Fishing/cargo net washed ashore, Ocean Shores, Washington
The Diogenes Club
Saturday, December 28, 2013
The Mysterious Brownies: Calling All Comic Art Historians!
This Christmas I was given an unusual gift by my Brother's partner, Lauren. It was a framed color drawing of odd little people helping children learn how to read. A fitting gift for a librarian! Apparently it had been in Lauren's family for awhile, and she said her Mother told her those little people were Brownies.
I saw that some backing tape was eating at the paper, and could tell the drawing was from out of a book. So I removed the frame and found on the reverse side that the little guys were indeed Brownies, just like Lauren said:
When to the seaside off you go
The Brownies will come too, I know;
They'll take you in the sea, no doubt,
And laugh to see you splash about.
On the color page, note that two Brownies have numbers attached to their hats.
I'd love to know the source book for this. Is this by Palmer Cox? Somehow it looks too primitive to be his work, but I could be wrong. One could argue that the two images are by different illustrators, the line drawing being much less polished.
Hopefully I am giving you comic art scholars out there a nice mystery to solve.
Brownies, along with elves, trolls, and fairies, were part of the mythology I grew up hearing stories about. But we knew it was all make believe. Sasquatch, however, was another matter.
The McDowell Family Album
The McDowell Family Album is something of a mystery. This family has never been real big on recording their history. In fact, during the 20th century family members were unable to name their grandparents for official documents like death certificates.
To illustrate this point, my Mom's cousin gave me this album when we visited him in Centralia, Washington over 30 years ago. "Here kid," he said, "Take it. I'm not into this gynecology crap."
Though the photos are mostly unmarked, they are interesting portraits of a colorful family who were part of the history of Colorado in the era of the silver boom in the 1880s-1890s. And obviously, they didn't look back.
The album was curated by my great grandmother, Ellen McDowell. She was born Ellen Snyder in Casey, Illinois, Apr. 17, 1862. She married Benjamin F. McDowell in 1879 and the young family moved to Ouray, Colorado in the 1880s. Ben deserted the family in 1896 and Ellen supported her four sons and two daughters by running a laundry-- by hand-- for the silver prospectors. She followed her sons to Centralia, Washington in the 1920s, where she died Feb. 15, 1949.
Morty Comix # 2682
Morty Comix # 2682 was tucked under a couch cushion in the restaurant/lounge lobby of a hotel in Ocean Shores, Washington.
The Bill Clinton Song
Bill Clinton was a rogue
But we love him just the same
It's not for public policy
That we give him that name
He was really good at speeches
And survived all the impeaches
But not keeping his pants zipped
Was where he found his fame
Theodore H. Hoss
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.
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This concludes the album. To see the entire collection, simply use the Reeves Family Album tag.
Friday, December 27, 2013
Morty Comix # 2681
Morty Comix #2681 was folded and left in the coin return slot of the only remaining pay phone booth in McCleary, Washington. Problem is, this phone doesn't work. So if you are stranded here, and if you don't have a cell phone-- you are trapped in The Twilight Zone!
Phone photo 3094
Manger scene figures held up with metal farm fenceposts
Montesano, Washington
The big sheep looks like Harold, the most dangerous of animals, the clever sheep
The Andrew Jackson Song
Andrew Jackson
Was a psychopath
And woe to anyone
Who incurred his wrath
Yes, he's the hero of New Orleans
But also the father of the Trail of Tears
Andrew Jackson
Was a psychopath
Clara Hoss
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.
Phone photo 3090
Bickmore's "Complete" Home Center
Montesano, Washington
Another entry for the Blog of Unnecessary Quotation Marks
Thursday, December 26, 2013
Frank Reeves
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.
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