Stephen Hopkins

For descendants of this unique personage, here are some handy references...

If you watched the Janney episode, on "Who Do You Think You Are", it was mostly about Stephen Hopkins. I had not heard about his time in Bermuda, and then in Virginia, prior to coming over on the Mayflower. Available on the free Peacock app: https://www.peacocktv.com/watch/playback/vod/GMO_00000000433185_01/fa2d426e-3f10-3189-a691-b2cf9049b370

The Janney episode also mentioned his contribution to our democracy and human rights. Political scientists are starting to put our ancestor into the same category of thinkers as Thomas Hobbes & John Locke.  The best short essay on this aspect is a well-written piece from the NYT: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/21/opinion/thanksgiving-pilgrims-puritans-democracy-.html

There is good detail and info on his find-a-grave site, as well as books for further reading.  Our guy was NOT a Puritan!  As proven by his penchant for rum, and for selling it after-hours!  https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/215014000/stephen-hopkins

Lastly, the latest biography is A Stranger Among Saints... https://amzn.to/3ShSuQr

Happy reading!

 

Welcome to the United States of China
- or – What happens when you're not looking...

General Electric Appliances -
Sold back in 2016, to the Haier Group, of China. This was okay by Mitch McConnell and his wife, as the huge Louisville, KY plant was retained.

Waldorf-Astoria Hotel -
Sold in 2015 to the Anbang Insurance Group (now, in 2022, under Government ownership).
The new owners hired Hilton to manage the hotel, while they develop plans to turn the
property in condominiums for rich people.

Motorola Mobile Phones (MOTO) -
Motorola sold off their mobile phone business in 2014, to the Chinese computer giant:
Lenovo.

Volvo -
When Ford couldn't handle their acquisitions, Volvo ended up with the Chinese auto company, Geely Holding Group, back in 2010. Geely is the largest stockholder of Mercedes.

AMC Theaters -
Your favorite purveyor of overpriced popcorn, AMC sold its largest stake to the Chinese company, WANDA Group, back in 2012. This multinational media giant is owned by the
Wang family from northeast China.

Hoover Vacuum Cleaners -
The over-100-year-old icon was sold in 2007 to the TTI Group, of Hong Kong. Hoover joined a lineup of other TTI Group brands which include: Milwaukee Electric, Ryobi, Homelite,

Oreck Vacuums, and Dirt Devil.

Smithfield Farms -
USA's largest pork producer was sold to China in 2019. We raise the hogs, then ship them to China where they are slaughtered and packaged, and shipped back to us, free from FDA
regulations and requirements. Brands are: Morrell, Eckrich, Cudahy, Cook's Hams, etc...

That Beautiful Somewhere

Another good Canadian film, here's the plot, in a nutshell:

"Robert Budreau's noirish thriller That Beautiful Somewhere stars Roy Dupris as Conk Adams, a police detective still nursing psychological scars from his time in the military. When an unidentified body turns up, he must work with an archeologist (Jane McGregor) who suffers from a physical ailment. Soon the pair bond over work and their health problems, and an Aboriginal mystic offers clues to the identity of the body."~ Perry Seibert, Rovi

Above and beyond that synopsis, we find a story of wounded people on a quest for healing. The characters are dealing with themes of death and resurrection as they wade through a mystery, and they encounter First Nations' mystical notes that intrude into their thought processes and their viewpoints on life and on death. A fascinating film when you are relaxed and open to deep thinking; not a film for just pure amusement.

Clip, on YouTube: copy and paste

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMajA8mvglc

                                   Roy DuPuis                   
                                     Jane McGregor

Blood Pressure (2012)

Here's a good movie, while you're spending time at home.

It seems slow-moving and soft-spoken, until all of a sudden you realize all the changes in the characters and the plotlines.  Michelle Giroux takes her character's outlines and weaves them into a well-drawn persona.  Tatiana Maslany (Orphan Black) continues to steal scenes with just her raw talent. Well-directed, you'll like this movie or you won't.  That's it.

http://www.bloodpressurethemovie.com/


         Giroux (above) and Maslany 

                                         

Nothing to Fear

Nothing to Fear: FDR's Inner Circle and the Hundred Days That Created Modern America by Adam Cohen


Excellent read. Cohen does a good job of combining time-line history with illuminating character studies of the participants in the greatest program/legislative achivements in our history.


View all my reviews

We lose sight, in today's world, of a President who can *preside*.  Cohen's book shows us how FDR took socialists and corporate fascists into his cabinet, along with a few moderates and political hacks, and had this diverse group hammer out the programs of the New Deal  All factions had a "say' and all factions had input to the legislative output of the Hundred Days accomplishments. One difference that Cohen does not deal with, is that Roosevelt's cabinet wanted the best for the nation, not for party.

The Adorable Alta Jane Boomer

Born Alta J. Chaffee, in Adrian, MI in 1890, Alta was the daughter of Frank A. Chaffee and one of his several wives.  Alta is about 18 years old in this photograph, which we obtained from Delaware, and holds a bouquet of hope and promise.  She married Roy Deville Boomer, also from Lenawee County, and for many years they lived in Adrian and Ann Arbor, where Roy would work as a carpenter for the railroad or in construction, and Alta would take in laundry in order to help make ends meet.

Later, the dreams would catch hold, and they moved to the fertile Yakima valley of Washington to pursue farming.  Enduring a hard life, Alta died in 1938; only 47 years old.  Roy lasted until 1947, at the age of  59; and both are buried in the Old Sunnyside Cemetery, in rural Yakima County, WA.

Teachers @ Verona School, PS 6, Battle Creek, Michigan

Vivian E. Beers, b.1891 in MI
    Lived mostly at 91 Fremont and at 290 Garfield

Irma M. (Kemp) Verble, 1913 - 2001
    Born in Nebraska, I think she started here in 1940.

Florence M. Nagel
    Lived at 187 Hubbard; traveled the Southwest every year.

Cornelia M. Osborn,  1896 - 1988
    Born in Eckford, she lived at 385 East Ave. N.

Margaret B. Randolph, 1892 - 1985
    Husband ran a shoe repair shop @ 214 W. Mich. Ave.

Beatrice J. Gall, b.1926 in Detroit
    A UNM grad (1947); lived at 26 Chestnut for many years.

Anne Johnston
     Lived on Sylvan Drive

Maybelle (Spooner) Matherly, 1904 - 1994
    Lived at 104 Sellers Ave.

Margaret O. Giddings, 1903 - 1983
    Lived at 208 Garrison after many years on Union St.  Her husband,
    W. Eugene Giddings, had a small real estate business.

Glenn Wesley Alday, born June 1927
    Lived at 238 Briar Hill.  Mr. Alday was a Marine at the end of WW2.

Hazel M. McKibbin, 1903 - 1987
    She commuted to Verona from Charlotte for a few years until they got
    a house at 49 Clayton.  She was a Social Worker before teaching.

Beatrice Wenger, 1912 - 1998
     Lived several teaching years up in Nashville

Avis Madge Hassel, 1929 - 1998
     Wife of Carl Hassel (1926- 2011) a counselor at WKKJH.

Corinne Keithley
     Her husband, Earl, was an auto mechanic.
 





Please email or comment with additions, corrections, or pictures...

Teachers at W.K. Kellogg Junior High School in Battle Creek, MI

Elizabeth Torongo, English                    
Born 20 July 1905, in BC; died 14 April 1998, in BC.  Lived at 224 Eaton St.


Emily A. Kaufmann, Typing
Born c.1922, in Saginaw.  Lived at 221 N. Washington St.

Leverett L. "Bud" Hinkle, Woodshop                                

Born 7 Mar 1920, in Wisc.; died Dec 13,1997, in MD.  Lived at 80 East Ave S, in BC.  By 1958, he had been assigned to Southeastern Junior High.

Warren E. Brezette, Drafting
Born 13 June 1910, Kalamazoo?; died 15 May 1992, BC.  Lived on Winter & Lois Sts.

Jasper L. McKay, Science                              

Born 19 Feb 1919; died 18 Jan 1981 in Detroit.  Lived at 319 N Kendall.

Wayne L. Schroeder, Science

Donald S, Newcomer, English                        

Born 3 Jun 1921; died 19 Feb 2007.  Left BC to join Mr. Nault at World Book Encyclopedia.

Arthur W. Lower, Music
Born 29 Jun 1913, in Marshall; died 22 Jun 2000 in BC.  Also taught at Verona.

Lois Mae Penty, Art                                    

Born 3 Jan 1910, BC; died 25 Jan 1996, BC.  Lived on Hamilton Lane, Lkvw.
Her twin brother Amos died in infancy.  Photo is from 1934 @ Western.

John Vydareny, Gym & Coach                                  

Born 27 Jul 1904; died 21 Nov 1996 in Kzoo.  Lived at 47 N 31st.
Photo is from 1928 @ Western, because none of us saw him with hair!

Joan C Bordner,
Lived at 73 Fremont St., in 1958.

Mabel M. Nichols, Counselor
Born 1908, died 1979
Wife of Kenneth Nichols, of Clark Equip., they lived at 127 Milton.

Carl C. Wirth,  Math & Drafting              

Born 21 Jan 1920, in Nebraska and died 22 Oct. 2008, in Marshall.  He and his wife Lois (LtCol-USAF) lived many years at 122 Kellogg St.     (Photo from Kieth Burkhead)

James W. Stone, Printing
Born 6 Feb 1920,
Wife, Marian, taught at Ann J Kellogg; they lived at 163 N 25th.

Alfred J. Reynolds,
Lived at 86 Hilltop.  Mr. Reynolds was a 1949 grad of Calvin College.

William H Nault
Born 9 June 1926, in Ishpeming, MI.  He got his MA in 1949 at UofM
Left BC to be an editor at World Book Encyc., in Chicago.                        

In Honor of the Solstice, Mary Oliver's The Summer Day

In Honor of the Solstice, Mary Oliver's The Summer Day

Here's a sampling from one of America's new young poets:
    http://myemail.constantcontact.com/Poem-A-Day--Elegy-in-X-Parts--excerpt--by-Matt-Rasmussen.html?soid=1110705357409&aid=8uQh2UdPTE0

Thoroughly enjoying a new (for me) genre of storytelling: as opposed to technical science fiction, writer Brit Marling makes lovely indy films that I would call philosophical science fiction. She makes you think and wonder. If you have a chance try to find a copy of Another Earth, which came out last year. Her costar, Wm. Mapother, will be recognized from his fine work on Lost...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Another_Earth

About Bishop Steven Charleston

 Former Bishop of Alaska, and former Dean of Episcopal Divinity School, in New York City, Bishop Charleston is currently serving as the interim Dean of St. Paul's Cathedral in Oklahoma City, OK.  (Which is kind of neat for a member of the Choctaw Nation.)

More biography and links to sermons are at:  http://day1.org/328-the_rt_rev_steven_charleston

Our Prayer of the Day

       I very much appreciate the wise counsel of Bishop Steven 

Charleston this morning: "Beware of any generation that 


seems


 lost without a leader. That search may become a dangerous 


thing to do. A society that is fearful, money worried, anxious 


for


 order, hungry for law, a nation of wall builders, accustomed 


to war, watching enemies without and enemies within, afraid


 its glory will fade. Longing for the strong man grows, ever so


 quietly, while people look the other way.




       Help us, O God, not to flirt with forces so ancient and so 


evil, but rather to put our trust in you, that justice never 


bends to fear nor freedom to the false gods of power."




Thanks to Louie Crew for this tidbit

a poem from wandering the Organ Mountains...

Violent Night

Stars shout in the stillness,

Of a cold mountain night

A soft breeze stumbles down

the erratic, rocky gorge

and ruffles the browning grass

at my feet

Just above the jagged crest

the harvest moon pushes aside

the glowering black and bursts

the air with creamy light

                                                                                                                                                        Jim Macey


Photo Credit: Michelle Stump is the artist who created the accompanying photograph, entitled:
Mountain Night - Purple Wind.  See more of her spiritual works at www.harpofthespirit.com

The Psalm of New Mexico

Behold the mountains of the Lord,

Gaze upon the majesty of His hills;

Look down at the verdant river valley,

See the dwelling place of our greenery.

View the Jornada and its sere sands,

The eye hears a symphony of tan and brown.

Tread quietly amid the Mesilla pecans,

Walk softly in their cathedral of shade.

This is the land the Lord has given us,

The varied earth He has bestowed on us.

This is the land He gave us to care for,

The earth for us to nurture.

by  Jim Macey,  Los Lunas, NM    

A psalm is a special form of poetry, rarely found outside of the religious setting, and its rhythms are due to calculated repititions of the poetic thought.  It's a difficult format to work with for the poet, forcing you to think and rethink your utterances.  I find the psalm lending itself to nature poetry by bringing the cadences of the worship service to the mundane viewing of a landscape.


For further reading:  Really good poetry can be found in any work by Billy Collins, our former Poet Laureate.
.

Names - A Light Moment

Naming is probably one of the biggest problems for the genealogist and also for the persons transcribing documents of genealogical interest.  The spellings of our ancestor's names drives us up walls; the meanings of names escapes our ken; the audio aspect - how a name sounds- is often pure conjecture.

Here's a good example:

"Sexauer is an ordinary German name referring to one who came from
Sexau, in Germany. Looking for a Mr. Sexauer, a man in Washington
called at the Senate Interstate and Foreign Commerce Committee.
Helping him, a girl employee called the Banking and Currency Committee
by telephone to check, and inquired politely, ‘Do you have a Sexauer
over there?’

    ‘Listen,’ the girl switchboard operator snapped, ‘We don’t even
have a ten-minute coffee break anymore.’ "

– Elsdon Coles Smith, Treasury of Name Lore, 1967

For further reading:  any of E. C. Smith's vast works on names.

Genealogy: An Activity of Ecstasy & Grief

It’s been a good week, for Faith Hope Macey, and it’s been a momentarily disastrous week, in her ongoing family research.

The thrill of a new document found by happenstance – that act sets off tremors through the body of a genuine genealogist.  Faith found several.  ”Oh, boy – look I’ve got two new cousins!”

Sure enough, there they are: and look – as they are tracked through recent history, they lived in some of the same areas where Faith lived.  More research:  ”Oh my God – one lived 10 blocks away from me in 1986.”  ”Jim, see if you can google and find an e-mail address for them”

Well, as some of you can surmise, further research led to the SSDI:  both cousins had died in the last few years.  And now they must remain unmet, un-talked with, un-hugged.  There would be no sharing of stories, no questions answered,  no offspring introduced to each other.

Genealogists all know this facet of our endeavor: where we are literally beside ourselves one minute and crushed with disappointment in the next.  And we recognize that it is our very nature to feel the joy of discovery  and the tears over the what-could-have-been.  The moral of the story: don’t lose touch and keep searching…

• In Memoriam:  Joyce Elaine Schaefer Adams,  1933 – 2010
•                          Robert E Schaefer, 1926 – 2010

Further reading:  the books of Boyd Magers on westerns, serials, and Gene Autry give insight into the life of Armand Schaefer, father and uncle to the cousins above.  Armand was the number two man in the Flying A Productions, and was a minority owner in the Angels baseball team.

Welcome (...sung to the tune of the William Tell Overture)

In the heart of the Rio Grande valley of New Mexico comes the thundering hoofbeats of meandering, swirling, coalescing thoughts from the proudly parabolic mindstream of a blue-eyed, Norman-blooded bard of deep Celtic origins in the wild black forests of far-gone history.  And these writings are his story and your story, so sit back and enjoy the history of both of us...