Connie's comments about genealogy and family

My grandparent's home

2012-01-06T21:09:00.001-08:00

A family lives in a house, and they make it a home. Their home becomes part of their being, a part of their history.

My grandparents, Frank and Tzilla (Titus) Miller, bought their first house in North Portland in 1919. They lived in it until 1969 when my grandmother and then my aunt died. Fifty years is a long time for one family to live in a house. It's time to build a lot of memories.

When Grandma and Grandpa bought the house, the address was 1662 Wabash Street. In the 1930s, the address changed to 7822 N. Wabash. I may forget other addresses, but not their address.

I remember the upstairs bedroom where I slept when I visited my grandparents. In those pre-air-conditioning days, the only relief from the summer heat was the breeze that circulated from one window to the other. I can almost taste the smell of the stockyards that came through those windows. It was a reminder that life and death are just two parts of the same equation.

I remember Grandma washing clothes in her square wringer-washer and then hanging the clothes on the back porch. She did that in the winter and in the summer. This photo was taken on 2 October 1919, and her freshly-washed clothes are on the line.

Maybe it wasn't a good idea to hang the clothes on that day. Grandma's parents, Will and Susan (Dudley) Titus, had come over to visit and to work on a new project -- the chicken coop. Great-grandfather Will Titus was a master-cabinet-maker, but he didn't mind working on other wood projects. He is sizing up the project in the photo above. In the photo below, Grandpa Frank Miller (left) and Great-grandpa Will Titus are getting to work.

When the chicken coop was finished, and the chickens were in their new home, Great-grandma Susan Titus came out to check on the work.

Grandma took a photo of their house on 1 January 1920. The wood had been delivered, and it was piled on the front curb where it was waiting to be cut into smaller pieces and then thrown into the unfinished basement where Grandpa and my father would neatly stack it. Someone, probably my father, would load the wood into the wood-lift and crank it up to the kitchen.

I remember the wood-lift that brought wood up from the basement to the kitchen where Grandma would use it in the big cooking stove. Grandma told about the time that one of my father's friends, a small boy, crawled into the woodlift. My father hoisted him up to the first floor where he waited until Grandma opened the lift door to pull out a piece of wood. Instead of the wood, she was greeted with a polite, "Good morning, Mrs. Miller."

Clarence Milton Starbuck (1896–1970)

2011-11-19T09:38:00.000-08:00

Clarence Milton Starbuck was born 2 August 1896 in Denver, Colorado. His two children, Mona and Nathan, were born there. After his first wife died, he and the children moved to Portland, Oregon, where he lived with his parents.

In the early 1920s, Clarence drove this Columbia Stages bus from Portland to Seaside.

The bus doors are labeled "Emergency Seat," "Ladies," "Ladies," and "Smoking." Note the people to the right. Presumably they are either getting ready to board the bus or they have departed the bus and are going to their house.

William Sanford Titus Jr. and Susan Josephine Dudley

2011-11-19T07:29:00.000-08:00


Back: Will and Susie Titus

William Sanford Titus Jr. and Susan Josephine Dudley, my great-grandparents, are the couple standing in this tintype. They were married 21 October 1884, in Charlotte, Michigan. Susan's left hand does not appear to be wearing a wedding ring; the photo may have been taken prior to their wedding.

The identity of the couple in the front is unknown. Susan's hands are resting on the man's shoulders, and this suggests a familiarity between them. Susan had one brother, Charles W. Dudley. A photo taken of him when he was a child shows that he had a dimple in his chin.

Charlie and Nellie Dudley, ca. 1865, Boston

Charlie married Sarah J. Ketchum about 1879 and probably in Kalamazoo, Michigan. They had one son, Clarence Dundain Dudley, born 5 November 1879 in Kalamazoo. Charlie and Sarah divorced on 11 December 1883 in Kalamazoo.

An unknown photo

2011-11-19T07:00:00.000-08:00

This photo of the Titus Ice and Cold Storage Co. delivery wagon was in my grandmother, Tzilla (Titus) Miller's photo collection. There was no writing on the back of the photo to identify who owned the company or how it came into Grandma's possession.

The photo is on postcard stock. The dimensions are 5.32 by 3.33 inches. As shown below, the card was never mailed.

It is possible that the photo was one in the possession of Melissa Titus, my grandmother's aunt. Melissa was the custodian of many of the family artifacts, and she mailed numerous packages of those artifacts to her brother, William S. Titus. Will, as he was known, deposited those artifacts with his daughter, Tzilla, and Tzilla (Grandma) gave them to me.

If a descendant of the Titus Ice and Cold Storage Co. people want the photo, I'll be glad to send it to them.

The Will Titus Family in 1910

2011-11-14T15:45:00.000-08:00

Will Titus family, Portland, Oregon -- 1910

Front: Florence Titus, Neil Titus, Maurene Titus

Back: Ben Titus, Susan Dudley, Dee Titus, Susan Titus, Will Titus

In 1909 William S. Titus, Jr. (“Will”) moved from Charlotte, Michigan, to Portland, Oregon, to work on the Sunnyside Congregational Church at SE 32^nd and Taylor. Will was a master cabinet-maker, and his specialty was working with quarter-sawn oak. Quarter-sawn oak was cut at right angles to the growth rings. It was expensive to produce and reserved for furniture and decorative paneling. Will knew how to make the most of the wood and to avoid waste.

Portland experienced a population boom after the 1905 Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition. In October 1905, the editor of the R. L. Polk City Directory estimated the city population at 163,031. The editor of the 1909 edition estimated the population at 255,000. Many of these people needed houses; they needed a master cabinet-maker.

Will moved to Portland without his family because Tzilla, his eldest daughter, was planning to marry Frank Miller. After the wedding, Will arranged for his wife, mother-in-law, and children to take the train to Portland where he was sure work would be available for many years. This photo was sent back to Michigan.

Sources:

Titus family photo, 1910; original, privately held by Connie Lenzen, 2011. Tzilla (Titus) Miller gave the photo to Connie in 1974. She penned the date and names of the people on the back of the photo.
R. L. Polk, compiler, Portland, Oregon, City Directory (Portland: R. L. Polk Directory Co., 1905), 16.
R. L. Polk, compiler, Portland, Oregon, City Directory (Portland: R. L. Polk Directory Co., 1909), 53.

2011-11-06T16:56:00.000-08:00

Voting and Genealogy

Voting is both a privilege and an obligation of citizenship in a free society. It is expected that people will register and then vote in elections. In order to vote, a person must register with the Election Department in the county where they live. They must be a resident of the state, a citizen of the United States, and of legal age.

A foreign-born ancestor's voter registration card can provide an entry point for additional documents that aid in the search for the birth home in the "Old Country." In Multnomah County, Oregon, a set of foreign-born voter registration cards was microfilmed by the Election Department. These cards date from 1916 and go to 1967.

Frances (Cvar) Stariha, my grandmother, was born in Slovenia. In 1906, she married Joseph Stariha in Spokane, Washington. Prior to 1922, married women held the citizenship of their husbands. Grandpa was a naturalized citizen and Grandma became one when she married him.

On 2 October 1928, Grandma registered to vote in Multnomah County. She registered as a Democrat, and Grandpa registered as an Independent.

In the section for naturalization information, the clerk recorded the following information:

Married prior to 1922
Husband April 5th 1897 - Toledo, Ore - County Court

It took me twenty years to track down Grandpa's naturalization file, but that is another story.

Source:

[Multnomah County, Oregon] Foreign Registration Cards to September 1967, roll 25 (Portland: Multnomah County Microfilm Service, ca. 1960), Frances Stariha entry; microfilm in Connie Lenzen’s office library.

2011-09-30T14:56:00.000-07:00

30 September 2011

The opening month events at the Genealogical Forum of Oregon Library (www.gfo.org) have been wonderful. People have toured the library and found information on their ancestors. The month of October at the GFO library will be a bit slower, but there are some outstanding events to attend. The Fall Seminar will be the highlight with Debbie Mieszala presenting four lectures: Wonderful Websites: Real Records Online; The Curious Case of the Disappearing Dude; Pension Application Files; and Pulling Evidence from Beneath a Record's Surface Information.

My genealogy classes for Portland Parks and Recreation begin next week. The Genealogy First Steps and Genealogy Moving On classes are full, but there is still room in the Genealogy Writing class. (http://www.portlandonline.com/parks/)

September

2011-09-03T14:16:00.000-07:00

September at the Genealogical Forum of Oregon Library

On 6 September 2011, at 9:30 a.m., the Genealogical Forum of Oregon Library will open for research. The new location in the basement of the Ford Building, 2505 S.E. 11^th Ave, Portland, is really nice. The word “basement” conjures up visions of dark and dank, but that’s not the case. The windowed double doors provide a view of what is waiting for the genealogist – lots of resources.

There’s a parking lot adjacent to the building on the south side and another lot across 11^th Avenue. If they are filled, and they often are during the work-day, free on-street parking is all around the area. For those people who are familiar with buses, the number 4-Division/Fessenden and the number 70-12^th Ave both stop at the building.

Laurel Smith, event-planner extraordinaire, has scheduled a full month of activities at the library. Check out the calendar on the GFO website, www.gfo.org. You will likely find a meeting or event to attend.

On Saturday, 10 September, there are three events. At 9:30 a.m., the Illinois Group meets. At 11:45 a.m., the Writer’s Forum gathers, and at 2:00 p.m., the GFO monthly meeting takes place. I’m speaking at the monthly meeting about Military Records on Ancestry.com. The GFO Library has a subscription to the library edition of Ancestry.com, and patrons can access this (for free) on the GFO computers. I’ll also be sharing a couple of extra-special military resources at the GFO library.

The GFO “Intro to Genealogy” class is scheduled for 24 September from 10:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m. This class has a $15.00 fee, and the registration form is on the GFO website, http://www.gfo.org/edu/classes.htm. I’ll be conducting the class, and the class will focus on the goals of the attendees. Bring your questions, and I’ll help you set up a plan for finding the answers. Part of the class time includes a tour of the library to see where the resources are located.

B. J. Westby, a GFO member, gave me a newspaper article from the Vancouver Columbian that contains useful information for people who had ancestors in Clark County Washington in the 1870s. Washington State University has a searchable database of Clark County newspapers. The years 1876-1877 are now included in the full text database, and others are being added. Website: http://library.vancouver.wsu.edu/archive/digital-collections.

Salt Lake City in October

The Clark County Genealogical Society in Vancouver schedules an annual trip to Salt Lake City every October. If you have ever thought about going to Salt Lake City and wanted to go with someone, this is a marvellous opportunity. The trip is scheduled from 2 October (Sunday) to 9 October (Sunday). The group gets a special rate at the Carlton Hotel where they are served breakfast every morning and then driven to the library. Travel arrangements are on your own, and the airlines are still offering fairly good deals on their websites.

Send an email to gensoc@ccgs-wa.org if you are interested in learning more details. Put “SLC trip” in the subject heading.

I’ll be in Salt Lake City for the last part of this time, and I’d enjoy meeting you in the library or the hotel.