TSGS Cruiser Blog

Friday, July 31, 2009

From My Email Box - Joe Cook & Lyles Station

Email follow-ups on "Who is Joe Cook?" that was the subject of this past Monument Monday. And a link to a site for Lyles Station, a significant African-American community in Southwestern Indiana.

From Don Counts: A biography of Joe Cook from Juggler's World: Vol. 38, No. 1 http://www.juggling.org/jw/86/1/yesterdays.html

From Joe Weiss: See Browning [Online Database] obit for Joe Cook died 15 May 1959 in NY
http://browning.evpl.org/ Cook, a nationally known comedian, left Evansville in 1907. His parents had a grocery at 4th. & Oak Streets in Evansville where the Elks placed a plaque to honor Joe Cook and the Elks made him their first “Life Member.”

From Don Counts: This web site will be of local historical value concerning Lyles Station - http://www.lylesstation.org/geneo/messageboard.html


From Don Counts: September 11, 2009 Special Edition Heroes for The City-County Observer. This issue will be dedicated to the men and women serving in the United States Armed Forces. Here is where Don needs our help, he is going to be the Editor for the Special Edition Honoring Heroes. Please email him a story about your hero. It can be a person or group that served in the Military, Fire Department, EMS, police or sheriffs deputies. Heroes should be from Posey, Vanderburgh, or Warrick Counties. Please send those stories as soon as possible. Don's email: "Don Counts" dcounts@insightbb.com

- Compiled by JGWest

Thursday, July 30, 2009

Tombstone Thursday - Reitz



St. Joseph Catholic Cemetery
Evansville, Indiana



Grave marker for Francis Joseph Reitz (1841-1930)


Reitz Family Memorial

- Photos taken & submitted by Don Counts


[Tombstone Thursday is dedicated in memory of Donald G. West 1952-2000]

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

From the FIRST MATE's
PHOTO ALBUM...

Flickr Commons:
Photo Tribute to
Lester Flatt

Yesterday's blog was about finding photos on Flickr Commons that you could use for your family history or other projects. My Great- Grandmother (Dad's grandmother) was Mary "Polly" Flatt daughter of David Flatt & Lee Ann Richardson. David was a cousin to Lester Flatt's father. Flatt along with Earl Scruggs (and a few more) under the leadership of Bill Monroe gave birth to Bluegrass music. Flatt & Scruggs left Monroe & started their own group.







Above is the Sparta, Tennessee Memorial to Flatt. Sparta was Flatt's home.
Flatt & Scruggs with the Foggy Mountain Boys pictured on their album "Foggy Mountain Breakdown" with Scruggs and his banjo & Flatt with his Martin D-28 guitar.
- Compiled by JGWest



Tuesday, July 28, 2009

NAVIGATING ALONG the RIVER -
Research Tips

Flickr Commons

Looking for images to add context to your genealogy research? Try Flickr Commons (http://www.flickr.com/commons). Each photo included in the Flickr Commons repository have no known copyright restrictions. Many individuals and organizations contribute their photos to The Commons, including the Library of Congress, the Smithsonian, and universities as well, such as the University of Virginia. The goal of the The Commons is two fold: 1) to increase awareness to publicly-held photography collections and 2) provide a way for the general public to contribute information and knowledge. The second objective is fulfilled when YOU make comments on pictures posted.

A quick search for Evansville related information retrieves this picture of Albion Fellows Bacon, a social reformer of Evansville. The Albion Fellows Bacon center in Evansville (http://www.albionfellowsbacon.org/) is named after her and her work.



An article from the November 28, 1912 issue of the Charlotte Observer recounts the following story involving Albion - "Mrs. Albion Fellows Bacon, of Evansville, has written Indiana's first law for housing reform. She is small and sweet, that sort of woman you may think of as sitting at home and rocking her babies to sleep. And this she did. But in the intervals and after she had them to sleep, the twins and two more, she did this other service for her State. In her home town of Evansville, where her husband is a merchant, Mrs. Bacon began her interest in other people's houses as a Friendly Visitor and as the organizer of the Flower Mission. But she hadn't made many visits before she discovered it wasn't roses and mignone that were needed so much as sewers and sinks and a few other incidentals that are fundamental before one may begin to garnish life. One day she came back from the "Cotton Mill Block," where they had typhoid and tuberculosis always with them, to exclaim passionately, 'How can they wash without water or dry without drains?' To a prominent charity worker she went with the question, 'Why is it the landlord's don't put in hydrants down there?' And the charity worker answered wearily, 'Because they don't have to. There is no law to require it.' 'I knew then,' Mrs. Bacon says, 'that there would have to be a law. But I didn't dream that I would have to get it. I just thought somebody ought to do it. But after awhile it got so that a procession of white faced, wailing babies from the tenements began to appear in the dead of night waving their little arms and crying, 'Sleep no more' till we are cared for.' When you get to 'seein' things at night, you are ready for work.'"

Mrs. Bacon died December 10, 1933 and is buried in Oak Hill Cemetery in Evansville, Indiana.

- Submitted by Taneya Koonce

Monday, July 27, 2009

Marker/Plaque/Monument Monday

Evansville's Joe Cook ~ Entertainer

This is very nice memorial plaque to a guy that entertained others and promoted his city. I wished that I knew more about him... or even the corner where he lived in Evansville where this plaque once adorned. Maybe someone will have the time to check some of the city's early directories to find his home. If anyone knows more about Joe Cook, please share it with us.

- Photographer unknown, photo submitted by Chris Myers