Sunday's Obituary: Ada Gossau

In loving memory of Aunt Ada, here is the obituary of Ada B. Gossau from the Leola (Workman) Crapser's files.

 

Ada B. Gossau
Ada Blanche Gossau, 71, died Saturday, Nov. 28, 1987 at the Estelline Community Hospital.

Funeral services will be at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday at Sterling United Methodist Church, rural Brookings with the Rev. Penny Ritter officiating.  Burial will be at Sterling Methodist Cemetery.  Visitations may be made from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Monday at Rude's Funeral Home; the family will be in attendance.  Visitations also may be made preceding services Tuesday at the church.

Ada Blanche Gossau was born Sept. 10, 1916, in Sterling Township, Brookings County, to Jessie and Blanche (Heard) Workman.  She attended rural school in Sterling Township and graduated from Brookings High School.  She then moved to Chicago and spent several years there working in factories.  She also lived in California for a year.  She married Charles T. Gossau on June 2, 1947, in Pipestone, Minn., and the couple made Brookings their home.  She worked at various jobs in Brookings until retiring in 1980.  Mr Gossau died May 1, 1987, in Sioux Falls.  She enjoyed bowling, fishing and craft work.

Survivors include one daughter, Margaret Gossau of Brookings, and two sisters, Mrs. Sara (Raymond) Laganella of Philadelphia, Pa., and Mrs. Leola Crapser of Sioux Falls.  She was preceded in death by her husband and one brother.

Sunday's Obituary: John E Jorenby

In loving memory of uncle John E. Jorenby, who passed away on July 26, 2011.

John E. Jorenby was born on October 29, 1934 in Volga, SD to Norman and Stella (Waage) Jorenby. He grew up and attended school in the Volga area. After finishing school, he served in the US Army. John spent his career working for the Bureau of Indian Affairs in South Dakota and California before transferring to the Bureau of Land Management which led him to work in Utah, Idaho and Wyoming. After retiring, he moved to the cabin he built in Trout Creek, Montana but eventually found his way back to Wyoming.

He was preceded in death by his son, Terrence L. Jorenby, his grandson, Dalton Taylor Jorenby, brothers, Carroll, Donald and Burton and his sister Betty Bovee.

John is survived by his daughters, Tamara Jorenby of Bozeman, MT, Tracey (Scott) Maryland of Casper, grandsons Kaycee, Lucas, Tyler, Stryder and Oryan, brothers, Lyle, Clifford (Lori), David, sisters Marge (Alton) Quam, and Sharon (Jim) Watts all of South Dakota.

Memorial services will be at 2:00 pm on Saturday, July 30th at Newcomer Funeral Home in Casper WY. Memorials may be made in John’s name to the charity of your choice.

http://www.newcomercasper.com/obituary.asp?src=value&obitid=49973&fname=John&lname=Jorenby&city=Casper&st=WY

Mystery Monday: Mr Bradley or Mr Monroe

In late February I communicated with "KathyDon217" on the Ancestry.com message board for Brookings county, South Dakota regarding a photo.  She found the photo in New York state with a bunch of other photos of the Coon family from Otsego County, NY. 

The photographer's inscription states O. G. Oyloe, Brookings, Dakota.  On the back of the photo it says "James Monroe or Andrew Bradley", with "or Andrew Bradley" crossed out.

Both Kathy and I desire to get this photo in the hands of this man's relatives.  In doing so, we began researching James Monroe and Andrew Bradley.

According to the book titled "They Captured the Moment: Dakotas Photographers 1853-1920", Ole Oyloe was a photographer from 1889-1921 in the towns of Brookings and Elkton.  The final pieces of Dakota Territory split into the states of North Dakota and South Dakota on November 2, 1889. So the inscription indicating "Dakota" means this is likely from 1889, maybe into early 1890 if Oyloe was finishing up his stock of cabinet cards.
 
In the 1885 Territorial Census and the 1900 Federal Census, it appears there was an Andrew Bradley born about 1834/5 in New York. Looks like his wife Martha had 2 children a William and another child that didn't survive. Martha and William were also born in New York. They appear in the Moody county census, which would be just down the road. Brookings was and is still the major hub city for a large portion of Moody county.

There are several Brookings, South Dakota census records for James Monroe, though they all indicate James was born in a variety of locations including Kansas, Iowa, Canada, Massachussettes and Illinois. Nothing seemed to tie James to New York.

Kathy found Andrew Bradley in the 1850, 1860 and 1870 census records for Otsego county, New York.  She also located an obituary for Andrew J Bradley who died in 1926 in San Diego, California.  Interestingly, a Mary Coon Thayer and a Tom Coon were both found in San Diego as well.

If the stars are aligning correctly, this looks like it may be a Mr. Andrew Bradley. 

Do you know of anyone researching the Bradley or Monroe families of New York, South Dakota and California? 

Those Places Thursday - Postcards: Susanville, California

In Grandma Leola's box of treasures, is a stack of postcards. Most of them were written on and sent to Leola or her parents by family and friends. There are a handful though that have no writing on them at all.

I remember picking up postcards on my adventures for souvenirs. In fact I have a shoebox full of postcards from places like Rapid City, Washington D.C., various places in Spain, and any zoo or tourist attraction that I visited as a child. None of mine have any writing either.

So curiosity strikes this genealogist again. What significance did the places on these postcards have for Grandma Leola?

The first postcard place is Susanville, California:

The wording at the bottom of the picture says:

"Looking east on  Main St." Susanville, Calif.  J.H. Eastman #B-359-B

Grandma Leola and her family lived in the Bell Gardens, California area during the 1940s.  Bell Gardens is about 570 miles from Susanville, roughly a 10 hour drive.

What significance might Susanville, California have in Leola's life?

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday: Bell Gardens School

Below is a photo of children in front of the Bell Gardens School  The children of Oral and Leola Crapser attended Bell Gardens School in California between 1942 and 1948.

This photo is from Grandma Leola's collection.

From the Jukebox to the iPod

An interesting tidbit from Wired.com (via Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter):

World's First Jukebox

File this under "How Our Ancestors Lived." 121 years ago today, the first jukebox is installed at the Palais Royale Saloon in San Francisco. It become an overnight sensation, and its popularity soon spread around the world. Four stethoscope-like tubes were attached to an Edison Class M electric phonograph fitted inside an oak cabinet. The tubes operated individually, each being activated by the insertion of a coin, meaning that four different listeners could be plugged into the same song simultaneously.

You can read more in the Wired.com web site at http://goo.gl/OtfU8

Today's iPods and MP3 players offer the ability to go for a run and still listen to your tunes.  Add in portable speakers and you can share your tunes with all your friends.   Gotta love the advancements in technology!

Treasure Chest Thursday: An Evening at Earl Carroll Theatre

In Grandma Leola (Workman) Crapser's collection of photos, I found a folder containing a photo of Leola at the Earl Carroll Theatre Restuarant in Los Angeles, California.

The back of the folder indicates it was purchased from "Hollywood Nite Club Photos" in Los Angeles on April 22, 1940 for a Total Price of $1.50.

From Leola's Crapser Family Photos