ACCM: Fruitcake - Friend or Foe?

Fruitcake.

Fruit Cake.

Fruit + Cake.


No.


Mom used to make fruitcake for her side of the family every year. She would gather all the elements; the containers of horrible looking syrupy fruit, walnuts, the foil pans to cook and then mail them all in (across the entire country, I may add). She would spend a day - an entire day! - making these cakes. Every year, the answer was the same, "well, they all really enjoy it," "they're expecting my fruitcake." The amount of work she put in was, for me, watching from the sidelines, staggering.

I remember one year, we had an extra, and after a couple days, Dad used it as a door stop to unload the groceries into the car. No one would eat it, and being the practical man he is, he just found another use for it.  Pretty sure he was smart enough to remove it from the doorway before Mom got home from work.

I have no photos of these cakes. I cannot imagine any of us ever thinking at the time they were photo worthy. I'm not sure that Mom ever even ate them. She just made them, ritualistically, and sent them off. What the relatives in Alabama did with them, I'll never know. Sure, I could ask, but I'm just not going to open that Pandora's box. Just. Not. Going. To.

Not being a fan of any cake that includes a fruit, I always questioned the validity of cake combined with fruit. It's suspicious, in nature, and deserves hesitation at the least, before consumption. This even goes so far as to include the classics, such as strawberry short cake and Angel Food cake, which in my house, was always topped with whipped cream and fruit. The only exception is a nice chocolate confection with a few pieces of fruit as a garnish, but certainly not as the main attraction.

Admittedly, when I smell a fruit cake, it takes me back. Back to my Mom's blue kitchen, with her own sense of cluttered organization. It reminds me of the gingerbread cookies and other treats that usually came soon after. Floods me with memories.

There really is nothing like fruitcake.

Mom, ca. 1967
Personal archives of the author.

1940 Census: Use the Hype to Talk to Your Family

Two days ago, I was pleased to learn about my grandfather and his parents, aunts and uncles using new clues provided through the 1940 Census. I did not know that Grandpa was a hired hand on a neighboring ranch in Nebraska as a young man, I did not know that Great-Grandpa and Grandma rented their ranch, rather than owning it outright. Interesting little tidbits for my research. Nothing that was overwhelmingly surprising, just new small facts that could lead me down different roads in the future.

Naturally, I sent a quick email to my Mom and her siblings outlining the basics of what I had found. I knew they would have heard about the census release through the news, but also knew that none of them would stop to look it up for themselves. I'm the family genealogist; that's my job, and one I enjoy.

This morning, I received a reply from one of my Aunt's, who lives in Alabama. She informed me for the first time that our cousins have a family Bible, that Grandpa also worked on his uncle's ranch at some point, and a few other little pieces that I had never heard before. How could I possibly have been doing this for over a decade and not known there was a family Bible out there?  Even more, it's about a two hour drive from my house to the cousins who own it. Oh, my.

Lesson learned. It had just never come up. I have talked to this side of the family before about our ancestry, but it was years ago. What can I learn if I bring up the conversation again, asking new questions?

So, use the census. Look up your images, find your folks. And then share. Tell your family what you are doing, what you are finding. See if it will open up new doors for you, too.

Sunday's Obituary: John McGowan

"John McGowan, 49-year veteran of The News, dies


John R. McGowan, Sr., a composing room employee for The Birmingham News for almost 50 years and through whose hands some of the century's most important stories passed, died Wednesday. He was 67.
Mr. McGowan retired from The News in 1974 after 49 years of work. Beginning as a printer's devil (an apprentice), he worked his way up to copy cutter, the man who directs the flow of copy from the newsroom to machine operators in the composing room.
A native of Birmingham, he lived at 1237 Princeton Ave. SW. He was a member of Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church.
Funeral will be at 9:30am. Friday at the church with burial in Forest Hill, Elmwood Chapel directing. Rosary will be said at 8 tonight at Elmwood Chapel.
Surviving are his wife, Mrs. Georgia F. McGowan; four sons, John R. Jr., James W. and Patrick J. McGowan, Birmingham, and Robert B. McGowan, Georgetown, Ga., and a daughter, Mrs. Mary Frances Creel, Birmingham.
The family suggests any memorials be made to the American Cancer Society."

Born 9 November 1908 in Birmingham, Jefferson County, Alabama, to Patrick Henry McGowan and Elizabeth McNamara, John was the last of their ten children. He married Mildred Fratoddi in 1931, and lived in Birmingham his entire life. His children lovingly referred to him as "Big John".

HAM Radio: Brings the Family Together

Mom, up on the radio tower. Oct, '67.

As a child, I have very distinct memories of my parents HAM radio equipment. Tucked away in a nook of the house, just off the kitchen, was the "HAM Shack". For the longest time, I had no idea why we called it that.

My parents used HAM radio every day as a young couple, when my Dad was at sea with the Navy, and Mom was home in Alabama. Not only did they talk to each other, they connected other couples in their same situation, passing messages back and forth.

My Mom gained her knowledge from her father, Louis Heerten. She is the oldest child in the family, and they certainly had a very strong bond. My father was able to connect with his new father-in-law by working on radio equipment together.

Today, my parents are retired. Dad has the radio equipment up and running again for the first time in a long time. Mom tends to stand over his shoulder and listen in, even when she's pretending she's not.

D.A. Timberlake

Confederate Veteran Magazine, October, 1917
"D.A. Timberlake
The death of D.A. Timberlake at his home in Huntsville, Ala., on August 22, 1917, removes another from the fast-thinning ranks of gray.  Enlisting in the spring of 1861, he served throughout the war in Law's Brigade, A.N.V., as a member of Company F, 4th Alabama Infantry.  He was in many engagements and at Gettysburg he was wounded, captured and imprisoned; but he was again in active service at the close of the war.
Comrade Timberlake was a man of quiet and unassuming demeanor, of a retiring disposition, but possessing many friends.  He was married to Miss Minnie Duncan of Corinth, Miss., and five daughters survive him."
(genforum.genealogy.com/timberlake/messages/654.html.  Timberlake Family Genealogy Forum)

My maternal 3rd great grandfather was born June, 1833, in New Kent County, Virginia. By 1859 he was residing in Huntsville, Alabama and working as a tinner. He was held as a POW of the Union at Fort McHenry, Maryland and Fort Delaware, Delaware. Census records from 1870 - 1910 (excluding 1890) shows the Timberlake family in Huntsville, Alabama, and this is where he passed away. He is buried in the Maple Hill Cemetery, Huntsville, Madison County.

Marrying Martha Mildred Duncan between 1868-1869 in Tishimingo County, Mississippi. She was the daughter of William Lane Duncan and Rebecca Null. She was born around February, 1850 in Mississippi, and died 27 Aug 1928 in Huntsville. 

Together, they had five children... Brooksie, Ellen, Doris, Beulah and Olivia.