My Grandpa; Night Barn Man from 1946 - 1954!

I scanned this in today. I have a few paper items and old photos yet to scan, which I borrowed from my Dad last fall! I'd forgotten about them.

This is a letter of recommendation for Mr. JG Williams, dated April 26th, 1954.

Click on it to enlarge. I find it fascinating that the dairy, which took over Crystal Dairy, still used HORSES to pull their milk carts! Unbelievable! What a sight that would have been.

The dairy was located at 1803 Commercial, and I checked out Google map last night, and discovered the original building is still there! I will post more photos later as I scan them in.

That's my Grandma's writing on the letter above; she always liked to mark things.

Mother's Day 2013

We took my sweet Mom out for dinner at Knight and Day, her favourite place for Sunday brunch! We also gave her a pretty blue nightgown and Lily of the Valley lotions from Crabtree and Evelyn.

Here is my Mom, Susie Williams.

And here is my husband, Robert, and my Dad, Jack Williams.

(thought I'd mention them by name for new family members which may find my blog)

The buffet is yummy; salads, breakfast items, sweet and sour pork, salmon, roast beef, pasta, rice, potato, fresh fruit and dessert. Drinks are extra. We've been going to this location since the 1970's so it goes back a very long way! The food is delicious. It's now $20.95 for special brunches on Mother's Day, and $18.95 for seniors. Alas, the waitress asked if we were all seniors. Ack! Should we say "sure" the next time we are mistaken for seniors? What is a senior exactly?

More about Nellie Williams, my paternal Grandpa's first wife.

In this post, I wrote about how I found someone online who said he had copies of my Grandpa's first wife, Nellie's death notice and that of her first son. Today I received them in the mail! It was a very exciting moment for me. I found this volunteer, Garth Ulrich, by noticing his name on the picture of Bigstone Cemetery at the GenWeb SK project.

 I Googled his name, and discovered a link to contact him.

You really never know where things will lead you when you first set out to learn a new hobby!

The notice above is for the little boy, Harry Williams, my Dad's 1/2 brother, first born son of John Griffith and Nellie Williams. I assume that little Harry is buried with his mother in Spalding SK, in the Bigstone Cemetery.

And here is Nellie's death notice, but alas; no first name and certainly no maiden name! However it gives the date of her death which is helpful, and states she was born in Wales. Subtracting her age of 38 from 1926 I get 1888 as the year of her birth. It also states "13 days" so does that mean that her birthday was on December 24th, 1888? 

It must mean that, because if she turned 38 on Dec 24, and if you add 13 days, the date of death is January 6. I will next try searching for her birth in the free BMD for Wales online. I've found my Grandpa there, but only because I know his actual date of birth and his surname.

Anyhow, this was a very exciting day for me! I'm so glad to have found these clues about Nellie.

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all sweet moms the world over!

My son Matthew took me out for a delicious dinner last evening at a little Thai restaurant on Main Street. I'd never tried Thai cuisine before. It was very tasty and very nicely presented.

I also loved the colour of the walls; I'd like to paint our kitchen this hue. What do you think?

Yummy!

We had chicken and noodle dish, sticky rice, curry duck and red snapper.

Thanks so much, Matthew!

Last Thursday it was such a lovely warm day, I went with Matthew to his work.

He loves to get off at Main Station and walk along the S side of False Creek to Granville Island.

It's a great way to stay in shape, as Matthew doesn't really walk, he trots at a brisk pace.

We got to GI in 40 minutes.

Science World, opened in 1986 for the Expo Vancouver World's Fair, has undergone some sort of transformation and is looking quite wild these days...

The new walkway along False Creek. This would be a great place to bike, too.

That's the new BC Place roof to the right, another transformation of sorts...

My purchase at Dusa's, lovingly paid for by Matthew, my dear son.

Their cheese is divine. This time I tried garlic goat cheese with rosemary crackers. Oh my!

Walking back to the bus, look what I saw! This is the first time I've been this close to them.

Aren't they just darling?

I had a wonderful day and another nice day yesterday, and another one today with my Mom.

However, Robert has those photos in his i-Phone.

An 88 year record breaker!

All my tulips are blooming and about to wilt in our 28 C heat wave here in Vancouver!

It's an 88 year old record breaker, meaning there hasn't been an early May heat wave here since 1925!!!

No wonder I couldn't remember it. That was before my Dad was born.

It feels so weird. That's around 90 F! 

I had to put the sprinkler on yesterday or the flowers would die and shrivel up.

The grass also will start looking strange. It was uncomfortable sleeping last night so at 2 am I headed downstairs for the couch. It's much cooler at night in the lower level.

I took these photos on Saturday in the cool of the morning.

I haven't made anything new for poor neglected Chatty Cathy in a while.

What I do make I sell, so my dolls are rather neglected.

If you live in British Columbia, stay cool and use sunscreen!

MYSTERY PEOPLE

My genealogy research has now become even more mysterious.

Tee hee...you know I love a good mystery!

Jacqueline V my second cousin, has sent me emails of all these old photos, found in her Dad's (Sydney Palmer) collection. We don't have any idea who they are, but assume they may be relatives.

I really love the one above and wish I knew who they are!

Robert did a little researching and discovered that the symbol on the man's left sleeve has a meaning:

The crossed flags mean he is a signaler and the crossed rifles mean he is a marksman.

Does this mean he was involved in WWI?

I love the lady's hat!

This photo was very spotted with age, so I removed them as best I could and brightened it.

I wonder who these 3 young women are, and where are they? 

I would date this photo as being in the mid 1920's. The skirts are nearly up to the knees and they are wearing cloche hats. 

Jacqueline and I believe this may be Herbert Palmer's 2nd wedding photo.

He re-married May in 1942. At this point in time I don't know her maiden name.

I've emailed their daughter, Veronica, and asked and am waiting for a reply.

If this is May, that might be her parents to her left, on the right of the picture.

Oh, I do wish that people would have written names on the back of these photos.

How helpful that would be!

Emma Cork Palmer, my GG Grandmother!

I'm still working my way through my Dad's photos, scanning them in.

I'm amazed that I never noticed these photos before, but when you're in your 20's you are only concerned about yourself. Then you meet a spouse if you're fortunate, and begin a family, and for about 20 years you are only interested in your own family!

Then things wind down a little and you come up for air and think "Why did my ancestors leave England and Wales and move to the prairies of all things?" and life gets interesting.

I'm amazed and grateful that I actually have so much to work with.

I feel quite satisfied with all the organizing I can work on each week.

I'm currently adding the photos to a Facebook genealogy group, which I began this past weekend, for the Williams and the Palmer clan. It helps to keep everything in one place.

I cropped the photo above, and brightened it a little.

This is Emma Cork Palmer, born on July 21, 1851 and died on April 17, 1931.

She married George Palmer, of glove cutting fame, on October 17, 1871 in St. James, Taunton, Somerset England.

One of her daughters, Alma, is with her. 

Emma and George had 13 children according to information one of my second cousins gave me.

Here is the photo untouched and with my Grandma, Alma May Williams' handwriting.

On the back is this:

I believe it's my great aunt, Dorothy Palmer's handwriting.