Sunday, March 27, 2016

Glessner Famiy Roots 1910-20 in Findlay Ohio, Donnell Birthday Parties, Golf, Frances Owen's Sheltand Pony, Robert and John Glessner cousins - Margaret Mary Glessner Weaver storytelling with photos

Margaret "Peg" Glessner with her father, Harry C Glessner, golf club likely at Findlay Country Club where HG Glessner his father LC Glessner played a lot of "ball golf"  - the small golf bag reminds me of the two bags I have that my mom inherited from her Glessner family....

Here is an over view that might be interesting to archive somewhere. (just took a photo of mashies and niblicks on my porch here on Easter) any interest in finding a home for them?

Any suggestions to market them?
Two vintage bags, 17 irons wood and metal shafted and 8 woods, all used in early 20th Century, by Harry C Glessner and his sister Mary E Glessner.


Margaret Glessner, Born in Findlay OH, June 3, 2010, left her parents photo album from about 1900 to her college days at Oberlin College in the late 1920's with me  I continue to post photos to celebrate history and connections for the next generations. According to Inez Chase in her wedding book, here is where she and Harry C Glessner lived in Findlay. After their wedding in March 1908 "
Lived at 1028 S Main while mother Glessner and Dad went to California.  THen lived at
627 West Sandusky St. In June 1910 move to 122 Howard St, Dec 1910, 
moved to 1201 S Main St 627 West Sandusky St. In june 1910 move to 122 Howard St, 
Dec 1910, moved to 1201 S Main St.
Built bungalow at 1228 S Main St and moved in Nov 1911.
Built house at 204 Glendale Ave and Moved there in Feb 1925


Page 1,  Inez Chase Glessner with Margaret Mary 'Peg' Glessner CA 1918
I continue to be inspired by the celebration of life and storytelling of Peg Weaver, who models for me, "How to die young as late in life as possible"   When I go for a walk, like I did this morning, I see the awakening of spring, the fungi, the birds, this morning robins and red wing blackbirds, and then celebrating the family tree that I am part of.  The Glessners, in German, Glassmacher, who arrived in Pennsylvania and then migrated into Ohio - Lewis Glessner, being born in Somerset PA, then to Columbiana Co OH, and then to Findlay as a newpaper man.


Here is the bungalow that Harry and Inez built on 1228 S Main in Findlay with Peg in the front around 1918.
 
Peg Glessner in snow in front of the bungalow...1228 S Main.


1920 CA p 18 Frances Owen driving her pony with Margaret Glessner aside, Dode and David Davis in back. from Rememberings "My best friend, Frances Owen, lived kitty-cornered across the street from me in a b-i-g red, brick house with her parents, Minnie and Frank Owen, a maid, and a yard-man-chauffeur housed above the garage. Mr. Owen was president of Electric Porcelain Products. Their house had a porte cochere, a roofed entrance adjoining the driveway where their car could be driven, allowing people to get in without getting wet when it rained. Frances had a Shetland pony with a cart. When I rode the pony, my feet almost touhed the pavement. While Frances was away, I took care of her pony and rode it to my house from the livery stable downtown. One day the reins broke. To get the pony back to the stable, I walked feeding it sugar lumps the whole way so it would follow me. For a very short time Frances and I had pet rabbits after we had found a nest of babies. Their yardman built us a pen, but the mesh of the wire was too large, (intentionally so?) letting them escape. Those were the only pets I ever had. I would bring home small, cuddly kittens, but my mother wouldn't let me keep them. "They have germs," she would always say."


 
 
 The First of three Donnell parties bound in the photo album, this one on p 13, likely at this during WW I with all the flags......from Peg's memoir p10  "The Donnells, Ohio Oil people who became Marathon Oil people, had BIG birthday parties for their three boys, Jim, John and Dewey, with long tables spread out across the lawn. Fancy, paper hats, cute favors, balloons, and a photographer to take pictures were highlights I don't know why I was invited. Maybe it was because I was a Presbyterian, too."





Second  of  of three birthday parties at the Donnell family home. page 19 CA 1919 Peg is looking at the camera, 4th on the left.


 Last of the 3 Donnell parties in the album.  P 20 around 1920.   I think Peg is the 6th from the left, back row, with her mouth open :-)
Parade at the end of WWI, Elks Building in Downtown Findlay with a marching band. Perhaps this is the day when Gen Pershing was in town? :-) p11 of Rememberings "When General Black-Jack Pershing was at a reception at the Findlay Elks Club after the war, I was thrilled to shake the hand of the war hero who led American troops in Europe. His handsome son accompanied him, which was exciting for us grade school girls."

Parade in 1918 in Findlay, with "Aviation" Theme,  frame of airplane over a car. p 5
 MGW, Peg Glessner age 8 on page 5, with parasol.
Cousins Robert Glessner, left with Peg Glessner, and John L Glessner on right, Cedar Point, Lake Erie.  From Rememberings by Peg "When I was in high school I had my first paying job working at the Glessner Company in the summer for 250 cents an hour.    Twenty-five cents could buy a lot in the 1920's. F. W. Woolworth 50 & 100 Stores had an amazing selection. At my job I used the adding machine to tot up various items (The adding machine was not electric, but operated by a hand lever.), kept inventory and put small, round-headed, colored tacks in maps to show salesmen's routes. My father had governors installed on the salesmen's cars to insure that they wouldn't exceed the speed limit. Several times our family drove to Cedar Point, Ohio,where my father and Uncle Lewis attended a convention for druggists. Our route took us through Sandusky, Ohio, then onto a concrete road through the sand out along the shore of Lake Erie. We stayed at a big, resort hotel where Uncle Lewis, Aunt Peach, my cousins, Bob and John stayed, too. Swimming was fun in the waves, wearing bathing suits with short sleeves and short, straight skirts reaching almost to our knees. Women put on thin, rubber bathing caps with little ruffles around the edge. The roller coaster looked like a good time, but one ride was enough for me, making me very queasy. Much more enjoyable was the Crazy House, with its mirrors that made me look funny, and a very large, rotating, flat disc (like a large Victorola record) which spun me off rather gently. My father took chances at a booth and won a Kewpie for me, a small chubby doll with a topknot of hair.

John L Glessner, son of Uncle Lewis Glessner to Peg. Peg Glessner with snow ball shrub - Both born in June 1910.  Peg from Rememberings "My Uncle Lewis and Aunt Peach, who lived about a block from us, had two sons, John, my age, and Bob, who was older. With some neighbor-boys, Bob and John built a strange contraption with two barrels and some two by fours - a "two-barrel Ferris wheel", each barrel rotating at the end of two long two-by fours. Small passengers stood in the barrels and had an exciting ride. One Saturday afternoon John, a towhead, and I, a red head, had an adventure, a long tricycle ride, he pedaling and I standing on the step behind. From our homes on South Main Street, we traveled to the Glessner Company, a good mile's journey, to see our fathers, forgetting that it was Saturday afternoon, that the factory would be closed. We triked on, onto the bridge across the Blanchard River, getting off to hang over the railing, looking at the water many feet below. Our plan had been to go to Riverside Park at least another two miles ahead, but we were tired, turned around and went home. We had been missed! We were punished!"

Her cousins Bob and John moved away suddenly page 3 Rememberings " Uncle Lewis and his family moved from Findlay to California when I was in grade school. My father said that Uncle Lewis had taken some petty cash and stamps from the Glessner Company, sometimes frequented pool rooms and gambled. All this displeased my grandfather, who, as the President of the company, fired him. That was the side of the story I knew. Of course I knew no other. My Aunt Mary was very sympathetic to Uncle Lewis's family, remembering them well in her will. This made my father fume, since she left him only $1,000 which he refused to accept. He thought that he deserved more since, after their father's death, he created a job for her with a desk in the main office and put up with her late arrivals and unsatisfactory performance of her duties."



"
Construction in 1924 of the new home for Harry C, Inez and Margaret Glessner on 204 Glendale Ave in Findlay.   Here is what Peg wrote in her memoir p 18-9

"My parents had a wonderful offer to sell our little bungalow, receiving a lot in trade, 204 Glendale
Avenue. While our new home was being built, we rented a house on Elm Street, across from my good friends, Sarah Hartman (Jones), Frances Crosby (Schott) and Mary Ellen Davis (Wagner) (See picture #4, p. 13t.). What fun we had walking to high school together. On rainy days we donned yellow oil- cloth slickers, which were as stiff as boards in cold weather -- and which our friends autographed with indelible pencils. My friends called me "Peg", but my mother and father were forever stuck with "Margaret". Sarah's parents were Zoe and John Hartman, a physician; Frances's, Nellie and George Crosby, owner of a shoe store, where Frances and I had fun trying on the stock; Mary Ellen's, Mae and Guy Davis, the Hancock County Treasurer.........
The excavation for our new house at 204 Glendale Avenue was not done with a backhoe, but with a team of horses pulling a huge scoop to haul out the dirt. Finding house plans in a book, an English Tudor style with half timbers and stucco. (See picture #3, p. 134e) We found the house plans in a book and didn't use an architect. Variegated tile, like that on the roof, was the vestibule's floor and paving for the curved walk from the front door. A step down into the living room from the front hall turned out to be a bug-a-boo for my mother, since she felt that she had to caution all new comers, fearing they might not see the step and fall. With windows covering two of its walls, the sun room was the most lived-in room. A dining room, kitchen with a breakfast nook, and lavatory completed the downstairs. An attached garage was accessible from the kitchen.
Upstairs were three bedrooms and a bath. (A second bathroom was added after I left home.) My mother had a "safety door" installed to close off my parent's, my bedroom and the bath, because she was really frightened if my father wasn't home at night, which was seldom, going upstairs, taking me with her, then locking her safety door. Lightning storms also frightened her. When they occurred at night she would waken me and drag me down stairs with her. I don't recall if my father accompanied us. We moved into our new house when I was a high school sophomore."



ca 1918 Glessner Home 1228 S Main St, Findlay Ohio, with the family Oakland car.  Peg Weaver wrote in her memoir - page 18 +
"HIGH SCHOOL YEARS My parents had a wonderful offer to sell our little bungalow, receiving a lot in trade, 204 Glendale Avenue. While our new home was being built, we rented a house on Elm Street, across from my good friends, Sarah Hartman (Jones), Frances Crosby (Schott) and Mary Ellen Davis (Wagner) (See picture #4, p. 13t.). What fun we had walking to high school together. On rainy days we donned yellow oil- cloth slickers, which were as stiff as boards in cold weather -- and which our friends autographed with indelible pencils. My friends called me "Peg", but my mother and father were forever stuck with "Margaret". Sarah's parents were Zoe and John Hartman, a physician; Frances's, Nellie and George Crosby, owner of a shoe store, where Frances and I had fun trying on the stock; Mary Ellen's, Mae and Guy Davis, the Hancock County Treasurer.
Frances Crosby and I were excited about going to a Bible Camp on Lake Geneva in distant Wisconsin. outside of Chicago. After our parents deposited us there, we soon discovered that we were expected to study a lot, learning that this camp wasn't all fun and games. Homesickness set in, so we spent our free time sitting by the lakeside sobbing and eating Hershey bars. Watching yachts on the lake and a trip to Yerkes Observatory offered some relief. Finally the camp period was over and our parents rescued    us. The first night that we were back in civilization, we went to a movie in Chicago, where we became uncontrollably giggly while waiting in the theater lobby, embarrassing our parents so that they wished they had never seen us.
For my sixteenth birthday I received a key to our car, an Oakland coupe. Drivers' training hadn't been invented and there was no driver's license, no test given for permission to drive a car. Later we had a Hudson sedan, then a Buick. (See picture #2, p. 1310 Before purchasing a new car, we tested it to    see if it would knock when driving up Bigelow Hill, really only a small rise    at the north edge of town. We continued to have Buicks and my father looked quite impressive, or funny, driving his Buick while wearing a derby hat.

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