The Web of Love

A great cover graphic by Porter M. Griffith on this sheet music, copyright 1929. The artifact is interesting on many levels. For openers the piece is printed on a single sheet and folded. This early talking film was "personally directed" by James Cruze. Apparently part of it was in color!

The movie is about a ventriloquist who is slowly going insane. I have to wonder. This stack of scores originally belonged to my great grandmother, Jennie Hoss. Her brother, Lafe Reeves, worked as a barber but he was also an accomplished ventriloquist. I wonder if he was teased about this movie? 

Mother's Good Night Kiss

What this sheet music lacks in cover graphic pizzazz is made up for with the back story. The composer and lyricist (Samuel Phelps Totten and T.J. O'Connor) autographed this 1922 piece in Chehalis, Washington, a twin city to Centralia, Washington, where my great-grandmother Jennie Hoss lived. As the only real musical member of the family in 1922, I'm sure it was she who acquired this piece.

The very first bit of sheet of music I scanned and posted here was another Totten work.

Since he was so local, I became interested in Totten, and tracked down his obituary on page 13 in the June 14, 1970 issue of the Daily Olympian.

So many connections. The Liberty Theater later became the Olympic Theater, which is how I remember it. Today the site is home to the Washington Center for Performing Arts.  I spent more than one summer week at Camp Thunderbird. And Marlene Selene was one of my high school classmates.

Apparently Mr. Totten was instrumental in leading the Washington State Employees' Retirement Board in the early years. Quite a career switch! He's the gentleman on the far right. The man standing third from left is John J. O'Connell, who made an unsuccessful bid for Governor in 1968.

I discovered Samuel P. Totten was buried near my office in Tumwater. So on this very rainy day I paid a visit to the cemetery and paid my respects. I actually have an uncle and aunt buried nearby!

Small world.

Theodore H. Hoss

The final entry in the Reeves Family Album is the funeral card for Jennie's father-in-law.

Theodor Hubert Hoss, my great-great grandfather was born in Ahrweiler, Germany Sept. 22, 1824 (he and Jennie shared birthdays!). Catholic Church records indicate the Hoss family had lived in that town for several generations.

The story is passed down that Theodore was the son of a vineyard master and came to the area of Cassville, Wisconsin in 1854 to avoid the Prussian military conscription. However he was drafted into the Union Army during the Civil War, where he mostly served guard duty in the South. His only military exploit, we are told, was that shot a pig while on sentry duty.

After the War the family tried making a living in Northeast Nebraska but after locusts destroyed their crops, they headed to Washington Territory in the mid-1870s.

Theodore attempted to grow a vineyard in the area of present day Vader, Washington but the climate was not grape friendly. By the 1880s he joined his sons in the booming new town of Centralia, Washington, where he made a living in woodworking, mostly as a cooper.

Those who knew him told me he was gentle soul who maintained a thick German accent throughout his life. The only time anyone saw him get excited or angry was when he discussed politics with another German relative, August Amler. The two would shout and yell, but since the conversation was in German, no one knew exactly what the topic was about!

He died in Centralia Jan. 28, 1908 and is buried in the Pioneer Cemetery.

This concludes the album. To see the entire collection, simply use the Reeves Family Album tag.

Clara Hoss

Jennie's album concludes with the funeral cards of her parents-in-law.

Napolione Clara Hubertina Cüppers, my great-great grandmother, was born Apr. 26, 1826 in Euskirchen, Germany, between Bonn and the border of France. According to family lore she had some French ancestors and was somehow related to the "lesser nobility." It is also said her family was Jewish, her father was a jeweler and the family employed servants.

She married Theodor Hubert Hoss, a Catholic, in a civil ceremony in her town in 1853 and in the following year the couple, with an infant daughter, set off for Wisconsin. As the family worked their way across the frontier heading West I was told she liked to remind her husband about the life she gave up. The Hoss family arrived in Washington Territory in the mid-1870s.

Clara died in Centralia, Washington Dec. 14, 1896 and is buried in Centralia's Pioneer Cemetery.

Frank Reeves

Pressed into lower right is the name of the photographer. Hard to read, but I'd guess it says: B. McArdle, Centralia, Wash.

Walter Francis "Frank" Reeves photo probably taken between 1910-1916. Those who remember him told me that at this point in his life, Frank was cranky and plain spoken, yet would cry at weddings. He was my great-great grandfather.

The old Union Army veteran lived with the family of his daughter, Jennie Hoss. He died suddenly at the breakfast table, Dec. 11, 1916. The former family home in Centralia served as a bed and breakfast under a few owners for a time and is now the local headquarters down there for Windermere Real Estate. It has been reported over the years that Frank, along with a child, are still hanging around the building in the form of ghosts.

Jennie Hoss

Undated photo of Jennie (Reeves) Hoss, the keeper of the Reeves Family Album and my great grandmother. I'm guessing this photo was taken in Centralia, Washington during the first decade of the 20th century.

Theodore and Jennie Hoss

Printed: T.R. Williams, Centralia, Wash.

I have been told this is a photo of my great-grandparents, Theodore and Jennie (Reeves) Hoss, on their wedding day, Feb. 20, 1890.

Theodore Jacob Hoss was born in Wisconsin in 1863. Part of his childhood was spent in Nebraska. The Hoss family arrived in Washington Territory in the mid-1870s.

Theodore and Jennie were a power couple. She "became the leader in every group she joined," according to one family member. The Red Cross and the GAR were two groups where she was active, and she was indeed the State Chair of the GAR for a year.

He was a progressive Democrat who was a frequent candidate in a conservative Republican county. Occasionally he'd get elected to a city or county office. His runs for the legislature were not successful.

How radical was he? As the Democratic nominee for US Congress in 1918 he stood for equal wages for equal work for men and women. That was pretty radical.

But he was also a successful businessman and had a role in starting Centralia's first electric utility and streetcar line. Theodore died in 1947.

Theodore and Jennie are buried in Centralia's Pioneer Cemetery

Jennie, Lafe

Tintype with barely readable notation on verso: "Jennie, Lafe"

Charles LaFayette Reeves and his sister, Jennie Melissa Reeves. Jennie was my great-grandmother and the curator of this album.

Jennie was born Sept. 22, 1869 in Lansing, Michigan. Before accompanying her family to Centralia, Washington Territory in 1889 she briefly taught school.

She married Theodore Jacob Hoss in Centralia, Feb. 20, 1890. They were something of a power couple, both of them deeply involved in politics and social groups. Although Centralia was and remains a very conservative town, Theodore and Jennie were outspoken progressives.

Jennie died in Centralia on Valentine's Day, 1952.

Sid

Written on album sleeve: Sid

Written on verso: S.A. Reeves, 1891, Mrs. Theo. Hoss

Printed: T.R. Williams, Centralia, Wash.

Sidney A. Reeves was the youngest of three. He was born Mar. 28, 1872 in Michigan. When the Reeves family moved to Washington Territory in 1889 he was still a teenager. In this photo he is 18 or 19 years old.

They tell me he was employed as a butcher and was an avid hunter. He never married and lived with his sister Jennie and her husband Theodore Hoss until 1920. Eventually he moved to the country where he raised hunting dogs.  

Sid died in Centralia, Washington Aug. 21, 1938. He is buried in Centralia's Pioneer Cemetery under a rapidly eroding simple headstone.

 

Ben Huff - 1889

Written on album sleeve: Ben Huff - 1889

Bottom margin: Baldwin, Flint, Mich.

According to my grandmother, who would provide narration as I frequently perused this album in the 1960s and 1970s, Ben Huff was a guy my great-grandmother Jennie Reeves was sweet on before the whole Reeves family pulled up roots and headed to Washington Territory in 1889 shortly before statehood out here.

Reeves Family Album

I have a couple old puffy Victorian-era family photo albums, both tracing back to my Mom's relatives. Some of the photos are tintypes, and I know a few were taken during the Civil War. They are pretty interesting as artifacts, and in many cases I have no idea who the subject is, or otherwise have little information.

The first of the two albums apparently belonged to my great-grandmother, Jennie Melissa Reeves, who married Theodore Jacob Hoss. I'm going to try and spare all of you any lengthy genealogical narratives, but I will supply some brief facts with each photo as we go.

This particular album was handed down to Jennie's oldest child, my grandmother. After she died in 1978 my Mom picked it up as the surviving heirs divided up the estate. It was given to me quite some ago when I was still interested in family history. The advent of Internet sort of spoiled the hunt for me, I must say. At least I got to talk to all those oldtimers in the 1970s and 1980s before their entire generation passed on. My grandparents and their siblings were born mostly in the 1880s or 1890s.

When I hauled this monster into the living room Hettie had to come and check it out.

Phone photo 1928

Jennie's chair

Phone photo 1911

The Windermere Real Estate headquarters in Centralia, Washington

In the early 20th century this was the home of my great-grandparents, Theodore and Jennie Hoss. My Mother was born in this place. Supposedly, the ghost of my great-great grandfather, Walter Francis "Frank" Reeves, a crusty Wolverine Civil War vet, and later a civilian Custer scout (according to family lore) who came to Washington before statehood, died at the breakfast table in this house in 1916 and is still hanging around as a ghost there. Frank saw some horrible stuff in the Civil War, being at Cold Harbor and The Wilderness. He was also at Appomattox. I'm told he considered U.S. Grant, quote, "A drunken butcher."

I am so grateful to Windermere for preserving this structure. They did a beautiful and impressive job. This home was, I'm told, designed by the same architect who created Hoquiam's Castle.

Phone photo 1624

Jennie's chair