Christmas Memories

The Christmas season is a feast for the senses: a freshly cut evergreen tree to decorate, the warmth of a favorite sweater, the tasty goodness of homemade cookies, the twinkling lights, the sounds of familiar carols. These things all remind me of my precious childhood memories…

Hiding under a pile of stuffed animals so that Santa could not spy on me.

Arguing with the big kids (2^nd graders) about the existence of Santa.

Extra helpings of my grandmother’s Snickerdoodles.

Creating works of art in school to decorate our family tree.

My surprised delight in finding a Barbie dreamhouse from Santa.

My mother helping us to bundle up just to play outside.

Long treks to the hills by our house to go tobogganing with my dad, brother, and dog (poor dog!). We always fell of the sled!

Christmas dinner with our Canadian grandmother.

Sticking out our tongues to catch falling snowflakes.

Building a giant snowman and snow forts in the frontyard.

My Christmas memories are inevitability intertwined with family and wintertime. It does not feel like Christmas until the temperature drops, there’s a dusting of snow on the mountains, and I am digging out my sweaters and old family decorations.

It’s time to go out and make new memories. Have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

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Mystery Mail from World War I Soldier

Mystery Mail from World War I Soldier The above postcard or carte postale is the oldest item in my grandmother's postcard collection. A W. W. Allen sent the card via soldier mail from Paris, France, to Mrs. Frank Bryant of Los Angeles, California. The front depicts an early 20th century street scene at the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. The message says, "Paris 4/13 [April 13th] - I'm having a short vacation and a wonderful time. W. Allen." Mrs. Bryant (nee Mary Ellen Ingersoll, 1862-1936), originally from Bloomington, Illinois, relocated to Los Angeles with her family in the early 1910s. She was my grandmother's grandmother. Mr. Allen is not a known relative. So who could he be? Perhaps he was a neighbor or a family friend. There could be another connection. There is a later postcard postmarked November 25, 1930, from Alice Allen of South Bend, Indiana, to Mrs. Bryant which starts wit...

John Burwell Family

I found a pair of Burwell sisters in the DAR [Daughters of the American Revolution Lineage Books] that I believe are my great-great-grandfather John W. Burwell's sisters. From Volume 14, p. 122 (for the year 1896): Miss Nettie B. Burwell ID No. 13326 Born in Illinois Descendant of John Burwell, of New Jersey. Daughter of Moses T. Burwell and Isabella Goodfellow, his wife. Granddaughter of John Burwell and Missouri Thorp, his wife. Gr.-granddaughter of Jonathan Burwell and Mary Comer, his wife. Gr.-gr.-granddaughter of John Burwell and ___ Lyons, his wife. John Burwell turned out in Capt. Stephen Baldwin's company, Col. Sylvanus Seely's regiment of Morris county militia, 1780, at Connecticut Farms, N.J. He died 1825. Mrs. Mary Alice Burwell Burns ID No. 13327 Born in Illinois. Wife of Luther Burns. Descendant of John Burwell. Daughter of Moses T. Burwell and Isabella Goodfellow, his wife. See No 13326. I believe that these women are John W.'s sisters for several reasons:...

Burwell House Hotel in Gibson City, Illinois (circa 1890)

GRAND OPENING OF THE BURWELL HOUSE A home thrown open to the "Boys," and the traveling public of which Gibson may justly feel proud. A host of invited guests from home and abroad partake of a banquet at 6 p.m. this evening prepared by J. R. Lott and wife the genial host and hostess. Who will always be found pleasant people. For some months, attention of our home people and visitors from abroad has been directed to the fine brick hotel being erected by Mr. M. T. Burwell, a well-known banker, real estate broker, and wealthy citizen. The hotel building is 26 x 160 feet, two stories high, and basement, built very completely with every convenience usual to a first class hotel, the whole structure costing about $15,000. To-day this hotel is opened to the public by Mr. and Mrs. J. R. Lott who formerly kept the St. Nicholas in this city, and who enjoy a wide reputation for keeping a first class hotel, and a hearty patronage in the past, together with...

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