Thursday, February 28, 2013

Treasure Chest Thursday ~ Mom's Dress Gloves


This pair of vintage dress gloves are among the goodies in mom's cedar chest. It sure was nice of her to model them for me so I could take a picture.

According to the fashion laws of the sixties gloves were worn for evening and social occasions.

This six year old remembers her wearing them to church. I'm sure she wore them to other places that I didn't go.

I played dress up with them a couple of times, but I didn't keep them on for very long. That lacy crap irritated the heck out of my arms. Made me itch.  I want to scratch just thinking about it.

I think the cedar chest is the best place for them.




Leslie Ann

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Travel Tuesday ~ Thomas J Smedley Brings Home a Bride


S.S. City of Rome
About seven months after Thomas Joynes Smedley's first wife died he traveled back to England for the purpose of gathering genealogical information. The following article comes from LATTER-DAY SAINTS' MILLENNIAL STAR, Vol. 58, 1896, page 169:


ARRIVALS. --- The American Line Steamer Pennland arrived in Liverpool on March 5, having on board for the British Mission -- Alvin B. Kempton of Curtis, Arizona; George Humphreys of Paris, Idaho; Christopher Wilcock of Huntington, Utah; Robert Winn, Francis C. Sella, and John H. Brough, of Nephi, Utah.  Elder Thomas J. Smedley of Paris, Idaho, also came on the vessel, for the purpose of obtaining genealogical information.  The weather was quite stormy during three days of the voyage, but except this there was nothing unpleasant experienced.  All are well.
Little did he know he would find something more valuable while there - my great-grandmother!

Thomas arrived in Liverpool as mentioned above in March of 1896. He met Ida Buck of Hucknall Torkard in Nottinghamshire and asked her to return to Paris, Idaho with him and be his wife. They boarded the S.S. City of Rome from Glasgow, Scotland. (I haven't figured out how they got to Scotland yet) They arrived in New York Jun 01, 1896.

They traveled by train through Virginia, across to St. Louis, then to Denver, Cheyenne and to Montpelier, Idaho. They were married in the Logan Temple on June 25, 1896.  So you see, they didn't have a very long courtship at all.

The following excerpt is from a history entitled "Faith Promoting Incidents in the Life of Ida Buck Smedley".

In the year 1896 Brother Smedley was serving a short term mission in England. He asked me to return to Paris with him and become his wife. We landed in New York on Decoration Day.
All the time I was on the water I was ver seasick, and was very glad to reach New York. While on our way to America, our ship stopped at Novine. At this point there were three hundred Irish girls joined us in our trip to America. They were coming to America to find work.
Brother Thomas Smedley and I were untied in marriage in the Logan Temple, June 25, 1896. We were blessed with six children, Calvin, Lillian, Irva, Ella, Gertrude and Arnold.
Below is a photocopy of a List of Second Class Passengers per S.S. "City of Rome" that was in grandma Smedley's genealogy book.

 I don't know where she got this from or even who put it together.  I can't imagine the ship giving something like this to passengers.

Here is their listing from the actual passenger list:

click to enlarge
Source Citation: Year: 1896; Arrival; Microfilm Serial: M237;
Microfilm Roll: 
660; Line: 1.

Thanks great-grandpa for taking this trip! I don't think I'd be here if you didn't.




Leslie Ann

Monday, February 25, 2013

1919 Warranty Deed Going to a Good Home



While I was scanning Poulsen documents from my special shoebox that belonged to grandma Smedley I noticed that one of them was a Warranty Deed between Edgar Poulsen and his wife, and my great uncle Ezra Poulsen.



Edgar Poulsen is my second great uncle, but he is the father of a cousin I met through Geni. Actually I have been communicating with his wife.  I figured that this document would mean more to their family so I am sending it to them. She seemed excited when I told her about it.

I also wanted to post it here before it left my possession.

I was curious about the Documentary Stamps because I have never seen them before. They are initialed by my great-grandfather James S. Poulsen and dated 9/15/19.

I was able to find a little information in this commission report: The Federal Documentary Taxes.




Leslie Ann

Thursday, February 7, 2013

Treasure Chest Thursday ~ Calvin Smedley's Time Book



This Monthly Time Book belonged to my grandfather, Calvin Smedley. The yucky looking stains makes me think he had it out in the hay field.

He was a hay and dairy farmer so he used this book when he had to hire extra help. He also did a lot of figuring on the inside and outside covers.

It looks like the first page, however was for personal expenses.




He received $94 from the Budges.  If I understand this correctly, he paid these expenses using that money.

  • Weldon                 $25.00
  • Violet (my aunt)    $6.00
  • Bob Clayton          $2.00
  • Home Loan           $10.00  (how would it be)
  • peaches bottles sugar   $4.74
  • Cloree (my aunt)    $1.35
  • Drugstore               $1.50
  • Railiegh Man (??)   $1.00
  • Raspberries            $7.15
  • Sugar                       $2.00
  • Light bill                 $2.50
  • James books (my uncle)       $1.50
  • Meat thresher          $1.00
  • Shoes  3 pr             $5.13




Here we have two categories of hired hands:

Teams
  • Arvilla (?) Hess
  • Ezra Johnson
  • Hugh Morgan
  • Tom Roberts
  • Joe Slight
Single Hands
  • Joe Beck
  • Leon Beck
  • Frank Bolton
  • Elmo Bunn
  • Lamaun Clark
  • James Dunn
  • Peter Hemert
  • Duglas Hymas
  • Orva Johnson
  • Fred Nutt
  • Dave Orr
  • Newell Passey
  • Morgan Rich
  • Jacob Welker
I remember a few times spent in grandpa's hay field.  I would go with him to feed the cattle when I was 7 or 8.  He would be driving his old stick pick up and we would be going at a snail's pace then he'd put it in neutral and hop out into the bed of the truck and gather up hay with his pitch fork and toss it out on the ground. The first time he did that it absolutely scared me to death! 


Leslie Ann

Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

James S. Poulsen Desert Land Entry


Last night I was looking through my special shoe box and decided to scan some documents. I have recently discovered a new Poulsen cousin (actually, she found me -- through one of my posts of course), so I was concentrating on Poulsen documents.




So, what is a Desert Land Entry? Well, in March of 1877 Congress enacted the "Desert Land Act" which was designed to foster settlement of the arid and semi-arid regions of the west, specifically in Arizona, California, the Dakotas, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming. The Act allowed anyone to purchase 640 acres of land for 25 cents per acre if the land was irrigated within three years of filing. A rancher could receive title to the land any time within the three years upon proof of compliance with the law and payment of one additional dollar per acre. 

Here is an explanation and a table that shows the sales of desert land to June 30, 1890 from Google:

The Public Domain: Its History, with Statistics

 By Thomas Donaldson, United States. Public Lands Commission (1903-1905
page 363


Great-grandpa Poulsen's Desert Land Declaration Receipt (first image) doesn't indicate how many acres he was applying for, but 25 cents an acre for a total of $30 comes to 125 acres.


June 22, 1923 he got his $30 back for "Repayment for Lands Erroneously Sold."


This is a photocopy labeled "the Jim Poulsen dry farm" in Paris, Idaho.  I believe this is the  property mentioned in the Desert Land Entry. The man on the left is James S. Poulsen. Standing next to him is my grandmother Grace Poulsen.  I can't say for sure who the others are, but it's probably his second wife Harriet Humphreys Poulsen and two of her children.  I am guessing the photo was taken sometime between 1912 and 1918.  Grace was born Dec 1901 and she looks to be in her teens.

If any of your ancestors were farmers in the desert lands, you might want to see if they applied for Desert Land Entries. Check the Records of the BLM.



Leslie Ann

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