Harriet: The Growing Up Years

Sometime after Mom's passing, I decided to go through the big family album that she had.  It was a newer album with newer pictures.  By newer, I mean it was filled mostly with her grand children.  My nieces, Tabitha and Yvonne were probably the inspiration for it.  There were a couple of old 8 x 10's in it, like the black and white family picture.  As I started going through the album, I removed all the hidden pictures behind the newer one on top.  I love doing that.  To this day, I leave the older picture in the frame that I am replacing with a newer, more up to date one.  A favorite thing is to look at all the old pictures when I open up the back of that frame.  April, at age one with her crazy hair and precious smile, Jason with his skinned knees and so cute that everyone thought he was a girl until he turned three, Mandy, with her blond hair wearing her strawberry bikini, Leah with a rubber duckie sitting in a tin tub with her crazy hair on top of her head grinning from ear to ear.  I like to stop and remember.  I like the warm feeling that floods my emotions when I see those memories.

I got off track a little bit... but that's what I was doing with the family album.  Examining each and every picture behind every sleeve.  I had taken all the 5 x 7's out of a tight spot and decided to reach my fingers in as far as I could to see if there was anything else there.  I felt a folded up piece of paper and when I pulled it out, this is what I found! A school paper from Mom's elementary school days!

A story Harriet wrote about the "Akron"

A little girl by the name of Harriet wrote this in August of 1931.  She was almost 7 years old.  What a treasure!!!  It was only a couple of months later that her daddy passed away... on her 7th birthday.

Sometimes I wonder if Mom showed this to me long ago... how did I know to look there, to dig in to that tight slot?  I have come across so many things.  Some I remembered having, others I knew I had but I didn't know their significance until I started the scrap book.

A little bit of history: The USS Akron (ARS-4) was a helium-filled rigid airship of the United States Navy that was lost in a weather-related accident off the New Jersey coast early on April 4, 1933, killing 73 of the 76 crew and passengers on board.  During its accident-prone 18-month term of service, the airship also served as a flying aircraft carrier for launching F9C "Sparrowhawk" biplanes. 

I also have a tag from a Kiddies Picnic at Buckeye Lake Park.  The picnic was sponsored by the Columbus Elk's, Patrol No. 37. The date was Saturday, July 8th, 1933.  A memory of the 8 1/2 year old Harriet.  Grandma must have written her name and address on it because it is written in cursive.  The address on the tag is: 726 W. Chapel.  That would be in Columbus, OH.  That must have been another very special day for her to keep that little piece of history.

I don't know much more about Harriet as she was growing up.  I know there were eight kids total in the family, not including the baby that died.  Mom had four sisters and three brothers.  Wow!  That must have been fun... sometimes, at least.  Mom loved coming from a big family.  She would have liked to have more kiddos herself.  

Random Thought: I would have loved to have had a sister!  I still would love to have a sister.  I envy my girls their close relationship.  April and Mandy are as tight as sisters can be.  I'm happy to have been able to give all four of my kids the gift of sisters and a brother... well J has three sisters, no brother.  They are all very close and that makes me happy.

As I remember different stories, I will share them.  It is very late right now and I am too tired to do a good job.  If I had to guess, I would say Russ was her favorite brother, if not her favorite sibling in all.  As far as sisters go, I would say Martha and Ruthie, the baby.  From what I can remember from Mom's stories, Mean ol' Aunt Lucy was always hard to deal with... at least where Mom was concerned. Lol  Aunt Oma got married shortly after Grandpa died.  I'm not sure if they were close at all.  Oma was nine years older than Harriet.

Top Left- Lucy and Russell, Top Middle- Lucy, Top Right- Oma, Middle- Harriet, Bottom Left- Wyatt, Middle- Mary (Grandma Salyards), Right- Ruth.  Second Page to the far Right is Martha holding her nephew Russ.

 I will talk about some of the other pictures at a later date.

Harriet: Best Friends, The Boyfriend and Artistic Talent

I wonder what it was like to be Harriet's best friend.  I call her Harriet because, as I learned more and more about my mother and her life, I got to know a young woman by the name of Harriet.  With all the hours I researched and dreamed, I feel like I only got to know her a little bit.  I am envious of her best friend, Mary Jo.  I wonder what they whispered about, covered their mouths with their hands and giggled about, the heart breaks they shared and cried about.  Did Harriet cry when Ernest broke up with her that first time when he found out how young she was?  Did she run to Mary Jo's house and fling herself on the bed and cry and cry and cry till the tears were all gone.  Did Mary Jo make her laugh and give her hope that one day, if he was the right one, he would come back?  I bet she did, because that is what best friends do. 

Harriet at age 16 and Mary Jo. Bottom left, Harriet and Clara.

Harriet must have been 16 when she met Ernest Ely.  They were double-dating.  Harriet was with another guy, and Ernest was dating one of her best friends.  I can't remember which one, but I don't think it was Mary Jo or Clara.  Ernest became quite smitten with Harriet that night.  She was a beauty, as you can see from the picture above.  Ernest told Harriet after the double-date that he wanted to start seeing her.  I believe she told him he would have to talk to her friend about it first.  Can you imagine having your girlfriend think you stole her boyfriend?  Apparently, things were not serious between the two of them, from either set of eyes, so it worked out.  He broke things off with the other girl and dated only Mom.  Harriet and her friend remained friends with awkward moments.  Ernest and Harriet happily dated, that is, until he found out she was only 16.  Then he dumped her and ran!  From what I understand, it was quite abrupt. Maybe it wasn't quite that traumatic, but he did quit seeing her.

A random memory: Notice the lipstick.  I am sure it was red.  As a little kid I remember mom getting up at 5:30 am to fix Dad's breakfast and see him off to work.  She would get out of bed, brush her hair and put on her red lipstick.  Every morning.  And when he came home of an evening, guess what?  Yep!  The lipstick... and neatly dressed with her hair in place and make-up on.  No wonder my girls and I are so vain!  We come by it honestly.  You will never catch us in Walmart without our make-up, neatly dressed, hair in place and without lipstick or lip gloss.  Well... maybe if there is a sick baby. 

A few months later Ernest and Harriet ran into one another on a bus, at a bus stop... something like that, in downtown Columbus.  They began to talk.  I'm sure Harriet looked irresistible and Ernest very handsome.  He was six years older than her, after all.  An older man.  And he worked out.  Dad was Buff, as they say.

He used to be able to cross Eckel's Lake on these rings... which was a right of passage in the day.

This is a picture I found on a fan page for Eckel's Lake.  It is probably from the 70's.

The rest is history.  They started dating again.  Harriet was a senior in High School.  One of her teacher's liked to give her a hard time about her work.  Anybody who ever knew Harriet would tell you she knew how to stand her ground and she was certainly a force to be reckoned with when she got in a mood.  One day she just had all she could take, or all she decided she wanted to take, and she told her teacher in no uncertain terms that she wanted to get married anyway.  She walked out and went home.  She quit South High School in January or February of her Senior year and ran off to Greenup, Kentucky with Ernest and got married.  February 7, 1942.  And she lied about her age.  The marriage announcement in the paper said that she and Ernest were both 21.

Fun Fact:  I was talking to my Aunt Mary ( Dad's younger sister, Mary Louise Ely) a few months ago and she told me a story I had never heard before.  Apparently, Dad was going to marry another young woman at one point.  She was underage also.  They were going to run off to get married and her parents put a stop to it, or they did run off and her dad caught up with them and stopped it from happening.  Apparently, Dad was pretty tore up about it for quite awhile.  That may be why he was so gun shy when it came to Mom's age.  Just a thought.  I did find a picture of Dad with his arm around a blond headed girl in one of Grandpa Ely's wallets.  I wonder if that is her.  Aunt Mary said this happened quite awhile before he met Mom.

Opps!  I've jumped ahead of myself.  There are sisters and brothers and other family members that wind through this tale of Harriet's life.  And did I mention that she was quite the artist?  Here are some samples of the art work of a young high school girl in Columbus, Ohio, in the depression era.  The sisters will have to wait until my next post.  Then it is Dad's turn.

The picture on the bottom right is a self-portrait of Mom that Harriet and Ernest drew together.  I wonder where they were at the time.  A park bench?  Inside her home at the kitchen table?  Her home was more commonly known as Grand Central Station.  Lying beside each other under a tree by a lake?  I don't know.  I didn't ask.  Funny how that works.  Ask.

A random memory:  During my first visit to New York City about ten years ago, my best friend, Karen, and I found ourselves in Grand Central Station.  I remembered then how Mom referred to her home growing up as such.  With eight kids and their friends... I'm sure it was just that!

Next time:  More about the Salyards family.  The "sisters"  and brothers and Aunts, Uncle's and Cousins.

Keepers

"Their marriage was good, their dreams focused. Their best friends lived barely a wave away. I can see them now... Dad in trousers, work shirt and a hat, and Mom in a house dress, lawn mower in one hand, and dish-towel in the other. It was the time for fixing things: a curtain rod, the kitchen radio, screen door, the oven door, the hem in a dress. ...Things we keep. 

 

 It was a way of life, and sometimes it made me crazy. All that re-fixing, re-heating leftovers, renewing; I wanted just once to be wasteful? Waste meant affluence. Throwing things away meant you knew there'd always be more.

 

 But when my mother died, and I was standing in that clear morning light in the warmth of the hospital room, I was struck with the pain of learning that sometimes there isn't any more.

Sometimes, what we care about most gets all used up and goes away, never to return. So..... While we have it, it's best we love it... And care for it... And fix it when it's broken... And heal it when it's sick.

This is true: For marriage... And old cars... And children who misbehave at times... Dogs and cats with bad hips... And aging parents... And grandparents. We keep them because they are worth it... Because we are worth it. Some things we keep, like a best friend that moved away or a classmate we grew up with.

There are just some things that make life important, like people we know who are special... And so, we keep them close!

Happy Mothers Day!

Mom and me when I was about 3 years old.  I have memories of this day.

 

Mom's last summer ~ Alcoa Pool ~ Summer of 2010 ~  It was a good one, and she liked it!!! :)

 

I Miss You, Mom !

Harriet Jane Salyards

Once Upon a Time there lived a Beautiful Princess...

Harriet Jane Salyards - Age 16

Harriet Jane Salyards was born on October 2, 1924, in Columbus, Ohio, to Wyatt Johnson Salyards and Mary Grace Miller Salyards.

Wyatt Johnson Salyards with Oma, and Mary Grace Miller Salyards

The original of the picture of Mom above is an 8x10 that Mom gave to Dad shortly after they were married.  The inscription on the picture in Mom's handwriting says, "Your Ever Loving Wife Harriett.  Yes, Harriet is spelled with two t's on the portrait!  Somewhere along the line Mom decided she preferred that spelling over the spelling on her birth certificate.  Even her gravestone, which she had partially engraved when she ordered Dad's headstone, has Harriett with two t's.  It wasn't until the last year or so of her life that she insisted Harriet be spelled with one t.  She would get so aggravated that her checks, insurance cards, mail, just about everything had her name spelled with two t's.  Of course she wouldn't believe any of us when we tried to tell her that it was all her doing  It was funny!  She would not have been happy at all with her headstone.  Then again, that is the spelling she used the entire time she was with Dad.

A few facts and oral history:

• If I remember correctly, Mom was named after her Grandmother Harriet Jane Johnson who passed in 1923, the year before she was born.  
• Mom's dad died on her seventh birthday.  Mom talked about it often.  I don't know exactly what happened, possibly a heart attack.  Whatever it was, I believe he got sick quite suddenly and was dead within a couple of days.  I remember Mom saying that he had come home from work feeling very bad one day and that he went to bed and didn't get back up.  Grandma was left to raise eight children on her own.  Oma, the oldest, was 16 and Ruthie, the youngest, was 3 months old.   Oma married shortly after her father's death, and Ruth went to live with friends for a couple of years so that Grandma could work and get her footing.  I don't remember the name of the couple that took Ruth in.  I know that they were friends of the family, had no children of their own and they lived a couple of hours away. 
• Mom had eight siblings.  A little boy (Wyatt Johnson Salyards, Jr.) died around the age of two before Mom was born.  No one seems to know for sure what happened.  I remember Mom and Aunt Lucy talking about it a few times.  There was a story about their dad coming home from work and the baby jumping into his arms and dying.  Apparently it wasn't something that Grandma talked about very much.

Wyatt Johnson Salyards, Jr.

• Here is some additional information from my cousin, Dawn Gatton, about Wyatt Jr.:

         Wyatt Johnson Salyards
         Ohio Death Certificate has Salyards spelled wrong – they have him as
         Wyatt J Salwards Jr.

         Ohio Death Certificate #27856

         He had been seen by J. E. Kershner M.D. from May 1, 1922 to May 9, 1922.
         The Dr. last saw Wyatt alive May 8, 1922. Wyatt died at 10 PM on May 9, 1922.

         Wyatt is buried in Union Cemetery (in Columbus, OH), Lot 88, Section 1915,
         5th space from the North West Tier. The undertaker was Glenn L. Myers.

         There is no marker.  

         

• When Wyatt Sr. died, Mom said that his brother, Jack (I think), came to visit Grandma and let her know that he was not going to help her financially and she might as well put the kids in an orphanage.  Grandma told him that the good Lord gave her the kids, and the Good Lord would help her to take care of them.  Mom said that he was really mean.  He was a preacher, but apparently not a nice person.  Mom said his wife was very sweet.

• Mom said that her dad used to buy her Bi-Lo baby dolls.  She had several.  She said she didn't think they could really afford it, but every now and then her dad would bring her home one.  I don't know if they were normally birthday gifts, or what.  Mom loved her Bi-Lo dolls and she kept them for years.  She had them packed in a chest in her mom's attic.  One day, two of her nephews (Oma's boys) Albert and Harold Spang went up into the attic and took hammers to the dolls heads.  They destroyed all of them.  Mom was fit to kill.  If Grandma had not stopped her, she said that she would have killed them.  This may have happened when Mom was living with Grandma after Ernie was born.  Dad was still in the Navy then.
• The picture below was taken by a photographer when Mom and her brother Russell were out playing one day.  In those days photographers went door to door.  Mom knew her mom wanted to have their picture taken, so when the photographer came around Mom and Russ let him take their pictures... dirt and all.  It wasn't exactly what Grandma had in mind for their pictures, but she bought them anyway!  From what Mom said, Grandma was fit to be tied! This picture was taken in 1929.  At the time, Mom lived at 40 East Engles St., Columbus, OH, and was five years old, or close to five.

Harriet Jane Salyards - Age 5

• Mom's brother Keith lost an arm due to a train accident.  Keith and his dad were walking home from somewhere and they had to cross a train track.  Keith was too close to it when a train came by and his arm was sucked under the train and severed.  Mom said that her Dad always blamed himself for the accident.  I wish I could remember the details better!  Mom used to tell stories about how Keith could do anything with his one arm that other people did with two.
• According to Aunt Murt (Mom's sister, Martha), per my cousin Dawn, this is what happened as far as the train accident goes: Mom told me that Grandpa and Keith had gone down to the RR track to pick up coal that would fall off of the coal cars. A train went by and Keith’s arm was taken off. I don’t know if he fell or was picking up coal too close to the track. It would be interesting to hear what Aunt Ruth heard. It is interesting how siblings remember things differently.

  The picture below is a list of all of Mom's siblings as well as Spouse and Children:

This picture is of Mom with Grandma and all of her sisters:

Back Row Left to Right: Lucy and Martha (Murt) Front Row Left to Right: Harriet, Ruth, Mary, Oma

Pages 2 and 3

First Things First

Ernest Charles Ely, Sr

I remember Dad talking about this picture to someone who had come to our house.  When asked why he had his picture taken with his Bible, he replied that more than anything else he wanted to be remembered for his love of the Lord, his Savior Jesus Christ.  I have paraphrased that according to my memory, but it is pretty close to his actual response.

At the time I was growing up I did not always realize what great parents I had.  I took them for granted.  Like any kid, I often disagreed with limitations that were put on me.  I would get frustrated at dad's seemingly never ending sermons, not being allowed to play cards (they were the devil's deck), not being allowed to wear "hot pants" or bikini swimsuits.  Lol... he had a sermon for everything!  I remember one time when I was very little, maybe four because both of the boys were still living at home, Ernie and Craig decided to aggravate dad by walking through the house singing the Beetles song, "I Love You Yeah Yeah Yeah".  I joined them.  My brothers could do no wrong... EVER... and I was always on their side.  Except when they took me by the arms and legs and swung me on the couch so they could hurry and run out the door and leave for somewhere without me!  Anyway, sure enough, Dad heard the singing and we got a sermon!

When I was older and would complain about my life, Dad would shake his head tell me, "You don't know how good you have it."  He was right.  I had no idea.  In fact, as a young adult, I just took for granted that all men were like my dad; all men loved and provided for their families, were faithful to their wives, had high morals, and walked the talk they talked.  Not.  Since reaching adulthood, I realize more and more how very blessed I am to have been born into the family I was.  In retrospect, no child could ask for better parents than what mom and dad were to us.

In the front of his wallet, Dad carried this picture of Christ.  Since their faith was the most important aspect of both of my parents lives I chose this to be on the first page of the scrapbook.

                                                                                    

Let's Get Started!

 

Scrapbook Introduction

Contained within the pages of this scrapbook is the story of my family.  Most of what you will see took place before my time because it is mainly the story of my parents, Ernest Charles Ely, Sr., and Harriet Jane Salyards Ely.

When mom left our sight and passed on into Glory this past November 7th, I got the idea to scrapbook all the old pictures and memories that were tucked away here and there and everywhere.  Afraid of losing these precious memories with time, or forgetting where I had safely tucked them away, the safest solution was to put them all in one place, and in such a way that they could be enjoyed by our family for generations to come.

My parents have a wonderful and unique story to tell.  They lived through a very important time in our country’s history.  As children and into young adulthood, they lived through the Great Depression that began with the crash of Wall Street in October of 1929 and lasted through the 1930s, and into the early 1940s. 

In 1932, Franklin Delano Roosevelt won the presidential election by a landslide victory over incumbent Herbert Hoover. To aid in our country’s economic recovery, Roosevelt instituted his “New Deal.”  One program that was created as part of the “New Deal” was the “Civilian Conservation Corps,” also referred to as “Roosevelt’s Tree Army.”  I am proud to say that my father was a member of the CCC in Washington and Idaho; a fact I knew nothing about until I started my little project!  Dad was in Company 554, SCS-2 out of Pullman, Washington.  He worked with the Soil Conservation Service planting trees and doing other various jobs to stop soil erosion.  I have some old pictures from a photo album of Dad’s that are marked “Oregon 1936”.  I only have records to validate that he was a member of the CCC in 1938, in Pullman, Washington and Lewiston, Idaho.  Craig remembers Dad telling stories of how he worked on the “Oregon Trail” to make it a paved road that could be used by cars.  I don’t have any proof of that.  It appears that the year was written down incorrectly on all the pictures of Dad’s CCC days, they all say 1936.  The postcards I have all say 1938, and coincide with the dates stated in his official papers.  My thought is that whoever made the photo album got the year confused.  However, I used the original captions for authenticity.

What a fabulous program the CCC was, and what a wonderful job these young men did for our country, as well as for their families that desperately needed the additional income to survive.  Of the thirty dollars they earned each month, twenty-five of it was automatically sent home to their parents.  These young men built many of our National and State Parks, and countless other attractions that we all enjoy, and most of us take for granted.  I hope you will take the time to research and learn more about the CCC, and what my father, Ernest, and many other young men like him accomplished during those years of economic recovery in our great country.  Next time you go camping, or hiking, take the time to reflect on the young men that made it possible and send a prayer of thanks their way.

On December 7, 1941, the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor brought the United States into the Second World War.  The generation of young men who joined the CCC, were ready and well equipped to fight for our country.  My father was one of them, also.  He joined the Navy on October 5, 1942, just three days after my mother’s 18th birthday, and eight months after their marriage.  She, in turn, went to work at Curtis-Wright, where Dad had worked previously to joining the Navy. 

It’s funny, all those times I studied WWII in school, I never associated my parents as having a significant part in history.  They were just my parents.  I never realized until now that my mother was one of the women who took one of the many jobs left empty by men going off to fight for our freedom.  I never realized or appreciated the sacrifices either one of them made, so that the family they would later raise, could have a brighter future.

Our interesting family history doesn’t stop here.  The 1960s brings us into the spotlight once again.  The Sixties was the era of Vietnam, “Free Love,” The Beatles, the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963, and then of Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968, to mention only a few.  Some of these events are my earliest childhood memories.  Our parents were the blue collar version of “Ozzie and Harriet.”  In addition, my brother, Ernie, was a hippie in San Francisco, and my brother, Craig, dropped out of school and joined the Navy on his seventeenth birthday, and did three tours in Vietnam.  Oh yeah, and I was the little sister that looked on and tried to absorb everything going on around her, but that’s another story.

               I proudly present to you, my parents: Ernest and Harriet Ely.  This is their story....

Memories

I am so thankful for my memories and even more so that many of my memories are good ones.  I am fortunate and I know that.  While I can, I want to share some of our more recent family history.  My starting point is with my parents, Ernest and Harriet. 

Shortly after my mom passed away on November 7, 2010, I began a scrapbook on the life of my parents.  I have a lot of old pictures, postcards and other memoirs that my parents had saved over the years.  I decided the best way to preserve them and their history was to put as many as possible in the same place. I was determined to tell their story with the limited knowledge I possessed.  I had no idea how many hints would jump out at me as I read the backs of old pictures and postcards.  I ended up doing many hours of research based on little tidbits of information I came across.  New clues jumped out at me endless times from unexpected places and I learned SO much about my parents lives!  I am so excited about my discoveries!  The more I learned, the more questions I had, the more research I found myself doing... the more I learned.

To most of us, when we are growing up, our parents are just our parents.  We do not really realize at the time that they have a life, an identity, outside of being just "mom and dad," and that they have a history... a story worth knowing and sharing... a life worth remembering.

This blog may end up being a mind map of sorts, and a crazy one at that, because my mind is an organized mess after all!  I'm sure some posts will be very random and others may really make a lot of sense.  What I hope to accomplish is to introduce you to my family, and your family if you are a family member.  My only regret is that I did not ask more questions when mom and dad were with me... and that I did not listen better when they told stories of their past.  Ask questions of those you love... listen to the stories you have heard all of your life over and over and over again...  Really listen, write them down, record them... remember!  When we lose a loved one, we lose their memories and a part of our history if we did not take the time to listen...

I hope you enjoy listening to my memories...