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.
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