Grand Cemetery Tour.

What strange thoughts creep into the mind of an 86 year old geezer with swollen ankles and wheezy lungs? Why thoughts of cemeteries of course. I am five weeks from a grand tour of cemeteries. On September 6 I will drive to Springfield, Illinois. I will be attending four days of lectures on genealogy at the FGS Convention. I will get in a trip to the cemetery where Lincoln's tomb is located.

Then I will drive to the Arlington National Cemetery. On September 13 at 11 am I will watch as the ashes of my son Christopher David Monson are placed underground with the ashes of my wife Jackie Lois Monson. God bless them. I will be with them soon.

I am going to spend several days in New Haven, Connecticut. Great grandfathers Thomas, Samuel, and Samuel are buried there. One of them in Wallingford and two at the Grove Street Cemetery in New Haven.

Then it is off to Morristown, New Jersey where my great grandfather Solomon is buried. He served in the Revolutionary War. Several Munsons were at Valley Forge.

Lexington, Kentucky here I come. I have four great grandfathers buried in Kentucky in the area northeast of Lexington. They are Samuel, Samuel (yes, four of my great grandfathers are named Samuel!), Joel, and Abner L. I know that the second Kentucky Samuel is buried at Millersburg, Kentucky. He died in the 1833 Lexington Cholera epidemic.

Don't you wish that you were going with me? Think of all the headstones I am going to see!

7/30/11 244 50.2 128 64 65 96.7 1600 97 75 0

Christian Steven Newberry

Christian in his new football suit.

Yale University. The early days.

You must think that I am bragging about the accomplishments of my ancestors. I suppose you are right. I had no idea that they had such productive lives, until I started studying the Munson genealogy. I am so impressed how much their life stories are intertwined with the history of America. I have a great interest in history, that interest combined with my interest in my ancestors makes me blog about them. Also, I want to inform my descendants about their ancestors. I feel bad that I did not know anything about them. Their stories are interesting

The grandsons of my 8th great grandfather, Captain Thomas Munson, donated a major piece of the land that formed the first grounds of Yale College when it was moved from Saybrook to New Haven in 1716. The name of the college was changed from Collegiate College to Yale College after Elihu Yale gave the college the proceeds from the sale of 9 bales of goods, 417 books, and a portrait of King George I. Here is a pic of Elihu.

When the medical school was established at Yale one of the first professors was Dr Eneas Munson, who I blogged about just recently. He served in that capacity for the rest of his life. A portrait of Dr Eneas hangs in the Yale Medical School.

7/29/11 245.6 50.9128 128 62 68 96.5 3170 92 75 0

Grove Street Cemetery.

I will be at the Grove Street Cemetery in the middle of September. It is in New Haven, Connecticut, either on or immediately adjacent to Yale University. Peabody Museum anybody? Captain Thomas Munson, my 8th great grandfather is buried here. Along with some other Munsons.

It is strange to look forward to seeing a grave. But I am really looking forward to it. Two more of my great grandfathers are buried in New Haven County and I will see them also. To prove it I will take pictures.

7/28/11 235.4 49.9 140 68 64 95.3 4850 94 76 0

World Horseshoe Tournament.

They are busy finding out who is the best horseshoe thrower in the world and they are doing it this year in Monroe, Louisiana. I live very close to Monroe and I did not want to miss this momentous occasion. And it was free!

You can see that seniors and females stand closer.

But others stand back at the pin. That is a long throw.

I had never seen the fancy clay that they used.

Fancy shoes were available.

7/27/11 245.6 49.9 124 62 63 96.6 3940 94 75 0

Dr Eneas Munson

One of my New England cousins was Dr Eneas Munson. He was born in 1734 and died in 1826. The 92 years of his life spanned some interesting years in America. He graduated from Yale in 1753 and was a preacher for a very short time. He found preaching to be too strenuous. He studied medicine and began the practice of medicine in 1756 in Bedford, NY. In 1760 he moved back to New Haven. He was a physician for 70 years. His wig and pigtail are still in existence. He was known to kneel at a patient's bed side and commit the patient to God in prayer.

He was a member of the state legislature all during the war. He was a guest at a dinner one time that included George Washington among the other guests. Early in his career he owned slaves. It has been stated that he freed them. No slaves were listed in his estate.

He sometime wrote whole letters in Latin. The Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences was incorporated  in 1799 and he served on the first board with Noah Webster.

7/26/11 246.4 49.9 127 64 63 96 2020 95 76 0.2

Evergreen Coho Resort. Home Sweet Home for 17 years.

This is a picture of the Evergreen Coho Resort. I took it from the top of Tamanomous Rock which is on a hillside above the park. Jackie and I lived in the far left corner of the park.This spot is the place that we lived for the longest in our lives together. I cherish the memories. Prior to this we had lived in 20 or more places. You can see the clubhouse and a grove of trees in the center of the park. Just behind the clubhouse is the enclosure for the clothes lines that I designed and help build.

When Jackie and I arrived there in 1990 the park was just a big field. Then a group of volunteers built the clubhouse and 175 sheds. I sure hit my thumb many times! Our lot is in the picture below. with our trailer, car, and truck. I still live in the trailer.

Hold the presses! Bella is great great great!

My niece, Donna Sue, pointed out to me that I had made a genealogical error. Bella Coffey is my great great great niece. I was not giving Bella and I proper credit. I had listed her as only a great great niece.

7/25/11 246.4 50.1 118 61 68 96.4 4030 97 77 0.1

Can you pick out the old prunepicker?

He is one of the young men in this 1944 photograph.

$100 debit card gift.

I was thrilled and pleased that the Jefferson Corner Liars Club took up an offering and presented me, on my birthday, with a $100 debit card. The Club has an indeterminate membership and consists of persons who meet for coffee at the Jefferson Corner Liars Club. I have been a member of the Club for four years. I want to thank each one of my fellow members for the token of affection that the debit card represents.

However, I have a policy to not accept birthday gifts of value. Therefore, I have donated the $100 to The Humane Society in the name of the Jefferson Corner Liars Club. Please believe me when I say that I really appreciate the Club's gift. I really really treasure the friendship of each member. I wish the very best for all of them. Thanks again.

7/24/11 245.8 50.5 126 57 65 96.9 2100 95 77 0

Bella, my great, great grand niece.

Isn't she beautiful? Annabella Coffey is the great, great grand daughter of my sister Donna. Therefore, she is my great, great grand niece. She is 14 months old. I held her last summer when I was in Hanford, California.

My Louisiana relatives give me a 86th birthday party.

They took me to the world famous Monjunis, an Italian Restaurant in downtown Ruston.

Then it was home to John and Kerry's for cake and ice cream.

It sure was a nice birthday party. My friends and family sure did remember my 86th!

7/23/11 246.8 50.7 128 62 63 96 2000 96 79 0

Happy 90th Birthday, James Evans.

What a good looking sailor! I have been having breakfast with James for several years at the VFW. He is really a fine gentleman. I wish him the very best on his 90th birthday..

James is also a good looking 90 year old man.

There was good turn out at the birthday party.

The Ruston, Louisiana VFW Chapter put up 50 flags to guide the way to the party. Three cheers for the VFW.

Papa Chuck reading to JL.

This reminds of when I read books to JL's grand mother. JL's grand mother is my daughter Kerry Lee.

Weight Chart July 1 to July 23.

This is bad. Up to 246 pounds. This is more than my son Mike weighs. About the most that I have ever weighed. Have to shape up!!

7/22/11 246 50.5 123 62 68 95.9 2910 96 78 0

My Mountain Grand Daughter.

This is another beautiful picture of Corrie and Celia. They are out wondering around Jackson Hole, Wyoming again. They seem to always have a photographer with them.

7/21/11 246.4 50.2 135 68 68 96.2 3520 96 77 0

Judge Lyman Munson and Yellowstone.

Judge Munson's involvement with the exploration of Yellowstone was very minor. In the article that I presented on my recent blog the Judge was sitting out a snowstorm with the Montana governor, another judge, two marshals, and a young lawyer. This group were on a trip to discuss peace treaties with the Blackfoot Indians. Ten years later was Custer's Last Stand. Available to these men in the storm shelter were men who had knowledge of the Yellowstone area. Yellowstone was discussed quite a bit. These men carried these stories with them and they had contacts with people in the east. Their conversation was in 1865. In 1869 to 1871 three parties explored Yellowstone. They were the Folsum party, the Washburn party, and the Haydon-Barlow party. These parties conveyed the information about Yellowstone to the public and action was taken to establish Yellowstone Park.

What is interesting to me is that John Coulter pealed off from the Lewis and Clark  Expedition and explored the area in 1807.  He is considered to be the first white man to see Yellowstone Lake. The exploration mentioned above was 60 plus years after Coulter. I guess no one believed Coulter.

My son Mike is a Mountain Man expert.

Whoops!

The other day I said that I loved Rhonda Blakley like a daughter. That was wrong. Rhonda is too young to be my daughter. So I love her like a grand daughter. I have some wonderful grand daughters. I love them all very much.

Pomona's FOX Theatre.

This is a rare color picture taken looking north up Garey from 5th street. The picture was taken in the forties. I spent a lot of time at the FOX Theatre. I can remember when it opened in the thirties. They had a huge organ and an organist played it before the movies. I was a great movie fan. The movie studios used to have sneak previews of their new movies at the Pomona FOX. They would get audience reaction for the final editing. I saw Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde previewed and saw Spencer Tracy come out of the theatre and walk by me. One time there was a Dead End Kids movie and several of the Dead End Kids were matching coins with us locals on the sidewalk.

On the nights that the theatre was going to show a sneak preview they would have a searchlight sweep the sky. I would watch for the searchlight and if I saw it I would head for the FOX. When this happened you got to see three movies, the regular double feature and the preview.

7/20/11 245.6 49.9 120 65 66 95.9 3610 95 75 0

5 am Birthday Party!

When I walked into the meeting of the Jefferson Corner Liars Club this morning at 5 am this was the scene.

The Club must known that today is my 86th birthday.  There was a huge good looking cake with a candle, a birthday card, and an $100 debit card. I want to thank everyone for the present. The members all burst into singing the birthday song.

Jewette the photographer took my picture. Notice that the card has a likeness of me on the front.

The cake was a humming bird cake it was delicious. It is like a carrot cake without carrots.

The cake was made at home, from scratch by Rhonda Blakley. Rhonda is the treasurer of the JC Liars Club. The thing that really touched my heart and that I appreciated so much was that Rhonda took time out of her busy life to make a cake for my birthday. I love her like a daughter!

7/19/11 244.8 50.1 128 66 59 96 2800 90 76 0

Jefferson Corner VP John Roebuck and his new crossbow.

Look out deer!

7/18/11 245.6 49.9 134 68 67 96 2480 94 76 0

Blaze is four months old.

This was Blaze four months ago standing by his mother and reaching up to get a snack.

Look at him now.

And now he has to reach down to get a snack.

He is a pretty horse. I will check on him again in a few months.