Ricardo was 42 years old and his wife was 44. Ricardo was listed as an Operator in a Chemical plant (Calco).

In 1942 at the age of 54 years old, Ricardo registered for the WW II draft. According to his draft registration, he was 5'4" with brown eyes, grey hair and a light complexion with glasses and a mustache.

​Riccardo died on May 11, 1955 at the age of 67 and is buried at Saint Joseph Cemetery in Bridgewater, New Jersey.

Joseph Ritner Guild is another great-grandparent of my good friend... so here's another Ancestry Story. 

​Joseph Ritner Guild was born on 28 Dec 1891 in Smithfield, Fayette, Pennsylvania, USA as the third child of John Albert Guild and Clara Belle Phelps. He had three siblings, namely: Grace Belle, Edith Ellen, and Albert Fenton. When he was 20, he married Florence Adelia Havens, daughter of Jabez Beriah Havens and Anna Belle Field, on 19 Jun 1912 in Bradford, Pennsylvania.  ​

​The above image is of his WW I draft registration card, completed on June 8, 1916 on which he is described as tall, with a stout build with blue eyes and brown hair. 

We have records of him from the Census records from 1900-1930.  On the 1900 Census he's listed as being 8 years old living in West Burlington, Bradford County, Pennsylvania with his parents John Albert and Clara Belle. In 1910 he's in Athens, PA working as a farmer on the home farm of his father, John Albert Guild.

In 1920, he's 28 years old and married to Florence Adelia Havens, who is 26. They are living in South Waverly, PA; they own their own home. They have 4 children living at home; Ina Belle, Joseph Ritner Jr, Warren Albert and Doris. Joseph Sr is working as a Warehouse manager for Quaker Oats.

In 1930, still in South Waverly, Joseph Ritner (mostly known as just Ritner) was 39 years old with 5 children living at home, the same 4 as in 1920 plus Fenton Wesley (age 5). Ritner is working as a Manager at Quaker Oats.

He died on 19 Oct 1930 at the age of 39 years old of Typhoid fever. He is buried at Tioga Point Cemetery in Athens, PA. His wife went on to remarry and lived until she was ​90 years old.

Joseph Ritner, Sr. was the father of Joseph Ritner Guild, Jr. who was the father of Susan B. Guild.

Since this blog is where I record whatever strikes my fancy, I thought it would be interesting to have a list of the "things my mother said." These are sayings and phrases that I remember her saying along with those of which my siblings reminded me. So here they are, in no particular order:

• Do something useful and intelligent
• Bring it here (when you wanted to show her something and she was engrossed in a book)
• Peace be with you (whenever one of us was upset with the others)
• If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all
• Cigarettes are out, matches are out, stove is off, washer is off, dryer is off, dishwasher is off (the mantra before leaving the house)
• Don't have a pot to piss in
• You bet your bippy
• Were you there? (brought out whenever one of us complained about a circumstance. Rumor has it she got that one from my Noni.)

As a substitute for swearing in front of her children, she had some interesting "swear words":

• Son of a Seahorse
• Your Aunt Tilly's Underwear
• Bull Balls

Reverend Charles Alexander Ross is the great-grandfather of a good friend of mine. He was born on 12 Nov 1883 in Newburgh, New York, USA as the fifth child of George Monroe Ross and Carolyn Lawson. When he was 24, he married Nanny (Annie) Maclennan Merritt, daughter of John Merritt and Annie MacDonald, on 18 Sep 1908 in New York, New York, USA.  He died in Aug 1973 in Pleasant Valley, Dutchess, New York, USA. He was a minister in Methodist, Congregational and Presbyterian churches throughout his career.

At the time of the 1940 Census he was living at 580 Westminster Avenue in Elizabeth, New Jersey. He rented his home for $85/month (about $1700 in 2022 dollars). His wife, Nanny M answered the census questions. Their daughters Elizabeth and Antoinette were still at home. He was 56 years old and Nanny, his wife was 51. Both Charles and Nanny had high school educations. Charles was born in New York while Nanny was born in Scotland. In 1935, the family was living in Rutherford, New Jersey. Charles' occupation was listed as Clergyman and Nanny reported that he worked 50 hours in the previous week. According to the 1930 Census, Charles served in a World War I. Below are a service record and draft registration card for Charles Ross.

This short summary is, obviously just a tiny bit about who he was. I found a great deal more information about him at Newspapers.com. He was apparently a very charismatic preacher. He showed up in Newspapers.com almost once a decade for his sermons. He had the entire text of one his farewell sermon in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle on September 15, 1919.

He preached for many years and ended up in the newspaper again in 1962, in the Poughkeepsie Journal.

Charles Ross and Annie (Nanny) Maclennan Merritt had 4 children: Jean, Ruth, Elizabeth and Antoinette. Ruth Ross is the grandmother of my friend. She married Merle Alden Reed and with him had 3 children: David Merle, Peter Charles and Carol Ann Reed.

So, while it's now available, without being transcribed and indexed, it's not very helpful yet. The National Archives has a very tedious method of helping to transcribe the names on the Census page images, but I much prefer the one at FamilySearch.org. I have used it to help transcribe other images (deeds, contracts, etc. from back in the day), but soon the U.S. Census project will launch and you will be able to use the FamilySearch app to do the transcribing. ​https://www.familysearch.org/en/info/1950-census-details

While I wait for the indexing project to begin, I am working on transcribing names from old deeds, wills, land records, etc. to be added to the FamilySearch and Ancestry databases to help people find their anscestors.

Just saw a cute Facebook post that mentions contrapposto, a word I had never heard before. It's an Italian word that means "counterpoise." According to Wikipedia, it is used in the visual arts to describe a human figure standing with most of it's weight on one foot so that its shoulders and arms twist off-axis from the hips and legs in the axial plane.

Based on these old photos of my Dad, he learned the visual value of the contrapposto and used it to his advantage. Of course I am biased, but what a good looking guy he was.

Here it is, it's been released. But, as with all things, there's more to the story than the 1950 Census being released. Next comes the huge task of transcribing all the information so that it can be indexed and searched. The data isn't really helpful if no one can find what they are looking for.

How to help? This is the official 1950 Census website from the National Archives: https://1950census.archives.gov/search/ 

They have an option for you to help with transcribing, which I will be doing. To find a relative on the 1950 Census at this moment, you will need to know their Enumeration District. Without that there's no way of finding the correct Census page.

As always, I say a prayer of thanksgiving for not only all the census takers with good handwriting (it's a real chore to decipher people's bad handwriting from decades ago), but also for all those who help with the transcribing. Without transcription, it's very very difficult to find information in the census because it cannot be indexed.

So, as I mentioned above, my first find in the 1950 census were the grandparents of my husband, the Joseph Marcinek family. By 1950, Jack (Dear Husband's Dad) had left home and Nancy, age 18, was still at home. They were at 1710 West Pine Street (as they were in the 1940 Census, which made them a little easier to find in the 1950.) Joseph was 45 and his wife Marie was 43. He was listed as the Proprietor of a Retail Grocery Store (this is the store they had in the front section of their house on West Pine Street (Shamokin must have had zoning regulations that are much different than they are today.) 

I know all this may seem boring and tedious to many, but to a woman who loves genealogy and who has a "terrier-like" persistence when it comes to finding answers, this is a day filled with hope for more answers to find!