Treasure Chest Thursday: Great Grandma Jessie's 1915 Common School Diploma

Jessie Luetta Halstead

A few weeks ago, one of my dad's first cousins, Ann, contacted me to see if my sister and I would like a couple of things that had belonged to our paternal great grandmother, Jessie Luetta Halstead Brittain. What a nice surprise! I thought that Cindy might like to have Grandma's silverware set, and I'm happy that she'll get to think of Great Grandma Brittain whenever she uses it.

I was most excited, however, that Ann had Great Grandma Brittain's Common School Diploma. I eagerly took Ann up on her offer to send it to me, and this is what showed up at my office a few days ago:

The document reads:

COMMON SCHOOL 

DIPLOMA

THIS CERTIFIES THAT

Jessie Halstead

has completed the regular course of study prescribed by the State

Board of Education of the State of Oklahoma and has passed

a satisfactory examination in all subjects of the Common School

Course and is, therefore, entitled to this Diploma which admits

the holder to any High School, State Normal School, the 

A&M college and all secondary colleges in

the State of Oklahoma.

Given at Oklahoma City this 5th day of May 1915

Grandma Brittain's test scores (pardon my obtrusive camera work...)

As you can see, someone had the diploma framed in double-sided glass, which was nice because Grandma Brittain's test results were recorded on the back of the document. I had a chuckle at her 70 score in arithmetic. My own former math teachers would agree that the apple did not fall far from this branch of the family!

Grandma Jessie was 16 years old when she passed her exams and received her diploma. I'm guessing that she and her family were very proud, especially since a lot of rural kids, especially girls, didn't complete their education back in those days. I don't know if she went on to high school, but she didn't marry my Great Grandfather, Andrew Lee Brittain, until after another four years, so it's entirely possible that she did continue her studies.

Grandma's diploma now hangs in my bedroom. I'm quite proud of her for her scholarly achievement -- mediocre math grade, and all!

Thanks again to Cousin Ann for sharing this treasure with me!

Treasure Chest Thursday: Great Grandma & Grandpa Madsen's Drop-Leaf Table

When I was growing up, one the pieces of furniture that was always around the house was this cute, little drop-leaf table that my mom was very fond of. I knew that it had been a wedding present for my great grandparents, Lars Hansen Madsen (Grandpa Louie) and his wife, Johanna Bruhns, but I didn't know its whole story until fairly recently.

Louie (1893-1971) and Hannah (1886-1965) married on April 4, 1917, in San Francisco, California. I don't know who gifted them this wonderful drop-leaf table, but it has remained in the family, mostly, ever since. A little over a year ago, when I moved into my current apartment, my mom told me that she remembered the table being in her family when she was a young girl. This means that Grandpa and Grandma Madsen must have given the table to their oldest daughter and my maternal grandmother, Donna Madsen Bartram (1919-1966). Mom said that the table, by that time, was pretty scratched up and not in the best of shape, likely due to the family moving around. However, she always loved the little table and had hoped to have it for her own, someday, when she got married herself.

Lars Hansen Madsen and Johanna Bruhns

At some point, after my Grandpa John and Grandma Donna were in a horrible car accident in 1959, and Grandma was in poor heath due to her head injury and other ailments, Grandma Donna's best friend, Marie, came to the house and took the little table away. Mom was understandably disappointed: it seemed that this piece of her childhood would no longer be hers. However, when my mom and dad got married in 1964, Mom got an amazing gift that she wasn't expecting: Marie had taken the table, but not to keep for herself. She'd had the piece refinished to its original glory and gave it to Mom and Dad for their wedding!

As I mentioned above, the table always had a special place in our various family homes when I was growing up, and I think I loved it just as much as my mom did. I was always careful not to scratch it when dusting the furniture, and I hoped that someday Mom and Dad would pass it down to me, perhaps as a wedding gift.

Well, the years have passed, I'm a middle-aged woman and I'm still not married (it's ok -- I'm quite happy as a single girl!). So, when I moved into my darling 1920s apartment -- complete with built-ins, original hardwood floors and brimming with character -- I knew that Great Grandma and Grandpa Madsen's drop-leaf table would be a perfect addition to my new home. One day, I gathered the courage to make my case to Mom: I may or may not ever get married, but I'd really love to have that table someday, and would she mind offering it to me as a house-warming gift? As luck would have it, she and her husband, Rodney, were already looking for a bigger piece of storage furniture, and the drop-leaf was taking up space where that new piece would go. So, they loaded it up in their pickup truck and brought it to me that very weekend!!

I see our family treasure every morning when I walk out of my bedroom and head down the hall to get ready for my day. It holds Grandpa John and Grandma Donna's wedding photo and a Christmas picture of my Mom, Aunt Brenda and Uncle Jimmy when they were very little (even before Uncle Clay was born). I need to have Great Grandma and Grandpa Madsen's photo framed and included on the table, in a place of honor among their family. But I think of them both often, and I think they would be happy that their great grand daughter still cherishes this lovely piece of furniture that was given to them as they started their own lives together nearly 100 years ago.

Treasure Chest Thursday: Grandpa John's 1939 Treasure Island World's Fair Rodeo Program

I've been looking for this for AGES!!! It's a program and day schedule for the 1939 Golden Gate International Exposition (aka World's Fair) World's Championship Rodeo at Treasure Island, San Francisco. But that's not all: the day schedule for Saturday night, May 13, 1939, lists my Grandpa John Bartram along with several of his friends!

I always knew that Grandpa and his brother, Dutch, rode in the World's Fair rodeo that year. He told us lots of stories about his rodeo adventures, and we have this photo of him riding in one of the World's Fair parades. But definitive and documented proof that he actually competed in any of the events had always eluded me.

Well, eBay to the rescue! Every now and then, I head over to eBay and search for books or other ephemera that might be related to my ancestors (you'd be surprised how many of my kin made it into various historical books). A couple of months ago, I got it into my head to search for "Treasure Island 1939 rodeo" and up popped both the rodeo program and the schedule for one of the days that Grandpa John and his friends competed. Of course, I snapped them up immediately!

In addition to listing Grandpa competing in the Brahma Bull riding competition, the day program also lists Uncle Dutch as one of the competitors for the whole event. There were several other exciting rodeo attractions on night of May 13, including the famous rodeo trick rider, actor and stuntman, Montie Montana, as well as rodeo clown and bullfighter, Homer Holcomb, and his Brahma Bull Chariot.

To add to my delight, my eBay seller lives in San Francisco, and has offered to keep an eye out for any other Treasure Island rodeo ephemera for me. I *wish* the program still cost only 25 cents, but I feel like I got a bargain just by finding this actual treasure!

Grandpa John, riding bronc in another rodeo

I was so excited to finally put this documentation with Grandpa's World's Fair parade photo. I was even more happy to show it to my mom and the rest of Grandpa's family.

Since coming across this amazing find, I've been digging even deeper for more information on Grandpa John's rodeo experience at Treasure Island. I subscribe to a couple of different online newspaper archives, including NewspaperArchive, and have now found further evidence of Grandpa competing in the rodeo, and being INJURED. Here's an article from the May 20, 1939, Oakland Tribune that mentions Grandpa John being gored behind the ear by the very bull he was riding, and being saved from further injury (or worse!) by the aforementioned rodeo clown, Homer Holcomb. Wow!

So, what's the lesson here? I think it's to not just rely on Ancestry.com and Google searches and other more obvious places to find documentation about our ancestors' lives. Start searching in more unlikely places like eBay, or even your local antique store. You never know what you're going to find!

Treasure Chest Thursday: 1949 School Sticker Card for William Lee Brittain

My adorable nephews started back to school this week, which reminds me that I have copies of several school-related documents from my parents and grandparents. This cute little sticker card belonged to my dad, William Lee Brittain (1942-2003). It shows that, in 1949, "Billy B." received motivational stickers for his accomplishments in good writing (three stickers!), reading and being a paper monitor. He also got a sticker for his "farm booklet" -- I would have loved to see that!


I'm guessing that he created the sweet artwork on this card, too. My dad always was very creative. And smart, too!!

I hope my sister, Cindy, shows this to the boys. I think they'll be tickled to see what their Papa Cow did when he was a little guy in grammar school.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Treasure Chest Thursday: Lars Hansen Madsen Naturalization Certificate

While virtually all of my dad's family history can be traced back to the 1600s and 1700s in America, most of my mom's family became Americans more recently. I'm finding it a bit difficult to locate some of the naturalization papers of my ancestors. For example, I know that my GGG grandfather, Claus Schlichtmann, was naturalized on September 13, 1877, in San Francisco. Well, I'm finding that the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and subsequent fire seem to have destroyed a good lot of documents that were held in San Francisco, including naturalization papers. Le sigh...

Meanwhile, I've had the good fortune of finding a copy of the actual naturalization certificate of my great grandfather, Lars Hansen Madsen, in my mom's files.

This document is chock full o' interesting information about Grandpa Louie (1893-1971), who was born in Denmark and immigrated to California in 1908. For example:

• I see that he was a 23 year old unmarried man when he was naturalized on March 9, 1917. In fact, he married my great grandmother, Johanna Bruhns, just a few weeks later on April 4, 1917.
• He had already started to anglicize his name from Lars to Louis. 
• He was all of 5 feet, 5 inches tall, and had a fair complexion, blue eyes and brown hair.
• He had no other distinguishing marks.
• He was naturalized in Alameda County, California. For some reason, I had been under the impression that he was naturalized in San Francisco, but I see that I was wrong on that count. 

I look forward to finding the naturalization papers for my other immigrant ancestors to see what else I can learn about them!

Treasure Chest Thursday: Baby Bill Brittain's 1942 Footprints, Hair and Hospital Bracelet

I wish I could give my Grandma Edith a huge hug and kiss for saving, well, everything! You may recall that I was visiting my Mom a few weeks back and she shared with me a bunch of photos and documents from her family as well as from my Dad's.

One of the treasures Mom had in her stash was a very special surprise for me: it was a collection of my Dad's, William Lee Brittain (1942-2003), two-month-old baby footprints, a lock of his hair from when he was three years old AND the bracelet that was tied around his wee baby wrist when he was born on October 28, 1942, in Hayward, California!











You can imagine how thrilled I was to see and touch these mementos from when my Daddy was just a baby! There were, of course, two footprints so Mom gave one to me and is giving one to my sister, Cindy, too (hope I didn't ruin a surprise!). Understandably, she wanted to keep the lock of Dad's hair and the hospital bracelet.

Thanks to both Grandma Edith and Mom for keeping these precious bits of history safe, all these years, for Daddy's girls to treasure!

William Lee Brittain at one month old (1942)

Treasure Chest Thursday: Grandma Donna's 1930s Text Book

Donna Madsen
school photo

A couple of weekends ago, my mom shared with me a HUGE collection of family photos and documents, many that I'd never seen before. For some reason, I also thought that she had some hand-written recipe cards from her mom and grandmothers, but I was mistaken. My query must have jarred her memory, though, because she disappeared into her garage for a little while and then came out with an envelope containing something I never expected to see: my Grandma Donna's circa 1935 high school home economics text book. It's in tatters, and the cover is missing, but the real treasure is inside. In addition to the text and lessons that were included in the book there are my grandma's handwritten notes, including a bunch of recipes!

Here are a few of the pages that caught my eye:

 This is the first page of the book. The cover is missing.

Rules for Work (below) 

Always have clean apron
Wash hand
Study recipe
Get utensils
Get supplies, measure accurately
Work quietly
Set table
Serve food
Stack dishes
Wash dishes
Leave kitchen in order

My mom and I had a good laugh over "Work quietly" -- nobody in our family ever mastered that rule.

 Coffee experiments

 Table Manners

(I love "Make the meal a pleasant one.
Do not talk about disagreeable subjects or your troubles.")

 

 

 

Recipe for Mayonnaise Cake

(in Grandma Donna's own handwriting)

Recipe for Mayonnaise Cake,
in Grandma Donna's writing

Lesson on "Food Nutrients"

You can see just how fragile the book is. It kind of scares me to handle it...

As I mentioned before, there are a whole bunch of recipes in this book that were written in Grandma Donna's hand. You can bet that some of these recipe's will be popping up in my upcoming "Family Recipe Friday" posts.

Treasure Chest Thursday: Great Grandma and Grandpa Madsen's Wedding Bowl

This beautiful porcelain bowl and silver serving spoon were given as wedding gifts to my great grandparents, Lars Hansen Madsen and Johanna Bruhns Madsen, on their wedding day: April 4, 1917. Lars (also known as Grandpa Louie) immigrated in 1908 from Risemark, Ærø, Denmark. Johanna was born and raised in Tracy, California. They were married in San Francisco, California, and made their home in and around the Livermore Valley, including the little towns of Murray and Altamont, which no longer exist. There, they raised three children: Lloyd Harold (b. 1918), my maternal grandmother, Donna Marie (1919-1966), and Rae Harriett (1921-2010).

As you can see from the tape on the bottom of the bowl, my Great Aunt Rae gave this bowl to my mom at some point (I'm not sure when because it had been proudly displayed for years in our home).

The other piece of tape illustrates a funny little family tradition my immediate family has: my sister, Cindy, and I somehow started putting our names on masking tape and "marking" the family heirlooms that we eventually wanted to nab. Now, we aren't at all the type of family who fights over the family loot. It's become a bit of a joke, really. For example, I've been known to "tag" an item that I know my sister covets, just get her hackles up (all in fun!). Or, she'll put my name on something she knows I detest. Mom once even put rolls of masking tape and markers in our Christmas stockings. That year, about 10 years ago, when my mom and dad's new Border Collie puppy came to live with them, I half-jokingly wrote my name on a big piece of tape and stuck it to cute little Blaise. I'll still claim her if Mom ever wants to give her up!



Of course, I was thrilled when Mom noticed how much I loved Great Grandma and Grandpa Madsen's wedding bowl and decided to bequeath it to me. I'm enjoying it now, and hopefully someday I'll notice that one of my nephews has discovered it and taped their own name to the bottom...

Treasure Chest Thursday: Dad's Elephant Matchstick Holder

This cute little elephant is an old matchstick holder that my dad, William Lee Brittain, purchased when he was a teenager. He was on a roadtrip with his mom, Edith Vivian Hunt Brittain, and grandmother, Jessie Luetta Halstead Brittain, from California to Oklahoma sometime in the mid 1950s. Grandma Edith and Grandma Jessie were both from Oklahoma, and they were headed there to visit family.

Along their way to Oklahoma, Dad picked up this little souvenir to bring to his dad, Woodie Leroy Brittain. Dad ended up with the elephant again as he grew up and, after he passed away in 2003, my Mom thought I'd enjoy it. It's ceramic, and the bottom is stamped with "Made in Japan."

Here's a picture of Dad, Grandma Edith and Great Grandma Jessie on their road trip. It looks like they were having fun!

Edith Vivian Hunt Brittain, Jessie Luetta Halstead Brittain, William Lee Brittain

Treasure Chest Thursday: Great Grandpa Louie's Candy Dish

I'm lucky that I got to know my maternal Great Grandpa Louie -- at least for a few years. Lars Hansen Madsen was my mom's maternal grandfather. As I've already written about him, he was born on September 24, 1893, on a farm called Bakkegaard in Risemark, Ærø, Denmark, and in 1908 he immigrated as a 14-year-old boy to Livermore, California. There, he met and married Johanna Bruhns and they raised three kids: my grandma, Donna Madsen, as well as their other daughter, my Aunt Rae, and their son, my Uncle Lloyd.

Since I was such a youngster while Grandpa Louie was still around, I don't have a lot of memories of him. I do remember delighting in his heavy Danish accent and that he was always very kind to us kids. And I think he delighted in having us around. Another thing I always remembered was that he had the prettiest little lidded porcelain candy dish, with two gorgeous and delicate gardenias on top, and that's where he kept his stash of butter mints. My sister, Cindy, and I inherited a powerful sweet tooth (perhaps from Grandpa Louie?), and we'd spend at lot of time with that candy dish whenever we visited him, admiring both its fragile beauty and the deliciousness it held inside.

Grandpa Louie passed away on May 8, 1971. I was only six years old, but I old enough to be sad to lose him. Mom inherited the candy dish and, growing up, it was always on display in the house and often filled with mints. Every now and then, Mom likes to gift Cindy and me with something that was special to her and to our family. A few years ago, I lucked out and got the candy dish. WooHOO! I kept butter mints in it for awhile, but never for very long because, well, I can't resist butter mints. Now, Grandpa Louie's beautiful little porcelain candy dish is the PERFECT place to store my small collection of double-pointed knitting needles. I'm sure he wouldn't mind. =)

Treasure Chest Thursday: Great Grandma Madsen's Knitting Basket

By now, I'm sure you've figured out that I'm more than a little obsessed with my family's history. My other mad obsession is knitting. I try to do it a little bit each day because it relaxes me (or, as I tell my co-workers, it keeps me from killing people...) and I've always enjoyed crafty endeavors. I didn't learn to knit from a family member. I ended up teaching myself because, as far as I knew, my mom and none of my older female relatives were knitters. Grandma Edith was a crocheter, but I'm just now teaching myself how to do that.

So, imagine my surprise a couple of years ago, when my Great Aunt Rae presented this wonderful gift to me:

Johanna Bruhns Madsen, 1886-1965

It was her mom's, my Great Grandma Johanna Bruhns Madsen, very own knitting basket! I DO have an ancestor who knitted. I never got to know Grandma Hannah because she passed away the year I was born, but I feel so much closer to her knowing that we share this skill. Aunt Rae said she was a pretty good knitter and seamstress but, sadly, we don't have any of the items that she had made in her lifetime. I like to think that some of her knitting prowess may have rubbed off on me. I hope she enjoyed knitting as much as I do!

Treasure Chest Thursday: Great Grandpa Andrew's Lady-Leg Spurs

Andrew Lee Brittain 1888-1954

If you've been following my posts, you know I come from cowboy stock. You've already seen my maternal Grandpa John's rodeo pictures and read some of his story. My dad's side were cowboys, too. In fact, most of my ancestors were farmers, so it makes sense that a lot of my family treasures and photos would have something to do with horses!

Today, I'm sharing with you photos of the spurs that were well-used by my paternal great grandfather, Andrew Lee Brittain. Andrew was born in Arkansas in 1888, grew up in Oklahoma and finally moved with his family to California in 1940. He died in Hayward, California, in 1954.

I believe that this picture of Andrew was taken when he was a young man in Oklahoma. It was certainly still the Wild West there: look at the dirt streets, building facades and wagon wheel in the background.

I love that these are "gal leg" or "lady leg" spurs.  You can see that the shank is fashioned to resemble a lady's leg, and there's a silver (probably nickel) overlay where the lady's shoe is at the end of the shank, surrounded by the star-shaped rowell (or, in layman's terms, the spinny part that digs into the horse when you want to giddy-up!). The maker also fashioned decorative spades and a diamond shape on the part that goes around the boot. My dad inherited these spurs from his Grandpa Andrew, and later hand tooled the leather guards that go around the front of the boots. I believe that he also added the sterling silver concho strap pins. I haven't shined up the sterling because, if I've learned nothing else from watching "Antiques Roadshow" all these years, I know that too much polishing can rub away the detail. =)

See the lady's leg? Pretty classy!

After my dad passed away in 2003, my mom thought I'd appreciate these treasures. She was right! I keep them proudly displayed with my dad's silver belt buckle and cowboy hat band.

Treasure Chest Thursday: An Actual Treasure Chest!

My very treasured chest from Grandpa John

For Treasure Chest Thursday, I thought it might be fun to share with you my favorite treasure chest!

This beautiful little hand-carved box was a gift from my Grandpa John Bartram (the bull rider from this post) to his mom, Alice Veale Bartram. Grandpa procured the box while he was on his trip to Australia to compete in the rodeo events at the World Games in 1936. At one point during their travels, the ship docked in Tahiti, and Grandpa did a little shopping while he was there.

Grandpa lived with us while I was growing up, and after he passed away in 1987, my mom ended up with the box. A few years ago, she gave it to me. It now holds some of my own treasures, including some vintage buttons, photos of my 1969 VW Beetle and a bunch of old security passes from when I worked at The Fillmore in San Francisco.

Here's another picture of Grandpa and a bunch of his rodeo friends at the World Games in Australia.

John Bartram is on the left