Unknown-Orangeburg, Orangeburg County, South Carolina 1890-1910
Unknown-Woodruff, Spartanburg County, South Carolina before 1920
James Paul Stalls, Jr at the Li Po Lounge, Chinatown, San Francisco, California 1944
I have searched and searched for information on the Li Po Lounge, 916 Grant Avenue, Chinatown, San Francisco, San Francisco County, California and from what I understand the place is still as rockin’ a bar as it was when it opened in 1935 with really great cocktails. From what I understand, also, is that the decor has not changed since it first opened, with the exception of a new door.
When my granddaddy James Paul Stalls, Jr was in the Seabees he had shore leave in San Francisco. He went to the Li Po Lounge where there were women who were there specifically to have their photos taken with the servicemen. I have tried to research this to see if the women worked for the bar or the photographer, but so far no one has information on this, including the owner of Li Po Lounge. She told me that the bar has changed owners several times, and she is sure that anyone who would know has probably passed.
So, here is the photo card and the photo, dated September 16, 1944. The inside of the photo envelope says “May your evening at Li Po’s be a most pleasant one,,, Your Host Wilbur Wong”. The photo was taken by Coronet Pictures. The address for Coronet Pictures is now the Hotel Abri. Before that it was was several hotels, also, going all the way to the early 1930s.
Clorox 1943
note: the following information was found on Wikipedia.
The Clorox Company began in 1913 in the San Francisco, California area as Electro-Alkaline Company, producing an industrial-strength bleach called Clorox, a play on words of sorts as the main ingredients of the product are chlorine and sodium hydroxide. The company changed it’s name to The Clorox Chemical Company in 1928. In 1957 Proctor & Gamble purchased the company, though it became an independent company again in 1969 after the purchase was challenged by the Federal Trade Commission. The Clorox Company now owns/produces many products, from bleach to paint to food to restaurant equipment.
On to the ad.
Pretty much you are guaranteed that if you use Clorox, not just any old bleach, in your fridge then you have less chance of your food spoiling. Clorox went a step further by claiming your food inside a Clorox clean refrigerator is…VICTORY FOOD (“Food for Victory!”)! Really, in 1943 you could have thrown the word VICTORY! in front of any product and it would fly off the shelves. VICTORY GLOVES! VICTORY TOILET PAPER! VICTORY…well, you get the point.
Something I really love about this ad is the look on the woman’s face. She is smiling, yes, but you can clearly see that her thoughts are more along the lines of “Like I don’t have enough damn work to do around this house, now I am expected to constantly bleach out the icebox”.
I’m fairly certain the Butch the Clorox Bottle was invented in 1928 when the company threw itself up on the SFSE. He apparently, like the actual Clorox bottles, started out with a rubber stopper head and changed to a screw on/off cap with the start of WWII. I’m trying to imagine him waddling around.
Ezekiel Currey and Elizabeth Brownlee Marriage Record-This Ain’t Mississippi
Sometimes getting historic records is more difficult than pulling teeth.
Back in mid-September I sent off a money order for $25 to the Old Swede’s Foundation to get a copy of the marriage record for Ezekiel Currey and Elizabeth Brownlee. I had put in a note along with the money order that I wasn’t sure if they had married in November or December of 1759. About two weeks after I mailed it, on September 30th, I realized that I couldn’t remember if I had included my email address, so I emailed the Foundation, knowing that they would probably prefer to contact me that way if they were unable to find the record. I never heard back from them.
I then waited about a month and called them them the last week of October asking about how long it would normally take to receive the record. I was informed that they had sent me an email letting me know that they never received my money order. I told them I would pay over the phone and that I wanted the record. I was told it would be about two weeks until they could get to it because of how busy the Foundation was at that time.
I waited two weeks, until November 7th, then cancelled the money order (because when I checked it still hadn’t been cashed) and sent another email asking how the search was going. I didn’t hear back from them.
I called the following Wednesday, November 9th, I was told it would be another two weeks. So I waited.
On November 30th I called again, asking the progress of finding the record and attempting to pay for it over the phone again, thinking that perhaps that was why they were taking so long. I was told that she (the executive director) had been about to email me to let me know that they were going over the next day to make the copy. She asked if I wanted it sent through the mail or through email, to which I told her if they claimed to be sending me all of these emails I wasn’t getting then perhaps snail mail might be best. She sent me a test email, which I got, and so I waited to hear back from them regarding payment (she had told me that once they had the record in the mail they would send me a message so I could pay).
I waited two days and sent an email asking about the progress of the record, and I was sent a short email telling me that she was working on the accompanying letter. So I waited.
Finally, on Friday, December 9th, seven days after I was told that the accompanying letter was being written, I still had not received the record, nor had I received an email or phone call regarding payment, so I sent an email to the Old Swede’s Foundation letting them know how disgusted I was with their lack of service. I let them know that I was considering a complaint to the Chamber of Commerce, the BBB, not to mention any other organizations that they may be, or may in the future be, involved with. I received a phone call within an hour, but I was unable to get to my phone, and no voicemail was left.
Then yesterday, December 16th, eleven weeks after my first email to the Foundation and roughly 13 weeks after I initially sent in my request, the record arrived (with an accompanying letter), stamped by the United States Postal Service as having been mailed December 12th. No apology, of course. As soon as it arrived I sent an email asking how they wanted me to pay for the record and I have yet to hear from them.
So let’s go through the time line:
about September 16-money order and request mailed
September 30-emailed Foundation, no response
about October 28-called, told wait two weeks
November 7-cancelled money order, sent email and never heard back from them
November 30-called, was sent test email, was told it would be a couple of days
December 2-sent email, was told accompanying letter was being written
December 7-sent email of disgust
December 12-record finally mailed
December 16-record received in my hot little hands, emailed them asking how to pay, no response yet
Dear Record Keepers of the World: this experience with Old Swede’s Foundation is an example of WHAT NOT TO DO. The whole experience left a bad taste in my mouth and, honestly, I will never deal with Old Swede’s Foundation again. If I ever need another record from them I will hunt down someone who might be willing to share the record they have from that place, or just go without. If you want a good example of WHAT TO DO, just look at Lauderdale County Department of Archives & History Inc., Lauderdale County, Mississippi. They have been overwhelmingly helpful and quick to respond and send out records.
Anyway, I present to you the long awaited marriage record of Ezekiel Currey and Elizabeth Brownlee, Old Swede’s Foundation, Wilmington, New Castle County, Delaware dated November 6, 1759. Something I found interesting about this record is that Elizabeth Brownlee’s name is recorded as Elisabeth Brownlees, which leads me to think that I should start researching Brownlees, rather than Brownlee. I know that Ezekiel Currey's family is from Belfast, County Antrim/County Down, Northern Ireland. Now I need to find where Elizabeth and her Brownlee family is from!
Wordless Wednesday: Unknown Boy, East Midlands, ca. 1900
Mullins Cemetery, Meriwether County, Ga
UPDATE: I had initally written that Virginia Wood and Mary Ann Wood married in South Carolina, however this was incorrect and I tried to correct the information on Ancestry. Both married in Meriwether County, Georgia.
Getting to Mullins Cemetery in Meriwether County, Georgia has been an interesting feat. I initially contacted the Millers, who had posted some information about the cemetery online, back in October. So many life events were occurring at the time that I decided to wait until the end of November to attempt meeting them to see the cemetery. We first decided to go on Tuesday, November 29, but it rained and we couldn’t go. This is because the road that the cemetery is on is dirt, not much gravel, and gets very muddy and slick when it rains. We then planned on going the following Tuesday, December 6, but couldn’t because it rained…again. What are the chances that it’s sunny every day except Tuesdays? So we planned the trip for the following Monday, December 12 (yesterday). It rained…again. Seriously, it has been sunny since last Tuesday, but it rained yesterday.
We went anyway.
My mom and I met the Millers in Warm Springs, Meriwether County, Georgia and we followed them out to the cemetery. The road was soft in spots, and slick, but we went slow and managed not to get stuck. We had been told that if we didn’t know what to look for we’d miss it, and they were right! The trees are thick around the cemetery and there are deer stands all over the place. It was pretty creepy, actually.
So, the following are the photos I took (and there are a lot of them so just keep scrolling for more information)!
(note: getting a good shot of the cemetery proved to be difficult for me with my camera, so all photos were taken with my cell phone. editing was done on each photo to resize and make them easier to see, hence the differences in color and tone per photo.)
Ann McQueen is my 4th great-aunt. She is the sister of my 4th great-grandfather Peter McQueen. Ann is the first wife of Stephen Wood, though I do not know when or where they married since I have yet to find the marriage record. The top of the headstone has her married name WOOD. The front of her headstone reads:
ANN McQUEEN
WOOD
SEPT. 22, 1793
NOV. 10, 1834
The footstone has her initials A.M.W.
Stephen W Wood was married first to Ann McQueen, second to Ann C McGill (though Ann C McGill doesn’t appear to be buried in this cemetery). The top of his headstone has his last name WOOD. The front of his headstone reads:
STEPHEN W.
WOOD
JAN. 7, 1792
JUNE 15, 1862
His footstone has his initials S.W.W.
I can’t find any information for George W Wood, though I suspect he may be a child of Stephen W Wood and Ann McQueen. His headstone reads:
GEO. W. WOOD
1828-1863
Mortally wounded at the
battle of Gettysburg.
William H Wood is another person I can’t find any information on. He also might be a son of Stephen W Wood and Ann McQueen. The top of his headstone has his last name WOOD. The front of his headstone reads:
WILLIAM H.
WOOD
DEC. 27, 1826
APR. 16, 1868
His footstone has his initials W.H.W.
Virginia Wood is the daughter of Stephen W Wood and Ann McQueen. Virginia married David Hill Mullins on May 7, 1853 in South Carolina. Of course, the record I found for the marriage doesn’t list where in South Carolina, getting me no closer to finding the parents of Ann McQueen. The top of her headstone has her married name MULLINS. The front of her headstone reads:
VIRGINIA WOOD
MULLINS
JULY 31, 1833
JAN. 29, 1919
Her footstone has her initials V.W.M.
David Hill Mullins is the husband of Virginia Wood. Together they had 5 children. I took several photos of his headstone to try to show as much detail as possible. The top of his headstone has a design, as does the bottom beneath the inscription. The front of his headstone reads:
DAVID H. MULLINS
DEC. 9, 1821
FEB. 4, 1880
The very bottom of the headstone has his last name MULLINS. His footstone has his initials D.H.M.
Patrick Henry Mullins was the husband of Mary Ann Wood (Mary Ann Wood is the daughter of Stephen W Wood and Ann McQueen and the niece whom Peter McQueen left everything to in his will). They married on March 30, 1853 in South Carolina, though I can’t see where in South Carolina on their record, either. Patrick Henry Mullins was a tobacconist. He died of a brain inflammation in Randolph County, Alabama. I’m not sure if his body was sent back over the state lines to Meriwether County, Georgia or if this is just a memorial for him. The front of his memorial reads:
In memory of
PATRICK H. MULLINS
BORN
In Henry Co. Va.
July 12, 1824
DIED
March 8, 1860
The back of his memorial reads:
Sleep brother dear, and take your rest;
God called you home, He thought it best;
‘Twas hard, indeed, to part with thee,
But Christ’s strong arm supported me.
William Mullins is the son of David Hill Mullins and Virginia Wood. I’m not sure how the top of his headstone ended up laying across his grave, but I am very eager to see it set right again. The top of the headstone is carved with a cross and design of what I think are oak leaves and ivy leaves. I don’t know if anything is on the back of the monument, but the front reads:
In
Memory of
WILLIAM
MULLINS
Born
June 13, 1865
Died
Feb. 11, 1904
David Winston Mullins is also the son of David Hill Mullins and Virginia Wood. If I researched him correctly then he spent at least 39 years at the Georgia State Sanitarium in Milledgeville, Baldwin County, Georgia. He is listed on the census as an inmate there in 1900, 1910, 1920 and 1930. His death certificate in 1939 was issued at the hospital. I’m waiting on a return call from the hospital (now Central State Hospital) for more information. There is nothing on top of the headstone and there is no footstone. The front of his headstone reads:
DAVID WINSTON
MULLINS
OCT. 13, 1867
SEPT. 20, 1939
There is a crypt (crypt? is that what these are considered? I don’t know…) that is broken on the top and one end is leaning. I looked inside to make sure a body wasn’t just laying there and to make sure it hadn’t been dug up. It didn’t look like it, just sunken on one side. I look forward to this having repairs, too.
There are two rock mounds kind of in the middle of the cemetery with a walkway of sort in between them. Whether these, too, are graves or if they are just piles of rocks from when the graves were dug is currently unknown. I am hoping to receive a call back from the Meriwether County, Georgia Courthouse with more information.
The Millers mentioned that sometime soon they plan on taking a week to go down and clean the cemetery up, make repairs to the fence and fence posts (that are damaged terribly), reset headstones, repair the crypt and pretty much try to show the respect that has been severely lacking. I plan on helping when it’s time. Seeing this was really sad.
General Electric Tote-Size TV 1963
This ad was found in a newspaper dated the day after John F Kennedy was laid to rest in 1963.
According to the FCC if you still have one of these portable televisions you can still use it! As long as it is connected to a digital receiver. I’m not sure, but that seems as though it would be less portable.
James Paul Stalls, Jr by Milloy 1918
This photograph of my granddaddy James Paul Stalls, Jr was taken in 1918 by the photographer Milloy. I researched the name and came up with Paul Neil Milloy from Michigan.
Both Paul and his wife Lottie/Lotta (Cornell), also from Michigan, are listed as photographers on the 1920 census, though only he is listed as such on the 1900 census and the 1910 census. There are two marriage records for Paul and Lottie (one I assume is a bond, the other the solemnization), one for December 31, 1895 and the other for January 1, 1896 in Detroit, Wayne County, Michigan. They then somehow ended up in Memphis, Shelby County, Tennessee by 1900 and can be found through the enumeration of the 1920 census (still in Memphis). It doesn’t appear that they had any children, unless a birth occurred between the 1920 census enumeration and Paul’s death. A death certificate for Paul was issued April 23, 1921 in Memphis. His cause of death was percussion anemia.
What’s interesting about this photograph is that it is hand signed by the photographer. Now, whether it was Paul or Lottie, I’m not sure. I had thought that descendants of theirs, or family in general, would find it interesting to see the signature, but I have quickly realized that no one is researching either of them. At all. And it’s sad. I hate to think that they may have been forgotten. Hopefully someone out there has been searching and just hasn’t found anything yet. And if that’s the case then I hope this can help lead them in the right direction.
Minnie Virginia Richards
This photo of Minnie Virginia Richards (1896-1974), my great-grandmother (Me-my mom Virginia Marie Stalls-my granddaddy James Paul Stalls, Jr-my great-grandmother Minnie Virginia Richards), was taken about 1908 in Memphis, Shelby County, Tennessee. The mark at the bottom of the cabinet card is stamped with Bingham, Memphis. I think this may be the photographer Brown Bingham (1864-1920) who was originally from Hickman County, Tennessee.
Pearl Harbor Day (aka Semi-Wordless Wednesday-Part Two)
Disclaimer: I know this is Wordless Wednesday, but I felt the need to point out that I do not condone racial slurs of any kind and therefore have removed them from the image. However, I did find this today, December 7, and thought it interesting that I did. It is on the back of the US Navy Seabee (CB) Christmas menu from 1944 that my granddaddy James Paul Stalls, Jr had kept. Below the image I have transcribed it, leaving the offensive words blank, for those that may have a difficult time reading the image.
“Merry Christmas, _______
December seventh-forty one,
Pearl Harbor Day-a war begun.
They hit us hard below the belt,
A fouler blow has ne’er been dealt;
While talking peace in Washington,
They sank our ships-killed our men;
They strafed our planes, caught unprepared,
Bombed our homes-few lives were spared.
They crippled our fleet without a doubt;
“The Yank is licked”, the _____ did shout;
“We’ve finished him off, now he’ll quit,
The world is ours-on top we sit”.
So _____ thought, but he didn’t know
Uncle Sam was riled and rarin’ to go;
With his dander up-ready for fight,
He started working day and night;
He rolled up his sleeves-took a deep breath
For every _____ his goal was death.
He turned out planes and guns and ships,
And trained the men, the _____ to whip;
He built the strongest fleet in the world,
A might force with flag unfurled;
He gathered an army unexcelled
In strength and power-a flawless weld;
December seventh-forty four,
We’re on the march to end the war.
We’ve given them hell on every front,
They’re on the run, the _____ _____.
We’ll make them cringe and cry for peace;
And on our terms, this war will cease;
Over all the world, we’ll have again
God’s “Peace on Earth, Good Will Towards Men”.
Bob Greenfield”