A Christmas letter from 1864

One of my favorite treasures I've collected while researching Greenley genealogy is this Christmas letter written in 1864 during the Civil War.

It is written by Richard Greenley. (Here is the Greenley story I wrote a while ago that helps explain how we are related to him.)  The letter (or poem) is written to his brother, George Greenley, who, at the time of the Civil War, was still in England.  He moved the United States after the war.  But his adult sons had already moved to Iowa.  And they were both serving in the war.

Richard and George's brother, John, is who we are descended from.  John (and family) is mentioned in the letter.  What is not mentioned is that John's son, William, is also serving in the war. (William was our grandfather, Ansel, grandfather)

My words are not so elegant, but wish for all a very MERRY MERRY Christmas!

A Christmas Letter

70 years ago today ...

Bob and Barbara (Becker) Greenley
1946

70 years ago – June 23, 1946, would be my parents 70^th wedding anniversary. They meet after my dad had returned to Roseburg at the end of WWII.  My mother was working in the office at Frieghtways, where my grandfather had a cold storage unit for the dairy product he sold.  When WWII ended, he would talk to my mom how excited he was to have his son, Bob, come home after 3 years away. 

My father arrived home Dec. 12, 1945. Quote from my grandmother’s diary:

“Bob came home (she underlined it twice!) about 1 pm.  Lela was outside & saw him coming, when I heard her scream I ran out too & met him in the yard.”

                                                                                         

My father got a job driving truck for Freightways, and they met.  The “courting” started when my mom purchased a car – but didn’t have her driver’s license, and didn’t know how to drive.  My dad offered to give her driving lessons.

It was pleasantly surprised to see their courtship unfold in my grandmother’s diary:

Feb. 2, 1946 (Sabbath)

Such a happy day, Lela, Austin & Bob all off to S.S.(Sabbath School)) & church, daddy did not go, had nice dinner. Lela & Pat went to sleep. Lela is all in for sleep & rest. All went skating in eve. Bob took Barbara Becker skating. (Barbara is the office girl at Freightways, pretty)

Sunday, Feb. 3, 1946:

Bob and Barbara (Becker) Greenley
circa 1946

Had busy day, Lela & Pat came down from Oakland & we washed, Lela packed for her & Bill, they left about noon. Pat wanted Grandma to come along. Bill is 6ft 33/4 in. tall.  Bob brought Barbara to see us, teaching her to drive her car.

Wed. Feb. 6, 1946:

Made Lela an apron & cookies & sent a pk. to Lela. Bob went out with Barbara & did not get to bed till 11:30. Gave him 4 hr. sleep.

Sun., Feb. 10, 1946

Snowed & sunshine, Bob worked forenoon. Bob gave Barbara driving lessons in afternoon. Glenn & Nadine came. Glenn ate dinner. I wrapped a bundle of papers to send to Philippines.

Sun. Mar. 31, 1946: …. “Barbara has her driver’s license.”

Tues., April 23, 1946:

Everett started back to school, from measles. Daddy went north; getting all the cheese he wants sold 900 lbs. He can make $100 a week. I ironed; Barbara came for dinner, getting lively & happy.

My father also started building his first house that spring.  The first diary entry to mention “Bob’s place”was May 21, 1946:

My parent's first home. A version of this house is still there at
2722 W. Bradford Ct., Roseburg

“Ironed a  big ironing. Bob & Bill went out to Bob’s place and cut a drive way to his place thru poison oak & got poison oak.” My dad had a horrible reaction to the poison oak – and suffered from it for more than a week.

And two short months later:

July 24, 1946:

"Ironed & mended. Billie & I drove out to see Bob's house & to see Bob & Barbara in their new home. have lovely refrigerator & iron."

Grandma's Popcorn Balls

I recently had the pleasure of re-connecting with a childhood friend.  No matter how many years pass, Peg and I always have lots to say to each other.  In our conversation, she mention how fondly she remembers coming to our home because "your mom always was doing something fun, like making popcorn balls."  This surprised me - because, honestly, never had thought of my mom as "fun".  But I had already planned on writing a post on Popcorn.

I am a huge fan of Popcorn.  The family story, from my mom, popcorn bribery is how they got me to walk at one year old.  When my brothers and I were cleaning out my mom's home after she had moved into a retirement home, we found the following:

These items universally brought huge smiles to all our faces.  The pot, according to my oldest brother, started life as a stove top pressure cooker.  But our memory of it is as a the popcorn maker.  A lid that didn't fit well - so we used a paper towel between the lid and pot - the towel served to soak up the oil and also allowed the lid to fit a little tighter.  The big colorful bowl was filled with butter (actually margarine) topped popcorn.

So in this age of making popcorn in a bag ... it is quite easy to make popcorn without the bag.  You pour oil in the bottom of a pan.  The oil should cover the bottom.  You turn the burner on high, and drop a popcorn kernel or two in the oil.  You wait until one of those kernels "pop" and then you pour a 1/2 cup of popcorn into the pot. Quickly add the paper towel and lid, and start shaking the pot.  Moving the pot back and forth across the burner makes sure you don't burn any popcorn.  In the age before microwaves, you also were melting butter in a small sauce pan.

During the 1950s and 1960's our family lived on one of the "main" streets in our neighborhood. We lived less than a block from the elementary school.  Halloween was BUSY at our house.  My mom ALWAYS made popcorn balls for the trick or treaters.  I don't have any idea how many she had to make.  But it was a bunch.  And we all helped. I remember the hot sticky goo being poured over the freshly popped popcorn, and how hard it was to mix it all together.  We would wrap the hot gooey popcorn in waxed paper. We stopped handing it out to everyone in the 1970s when homemade candy became a no no.  But we still made it for friends that would stop by for the special treat.  I remember as a teenager, my friends would come over just to get the popcorn balls.

The recipe actually came from my grandmother. I include the following page from one of her diaries (For the day Dec. 23rd from the years 1957 - 1961)  On Dec. 23rd of 1959, she writes "made popcorn balls and ironed"

Here is Grandma Greenley's recipe from my mom's recipe book:

Ellsworth's Photo Album

Ellsworth E. Greenley's photo album.

This photo album is an amazing documentation of Greenley history.  It has been in the safe keeping of my Aunt Mary for over 50 years.  Her father-in-law, Ansel Greenley, handed it to her and asked her to keep it safe, as it belonged to his father. As I look at the pictures taken in the late 1800s to the early 1900s, it looks as if the Greenleys weren't poor farmers.  From the clothing, quality of the photo album and other clues, it looks as if they were very successful farmers.

As the photo album belonged to Ellsworth Greenley, there are not many pictures of him, rather pictures of his parents, his children, his siblings and other extended family. I am presenting the pictures starting with pictures of Ellsworth, then his parents, his children, then his siblings.  At the end are pictures of other extended family.

William Greenley (1838 - 1927) married Adlander Ann Radford (1843 - 1925)

(Adlander had six siblings – there are pictures of some of them and their children)  Unfortantely, there are no pictures of William’s siblings, but there are few pictures of Ellsworth’s cousins from that side.  There are also a few pictures from Ellsworth’s wife (Mary Ellen Brown) family.

William and Adlander had seven children:

Ellsworth Elmer Greenley (1864–1918) married Mary Ellen Brown (1867 -1938)

(They had four children: Ansel, Joe, Matt and Eva)

Elliott Eugene Greenley (1866–1928) married Nellie Montgomery

(They had one child, Ethel)

Emma Ellen Greenley (1868–1936) married Arthur Wallace

(They had three children: Lewis, Neva and Harold)

Ervin Edwin Greenley (1870–1955) married Emilia (Milly) Still

(No children)

Duella Eliza Greenley (1872–1949) married Thomas Wilfred Cook

(They had 4 children: Delbert, Edith, Donald, Hazel)

Alvin Watson Greenley (1874–1960) married Jennie King

(They had two children: Kenneth and Velma)

John Wilmer Greenley (1876–1955) married Mamie Campbell

(The had one child, Edwin)

Ellsworth Greenley and Mary Ellen (Brown) Wedding picture
2 Dec. 1890

Mary Ellen (Brown) Greenley was six feet tall! Hard to imagine a woman that tall during that era. Photographs of her parents are further down this page.

Ellsworth and children - Jayne's farm

It is hard to see the people in this picture, but I liked seeing the carriage and horses. I looked up the Jayne family in the census records. The Jayne family lived next to Ellsworth's brother, Elliot in Buchanan County, Iowa. There are other pictures labeled "taken at Jayne's farm", so apparently the families were close friends.

"Old Greenley home, Cottage Hill" ( Dubuque County, Iowa)

William Greenley was brought to Iowa from England as an infant, by his parents, John and Alley Greenley. I am presuming this the home he was raised in Cottage Hill, Iowa.

"Grandpa Greenley home Epworth"

According to census records, William Greenley raised his family in the Cottage Hill area. In the 1900 cenus, he and Adlaner had moved to Epworth.

Grandpa and Grandma Greenley with daughter Emma

The picture of William and Adlaner Greenley with their daughter Emma probably was taken around 1890. They look fairly young compared to some of the other photos.  In 1890, Emma wasn't married at age 22. William would have been 52 years old, and Adlaner 47 years old.

Grandma Greenley with Emma and Neva Wallace

This picture of Adlaner with her daughter Emma (Greenley) Wallace and granddaughter Neva.  Neva was born in 1899. If Neva was eight at the time of the picture, then it was taken around 1907

Grandpa and Grandma Greenley with son Ervin

Joseph Brown (1830 - 1911)

Hannah Jane Glew (1836 - 1905)

Hannah Jane and Joseph were Mary (Brown) Greenley's parents. Imprinted in the matte of these pictures "Greenley Photography". You can't see it in the photos. I like to think Joseph passed down the tall gene to the Greenleys! Hannah and Joseph had three children. George, (I wrote about him in a previous post. He was the one who died in Deadwood, South Dakota) Mathew, and Mary.





The following pictures are of Ellsworth and Mary's children:
Ansel Ray Greenley (1892 - 1969) 
Joseph Elmer Greenley (1895 - 1987)
Matthew William Greenley (1901 - 1973)
Eva Jane Greenley (1906 - 1973)

Ansel Ray Greenley 

Ansel and Joseph 

Ansel and Joe

Ansel, Joe, and Matt 

Eva Jane Greenley 

The next set of pictures are of Ellsworth's siblings:

Duella (Greenley) and her hsuband Thomas Wilfred Cook.
(Married Feb. 1894)

Wilfred Cook and Ervin Greenley
(Wilfred was married to Ervin sister, Duella)

Ervin Greenley (1870 - 1955)

Ervin and Millie (Still) Greenley
married 1904

Alvin W. Greenley and John W. Greenley
Interesting studio picture.  John was listed as a photographer in the 1900 census.

Alvin W. Greenley

John W. Greenley

Elliot Greenley and wife Nellie with their daughter Ethel.
Ethel was born in 1895, so this picture was probably taken around 1900.

Ethel Greenley (1895 - 1956)

The next set of pictures are of extended family. 

Sam Radford (Either Adlander's brother or father - both were named Sam.)

Vine Radford - I think this is one of Adlaner's sisters.
"Vine" must have been a nickname.

Aunt Susan Platt and family.  This was Adlaner's sister

Minnie Glew (1865 - 1937)
Minnie was a cousin (Joseph Glew was her uncle)

Aunt Pollie Stuart - I am not sure exactly who this is, but the Stuarts were connected to the Glew family.

John White and Aley Dickinson
Aley's mother was Ann (Greenley) Dickinson, William's sister.
Aley died in 1890 at the age of 26. I am not sure who John White is.

Treasured Greenley photo

This is my most treasured picture from the Greenley collection.  On the back it says, “Grandfather and mother Wm. Greenleys golden wedding anniversary.  Ansel (second from left) took the place of his father.  5 sons and 2 daughters.

If this was a 50^th anniversary picture, then it was taken November 1912. 

In 1912, Ansel would have been 20 years old. (Ellsworth, Ansel’s father, moved his family to New Mexcio in 1908.)  This picture would have been taken in Dubuque County, Iowa.

Seeing my grandfather (Ansel) standing next to his grandfather (William) is so cool.  And this picture told me that Ansel did not get his height from his Greenley genes! (Ansel was around 6 ft 7 in tall)

Other family history notes: William Greenley was a Civil War veteran. I will save the details of his service for another blog entry.

The other people in the picture are not identified on the back.  The only people I know for certain are Ansel, William Greenley and his wife Adeline.  I am presuming the other men are their sons (but could be sons in laws!) and the women are combination of their daughters and daughter-in-laws