Taking a break

I'm taking a breather from family history to post some light-hearted pictures. Here's my dog Guppy dressed up for New Year's Eve!

Next is a picture I took at Gettysburg that I played with using Photoshop. It reminds me of the crayon-resist pictures we made in elementary school.

You can see the original of it as Meade's Headquarters on my Gettysburg tour site.


And here we visit the hot tub at Creekside Fitness Center in Basye:

Civil War Officers' Portrait, 18th Ohio

My great-grandmother Emma's first husband served in the Civil War but died in a bridge accident a few years after the war ended. His name was Russell Carpenter and I inherited this picture of him with another soldier.

Below the image is written:
"capt. Carpenter - Seargt. W____ " (may be Wallace)
The rest is not legible - may end with 18th Ohio, Carpenter's regiment.

On the back over Carpenter's picture is written: "The Handsome man in the Regt." In the position of the other soldier's picture is written: " The aristocrat of the Reg." I don't know whether these comments were written by my great-grandmother or her daughter.

After Carpenter's death, Emma moved to Chicago and eventually met my great-grandfather, Judge Hammer.

Photos D. Harry Hammer

Before I leave the history of the Hammer family, let me share a few more photographs of my grandfather, David Harry Hammer II. We have several pictures of him as a child - obviously his family was fond of portraiture. The image with the dog is one of my favorites since he looks so cute and besides, I think dogs are special friends. This photo was taken at Varney (or Tarney?) studio in Chicago. On the back is written David Harry Hammer Jr. January 1901 - +"Romeo".

I'm including a picture of him in a Navy uniform because he served in the U.S. Navy in both World Wars. The note for this picture says Mr. D. Harry Hammer on the bridge of the U.S.S. Wilmette ready to go ashore with the landing force.
Under that is written in pencil (arrow to above) Charlie's writing. I'm not sure of year - maybe 1930's.

D. Harry Hammer II wrote a book called Lion Six about building the Naval Base on Guam. It was published by the United States Naval Institute in 1947.

My grandfather was usually called Harry, but we called him Cap. I remember him as a caring and funny man. He played ragtime piano and had a collection of elephants figurines. Sometimes when we visited, he entertained us with model trains in his apartment. Sometimes he would startle us by blowing the whistle. Naturally we adored him!

1972 Photo, Washington, D.C.

Hammer family photographs

This is my great-grandmother Hammer, born Mary Amaryllis Bower. This photo was made in 1908 by Matzene, Chicago.

Below is the home built by her husband, a judge in Chicago. Written below the picture is this description:
"our old home on Grand Boulevard -
North-west corner of 37th Street.
Built by D. Harry Hammer."

The picture is on a card with a message inside: "Season's Greetings from Miss Camille Badger Henry and Mr. William Wirt Henry." Apparently the Henry's owned the house after my great-grandmother sold it, which I believe was after Judge Hammer died.



Moving to an even earlier time, we have this marvelous image of my grandfather as a boy. A handwritten legend says "D. Harry Jr. at Hlghlands 1895?"

My grandfather was named David Harry Hammer, Jr. after his father, but was called Harry most of the time. He had an older sister named Hazel, whose daughter Hazel Lou Humphey established the Humphrey Memorial Park and Museum in Colorado.

I have more pictures from my mother's family of origin plus two boxes of photos and mementos from my father's family. Let me know if you are interested in seeing more.

Hammer Family History

Having posted some genealogy from my father's family, I dug out some family history from my mother's father and will share it for other researcher's who may find this through a search engine. The picture is of four Hammer descendants circa 2002.

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David Harry Hammer November 22 1892.
at Hollybank, Alderley Edge, near Manchester, England

David Harry Hammer 1840 near Mt Morris & Polo, Ill.		Mary Amaryllis Bower 1848 Athens County, near Marietta Ohio
Father John Hammer near Mt Morris Father Geo.?? Hammer Family was Penna Dutch (Dunkers)	Mother Eliza Witmer near Hagerstown, MD Father John Witmer was in war of 1812. Henry Witmer. John Witmer Benj Witmer came from England in 1716 and settled in Lancaster Co., Pennsylvania	Father Moses Bower Marietta, O.	Mother ___ Rew Father George Rew unknown from where Mother Fanny Wickham Her father was Joseph Wickham reported to have deserted from British forces in Revolution. Settled in Rome NY around 1805 after living in Vermont. Died May 3 1833 in Rome township

"According to my mother, her mother's name may have been Delitha. At least such a name appears somewhere in there.

Joseph Wickham is supposed to have deserted to the US forces, and Mary Amaryllis investigated her qualifications for the DAR, and wrote "Should I be proud of an ancestor who deserted his army?"

According to her, she was named Mary Amaryllis Bower by a German midwife. No one had ever heard of the German flower Amaryllis , and she was called Rillis or Emma. Not liking the former, she became Emma. In later years, she claimed she discovered what her name really was, and adopted it. She had five children, Maud Russella Lorraine Carpenter, (later Emarel), Fay, and Russell Carpenter. The two latter died in infancy. (I should have stated she married Russell Carpenter right after the Civil War, and was a widow with one small child (Maude) when about 17.) Carpenter was killed building a bridge in Chicago, I was told. He was an officer in the Civil War, and Amaryllis was a Dame of the Loyal Legion due to that.

The other two children were Hazel Harry Hammer, and David Harry. Hazel married Carl Paddock of Denver, and later [blank space] Humphrey. Had three children, Ward Edgerton and Marion Paddock, and Hazel Lou. Ward killed in runaway in mountains, other child killed in high chair upset. Emarel married Ernest Sharpe, and after he died, Curt Freshel. No children.

David Harry married Eleanor Harper Goodrich of Philadelphia.
Her father was Henry G. Goodrich. Philadelphia.
Mother Alida Belle Harper from near Marietta, Ohio"

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Note: The above is copied from a typed page (carbon copy) that I received from my grandfather. The statement that Ernest Sharpe died seems to be sanitized history. According to Hazel Lou's account, Ernest and Emarel were divorced. This was considered shameful in the early part of the 20th century and supposedly Emarel's mother was so upset that she stopped communicating with her.

L.W.

Suiter genealogy

This is a portrait of my father as a young man. On the cardboard folder is written "John Suiter high school grad Flint Central 1935."

Yesterday I posted some family history from his mother's family. Here is a list of of my father's male ancestors.

• Jacob Suiter b. 1770 PA


• Israel L. Suiter B. 1810 OH


• James P. Suiter b. 1840 OH


• Charles L. Suiter b. 1878 MI

There is a Suiter Family Association and I have an old copy of their directory, from which I copied this list. Jacob Suiter and his descendants are referred to as the Lawrence County Ohio Suiters.

Morton Genealogy

This is a portrait of my Aunt Clarice when she graduated from Flint Central School in 1928. She was Clarice Althea Suiter then, my dad's older sister. At the time I first remember her she was married to Hiram Rose of Rose City, Michigan. They are both gone now.

Clarice once did some genealogy on her mother's family. Here is a summary:

Charles Morton, Senior and his Descendants

Charles was born near Aberdeen, Scotland, March 1, 1818. He died November 15, 1912 in Lapeer County, Michigan. He married Isabelle McHardy on March 13 1847 probably in the state of New York. She died in 1859 in Almont, Michigan. There were six children by this union:
John Arthur Morton b. Aug. 28, 1848, Genesee County, NY
Findley Morton b. June 10, 1850, Genesee County, NY
Morris Morton, b. April 13, 1852, Genesee County, NY
May Minnie Morton, b. December 21, 1853, Genesee County, NY
Donald Morton, b. April 6, 1855, Livingston County, NY
Annabelle Morton, b. Nov. 9, 1856, Livingston County, NY

Charles married a second time to Mrs. Isabelle McKinnon in 1863, a widow with a son named Frank McKinnon. When Charles first came to the United State he found work as a miller. After moving to Lapeer County, Michigan in 1857, he became part owner of a mill. He also enjoyed cabinet making and made several pieces of furniture for his children and grandchildren. According to his obituary he was a Republican and was supportive of the abolitionist cause. He was in his 95th year when he died, preceded in death by his second wife who died in 1893.

His son John Arthur Morton is our ancestor. He married Grata Leora Hemingway in 1878. She was daughter of James and Lucina Flint Hemingway. They had five children: Arthur J., Leora M., Charles J., Lulu M., and Harold J.

[The document lists the children of all these plus their children and grandchildren as of 1983.)

Leora M. Morton was born 4-14-1880, died March 30, 1969. Married Charles Leslie Suiter on 4-15-1908, son of Dr. J.P. and Susan Davenport Suiter. He died on 3-17-1937. There were two children, Clarice and John.

Clarice Althea Suiter was born 1-5-1910, married Claude J. Milam in 1935 and divorced in 1940, no children. She married Hiram Rose in 1951, 5 stepchildren.

John Morton Suiter was born 7-7-1916, married Eleanor Goodrich Hammer on 9-17-1940.

Photoshop Filter Effects

Thanks to someone who gave me a gift certificate, I bought a book called Photoshop Filter Effects Encyclopedia by Roger Pring. I've used Photoshop filters many times and they are some of my favorite toys. The book starts off with the Palette Knife filter and shows how to adjust it and then add a directional lighting effect to achieve a painterly effect. I used it to turn a disappointing photo into this rather pretty image:

Crape Myrtle flowers at Weatherall Creek

Kuwaiti Comics

Marie writes in her blog "No Hurry in Kuwait" that the NY Times published an article on the company she is working for in Kuwait. It explains that the comics she is working on will feature characters who exhibit traditional Muslim virtues such as wisdom and generosity.

Marie has also been writing about the challenges of translating American comics into something that Arabic youth will understand. One question that came up was "What is senior skip day?" She later mentions in the comments that equally challenging are explaining to non-Westerners what "going Carrie on them" means and what a "mutant" is.

North Anna to Cold Harbor Virtual Tour

I finally finished my North Anna to Cold Harbor Field Trip pages. This project took way too long - over twenty pages. Next time I need to use a simpler method.

Maybe the fact that Adobe has bought out Macromedia will lead to a smoother way to make multi-page photo sites. I hope so.

Minor update

I made some adjustments to the walcroft home page. The site needs to be totally revamped someday soon.

This picture was made at a booth in the shopping mall in Harrisonburg. The machine takes your picture and transforms it into a sketch - not bad!

Loudoun Heights

I got an email from a Florida resident who saw my page on Mosby's Rangers at Loudoun Heights. He is thinking of making another visit to Harper's Ferry and wanted to know what there is to see at Loudoun Heights (although he spelled it Loudon), which is in Virginia across the Shenandoah River from Harper's Ferry.

I referred him to washingtonheritagetrail.org for a map and explained the following:

The photos I took on a Mosby tour of Loudoun Heights were on private land. We had permission to visit the property, site of Mosby's worst defeat.

You can cross Loudoun Heights on a trail for an in-depth visit. I have not done this although I have visited by car. You don't see that much from the road though. Civilwar-va.com states that "Trails on Maryland and Loudoun Heights also offer wartime interpretation and views."

As near as I can tell, the trail was formerly part of the Appalachian Trail but is now called the Loudoun Heights trail.

I'm sure you can get detailed info from the National Park Service or from the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club. Also, I see a description on Gorp that mentions poison ivy on the trail so be careful.

Copyright

Writing, photographs, and other content that I post on this blog or my other sites are covered under copyright law. Blogger states that "Unless stated otherwise for specific services, Member will retain copyright ownership and all related rights for information he or she publishes through Blogger."

I have added a page on copyright and image sales on my Civil War tours website. The site already contained copyright notices on all main pages, but someone used one of my images in a publication without permission. After I wrote them they agreed to send me a check.

If you wish to use any of my photos, please contact me.

Javins and Javens relatives

I added a new post to the Javins family genealogy page. At one time it was automated, but it kept getting spammed so I now have folks email me and I add their stories.

More Environmental Health Links

Correcting myths about pesticides and toxins

Sierra Club video on the Forgotten Heroes of 9-11:

Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting looks at John Stossel's inaccurate reporting

An outline of literature on MCS by Patrick Casanova

Yahoo groups on Ecology

Google Scholar for Searching Research

Dr. Plumlee to speak on Chemical Sensitivity

I updated the Chemical Sensitivity Disorders page to include an upcoming presentation by Larry Plumlee in the Baltimore area. I also added a few links on perfume allergy and such.

Sensitivity to perfume is a bigger problem than you might realize. Some people with asthma wind up in the emergency room just from being next to someone with heavy perfume. Funny how something that is supposed to make you desirable can make you repulsive.

Welcome back, Dog Whisperer!

New episodes of The Dog Whisperer are being shown on the National Geographic Channel. We enjoy watching Cesar Milan work with dogs and their owners, solving behavioral problems. Sometimes the problem behavior is the owner's.

Cesar Milan has a blog now. As a dog owner, I admire his work.

Civil War site tour

I've been working on the photos from our tour of Cold Harbor Battlefield. The image above shows one of the rare occasions when our leader took a wrong turn and had to consult a map.

Pleasant weather

We are having unusually warm weather here in the mountains of Virginia. Temperatures were in the high 60's today. Very nice. (Nice weather for anyone, not just ducks.)

Website update

As one of the duties for my part-time job, I posted the January events for Spiritual Singles the other day. These are events in the DC area.

Doggy drugs

Guppy the wonder dog is now on phenobarbital for seizures. He's had a problem with what the vet thinks is a seizure disorder for some time, and on New Year's eve he had a recurrence. He ran around frantically licking the carpet and eating dust, dog hair, and fibers. When I took him outside he ate grass. I wound up putting him in our other dog's crate to keep him from eating anything hazardous, and little Ben slept in as travel crate.

A month ago a similar episode landed Guppy in the animal hospital. He had eaten some very unsuitable material during the night while we were asleep, including a small battery and some foam from his doggy bed. So now he's on medication. I hope this solves the problem.

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Meanwhile, our cocker spaniel Ben still resists learning advanced social skills. He spends much of his time tied up or confined to a cage because he won't behave. When my sister was here, I let him greet her but he growled at her threateningly. And yesterday I had the idea of letting him run around the house wearing a muzzle so that he wouldn't eat every piece of paper within reach - newspapers are his favorite. Well, he ran around until he knocked over a lamp and then he pulled a sheet of pop paper out of a box, holding it under his chin while he tried to tear it. After that he attacked some decorations in the same way, and finally he got the muzzle off and tried to eat it. So I put him in his crate for a while.

Ben is cute and I feel kind of sorry for him, but we walk him 3 or 4 times a day so he's okay. I wish he would calm down and become a sweet companion like Guppy is.

My sister visits

Peggy and her friend Bill visited us today. We had a nice time in spite of the rain. We had lunch at the 263 Diner and drove up to Orkney Springs. The rain had pretty much let up so we were able to visit Shrinemont.


We drove into the National Forest. Peg and I braved the rain to walk down to Tomahawk Pond.

Our last stop was Lake Laura. This time it was Bill who got our of the car and took a picture.

2005 Sped Past so Quickly

Happy New Year!

Resolutions?
Instead of saying "I resolve" I prefer to say "I deserve. So... I deserve to have more fun.