I had to share! Our wedding announcements were bookmarks. I thought it was so cool! I still have my wedding dress. If only I could fit into it now. My grandmother had modified the trane by adding lace insets. It was a mermaid style dress.
Aunt Linda recently found the Corbly Bible. Copyright is 1867. It’s signed that it is the William L and Julia Eldridge Family Bible from 1897. Family births, marriages,and deaths are written in the Bible. I couldn’t find my father listed, but there is some pencil markings above where Buddy is listed that might be where he was recorded. Aunt Linda is also missing from the list – so it’s possible births ran over onto a page I don’t have a copy of. It’s really interesting that it looks like information from before Julia and William married is even filled in. Some even include weight… like Uncle Tom was 12 pounds and Aunt Norma was 8 pounds. I’d love to find the page that dad is listed on and see what he weighed! I was also surprised to see that my Aunt Ethel was 9.5 pounds. I did wonder if the people with weights listed were born at the hospital, since I’m sure some of my dad’s brothers and sisters were born at home (most probably). Next I need to take all these birth dates, marriage dates, and death dates and compare them against my files on ancestry.com…
This article I think is for my great grandmother, but it has my grandmother listed as Mrs. Lester Richter. My grandfather was a twin – Lester and Wesley. I have to assume that the author got confused about which twin she was married to?
Lake Shore Woman Dead
A well known resident of the Lake Shore neighborhood Mrs. Julia Margaret Eldridge, 76, died at her home Sunday evening, February 19, 1939.
She was born Nov. 16, 1863. Before her marriage she was Julia Corbley. She was married January 5, 1882 and recently celebrated her 57th wedding anniversary.
She is survived by her husband William Eldridge and her four children, Mrs. P. B. Relos, Groverton, Ind., Mrs. George Henning Brownsburg, Ind., Mrs Lester Richter, and Ernest Eldridge, Fithian, and by 20 grandchildren, One daughter preceded her in death. Services will be 10 am Tuesday at Oakwood U. B. Church. Burial in Oakwood Cemetery, J. H. Cawthon and Son in Charge
All sorts of great info! Beatrice Elena Eldridge born December 6th, 1896 and Mildred Eldridge was my grandmother! It looks like she was practicing her writing here.
One article includes information on who attended the funeral of Lindsey Corbley. I wonder if it was normal in a small town paper to list everyone that attended a funeral?
There is a letter from one sister to another. It was from my Aunt Margaret’s album, so must be a letter from one of her sisters to her.
An article on the Strom’s wedding was included. So far I haven’t ran across anything about who they are though. They aren’t in my family tree so not sure.
The funeral announcement for Mrs. Frank Illk is included as well as the funeral announcement for Julia Eldridge and Rilla Richter.
Finally included is another of the Lake Shore updates that include what everyone did for the week. I am always surprised that they viewed visiting town or relatives newsworthy. One I’ve seen even included that it had rained on Tuesday. I wonder if the Vermilion County History Museum or the Danville Library has a record of these papers?
Newspaper articles are full of interesting information. These clippings are from my Aunt Margaret (Dad’s Sister)’s photo album.
The top left clipping shows my cousin Jo Ellyn coming in second in a contest for Tomorrow’s Children, Tomorrow’s Leaders.
There is an article about Lindsey Corbly – son of William Corbly – son of Rev. John Corbly. It’s interesting to me that the article seems to concentrate more on the family history than on Lindsey himself.
The article mentions that Rev. Corbly emigrated to the US before the revolutionary war, founded several Baptist churches, and had several children masacred by the Indians. Rev. Corbly is actually well known in history so all of this can be verified in several other places. It goes on to tell the history of the family and how they worked their way to Vermilion County. Lindsey was one of 8 children.
An article on the death of my great grandmother is very interesting as it lists one of Julia’s kids as Mrs. Lester Richter. My Grandmother was actually Mrs. Wesley Richter. My grandfather Wesley was a twin with Lesley and I suspect the author got them confused. I also noticed that she passed away the year before my father was born.
The final clipping is one of the most interesting. Apparently the newspapers considered it big news when family visited. You just have to read it to see what I mean. What I find interesting is this particular issue included my family in about half of the articles. I really love the line that Mrs. Eldridge was shopping in Danville on Tuesday. (and Frank Illk went to Fithian on Business Friday?) There are also lines that include information about family members visiting, so this can also be a great place to find information about family members…..
It’s funny the things that make you smile from your childhood (this time I’m talking about food). A few of mine revolve around memories of my grandparents. I was recently reminded of my grandfather Richter when I bought a package of Little Debbie Oatmeal cookies. The little Debbie Sandwich cookies that I love and also the crust off of Chicken Pot Pies are two of my favorite things that remind me of him. The final thing is the Concord Grapes (white) that grew out front of his house. – The grapes are pretty impossible to find in seedless. I’ve found them once and savored them. I rarely have pot pies, and almost never by the cookies – but when I do it’s a really special event. Grandpa Richter passed away when I wasn’t even a teenager yet so there aren’t that many memories, but I do remember him sitting at his kitchen table giving me his pot pie crust from those Banquet Chicken Pot Pies. At the time I was such a picky eater that’s all I would eat of the pot pie – and forget the crust that had touched the gooie stuff. 🙂 I do remember cookouts at the pond, but food isn’t what sticks out in my mind from those.
I also can’t pass up Turtles when I get the chance, but they are a memory of my Grandmother Wakeland. She would get Turtles for each of the grandkids each Christmas. I think it started back when the schools would sell Katheryn Brach products as fundraisers. She would buy a tin each year (so would my mother) and we would eat one every few days. I think it’s now a different brand, but my mother has taken on the tradition of getting my brother and I a box of Turtles at each Christmas. I think my kids just view it as a Christmas tradition, but for me it’s a memory of childhood.
I also remember my father making fudge. I’ve never found a similar fudge and my dad doesn’t make it anymore. I think it was the only thing he made and it was a special treat when he made it. It involved him mixing together a mishmash of sugar and ingredients (none of which were measured) and then heating them. He would get a cup of water and drop a little in every so often, until some magic time when it balled in the water. Then he would pour it out on the wax paper. We would cut pieces every so often and have a small treat. (We also got Chocolate bars that would sit on the counter and cut off small pieces every so often as a treat) I’m not that big on Chocolate, but if I ever find that type of fudge (or a recipe) I’m going to make it for my kids. I keep thinking one day I’ll convince my dad to make it for me one more time (and I’ll pay attention this time to the recipe).
Not all my memories from childhood revolve around food, but there are some foods that trigger great memories!
