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Many times our personalities, our likes and dislikes, even the way we look at the world can find their roots in our ancestry.
One of the pleasures I have is sitting with my mother and looking at old photos and hearing stories of family,long gone. I have a trunk full of laces and quilts and diaries from these treasured people. I was blessed with ancestors who loved and served the Lord. Their's is a heritage that I want to pass down to those who come after me.
I hope you enjoy a peek at
my Family Album.
Jane R. Elston
Great-Great Grandmother
Jane was born on October 26, 1848 in Ross, Indiana. She married John Elston in 1866 and then in 1873, she along with her husband, sister and her oldest daughter, Minnie traveled by covered wagon from Indiana to Minneapolis, Kansas. Jane bore 5 daughters, 1 who died at 10 years of age and another who died in infancy. After John died she lived with her daughter, Pearl Mae and moved with her to Chicago in 1919.
She often spoke to my grandmother about the Great Chicago Fire which stopped 13 miles from where she lived. In 1935, she moved back to Minneapolis with her daughter Pearl where she lived out her days.
She was 97 years of age when she died and she outlived 3 of her daughters.
Grandma Elston's Treatment of Cholera
Equal parts of;
Tincture of cayenne
Tincture of opium
Tincture of rhubarb
Essence of peppermint
Spirits of camphor
Mix well. Dose 15 - 30 drops in wine glass of water according to age and the violence of the attack.
Repeat until relief obtained every 15-20 minutes if necessary.
Pearl Mae Elston Coughlin
Great-Great Aunt
Aunt Pearl was born October 19, 1874. Aunt Pearl played a prominent role in my grandmother's life.
Pearl married Lou W. Couglin in Minneapolis where he managed The Blue Store, a large establishment that sold dry goods and apparel. She had no children that we know of, but she was the caretaker of her mother, Jane Elston who lived with Pearl until her Jane's death. She also raised my grandmother for reasons that are still a little hazy.
When Uncle Lou was given charge of the "mother store" in Chicago, they all moved. Legend has it that they lived only a few short blocks from where the St. Valentine's Day Massacre took place but I'm not entirely sure if that is true.
Uncle Lou died of leukemia in 1934 and she along with Grandmother Elston moved back to Minneapolis where her sister, Minnie also resided. I have a diary of hers that spans 3 years. In it chronicles VE Day, VJ Day and the sad day of her mother's death.
Aunt Pearl passed away in 1953.
It also is full of her proclamations of love to her Lord and thankfulness for His help and provision. She was always ready to share her faith. I look forward to meeting her in heaven.
Doris Cline Bradshaw
Grandmother
Grace was born February 7, 1900 in Minneapolis,Kansas. Details of her early childhood are hazy. Her father Carl Cline apparently separated from the family very early on and Grace,her mother was left to care for Doris. For reasons, unclear, Grace decided to begin another life and left Doris under the care of Aunt Pearl. Aunt Pearl and Uncle Lou essentially became her parents and every census after 1905 lists her with Pearl and Lou. One census even lists Doris as their daughter.
After the customary schooling of her day, she entered Emporia State Teacher's College to be trained as a teacher. She later taught in a one room school house and it was at that time that she met William Harrison Bradshaw, my grandfather.
My mother says that, in her younger days, Doris's hair was so long that she could sit on it. And indeed up to her death, her hair, although short by then, was her crowning glory and she was very particular about it.
According to my mother, my grandfather worked for the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe Railroad although one census has his occupation as selling farm implements. My grandparents eventually moved to New Mexico and then to upstate New York to be near my parents.
My grandparents were my best friends growing up. Grandma, who was an artist in her own right, drew pictures for me to color. Grandpa would play "pitch and catch' for hours and take me for long walks. Grandma told me stores about Jesus and loved to listen to her album of Tennessee Ernie Ford singing hymns.
Grandpa was 81 years old when he died and Grandma followed him 3 years later in 1971.
Halsey Jean Borst
Mother
My mother was born March 11, 1927 in Syracuse, Kansas. She worked at an air base right out of high school and was there to celebrate VE and VJ Day. She married William S. Black and a few years later, I was born. She and my father divorced when I was very young and she later remarried Robert Borst. They parted in the 1970s.
Brought up in the Episcopal Church, she later attended a Messianic Jewish congregation which has given her so much comfort and happiness. Even though she is not Jewish by blood, she certainly is in her heart!
She,like her mother, is very artistic, printing beautiful calligraphy. The artistic bent seems to have passed me by, though. She is very musical with an alto voice and was very active in the choir of any church she attended.
In 2010, health and safety issues made it difficult for her to live alone and she moved in with me.
My Mother's Favorite Poem
Somebody said that it couldn't be done,
But he, with a chuckle, replied,
"That maybe it couldn't but he would be one
Who wouldn't say so 'til he tried."
So, he buckled right in with a trace of a grin
On his face. If he worried, he hid it;
He started to sing as he tackled the thing
That couldn't be done...
And he did it.
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