More maternal-side genealogy information

Smith-Pumphrey Baltimore, MD/Washington, DC

Compiled by Susan Hall, February 23, 2010

Lucia Estelle ( nee: Pumphrey) married George Albert Smith; they had two children—Colvin and Gilbert Emmons Smith. (might be Calvin, but it was always pronounced Colvin). Gilbert was a twin, but the twin died in infancy.

Colvin was younger than Gilbert.

Colvin married Leilia (spelling? Pronounced Leelia) she had very dark hair, and was very, very nice and beautiful; they had: Edna, Henrietta, Estelle (named after her grandmother), Albert (named after his grandfather), Paul, Colin, Betty Lee, and Louis.

Gilbert Emmons married Frances Hartung; they had: Frances Estelle (only one of the four born in a hospital—Franklin Square Hospital, Baltimore, July 10, 1929—other three born at ‘new’ home in Green Haven); Gilbert Peter (middle name after Frances’s half brother back in Germany); the infamous Martha Barbara (first name after Frances’s best friend, Martha Ritterbush, who owned the store down at the Wharf in Green Haven. Martha Ritterbush was Martha’s Godmother; Miss Bernadine Ritterbush is her daughter); Carole Catherine (middle name after Frances’s grandmother back in Germany).

Estelle Pumphrey was an Irish Catholic; George Albert Smith was an English Protestant, and also belonged to the Masons. However, I believe both were actually born in America.

Estelle Pumphrey’s brothers: Leon—married Grace, had daughter Helen. Paul--don’t’ know wife’s name, father of Catherine; Luke—no kids, not married. Leon was very rich and very, very strict; definitely the boss in family. Paul was very handsome and distinguished; very, very nice. Luke “liked his beer” to put it nicely; was very fun; died when putting a roof on a house on a hot day and drank ice cold water too fast---well, that’s the story, but who knows the ‘real’ story…..

George Albert Smith’s family was in Washington, DC; owned boats and maybe traded up and down the Potomac River. Not quite sure what they did; always referred to as “ship’s captains”. However, Albert was a carpenter. Was he a carpenter and a captain….a carpenter on a boat…..a carpenter instead of a captain (went away from the family business?)…..I’m not sure.

Gilbert Emmons had been married before he (or during??? Hmmmm…) met Frances. He had a daughter, Sarah…don’t know birthdate or anything else. He divorced (maybe? Ha ha) first wife, then married Frances. Don’t really know if meeting Frances was the cause of divorce, or met her after.

Frances (nee Hartung) was a governess to the American consulate Longyear family; their only child was a son named Robin. German, of course, was the native language for Frances, but as she was fluent in French, she was hired to speak only French to Robin; her best friend, Lucy, also German, was hired to speak only German to Robin. A governess was an extremely important job and they were regarded as part of the family, complete with their own maids, eating with the family (to no doubt supervise the kid’s manners and language), and traveling first class with the family. Gibson Island was one of the homes the Longyear family owned; there was a home in or around Boston, a house in Foxboro/Wolfsboro, Maine, and of course the house in DC. How fun that two best friends were able to travel to so many parts of the world together….and get paid to do it!!!

Gilbert and Frances met because of a stopped-up toilet (wonder how Disney would handle that premise for a movie…) Her dear little charge put a shoe down the toilet, so the plumber was called in….Gilbert now enters the picture. Just think if Gilbert had been attracted to Lucy instead of Frances!!! The little child seemed to have a penchant for throwing shoes down the toilet, so Gilbert was called out a few times. He used to tease Frances that she was doing it on purpose so she could keep seeing him. The progression of what happened from there, who knows….except Frances Estelle decided to become her own little presence to wreak havoc upon, I mean, grace, this world…a “hurry up” wedding was in order….Gilbert decided to play “bait and switch” with the Episcopalian and Catholic churches….and the rest, as they say, is history!! (and us!!!)

Gilbert and Frances were married in an Episcopal church….she was a devout Catholic, but didn’t know if a Catholic church looked different than what she was used to in Germany. Just saw the “backwards collar” and pretty church; Gilbert told her it was Catholic, and she didn’t speak enough English to know the priest wasn’t speaking “Catholic”; she was still not fluent in English, as she had only been in the Country for a year or so, and she was constantly speaking French to the boy with the unfortunate name of Robin. Frances told Martha (aka Muzz), years and years later, that she tried to annul the marriage once she found out, but at that time you had to have a lot of money to do that, and that was not a possibility. Whether to annul it and go her own way, or annul it and get re-married in the Catholic church, is not clear. (I can make some guesses, though!!)

Little House in Green Haven:

Estelle and Albert had a summer home in Green Haven. They would go by boat from Baltimore to the Wharf in Green Haven. At that time, Green Haven was nice; it was sparsely populated and the perfect place to go to get away from the oppressive heat of the city. Estelle and Albert owned most of the square block between 203^rd and 204^th Streets; Catherine Avenue and East Shore Road were the other boundaries. Their house was the white/brown shingled house with lots and lots of big windows. When Frances and Gilbert decided to move down there, Albert and Gilbert built the “original” base of the house, it had one floor and few rooms. The house that eventually became Fran&Ed’s was not there until years later. When Martha and Carole (they were only a few years apart so were the closest of the 4 siblings) had to make the required half-hour, daily visit to the grandmother (Estelle), they would have to go from their house, through a path that went across what eventually became the backyard of Sis&Ed’s house, to the next lot which was Grandmum Estelle and Gradpop Albert’s house. There, they would each have a cookie or a Hershey Bar, fidget and hate it for the half hour. By then, it was almost twilight; Grandmum would shuffle (she always shuffled) to the window, peer out, then tell them, “It’s twilight, you better go now. Hurry home or the jackals will get you!!”. Carole and Martha/Muzz would fly over that path so fast so the “jackals” wouldn’t get them. Halfway home, Martha would invariably let go of Carole’s hand and start running for her life towards home, all the while both of them screaming at the tops of their lungs. Of course, they had no idea what a jackal was, but they sure didn’t want to be gotten by one!! In Martha’s mind, a jackal was a great big, dinosaur-like bird that would eat them.

Eventually, for whatever reason, a house was put up between the Really Old Smiths and the Relatively Young Smiths, which the R.O. Smiths moved into, renting out the bigger, huge-windowed house. They eventually sold that house, staying in the smaller house (I guess they liked the yard that had jackals in it).

Martha was between 5 and 10 years old when the R.O. Smiths died, first Grandpop Albert (who she liked a lot), then a year or so later Grandmum Estelle (who she didn’t like at all and can’t even remember ever having a hug from her). The funeral might have taken place at the old, original St Jane Francis church. They are buried in the Glen Haven Cemetery on Ritchie Highway in Glen Burnie; some of the first bones to be there as it had opened fairly recently back then.

Martha was maybe 7 or 8 years old when the upstairs was put on her house.

Fran&Ed moved into the grandparent’s house at some point after the R.O. Smiths took up residence at Glen Haven Cemetery.

FYI…

At some point in someone’s life in either Germany or America, someone decided to do some research on FrancesFromGermany’s family. It was discovered (or so they say) that those roots can be traced back to Saint Cecelia. I have no idea who St Cecelia was, what she did, when she died, or how she got her halo, but apparently we have a Saint in our family. It would stand to reason that the Saint is on Frances’s side, and not Gilbert’s!! I don’t think a Saint on his side would have looked too kindly on him switching around the churches to fit his needs!!!! (or the reason he needed to do the switching!! Ha ha) I think on his side, the only “saint” would be the Saint Bernard dog!!

Random History tidbits on the Smith side (my maternal side)

More Random Family History Information

Compiled March 20, 2010 by Susan Hall, using notes/stories I had written down years ago.

The following is transcribed from a paper I wrote longhand a few years ago. It’s taken from the stories she would tell when I was young as I visited her, spending the nights with her in her small double bed where we’d snuggle under the covers in the winter and sheets in the hot summer, and we would listen to the grand timeless oak trees just outside her windows sway in the Maryland night air. The massive, staid oaks were like sentinels surrounding her house in Green Haven, guarding the stories and memories of a time gone by. It was wonderful.

Mom Mom (Frances Hartung Smith) Frances Hartung was born in Germany. Her mother’s name was Catherine; Catherine’s mother was Maria. Frances had a half-brother, Peter.

She lived with her grandmother, Maria, on a farm in Bavaria until she was about 12 years old. After that, her mother, Catherine, came to get her and take her to the city, Munich, where she lived with her stepfather and Peter, her half brother, until she left home to be a governess.

Mom Mom’s grandmother had a young apple tree just starting to bear fruit. She watched it so carefully everyday to make sure nothing happened to the apple before it was big enough to pick. Well, since she couldn’t be everywhere at one time, she had to bake bread one day. While she was in the house, a cow came and ate her apple!

One time, Mom Mom’s teeth were hurting her, so her grandmother took her miles and miles down the road (walking) to a horse doctor (!!!). One man held her while the “doctor” pulled SIX teeth because her grandmother had told him to pull any that looked bad. Then, they had to walk all the way home. But, on the way back they stopped at a friend’s house and got something good for the pain…..like raisin bread or something.

Mom Mom/Frances had red, stringy, straight hair. So, that meant a lot of freckles. (She got her red hair from her father’s father or mother) Her neighbor’s son had freckles, too. One day, her mother brought her freckle cream to fade the freckles (side note….her mother would come down from the city to visit fairly often). Frances and this guy/neighbor went up to the hay loft the next day and put this cream all over themselves (she never did say where all over!! Ha!). They waited for it to dry, then went home. The next morning, the freckles were still there!! She was so disappointed!

When she was in Geneva, she almost got married, but then this job as a governess came up, and she told him to wait until she came back, then they’d get married. But, she wanted to see the world first, especially America. She said she was always “nosey” and wanted to see and do everything. She never went back……and she never wrote to him!!

It took seven days to cross the Atlantic. When they landed in New York, the first thing she saw were all the black people. She had never seen one before. She also said America wasn’t “streets lined with gold” like everyone said. She honestly expected the streets to be made of gold.

Her mother didn’t like her skis or ice skates or anything like it because they weren’t “lady like”.

Frances’ father was a Count from Spain. He couldn’t marry her mother because his family didn’t think she was good enough for him. Her mother—Catherine—was the governess to this Count’s family. He really wanted to marry her, but the family was against it, so….no marriage.

Frances lived with her grandmother---Maria---because Catherine had to work, and it was easier back then if you didn’t have an illegitimate child. Besides, Maria lived on a farm in Bavaria and all the good jobs were in the city (Geneva or Munich). I’m sure Catherine loved Mom Mom very much. (looking at that sentence as I transcribe this, many years later, I’m sure I put that in there because Mom Mom used to say that in her stories. Whether it was to reassure me, as her young listener, or to still reassure herself all those years later, I’m not sure. But, it had to be a constant refrain in the stories for me to have put it in there. How interesting.)

Mom Mom used to tell the story of when she was in the girl scouts in Germany, and they all went skiing in the Swiss Alps. She had on a brand-new knitted green cap. She had to go underneath some water between mountains (something like that) and when she came out, the dye in her cap had run and she had green streaks all over her face!!

In the country, wearing short sleeves or a collar not up around your throat was acceptable, but in the city it wasn’t. She went to a Catholic school one spring and it was hot, so she wore a short sleeved dress and “low” collar. As she was sitting at her desk, the priest came in, and with a horrified look on his face at how she was dressed, he started yelling at her in front of the whole class, calling her “wanton” and “promiscuous” because of the way she was dressed. Then, he came over to her with a long stick (maybe a ruler), made her hold out her hand, and whacked her hands, arms, and shoulders!!!! She said she was mortified!! This was when she was only 12 years old and had just started living with her mother again in the city.

Mom Mom died on October 2, 1982. She died from a combination of things---pneumonia, kidney trouble, water retention, and some germ in the blood. The doctor had said any one by itself they could have handled, but all put together, her heart just couldn’t take anymore. We had a closed-casket “wake”. She’s buried in Glen Haven Cemetery in Glen Burnie. She was a good lady. I have no doubt she went to Heaven; she was the first person to truly introduce me to Jesus. Aunt Ruth had a dream right after MomMom died. In the dream she saw Mom Mom on a high mountain, and she was just standing there waving goodbye to Aunt Ruth, saying, “Bye Ruthie, ‘bye everyone.” And there was a ray of sunlight coming out of the Heavens. Aunt Ruth tried and tried to run to her, but she couldn’t move. Then, she woke up, but when she fell asleep again she had another dream. This time she could see Mom Mom kneeling at the foot of a beautiful, golden throne, with the most beautiful, peaceful smile on her face ; sitting on the throne was Jesus. He had His hand on her head, and she was saying, “I’m at peace now. I’m very happy.” Or, something like that. It was really nice the way Aunt Ruth told it.

Aunt Sis had made up a basket of roses for the wake with as many roses as grandchildren. Each grandchild got to keep a rose. They were a beautiful coral color; pink was MomMom’s favorite color.

Pop Pop….Gilbert Emmons Smith

Lucinda Pumphrey was the mother of Estelle Smith (nee Pumphrey), who married Albert Smith. Estelle was the mother of Gilbert Emmons Smith, who then married Frances (nee Hartung).

Gilbert’s father (known as “Grandpop” in here since this was told to me from my mother)

Grandpop (Albert) had 2 schooners, a 2-mast and a 3-mast. The 3-mast was the “Anna March”; the 2-mast was the “Two Sisters” because it had a sister ship which was identical. Someone else had the sister ship, which was of the same name. Grandpop also had a “launch” (?). He hauled lumber around Maryland and up to New York. Pop Pop (Gilbert) lived on Pennsylvania Ave in DC til he was 12 or so. He could watch the Presidential inaugurations from a window in their house. At some point after that, the Smith family moved to Baltimore.

Lucinda Pumphrey (would that be Martha’s great grandmother? I believe Lucinda was Estelle’s mother) was a graduate of Peabody Institute; she played piano.

Estelle Smith played piano.

Grandpop (Albert) played banjo by ear.

Grandmum’s (Estelle) brother, Luke, graduated from Peabody.

Robert (Grandmum Estelle’s brother) invented the chipped-beef machine, among other things. He also devised a way to heat stairwells by running a hot water pipe through the banister.

Pop Pop (Gilbert Emmons Smith) took walks to a place called “Haines” in DC once a month to cash his grandmother’s pension checks. His grandfather had been lost at sea. He would walk past people rolling the tin hoops for play, along with passing horse-drawn carts and ice wagons. He was named after a famous doctor who delivered him and his twin brother (twin died).

Grandpop (Albert) was named Albert and looked just like the Prince Albert on the tobacco cans.

Gilbert learned to swim when he was swimming a yawl boat with a friend. The boat drifted away, and it was either sink or swim!! (They had been hanging onto the boat, but……)

One time, Gilbert and his father Albert were coming down the Bay (I’m assuming it was the Chesapeake Bay) on “launch”, and Gilbert was steering. He lost sight of the landmark—a lighthouse—because he blinked and the ship ran aground and tipped over. Gilbert swam away because he was afraid he’d get into trouble if he stayed!! Came back the next day.

Once, they had the “Anna March”, and they took a “rowboat” to shore to get the lumber to haul. While they were on shore, the tide went out and left the “Anna March” high and dry. Gilbert had to keep throwing the anchor out all that night til the tide came back in.

Grandpop (Albert) ate onions like apples.

Grandmum (Estelle)—sisters Laura (spinster by choice). Brothers: Leon, Paul, Luke, Richard.

PopPop (Gilbert)—brothers: Louis, Colvin.

Gilbert was married and divorced, one child—Sarah.

Copy and Paste test using Live Writer…let’s hope this works…..

Airman Academy “invite” for newsletter March 2010

Airman Academy 2010….

The ever-popular and always-anticipated annual Airman Academy will be held April 20-23. The cost is only $40 for buffet-style meals (3 a day!!), luxurious lodging at the elegant Horizon Inn where rooms are by reservation only, social hours for mingling with other select cadets from the Wing, and the exclusive, spacious, much coveted fitness room (also known as the great outdoors). Be part of the elite group who have graduated from this fine Academy!!

Reservation Forms (aka Form31) need to be filled out and handed into Major Hall asap. The packing list can be found on the ME Wing Website-- www.mewg.cap.gov/ Note: because your comfort is of utmost importance, it’s required that you also bring a set of twin, white FLAT sheets and pillow case.

Testing….testing….1,2,3….ha ha

So, I am writing on this blog via “Live Writer” from Microsoft. I have no idea how this is going to work, since I am not logged into this blog account. Well, I guess I am since Live Writer did some configuring and whatever they call it! ha I’m hoping that I can now copy and paste things I write, or have written, using Word Documents, and put it onto this blog now. That way I don’t always have to be online to write. I’m going to post this now and see what happens; then, I’ll try to copy and paste something and see if it won’t be rejected anymore.

Here goes……..