Monday, June 30, 2008

...Mixed Up in a Moonshine Case... ("Brooklyn CSI- "TMI!")



From Harper's story books :
a series of narratives dialogues, biographies and tales,
for the instruction and entertainment of the young.

(New York : Harper & Brothers, c1854-1856.)
Abbott, Jacob (1803-1879), Author.
(Image obtained from the NYPL Digital Library Online.)

~

""The liquor-dealer is your guide, philosopher, and creditor," commented The Nation in 1845. "He sees them more frequently and familiarly than anybody else, and is more trusted by them than anybody else, and is the person through whom the news and meaning of what passes in the upper regions of city politics reaches them." Saloonkeepers could thus earn the gratitude and confidence of large numbers of tenement dwellers, gratitude that could be repaid as votes on election day. The liquor dealer also had the name recognition and financial resources to bid successfully for political office."

Tyler Anbinder, "Five Points" Chapter 5 pages 145-6


~

When my Dad Retired from AT&T he wanted to start a family business with his sons. "O'Brien and Sons" if you will. He talked about trying any number of things: opening a Book Store, opening a Cigar Store, or buying the Liquor Store up the street.

Unfortunately, soon after his Retirement at age 55 he was diagnosed with Prostate Cancer. He fought the good fight before he succumbed finally at the age of 62 .

When he spoke of buying a Liquor Store it was with the idea that it would be a business that should be "Recession Proof" ...when the economy goes bad, people buy Liquor... being the age old business maxim.

But I remember to this day, when he finally decided against the idea, how he quoted someone, I believe it was his Father or someone from his family I'm not really sure: "Never own a Saloon for No Good thing ever came from money made from Liquor."

~

The following goes a long way to explaining my family's longstanding belief in this superseding maxim. It is a transcription from the original because I couldn't paste it here as its size (about 5"x 23" or the full length of the front page.) was too big. I didn't like the way it looked cut up so I spent the last few days transcribing instead.

WARNING! There was no such thing as "HIPAA-Laws" in the 1895. The information imparted here would be the subject of Libel in todays world. Or perhaps an episode of "Brooklyn CSI"

....
In any case, this gets a bit gruesome so don't say I didn't warn you....

~


THE BROOKLYN DAILY EAGLE
Wednesday, June 5, 1895


______

FEARED TO FACE THE MUSIC,
______

-O'Brien Placed a Pistol in His Mouth and Fired,
______

RATHER THAN GO TO COURT.
______

He Was Mixed Up in a Moonshine Case
Which Was to Have Come Up in the
Federal Court To-day- Brooding
Over the Affair Had Him Despondent,
So He Ended the Suspense

by Putting a Bullet Into His Brain.
______

John O'Brien, a saloon keeper at the corner of Clifton Place and Classon avenue, shot and killed himself this morning in the bedroom of his living apartments over the store. O'Brien was 51 years old and was a hatter by trade, as were several of his brothers, who also owned saloons. One of his brothers, James O'Brien, the proprietor of a saloon at the corner of Spencer street and Myrtle avenue, died suddenly about six weeks ago, and John O'Brien was very much affected. John worked every day at his trade of hatter in Knox's factory at Grand avenue and St. Marks place, the business of the store being conducted by two of his sons during the day, while he himself would tend bar at night.

His place has borne a reputation among the police as a quiet, orderly saloon, although he had been arrested on one or two occasions for violation of the excise law. He had conducted the saloon on Classon avenue more than twenty years. In February last two barrels of Illicit whisky were found in his cellar by the United States marshals. They were seized and O'Brien was placed under arrest, and before the United States commissioner was released on bail. He bought the liquor from the Brady Brothers, whose Illicit still just outside of Long Island City was raided in the latter part of last winter. There were three brothers of the name of Brady. Hugh, Tom, and Brian were engaged in the manufacture of Moonshine whisky. One of them is now under arrest and the United States officers are looking for the other two.

Ever since the seizure of the whisky in his saloon, and his arrest by the United States marshals, O'Brien has worried greatly over the matter. His friends have noticed his despondency and have tried to cheer him up, but he seemed to grow more and more disheartened. Last night as he stood behind the bar he was seized with a sort of fainting fit. He quickly recovered and said to his friends that he feared the result of his trial in the United States courts, which was set down for to-day. "I suppose I will have to pay a fine," he said, and added, "I would not mind that, but I am afraid I may be sentenced to imprisonment and that I could never stand. To have to go to the penitentiary would break my heart."

O'Brien was alone in the room when he shot himself. His wife noticed that he was uneasy during the night. This morning he awoke early and told his wife he would rest a little longer before getting up. She said she would go downstairs and prepare breakfast. The family occupy the entire house. The living rooms are on the second floor, while the bedrooms are on the third floor. He told her that he would be down to breakfast as he wished to get away early, in order to attend to some business at the excise board before appearing for trial in United States courts. He appeared to be feeling more nervous than on the night before.

One of his youngest sons, Daniel, slept in a bed in the same room with his father and mother. It was about 7:40 o'clock when the boy heard a muffled sound, which he said sounded as though his father had shouted "Get up" to him. The boy sat up in bed and looked toward the bed where his father lay. O'Brien had pulled the clothes up over his face, but the boy noticed smoke coming from beneath them and, becoming alarmed, screamed for his mother. Mrs. O'Brien was on the floor below and also heard the report of the pistol, but thought it was caused by the shutting of a box lid in the Liquor Store. When she heard the screams of the boy she ran upstairs and, pulling away the clothing from her husbands face, saw at once what had happened. She ran to the hallway and called to her son George, who was downstairs in the saloon.

George ran up stairs and found his father lying in bed, with blood flowing from his wound and the pistol with which he had shot himself clutched in his right hand. He called another brother and sent him to the house of Dr. E. S. Chick, at 303 Greene avenue, while he himself ran to the Forth precinct station house and told what had happened, and asked that a call for an ambulance be sent out. A hurry call was sent to the Homeopathic hospital, and within ten minutes the ambulance, in charge of Dr. Lazarus, was at the door of O'Brien's saloon. In the meantime Dr. Chick had arrived, but O'Brien was dead when he got there.

Dr. Lazarus and Dr. Chick made an examination and found that O'Brien had placed the muzzle of the revolver in his mouth and discharged it, the ball passing through the roof of his mouth and lodging at the base of his brain. Death must have been instantaneous. The weapon which O'Brien used to take his life was a Smith & Wesson .32 caliber, five chamber, hammerless revolver. It was a revolver which O'Brien kept in his saloon during the day but took to bed each night, placing it under his pillow. This has been his custom ever since the Luca murder, as he said he did not propose to be unprepared if any burglar came prying about his rooms at night.

O'Brien's home life was very pleasant, and neither his wife nor any of his son's had the least suspicion of any such act on his part. He was generally cheerful, except for the despondency he manifested at times since his arrest by the United States marshal. He leaves five son's, John, George, William, Danial and Joseph. The three first named are grown, while Danial and Joseph are under 16 years of age. No arrangements have been made for the funeral.

______

Yeah, it's gruesome just like I said, but the amount of information is overwhelming and invaluable too! I know that these are my ancestors. I know this because of the occupations. (Hatters and "Liquor Clerks" etc.) This story also fits nicely with family lore as well.

The general location of the residences is correct, but the James' and John's are confusing. I tend to think that my branch is the James who died six weeks earlier, but as you can see this John's wife was named Elizabeth which is right in line with the family naming pattern:


I am however stymied by the lack of census data for 1890. George, William, Danial and Joseph do not seem to fit and this is why I tend to lean towards James at Spencer and Myrtle.

~

The leap back to Pittsfield & Lenox must be made from here. The lack of Census data is complicated by the fact that I am not sure when the move happened. This is why I turned to Newspapers in desperation. Now I have much more to go on and I guess I will have to see if persistence can bring about more info about this John's brother James' death sometime in April of 1895 and compare a list of children from the sketchy info that I have from my great aunt Elizabeth (O'Brien) Kiernan.

~

Thats all for this episode of "Brooklyn CSI-TooMuchInformation!" Tune in next week for a possible episode of stereo types in Irish-gangsta dialects. (Oh yeah, I found more articles featuring Longshoreman James O'Brien thugs who are quoted as speaking Cagney-esque "Youz-Guys" kinda stuff.)

obeedúid~
02/july/08



Saturday, June 21, 2008

"I needed a Medicinal Nature Encounter..."

Casline if you are reading this I hope you took a shower as soon as you got home! I picked two tics off me before I made it to the shower, stripped down, bagged the clothes and scrubbed down.

~

I was feeling kinda down because of recent family "Stuff" so I E-mailed Alan Casline and asked him if he was interested in doing a short hike up in the Helderburg Mountains just south of here where I live.

I needed a Medicinal Nature Encounter.

So we went looking for a place we had passed by recently on the way to Christman's Preserve called Limestone Rise Preserve.

~

We ended up finding "Wolf Creek Falls Preserve" in Knox.




~

A full scan of "Fox Creek Preserve"
in case you wish to enlarge it in your Browser.


The Trail Map was kind of upside down to the way you enter The Preserve; but my Boy Scout orienteering kicked in and we quickly determined that although the Red Trail was not yet opened, we could still navigate around the closed areas by doing a stretch of road along 816 Bozenkill.

~


Enlarged and Cropped Map of Fox Creek Preserve.
With our route and a legend for the photos.



Alan laid down on the first foot-bridge over the Fox Creek so he could take his first photo of "Fox Creek" for his Watershed Archives. He was doing a reclining pose when I looked up, but by the time I got the camera going I caught him standing back up. (even though it looks like he's falling down.)

The Mountain Goat bIRD gets up!
(#1 on the enlarged Map.)



~

We proceeded in a roundabout manner to the Bird Box. Nothing special, just a Bird box. I was more impressed with the looks of this tree at the opening in the stone wall.

Kinda Spooky Looking!
Reminds me of a Screaming Eagle....
(#2
on the enlarged Map.)

Alan played with the wall and made a Rock Person. I abstained as I realized that the rock formations were the result of years of gradual deterioration that I didn't want to disturb. It was interesting from the standpoint that the wall was originally built with shale and topped with a row of field stone. Almost "Natural Ornate" in its day.

~

Next we made our way to Bench 1. I must say here that I am not impressed with the placement of the benches in this Preserve. They are Urban in style and design, so they the look very much out of place. Also they do not present any real view, or point of interest. Its quiet, in the woods, but in a man made clearing, with little or no purpose than a resting spot for hikers unaccustomed to hiking, who need frequent rest stops. Not worth a picture.

~

We headed towards the Wetland to see if it provided any views. Allot of trees under a nice canopy but nothing to film. Pleasant dense new growth forestland.

~

Then we found what was perhaps the most interesting thing on the trail. A mysterious foundation that we determined to have been the ruins of a "Saw-Mill" (?) that was some how connected to the D&H Railroad line that runs along the lower part of Preserve. It appears that at some point the Creek must have been diverted to power the mill to assist in harvesting wood.

I was so interested in fact I neglected to take a picture! It is indicated as location #4 on the map.

~
We checked out the D&H line and the made our way back along the Red trail to the Creek.

It was wonderful!
Just what I needed to take my mind off of recent events.

~

After a pause to drink and admire the Creek I wondered up to Bench 2 and was of course unimpressed once again. At least this one faced a nice Ol' Tree that was pleasing to look at for a brief bit.

~

At this point we decided to "Bush-Whack" up the Creek bed. It was not for the unexperienced but it was magnificent!



"Fox Creek Falls"
(#3 on the enlarged Map.)

It was worth the climb and the Hitch-hiking Ticks. Hopefully it will be added to the Trail System and it would make a good location for a Lean to similar to "Christman's Sanctuary".

The ride hope was quick and we ended up in Altamont about 5:30 p.m.

After a "Scrub-Down" and something to eat, all was right with the world again. I'm so glad I work for the Company I work for now. I needed some "My Time" to put me right so I can continue to be there for "My Family". They are ever on my mind and in my heart; but sometimes I need to climb a Creek Wall and forget about them for awhile so I can be me....

obeedúid~
21/june/08/p.m.

...I always do what Coach says....

I was at work the other day. Coach O'Connor came in with his wife for grocery's. He was my English Teacher in High School 35 years ago. He asked me about our trip to Killaloo this fall and how the plans were going. I mentioned that I had been corresponding with Alan McKinny about my reasoning for going during the Rainy Season and how I began doing the numbers on my ancestors arrivals and departures from NI.

About half of my ancestors left from Moville, Co., Donegal.

A period Post Card showing Moville, Donegal Bay.

The other half left from Liverpool England.

Map showing Principle Steamship Routes.

We had planned to visit Moville on or about the 14th of October. Thats just the way things worked out.

Robert Gilmour arrived at Castle Garden on 11 November, 1857. November 11th eventually became my Father's Birthday in 1925. (68 yrs later). Then it became Armistice Day in 1919 and eventually Veterans Day in 1954. My Dad always got his Birthday off so I could never forget this day. Dad died 62 years later. I alway thought it would have been weird if he had lived th 68.

October 1857


S M Tu W Th F S

1 2 3
4 5 6 7 8 9 10
11 12 13 14 15 16 17
18 19 20 21 22 23 24
25 26 27 28 29 30 31

November 1857


S M Tu W Th F S
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
8 9 10 11 12 13 14
15 16 17 18 19 20 21
22 23 24 25 26 27 28

29 30
Counting back 28 days (the average length of a Steamship Voyage from Ireland) from that date gives me.... October 14th! I swear to you we had no conscious idea that we were doing this at the time.

Standing in the rain on the pier is just what I need to do to write what I can't seem to do from here. All the research I have done just can't substitute for the actual experience. The Wetter and the Greener the better.

But when I was E-mailing Alan McKinny, and I did the numbers, well, I realized we would be there 151 years TO THE DAY!

Kismet? Well....
"You have to write this down." said Coach O'Connor. I always do what Coach says now-a-days. I didn't back then. But I do now.

obeedúid~
21/june/08


Monday, June 16, 2008

The real reason there is now a Moon Phase in my sidebar...



It was a 97% Full Moon last night.

A Full Moon on Father's Day, imagine that...

"Devo" showed up after work to hang-out. When he decided to leave around 11:30 p.m. we loaded up his truck with some junk from Sarah's room, that I had gotten permission to put in a dumpster at work.

In the process of tossing a bed frame into the dumpster, I got hung up on the webbing and my wedding ring finger got CRUSHED between the frame and the dumpster. UGH!

Both ERs were busy so we went to Albany Med. where they supposedly do trauma best in the area.

I got to spend quality time with my EMT Son for the next 4 hours in the ER at Albany Med.

I painted the outside of his truck on the ride there. (He needs new tires and shocks I think.)

A very pretty Dr. Katherine Sullivan gave my local anesthesia, washed my wounds and stitched 3 stitches into my finger, which I have to have removed in 8 days. She looked allot like my friend Dennis' daughter but she professed no relation.


We got home around 4ish and I missed a day of work today.

I have been trying to blog about the Donegal-Diver connection on my Dad's side all day but its not going so well.

Blogging one-hand-hunt-an-peck is NO FUN....

obeedúid~
16/june/08
Bloomsday!

Sunday, June 15, 2008

"...I've lost the last day and a half...."

It's Sunday... Father's Day... I was writing a letter yesterday to Alan McKinny in Killaloo when I found this site:


Click to visit Site.
The Sites PR states:

"A virtual prelude to the real world experience that awaits you!

Welcome to iSpyNI.com, a new internet portal that showcases the best that Northern Ireland has to offer using stunning full-screen, high-resolution immersive video photography.

The keystone of the iSpy concept is the virtual tour or immersive photograph as we prefer to call it - fullscreen 360-degree photographic panoramas, which allow the user to pan left, right, up and down - a far superior format than the standard photograph as it gives the viewer a real sense of actually 'being there'.

Our Mission is to provide the most immersive and engaging experience of Northern Ireland's tourism assets on the web, bringing the real world to people's desktop across the globe.

No 3D modeled environments, no frills, no lies. See exactly what our photographers saw. Stand where they stood and discover places you may never have seen by traveling through space and time without moving from your desktop."

~

The best VRs actually have the sound of water running and birds singing! Try the Roe valley ones in Full Screen Mode.

My favorite is "Downstream at Carrickrocks, Roe Valley Country Park."

(Careful... You can get dizzy in full screen if you spin around to quickly...)

THIS IS TOO COOL!

I've lost the last day and a half!!!

I can't wait for October!

~

obeedúid~

15/june/08

Friday, June 13, 2008

...Six degrees of addendum...

As I am sitting here I am watching a commercial for Channel 10 News with "Mark O'Brien".

The day before yesterday, I was talking to a Cutter from the Meat Dept. in the Hannaford Supermarket I work at in Voorheesville N.Y., his name is also Mark. As it happens his Mother's maiden name was "O'Brien." His people came from Cork to Menands N.Y.

Yesterday, I was chatting with a Truck Driver for Sure Winner Foods Ice-cream distributors out of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts warehouse. I mentioned that I had been to Lenox last weekend searching for O'Brien's.


View Larger Map


"Did you stop at O'Brien's Market?" he said.

"Yeah, how did you know?..."

"I used to work for him and his father when I was younger up in Pittsfield..."

"WELL, HIT ME IN THE HEAD WITH A BRICK!" said I....


obeedúid~
13'June/08

Sunday, June 8, 2008

The Lenox Genealogical Mystery Tour:

My brother Richard and I just returned from Lenox Mass. and I'm remembering the three things my Dad used to say about the O'Brien's.

1) "O'Brien is like Gaelic for "Smith" or "Jones"... There's a million of us!"

2) "In the neighborhood your Great Grandfather grew up in in Brooklyn; if you threw a brick out the window you were likely to hit an O'Brien in the head."

3) "When the Good Lord was explaining the rules, the room was so crowded with Irishmen that the O'Brien's ended up standing behind a door.... All they heard was: "Go Forth and Propagate..." and we've been doing just that ever since....

~

I was late getting to Church today because I forgot to switch over my belt to the shorts I changed into because of the Heatwave we are experiencing. It gets very humid in our Church so believe me shorts were a priority! A belt was a MUST as my ivory white knees are hard enough to look at, let alone anything else that might have inadvertently seen the light of day....

I should have known this was the way things would go for the rest of the day.

~

After Church it took forever for me to get my act together. I kept forgetting things.... My Cellphone, my maps, my coffee, my cell phone again then my coffee again etc....

~

When I got to Mom's house to pick-up Richard it was almost 12:00. We stopped at McDonald's for Burgers AND THAT COFFEE that I left at home!

Then we got gas and I left the tank door open. I couldn't see well enough to get out of the parking lot and someone had time to pull up next to us to point out the gas tank door. Good thing too 'cause it gave traffic time to clear while I got out and slammed the gas tank door closed....

We got on the Northway and turned onto I-90 just as a Mini-van full of Kids made a last minute swerve in front of the car in front of us!

~

We took 90 to the Taconic without insident, but we got off at the wrong exit and ended up in the vicinity of Chatham. I vaguely knew where I was from my "Hippy-Youth" but I had left the detailed trip map at home on the computer unprinted....

Enter Richard's GPS....

(I know what your thinking... ..."at the next intersection turn left... you are going the wrong way, at the next intersection... recalculating... as soon as you can make a U-turn and go back.... ARGH!")

Eventually we found ourselves taking the back roads (NOT THE FASTER HIGHWAY ROUTE I WANTED...) and along the way we passed through West New Lebanon where my son Devin is stationed on the weekends as an EMT. He was on a call so I left a message and did a virtual wave....

~

The GPS finally got us to Lee Mass. but it kept trying to get us to go into Lenox from Stockbridge and I knew I wanted to come in from Rt 20 and go passed the Hubbard street house first. So I winged it and we finally persevered long enough to reach the intersection of Rt 20 and turn left and North. BUT, I missed a bend in the road and had to U-ee again going through Lee. We used the GPS to find the turn for Hubbard but it was my innate unconscious sense of direction that I should have listened to in the first place that actually got us there!!!!

~

The house on Hubbard was hard to figure out and someone was in the driveway that I thought was the house but I was a little slow in approaching the guy so he went into the house before I could get out and ask questions...

We went on down to Franklin Street to see if we could have better luck on Church Street. As we got out of the car it began to rain. My 1876 map was printed from my Inkjet printer and I had forgotten to put it in a Baggie to protect it....

We parked in the back parking lot of an Italian Restaurant and I rolled the Map up and stuffed it in my shirt, took a slug off of my coffee and we headed out into the rain. The first place we tried was "The Gifted Child" Toy Store but the owner wasn't there. We spoke with the young girls in charge and left a note but their xerox didn't work so I could leave a copy of the map. They were really nice to us and I decided to pick-up a gift for Sarah while I was there. This was just the kind of place we used to look for when she was little when we were on vacation. If this was actually where the O'Brien's lived it would be neat for me/her if it turned out to be a place like this. They had "Ugly Dolls" and I buy them for her when I can even though she is now an adult. Daddoo can be senti-mental sometimes. BUT HEY! THATS MY JOB! And she will ALWAYS be my little "Baby-girl".

I bought a pack of "Ugly Doll" Postcards as well because she likes "Posts" also. I figured I would send her one from here as a surprise.

~

We went next door to an upscale clothing shop where we met two women who were delightful. After some chit-chat about the difficulties of Irish Genealogy they called up a longtime resident who knew enough about the street to convince us that the Gifted Child Toy Store was our place.

So we stood across the street and took pictures with our cellphones. I checked out my blog on my phone the other day and I think I contracted a virus because some of my photo's are corrupted. Here is only one of two that I have been able to upload so far:

Yes, that is my finger in the foreground!


I went back in and bought Sarah the Ugly Doll named "Wage". He's named that because he is the only Ugly Doll who has a Job. He works in a Grocery Store and most people don't know he works there, even the owner's. Appropriate one might say don't you think?

~

So off we go looking for the Loeb grocery store, looking for a postage stamp, and a place to Pee 'cause the Coffee wants to be left behind again. The people there were friendly, looked around in their personal stuff for a stamp even but alas...

No stamp, no bathroom. We promptly bought eats and a 64oz bottle of Berkshire Beer for Devin as his souvenir and began again to look for anyplace to relieve ourselves gracefully and with dignity.

Down the street and around the corner we found a Restaurant and I got nervy enough to ask if we could use the facilities. When I was done and Richard was taking his turn, I got "Chatty" with the Manager out front on the steps while I was waiting.

"Where abouts in N.Y. are you from?"

"Voorheesville"

"I'm from N.Y. as well"

"Where?"

"West New Lebanon."

"Really? My son works out of there as an EMT for Empire... He's not built like me though, he's much taller."

(I pull out my Cellphone and show him a picture...)

"Yeah, Yeah, I know him, He used to come into the hardware store when I worked there... Nice Guy too..."

(I AM NOT MAKING THIS STUFF UP BELIEVE ME!)
~

We think maybe there will be a vending machine for stamps at the Post Office but there isn't. We amble down the street towards the Mobile station as a last resort....

WHEN WE CAME UPON THIS!

Yes, that's my finger in the foreground again...

Owned and operated by John J O'Brien! His people came there by way of NY as well. Brooklyn I think he said. I wonder if he has ever heard the one about the window....

We exchanged numbers and E-mail addresses and wondered off in the direction of the car with a smile on our faces and a "well, I guess we were not supposed to find a stamp after all..." frame of mind!

~

Back in the car again, we headed up to the only Cemetery we could find on the map. The "Church on the Hill" Congregational Cemetery. I think we looked at every stone in the next hour or two. While we were wandering we met a young man taking pictures. He and his mother are writing a book about famous people buried in the area. I gave him my info in hopes that I might someday get a look at the finished book. Nice Guy too. I asked him if there was a Cemetery for Saint Ann's down on Main Street but he wasn't sure so we headed off in that direction to see what we could find on our own.

~

I asked a women in the parking lot if she could point us to the Saint Ann's Cemetery and she did so under the duress of a tired child who wanted her attention. Having been there myself I waited patiently. We missed the turn at first but found it easily by the baseball field just where she said it would be.

BANG! O'Brien's everywhere! I took a picture of Richard standing next to a large stone with his name on it with his camera cause mine was beginning to act weird at that point. I called Mom and started asking her for some names... She said that she thought maybe there was some info in a folder at her house and come to think of it she thought we really should be looking further North around Pittsfield.

~

We got in the car and Richard fired up the GPS. It was time to go home for dinner. The GPS started right out telling us to go in the direction I knew was wrong, so I headed back to 2o instead. It continued to yell at us so I told him to turn it off. My orienteering payed off and we took the major highways back home to Albany and Mom's house in Guilderland.

~

I opened up the file Mom had not mentioned before and found another Goldmine! Among other things there was an invitation to the Wedding of "James Richard O'Brien" of Pittsfield Mass in 1925.

Click to view larger.

I looked into it on Ancestry and GUESS WHAT!

ROAD TRIP!

I only hope the O'Brien's there are as nice as the ones we met in Lenox.

~

Oh yeah, Devin called after we got back wondering if I wanted to stop by on the way home. I told him we had taken the Highway and I mentioned his souvenir.

"A what?!! ...how many ounces? A Gallon Bottle? I'll stop by after my Ravena shift to check it out. See you then, by!"

"...Love-ya Man! Later...."

obeedúid~
08/june/08

Saturday, June 7, 2008

Tripping the Lenox Genealogic....

I have been playing around with Google's Street View.

...Its weird to drive past my house in the past...

They must have done Voorheesville last fall by the look of things. It was a cloudy day in my part of town. If you face the Hardware Store as you pass it by, a red car zooms out of the parking lot and disappears right before your eye's... BLIP!

They must have switched hardrives at that point or something.

~

I got to thinking maybe I could do Google Street View in Lenox Mass. and find the locations on the map that I posted in a previous posting The Costly Christmas Donybrook Affair:

But alas no Street View for Lenox just yet. It ends on the Mass Pike some distance west of Albany.

I did find this though on Ancestry.com:

Its from an 1896 Town of Lenox Street Directory.
No street house numbers though.

And this was in the 1948 Directory:

If you look in the upper right hand corner you can see Michael and James D. O'Brien listed as Field Drivers. It seems that a "Field Driver" (according to the Dunstable, MA town website) is one of a town's traditional positions. Field Drivers take up untended animals such as horses, sheep, goats, swine, asses, and cattle going at large in public ways or commons or unimproved land not under care of a keeper and impounds them. The town votes each year to have the Selectmen appoint these officers.

~

With no house numbers to work with I tried other options on Google Maps. I did some Trip-plotting in Satellite Mode. You can zoom in to see the area I found and posted previously to compare and locate the two locations indicated in the 1856 map. I like the Panoramio feature and you can use it by clicking on the more button and checking the photo option. This will also show you a photo of the Church on the hill graveyard nearby.

Heres the map I created:


View Larger Map

If you zoom in you can compare it to the other map in the previous blog mentioned above.

It's only an hour away... Maybe a "Sunday Drive" is in order....

Maybe even some Grave Rubbing!

Thats Rubbing not Robbing Casline!

:)

obeedúid~
07/june/08

Monday, June 2, 2008

Limited Short Run Handmade Book Promotion!


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Send $7.00 or 4.50724 EUR or 3.56532 GBP to:

"When from the heart we sing:" Chapbook
P.O. Box 216, Voorheesville N.Y. 12186-0216

...in an envelope
with your return address clearly marked (Preferably typed) and I will send you a copy of my book.

ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD!

Tracking and listing the various destinations is a part of this protect that will be posted in the sidebar of this blog!

The farther afield you are the better!


What other's who know have said about my book:


Ron Povaldi said: "...a testament to years of writing. Really fine work."
Alan Casline said:"...buy his Poetry Book... I could use the return on my investment..."


obeedúid~
02/June/08