Workday Wednesday: Marshall & Bruce

Marshall & Bruce, 1906. Printing Trade News, v. 41 no. 3 (July 15, 1911): 44.

According to the history posted on the company Web site, Marshall & Bruce opened in Nashville, Tennessee on October 25, 1865 as a book bindery with equipment valued at less than $300, and they purchased a printing office in 1869.

Marshall & Bruce employed several members of my family. My great-great-grandfather William Morton Gatlin began working at Marshall & Bruce as a bookbinder in 1875, a year after his older sister Florence began working there (also as a bookbinder). Florence died in 1881, but William continued to work there until 1886, when he formed his own blank-book manufacturing and printing business, Jones & Gatlin, with Pryor Jones. By 1888 he had returned to Marshall & Bruce. In 1895 a fire destroyed the company's building, but Marshall & Bruce rebuilt within seven months.

In 1900 William's son Henry Brown Gatlin (my great-grandfather) also worked there as a bookbinder. He did not remain at Marshall & Bruce, but he worked as a printer afterward. William Morton Gatlin's wife's sister's son Barney Rood Hughes was also employed by Marshall & Bruce. He was an apprentice in 1906, a bookbinder in 1907, a ruler in 1908-1910, and a bookbinder in 1911.William Morton Gatlin remained with Marshall & Bruce through 1910, and then moved to Chicago, Illinois with his family. His son Henry, his daughter-in-law, and his grandson (my grandfather) were already living there.

According to "The Growth of a Nashville House" by "Man on the Road" [Printing Trade News, vol. 41 no. 3 (July 15, 1911): 44-45], company founders Andrew Marshall and J. H. Bruce kept their employees as long as they did their jobs faithfully and showed interest in their employees' welfare. The author of the article states that they probably had the most honest and loyal employees in the United States. My great-great-grandfather William Morton Gatlin clearly felt loyalty to his employers; he named his two youngest sons Bruce and Marshall.

Nashville, Tennessee City Directory, 1900

Nashville, Tennessee City Directory, 1903

Pandemic Influenza Storybook: Update

I have just been notified that my submission has been added to the Pandemic Influenza Storybook!  A more updated version of the book is available at http://www.cdc.gov/publications/panflu/index.html. The previous version, at http://www.flu.gov/pandemic/history/storybook, is apparently not being updated. My great-grandfather's sister Marie (Schneider) Illig's story is now included in the updated version, and can be read at http://www.cdc.gov/publications/panflu/stories/imtale_schneider.html.

Mappy Monday: English Civil War Map, 1642-1645

English Civil War map, 1642 to 1645. From Wikimedia Commons.

This map shows the areas of England controlled by Royalists and Parliamentarians in December 1642, December 1643, December 1644, and December 1645, and shows the dates and locations of battles.

My 10th-great-grandfather John Woodley, a yeoman from Widdington, Essex, England, died in 1644. When he wrote his will in 1644, he had one child, my 9th-great-grandmother Margaret Woodley, and his wife Bridget was pregnant. He was probably a fairly young man when he died. I wonder whether he participated in the Civil War.

Church Record Sunday: Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Board of Deacons and Board of Trustees, 1941-1943

The Bethlehem Star, v. 45 no. 6 (October 1941)

The October 1941 issue of the Bethlehem Star (a publication of the Bethlehem Lutheran Church, 58th and South Wells Streets, Chicago, Illinois) lists the members of the church's Board of Deacons and Board of Trustees for 1941, 1942, and 1943. Many members of my family were on these boards.

Board of Deacons, 1941
C.F. Dahlquist -  Carl Frederick Dahlquist, my great-grandmother's brother

Board of Deacons, 1943
Edw. T. Anderson - Edward Theodore Anderson, my great-grandfather
C. J. Dahlquist - Charles John (Carl Johan) Dahlquist, my great-grandfather; father of Carl Frederick Dahlquist; father-in-law of Edward Theodore Anderson and Fritz Arthur Gilbert

Board of Trustees, 1942
Reuben A. Anderson - Reuben Alexander Anderson, my great-grandfather Edward Theodore Anderson's brother

Board of Trustees, 1943
Arthur F. Gilbert - Fritz Arthur Gilbert, husband of my great-grandmother's sister Juliet Dahlquist; son-in-law of C. J. Dahlquist and brother-in-law of C. F. Dahlquist

52 Ancestors: #23 Kari Halvorsdatter Sønstebø

My 4th-great-grandmother Kari Halvorsdatter Sønstebø was born on 20 July 1799 in Bø, Telemark, Norway. She was the daughter of Halvor Eriksen Sønstebø and Kari Jorgensdatter.

Telemark county, Bø, Parish register (official) nr. 5 (1785-1815), Chronological list 1799, page 127. http://www.arkivverket.no/URN:NBN:no-a1450-kb20061208060283.jpg

On 21 October 1819 in Bø, Kari married Peder Jorgensen Bø, my 4th-great-grandfather.

Telemark county, Bø, Parish register (official) nr. 6 (1815-1831), Marriage records 1820, page 392. http://www.arkivverket.no/URN:NBN:no-a1450-kb20051011061290.jpg

Their first child, Jorgen (my 3rd-great-grandfather) was born on 13 February 1820, just four months after their marriage. They had two more sons, Halvor (born 31 December 1821) and Gregar (born 18 February 1826).

On 18 November 1845, Kari's husband Peder died. Kari married Ougun Halvorsen on 23 February 1847. At the time of their marriage, Kari was 48 and Ougun was 32.

Telemark county, Bø, Parish register (official) nr. 7 (1831-1848), Marriage records 1847, page 293. http://www.arkivverket.no/URN:NBN:no-a1450-kb20051011050331.jpg

Kari died in Bø on 11 November 1886 and was buried on 22 November 1886.

Telemark county, Bø, Parish register copy nr. 5 (1883-1897), Death and burial records 1886, page 175. http://www.arkivverket.no/URN:NBN:no-a1450-kb20061128060106.jpg

National Day of Sweden

Today is the National Day of Sweden. On 6 June 1523, Gustav Vasa was crowned king. On 6 June 1809, Sweden adopted a new constitution. In 1916, June 6 became Swedish Flag Day, and in 2005 it became National Day of Sweden, a public holiday.

National day of Sweden at Husby hembygdsgård. 6 June 2011. Photo by Calle Eklund/V-wolf. Available from Wikimedia Commons.

Links
The National Day of Sweden
Sweden’s National Day – June 6th
Sweden national day celebration June 6th!
The lowdown on Sweden's National Day

World Environment Day

Today is World Environment Day. Every June 5, the United Nations encourages people to take action for the environment and to raise awareness of environmental issues. One of this year's celebrations is taking place in Afghanistan's Wakhan District, the "Roof of the World,"  where a wildlife reserve is being established. The Teggermansu Wildlife Reserve will help to protect species such as snow leopards and Marco Polo sheep.

Far too many species have become extinct over the years, including two that some of my ancestors must have been familiar with.

Passenger pigeon (Columba migratoria). Louis Agassiz Fuertes. The Passenger Pigeon, 1907 (W. B. Mershon, editor).

The passenger pigeon was abundant in the nineteenth century; it was found throughout North America east of the Rocky Mountains. The birds traveled in huge flocks. Hunting and habitat destruction led to the passenger pigeon's extinction. The last passenger pigeon died in the Cincinnati Zoo on 1 September 1914.

Carolina parakeets (Conuropsis carolinensis). John James Audubon. 1833 engraving publication, from 1825 painting done in Louisiana.

The Carolina parakeet was found in the eastern, midwestern, and Plains states. It was the only parrot native to that region. The species is believed to have become extinct as a result of hunting and deforestation. The last known Carolina parakeet also died in the Cincinnati Zoo, in 1918.

George Gale and his workers cutting down the Giant Sequoia tree "Mother of the Forest" in Calaveras Grove, California. Harper's Weekly.

In 1853 and 1854, giant sequoias in California were cut down. After the felling of the "Mammoth Tree" and the "Mother of the Forest," newspaper and magazine articles expressed outrage, and the conservation movement began. In 1864, the Yosemite Grant Act was signed by Abraham Lincoln. In 1872, the first national park, Yellowstone, was established.

 

Lower Falls of the Yellowstone. William H. Jackson, 1871. Available from Yellowstone's Photo Collection, Jackson Photos.