My Portfolio

In the early 1960’s I was in my mid-30's and working as a junior high school band director in Carpentersville IL,  a suburb 40 miles northwest of Chicago.  Like many music teachers I, for fun and extra income, played in a small combo for dances, parties, weddings, Bar Mitzvahs and what...

My Dad was taken out of school at an early age and was put to work with his dad, first was "cutting ties" (cutting down trees and shaping them into railroad ties).  Then they both went to Texas to work in the oilfields.  First they worked dismantling huge steel oil tanks. ...

Bill tells us how he walked to School in the 1920's in Laura South Australia, and how he wasn't allowed to walk past the hotel on his way home.

      Because they had so many off-post and other musical duties most Army Bandsmen in the 1950’s were exempted from “extra duties” such as K.P., Guard Mount, and “work details” -  Most being the key word in that sentence.   But the “Command Band” of the entire Fifth Army, the...

With seven of us kids in the family we all thought that we had the best Dad in the world. Our Father’s name was Herman. While we lived in a place called Steptoe we had to get all our water from a pipe line that had several spigots along the line...

JOHN CLARENCE BLACKHAM (Uncle to Ernest LaMont Blackham – Siblings of Grandpa Ern)        John Clarence (Clair)  Blackham (my Great Uncle) was born to Samuel and Annie Blackham, September 22, 1895 in Moroni, Utah. He married Eulala Anne Justensen late in life at the age of 63 in Ruth,...

  Click here if you want to see & hear the Talking Picture Story --  or read the story below.   Karen - 5 years old This was a picture taken when I was a little girl in my home town in Moroni, Utah.  I started Kindergarten in 1954 - we...

... after the infamous extermination ordered signed by Gov. Lilburn Boggs. . .Saints at Far West and other settlements in Caldwell and Daviess Counties once again abandoned their homes as they fled to Illinois for safety.

Bill Corey remembers his mother when growing up in Tarlee, SOuth AUstralia. In this photo Bill is being held by his mother so this photo will date from late 1917 to early 1918.

This historical content is documented from articles contained within Wikipedia-the free encyclopedia.

Hermannus Thiessens aka Herman Thiessens was born December 12, 1876, the third son of Antoon Thiessens and Willemke de Jong in Groningen city, Groningen province, The Netherlands.  He was, by profession, a furniture maker. He married (1) Hendrikje (Reka) Mulder on November 1, 1900 in Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands who was the...

In the days before television (and when the radio was a luxury) children played games indoors and out. Margaret recalls the games she played at home in the evenings during the 1930s and 1940s in Linclon, UK. The picture shows Paper Dolls - of Princess Elizabeth (now Queen Elizabeth) and her...

This weeks question is: What did your Grandparents do for a living? My maternal Grandfather is Parnell Julian Smeby.  In the1930 census at the age of  26 he is listed as a Barber.  Later he farmed in Hickson, ND for about 24 years. He then moved to Nielsville, MN and then...

My distant relative came from Cartmel Parish Northumberland England in or about 1685.  He was a Quaker.  He lived in the area of Woodbridge NJ near the Delaware River.  According to other published stories he was a frequent visitor and guest of the Lenape Indians who lived in the area.  He...

In the Spring of 1953 it seemed the Korean Police Action was going to go on forever with “Peace Talks” bogging down on who should sit on which side of the table, what shape the table should be, and where the talks should take place.   It had degenerated into a “Which...

I LOVE - LOVE - LOVE playing GAMES!!!   When I was a young child we played lots of games - I played games with my siblings and with my parents.  Some of the old favorite games I remember playing either with family or friends were Hide & Seek, Ennie-I-Over, Jack’s,...

The only piece of modern technology that was found in the well-equipped trial courtroom of the 1970s was a lighted X‑ray viewbox where an expert or treating physician could display X-rays and explain to the court and jury a party’s injuries and diagnosis. An easel, pad of paper, and MagicMarker™ were other...

Barry J. Ewell's Blog on Genealogy - My GenShare.com enables individuals to learn many things regarding genealogy.  This series is his 86 part series on Cemeteries.  

This week's story prompt asks about activities we remember doing with our maternal grandparents. I've written about this before in different ways but despite my mother's disdain for her father my memories have all be find of Gammie and even fonder of nana, my grandmother and grandfather on Mom's side. Nan...

Bill Corey went to school in the 1920's. In those days the local school had one teacher and in this short audio Bill talks about life as a school boy in those days just after the First World War.