Those Places Thursday: Gower Road, Nashville, Tennessee

Gower Road is located in Nashville, Tennessee, between River Road and Old Charlotte Pike.

My 5th-great-grandfather William Gower's property was on this road. He was a Methodist preacher, and his church, Gower's Chapel, was across from his home. In 1885, a new church, Centenary United Methodist Church, was constructed on the property.

Centenary United Methodist Church

Gower Cemetery is located on the hillside below the church. William and other members of his family are buried there. Unfortunately, the cemetery is very overgrown.

Gower Cemetery area

Those Places Thursday: Clover Bottom

Clover Bottom consists of 309 1/4 acres of land in Davidson County, Tennessee, including three acres on the north side of Stone's River.

Nashville Whig, 31 August 1813, page 3

Stone's River

The area was named "Clover Bottom" because of the amount of growth of white clover in the area. John Donelson was one of the settlers who came to the area in 1780.

"Col. John Donelson Was Leader Among Men." Nashville Tennesseean and Nashville American, 15 July 1917, page 25.

James Robertson and my Gower and Lucas ancestors were among the other settlers in the area. My 7th-great-grandfather Abel Gower, Sr., my 6th-great-grandfather Abel Gower, Jr., and James Robertson's brother John Robertson were killed at Clover Bottom in 1780, after they were attacked by Chickamaugas.

Haywood, John. The Civil and Political History of the State of Tennessee from its Earliest Settlement up to the Year 1796, Including the Boundaries of the State. Nashville,TN: Publishing House of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, 1891. Originally published in 1823 by W. H. Haywood. Page 128. Available from Internet Archive.

In 1858, Dr. James Hoggatt built a mansion at Clover Bottom. The home is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Those Places Thursday: 425 25th Street, Chicago, Illinois

130 years ago today, on 8 September 1886, my great-grandmother Ellen Victoria Dahlquist was born at the residence of her parents Carl Johan (or Charles John) and Mary (or Marie) Louise (Borg) Dahlquist.

Return of a Birth, Ellen Dahlquist. State of Illinois, Cook County. No. 115239, dated 7 October 1886.

The family lived at 425 25th Street, Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, in the 5th Ward.

Lakeside Directory of Chicago, 1886. Fold3.

The following map shows the neighborhood that the Dahlquist family lived in in 1886.

Portion of Rand McNally and Company. Map showing the boulevards and park system and twelve miles of lake frontage of the city of Chicago. Chicago, Ill.: Rand, McNally & Company, 1886. Detached from: Glossop, Frank. Glossop's street guide, strangers' directory and hotel manual of Chicago. 10th ed. Chicago: [Frank Glossop], 1886.  Public domain. Available from Chicago Historical Society and Wikimedia Commons.

The family did not live at 425 25th Street for long. In 1887, they moved to another residence in the neighborhood, 373 24th.

Those Places Thursday: West Bank, Swift County, Minnesota

My 2nd-great-grandparents Jorgen Jorgensen Boe and Aaste Halvorsdatter Otterholt lived in West Bank, Swift County, Minnesota.

On 19 July 1878,  C. J. Norby and twenty-seven others formulated a petition to request that a new town be organized. The town was to be called Springdale, but when the petition was granted, the name was changed to West Bank. The name comes from its location west of the Chippewa River.

West Bank's total area is 36.2 square miles.

The town's first election took place on 11 March 1879.

The citizens of the town helped to create a good system of roads, ditches, and bridges. Jorgen, his brother-in-law Erick Halvorson, and L. S. Saterlie were the men on the committee to view the bridge across the Chippewa River, between the towns of West Bank and Swenoda.

General Laws of the State of Minnesota Passed During the Thirtieth Session of the State Legislature, Commencing January Fifth, One Thousand Eight Hundred and Ninety-Seven. Page 179. Delano: Eagle Printing, 1897. Available from Google Books.
 

General Laws of the State of Minnesota Passed During the Thirtieth Session of the State Legislature, Commencing January Fifth, One Thousand Eight Hundred and Ninety-Seven. Page 180. Delano: Eagle Printing, 1897. Available from Google Books.

The town's only church, the West Bank Lutheran Church, was organized in 1892. The building was completed in 1897. It burned down in 1907, but it was rebuilt, and the new building was dedicated in 1913.

There are three cemeteries in West Bank: the West Bank Lutheran Church burial ground, the Golden-Olson Cemetery on the Golden Brothers farm, and a cemetery on the John Tvedt farm.

At the time of the 2000 United States Census, the population of West Bank was 200. There were 74 households and 54 families. The population size was about the same as it was in 1880.

Saint Paul Daily Globe, 30 July 1880, page 2

References
General Laws of the State of Minnesota Passed During the Thirtieth Session of the State Legislature, Commencing January Fifth, One Thousand Eight Hundred and Ninety-Seven. Delano: Eagle Printing, 1897. Available from Google Books.
Minnesota's Population. Saint Paul Daily Globe, 30 July 1880, page 2.
Swift County Historical Society. Swift County Minnesota: A Collection of Historical Sketches and Family Histories. Dallas, TX: Taylor Publishing, 1979.
West Bank Township, Swift County, Minnesota

Those Places Thursday: Tennessee State Penitentiary

The Tennessee State Penitentiary opened on 1 January 1831. The original facility was located on Church Street in Nashville, Tennessee. It was built to house 200 prisoners, but it was enlarged several times. During the Civil War, the penitentiary was seized by the Union, and it was used to house political prisoners and people accused of sedition.

Convicts were leased to businesses. They mined coal and laid railroad tracks.

A new prison was designed based on the New York State Penitentiary at Auburn, New York. On 12 February 1898, the new facility opened. It was located on Cockrill Bend in Nashville. Although it was built to house 800 prisoners, more than 1,400 prisoners were bought there on opening day. The original facility was demolished, and portions of it were reused when outbuildings were constructed at the new prison.

The penitentiary was closed in 1992. A new penitentiary, the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution, had opened in Nashville in 1989.

My 2nd-great-grandfather James William Tarkington and his brothers George Washington Tarkington and Thomas Tarkington worked as guards at the penitentiary, and my 3rd-great-grandfather Joseph Tarkington worked as a watchman.

Directory of Nashville, Edgefield, and Adjacent Towns in Tennessee, for 1877. Compiled by T. M. Haddock. Nashville: Tavel, Eastman & Howell. Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.

Nashville City Directory, Vol. 24, 1888. Nashville: Marshall & Bruce. Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.

References
Lewis, Yoshie, and Allison, Brian. Tennessee State Penitentiary. Images of America. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing, 2014.
Tennessee State Prison

Those Places Thursday: Montreal General Hospital

General Hospital Montreal. Ancestry.com. Canada Historical Postcards [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2010. Original data: Mary Martin Postcards (www.MaryLMartin.com), Perryville, MD, USA.
 
My 3rd-great-grandfather John Bennet Winters died in Montreal General Hospital on 25 December 1879.

 

Montreal Daily Witness, 27 December 1879, p. 1

In 1818, fund raising began to establish an English-speaking hospital in Montreal. On 1 May 1819, a small hospital on Craig Street opened.  It had room for 24 patients. In 1820, property was purchased on Dorchester and Dominique Streets.The cornerstone of the hospital was laid in 1821. In 1822, Montreal General Hospital opened. It had 72 beds. In 1823, the hospital received its charter. The hospital became affiliated with McGill University in 1832.

Photograph, Montreal General Hospital, Dorchester Street, QC, about 1890, Wm. Notman & Son. Silver salts on paper mounted on paper - Albumen process, 15 x 17 cm. Available from Wikimedia Commons.

On 30 May 1855, Montreal General Hospital moved to a new location on Cedar Avenue.

Source: Montreal General Hospital

Those Places Thursday: Swift Creek, Craven County, North Carolina

My 6th-great-grandfather Lazarus Gatlin owned land on the north side of Swift Creek in Craven County, North Carolina.

File no. 3654, Lazarus Gatlin. Book 26, p. 139. Land grant no. 1073. Entry no. 148. Ancestry.com. North Carolina, Land Grant Files, 1693-1960 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2016. 

File no. 3654, Lazarus Gatlin. Book 26, p. 139. Land grant no. 1073. Entry no. 148. Ancestry.com. North Carolina, Land Grant Files, 1693-1960 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2016.

Swift Creek is located in Craven County, North Carolina. It runs north to south and joins with the Neuse River opposite Hog Island.

The first Baptist church in the New Bern area was located at Swift Creek. It was founded by Rev, William Burges, probably around 1740. Lazarus Gatlin was a Baptist; he probably attended this church.

NWIS Site Inventory for North Carolina. USGS Site Map for USGS 0209205053 Swift Creek at Hwy 43 nr Streets Ferry, NC. State of North Carolina DOT, Esri, HERE, DeLorme, INCREMENT P, NGA, USGS. http://waterdata.usgs.gov/nc/nwis/nwismap/?site_no=0209205053&agency_cd=USGS

References
Paschal, G. W. Early Baptists in North Carolina. Biblical Recorder, 21 November 1934.
Taylor, Ralph. Craven Geography.

Those Places Thursday: Illinois State Penitentiary

Illinois State Penitentiary was the original name for Joliet Correctional Center in Joliet, Will County, Illinois. It was in existence from 1858 to 2002.

The penitentiary was built with convict labor. In May 1858, thirty-three prisoners arrived from Alton to begin construction. Prison transfers were completed in July 1860.

From the 1870s onward, the penitentiary had work contracts with businesses in the area.

According to the Joliet Prison Post, vol. 1 no. 2 (1914), the inmates at the penitentiary were classified into three grades, which would determine the privileges that they were allowed. Prisoners in the first grade could write letters and have visitors once a week. Prisoners in the second grade were allowed to write and have visitors once every two weeks. Incoming prisoners were placed in the second grade upon arrival, and would be moved to the first grade after thirty days if their conduct was good. The third grade was for "willful offenders against the prison discipline" (p. 57). These prisoners could only write letters and have visitors once every four weeks, and could not go into the yard for recreation.

My great-grandfather's brother William D. Gatlin was sent to the Illinois State Penitentiary on 16 October 1917 to serve a sentence of one to fourteen years for robbery. He died there on 23 September 1919. He was shot by Henry Springer, a guard at the Illinois State Penitentiary, after refusing to obey orders. The incident occurred when William was being taken back to solitary confinement. William must have been in the third grade!

References
Joliet Correctional Center
Joliet Prison Post, Volume 1, Issue 2, 1914

Those Places Thursday: Bø Old Church

Bø Old Church. Photo: Roar Johansen. [CC BY-SA 2.5 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5/deed.en)]. Available from Wikimedia Commons.

The Old Church in  Bø, Telemark, Norway was built about 1180 in the Romanesque style. It is made of stone and has 200 seats. The church was dedicated to St. Olaf and was originally a Catholic church, but it became Lutheran after the Protestant Reformation. An iron chandelier, a carved wooden altar, and a cross in the chancel date back to the Middle Ages. After the Reformation, windows were widened to let in more light, and a door was partially walled up to create a window. Paintings in the chancel date back to the 1650s. The altar table was painted in 1685-1687; the images depict Christ on the cross, the Eye of Providence, and the tetragrammaton YHWH ("Yahweh"). Bible verses are inscribed on the pulpit and the portal.

Many of my Norwegian ancestors on the Boe side of the family attended the Bø Old Church. Family baptisms, marriages, and burials took place there.

References
Bø Old Church
The Divine Name in Norway: Bø (district of Telemark)
Norske kirkebygg: Bø gamle og nye kirke

Those Places Thursday: Bø in Tørdal

Bø in Tørdal. Photo by GunnarAa (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)]. Available from Wikimedia Commons.

Bø is the village center of Tørdal, which is part of Drangedal, Telemark, Norway. There are three farms at Bø. My 8th-great-grandfather Jorgen Jorgensen Bø and his children, my 7th-great-grandfather Klas Jorgensen Bø and my 7th-great-grandmother Asberg Jorgensdatter Bø lived on one of the farms at Bø in Tørdal. Klas' daughter married Asberg's son.

References 
Bø (Drangedal)

Those Places Thursday: Gunpowder River

Oblique air photo of Gunpowder River traveling through Loch Raven Reservoir, Maryland. August 2010. Photo by Jstuby [Public domain]. Available from Wikimedia Commons.

The Gunpowder River is a tidal inlet on the western side of Chesapeake Bay. It is formed by the joining of the Gunpowder Falls (also known as Big Gunpowder Falls) and the Little Gunpowder Falls. It is 6.8 miles long. The Gunpowder River and the Little Gunpowder Falls form the boundary between Baltimore and Harford Counties, Maryland.

My 8th-great-grandparents John Greer and Sarah Day lived by the Great Falls of the Gunpowder River. Their land was surveyed in 1718.

The town of Joppa was located on the Gunpowder River and was an important colonial seaport. Tobacco was the main export.

In 1959, the Gunpowder Falls State Park was established to protect the Gunpowder River and the Big and Little Gunpowder valleys. The park includes trails, a beach, a marina, and areas for fishing, canoeing, and kayaking.

References
Gunpowder Falls State Park
Gunpowder River
Joppatowne, Maryland

Those Places Thursday: Tate Springs

Tate Spring Hotel. 1940. Tennessee Valley Authority. Information Office. Record Group 142: Records of the Tennessee Valley Authority, 1918 - 2000. Series: Kodak Negative File, compiled 1933 - 1976. NAIL Control Number: NRCA-142-INF001-12528I. U.S. National Archives and Records Administration. ARC Identifier 281360. Public domain. Available from U.S. National Archives and Wikimedia Commons.

On 17 June 1899, my 2nd-great-grandfather's sister Jennie Tarkington and brother Thomas Tarkington left for Tate Springs, a health resort in East Tennessee.

Nashville American, 18 June 1899, page 3

In 1865, Samuel Tate bought 25,000 acres of land around a mineral spring in Bean Station, Grainger County, Tennessee. He built a Victorian-style hotel large enough to hold 500 people and opened the Tate Springs resort. In the 1870s, the resort was purchased by Thomas Tomlinson.

 Nashville American, 11 June 1899, page 1

 Nashville American, 11 June 1899, page 8

The water was said to have healing properties. It was prescribed by doctors and was sold and shipped all over the world.

 Alamance Gleaner (Graham, NC), 19 May 1887, page 3

Evening Index (Greenwood, SC), 5 July 1900, page 8

Daily Arkansas Gazette, 24 July 1903, page 4

Tate Springs water was exhibited in the Knoxville and Agricultural buildings at the Tennessee Centennial Exposition.

Nashville American, 1 May 1897, page 22

The hotel was enlarged in 1898, 1900, and 1905. It could then hold 600 people. The resort had coal-powered generators which produced steam heat and electricity. By the early 1900s, Tate Springs had 35 to 40 outbuildings, a ballroom, stables, a swimming pool, a billiards room, tennis courts, a golf course, and a 100-acre park.

Nashville American, 20 June 1909, page 24

Nashville Tennessean and Nashville American, 7 May 1911, page B6

In 1917, a cottage at Tate Springs cost $17.50 to $21.00 per week. A hotel room cost $21.00 to $24.50 per week. Cottages and rooms with private baths cost slightly more. Some people were permanent residents at Tate Springs.

Nashville Tennessean, 14 July 1922, page 14

The hotel closed in 1936, and the resort closed in 1941. The springhouse still remains and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Tate Springs Springhouse and Gazebo, Bean Station, Tennessee. 17 May 2015. Photo by Brian Stansberry [CC BY 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)]. Available from Wikimedia Commons.

References
Bean Station TN - our history
Philips, Bud. Tate Springs was once a popular health resort. Bristol Herald Courier, 18 July 2010.
Tate Springs Resort and Hotel 1865-1941
Tate Springs Springhouse
"Tate Springs Water: Handsome Exhibit to Be Made in Two Buildings at the Centennial." Nashville American, 1 May 1897, page 22.

Those Places Thursday: Seljordsvatn

Next to Seljord's lake at a campsite in Norway. 8 August 2008. Photo by Yodaspirine (own work) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)]. Available from Wikimedia Commons.

Seljordsvatn (or Seljordsvatnet) is a lake in Seljord, Telemark, Norway. It is part of the Skien River. The lake is about 15 km long and 1.8 km wide. The deepest part of the lake is 150 meters. On average, the depth is between 50 and 75 meters.

According to folklore, a sea serpent called Selma lives in the lake. The first report of the creature was made in 1750. While Gunleik Anderson Verpe from Bø was rowing on the lake, a sea serpent supposedly attacked one of  his two boats. Perhaps my ancestors from Seljord and Bø believed in the sea serpent.

There is a road around the lake, and there are many campsites with beaches. In 2008, a lookout tower was built so that tourists could watch for Selma.

References
Bike around Seljord lake
Norway's Seljord Lookout Point Peers Out to the Water Searching for the Selma Sea Monster
Seljordsvatn
Seljordsvatnet
Selma (lake monster)
Welcome to Seljord

Those Places Thursday: Conley's Patch

Catherine O'Leary's cottage on DeKoven Street in Chicago, 1871. By A.H. Abbott, Photographer (Stereoptican card) [Public domain]. Available from Wikimedia Commons.
 
Conley's Patch was a poor shantytown in Chicago, Illinois that was built by Irish immigrants in the 1850s. Monroe and Wells Streets were at the center of the neighborhood. The Encyclopedia of Chicago calls Conley's Patch the most notorious of the communities of boardinghouses and saloons. The community was known for its high crime rate as well as its poverty. The majority of the saloons, houses of prostitution, and gambling dens were located in Conley's Patch. Macaulay (2007) reported that only four percent of Conley's Patch residents were homeowners.

From 1858 to 1868, Roger Plant ran brothels on the northeast corner of Monroe and Wells Streets. The area was called "Under the Willow" because of the willow tree on the corner. It was also known as "Roger's Barracks." It was considered to be the center of corruption in the city.

Patrick and Catherine O'Leary's residence on 137 DeKoven Street, at the corner of Jefferson Street, was in the vicinity as well. 144 years ago today, on 8 October 1871, a fire started in the O'Learys' barn. It spread rapidly, resulting in the Great Chicago Fire.

My 3rd-great-grandparents John Bennet Winters and Anna "Ann" (Walker) Winters and their daughter, my 2nd-great-grandmother Catherine Elizabeth Winters, moved to Chicago in the mid-1860s. They lived at 247 S. Jefferson, where John ran a grocery store. His business failed in 1871, and he applied for a free peddler's license. His petition was granted in June 1871. They lived at the edge of the district that was burned by the Great Chicago Fire, and probably had to move as a result. They were not listed in the city directory that was published after the fire.

According to Gangland Chicago: Criminality and Lawlessness in the Windy City, 1837-1990, Catherine O'Leary was "the milk woman of Conley's Patch" and sold milk to the neighbors who lived on Jefferson Street. Perhaps the Winters family knew her.

References
The Chicago Crime Scenes Project: Monroe Street 
The Chicago Crime Scenes Project: Under the Willow 
Lindberg, Richard. Gangland Chicago: Criminality and Lawlessness in the Windy City, 1837-1990. Lanham, MD: Rownan & Littlefield, 2016.
Macaulay, Dendy. The Importance of Neighborhood Ties: Relocation Decisions After the Chicago Fire of 1871. Diss. University of Chicago, 2007.
Mack, Edwin F.  Old Monroe Street: Notes on the Monroe Street of Early Chicago Days. Chicago: Central Trust Company of Illinois, 1914. Available from Internet Archive.
"Multicentered Chicago." Encyclopedia of Chicago. Ed. James R. Grossman, Ann Durkin Keating, and Janice L. Reiff. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004. 548-553.
Sawislak, Karen. Smoldering City: Chicagoans and the Great Fire, 1871-1874. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995.

Those Places Thursday: Veggie Heaven

October 1 is World Vegetarian Day. I have been a vegetarian for 14 years. My favorite restaurant is Veggie Heaven. The restaurant is located at 473 Cedar Lane, Teaneck, New Jersey. Asian vegetarian/vegan cuisine is served. The food is also kosher and GMO-free.

Every year on my birthday, my parents and I go to Veggie Heaven for dinner. I usually order the General Tso's Chicken. Of course, the "chicken" is actually made of vegetable protein; the "meats" are made of soy, tempeh, and wheat gluten. The food is so good, and it is nice to not have to ask about ingredients like I do in many other restaurants.

Veggie Heaven has takeout too. Last year, when I was bottle-feeding my kitten Flash, we couldn't go out for dinner on my birthday because Flash couldn't go without food that long. My parents picked up takeout from Veggie Heaven, and we had my birthday dinner at my house. It worked out really well!

My father and Flash at my birthday dinner in 2014

Those Places Thursday: Miami University, Oxford, Ohio

My mother moved to Ridgewood, New Jersey as a teenager and attended high school there. My father moved to Ridgewood the summer after he graduated from high school. Shortly after he had moved to Ridgewood, he went away to college at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. More than 600 miles away from their mutual town of residence, my parents found each other!
 
Elliott Hall, one of the dormitories,  is the oldest building on campus. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Front and southern side of Elliott Hall, Miami University. 16 August 2010. By Nyttend (Own work) [Public domain]. Available from Wikimedia Commons.

Alumni Hall used to be the Alumni Memorial Library. The Department of Architecture is now located in this building.

Alumni Hall, Miami University. Environmental Protection Agency Photo [Public domain]. Available from Wikimedia Commons.

My father appears in this photo from the 1963 school yearbook Recensio. He was a member of the accounting honor society Beta Alpha Psi.

Recensio, Miami University, 1963. Ancestry.com. U.S., School Yearbooks, 1880-2012 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.

Recensio, Miami University, 1963. Ancestry.com. U.S., School Yearbooks, 1880-2012 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.

My parents are Miami Mergers (Miami alumni married to each other). The official description is "When two hearts beat as one and both attended Miami, it's a Miami Merger." There are special Miami Merger Valentines that are sent out.

Some people confuse Miami University with the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida. Mail has been sent to the wrong school, and once a student was actually sent to the wrong school! This mix-up happened at the time that my parents were attending Miami University.

Wilmington News-Journal (Wilmington, Ohio), 21 September 1960, page 1