Happy 122nd birthday Uncle Charley

Happy birthday to you,

Happy birthday to you,

Happy birthday Uncle Charley,

Happy birthday to you.

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All's well that ends well

The Ohio Democrat

Logan, Ohio

28 Aug 1902, Thu • Page 2

As I was going through the old clippings and photographs that I still have, I noticed these three newspaper clippings. All are from late summer and fall of 1902.

First my great-grandfather tore down "the old Kinlie house" around August 28 to build his new family home, financed with his wife's inheritance.

The Ohio Democrat

Logan, Ohio

Dec. 4, 1902, Thu • Page 3

Amazingly, his "handsome dwelling" was mostly* finished probably just in time for Thanksgiving on Thursday, Nov. 27 . . . but it burned on Sunday, Nov. 30.

The Hocking Sentinel

Logan, Ohio

04 Dec 1902, Thu • Page 4

Then my poor great-grandmother gave birth to her eldest son, Charles Henry Huls, just two weeks later on Sunday, Dec. 13, 1902.

All this makes me wonder if Uncle Charley was born in Logan as we thought, or was he born in Millville/Rockbridge in her childhood home?

*I say mostly because my grandfather had early memories of assisting with finishing touches around the house and he wasn't born until 1904.

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Camera obscura

I was genuinely flabbergasted and gobsmacked when glancing at old photographs on eBay on Wednesday when I spotted what I thought was a familiar face. A quick glance on my ancestry.com account verified my suspicion and I purchased my great-great-grandmother's photograph.

Uncle Charley's paternal grandmother.

Even better is it replaces the only copy we had that was destroyed in our 2016 house fire. Thankfully I had a fairly low resolution copy I had made of the photo before the fire which is what I had on ancestry.com.

Elizabeth Roberts Weltner Huls was born on January 3, 1843 and married my great-great-grandfather, Captain William Harrison Huls, on July 31, 1864. They had six children, starting with my great-grandfather Alpheus Eugene Huls.

A.E.'s son Charles Henry Huls was born in 1902, so she knew him before her death on January 7, 1904. (The paternal grandmother known by uncle Charley and grandpa Fred was Capt. Huls's second wife, Eliza Potter Binder Huls.)

Now in the past 20 years I have kept an ongoing search for family names, but the only name on this was the photography studio in our hometown.

Friends have asked me how her albumen cabinet card ended up on eBay. The answer is: who knows? She might have sent copies to friends or family. Since her name wasn't on it someone discarded it at some point. I'm just relieved it wasn't thrown away, someone listed it, and I happened to recognize her.

It does make me wonder about other missed opportunities that have possibly passed me by.

Finally, the eBay seller is from Kansas. My g-g-grandfather's widow, the second wife, moved to Kansas after his death. Did she take a box of photos with her? I shall probably never know.

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Happy heavenly birthday

Happy 120th birthday Uncle Charley!

For he's a jolly good fellow, for he's a jolly good fellow
For he's a jolly good fellow, which nobody can deny!

The Happy Birthday song has been around since the 1890s, but it was primarily sung to and for children at the time. However I can certainly imagine Grandpa Fred and Uncle Charley's fraternity brothers singing a rousing verse of the alternative on Saturday, Dec. 13, 1924.

It would be his last earthly birthday.

The tune of For He's a Jolly Good Fellow is of French origin and dates from at least from the 18th century, and it was well known by 1862 in the United States.

The British and the American lyrics differ slightly; "And so say all of us" is typically British, while we Americans usually sing, "Which nobody can deny."

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Thanksgiving greetings

I like to post happier things when I either find them, or remember them. Today's memory is a song grandpa Fred taught us, and before that he taught it to my aunt, father, and cousins. He learned it as a child so I imagine Uncle Charley knew it too.

(sung to the tune of Did You Ever See a Lassie) 

Oh here we come marching,
Our fine feathers arching.
Oh, gobble, gobble, gobble,
Fine turkeys are we. 

We are for Thanksgiving,
As sure as you're living.
Oh, gobble, gobble, gobble,
Fine turkeys are we.

Author Unknown

A search on Google brings up some similar songs but not an identical song. Apparently it changed a bit as it was orally taught to each generation.

However, a similar version was found in a 1902 (the year Charley was born) manual for teachers: Outlines and Suggestions for Primary Teachers:

Oh, see us come marching,

Our fine feathers arching.
We're kings of the barnyard
Plump turkeys are we. 

We strut all so proudly.
We gobble so loudly
Oh, 'Gobble! Gobble! Gobble!'
Plump turkeys are we. 

 

Another similar version is in the April 1904 (the year Grandpa was born) School Work, Volume 3 by Leon W. Goldrich and Olivia Mary Jones:

Oh, see us come a-marching,

Our fine feathers arching,

We're kings of the barn-yard—

Plump turkeys are we; 

 

We strut all so proudly,

We gobble so loudly—

Oh, "gobble! gobble! gobble!"

Plump turkeys are we. 

 

Oh, would you think—scarcely—

That dressed up in parsley,

We kings of the barn-yard

Soon roasted will be?

Oh "gobble! gobble! gobble!"

Plump turkeys are we.

Do you have any family Thanksgiving traditions?

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