Well, the Garrison DNA (mine) has been analyzed. I described my testing as it went along at the Garrisons of Georgia site, but there’s very little activity there these days. Since this is the “newspaper of record” for our branch of Garrisons, I thought I should give a summary here.
Apr 242014
Apr 222013
I’ve noticed that many of our ancestors named their children for another member of the family, parents, grandparents, uncles, etc. And apparently some of our ancestors named children for somebody famous, or close friends. So, I started wondering, how did my parents choose my name? I asked Mom today, and she said that her mother picked my name. Luckily, I like my name! But I sure wish I could ask my grandmother how she came up with my name. I just discovered that my Dad had a cousin whose middle name was the same as my Dad’s father’s and brother’s . . .[Read more]
Jun 042012
Julia Logan Carvin passed away Monday, May 28, 2012. Click the link below to view the full story.
Julia Carvin Obituary
Nov 072011
It turns out that just down the road from where we used to put the boat in the lake there is a monument in the town of Benbrook that connects, sort of, to Verne and Dorothy’s early life. The monument marks the spot that British dancer, actor and aviator Vernon Castle died in a military training plane crash in Feb. 1918. Vernon Castle had moved to New York from England early in the century and started a career in acting and dancing. In 1911 he married Irene Foote of New York. They became the Fred and Ginger Rogers of their day, dancing on stage and in silent movies from 1911 to 1916 when Vernon returned to England and joined the Royal Flying Corps to do his part in the Great War.
Oct 312011
In March 1919 Verne moved to an apartment a couple of blocks east of Westlake Park (now MacArthur Park) just west of downtown Los Angeles. The picture is actually from a few years before he lived in L.A. but it’s all I could find. It serves as a fortuitous illustration for this post on Verne’s interest in telegraphy, since it has all those wires in the foreground.
Oct 072011
I have noted before that both Verne and Dorothy were strongly in favor of Prohibition. Verne saw the contrast between Arizona, which instituted statewide prohibition at the beginning of 1915, coincidentally at the moment when the Garrisons moved to San Simon, and New Mexico, which was only a few miles away and still wet. As expected the N.M. towns were full of saloons and all that went with that.
Sep 302011
The mystery of Peggy’s suitcase. Mother was a professional worrier. I understand because I have some of the same inherited characteristics. Anyway, this adventure was exceptional. It happened while Peggy was a junior or senior in Texas Tech. She was returning to school after some time in Fort Worth. Dorothy took her to the suburban bus station in Fort Worth. After the bus pulled out, she spotted Peg’s suitcase on the dock. Instant panic. She had the stationmaster call the downtown terminal asking them to hold the bus until she could bring the suitcase. Someone loaded the suitcase into the . . .[Read more]
Sep 232011
Verne claimed to not be particularly impressed with Los Angeles, but one thing he did like was getting in the water. He went frequently to the Bimini Baths in the summer of 1918, a large private bathhouse on a natural hot spring just northwest of downtown L.A. The Baths were a feature of L.A. life from 1900 to 1951, at least if you were white. He could take a streetcar to the baths – you can see the line in the upper right of the photo.
Notes and Transcriptions of Letters
This is all my notes and transcriptions of the letters as it stands at the moment. I have read all the letters through 1918, except for a few in 1917, and a few from 1919, and the summary was based on that. I have taken notes on all the letters through Sept., 1915 and a fair number from 1917 and 1918. I will fill in the gaps as I get a chance.
This is a very long post, but I wanted to make it available to anyone who is impatient. It will help to read the summary posted earlier before you read this. I am marking recently added letters with an *, so if you just want to see recently added stuff, do a Find command in your browser for *.
I was just watching Antiques Roadshow and it made me think of the only artifact in our house that could go possibly get on that show, at least now that my mother has sold her 18th century violin.