52 Ancestors: Week 4 "I'd Like to Meet": Gertrude Tarkington

Ever since I was a little girl, I have been a cat person. The photo of my great-grandmother Gertrude Tarkington holding a cat gives me a good feeling about her. She looks like a nice woman, and I get the feeling that I would have liked her.

Although my father knew her, he didn't see her that often, since she lived in New York when he was growing up. She must have been a good mother; there was a history of violence and abuse on my great-grandfather's side of the family, but my grandfather was a good man. Clearly she raised him right.

Wordless Wednesday: Flash Watching the Election Coverage

Chicago Fire of 1874

Chicago Daily Tribune, 15 July 1874, page 1

Nearly three years after the Great Chicago Fire, there was another fire in Chicago. It began in the area of Taylor, Twelfth, and Clark Streets and Fourth Avenue (known as the Cheyenne district), which contained many "houses of ill-fame".

Buildings were blown up to try to contain the fire, but this action created additional fire. People tossed their belongings onto the street to try to save them, and many of their possessions were stolen. The saloons near the burnt district were crowded (after what they went through, many people probably needed a drink!) Thousands of people gathered at Lake Park with their belongings.

As a cat lover, I was pleased to learn that a woman had managed to rescue her four cats (but I disagree with the Chicago Daily Tribune's characterization of the rescue as "a ludicrous incident"!)

Chicago Daily Tribune, 15 July 1874, p. 12

Forty-seven acres south of the Loop were burned, 20 people were killed, 812 buildings were destroyed, including the St. James Hotel, the Michigan Avenue Hotel, the Jones School, the Great Adelphi (Aiken's Theatre), the post office, the First Baptist Church, and the Kehilath Anshe Ma'ariv Synagogue. The neighborhood's residents included middle-class African-Americans and Jewish immigrants from Poland and Russia.

After the fire, the National Board of Fire Underwriters demanded that Chicago make changes in fire prevention and firefighting. Many fire insurance companies canceled their coverage of buildings in Chicago.

It was alleged that Nathan Isaacson, a Jewish immigrant, had set fire to his shanty and barn, which were located next to an oil factory. He was arrested and charged with arson, but was not convicted. He was probably the victim of prejudice.

References
Chicago Fire of 1874
The Fire. Chicago Daily Tribune, 15 July 1874, pp. 1-2, 7, 12.
The Second Chicago Fire - July 14, 1874. The Story of a House: Official Blog of Glessner House Museum.

Father's Day

Top left: my paternal grandfather Henry Cornelius Gatlin
Top right: my father (with my cat Flash)
Bottom left: my maternal grandfather John Boe
Bottom right: Joker, the father of my cat Kit

One Year with Kit

One year ago today, I adopted Kit from P.A.T.C.H. in Pompton Lakes, New Jersey. He is such a good, sweet boy. He is very gentle and gets along with all my other cats. He loves to cuddle with me. I love him dearly and am very glad that he is part of my family.

Sunday's Obituary: Jewel Gatlin

Jewel Gatlin, Beloved Cat

Jewel Gatlin passed peacefully at her home in Lincoln Park, New Jersey on the morning of Sunday, May 15, 2016. Her precise age is unknown, but she was elderly. In her earlier years, she experienced difficult times. She was found abandoned in an empty apartment in 2010. Thankfully, she was found and brought to the animal rescue group START II. After almost 6 months, she was adopted, and was given a loving home. She was an only cat at first, but was later joined by her adoptive siblings. Shortly before her death, she was diagnosed with intestinal cancer.

Jewel was extremely gentle, sweet, and well-behaved. She purred readily upon being petted. She will be greatly missed.

Jewel is survived by her adoptive mother, Beth Gatlin; her adoptive sisters, Harmony, Melody, and Luna; and her adoptive brothers, Kit and Flash.

National Love Your Pet Day

February 20 is National Love Your Pet Day. I have six beautiful cats that I love dearly.

Jewel

Melody and Harmony

Luna

Flash and Kit

My maternal grandmother Margaret Schneider and her sister Paula are pictured here with a dog, possibly a family pet.

Pets are an important part of the family!

Merry Christmas!

Kit and I wish you a merry Christmas!

Cat Herders Day

December 15 is Cat Herders Day. The day is for people who feel that they are trying to do the impossible, as if they were herding cats.

In a way, I literally herd cats twice a day, every day. I have six cats: Jewel, Harmony, Melody, Luna, Kit, and Flash. Feeding time is herding time. I feed only canned food. Jewel, my oldest, is on a prescription diet because of her kidney insufficiency. Flash, my youngest and the alpha cat, has to eat alone because he will eat the other cats' food. He will start eating from one bowl, and then quickly switch to another, so no one else can eat in peace. So my six cats eat in three rooms.

I look around to see where the cats are. If I see them all and none of them are in my bedroom, I pick up Flash, put him in my bedroom, and close the door. Sometimes other cats are in the bedroom, though. It is usually one or more of the three littermates (Harmony, Melody, and Luna.) If I cannot get them out of the bedroom, I pick up Flash and put him into the small bathroom off my bedroom and close the door.

 Flash

I then get Jewel to go into one of the spare bedrooms. Sometimes I pick her up, but often she will go there on her own.

Jewel

Harmony, Melody, Luna, and Kit go into the kitchen, eagerly awaiting their food. I put all six bowls on the counter, pick up the cans of food and open them, and begin scooping the food into the bowls. As I do this, I try to keep Kit, who has climbed onto the counter, from getting at the food until the bowls are ready to go and placed on the floor. I tell him "Wait until you're served!" I put two bowls on the kitchen floor. Kit immediately jumps off the counter and claims one of them. Harmony quickly moves to one as well; she usually gets the one on the far right. I then put two more bowls on the kitchen floor, and Melody and Luna begin eating.

Kit, Luna, Melody, and Harmony. Kit hadn't fully gotten over his shyness at the time this photo was taken; he had not yet started climbing on the counter to try to get the food and he was not yet claiming one of the first bowls.

I then pick up the remaining two bowls. I bring the bowl of Hill's Prescription k/d to Jewel. I then bring the remaining bowl to my bedroom for Flash. If he is in the bathroom, I let him out. Even though I feed him last, he will not necessarily be the last to finish eating; he inhales his food!

In the morning, I let Jewel and Flash out after everyone has finished eating. In the evening, I let Jewel out after all the cats are done eating, but Flash has to stay in the bedroom until I am done with dinner. He tries to steal my food too!

In Memory of Sunshine

Five years ago today, my beloved Sunshine passed away. We were together for more than twenty years, since she was eight weeks old. She was the first cat that was all mine, rather than a family pet. I adopted her from the Bergen County Animal Shelter on 12 September 1990. She was my kitty soulmate.

Baby Sunshine

Sunshine as a young adult

Last photo of Sunshine, 26 October 2010

Sunshine battled chronic renal failure for twenty-one months, but eventually lost the fight. She passed away at Montville Animal Hospital in Towaco, Morris County, New Jersey on 13 November 2010.

Sunshine is buried at  Abbey Glen Pet Memorial Park in Lafayette, Sussex County, New Jersey, in Section 15, Hillside, Row D, Block 8, Lot B.

To me, she really was the best girl ever!

National Cat Day

Since October 29 is National Cat Day, it is the perfect time to share pictures of my cats. They are an important part of my family.

My four girls:

Harmony (age 5) and Jewel (age unknown, but senior)

Harmony's littermates Melody (top) and Luna

My two boys:

Kit (age 3) and Flash (age 1)

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

National Dog Day

August 26 is National Dog Day, so I thought it was an appropriate time to feature some of the family dogs.

My childhood dog was a Scottish Terrier named Silky.

Silky and me

My mother and Silky

My brother got a Border Terrier and named her Fresh. She ended up becoming the family dog.

 Fresh and my cat Sunshine

After Fresh died, my parents adopted a dog named Sweetie.

Sweetie, my father, and my cat Velvet as a kitten

When my mother was a child, she had a spitz named Skippy.

There is a dog in a photo of members of the Schneider and Gersbacher families. I do not know who it belonged to.

Black Cat Appreciation Day

August 17 is Black Cat Appreciation Day.  The day was established to help make people aware that black cats make great pets. Unfortunately, black cats are less likely to be adopted.

Pets are an important part of the family, and my family includes black cats. Jewel, the oldest of my current cats, has been with me since December 2010. I am not sure how old she is, but since she is on a special diet due to kidney insufficiency, she must be a senior cat. She is a very sweet cat, and I am very glad that I adopted her.

My parents also have a black cat, Inky.

I had a Bombay, Ember, who was born on 15 July 1994. I adopted her when she was a little more than 4 1/2 months old. She passed away on 6 July 2009.

Those Places Thursday: 68 Ferncroft Park, Ramsey, New Jersey

In 1974, my maternal grandparents John and Margaret (Schneider) Boe sold their house in Ridgewood, Bergen County, New Jersey and moved to the Ferncroft Park apartments in Ramsey, Bergen County, New Jersey. Some of the best moments of my childhood were spent at 68 Ferncroft Park. I was very close to my Grandma Boe, and I saw her frequently. Our large extended family got together much more often when I was growing up. The apartment had a spare bedroom, so there was room for family to stay there. There was a fold-out couch as well. My Grandpa Boe died in 1977, but Grandma Boe lived at Ferncroft Park until she died in 1986. The building eventually became a co-op, but she opted to keep renting her unit.

Many relatives gathered together in front of 68 Ferncroft Park in 1980

 Grandma Boe with four of her five children (my youngest uncle is not pictured)

 My cousin and me with my mother, grandmother, and aunts

Grandma Boe in her apartment at 68 Ferncroft Park

My aunt and cousin's two cats, April and Chammy, always came with them when they visited. Chammy is pictured here on my grandmother's piano. The family often gathered around the piano and sang while Grandma Boe played. Those were fun times!

Tombstone Tuesday: Sunshine Gatlin

Sunshine, my orange and white tabby girl, was born on 15 July 1990. The person who brought her to the Bergen County Animal Shelter in Teterboro, Bergen County, New Jersey was from Weehawken, Hudson County, New Jersey, so perhaps Weehawken was Sunshine's birthplace. I adopted Sunshine on 12 September 1990, four days after she had been brought to the shelter. She was the first cat that was ever all mine. She was like the feline version of me.

We had more than twenty years together. Sadly, she developed chronic renal failure. She survived for more than twenty-one months after her diagnosis, but the day came when she was too weak to fight any more. She passed away at Montville Animal Hospital in Towaco, Morris County, New Jersey on 13 November 2010.

Sunshine is buried in Abbey Glen Pet Memorial Park in Lafayette, Sussex County, New Jersey, in Section 15, Hillside, Row D, Block 8, Lot B.

The pet cemetery has a Gift of Love Memorial plaque. I added Sunshine's name and dates to it. I also added my cats Velvet and Ember, whose ashes were scattered on the grounds of the cemetery. I added Ember and Sunshine to the plaque at the same time, so Ember's name is above Sunshine's. I had added Velvet's name years earlier, but Sunshine's name ended up next to Velvet's name, one row over. My three girls are all together just like they were in life.

52 Ancestors: Week 28 "Road Trip": The Boe Family's Move from Chicago to Los Angeles

My mother moved often when she was growing up. Her father worked for P. F. Collier, and he started his career with them as an encyclopedia salesman. In 1947, the family moved from Chicago, Illinois to Los Angeles, California. I have heard stories about this road trip from family members, including my mother. My aunt Joan wrote a story (unpublished) which includes information about this trip. Her story was especially informative, and it helped me learn some of the important details about the trip.

U.S. Route 66 artwork on the side of a claw vending machine. By Xnatedawgx (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)]. Available from Wikimedia Commons.

On a summer day in the late 1940s (my aunt Joan said the family moved in 1947, but my mother said the family was in Chicago in 1948), John and Margaret (Schneider) Boe set off for Los Angeles with their five children: Margaret's daughter Joan and son Herb from her first marriage to William Herbert Foerstel, and their daughters Margaret and Karen (my mother) and son Dobby. Their spitz dog Skippy was also with them. My grandparents had purchased a used Chevrolet station wagon for the trip.

Drawing of a woodie wagon built on the popular Chevrolet truck chassis 1947-1953. 6 December 2010. By Truemanbruce (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)]. Available from Wikimedia Commons.

To travel from Chicago to Los Angeles, they took Route 66. My grandparents took turns driving. Unfortunately, most of the children got very carsick. (My aunt Joan said that my uncle Herb did not, but the others did.) The driving speed made no difference. My grandparents were heavy smokers; the cigarette smoke may have contributed to the car sickness.

Image by SPUI. Public domain. Available from Wikimedia Commons.

At one point, they stopped at a gas station to refill the gas tank and use the rest room. They then got back on the road. About an hour later, they noticed that Skippy was missing. He had been left behind at the gas station!

Of course they had to go back. My grandfather turned the car around and drove for another hour or so, until they reached the gas station. Skippy was there waiting, and he got back in the car with the family.

The Boe family definitely arrived in California by 1948. John and Margaret Boe appear in the 1948 Los Angeles, California voter registrations. They were living at 7815 S. Dalton Av. Their political affiliation was listed as DS. A blog post at Rootdig.com indicates that DS may mean "declined to state."

Index to Register of Voters. Los Angeles City Precinct No. 208. Los Angeles County, California, 1948. Ancestry.com. California, Voter Registrations, 1900-1968 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2008. Original data: State of California, United States. Great Register of Voters. Sacramento, California: California State Library.

Thankful Thursday: Flash

I am thankful that my little boy Flash became a part of my family. I had not planned on getting more cats, but when I found three abandoned kittens in my backyard in May 2014, I knew I had to try to save them. Unfortunately his two littermates died that week, but Flash survived. He is so affectionate. He sleeps with me and follows me around the house. He is secure and confident; he's not afraid of much, and when he is afraid, he faces his fears bravely. At a very young age, he became the alpha cat, dominating his four older adoptive sisters Jewel, Harmony, Melody, and Luna. He is very active and gets into everything. He is a huge presence in the house and I can't imagine life without him. He is such a special boy.