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  

Happy Thanksgiving!

Bob Greenley, World War II,
Someplace in the South Pacific

Happy Thanksgiving! Along with my grandparent's trunks, I recently started looking through my father's World War II memorabilia. And I found this Thanksgiving Menu. And better yet, his writing on the back ... from 70 years ago. My father served in the South Pacific for more than two years.  The war ended Sept. 2, 1945. Because my father was one of the last to arrive with his unit in 1943, he was one of the last to leave. He traveled home on the USS Guam.

I hope every one's Thanksgiving "goes off very nicely".

My father on the far right.  

The Greenley story ...

The research I've done about the Greenley history goes back about 240 years to Yorkshire, England. George Greenley was born in 1775 in Yorkshire, England.  George married Ann Pashby, July 23, 1797. They had six children that lived to adulthood.  I know four of the children immigrated to Iowa. The six children were: Richard, George, Bella, John, Benjamin, and Joseph. Richard, George, John, and Benjamin all settled in Dubuque County, Iowa. Richard was the first to arrive in 1831. John and Benjamin came together (with families) in 1838.  George arrived later (after the Civil War).

Flixton/Folkton, Yorkshire, England

The Greenleys who are reading this blog, are descended from John. John(age 33) and his wife Alley Jane (Dobson)(age 32) arrived in the United States July 18, 1838 with their children Ann (8), Jane (7), George (6), Elisabeth (4) , Maria (2) and William (1).  Also traveling with them were Benjamin (John's brother) and his wife Mary.

John and Benjamin followed their brother, Richard, to Cottage Hill, Dubuque Co., Iowa:

John and Alley's youngest son, William, is our ancestor. William married Adeline Radford. They had seven children.

Ellsworth Elmer Greenley 1864–1918

Elliott Eugene Greenley 1866–1928

Emma Ellen Greenley 1868–1936

Ervin Edwin Greenley 1870–1955

Duella Eliza Greenley 1872–1949

Alvin Watson Greenley 1874–1960

John Wilmer Greenley 1876–1955

Here is one of the photographs I recently received from Aunt Mary.  There are many professional photographs with a beautiful album that belonged to Ellsworth. Some of the photographs have "Greenley Photography" imprinted on the matte.  I went searching for a photographer in the census records,  and found in the 1900 census,  John W. lists his job as "Photographer."  I am working on scanning the photos for the next blog entry.

Top Row: Ellsworth, Emma, Elliot, Duella, John
Seated: Ervin, William, Adeline, Alvin

Ansel Greenley, WWI Vet, part 2

In a post from July, I wrote about my grandfather's service during World War I.  You can read it here: Ansel Greenley, WW I Veteran.  It looks like my grandfather was quite the ladies man in his day.  He kept a collection of letters from that time, most of them from women who wrote to him while he was in the service.

 One of the letters, dated Oct. 18, 1917, is written by Ansel to his mother.  (The link will take you to a copy of this letter.)  The other letters are to Ansel, from various women.  One of the women, Grace, is his girlfriend.  Another woman, Ella, also writes to him regularly.  From the letters I can tell that Grace, Ella and Ansel were all friends from Wagon Mound, New Mexcio.

In the letter he wrote to his mother, he is in San Franscico, waiting to hear what he will be doing next. In the letter, he fully expects to serve in the Navy four years.  His actual service was less than two years. (Enlisted June 1917 - discharge January 1919).  The war ended Nov. 1918. I wondered why he didn't have to serve his full four years, and found that the war department didn't want to keep such large military after the war ended - so they released men from their service early. His father's death in Sept. 1918 may have been a factor in his early release also.

One passage from his letter to his mother I found particularly interesting:

"I have not wrote to Grace for about a month guess she thinks it is time to get a new man. Well I hope she has good luck. I am getting along fine. I have found out which one of the girls thinks enough of me to write anyway. But then I never met a girl that would wait four years for me so I sould worry. Four years is a long time for the most of them. If it was not for getting a little mail once in a while I would quit them all except the one that writes the most and it might be best do do that anyway." (sic- I did some minor editing to assist readers.  Editing included adding punctuation and capitalization)

Grace Seely, Ansel's girl friend during war

From that quote you get the sense he is not completely committed to his girl friend, Grace.  Grace's letters are beautifully written. She is a teacher/principal in Wagon Mound.

Letter from Grace

In her letters it interesting to read about life was like in 1918. She writes of her father's purchase of their first car and visiting Ansel's family. In one letter, she is visiting her grandparents in Des Moines, Iowa.  Her grandfather, obviously wealthy, has a chauffeur that drives them around the countryside. She also talks of the noise from all the cars in the city. This romance lasted throughout the war and for awhile after Ansel returned home.  From other letters, I know they were no longer a couple in April of 1920 when Ansel meets Mary Maddux.

One other woman, Ella Kronig, writes regularly also. Her letters are harder to read (not as nice penmanship - and like my grandfather, has difficulty with spelling!) But her big personality comes through.  From her letters, Grace is quite jealous of Ella and the friendship she has with Ansel.  

There are also cards from other women included in this set of letters.  Two different women from New York send cards to Ansel.  And then there is this picture:

Ansel Greenley and unknown woman

There are about four pictures like this in my grandfather's stuff.  Different men are all photographed with this woman on their lap.  From other letters (from shipmates) it looks like they had these pictures taken after the war was over, and before they went home.

Memories of Grandma Greenley

The following memoir was written by my brother Dale Greenley, of his memories of our Grandmother Mary (Maddux) Greenley.  She was born near Montrose, Colorado in 1896, and died in Roseburg, Oregon in 1967.  He asked me to fact check his info.  And, because of the information in the trunks and other reserarch, I realize there is some incorrect information in his narrative. 

Dale talks of my grandmother's move to New Mexico from her childhood home in Colorado in 1920.  We now know that the Greenley's sold their home in New Mexico to Mary's brother, Edwin, and her father, Isreal Oliver Maddux.  She took with her, Eugene (age 8) and Lois (age 4), her half-siblings. 

I included pictures from the family photo album that connect with Dale's narrative.  One other thing that I noticed is in Dale's description of their trip to Oregon from Colorodo that it took several months.  Well, the dates on the photos indicate the trip only took a couple of weeks.  I am sure it felt like months to the travelers.

With the tragic events in Roseburg this week, I am feeling much love for my hometown. And much pride in our family's connection to this beautiful town.  I just emailed Dale, and he confirmed that one of the victims was a close friend.  Larry Levine was the writing instructor killed at Umpqua.  He and Dale were fellow fly fisherman.  Dale has been interviewed by several news sources the last two days.  He wrote that he was interviewed by AP, Yahoo, and the Washington Post.  I went to Yahoo and found the following:

Yahoo News - Larry Levine

Grandma Mary Greenley

Dale Greenley

     I can see her now, standing at the kitchen stove with a white dish towel draped over her head, hunched over a simmering pot of water containing menthol extract.  The pleasant, pungent aroma masked the normal faint skunk odor that permeated the house, but I could never understand how she could inhale those hot, humid fumes.  Grandma was a devout Adventist and a great one for “taking cures.”  She was very health conscious and adhered to the strict vegetarian regimen preached by Ellen White decades before being a vegetarian was popular. 

     Born near Montrose, Colorado in 1896, Grandma Greenley’s ancestors on both sides had been among the earliest American colonists, spreading from Jamestown in the 1630s and involved in the Revolutionary War.  Her later ancestors were among the earliest Adventists, dating from its formation in 1863.  In spite of this distinguished ancestry, she had led a rough life.  Her mother died when Grandma was 14 with the cause of death listed as “mania.”  From letters Grandma’s father later wrote to her, he didn’t seem to be any saner than her mom.  Her father quickly remarried and Grandma inherited the task of tending to her step mother’s two children.  Sometime during World War I, Grandma’s older brother spirited her away from the madness and took her to the Greenley ranch in Northeast New Mexico where he was a ranch hand and she became the ranch cook.  There she met and married Ansel Greenley.  My dad, their first child was born there in 1921.  Some years later they lost the ranch, and moved to Rocky Ford in the arid, wind-blown plains of Southeast Colorado. 


 There, amid the dust, the depression, and poverty, she raised five children, after losing one of the twin boys when he was eight months old. In 1936, they loaded their possessions on a wooden-wheeled flatbed trailer, hitched it behind a 1929 Model A Ford pickup and spent several months traveling with their possessions and children to Roseburg where Grandpa had secured a job as a cook at the Veteran’s Domiciliary.

On their way to Oregon - left Rocky Ford, Colorado June 30, 1936.  In the picture Bob, Ansel (Bette in front of Ansel), Mary (with Everett in front of her), Lela (with Bill in front of her)

Camping on the trip to Roseburg

From the pictures grandma religiously took, you could tell the trip west was a sad-sack operation and I’m sure the care and feeding five children and a demanding husband was no easy task.

First home in Roseburg on Harvard

     As a very young child, I remember them living in a white, two story house on Harvard where Long John Silver’s now sets.  Sometime in the late 1940s, they settled into a house perched on the hill above the end of Broad Street, looking down on the airport.  When I was in high school, they sold the bottom corner of their property the people who started Nottingham Nursery. Their home there is the house of my memories. 

     A petite, frail lady, she didn’t say much and never said a bad word about anybody, but she had resolve, developed over many years of enduring a humorless, domineering husband.  Short brown hair, only lightly flecked with grey, wrapped a kindly, compassionate face with a small nose that sported her dainty wire-rimmed glasses.  On this hill, she tended a large garden, her grandchildren, her daily diary and her photo albums.  The diary and photo albums are now valuable family treasures.  Not only does her diary offer a wonderful window into the past, every photo in the albums have the names, the location and a brief account of what is in the photo.  They are priceless for the information they carry.

     When we came to visit, the kids made a bee-line to Grandma’s chair next to an old Singer treadle sewing machine. The top left hand drawer contained a box of Luden’s menthol cough drops.  We lined up when Grandma opened the little drawer and then handed each of us a cough drop.  I still love those cough drops and without fail, the sight the distinctive orange Luden box or the smell of menthol flashes fond memories of Grandma Greenley.  After the cough drops, we went to the closet under the stairs to the attic and got out a big cardboard box full of old toys.  There were red, green, blue, yellow and orange wood blocks in many different dimensions that we fought over, an old Pluto-like jointed dog figure on a spring loaded disk in a wood cylinder that did funny dances when you pushed on the bottom of the cylinder.  There were numerous other toys that I have long forgotten, but also in the box was a dried Flicker wing.  The bright orange feathers on the underside of the wing always captivated me and made that wing my favorite item in the box.

     On a local grandchild’s birthday or on a visit from the out-of-town grandchildren, she stood each up against the door frame of the kitchen.  Once properly positioned, she told us to stand straight and tall, and with a book placed on the top of our head, drew a pencil line on the frame.  She then printed the child’s name, age and date above the line. I wish that when the house was torn down, someone would have had the presence of mind to salvage that door frame.  If our visit turned out to be an extended one, I loved to go up in the attic and either play with the large collection of old marbles that Uncle Everett had won in school, or read some of the old “National Geographic” magazines stored by date in long shelves against the wall.  

    In her later years, she began a trend of increasing restrictions on her diet and the last year or so of her life, she was eating nothing but a gruel made of mashed peas and carrots.  She was a thin, frail lady to begin with but in the end, she had withered to skin and bones.  I was in college when she passed away and I found it difficult to deal with.  It seemed that such a kind, gentle and loving person as Grandma Greenley deserved a better life.  Fortunately for me, there are flickers on the hill behind my house.  Every time I see one, grandma’s flicker wing comes to mind and I am taken back to that big box of toys and my wonderful Grandma Greenley.

Going on a Cat Hunt

My Grandma Greenley (Mary Maddux Greenley (1896 - 1967) kept a diary starting in 1909 and continued throughout her life.  Most of the entries are just a record of daily activities. But there are some gems of stories among the mundane.

In her dairy, my grandmother wasn't always careful about spelling and punctuation.  For the ease of reading, I've re-typed the story (I also scanned the original so you can see her words), but I've corrected some of her mistakes to make it easier to read.

Mary Maddux Diary - Oct. 23, 1910

Sunday, Oct. 23, 1910: Just eating our breakfast and thinking about washing when Earenest came out and told us to prepare for a cat hunt.  Tickled to death.  We hitched up the big wagon. Went down to the shop where and took in Edwin and all the dogs and a couple of his friends. The older of them having a camera. We went up Spring Creek.  Struck a cat track, but did not get him. Had our pictures taken once with Edwin Kelling, Ruth and myself with all the dogs and a gun in ourhands.  And then Ruth and I alone with the dogs and gun.  When we came to the cider mill we went in, had our picture taken with Mr. Kelling, Ruth and I with a glass of cider held in the air. Also the cider mill man.  But best of all we went out and got a little young pig apiece and had our pictures taken with one in our arms. And then Mr. Kelling had his picutre taken with a bigger pig in his arms.  The first pictures taken yet of us in our overalls.

Ruth is her cousin, Edwin is her older brother.  I don't know who Mr. Kelling is, but I presume a friend.  
When I started going through her photo album, I found one of the pictures she described!  

Sunday, Oct. 23 1910  Mary Maddux and cousin Ruth Maddux