The Mystery of George Brown

One of the most exciting finds in my grandparents' trunks was a handkerchief.  Yep, a simple handkerchief.  

George Brown's life has been a mystery  One of the best parts of researching family history is the journey. Sometimes the journey's end is anti-climatic. Sometimes the journey's end is a treasure. Whether ho-hum or a treasure, finding the answer to a long lingering question, it is the BEST!  And the handkerchief gave me  answers to long my lingering questions about George Brown.

Growing up, Greenleys were always tall.  I was one of the tall Greenleys.  At 6 feet tall, I was told I took after my great grandmother, Mary (Brown) Greenley (1867 -1938), who was also six feet tall.  Looking at the old pictures, I realized our "tall" gene was not a Greenley gene, but in fact, came from my great grandmother.  She married Elsworth Greenley, who was not tall.

So I started looking at the Browns. Mary had two brothers.  Mathew (1858 - 1911) and George (1855 - 1881). When I went to Iowa a few years ago, one of my goals was to find out more abut this family. In the Cottage Hill cemetery, I found the graves of Mathew and his parents.  But George was not buried at that cemetery.  I even went to the local library to search for obituaries.  No George Brown listed.  I did discover Mathew died a bachelor in 1911.  

Searching for George Brown, born in 1855 in Iowa, was frustrating.  Ancestry.com brought either too many results - or results did not match.  The last record I had of George Brown was the 1880 census.

The Brown household in Dubuque County, Iowa in 1880:

Name	Age
Joseph Browm	49
Jane Browm	45
George Browm	24
Mathew Browm	22
Mary Browm	13

As you can see in the above chart, George Brown was living at home with his parents and his two siblings.  

A few years ago, my uncle sent me some items he had found in the family bible.  One of the items was a school award given to George Brown.  On the back of the card, was a hand written note.  "Uncle born Geo. Wm. Brown Oct 3, 1855   Died (killed) July 8, 1881, by falling rock."

WOW!  The answer to my question!  

Reward of Merit present to Mr. George Brown circa 1860.

He probably never married.  So the story ended with a falling rock when he was 25 years old.  My niece, Paige, who was living in Iowa when I visited, wondered where a falling rock would have come from in the flat Iowa landscape.  That observation was very astute come to find out.  My presumption had been that he died in Iowa, since he had been living there in 1880 census.  Well, I discovered that was an incorrect assumption.  (Assumptions are dangerous things in genealogy.)  

In the trunk I found this very cool handkerchief.

Handkerchief belonging to George Brown

The note with the handkerchief adds a piece of information that I didn't have before.  George Brown was killed by a falling rock in ... South Dakota! So I went to ancestry.com, to search with that additional information.  I found a picture of his gravestone.  And he was killed, by a falling rock, in DEADWOOD, South Dakota! 

George Brown's grave marker in Mount Moriah Cemetery in Deadwood.

I do wish I had a picture of George Brown, but haven't found any.  But it does make a good story.  Having a relative who lived and died in Deadwood, South Dakota in 1881, makes me want to go back and watch all those movies!

History of Deadwood, South Dakota  and yes, George Brown is buried in Mount Moriah Cemetery, the same cemetery as Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane.

Memories of Grandpa by Dale Greenley

My older brother, Dale Greenley, has written about our grandparents.  Born in 1946, he is one of the oldest grandchildren, and grew up in Roseburg, with grandparents nearby.  The following memoir is about our Grandfather, Ansel R. Greenley.  Dale gave me permission to post this on the blog with the warning that not everything was fact checked.  This is a memoir, not a work of journalism, but provides valuable insight into our family's oral history.

Grandpa Greenley was a large man.  Standing 6 feet 6 inches tall with a full head of upright snow white hair and crystal blue eyes, he was an imposing figure.  On top of that, he was an ornery old cuss.  When he was sitting in his easy chair in the corner of the living room beside his big wood-laminated Philco console radio, his grandkids quickly learned that climbing into his lap would not result in a loving hug.  That was what Grandma was for.  Grandpa was born in Independence, Iowa in 1892. The family later moved to take over a large cattle ranch near Wagon Mound in Northeast New Mexico.  Grandpa and his younger brothers were raised as cowboys. 

As kids in the early ‘50s, cowboy and Indian games and movies were our favorite pastimes.  Grandpa, however, always took the shine off of them by telling us that no real cowboy would dress the way they did in the movies or abuse his horse by galloping all over the place.  Much to our chagrin, he relentlessly found fault with every facet of our beloved cowboy and Indian heroes.

With the onset of WWI, Grandpa enlisted in the Navy and with typical Greenley communication habits, he didn’t learn about his father’s death until he returned to the ranch after the war.  What he found was the ranch in disarray and his younger brothers fighting about it.  The good thing he found there was Mary Maddux, the ranch cook whose brothers were cow hands on the ranch.  He married her and in February of 1921, my dad, Robert, was born.  After years of struggle, the family lost the ranch and Grandpa moved his family North to Rocky Ford in Southeast Colorado.

The struggle continued as the Depression hit and his family grew to include three more sons and two daughters.   All I know about this period is what little my dad, not a story teller, mentioned on occasion.  Grandpa had a Raleigh route, selling household items door to door, similar to the Avon of today.  Dad told about the flat, dry, dust-blown landscape and the abject poverty they lived in.  The only good part of life he recalled was the great Rocky Ford watermelons in the summertime.  In 1936, Grandpa got a job as a cook at the Roseburg Veteran’s Administration.  How he managed that from Colorado, I have no idea.  He loaded all the family and possessions on an open wooden-wheeled flatbed trailer pulled by a 1929 Ford pickup and headed for Oregon.  It took them 5 months, working along the way for gas and food and enduring the death of one of the twin brothers. It was not an easy trip.  When I complained about the work dad had me do as a child, he would say that compared to harvesting sugar beets, what I had to do was a snap.  One of the things they had done along the way was to work in the sugar beet fields in Idaho.  Dad said it had to be the worst work in the world.  Also, I remember using the derisive term “Okie” to describe some undesirable person and Dad gently reminded me that the only difference between him and an “Okie” was just a few miles of flat, brown prairie.  Unfortunately, I didn’t read the “Grapes of Wrath” until after Dad died.  There are many questions I wish I’d have asked had I realized what they went through to get here.

1953 - Ansel Greenley on the job at the VA Hospital

Grandpa with his sons in 1967
Bob, Ansel, Everett, Bill

When the Greenley family finally arrived in Roseburg in August of 1936, Dad was 15 and thought he’d died and gone to heaven.  They found a beautiful blue-green river full of fish flowing through a town surrounded by green forested hills and inhabited by numerous deer and other small game.  At that time, Harvard Avenue was bounded by big truck farms that were open for post-harvest gleaning so all the fruits and vegetables you needed were free for the picking.  Dad said that after coming here, it was the first time in his life he hadn’t felt constantly hungry.  After some time, Grandpa settled his family in a two story white house on the corner lot of Harvard where Long John Silver’s now sits.  When I was a babe-in-arms, Grandpa and Grandma bought what we would now call a shack, perched on the side of the hill at the end of Broad Street overlooking the airport.  It had a small kitchen and bath, a living room and a bedroom.  An attic was accessed by steps from a hall way that connected the garage, all heated with a wood stove in the corner of the living room.  The house was perched on posts, making the area under the house a good place for skunks to live.  My memories of Grandpa and Grandma Greenley’s house include the faint skunk odor that always permeated it.  A significant part of their life on the hill included maintaining a large garden and gathering fire wood.  Using a buck saw, Grandpa fell Madrone trees on the hill, drug them down to the house, then bucked the logs into firewood and stacked it inside the garage.  I find it ironic that 60 years later, I am doing the same thing to gather my firewood.

Grandma and Grandpa were long-time Adventists.  Ancestors had been involved with the formation of the church in 1863 so their roots went deep into the church.  They followed Ellen White’s prescription for a long and healthy life by being vegetarians.  Grandma was much more fervent about it that Grandpa.  At Thanksgiving or Christmas dinners, Grandpa could be caught snitching pieces of turkey when he thought no one was looking.  Also, when the house on the hill was torn down, the spaces between the studs in the garage were filled with 20 years’ worth of empty Copenhagen cans, remnants of Grandpa’s days as a cowboy.

After Grandma passed away in 1967, Grandpa sold the hillside property and we moved him into the little house I had been raised in on Bradford Street.  In 1969, while I was in Korea, he passed away in his big easy chair beside his beloved Philco radio.  A radio that now resides beside the easy chair in my house. 

circa1965 from left to right: Grandpa (Ansel Greenley), Ross, Susan, Grandma (Mary Maddux Greenley), Dale
in front: Marianne and Lance

Ansel Greenley, WW I Veteran

Ansel Ray Greenley was 25 years old in 1917.  On April 6, 1917, America declared war on Germany, starting our involvement in the war.  After the declaration of war, the Selective Service Act was passed, and every male between the age of 18 and 45 was required to register for the draft.  As a genealogist, these cards are treasure trove of information. Ansel filled his out June 5. It shows he lived in Shoemaker, Mora County, New Mexico.  He was single and working as a farmer.  He gives the name of an employer, but I can’t read the writing. It tells that he is “tall and stout” and has "light blue eyes" with "light brown hair."

World War I Registration for Ansel Greenley

State Historical Service, Page One

State Historical Service, Page Two

Ansel Greenley - World War I

Then after the war, the State Historical Service had each soldier fill out a questionnaire about their service during WWI.  (See images below). In this questionnaire we learn Ansel completed 8th grade, his church affiliation was “Prodison”(Protestant).  He reported for duty in El Paso, Texas on June 12, 1917. He was discharged on Jan 8, 1919 in Philadelphia, PA.  His rank at discharge was fireman second class, USN.


He is then asked to give details as to all subsequent movements during the war.  Well, he is not a prolific writer. He writes one paragraph,

“I was at the following stations:
NJS San Francisco, Calif., NJC Mare Island, Calif., R.S. at Cavite P.I.
There I went aboard the USS Tjisondari which came back to San Francisco, Calif. From there we went to New York from there made three trips to France.  Grandfather Wm. Greenley was in Civil War.

So he started out in San Francisco, then went to the Phillipine Islands (What the heck?), then traveled back to San Franscico to the East Coast (so he went through the Panama Canal?), then took three trips from the east coast to France.

Here is information about the USS Tjisondari and its service during the war.
http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/OnlineLibrary/photos/sh-usn/usnsh-t/id2783.htm


From the trunk, are his neck scarves from is naval uniform (You can see them in his photo) My grandmother wrote the note attached to the scarves.

Ansel Greenley's neck scarves from his WWI uniform

Ansel keep letters from three different girls during the war.  One was clearly his girl friend.  More about this in the next blog entry! Oh and unfortunately, he didn't keep any letters from his family!

The easiest way to get notification when a I post a new blog entry is to sign up for emails on the right side of this page.  I hope you will follow me on this journey.

Ansel meets Mary

April 9 - May 13 Diary entries

Mary Maddux met Ansel Greenley for the first time on April 1, 1919.  Their courtship was short. On April 11 she writes, "Ansel & I setting up (dog gone)."  One month later, on May 10th, she writes, "Mrs. G, Ansel & I went to Las Vegas.  Ansel & I were married (2pm) by minister Hubbard. Mother and Mrs. King were witnesses. Bought new skirt, came home Edwin mad all had supper. Down to Mothers staid there all night." I am presuming "Mrs. G." and "Mother" are referring to Ansel's mother, Mary Ella (Brown) Greenley.

Mary Maddux was 23 years old in April of 1920. According to the 1920 census (The census information was taken on Jan. 20, 1920) She was living with her father, Israel O. Maddux (age 64), her brother Edwin Maddux (age 33) and half brother Eugene (age 7) and half sister Lois (age 4). They lived in the mountains near Montrose, Colorado.  She mentions the towns of Delta, Ridgeway and Grand Junction. The Gunnison River ran through their land. One of the first entries in her diary, on May 6th, 1909, she writes that they arrived at their "mountain ranch on Iron Springs Mesa."

To begin, I am going to start with the "story" I was told about Mary Maddux's leaving Colorado and arriving in New Mexico. These entries tell a different story of her arrival in New Mexico than I had expected.  It really is an example of how the "narrative" changes over time with re-telling by different people.  My understanding (until reading the diary) was that Mary was taken by one of her brother's (I always had presumed it was Ralph) to be a housekeeper for the Greenley Ranch.  The brother was concerned for her living with her father, and taking care of her younger half siblings.  They wanted her away from that way of life.

From the diary,  I know that the mother of Eugene and Lois died in Sept. of 1919 (she died in childbirth - more on that story later).  Her name was Beatrice (Crouch) Maddux.  Mary called her "Bee" in her diary.  


The events in the months leading up to Mary Maddux's arrival in New Mexico are somewhat puzzling.  The following entries show that the family is leaving Colorado for New Mexico. It looks as if Edwin was the  brother that orchestrated the move. In the diary, I find the entry on Feb. 4th, "Edwin went to New Mexico." On Feb. 18th, "Edwin and Mr. Toblman came back from N.M. Edwin running around on business. Papa moving from hills. Elmer and Tuck were down to see about buying our land."  Then on March 18th, "Cill C (I can't read her writing, I can tell it is a name) took Edwin and I up to Rigeway and sold our land to the Israel boys in his ford. From other items I have found in the trunks, it looks like Edwin and Mary had a separate "claim" from their father's land. On March 19th, "Edwin and Mr. Watson went to N.M."

April 1, 1920 Diary Entry

Mary (Maddux) Greenley (1930s?)

Ansel Greenley (1930s?)

Then on April 1st she writes the following: (I scanned this entry from the diary, so you can see what she wrote in the image)
"Lois, Eugene & I boarded the train for N.M. was delayed on Marshal Pass and missed the train at Pueblo. Went to bed, took the train for Trinidad 3am. Got there 7am, got tickets, had breakfast and took the S &F for Shoemaker 10am got to Shoemaker 4pm. Edwin, Edward & Ensil Greenley meet me. came home in ford found a big family still living in the house having big time."


It is fun to see her misspelling of Ansel - and you gotta wonder what the "big family still living in the house having a big time" MEANS.  Was it the rest of the Greenley family??  What is a "big time"? is that a party of some sort?  Well, she took the children with her! And not only is Mary living with the Greenleys, but so is Edwin, Lois and Eugene. In the diary she rarely mentions Papa, Edwin, Eugene and Lois after marrying into the Greenley family.  On May 11 (the day after they got married) she writes, " Mother, Ansel & I went to Wagon Mound with Mr. & Mrs. Dulin. bought the Dulins out, came home & found Papa there. Introduced him to my husband. He did not care but felt bad to have me leave. Staid all night down to Mother's. Olive doing my wash at home. ("Papa" is Mary's father, Iseral O. Maddux. "Mother" is Ansel's mother.)

Part two of this story will focus on the Greenley side.  If you want to "follow" this blog you can sign up to get email notification when I new entry is posted.

35 Years of Teaching: A Reflection

I am pleased to announce A DECISION! (much more difficult than you might imagine) After 35 years of teaching ... I am going to retire! I will continue to substitute ... but look forward to part time working! I thought in honor of the last 35 years to do a bit of reflection. My first year teaching was in 1979, at Madison Elementary in Coos Bay. I taught 5th grade in a portable. I was only 21 years old when I started. Turned 22 the first week of teaching.

January Reading Journal

I just finished my first book of 2013.  Bury Your Dead by Louise Penny was a fabulously written story featuring the character Armand Gamache. This is the sixth book in the series set in the Quebec providence of Canada.  Armand is the Chief Inspector of the Sûreté du Québec (basically the Police Department of the providence). I have read the books in order - which I recommend to others.  The characters change and evolve as the series progresses.

In this book, Armand is in Quebec City recovering from a yet to be described trauma.    You are given insights to this trauma as the story unfolds.  One of the characters is also re-investigating a murder from the previous book. And of course there is another murder - and more intrigue. These books are less action packed and more character driven.   I can't wait to start the next one! This is the Goodreads review

The other series I am reading that also takes place in Montreal, Quebec, are the books by Kathy Reichs.  The books feature the character Temperance Brennan. These books were used for the inspiration for the TV show Bones.  I had enjoyed the TV show, so decided to read the books.  I was shocked to discover that the books and the TV show have very little in common.  The name of the main character (Temperance Brennan) and her work as a forensic anthropologist is the only thing they share. I did some reading about the author to discover this was quite purposeful.  Kathy Reichs did not want her books to be tied to the TV series in terms of changes and progressions.  I just finished Spider Bones, the 13th book in the series. 


Other books read so far this year:
Return to Willow Lake (Lakeshore Chronicles #9) by Susan Wiggs- A nice change from my normal mysteries. This series was a fun escapism read. Not great literature, but nice characters.

The Mysterious Howling (The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place #1) by Maryrose Wood  - A children's book on this year OBOB (Oregon Battle of the Books) list.  My students are loving it.  And I can see why - told in the style of the Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket. 

As you can see from this post, I am trying to use Goodreads more effectively. It is a popular website for many -kinda a Facebook for book lovers.  The other webiste I like is FictFact - it makes it easy to keep track of all my favorite series books - and what is next.

Wavy Tote

I have enjoyed making this bag/purse/tote several times the past couple of years.  The original pattern is apparently out of print.  Laura Denison Designs is the designer - and created the pattern.  I purchased it in a quilt shop.  I have searched my sewing room for the original pattern with no success.  (Perhaps a reorganization of the sewing room is in order ...)    

My first "Wavy Purse/Tote"

Above you see my first "making" from this pattern.  I liked it.  

I don't remember what came next - but I think it was my friend Sally Honse coming to me with a couple of yards of fabric she purchased in Africa.  She and her son have gone to Africa and Haiti several times with a medical mission group Project Helping Hands. She was hoping I could make something to sell at an auction to raise funds for their next trip.  I went a little crazy (I've been known to go overboard)  I made about six bags using this pattern.  The pattern has two sizes. A large tote size and the smaller purse size -- the two pictures are both the larger tote size.  

The next one I made for my niece Paige.  She was starting her student teaching and wanted a bag for her "stuff."  She was traveling the MAX each day, and needed something she could put everything from her water bottle to books.

This is the smaller sized "purse." But still a good size (about 14 inches tall) The photo makes it look more cone shaped than it is. The sides are really straight. After making this, both my mom and sister-in-law put in requests for their purses.  I neglected to take pictures of either of those projects.

I was getting ready to travel for two weeks to Pennsylvania to visit my nephews. Ray lives near Philadelphia with his wife Missy and their three boys Jonathan, James and Cole. (The fourth one is due in June 1913!). Karl and his wife Janet live in Pittsburgh with their two sons Liam and Ethan.  I decided two days before the trip that I HAD to have one of these for my travels. It was perfect.  As you can see from the picture to the left,  I could fit my iPad and Kindle (yeah, I needed BOTH). Plus room for other various travel necessities. 

The picture below is with Karl, Ethan and Liam on the Duquesne Incline Plane in Pittsburgh (holding the purse). Truly the only flaw this bag has as the perfect travel purse is that it doesn't have zippers to close it.  If you've done any amount of traveling you know how necessary having zipped compartments can be. 

Karl, Ethan, Marianne, Liam, Sita (Karl's mother)

While visiting in Pennsylvania, Missy also put in her request for the purse - so when I got home I made one for her.

Jenny Beyer pattern and kit.

Summer of 2012 was a summer of "waiting" for me -- all the Teacher-Librarian positions had been eliminated from Beaverton School District. I was waiting to hear for my teaching assignment.  I didn't learn that I would be a 5th grade teacher at Kinnaman Elementary until the end of July.  One of my good teacher friends, Louise, told me I need to make a new "Teacher" bag for myself.  I found the following kit, full of beautiful fabrics - and knew I wanted to adapt it using my faithful "Wavy Tote" pattern. The fabric was from the fabric designer, Jinny Beyer.  She is famous for her richly colored fabrics.

This purse turned out SO WELL.  It is beautiful.  The picture doesn't do it justice.