Wordless Wednesday - Frank and Clara Fowlie with flowers

This is a scan of a slide from my grandmother's collection showing my great grandparents, Frank and Clara (Ross) Fowlie. I think it dates back to the 1950s or late 1940s. I am not certain where the photo was taken, possibly the Ross farm in Calhoun County.

Update: I found a similar photo in another album that says this is from October 17, 1954 at the Whitted farm. Helen Ross-Whitted was Clara Ross-Fowlie's sister.

Wordless Wednesday - Fowlie Brothers in Wisconsin

This is a scan of a slide showing three of the Folwie brother's visiting Elvis Brassfield's farm in Reeseville, Wisconsin. Alex Fowlie (1886 - 1974 aka Alec Foley) is on the left, George Fowlie (1878 - 1967), center and Frank Fowlie (1892 - 1977) is on the right. This photo dates to between 1964 and 1967. Frank Brown Fowlie was my great-grandfather, George and Alec were his brothers.

Wordless Wednesday - Fowlie Siblings

This photo was taken prior to November 1961 at the Frank Fowlie residence in Lake View, Iowa. George Fowlie (1878 - 1967) is on the left next to Frank Fowlie (1892 - 1977). On the right side is Alex Fowlie (1886 - 1974 aka Alec Foley) and his wife Jessie (Crawford) (1897 - 1961 aka Jessie Foley). They must have been visiting from Minnesota at the time of the photo. I cropped the photo from a larger scan from my grandmother's set of slides.

Frank Brown Fowlie was my great-grandfather, George and Alec were his brothers.

Wordless Wednesday - Elvis on the farm

This is a scan of a slide showing my grandfather, Elvis John Brassfield (1920 - 2006), on his farm in the Town of Portland, Dodge County, Wisconsin in the late 1960's or early 1970s.

Wordless Wednesday - Fowlie Barns

Frank Fowlie barns c. 1940s

Here are some more photos of the Frank Fowlie farm from the 1940s. Frank and Clara (Ross) Fowlie were my great grand parents. None of these buildings are extant and as of 2011, only a grain bin marks the location of the farm. I put the grain bin and aerial photos in too for comparison... I would add that except for the car in the next photo, this scene is not much different than what can be found somewhere in Iowa, even in 2012.

Wordless Wednesday - Fowlie retirement home then and now

117 Denison Beach Drive in 2011

This is a series of photos of Frank and Clara (Ross) Fowlie's home in Lake View, Sac County, Iowa. They were my great grand parents. As you can see from the current photo, the color is different, but the floor plan appears to be the same. The oldest photo shows the home without the dining room and porch, which were added later in the 50s and 60s. As I've mentioned before, we always thought of the green color shown below as "Grandpa green". Click read more to see the rest of the photos...

Wordless Wednesday - Grain Bin

Grain bin at the location of the Frank Fowlie Farm

This is a photo of the location of the farm where Frank and Clara (Ross) Fowlie lived before they moved to Lake View, Sac, Iowa. Frank and Clara Fowlie are my great grandparents.

As far as I can tell, there is nothing at this site that was there at the time the Fowlie's owned the property. I'm told that the grain bin is located near where the house was located. I took the grain bin photo last week while passing through Iowa. Below is a photo of Frank and Clara Fowlie on the farm. Below that is an aerial photo of the farm.

Frank and Clara on the farm

Mid-October 1948, Farm East of Lake View, IA

Tombstone Tuesday - Velois and Anna Parker

This is the tombstone of Velois D. Parker and his wife Anna B. (Wood) Parker at Wautoma Union Cemetery, Waushara County, Wautoma, Wisconsin. They are my 2nd great grandparents, the parents of Lloyd Parker, my great grandfather.

I have always operated under the assumption that his name was spelled Valois rather than Velois, so when I saw the tombstone, I was a bit surprised. All other electronic records I have found say Valois. Looks like I'm not going to know for sure unless I find a birth or death certificate or something. This wouldn't be the first time a tombstone was spelled wrong, so I'll continue to look for more information.

Tombstone Tuesday - Philander and Harriet Parker

This is the tombstone of Philander Calender Parker and his wife Harriet N. (Palmer) Parker located at Wautoma Union Cemetery, Wautoma, Washara County, Wisconsin. They are my 3rd great grandparents and the parents of my 2nd great grandfather, Valois D. Parker.

Amanuensis Monday - The death of Fred H. Wandrey

According to Genabloggers, "An Amanuensis is a person employed to write what another dictates or to copy what has been written by another. Amanuensis Monday is a daily blogging theme which encourages the family historian to transcribe family letters, journals, audiotapes, and other historical artifacts."

Fred H. Wandrey was my first cousin, twice removed, meaning he was my grandfather's first cousin. He was the son of Fred G. Wandrey and Lucy Viola (or Viola Lucile) Parker. Viola would be my great grand aunt, on my mother's side. I don't have a lot of details, except birth records indicate he was born in Wautoma, Waushara, Wisconsin May 22, 1906.

I found this article via the newspaper archive of the Appleton Post-Crescent. I was looking for information about the Wandrey's after my grandfather told me that he remembered a cousin that was a school superintendent in Green Bay. What I found was the troubling story of his death. Unfortunately, the story contains only the bare facts and doesn't answer any other questions.

Appleton Post-Crescent
Wed. June 18, 1958
Superintendent of Green Bay Schools Takes His Own Life
GREEN BAY — (AP) — Fred H. Wandrey, about 51, superintendent of Green Bay public
schools since 1952, was found dead in the basement of his home Tuesday afternoon with a shotgun wound in his chest.

Dr. Cletus Belisle, Brown County coroner, said death was a suicide.

He said the shotgun was found near Wandrey's body and that there were powder burns on the hands and chest. The body was found by Wandrey's wife when she returned home.

Wandrey came here from Beaver Dam where he had been superintendent since 1949. He
was superintendent at Richland Center from 1943 to 1949 and also had been head of schools at Black River Falls.

He was a graduate of Cumberland High school.

Other survivors include two daughters.

Wordless Wednesday - 1937 Photos

This sequence of images depicts my grandfather, Elvis J. Brassfield and his parents, Floyd and Thelma (Hunt) Brassfield on May 16, 1937. There are no details as to what the event is, perhaps some high school prom or banquet. Elvis didn't graduate High School until 1939. Note the Ice sign, advertising the family business and the back end of one of the family trucks is in a couple of images. These were probably taken near their home on South Street in Lake City, Iowa. More images after the jump...

Tombstone Tuesday - Samuel and Sarah Hunt

This is the tombstone of Samuel and Sarah (Beistline) Hunt at Blair Cemetery, Blair, Nebraska.Samuel and Sarah are my 3rd great grandparents. They are the parents of my 2nd great grandfather, John Hunt. They are buried in Block: 29 Lot: 9 Graves 10 and 11.

This was a challenging photo environment, so the picture is pretty poor. It was fairly early in the morning, so the stone was lit from behind. I have another from November, but it was very late in the day so it is lit from the glossy side of the stone. Anyway, that's my excuse for the shoddy photography on this one. You might notice the Beistlin tombstone right behind the "NT" in HUNT. It was featured in an article a couple weeks ago.

I don't have much detail on Samuel Hunt beyond the dates on the stone. My notes indicate that he was born in Kimbolton, Guernsey County, Ohio. He was living in Cedar County, Iowa in August 1868 when he was married to Sarah Beistline of Pennsylvania. They moved to Nebraska between 1870 and 1880. Sarah died in 1889. Samuel was living with his son John Hunt at the time of the 1900, 1910 and 1920 census.