Weaver Family Faribault MN 1963-66 Slide Transparencies - Jack and Jim returning from college for Holidays Peg Weaver's Typing and Mushroom Hobby

 Here in the season of 1966, are this author, Tom Weaver with his older brother Jack, the red head who returned from Monmouth College in Illinois after leaving Faribault in the fall of 1961 when he graduated from high school at age 17.  Here I am at age 19, my freshman year at Carleton with Jack still 3 1/2 years my senior, at age 23 with the bond street pipe tobacco our father smoked, next to the small artificial Christmas tree set up on the speaker cabinet Jack made in shop class. 

 1966 Both brothers with our addictive drinks  of choice.  Me with the 8 pack of Pepsi Cola bottles in the background, and likely some Canada Dry hard liquor mix behind and Jack with a red and white can of classic Budweiser beer, that soon became his regular alcoholic drink..

 
Tom (19)  sitting in the kitchen, with the yellow paint (Peg Weaver's favorite color to brighten things up) with Jack reaching for a cigarette in his pocket.  Jack (23)  continued the family smoking tradition, Marlboro I recall,  as modeled by both of our parents, mom having smoked 3/4 pack of Phillip Morris most of the years and dad, a pipe with Bond Street Tobacco.

 Peg Weaver, our mom, with a glass of wine (often my dad's Italian Swiss Colony Muscatel, a sweet dessert wine) next to the 1945 vintage roaster for a turkey. Making gravy for the mashed potatoes traditional in my fathers German family.

 

1966 "Pete "Paul H Weaver MD, my dad with Peg Weaver with a turkey fresh out of the roaster.

 From the transparency slides of my parents, Paul H "Pete" and Margaret "Peg" G Weaver I just discovered a box in storage while doing spring cleaning and clearing from 1959 into the 70's

Fall 1963 family dog Blackie, with Jack Weaver and his Pontiac with Illinois plates.   I remember his driving up from Monmouth IL for holidays.  Also took the train...

 
Jack Weaver, age 20 with his mom, Faribault driveway with his Pontiac car. 

 
Fall 1963 Jack, dad, Paul H "Pete" , and Tom Weaver.   Driveway Faribault with Jack's Pontiac

December 1963 Jack and Jim Weaver at the Rock Island Depot with Jack's Guitar and luggage.  Flash photo by PH Weaver

 Weaver family Dec 1963, Paul H "Pete". Jim, Peg, Tom and Jack.  Living room, note Christmas tree in the doorway mirror .  Ages 53, 23, 53, 16 and 20. Note the slide projector with the yellow Kodak Slide Boxes in front of my dad on the right.  We had a tradition of making slide shows and sharing of our travels and how life occurred to us.  Jim returned from Connecticut where he was attending Yale University, a tradition in the "Cowles" side of the family.  Jack returned from Illinois where he was attending Monmouth College. 

 1962, Jim Weaver's Chevrolet (early 1950's model)  that I remember he got from NSP as a used car.  I remember driving with him in such a car, in 1962 after he graduated from Carleton College to find lodge in New Haven CT, where he entered Yale University Grad School in Physics.

Peg Weaver's Ability to Type and Write.   Stamp Collecting and Mushroom Hobbies 

My mom, Peg Weaver, was a very efficient typist.  The story I heard, is that during the great depression of the 1930's she could not get a job with a BA in Art History at Oberlin, and thus she took some basic secretary courses in Columbus and landed herself a variety of jobs.  In her words from Rememberings p 29-30

"Deciding that I could probably get a better job if I could do shorthand as well as typing, I enrolled part-time at a business school while continuing my job at the YW. I had learned to type after my parents gave me a little, blue, Royal, portable typewriter with elite type for a high school graduation present. With the understanding that I would learn touch-typing, I enrolled, with Sarah Hartman and some other high school classmates, in a summer typing course at Findlay College. Typing papers in college provided practice. I passed the civil service exam, typing the required number of words per minute and taking shorthand satisfactorily, eventually leading to a job at Ohio State University.

Following that job, I worked full-time in the State Office of theYMCA, where I typed, took short hand, mimeographed -- and worked overtime. I continued to live at the YWCA, which was convenient and inexpensive.

Pete Weaver and I met at a symphony concert! Ty and I had had season tickets for a concert series and, one time when she wasn't able to go to a concert, she gave her ticket to Pete, thinking that he and I might hit it off -- and we did, although when he left me after the concert, he knew me only as "the red-headed roommate "

When my mom, got interested in mushrooms, and that started as early as 1960, when she was 50 "John F. Kennedy became President in 1960. I remember where I was when he was shot -- in the library of the Department of Plant Pathology at the University of Minnesota. I was copying information about mushrooms while Pete was attending a continuing education medical course in the Medical School. "

 
Peg Weaver 1961, age 51, typing with a manual typewriter.  I think the book on the table with a orange and black cover as a copy of The Mushroom Hunter's Field Guide. (1958, 1963) by Alexander Smith of the University of Michigan. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_H._Smith

 Later Peg was to study with one of Dr Smith's colleagues, Bob Schaeffer at the U of Michigan Field Station. 

 In 1963, here is Peg with the first electric typewriter I remember her having.   She made the breakfast room into her office, where she kept up correspondence with mycologists throughout the world. 

Ancestral Hospitality in Southington- Plantesville CT - Mary and Dave Potter the hosts at Josiah Cowles Place!

I traveled from Cold Spring NY and the MKP NWTA weekend, to a quiet respite here in the hills of Connecticut last evening, April 19.    I had contacted Mary Potter some weeks ago by phone and email, as I had be doing family genealogy research on the Cowles lineage, and I had found a reference to the Captain Josiah Cowles Home that was available as a B& B on line. He was a soldier for the colony of Connecticut in the Revolutionary War, and my 5th great grandfather - I am the 8th Generation from 1) Josiah - Through son 2) Gamaliel Cowles, then 3) Leanard Hamlet Cowles, attorney and early state legislator in Ohio, married Lucy Bixby (Moses Byxbe her father founded the town of Delaware Ohio) - 4) daughter Georgiana Cowles married Lewis Glessner in Delaware, and 5) son Leonard Cowles Glessner m Emma Chappelear, and 6) son Harry Chappelear Glessner m Inez Chase and 7) daughter Margaret Glessner m Paul H Weaver to me 8) Thomas Glessner Weaver

http://www.hotelsone.com/plantsville-hotels-us/captain-josiah-cowles-place.html?as=b&aid=1285440738&dsti=337569&dstt=8&label=bing-bh337569&akw=8978083491&akwu=captain%20josiah%20cowles%20place&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=captain%20josiah%20cowles%20place&utm_content=us-ct_bh337569&utm_campaign=us-USA-Connecticut-Hotels-oe-en

  Dave Potter met me in the dusk when I parked my car  in one of the ample parking spaces. And after I got settled in the room in the upper right of this photo, he offered me a piece of chocolate cake, homemade with a welcome glass of milk, before I retired to a hot shower.

 Monday morning in the spring rain, my Minnesota Van parked in the driveway parking space, bike on the back.

 
Mary and Dave Potter, with their welcoming smiles and breakfast made to order with local maple syrup!   And plenty of good coffee too.

After breakfast, Mary took me in her car to the Quinnipiac Cemetery just down the road, about a block and direct me to the gravestones of my 7th and 6th generation ancestors. 

 
Here is the author, with the red stone grave marker of Gamaliel, B July 12, 1742 and died age 45, on the left, and Josiah's marker on the right.  It was Gamaliel's son, Leonard Hamlet Cowles , who studied law at Yale, and moved to the new state of Ohio, to the area around Delaware, where his daughter Georgiana Cowles,  married Lewis Glessner, my great grandfather on my mom's side of the family tree . (Photo by Mary Potter)

 Josiah Cowles gravestone in the Quinnipiac Cemetery. 1716 - 1783
 
 Gamaliel  Cowles gravestone in the Quinnipiac Cemetery.  

 
Captain Josiah Cowles Place at 184 Marion, just a couple of minutes off of I 84, easy to find even in the dark!  

 
Contact information for Mary and Dave Potters hosts.  

Journey to Cold Spring NY, Surprise Lake Camp for GBTQA Rainbow Initiation Weekend.

On my way to staff my 4th Gateway as a volunteer for MKP International ,  I stayed in Middletown NY on Wednesday night after visiting with Jeff Thursday in Scranton PA where he shared great Sushi with me and then drove me on a tour of Scranton, the area of his birth and where he raised is family.   He is one of the owners of Master Supplements, the MN Company that created a line of high quality probiotics and enzymes that I worked with as an educator about all the friendly small allies humans have in our guts!  Thanks Jeff, and I forgot to take photos I was having so much fun.
From Middletown just into NY, I drove east toward Bear Mountain.  Here is the Bear Mountain Bridge on the Hudson, I crossed seen in the morning on the east side.
 

Driving north to the quaint town of Cold Spring where I had a Cafe Latte and a great chat with a woman who is finishing her Phd.

REI tent where I stayed close to Mother Earth with my trusty Dodge Caravan pony on the Camp Lake Surprise site, looking west with the morning sun on the hills.

 
The main lodge at camp Lake Surprise.  Lots of Jewish history here.  Eddie Cantor  

Learning about the Hebrew Language at this 100 yr old Jewish family Camp.

Ceremonial time piece to keep us on schedule for the weekend in front of the

Main lodge of the Camp Surprise Lake site where the weekend took place.



 Here is the inipi site where I was a leader to honor the men for their transformative work during the Gateway NTWA! Water buckets to put out a fire quickly as there was increased fire danger this past spring.  Happy to report, safety as well maintained!!! Fine memories of staffing with men from all over North America!  And now looking back from August, quite a time here in the US of A to celebrate more rights for gay men to marry! 

For the history of this camp, please check out https://surpriselake.org/camphistory

Ohio Family History Site Visits to Wright State U Archives and Mansfield Reformatory Spring 2015

 After a refreshing visit to Deerfield IL at the Chestnut Lodge on Sunday,  I drove down to the Dayton area even driving through Pendelton IN, as the magnolia's, daffodils, and even a red bud, were seen with the opening of flower buds, ah more colors and the surging of the life force reaching to the warmth of the sun!    I had been working on Noah Elwood Weaver's extensive photographic albums, and met Geno Pasi, an archivist at the Paul Laurence Dunbar library at a Tuesday morning meeting to hand over five of NEW's albums ( or "scrapbooks") as Geno referred to them.  So here I am at the door with a container carrying a gift to support the research on the history of the Miami River Valley area that NEW documented so well, through the loving lens of his cameras for the first half of the 20th Century. 

 Here on the table in the archives, I have two flash drives, on top of the box, with the name Oerlikon, 4 gig hard drives that are a advertizing gift from Oerlikon Leybold Vacuum, one of the vacuum components and systems manufacturers, we represent at Torvac in the Twin Cities. Grateful I could provide Geno and the staff with digital back up copies, many in tiff format for stability to supplement that hard copy photos.  I was informed that likely a "processor" would be found by Sept of this year to work with me to develop the "finding aids" that a search engine like "Google" would lead people to find their family members.  One example I used was the Tom Roehm Family with Gladys Cotterman Roehm whose adopted son Laurence "Tim " Riechenderfer traveled together with Paul Henry, Edna and Noah Elwood Weaver in 1928, in two cars down through KY, and TN to the Great Smokies in NC, driving to the peak of Mt Mitchell, then into VA's Natural Bridge site and finally to U of Virginia and  Mt Vernon, then Camping in Washington DC, driving and walked up the the portico of the White House with no fences in view!  A drive back to Ohio on the National Hwy through MD, PA, into Ohio and back home, are documented in two black albums I left at the Library.

Mansfield Ohio State Reformatory  - Hans Hansen who married a Brandt, began working here to teach men about furniture building in 1911.   Here are some of  the evocative 1914 - 22 images that inspired me to visit Mansfield, where Hans was a reformer of young men! 

 1914 Hans Hansen with Henry Eicher (my great grandfather) in front of the Mansfield Ohio State Reformatory.

 1917 at Hansen Home in Canton Ohio -Discovered on the back of some of the photos,  733 Lawrence St, Canton OH, and looks like built into a hill.  Will research the city directory for Canton.  Looks like a considerable commute to Mansfield.  (about 60 miles on the Lincoln Hiway)

 1917 Noah Elwood looking at Hansen family car. and washing it!

1917 Noah Elwood Weaver and Paul Henry, age 7 with Hansen car in front of 733 Lawrence, Canton

 1917 on cement stairs.  Niel Esburn Hansen (age 27), Edna Weaver (behind age 32    ), woman may be Helen Sanders, (age 26 )whom Niel married in 1919?), Paul Henry Weaver (age 7) , Josephine "Phinnie" Brandt Hansen (age 51), sitting man ?, Henry Eicher (age72)

 1917 Hans and Phinnie Hansen Home, 733 Lawrence, Canton OH, Lower garage with porch,  Paul H Weaver and Henry Eicher on porch.   Noah Elwood Weaver, 1912-20 large black album.

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1917  Ring throw game, Paul H Weaver next to board, with unidentified boy ready to throw on chair.
Noah Elwood Weaver photo.  Large Black 1912-20's Album

It appears that Noah Elwood and his son Paul Henry visited the Mansfield Reformatory again in 1922.  On a page with 4 images, Paul Henry is feeding ducks at the pond in front where on the same page a walk way to a gazebo is featured.   The imposing building is captured in 1922 from the front and side to see how much of the structure has been preserved for the 21st Century.

1922 Page with "Uncle Hans" talking with Edna Eicher Weaver, and "Phenie" Josephine Brandt Hansen below on the steps to the Office of the Reformatory.  Henry Eicher is standing with the straw hat with 11 year old Paul Henry Weaver on the right.

1922 Paul Henry Weaver, Mansfield reformatory pond feeding ducks.  By Noah Elwood Weaver

 1922  Walkway to gazebo on the pond in front of the Mansfield Reformatory.

 1922 View of the Mansfield Reformatory Campus, looking from the south east, by Noah Elwood Weaver cousin of Hans O Hansen through the Brandt lineage.

 1922 view of the front of the Mansfield Reformatory, when my father PH Weaver was still alive, he identified Hans O Hansen as "Uncle Hans", when I wrote this in white, CA 1981 the years before my father died.



Connection of Hans Hansen, who married Josephine, "Phenie", Brandt, to the Ohio Reformatory in Mansfield - current history of this iconic building, made famous in the film Schawshenk Redemption, released in 1994.

 
I met with Paul Smith, the current executive director of the site yesterday, April 14, 2015 and he related that this building was ready for the wrecking ball, at the time a crew came to film the Schawshenk Redemption, released in 1994.  For more info.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohio_State_Reformatory

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohio_State_Reformatory

And here are my current wheels, my 2005 Dodge Caravan along with my bike outside of what remains of the building.  View from the south east that one can compare to the 1922 image above.