W.W. Kyle retires as Weston mail carrier

The Weston Chronicle, Dec. 24th, 1965, p. 6

Around Weston 28 Years Ago...

J. W. Scott popular and highly efficient teacher of the seventh and eighth grade, has been appointed to the position of rural mail carrier to fill the vacancy created by the retirement of W. W. Kyle last spring. In the interim, Maurice Vaughn has been carrying the mail.

Lynn's note: The retiring mail carrier was my great-great uncle. Uncle Willy is the reason my grandfather left his dad's home in Kentucky and came to Missouri. He helped Uncle Willy with his apple crop shipment and a few years later came back to Missouri to stay. W. W. Kyle was Grandad's father's brother; also originally from Kentucky.

Weston distillery has ties to St. Joseph's Missouri Valley Trust

From The Weston Chronicle, Dec. 24, 1965, p. 4

Ancestors Worked At Distillery

Although only 18 registered at the local museum on a recent Sunday there were some very pleasant visitors and exciting moments for the hostesses, Mrs. Ida Allison and her guest, Mrs. Nettie Miller.  Mrs. Miller is not a native but is far more interested in Weston, its history and its museum than some who are closer to the 'good earth' of their home town. She interviewed several persons, among them Carl R. Wellenkoetter of St. Joseph, who was seeking information about his great-great grandfather, Abbott Porter Goff.

Goff, according to his descendant was at one time an investor and a bookkeeper at the Holladay Distillery forerunner of McCormick. Mr. Wellenkoetter thinks it was about 1860 Goff was also one of the first directors of the Missouri Valley Trust Company, oldest bank west of the Mississippi today. He owned vineyards and a winery on Lovers Lane in St. Joseph.

From the name it is assumed Goff belonged to the German population of Weston and with most of them moved to St. Joseph when the steamboat fiasco occurred here and the handwriting on the wall indicated Weston's doom as a commercial center.

(end of my transcription...more in the paper of the women assisting them along with a thank you note.)

Services Monday for E.R. Kyle, Weston Chronicle 1965

I've inherited old newspapers and finally am getting around to storing them correctly. Of course, I read them as I put them away and have found genealogy material that should be shared. This obituary is from The Weston Chronicle, Weston MO, Dec. 24, 1965.

Services Monday For E.R. Kyle

Egbert Railey Kyle, 80, prominent farmer and tobacco grower of Platte County died Saturday at the Atchison hospital after being a patient there about two weeks. Mr. Kyle was a native of the County and of the Iatan community and was born and raised on the land homesteaded by his grandfather, Matthew Kyle. He was a son of William and Melinda Krusor Kyle and was born April 16, 1885.

He was a member of the Mt. Bethel Presbyterian church and of the Weston AF and AM Lodge No. 53. He was married to Miss Carrie Ditto on Feb. 5, 1913 and she with a daughter, Mrs. Kenneth Myers of Excelsior Springs survive. He also leaves three grandchildren.

Rev. John Cox of the Iatan Church of the Nazarene conducted services Monday at the Vaughn Chapel in Weston. L.R. Vaughn was at the organ adn Mrs. C. R. Hall sang.

Pallbearers were Ora Palmer, Nelson Smith, J.C. Page, John G. Kyle, Floyd Smither and Tom Bishop. Burial was in Mt. Bethel cemetery.

Antiques Roadkill, Book Review

Antiques Roadkill, Barbara Allan

 

The first in the Trash 'n Treasures series...no recipes this time but an end of section tip on antique hunting at estate sales or shops.

 

Brandy moves back home with her mother after her divorce that resulted from a drunken night at a reunion with her HS boyfriend. Her mother has a mental problem that requires medication and when she is off the medication wild and weird things can happen. So when Brandy walks into a house devoid of the family antique furniture she knows what has happened. An unscrupulous antique store owner has purchased all the expensive heirlooms. This story builds on what this dealer has done to the town's elderly and sick population with no one surprised when he turns up dead. Brandy and her mother are suspects in the crime and in typical mystery fashion set out to solve the murder.

 

The authors of this book are husband-and-wife writers Barbara Collins and Max Allan Collins.

The Darling Dahlias and the Confederate Rose, Book Review

The Darling Dahlias and the Confederate Rose by Susan Wittig Albert

If I find an author whose books I enjoy I will search for anything else they may have written or might be writing.  Albert’s series of China Bayles mysteries has been a favorite so I picked up this book hoping for good things. Reading the book jacket and finding that this is a new series set in the Depression had me second guessing my choice. But Albert pulled it off.  Her research into the time period created a highly believable 1930s small Southern town. The people inhabiting her book are characters you might almost know from oft-told family stories: the spinster librarian, the assistant who knows more than her boss, and the small town newspaper man looking for a big story.

Albert’s 1930s world seems pretty close to what my grandparents and others have told me about it. So I was able to suspend belief and enter her world rather easily. The Darling Dahlias is a garden club. The Confederate Rose is a common name for a hibiscus and the name of a female Confederate spy during the Civil War. The weaving of the two into a cozy mystery of earlier times had me turning pages and enjoying the experience. I’ll be reading the first book in the series as soon as it arrives by request to my library.

Cake on a Hot Tin Roof Book Review

Ok, heads up alert on this one...it's just for fun. Just as I can't resist a good dessert, I can't resist clever titles for summer beach reads either. Cake on a Hot Tin Roof follows A Sheetcake Named Desire by Jacklyn Brady. The premise is a bakery chef inherits a pastry shop from her late, almost ex-husband in New Orleans. There is a mystery involved, as in her first of this "A Piece of Cake" series. However, it's the inner workings of the pastry shop that interests me the most. New owner Rita Lucero who is still trying to earn her spot as the boss of the shop finds her visiting uncle a suspect in the murder of one of New Orleans prominent businessmen. Several families' secrets are revealed in the course of the book and a view of Mardi Gras a few years after Katrina keeps things interesting.

As in many books lately, recipes are included in the back of the book.  None for the fancy cakes made up for the pastry shop but some recipes for brunches and other meals. Only one appealed to me but then I'm not a fan of New Orleans style food.

Have fun as you get an inside glance at a business most of us will not see in daily operation.

Objects of My Affection Book Review

The premise of this book hooked me. Lucy Bloom is an organizer given the job of clearing out an artist's house with a deadline that is an important part of the plot. The artist is a hoarder and refuses to let go of her stuff creating most, but not all, of the tension in the story. I like my 'stuff' too so I picked this up to discover how the cleaning out goes. Along the way I found myself guessing as to what happens to the hard working organizer who has recently lost her job, her boyfriend and sold her house to pay for her drug addict son's therapy.

I crave happy endings so this book pretty much tied up the storyline the way I wanted with a few surprises along the way. I'll be reading Jill Smolinski's earlier book, The Next Thing On My List, now that I've enjoyed Objects of My Affection.

Delusion in Death Book Review

J.D. Robb (Nora Roberts) is either one of the most prolific writers working today or has a host of ghostwriters working for her. Either way she is selling a ton of books and I read everyone of them. With that statement you know I'm a fan and will not be writing the usual book review, but instead will just recommend any of her books for escapist reading as they pull you in and keep you with her till 'the End.'

Delusion in Death is perhaps a little more fast-paced than usual as Lt. Eve Dallas works almost around the clock with her detective team in 2050 NYC to prevent mass murder via mind blowing chemicals. Her team is made up of returning characters with a couple of those characters getting more exposure this time around. I guess I like her books because of the dialogue. She does it with quips and threats and humor between characters. I don't have to skip over paragraphs and paragraphs of introspection or description that makes me impatient when reading these days.

I would suggest if you're new to Robb's 'Death' series to start with the first in the series, Naked in Death, 1995. It's not mandatory but you'll have a vested interest in the characters and understand more of the insider comments if you do.

The Afterwife Book Review

Sometimes not reading the book cover turns into a pleasant surprise. I had my doubts about Gigi Levangie Grazerat's book in the opening pages but enjoyed the surprise as I finished the book. 

The doubts came as the beginning of the book had the protagonist's husband dying. A deeply loved husband killed in the first few pages is not my idea of escapist reading. However, it paid to stay with it as I did enjoy the book and its unexpected curve into unforeseen territory. I don't want to spoil this for anyone else so let me just say that there is a play on words with the title.  Think Afterlife and you'll have a clue what's ahead.

Grazer has a host of characters that are fun, pathetic, and believable supporting the widow. Her subplots also take side trips that are surprising and entertaining. I even laughed out loud at some of the antics in the book. For something that starts out with a sad premise, she turns it into a book that's both engaging and amusing.

Paris My Sweet Book Review

I've always considered memoirs to be written by older people. Paris My Sweet, A Year in the City of Light (and Dark Chocolate) does not fall into that category. Amy Thomas lived in Paris for two years in her thirties and shares that experience of loving Paris and all things dessert but eventually returning to her home in New York City.

This isn't a recipe book although she frequently shares how the dessert is made and its inspiration if in New York or Paris. She shares her work experiences, her loneliness and her love of the city that claimed her heart when she first visited during a semester of college. I enjoyed her writing style and living vicariously in Paris through her experiences. I certainly enjoyed reading of the dessert treasures she consumed with verve and passion. If you've ever dreamed of bicycling through ancient streets and architecture, visiting the Louvre whenever you wanted, eating multi-course meals each served with great wine, then you'll enjoy Thomas' adventures in the City of Light and Dark Chocolate.

Paris My Sweet, A Year in the City of Light (and Dark Chocolate), Amy Thomas, Sourcebooks Inc,. 2012

The Checklist Manifesto Book Review

I'm becoming more of a list maker all the time. Lists make me more efficient and keep me from forgetting things I really want to accomplish in a day. So finding an online recommendation for The Checklist Manifesto, How to Get Things Right by Atul Gawande intrigued me enough to order it from my local library.

It wasn't the consummate way to create and complete to-do lists that I expected, but took off in quite a different direction. The author uses some of the best checklists known to make a case for using them in any arena where safety and efficiency is warranted. We all realize pilots use checklists before flying airplanes. Gawande gives examples of how these checklists save lives. His stories keep the reader's attention on what he's going to say next. The take away from this book is how checklists used in hospitals are preventing mistakes in surgery and elsewhere. If I have to have surgery I want to ask the doctor if he uses such a checklist. Gawande convinced me that, although often times checklists seem to be rote, the times they save lives is worth the effort involved.

Gawande builds his case for checklists with case histories that are page turners and research data that convinces instead of glazing over the eyes of readers. This is a nonfiction book I can recommend.

The Checklist Manifesto How to Get Things Right by Atul Gawande, Metropolitan Books, 2009.

Civil War places Platte County woman in Harm's Wayx3

The case of Barbara Greenwood of Platte County during March of 1865 aroused my curiosity as to her final fate. This is her story adapted from Provost Marshall's records. 

Evidently while out scouting for enemy soldiers one day, Sgt. Cyrus M. Reid, M.S.M, stopped at Mrs.Greenwood’s house with Weston City Marshall Monroe. Sgt. Reid stated Mrs. Greenwood believed he was a rebel and told him that if a bushwhacker (a man named Kirkpatrick) had taken her advice he could have avoided the soldiers who killed him.  Reid testified that she sent her grandsons to warn the guerrillas of Federal troops in the area.

A Robert Lampkin testified that in September of 1864 while he was with scouts posing as Confederates, Mrs. Greenwood had her grandson bring a man in from the brush that had been in a fight against the Union and wanted to go with them (the supposed Confederate scouts.) The man was arrested as a bushwhacker as he had "stolen goods."

During the gathering of statements to determine Mrs. Greenwood's actions, Nathaniel A. Monroe stated that Mrs. Greenwood "is disloyal." He said the Federals had killed James Kirkpatrick (a Confederate soldier) near her farm. He stated she had kept Kirkpatrick hidden and helped him avoid Federal soldiers by sending her grandsons to see if soldiers nearby at Lampton’s were Federals.

Her response to the charge that she had harbored guerrillas was that a man came to her house wanting directions to Liberty. She wanted to get rid of him so gave him directions, but he returned the next morning.  She did admit to begging Federal soldiers not to kill Kirkpatrick on her place but stated she never warned or fed guerrillas.

Her official story ended on April 5, 1865, with a letter from the Provost at Weston requesting that the district provost attend to Greenwood's case as she is “very aged and the confinement is killing her.”  Four days later, Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox Courthouse.  I can't help but wonder what happened to Mrs. Greenwood.

Who Are Those People? And What Are They Doing in Your Closet?

A sight that immediately saddens me is finding stacks of family photos for sale in antique stores; discarded because no one had a clue as to who the people were in the photos. So let's get those photos out of your closet, out from under the bed, or out of your digital shoebox...and label them!

I’ve been a Creative Memories consultant for 20 years but long before that I was a scrapbooker. My first camera was a Christmas present from my uncle when I was eleven. My Brownie Instamatic and I took photos of Christmas Day, family, schoolmates and vacations and put them all in a scrapbook. A cheap, black scrapbook that years later I discovered was one of the worst environments in which to put my photos. The acid on the pages eventually caused the pictures to fade. Even worse, I attached the photos to the pages with small, rolled-up pieces of cellophane tape. Yikes! That damage was obvious a few years later when brown spots started appearing on the fronts of the photos where the tape was stuck on the back. All my documentation was on the scrapbook page so when the photos were removed to prevent further damage, there were no names or dates on the photos.

My grandmother had a different method of identifying people in her photos for posterity. She certainly had the right idea, but she wrote on the front of the photos with cheap pens. Within a couple of decades the ink had bled and names became hard to read.  Anything written on the back of the photo bled through to the front, effectively destroying the image.

We both loved our photos and tried to save them to enjoy in the future, but we didn’t realize what we were doing would damage the very things we were trying to save. Luckily, the photo album/scrapbooking/memory-saving industry has found ways to alleviate the problems my grandmother and I had with our photos.

The first, and most important, thing to do with photos after printing is to label them. Label them completely.  Use a photo-safe, soft leaded pencil and write on the backs of photos for documentation. This type of pencil won’t cause indentations to the front of the photo that a sharp, hard instrument will and it will not bleed to the front of the photo.

Doing this could save your photos from the antique malls of the future. And get those strangers out of your closet so you can enjoy your family photos for years to come.