Titanic Connection

My mother, her mother, and her aunts periodically worked for the Ryerson/Salvatore family who spent their summers on Otsego Lake, just north of Cooperstown, NY. I remember going with them to open the big house called Swanswick in the Spring, letting the fresh air in and removing the sheets that covered the furniture. This was a relationship that lasted for four generations, as my great-grandmother received an invitation to the wedding of Ellen Ryerson in Chicago in 1917 and my great aunt cared for her children and grandchildren in Cooperstown, Scarsdale, and Washington DC over the years.

Ellen "Nell" Ryerson was the daughter of Arthur Ryerson and Emily Borie. While Nell and her brother Arthur jr. were in school in the Spring of 1912, their family was traveling in France. Arthur, a student at Yale, was the victim of a fatal car accident on April 8 in Bryn Mawr PA. Upon receiving the news, the Ryerson family booked passage on the next available ship - the Titanic sailing on its maiden voyage.

Arthur Ryerson, lawyer and steel baron, went down on the ship, after seeing his wife, daughters Emily and Suzette, and son John into the lifeboats with their governess and maid. The 1997 movie reportedly mentions that the fictional character of Jack Dawson (actor Leonardo DiCaprio) filched a coat belong to Arthur Ryerson.

As an aside, it was reported that Mr. Ryerson caught the attention of Juliette Gordon, future founder of the Girl Scouts at "an outing in Providence" in 1883, prior to his marriage. See this article.

(Photo from Encyclopedia Titanica)

1940 in Northampton, MA

The census takes a snapshot of my father's family in 1940. They lived at 36 Holyoke Street in Northampton, on the corner of Hawley Street. The house was valued at $4000, and they were the only homeowners on this census page.

In the years since the preceding census in 1930, Dad had lost his mother in 1936, as well as his oldest brother, Bennie. The household was headed by my grandfather, Peter, who was a naturalized citizen. He was 58 and working as a dishwasher. Jennie was 24 and was the informant for this census taker. She had four years of high school, and stated that her father had 8 years of education. We don't know anything else about his education in Poland.

At 19, Bert was in her second year of college, a student at Smith. The oldest son, Charlie, was no longer living at home, but the younger boys were still in school. At 16, Henry was in his first year of high school with Dad, at 14. Dad's twin brother, John, was still in 7th grade. Jennie was a waitress and earned $360 in 40 weeks of work. For 50 weeks of work, Peter earned $450. Bert had also worked as a waitress for 8 weeks. During this period they were employed by the Hotel Northampton.

1940 in Cooperstown - Mom was Sweet 16

My mother was 15-going-on-16 when the census was taken in 1940. Her sister Peggy was 14 and in eighth grade. They were living in the home that I knew twenty years later on Brooklyn Aveue in the Town of Middlefield, on the south side of the village of Cooperstown, NY. It was the home her grandfather had built for his bride, and home of her father, William, and his sister, Bess.

The house was valued at $4000, twice that of the next home. I know they had a large barn and more acreage, which may account for the difference. Her father was a foreman in a sawmill, which was a short walk away on the Susquehanna River. This was the same place his father and grandfather had worked. His salary was listed at $1416, which is slightly more than the neighbors, and he states he worked 53 hours the previous week. The neighbors who were employed all worked much more than today's 40 hour norm.

Aunt Bess had a hat shop on Main Street in Cooperstown. She doesn't list a "salary."

The education column reveals that William had 3 years of high school, while the women in the family each had 4. Bess had continued in a teaching training class and taught school for several years. My grandmother, Sara Meeneghan, also finished high school before working in child care for several private families.

Bessie's stated age or 56 would have been correct as of her birthday in May, but Sara was approaching 51 and the census form states that she is 44. William was 49 at the time of the census, but is listed as 47. Based on the "X" next to her name, it was my Grandmother, Sara, who gave the information to the census taker.

Do You Remember the 1940s?

In 1941 (if that is the annotation on the photo) my Dad was 16 years old. He is shown here in the front, with his twin brother John Szymanowicz behind him, and their older brother Henry in the rear. Wasn't he a snappy dresser?

As we look forward to the release of the 1940 census, I'm anticipating the "snapshots" of our families that will be revealed.

Beyond the Headlines

Photo by J. K Patch of Shelburne Falls

Early on the evening of April 7, 1886 the Eastern Express was traveling east toward Greenfield, MA when it came off its rails and plunged down a rocky embankment to the Deerfield River south of Bardwells Ferry. Passengers and crew were pinned in the wreckage or thrown from the cars. Fire ignited in three of the cars. Darkness soon fell, as did a spring snow.

The train consisted of the steam engine, tender, express and baggage car, postal and baggage car, a smoker, two passenger coaches and a parlor car. It was manned by the engineer, conductor, two brakemen, mail agent and postal clerk, express agent and an executive of National Express (small package carrier) as well as an individual listed as the "colored porter" Aaron Lewis. There were several traveling salesmen aboard. Other passengers may have been traveling for business or pleasure.

It was described “by far the most serious accident of the year” by the Massachusetts Board of Railroad Commissioners in their Annual Report. The news quickly spread to such places as Des Moines, IA and the papers made graphic and somewhat exaggerated reports of the tragedy:

The Cars Take Fire and a Passenger is Roasted Alive Without the Chance of Succor.

Probably a Hundred Passengers on Board, and only Three Found Uninjured—The Rails Spread.

A Dozen Dead Bodies Recovered and the Work Not Yet Finished—Many Killed While Falling.

Reporters were as plentiful as “potato bugs in June and twice as active” according as The Day of New London, CT. They reported on the 9th of April that “no less than 10,000 people have visited the spot, some walking six and 10 miles to view the wreck.” Graphic descriptions of the injuries and the demeanor of the family members waiting for news of their loved ones were carried in the news.

The Fitchburg Sentinal reported the names of the casualties the next day: 10 dead, 31 injured and 5 uninjured. Among the dead was the engineer, Herbert P. Littlejohn of North Adams. The Railroad Commissioners noted his heroism as, fatally scalded, he made his way back up the bank and west along the tracks to flag any approaching train and avert further disaster. Similarly, the fireman Charles Richardson walked east toward West Deerfield. A train was sent out from Greenfield bringing aid and carrying away the injured and dead.

Also on the train that day were the Engineer’s brother, Albert Littlejohn, and his family. In the 1880 census of North Adams, the engineer, Herbert, was listed as well as Albert, who was described as a 16-year-old railroad employee, living with their parents and siblings. The family also had six boarders who were employed by the railroad at that time. (H)Albert Littlejohn and his wife Lena, residents of Buckland in 1886, survived the train wreck. Their children Viola, age 3, died at the site of the accident, and Otis, age 1, died the next day. Despite the tragedy, working on the railroad was in the blood of the Littlejohn family. Census records show that Albert and Lena later had another son, Herbert P. Littlejohn, who grew to become a railroad brakeman.

Another passenger, Anson K. Warner, was Chairman of the Selectmen in the Town of Greenfield. He died of his injuries a few days later. On April 27, 1886 a town meeting in Greenfield approved a resolution which stated, in part:

That to the offices which he was from time to time elected, he brought an unquestioned ability, sound judgment, and an unswerving fidelity to the interests of the town.
That in bequeathing a large sum of money to charitable and educational uses and purposes for the benefit of indigent boys and girls resident of the town, he manifested his interest in the welfare of its citizens and most generously supplemented the many kind and charitable deeds of his life time.

Charles Durgin, one of the salesmen, seems to be erroneously listed on Findagrave.com as buried in nearby Leverett. His funeral took place in South Boston (Boston Journal) and it is more likely he is buried in Mt. Hope cemetery in Cambridge, not Leverett.

Among the injured were Henry Couillard, at one time the landlord of the "hotel in the Village" of Charlemont. Chauncy Bryant was the Deputy Sheriff in Greenfield. Also from Greenfield was Freeman S. Hagar, hotel keeper, whose household included 8 servants in the 1880 census. Hager reportedly held his injured townsman, Mr. Warner, as they waited for aid.

The causes for the track failure were found to be structural, as the fill on the steep slope shifted. Another train had passed over the track about two hours before. A recent visual inspection had shown no obvious flaws. The report of the Commissioners found the causes to be:

The use as a portion of the embankment of crib-work battered against the slope of a steep ledge
The want of proper drainage at this spot.
The over-loading of the embankment at a place where a concealed defect existed.
And these causes, in combination with the state of the weather, fully account for the catastrophe.

A Nation of...

I enjoyed previewing the new Ken Burns series "Prohibition" at Greenfield Community College this week. It has given me a better understanding of the immense impact the 18th Amendment had on American society. Up until now, I had only my mother's statement that most of the important people in Cooperstown, NY had preferred her father's home brew during Prohibition.While performing a newspaper search for items relating to my grandmother's family, I found the following Advertisement in the Otsego Farmer newspaper dated Friday, June 24, 1932. It encompassed almost 1/4 page. It contains the names of her three sisters: Anne, Kate, and Mary Meeneghan as well as over 300 other locals.

We, the undersigned, believe that the Eighteenth Amendment should be repealed for the following reasons:
1. It is not enforceable.
2. It has increased lawlessness.
3.It has diverted millions of dollars each year from legalized businesses into the hands of the racketeers.
4. This situation has so reduced Federal revenue that, in order to balance the National Budget, increased taxation is necessary.
5. It is an infringement on the rights of the individual.
6. It retards the cause of true temperance.

Flood Damage

Our flooding in Western Massachusetts this week, resulting from Hurricane Irene, is eliciting comparisons to historic storm events.

My father was born in Easthampton, MA on 1 August 1925 of Polish immigrant parents. He and his twin brother were the youngest of seven children who lived to adulthood.

Through my research, I was able to show him a few things that he hadn't known: the house where he was likely born in Easthampton, a death certificate of a brother in Poland, a baptismal certificate for his oldest brother Bennie in Poland.

As is often the case, some family stories were not proven by the record evidence, but there was a kernel of truth. My uncle Henry thought that there was a baby who had died on the voyage to New York. Instead, we learned that the first child of Piotr and Walerya Szymanowicz had been born in their village of Drohiczyn in eastern (Russian) Poland in 1907 and died just short of his second birthday. Their second son, Boniface, was born a few months after the death of the first. It was the second child who took, and survived, the trip aboard the SS Finland, arriving in New York 23 August 1910.

Piotr and Walerya had six American children in Easthampton, MA and both became citizens themselves. Often the case among immigrant families, the oldest son left school early and began working to supplement the family income. Bennie also began the citizenship process as a young man, filing a Declaration of Intent in the Hampshire County Court. We know he worked in a gas station and had shares of Cities Service Company.

In March of 1936 torrential rains fell on the Connecticut Valley, which had seen an unusually large snowfall in previous months. The thaw, the rain and the ice breaking up in the river combined to produce record flooding. The Szymanowicz family had a small neighborhood grocery store adjacent to their home at the corner of Holyoke and Hawley Streets in Northampton, MA. The flood waters rose, filling their basement and the store at street level. Dad remembers eating "mystery meals" from the cans that lost their labels on the shelves.




Pleasant Street, Northampton - Photo from WGBY

When the water receded, river silts were left behind. Bennie developed a skin infection from contaminants that were deposited with the river silts as he attempted to clean up his parents' property. These were the years before common use of penicillin, a wonder drug that we take for granted 75 years later. Bennie died at age 27, on 14 April 1936 in Northampton. His pall bearers were Knights of Columbus, of whom he was a member. He was buried in St. Stanislaus cemetery in Easthampton beneath an Italian marble statue of Immaculate Mary.