Treasure Chest Thursday - You Are My Treasures

Today I want to pay tribute to numerous the treasures that have come into my life in the form of GeneaBloggers. When I first started the Time Capsule series I really wasn't sure if anyone would be all that interested. Instead the many comments and helpful suggestions have been an encouragement to me. Thank you.

In no particular order, here are the commentors of the Time Capsule series and links to their blogs where appropriate. You are now part of the Time Capsule as well since I printed out all the posts, including everyone's comments and suggestions.

Carol of Reflections From the Fence and Reflection's Flora and Fauna
Lindalee at Flipside
Kerry of The Clue Wagon
Amy Urman who writes The Genealogy Search
Gini over at Ginisology
Barbara who writes Life From the Roots
Tonia of Tonia's Roots
Lisa at Are You My Cousin?
Mary of Mary's Musings
Miriam at Ancestories: The Stories of My Ancestors and several other blogs
Denise Levenick The Family Curator
A Rootdigger
Doreen from Ohio of the Graveyard Rabbit of Sandusky Bay blog
Julie Cahill Tarr at GenBlog
Astrid Of Trolls and Lemons
The Shy Genealogist
Finding Our Ancestors
Dr. Bill Smith who writes Dr. Bill Tells Ancestor Stories among other blogs
Nan (I'm sorry but I wasn't able to access a profile and provide a link :(
IrishEyes at 'On a flesh and bone foundation': An Irish History

Thank you again for your kind comments, suggestions and encouragement!

© 2010, copyright Michelle Goodrum

COG- Scrapbooking Your Family History! Frances Lowe.

This edition of the Carnival of Genealogy is Scrapbooking Your Family History! Our mission, should we choose to accept it is to:

Create a scrapbook page on any theme that suits one or more of your vintage photos.

For this month’s Carnival of Genealogy, I decided to make a scrapbook page of my great grandmother Frances Lowe. I’ve been writing for the past couple of months about the small suitcase containing some of Frances' belongings. It was found in the family home and dubbed the Time Capsule. You can read the most recent post here. At the end of the article are links for the preceding posts.

I'm not much of a scrapbook person. I like to do photo albums more of the style of "Just the Facts Ma'am." But I'm always up for learning something new and thought a digital scrapbook page would be fun. I used Photoshop Elements and had a great time putting this together since I had never used any of these Photoshop features before.


I am proud to present to you Frances Lowe:

Starting in the upper left corner and going clockwise:

• Frances pictured with her oldest son, Milton and his wife Viola (my grandparents). Probably in the mid 1920's.
• Frances in the the early 1890's around the time her first Teacher's Certificate was issued.
• In their Sunday best at 16 years young, Frances is pictured on the left with her aunt, Lucinda Catherine Ballinger whom she refers to as Louie. Both girls were born in 1871. Louie is the youngest sister of Frances' mother Nancy Ballinger Robinson.
• Frances and her husband Milton Clark Lowe circa 1950 near Mt. Si, Washington State.
• Last, in the center, Frances is pictured with her chum, Carrie Hyde.

Frances made it really easy to write the above captions as she was good about identifying people in her pictures. I wish we were all so lucky!

I greatly admire my great grandmother and wish I could have known her. I do remember Frances but  was very young when she died so the memories are a bit fuzzy, warm, but fuzzy. She lived in 3 states during her life: Colorado, Montana, and Washington; witnessing huge changes in technology and how it affected our lives. Born 6 years before Colorado became a state, Frances experienced the arrival of the telegraph, telephone and a water system in her home town of Boulder, Colorado. Later she would have enjoyed the arrival of the automobile and electricity. All things we take for granted in our everyday lives.

I often wonder what she thought when JFK made his address to Congress in 1961 and said:

I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth.

And I wish I could have been with her to see her reaction when John Glenn orbited the earth aboard Friendship 7 in 1962. Oh, to have witnessed such societal changes from the eyes of a girl born in a small town where cows roamed the streets and one travelled by horse and buggy!

Hopefully you have enjoyed this edition of the Carnival of Genealogy. I certainly have. It's always fun to step out of the box and do something you enjoy in a different way.


Bibliography:
1. Schoolland, John B. A Pioneer Church. Johnson Publishing Company, Boulder, Colorado. 1972.
2. Kennedy, John F. "Man on the Moon Address." Home of the Heros. http://www.homeofheroes.com/presidents/speeches/kennedy_space.html : accessed 27 July 2010, para 5.
3. "John Glenn." Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Glenn : accessed 27 July 2010, para 1.

© 2010, copyright Michelle Goodrum

Sorting Saturday - The Time Capsule is Sorted. What I Learned.

Alas, it's time for the Time Capsule project to come to an end for now. This has been a fun project which has given me a glimpse into the life of my great grandmother Frances Lowe who lived from 1871 to 1964.

I have learned a little more about Frances as a person. Namely that she was a certified school teacher in both her birth state of Colorado and in Montana. Her teacher certificates must have been very important to her, to keep them (and in such good condition!) from the early to mid 1890s until her death in 1964. (Click here and here to see them).

Frances loved to work with her hands and I've been blessed with several of her creations: her crocheted doilies, the hand sewn and beautifully embroidered dress.

Due to Frances' love of her family, I've learned and obtained several genealogically valuable documents. There are the numerous birth announcements of her grandchildren and great grandchildren (they even still are in the envelope they arrived in); original sources containing primary information and direct evidence of birth and parentage. Also the family photos, graduation announcements, letters from friends and family, and the list goes on.

Frances' belongings and these posts are now safely preserved so that hopefully someone in the future can enjoy them too. I imagine the Time Capsule will be revisited from time to time as we learn more about Frances and her family.

Here are links to the other posts in this series as well as a couple of related articles:

The Time Capsule
First Steps
The Time Capsule's Top Layer
Part 2
Teacher's Certificate
Teacher's Certificate #2
Baby Shoes
Sewing Anyone?
Help! Do You Know What This Is?
Frances' Necklace
A Bottle of???
Embroidery
More Stuff To Sort
Doilies
Pictures, Announcements, etc.
Dress
Pictures, Announcements, etc.
Preserving the Time Capsule
Sorting Saturday - The Time Capsule is Sorted. What I learned.
COG-Scrapbooking Your Family History! Frances Lowe
Treasure Chest Thursday-You Are My Treasures

© 2010, copyright Michelle Goodrum

Treasure Chest Thursday - Preserving the Time Capsule

For the past several weeks, I've been going through my great grandmother, Frances Lowe's small suitcase of belongings that the family has dubbed the Time Capsule. It's been a fun voyage back in time, clear back to the late 1800's and then forward to the early 1960's. Now that I've sorted through the entire suitcase, I've realized the importance of properly preserving these items for another generation or more.

The photos, booklets and other paper items were easy to store in two appropriately sized document and photo boxes.

The precious little leather shoes were a bit more of a challenge. I want to thank Sally Jacobs, The Practical Archivist for some great advice on storing and displaying them (as well as storing some of the other items). Sally truly is practical in her approach to archiving.

The shoes were in excellent condition for being way over 100 years old. The leather was still soft and supple so I was able to gently stuff them with acid free tissue paper and place them in this special box with a clear lid.

The other artifacts went into this acid free box that is also buffered, so a couple of items like the leather wallet were padded with unbuffered acid free tissue paper.  Apparently leather doesn't do so well if it's in contact with buffering agents (thanks again Sally!). The same goes with the wooden letters.

I may have to put the wonderful smelling Bottle of ??? in the box with Frances' dress just to be able to enjoy the smell when we open the box with the dress.

Finally, I've printed off all of these posts, including everyone's wonderfully helpful comments and the emails to and from family members regarding the photographs that needed identifying. They will also be placed with this collection. After all, what would be the point of this entire project if what I've learned isn't passed on?

Next, it's time to wrap up with some comments about what I've learned from this project.

Here are links to the other posts in this series as well as a couple of related articles:

The Time Capsule
First Steps
The Time Capsule's Top Layer
Part 2
Teacher's Certificate
Teacher's Certificate #2
Baby Shoes
Sewing Anyone?
Help! Do You Know What This Is?
Frances' Necklace
A Bottle of???
Embroidery
More Stuff To Sort
Doilies
Pictures, Announcements, etc.
Dress
Pictures, Announcements, etc.
Preserving the Time Capsule
Sorting Saturday - The Time Capsule is Sorted. What I learned.
COG-Scrapbooking Your Family History! Frances Lowe
Treasure Chest Thursday-You Are My Treasures

© 2010, copyright Michelle Goodrum

Sorting Saturday - Time Capsule - Pictures, Announcements, etc.

Last Saturday, I wrote about all the the photographs, birth, marriage, graduation and other announcements in great grandmother, Frances Lowe's Time Capsule. I was in a bit over my head with some of them since I didn't have a clue who some of those folks were. Happily, I had great results this week from some of the older members of the family who were able to not only identify most of those people, but also add some interesting stories and tidbits.

So I've been busy this week with scanning, emailing and entering data into my genealogy data base (stories too). The pictures and other items are all in acid free, lignin free and PAT passed envelopes. The envelopes are appropriately labelled and filed in a similar quality box.

Now I'm printing off the emails and trying to figure out a way to get them saved on my computer (all of my emails are "in the cloud").

Next week, I'll write about properly storing the physical items from the Time Capsule. That has been a more challenging part of this project.

Here are links to the other posts in this series as well as a couple of related articles:

The Time Capsule
First Steps
The Time Capsule's Top Layer
Part 2
Teacher's Certificate
Teacher's Certificate #2
Baby Shoes
Sewing Anyone?
Help! Do You Know What This Is?
Frances' Necklace
A Bottle of???
Embroidery
More Stuff To Sort
Doilies
Pictures, Announcements, etc.
Dress
Pictures, Announcements, etc.
Preserving the Time Capsule
Sorting Saturday - The Time Capsule is Sorted. What I learned.
COG-Scrapbooking Your Family History! Frances Lowe
Treasure Chest Thursday-You Are My Treasures

© 2010, copyright Michelle Goodrum

Treasure Chest Thursday - Time Capsule - Dress

At the very bottom of Frances Lowe's Time Capsule was a neatly folded dress with embroidered butterflies.

After being packed away with the bottle for several decades the dress smells wonderful. You hear of certain aromas evoking memories? My personal memories of Frances are fuzzy since I was very young when she died. This wonderful aroma will forever evoke those warm, fuzzy memories of my great grandmother Frances Lowe.

I am trying to decide if Frances sewed the entire dress.

What do you think?

Next up, results of the family inquiries about that box of pictures and other "correspondence."

Here are links to the other posts in this series as well as a couple of related articles:

The Time Capsule
First Steps
The Time Capsule's Top Layer
Part 2
Teacher's Certificate
Teacher's Certificate #2
Baby Shoes
Sewing Anyone?
Help! Do You Know What This Is?
Frances' Necklace
A Bottle of???
Embroidery
More Stuff To Sort
Doilies
Pictures, Announcements, etc.
Dress
Pictures, Announcements, etc.
Preserving the Time Capsule
Sorting Saturday - The Time Capsule is Sorted. What I learned.
COG-Scrapbooking Your Family History! Frances Lowe
Treasure Chest Thursday-You Are My Treasures


© 2010, copyright Michelle Goodrum

Sorting Saturday - Time Capsule Pictures, Announcements, etc.

This week I went through the box of photos and announcements that were in Frances Lowe's Time Capsule. It quickly became obvious that there was no particular order to the items so I decided there was no need to worry about the original order. I suspect that they had been gone through and looked at repeatedly over the years.

Frances saved baby and school pictures of her grandchildren and great grandchildren along with graduation, wedding announcements and photos, and a few newspaper clippings. They cover the years from 1925 when her first grandchild was born until her death in 1964.

Here's how I went about the sorting process:

1. First a quick pass to lay out the items in order from the box, quickly grouping things by family that obviously went together.
2. Printed out Descendancy Charts for Frances Lowe and her grandfather William Ballinger.
3. Put family groupings of photos and announcements on Frances' Descendancy Chart and the same for William Ballinger's so I could visually get an idea of where the groupings fit within the family.

I am still left with several piles of photos and announcements that I don't know what to do with; it looks like I have a new project. I'll be scanning a selection of them and sending them out to some of the older family members in hopes that someone will be able to identify some of the individuals. Wish me luck!

In the meantime, all of these piles will be placed into some photo envelopes (they have passed the Photo Activity Test) with labels on the outside that I can update as I figure out who some of these folks are.

Next up, another artifact. Think sewing and embroidery.

Here are links to the other posts in this series as well as a couple of related articles:

The Time Capsule
First Steps
The Time Capsule's Top Layer
Part 2
Teacher's Certificate
Teacher's Certificate #2
Baby Shoes
Sewing Anyone?
Help! Do You Know What This Is?
Frances' Necklace
A Bottle of???
Embroidery
More Stuff To Sort
Doilies
Pictures, Announcements, etc.
Dress
Pictures, Announcements, etc.
Preserving the Time Capsule
Sorting Saturday - The Time Capsule is Sorted. What I learned.
COG-Scrapbooking Your Family History! Frances Lowe
Treasure Chest Thursday-You Are My Treasures

© 2010, copyright Michelle Goodrum

Treasure Chest Thursday-Time Capsule-Doilies

There is a set of six of these cute doilies that Frances made. It appears she had started working on something else as well. I can't imagine doing this!

Here are links to the other posts in this series as well as a couple of related articles:

The Time Capsule
First Steps
The Time Capsule's Top Layer
Part 2
Teacher's Certificate
Teacher's Certificate #2
Baby Shoes
Sewing Anyone?
Help! Do You Know What This Is?
Frances' Necklace
A Bottle of???
Embroidery
More Stuff To Sort
Doilies
Pictures, Announcements, etc.
Dress
Pictures, Announcements, etc.
Preserving the Time Capsule
Sorting Saturday - The Time Capsule is Sorted. What I learned.
COG-Scrapbooking Your Family History! Frances Lowe
Treasure Chest Thursday-You Are My Treasures

© 2010, copyright Michelle Goodrum

Sorting Saturday-Time Capsule-More Stuff To Sort

The Lowe family loved to keep pictures and such in small boxes like these. I'll be sorting through this for a couple of weeks so we will revisit the contents later. 

There was a special gem on top which removed any questions from my mind that may have been lingering as to whether these were Frances Lowe's belongings.

Here are links to the other posts in this series as well as a couple of related articles:

The Time Capsule
First Steps
The Time Capsule's Top Layer
Part 2
Teacher's Certificate
Teacher's Certificate #2
Baby Shoes
Sewing Anyone?
Help! Do You Know What This Is?
Frances' Necklace
A Bottle of???
Embroidery
More Stuff To Sort
Doilies
Pictures, Announcements, etc.
Dress
Pictures, Announcements, etc.
Preserving the Time Capsule
Sorting Saturday - The Time Capsule is Sorted. What I learned.
COG-Scrapbooking Your Family History! Frances Lowe
Treasure Chest Thursday-You Are My Treasures

© 2010, copyright Michelle Goodrum

Treasure Chest Thursday-Time Capsule-Embroidery

Apparently Frances enjoyed embroidery. More on that in a future post. There is also a bag of various colored embroidery thread which I haven't included here.

Unfortunately there is no published or copyright date so I have no idea how old this little book is, other than that it is older than 1964 when Frances died.

 

Here are links to the other posts in this series as well as a couple of related articles:

The Time Capsule
First Steps
The Time Capsule's Top Layer
Part 2
Teacher's Certificate
Teacher's Certificate #2
Baby Shoes
Sewing Anyone?
Help! Do You Know What This Is?
Frances' Necklace
A Bottle of???
Embroidery
More Stuff To Sort
Doilies
Pictures, Announcements, etc.
Dress
Pictures, Announcements, etc.
Preserving the Time Capsule
Sorting Saturday - The Time Capsule is Sorted. What I learned.
COG-Scrapbooking Your Family History! Frances Lowe
Treasure Chest Thursday-You Are My Treasures

© 2010, copyright Michelle Goodrum

Sorting Saturday-Time Capsule-A Bottle of ???

When we first opened the Time Capsule, we noticed a rather pleasant smell. Not what one would expect upon opening up a suitcase that's been closed for over four decades.  I have no idea what's in this little gem but, like the Energizer Bunny, it just keeps on going and going and going.

The words are terribly faded but I can make out the word Paris Japan (thanks Kerry).

 

Here are links to the other posts in this series as well as a couple of related articles:

The Time Capsule
First Steps
The Time Capsule's Top Layer
Part 2
Teacher's Certificate
Teacher's Certificate #2
Baby Shoes
Sewing Anyone?
Help! Do You Know What This Is?
Frances' Necklace
A Bottle of???
Embroidery
More Stuff To Sort
Doilies
Pictures, Announcements, etc.
Dress
Pictures, Announcements, etc.
Preserving the Time Capsule
Sorting Saturday - The Time Capsule is Sorted. What I learned.
COG-Scrapbooking Your Family History! Frances Lowe
Treasure Chest Thursday-You Are My Treasures

© 2010, copyright Michelle Goodrum

Treasure Chest Thursday-Time Capsule-Frances' Necklace

Today's item from the Time Capsule, is one that's particularly exciting for me as it's one that I might just wear for a special occassion. 

Frances had a very long, triple strand, beaded necklace.  The clasp still works just fine.

The beads themselves are tiny!

Here are links to the other posts in this series as well as a couple of related articles:

The Time Capsule
First Steps
The Time Capsule's Top Layer
Part 2
Teacher's Certificate
Teacher's Certificate #2
Baby Shoes
Sewing Anyone?
Help! Do You Know What This Is?
Frances' Necklace
A Bottle of???
Embroidery
More Stuff To Sort
Doilies
Pictures, Announcements, etc.
Dress
Pictures, Announcements, etc.
Preserving the Time Capsule
Sorting Saturday - The Time Capsule is Sorted. What I learned.
COG-Scrapbooking Your Family History! Frances Lowe
Treasure Chest Thursday-You Are My Treasures

© 2010, copyright Michelle Goodrum

Sorting Saturday-Time Capsule-Help! Do You Know What This Is?

I'm really stumped on this one.  Does anyone know what this might be?  At first I thought it might be a garter but it's a strip, no elastic.

Here are links to the other posts in this series as well as a couple of related articles:

The Time Capsule
First Steps
The Time Capsule's Top Layer
Part 2
Teacher's Certificate
Teacher's Certificate #2
Baby Shoes
Sewing Anyone?
Help! Do You Know What This Is?
Frances' Necklace
A Bottle of???
Embroidery
More Stuff To Sort
Doilies
Pictures, Announcements, etc.
Dress
Pictures, Announcements, etc.
Preserving the Time Capsule
Sorting Saturday - The Time Capsule is Sorted. What I learned.
COG-Scrapbooking Your Family History! Frances Lowe
Treasure Chest Thursday-You Are My Treasures

© 2010, copyright Michelle Goodrum

Treasure Chest Thursday-Time Capsule-Sewing Anyone?

Sewing was a very common way to pass the time (and often a necessity) in the late 19th and early 20th century.  My great grandmother Frances Lowe was no exception.  Here I present, from her Time Capsule of treasured belongings, her hand sewn pincushion.

Here are links to the other posts in this series as well as a couple of related articles:

The Time Capsule
First Steps
The Time Capsule's Top Layer
Part 2
Teacher's Certificate
Teacher's Certificate #2
Baby Shoes
Sewing Anyone?
Help! Do You Know What This Is?
Frances' Necklace
A Bottle of???
Embroidery
More Stuff To Sort
Doilies
Pictures, Announcements, etc.
Dress
Pictures, Announcements, etc.
Preserving the Time Capsule
Sorting Saturday - The Time Capsule is Sorted. What I learned.
COG-Scrapbooking Your Family History! Frances Lowe
Treasure Chest Thursday-You Are My Treasures


© 2010, copyright Michelle Goodrum

Sorting Saturday-Time Capsule-Baby Shoes

Today we move on to the next layer of my great grandmother Frances Lowe's suitecase that has been dubbed the "Time Capsule."  Here's a glimpse of what's coming.

Today we're taking a look at a pair of sweet baby shoes.

Since little baby feet tend to grow rapidly, I'm guessing the original occupant of these shoes didn't have a chance to wear them very many times.  They are in mint condition.  I don't know much of anything about these things but the lace/piping makes me wonder if they were for a little girl.

At any rate, Frances had 3 sons. So I'm wondering if these cute little shoes might have belonged to Frances herself.  At least that's what I'd like to think for now.

Here are links to the other posts in this series as well as a couple of related articles:

The Time Capsule
First Steps
The Time Capsule's Top Layer
Part 2
Teacher's Certificate
Teacher's Certificate #2
Baby Shoes
Sewing Anyone?
Help! Do You Know What This Is?
Frances' Necklace
A Bottle of???
Embroidery
More Stuff To Sort
Doilies
Pictures, Announcements, etc.
Dress
Pictures, Announcements, etc.
Preserving the Time Capsule
Sorting Saturday - The Time Capsule is Sorted. What I learned.
COG-Scrapbooking Your Family History! Frances Lowe
Treasure Chest Thursday-You Are My Treasures

© 2010, copyright Michelle Goodrum

Treasure Chest Thursday-Time Capsule-Teacher's Certificate #2

Continuing from Saturday's post where I wrote about my great grandmother Frances Lowe's Teacher's Certificate from Boulder County, Colorado. Here is the second Teacher's Certificate that was found in the "Time Capsule."

Unfortunately, there is a small hole in the paper right where the last digit of the year Frances certificate was awarded to her! She and Milton were married 13 March 1895 in Boulder, Colorado[1] so the year would have to be 1895 or later. An account in the local history, They Gazed on The Beartooths, by Jim Annin, place the Lowe’s in Limestone, Montana by 1896[2]. However, Milton's Homestead Entry file states that he settled on his land on 20 April 1897[3].  So that at least gives me a pretty good idea of when the certificate was awarded to Frances.

If you read the small print it’s clear here that the “3rd grade” is referencing Frances’ certificate and not the grade of children she is certified to teach. That makes sense considering the community where they were living was very spread out and sparsely populated.

The only other thing I am wondering about is why it was issued for Carbon County, Montana. My understanding is that at the time, they were in Yellowstone County. The Lowe’s homestead was located in 3 different counties that I know of, during the 30 or so years the family lived on it. None of them was Carbon. Although Carbon County is adjacent to the various counties in which the Lowe's homestead was located.  So I need to double check the county histories and also consider the possibility that Carbon was the closest places for Frances to go to obtain a teaching certificate.

On Saturday we'll move away from paper and start looking at some of the other types of treasures in the Time Capsule.

Here are links to the other posts in this series as well as a couple of related articles:

The Time Capsule
First Steps
The Time Capsule's Top Layer
Part 2
Teacher's Certificate
Teacher's Certificate #2
Baby Shoes
Sewing Anyone?
Help! Do You Know What This Is?
Frances' Necklace
A Bottle of???
Embroidery
More Stuff To Sort
Doilies
Pictures, Announcements, etc.
Dress
Pictures, Announcements, etc.
Preserving the Time Capsule
Sorting Saturday - The Time Capsule is Sorted. What I learned.
COG-Scrapbooking Your Family History! Frances Lowe
Treasure Chest Thursday-You Are My Treasures


Citations:
[1] Boulder County, Colorado, marriage certificate (1895), Lowe-Robinson; privately held by Michelle Goodrum, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE].


[2] Jim Annin, They Gazed on the Beartooths, 3 vols.( Billings, Montana: Reporter Printing & Supply Company, 1964), 1:336.

[3] Application No. 7063, 8 May 1908, in Milton C. Lowe (Yellowstone County) homestead file bearing final certificate No. 136540, 13 June 1910, Bozeman, Montana, Land Office; Land Entry Papers, 1800-1908; Records of the Bureau of Land Management, Record Group 49, National Archives, Washington, D.C.

© 2010, copyright Michelle Goodrum

Sorting Saturday-Time Capsule 3 - Teacher Certificate

Today we are continuing to examine the contents of the leather case found in my great grandmother, Frances Lowe’s suitcase that has been dubbed the Time Capsule. If you have missed any of the previous Time Capsule posts, check out the links at the end of this article.

I have heard comments from older members of the family that Frances was a teacher, or that she taught her boys (and maybe some of the other local kids) in her home; a sort of frontier homeschooling. It turns out there was something to those stories as two teacher certificates turned up in the leather case. I have to say that I got goose bumps when I first saw these. Those certificates must have been pretty important to Frances for her to have kept them close for so many years. Frances died in 1964[1] at the age of 93[2] so she kept track of these two certificates for a very long time. I am proud to be the caretaker of them for future generations.

Here's the first certificate:

So Frances was licensed to be a teacher in her home county of Boulder, Colorado about a year and a half before her marriage to Milton Clark Lowe. The following statement I am a little confused about:

…SCHOLARSHIP and PROFESSIONAL ABILITY as entitled her to a CERTIFICATE of the Second grade…

I am unclear as to whether she was entitled to teach children of the second grade (as we might think of second grade today) or if that is a grade, class or level of teacher relating to her teaching ability. At any rate, this piece of paper is nearly 107 years old and is amazingly good condition.

Preservation

Since I am now the caretaker for these two very precious documents, I have laid them out flat so they can relax a bit from being folded up all those years. They will each be placed in their own lightweight acid free, lignin free folder and stored in an archival safe box with the rest of the documents and photographs that are uncovered in the Time Capsule.

Thursday the other teacher's certificate will be up after I've had a chance to take a closer look at it.

Here are links to the other posts in this series as well as a couple of related articles:

The Time Capsule
First Steps
The Time Capsule's Top Layer
Part 2
Teacher's Certificate
Teacher's Certificate #2
Baby Shoes
Sewing Anyone?
Help! Do You Know What This Is?
Frances' Necklace
A Bottle of???
Embroidery
More Stuff To Sort
Doilies
Pictures, Announcements, etc.
Dress
Pictures, Announcements, etc.
Preserving the Time Capsule
Sorting Saturday - The Time Capsule is Sorted. What I learned.
COG-Scrapbooking Your Family History! Frances Lowe
Treasure Chest Thursday-You Are My Treasures

Citations:

[1] Washington Department of Health, death certificate no. 22770, Frances E. Lowe (1964); Olympia.
[2] Theodore Low Family Bible Records, 1831-1964. Holy Bible. Ziegler & McCurdy, 1872, “Births”; privately held by Russell Lowe, [address for private use,], 1997. Frances age could also be calculated from the birthdate on her death certificate cited in note 1.


© 2010, copyright Michelle Goodrum

Treasure Chest Thursday - The Time Capsule - Part 2

Today I am examining the next layer of my great grandmother, Frances Lowe's "Time Capsule;" specifically some of the contents of the leather case. You can read previous posts about the "Time Capsule" here, here and here.

A partial inventory reveals items relating to the Order of the Eastern Star, including:

• 
  
  Rosters from Queen Esther Chapter No 5, Boulder Colorado for the years 1907, 1914, and 1938. Frances is listed as a member in the 1914 directory only with an address of Nye, Montana.
• 
  
  By-Laws for the same chapter.
• 
  
  Book titled, Ritual of the Order Eastern Star, published by Authority of the General Grand Chapter, Chicago, copyright 1890. The publish date is July, 1904.
• 
  
  2 receipts dated 9 July 1914 and 25 March 1915 stating Frances Lowe had paid her dues.
• 
  
  The "certificate" dated 25 March 1915 and shown below which, if I read it correctly, is saying that Frances was received as a member 24 November 1910 and  is now released from membership.

 

Frances moved with her husband, Milton, from Boulder, Colorado to Limestone/Nye, Montana in the mid 1890's. I can't help but wonder why she joined the Order of the Eastern Star, in Boulder, so long after she had moved from there.  Frances was born and raised in the lovely town of Boulder and moved literally to frontier country in Montana.  I visited their homestead last summer and it is still in what I would consider back country (or very nearly); a beautiful land but remote and harsh in the winters. Talk about going through a lifestyle change.  I would not be surprised if she had hoped to move back to Colorado.

Interestingly, the Ritual of the Order Eastern Star, has a paragraph titled Membership.  It states:

Master Masons in good standing in a Masonic Lodge, and their wives, daughters, mothers, widows, and sisters, who have attained the age of eighteen years, are eligible to membership in this Order.

I have found no evidence, yet, that Frances' husband, Milton, belonged to the Masons (although his father did[1]).  Frances' father, Daniel Robinson, was a Mason in Boulder[2].  So that could have been how she gained her membership. Frances' mother, Nancy (Ballenger) Robinson, was also a member of the Order of the Eastern Star in Boulder (she is listed in the 1914 directory and her obituary[3] mentions it).

If you are interested in the Order of the Eastern Star, you can read more about it here and here.

So far all of the items in the Time Capsule (with the exception of the leather case) can easily be placed together in an archival safe box.  It is done.

Next up are by far my favorite finds to date in the Time Capsule.

Here are links to the other posts in this series as well as a couple of related articles:

The Time Capsule
First Steps
The Time Capsule's Top Layer
Part 2
Teacher's Certificate
Teacher's Certificate #2
Baby Shoes
Sewing Anyone?
Help! Do You Know What This Is?
Frances' Necklace
A Bottle of???
Embroidery
More Stuff To Sort
Doilies
Pictures, Announcements, etc.
Dress
Pictures, Announcements, etc.
Preserving the Time Capsule
Sorting Saturday - The Time Capsule is Sorted. What I learned.
COG-Scrapbooking Your Family History! Frances Lowe
Treasure Chest Thursday-You Are My Treasures


Endnotes:
[1] The Boulder Daily Camera (Colorado), 3 June 1897, p. 4.
[2] The Boulder County Herald (Colorado), 7 Feb 1900, page 5.
[3] Seattle Post-Intelligencer (Washington), 9 September 1927, section H.

© 2010, copyright Michelle Goodrum