Wordless Wednesday - Pedigree Chart

For Wordless Wednesday, we are posting a Pedigree Chart that has been donated to the Lake Havasu Genealogical Society. We were told that these charts were found at the old McCulloch Chainsaw Factory. A strange place to find such an item. As a way to help preserve this artifact, it is being posted here.

Therefore, what you see is what we got.

Lloyd Prestwich (Part 2)

by Denyce Cribbs

My last post was about Lloyd Prestwich, and how his niece had preserved an oral history of his life and transcribed it for future generations.  A couple of questions remained.  Lloyd mentioned that his parents had nine boys and two girls, but he only ever described eight boys including himself.  Had one of the boys died as a child??  I decided to look on Ancestry to see what else I could learn about the family.

The list here is what you can quickly find on Ancestry about George Prestwich, Sr.’s children.  Each person’s data is backed up by birth, death, marriage, and military records.  Even the missing child is shown on several Ancestry trees.  He is shown as Randall Prestwich (1889-1891), so indeed the ninth boy died in childhood.  What the Ancestry records can never get at is what these people were like as individuals, and how they were remembered by their family.  Margie Prestwich’s interview with her uncle (Leslie) Lloyd Prestwich, the transcription of which was donated to our library, sheds some light on these siblings’ individual personalities.  Read below for Lloyd’s descriptions in his own words.

My older brother, George, was a small man in size more like Mother.  He was a quiet person but had a great talent for carving and painting.  He would take a board about 12-14 inches wide, carve any kind of animal one desired, wild or tame, and then paint them.  These he usually made into comb cases and sold.  If he had lived where his work could have been displayed he could have easily have become famous in himself and made considerable money.

As I recall, my brother Wesley had his talents mostly in being a good farmer and having large well-matched teams of horses.  He won many pulling contests with his teams and he loved to have the harnesses decorated with celluloid, different colored rings, and silver buttons.

My brother Mert was foreman in the sugar mill and this and his family was his interest.  He kept a neat yard and garden at his home.
               

Ernest was a farmer and spent his time in this.  As for my sisters, they both married and beyond knowing they were good housekeepers, wives, and mothers, I can give no more detailed information.
               

Clarence was a hard worker, was wounded in WWI.  When he married, lived in Delta, Utah, where he ran a transfer trucking company.  He suffered sunstroke while working in the sun which caused his death.  He left a large family but one which worked and played together.  Under the guidance of their mother, they all received a good college education through family cooperation.
                

Newell, just older than I, was one of my mother’s favorites.  This perhaps because he was the most helpful with the housework.  He could do any of it, knew how to cook, sort the washing and other things usually pertaining to the housekeeping.  He was a gentle man, thoughtful and considerate at home and this carried over into his married life.  His wife became very crippled with arthritis so Newell in addition to his daily work at the mill, did most of the housework.  Newell was active in church work all his life. 
               

Osmer was younger than I was and, as the baby, was pampered more than any of the rest of us.  I had married and had my own home while he was still a teenager.  In his mature years he became an excellent electrician.
              

A year after I was married I was called to serve in WWI and returned home.  I soon went to work for the mill and then after a few months I got a job in Idaho Falls and moved there.  The work there was in the Preston E. Blair Auto Company as their service manager.
             

My brothers’ paths and mine didn’t cross too often after my marriage.  I remember them as all being honest hard-working people.  A family their parents could be proud of.
 

Mr. Lloyd Prestwich himself passed away in 1982 in California.  Many thanks to him and his family for sharing these rich memories of his “ordinary family.”  I hope you’ll consider interviewing your family members and preserving the memories of your heritage.

Lloyd Prestwich

by Denyce Cribbs

In going through our library’s surname files last summer, I was looking for stories that might be interesting to our members and others.  I indexed the list of names that we had files for, with most containing genealogies and records that could easily be found online these days.  But there were some gems, and I would like to share one of those here.

I came across the transcribed tape-recording that Lloyd Prestwich did with his niece, Margie, on 14 Nov 1974.  In the nine pages of the recorded interview, Lloyd describes his childhood in Utah, his later move to Idaho, and the memories he holds of his parents, his upbringing and his siblings.  Here he describes his recollection of his father, George Prestwich, Sr.

My earliest recollection of my parents was when we lived in Lehi, Utah.  I remember my father as a rather gentle man, not very prone to correct or abuse anyone.  I remember he was working on the railroad at the time and sometimes was away overnight.  Also, that occasionally he would let me go on the train with him, which went down a branch line.  I believe they called it the San Pedro Line at that time.  Many people who were on the train would give me candy and other things to me.  It was a treat.  I can vividly remember the beautiful curly hair he had which turned snow white in his later life but he never lost it.  He also had a mustache, which he took great pains to keep waxed and curled on the ends.  He was a happy man and had a hearty laugh.  He liked people.

Lloyd goes on to describe his life without indoor plumbing, working on the sugar beet farms in Idaho, playing baseball with his brothers and sisters, going to town dances as a teenager.  He describes his life as modest, but always with good food, shelter, clothes on their backs, and parents who loved them.  His story is rich with details that you could never get from a typical genealogy record.

Margie, I don’t know if this will be of any benefit to you but our life was the life of just an ordinary family.  Unless you are an artist or writer, it is difficult to take family situations like this and make them into any great importance.  Again I stress, we were just an ordinary family.  We did as most people in those days. We associated with people of our own age and, as far as the older people were concerned, there wasn’t much partying especially among those who were on the wage level of my parents.

Lloyd relates what happens to each of his siblings, and notes that he is the last one living at the time.  He stresses that he had a life well-lived.  Consider recording an interview with one of your relatives.  Their memories can provide a wealth of information that could be lost to time.  Tape recorders and tapes aren’t required anymore.  Affordable, small digital recording devices can be purchased which will hold the entire interview, so you can preserve both your loved one’s memories and voice.  It’s easy!!

Throwback Thursday - Early Christmas for Genealogy Society

Christmas came early for the Lake Havasu Genealogical society - but the gift did not come in a sleigh from the North Pole. It took a moving van from Arkansas to deliver the early Christmas Present.

Over 800 pounds of books, periodicals, manuscripts, and papers were unloaded from the moving van.

The donation of genealogy material came from Willie Lee Jones, 79, a seven-year resident of Lake Havasu City. Mrs. Jones is the widow of Edward Warren Jones who died October 5, this year (1996). Mrs. Jones donated the personal genealogy library of her sister, Jessye Ann (Welch) High, deceased, of Mountain Home, Arkansas.

Photo contributed by S Maurer, Dec 2004 to Jeanette Perrin Coaly, Coaly Orchard a Book written by Jessye Aggansas "Jessye Ann" Welch High.

a microfilm reader and several rolls of film were included in the shipment, along with over 200 hard cover reference books, files, manuscripts, loose papers and 21 large family history portfolios representing "work-in-process" materials.

When asked to place a value on the donation, society president Nelson "Woody" Woodell said it would be several months before everything is inventoried and we know what we have. "It is a gift worth several thousands of dollars," Woodell said.

Members of the society unpacked the shipment in the garage of Dale and Corinne Wise next to the location of the society's public genealogy library. Members sorting the materials would find an interesting book, sit down an start reading. "It took a long time to get things unpacked," said Corinne Wise. "I would look around and everyone was sitting down and reading - the unpacking and sorting became a very slow process," she said.

Willie Lee Jones made the donation to the local society in honor of her sister as a memorial, and Mrs. Jones said she wanted her sister's genealogy materials put to a good use.

Willie Lee Jones and Jessye Ann High are daughters of David Delbert Clinton Welch and Nancy Younger Oldham. The Welch family are descendants of President Thomas Jefferson.

Jessye Ann High had accumulated the genealogy materials and personal library as a life-lone serious genealogist. Her accumulation includes thousands of letters and vital record documents, stacks of notes, and loose sheets of paper. One of the items found in the shipment was a hand written copy of the 1890 census on lined three-ring notebook paper, over 4 inches thick.

Included in the microfilm are three rolls of the 1790 census, one roll of the 1810 North Carolina census and a rare Rowan County, North Carolina county court Docket Book for 1773-1800. Goodspeed's History of Pennsylvania is complete on three rolls of film. A roll of film on the 1890 special Census of Oklahoma and Indian Territories, and five rolls on the 1910 Oklahoma census were in the donation.

While many states are represented by the vital records books, most of the reference books are for Virginia, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, North Carolina and South Carolina.

Family surnames in the "work-in-process" portfolios include Bishop, Danney, Darwin, Heath, Jefferson, Markham, Maxey, McCallum/McCollum, Oldham, Shults/Shultz, Smith, Sullivan, Vickry, Walker, Widler/Wyler and Younger.

Librarian Gloria Harrington has the task of classifying the books and entering them in the card catalog file. The society operates its library on the Dewey Decimal system and the books will be numbered for location on the shelves. "Preserving and making the loose papers and materials available for researchers will be the biggest challenge," Mrs. Harrington said. "We need to organize this material so people can use it." she said.

"There was so much material - all packed in boxes - on the moving van, we don't know what we have" librarian Harrington said. Society members helping unload the 800 pound shipment were overwhelmed with the size and extent of this personal genealogy library.

The society is working with Willie Lee Jones on a suitable memorial for her sister. In addition to marking the donated books with a memorial book plate, the local society will be planning some other type of memorial for Jessye Ann High in its public library.

At the time of this article, the Genealogy Public Library was located in the Home of Dale and Corinne Wise's home at 2283 Holly. It's current location is 2126 N McCulloch Blvd, Suite 17 located in the Shambles Village of Lake Havasu City, Arizona.

The History of the London Bridge

There has been a bridge across the Thames for over 2,000 years. The first bridge was built by the Romans in 43.A.D. They built a temporary pontoon bridge which was planks laid across a row of anchored boats, or they may have used ferry boats. Soon the first London Bridge was built.

In 1821, a committee was appointed by Parliament to consider the condition of the bridge. The arches had been badly damaged by the Great Freeze, so it was decided to build a new bridge. Plans were submitted and rejected. This bridge would have to be quite different from the previous London Bridge as the old prints were for horse drawn carriages. In 1824, John Rennie's plans were accepted. The bridge was built 100 feet west of the old Bridge. On June 15, 1825, the first stone was laid by the Lord Mayor of London, John Garratt, in the presence of the Duke of York. six years later William IV and Queen Adelaid opened the New London Bridge and the old one was demolished. The Thames narrows 900 feet at this point.

This London Bridge was built out of granite which was quarried on Dartmoor. It was a structure of 5 arches, overall dimensions where 928 feet long and 49 feet wide.

In 1962, it was discovered that the London Bridge was falling down, sinking into the Thames because it was not adequate for the increased in traffic. Robert McCulloch learned that the British Government was putting the bridge up for sale. He submitted the winning bid for $2,460,000. Plans were made to move and reconstruct the bridge in Lake Havasu City, Arizona. Each piece was marked with four numbers. The first indicated which span, the second noted which row of stones, and the last tow numbers indicted which position in that row. It was discovered, while dismantling the bridge, that there were code numbers on each stone when it was originally built: Rennie must have used the same system when the sections left the quarries.

Reconstructing the Bridge in Lake Havasu City was done in the same manner as the Egyptians built pyramids. Sand mounds beneath each arch were carefully formed to the profile of the original Bridge arches, serving the same function as molds. When the work was completed, the sand was removed. A one-mile channel was dredged and water was diverted from the lake, under the bridge, then back into the lake. Thus the peninsula became an island.

The bridge was shipped by boat 10,000 miles to Long Beach, California. From there it was trucked to Lake Havasu city, where it was stored in a seven-acre fenced storage compound. On September 23, 1968, the Lord Mayor of London, Sir gilbert Inglefield, laid the corner stone. Robert Beresford, a civil engineer from Nottingham, England was in charge of the reconstruction of the London Bridge in Lake Havasu.

As a guideline, he had a copy of the original plans drawn by John Rennie. During the reconstruction, Mr. Beresford drew sketches of the bridge in different phases of construction. There are a limited number of these prints. When Mr. Beresford returned to England, he gave exclusive right to D & P Antiques in Lake Havasu City to sell these prints.

The Bridge was completed and dedicated on October 10, 1971.

John Andrew Driscoll

by Denyce Cribbs

In my last post, I shared what I was able to find about Lawrence Kevin Driscoll who had served in WWII, as we knew from his Navy discharge certificate having been donated to our library.  I was interested to look back into his family tree and looked closer at his father, John Andrew Driscoll (1891 – 1957).  That research revealed a couple of things that are common when doing genealogy:  conflicting information when it comes to dates and places, and buried secrets.

In following John’s records, I was able to find draft cards for both WWI and WWII, census records going from 1940 back to 1900, along with birth, marriage, and death index records for Cook County, where he was from.  Notably, what was listed in each census for his “father’s and mother’s birthplace” seemed to change.  Their birth places were listed as “Ireland” when he was young, and then changed to “Pennsylvania and England” when he was seventeen.  It rang true that a young man trying to get a job would disguise his Irish roots.  At this time in history, anti-Irish sentiment was still strong, with signs being posted in windows that said, “Irish need not apply.”  In one census, John’s parents are listed as being from Illinois, but this is a common mistake I’ve seen many times in genealogy.  The “father’s birthplace” is many times listed as the head of household’s birthplace, regarding himself as “father” and not noting that the census taker means to collect the birthplace of HIS father.

Then the most interesting discovery occurred in the 1900 census.  John was found as a 10-year old boy in St. Joseph’s Providence Orphan Asylum in Cook County, Illinois.  According to ChicagoAncestors.org (https://www.chicagoancestors.org/place/st-joseph-provident-orphanage) this Roman Catholic orphanage for dependent boys was in operation from 1885 – 1911.  Today, as you can imagine, many descendants are trying to get records and information about this orphanage.  Over 100 people are listed on the census page, including Mother Xavier Mahoney, eleven nuns, and scores of boys, including John Driscoll and his five-year old brother, Walter.  One can imagine that this piece of John’s history was never discussed with future family members, as was common practice at the time.

John went on to live a productive life, get married, and have several children including Lawrence Kevin Driscoll, the subject of my previous post. Although 8^th grade was the highest he achieved, he had a career as a machinist and street car motorman. We will likely never know the circumstances that landed him and his brother in the orphanage in 1900, but he serves as a good example of someone who just got on with it and made a life for himself.

Lawrence Kevin Driscoll

by Denyce Cribbs

In looking through our library’s surname files last summer, I came across a folder that had just two items in it.  One was a USN Certificate of Honorable Discharge from 1946, and the second was a Funeral Mass booklet from 1962.  Both were for Lawrence Kevin Driscoll.  I decided to find out what I could about him and his family.

I was able to find Lawrence on Ancestry, and his records showed that he had been a Navy coxswain in WWII, which I learned meant that he was one of the pilots of landing craft.  He had also earned the WWII Victory Medal, as evidenced by his headstone application for veterans.  A WWII muster roll listed him as serving on the USS LST-815 in March of 1945.  According to NavSource Online (https://www.navsource.org/archives/10/16/160815.htm) the LST-815 was at the invasion beaches at Okinawa on D-Day. I happened to be working on this surname file on July 4^th, so I was very moved to have discovered Lawrence’s service and be able to honor him here.  

  

Next, I found a page in his Funeral Mass booklet listing his family.  His parents were John and Agnes Driscoll.  I wanted to find out more about John, and I’ll talk more about that in my next posting.  Lawrence has siblings listed as John, Patricia, and Therese.  His wife was Margaret, and his children were Diane and Larry. In following the Ancestry records, I was able to see that Larry Jr. had lived in Lake Havasu City, and is buried in Kingman, AZ.  It is through him that our library surely attained the discharge certificate and Mass booklet.  Lawrence’s other child, Diane, has also passed away.  The Mass booklet contains pages of signatures from his loved ones, many signing #5220 next to their names, to signify the VFW post that Lawrence belonged to in Illinois.  Notably, one comrade, Ben Babbitt, signed “96465 Normandy” next to his signature.  Thank you to all those fine men who served with Lawrence Kevin Driscoll.