We Have a Halloween Capital - Who Knew

In the 1920's Anoka, Minnesota was the self proclaimed Halloween Capital of the World. In 1937, Howard Blair, 12 years old, a resident of Anoka, went to Washington DC and asked Congress to name his town the Halloween Capital of the World. The did so, and Anoka has retained that title ever since.

Remembering Halloweens past.

Homemade costumes are the best!

Masks they still don't fit right in the 21st century.

This is me in my cow girl outfit riding my red horse.

I have been enjoying the Halloween crafts and decoration that are featured in the blogs that I read, I think Autumn and Halloween might be my favorite time of the year.

Thrift Share

I escaped from the noise of the remodel and visited my local thrift store. The Goodwill had also renovated their store, the floor plan that I was familiar and comfortable with has been rearranged with most of the departments moving to different location in the store, but I managed to find a few things.

Unmarked ring and petal milk glass banana dish.

I envision colorful Shiny Bright ornaments sitting inside with a fancy red bow sitting on my kitchen table during Christmas.

At first glance, I thought this was a Rachel Ray garbage bowl that is sold at the box stores, but when I turned it over and discovered the TexasWare logo stamped on the bottom. Could this really be a Texas Ware confetti bowl? The price was right, so for, under one dollar, it came home with me.

Linking to:

Sir-Thrift-A Lot:  Thriftasaurus

A Living Space: The Nifty Thrifty

Me and My Shadow: Magpie Monday

We Call It Junkin: We Call It Olde Link Up

ColoradoLady: Vintage Thing Thursday

Thrifty Groove: Thrifty Things Friday

Have a Daily Cup of Mrs. Olson: Share Your Cup Thursday

Week One of the Kitchen Remodel

The remodel of the kitchen began on Tuesday. I have been told by many people that things get worse before they get better, I am looking forward to the better.

1. This is how my kitchen looked before the remodel.
2. Everything removed from my kitchen and ready for the work to begin.
3. Wood laminate floor removed, baseboards, stove, and some cabinets.
4. How could these pipes cause so much damage?
5. Original linoleum floor from 1972.
6. Sub floor installed and the start of the installation of  the porcelain tiles. 

One week down five more to go.

Life in the Panama Canal

The last of the story of Kitty and Minnie life in the Panama Canal and after.

Aunt Rosie's story continues...

The first order of business was to go to the commissary to purchase a sewing machine and some light weight material for tropical clothes.

The housing consisted of square cement blocks made into an oblong building with no windows, just jalousie blinds (a window blind or shutter constructed from angled slats of wood). There was a wide front porch on each building. The kitchen had no cupboards, just hanging shelves, so the ants and other bugs could be kept away. Everything had to be tightly stored at all times.

The clothing spaces were all fitted with electric lights, that were kept on day and night, to prevent mildew.

The reason for this simple structure was that as the Canal progressed from east to west, the workers and their families had to move along too.

Since the only things the workers owned were their own personal belongings, it was no great chore to pack up at twenty four notice and be down at the railroad station at a given hour. This railroad runs the length of the Canal, fifty miles.

Post card sent home to family

 Kitty told me that as they were pulling out from the station, they could look back and see the houses being blown up so the canal could continue. 

They arrived at the next stop to settle into the same kind of housing.

The Halligans lived in the Canal Zone until 1924. They raised and educated the family there. One rule was mandatory, government workers, must leave the Canal Zone for one month each year and go to a more temperate climate. That usually meant going home to Toledo, Ohio.

It was while living in the Zone that Margaret, Mary, Alice, and Catherine all met their husbands. Catherine the eldest met her husband when he came to supervise the railroad and later became its director. Catherine had a number of children born there. Upon her husband's retirement, they went to live in New York state in a town named Malone after her husband's people. 

The family was living in the Zone during World War 1, so the girls who were becoming young ladies were pressed  into service whenever a troop ship or hospital ship came through the Canal. It takes, or did take at that time twenty four hours to go through.

Under close supervision, they helped to entertain the men, and in the case of the wounded, they would light their cigarettes for them. My cousin, Mary, became a confirmed smoker.

Only girls of good morals and respected families were permitted at the Officer's Club. Margaret, who was an accomplished musician, was much in demand to entertain. Catherine, who had an excellent soprano voice often was called upon to sing. Mary was the most popular, though not a musician, she had a sparkling Irish wit and could play cards with the men.

Photos taken in the Panama Canal

While we know that they were taken in the Zone,
we don't have names of the people in the photo.

Three of the Halligan sisters, how sad we don't know which is which.

Margaret met her husband when the Navy Midshipmen of Annapolis made their world cruise before graduating. Philip Lampert was a son of Congressman Lampert of Wisconsin. When Philip had fulfilled his obligations, he married Margaret and took her to live in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.

Mary came to Wisconsin to be with Margaret when her child was born, but unfortunately both mother and child died.

Mary met Philip's brother, Florian, who was in the road building business, and they married. They had two children and later retired to Florida. I know nothing more of them.

 When the folks retired from the Zone in 1924, Alice was twenty years old. She went to visit Mary in Oshkosh and met Philip who had been married to her sister. He was attracted to her and got permission to marry her. So two Lampert men married three Halligan women.

When Kitty and Tom retired from the Zone, they lived for a while in California, but Kitty did not like the earthquakes, so they came to Chicago where they were near to us.

Tom found employment in a roundhouse as he was a specialist in precision instruments. 

Tom had a peculiar fear of working on gloomy days. He would not show up for work on such a day. That was why he was found on the street in Chicago, a victim of a heart attack. He was taken to the morgue as an unknown for he carried no identification. Kitty, after waiting all night for him to come home, went to the police who took her to the morgue.

Kitty then went to Oshkosh, to live with Mary. She was there until her death.

My Aunt makes no further reference to my Great Aunt Minnie. I wonder what became of her? I'll have to find out.

So is the story of a sinking ship and life in the Panama Canal.

Added Friday, October 4, 2013 at 5:16 PM

Thanks to my cousin Ruth from the blog Dians Timpanalley I know what Great Aunt Minnie did after leaving the  Zone.

Minnie stayed with Peter and Kathryn Malone in New York or actually they lived in New Jersey and Minnie died in 1948 at Brooklyn, NY.

The Ship Finance Sinks

This is the continued story of Kitty and Minnie, my Great Aunts as written by my Aunt Rosie.

While waiting on board for the morning tide, a heavy fog surrounded the harbor. In the midst of this, another ship rammed the Finance amidship, and it began to take on water and sink. The family was in a panic and had to cling to whatever they could until rescued some twelve hours later.
Francis, the only son, was a babe in arms and suffered severely from exposure. The captain who happened to be in the same life boat as Kitty and her family told Kitty to throw Francis overboard as he wouldn't live or was already dead. Kitty was outraged and refused. Francis was very ill for awhile, but he recovered.

As I read my aunt's account of this harrowing event, I wondered how much was truth and what was embellishment to make the story exciting. After a Google search, I found some articles that proved that my Aunt's account of this event was very accurate. 

An article written by the New York Times on November 27, 1908 gives the names of the passengers that were on the Finance. On that list are Miss Mahoney, my Great Aunt Minnie, and Mrs. Thomas Halligan, my Great Aunt Kitty and mentioned were the five children.

This is an excerpt from the New York Times  November 27, 1908.  Article titled: Liner Sunk In Fog, 4 Person Drown.

Mentioned in the article again were the Aunts and children.

Read entire article, here.

I also found a story by Jeanne Flynn Stough, written in March 1984, titled: The Sinking of the Panama Railroad Ship Finance, as told by Catherine Halligan Malone, who was one of the five children of Kitty and Tom Halligan who was on aboard the Finance with Kitty and Minnie and her siblings.

Here are a few excerpts.

You can read that story in its entirety by clicking here.

My Aunt Rosie's story continues.

When they got to the life guard station, they asked Aunt Kitty what she wanted to do go back or go on.  She of course said she had no choice. Everything was gone from Toledo. What they had for luggage was at the bottom of the harbor, and her husband was waiting for her in Panama.

Since freighters were frequently going to Panama with supplies, they were booked very quickly, and Kitty and her family finally arrived in Panama, but not before a call at Port Au Prince where they were outfitted with more clothes. The children were dress in Middy suits and caps with H.M.S Victor on the band. Poor Tom was so happy to see his family, he quite overlooked the English labels.

The end of  Jeanne Flynn Stough article has a similar ending.

Tomorrow I will complete the story of Kitty and Minnie and living in the Panama Canal.

The Ship Finance Headed To The Panama Canal

My visit to the Titanic museum, you can read that post here, jarred my memory about our family history written by my Aunt Rosie, and a sinking ship that had family members aboard.

Here is the story of Kitty and Minie written by my Aunt Rosie. . .

Aunt Minnie, who was really baptized Mary, had a great desire to join "The Little Sisters of the Poor," and would have except for her sister Kitty.

When Aunt Kitty married Uncle Tom, they set up housekeeping in Toledo, not far from Grandmother's boarding house. That left Grandma short handed. So Minnie felt she had to stay on.

Aunt Kitty began her family right away and had a child as soon as possible after each. This left her not very well and quite worn out.

After the third child, Minnie decided it was her duty to help Kitty, which she did for the rest of her life. Kitty ended up with five living children Francis, Margaret, Mary, Alice, and Catherine, along with two children who did not survive.

After the French had given up the Panama Canal project, the United States took it over. A call went out for trained mechanics. The pay was good, plus fringe benefits, like free passage back to the States for two months of the year with pay.

Tom decided he would go to the canal and work in the machine shop. He was readily accepted and was soon on his way. This left Kitty and Minnie to carry on alone.

Life in the zone was very bleak at that time. Men were dying every day with the fever. There were coffins lined up against the side of the shops. The doctors went on rounds two or three times a day issuing quinine.

A postcard sent to family back in Toledo, Ohio

 Permission was granted, and Kitty saw it as her duty to join Tom, and began selling her household goods and packing what she could to take with her.  

They went by train to New York and boarded an old freighter called "The Finance." I do not recall whether it was spring or autumn, but I think it was autumn. 

Tomorrows post will continue the story of Minnie and Kitty's journey to the Panama Canal.

Titanic ~ Love the Movie and the Museum

I was fascinated when I saw the Titanic Museum in Branson, Missouri as we drove past it on 76 County Boulevard.

The museum is a two story building, built half scale in the shape of the Titanic. The museum is anchored, in water, to create the illusion of the Titanic at sea.

I like the fact that it was a self guided tour, so we were able to wander about the ship at our leisure. As we entered the ship, we were handed a boarding pass with the name of an actual Titanic passenger, and what class they were traveling. In the Titanic memorial room, the last stop of the tour, we found out the fate of our passenger.

Pauline Gibson was traveling with her daughter who was the famous actress, Dorothy Gibson.

The museum has four hundred artifacts and treasures, with twenty exhibit rooms, from the ship decks, to the halls, state rooms, photographic gallery, with many exhibits being interactive. Such as touching an iceberg or seeing how long you can keep your hand inside a bowl of water that is the same temperature as the water was the night the ship sank.

The Edwardian era Grand Staircase

Glamorous light fixture above the Grand Staircase

First class stateroom

Third class room

1912 telegraph equipment for sending passengers messages

The Memorial room

We ended our tour in the Memorial room anxious to find out the fate of our passenger. Pauline Gibson and her daughter Dorothy Gibson did survive. As I read about their lives after surviving the crash of the Titanic, I found that Pauline and Dorothy became Nazi sympathizers and moved to Germany. I was very disappointed and disgusted.

I enjoyed touring the Titanic museum, the tour brought up memories of my mother's Aunts story of a sinking ship and how they survived.

I will share part one of this story with you on tomorrows post.