Happy Mother's Day!

Today is always a bittersweet day for me it has been 30plus years since my mother past away, but like anyone who has lost a parent there isn’t a day that I don’t think of her. But as the family genealogist I have continue the work she started so many years ago, before my father died and before the age of computers. She would marvel now how much is available now and how many tools are available for us family genealogists, such as online databases, access to online library materials, and now DNA. The DNA availability would of been something my mom would of definitely accessed, because she was a woman with a complicated past and there was a cloud that always hung over her of where she came from and who were her parents other than names on a certificate.
 

Audrey King Seekford

My mother was born in 1924 in Washington DC, to Leora Seekford, who was a maid for middle class family in Washington DC, Mr and Mrs Chebithes. Mr. Chebithes full name is Vasilos Isadore Chebithes who was a patent attorney and a Greek immigrant. He was a founding member of the AHEPA Organization, an became the Supreme President, from 1924-1927. When he married Mrs Chebithes was 30 years old at the time they married and she was 49 at the time and had two grown children.  So the question you might be asking yourself is how the heck did she end with this other family, and that was something that was a nagging pain that my mother suffered with all her life.

So lets start with the basics of what she knew and what she shared with me when I was old enough to ask questions. As I said Leora Martin Seekford, was maid for the Chebithes family.  She came to District of Columbia from Compton, Virginia sometime between the time after she had her forth child in 1922 to 1924 before she was visibly pregnant with my mother.  As I said, she had my mother on the 30th October 1924, in a small laying in home in DC. 

Leora Martin Seekford

So post birth and recovery she deposited my mother with Mrs Eva Chebithes, who at the time had just turned 50.  By deposited I mean exactly that she turned my mother over to them, as she did with her other four children who she left with cousins back in Compton and Luray.  Leora was never very maternal, and so she moved on and within four years she was divorced by Marion Keyser Seekford (for desertion) and remarried to Jacob Stouffer in Hagerstown, Maryland.. she would go on to divorce him as well an marry one last time to Oscar Bryant.

Marion Keyser Seekford

My mother’s life went on in the District of Columbia, New York and back to the District of Columbia. She grew up not knowing that she had two brothers and two sisters, and a father instead she was happily growing up with Greek cousins and schools in the historic district of Brooklyn in a nice brownstone house.

The Chebithes divorced, he left for Maryland and she came back to Washington DC and my mom spent her later years in Foggy Bottom where Trader Joes is located today, at 1116 25th Street, Washington NW.  She also grew close Mrs Chebithes daughter Gladys Fatt Hronick, who I grew up knowing as Aunt Gladys but she was more like a grandmother,  and her children Richard, Joseph and Louise.  It was Joseph who spilled the beans one day when they were playing and she said he yelled out to my mother that she was adopted.   During my mothers school age years, Mrs. Chebithes would always put mom down as Eva Chebithes not Audrey Seekford, as she did on census forms I found, so the seed of who am I was sewn deeper.

My mother (Audrey King Seekford) left and Gladys Fatt Hronik (Mrs Chebithes had been married before)

My mom went on with her life, she finished high school at Western High which is now Duke Ellington School of the Arts.  She later joined the Sisters of Charity, she had been brought up in Greek Orthodox Church which is similar to the Catholic Church.  She joined the Sisters of Charity so she could learn nursing, but she fell ill and left.  Gladys got her a job with the Federal Government as a Clerk Typist this was after we entered the War in 1941. She met my father while he was on leave from the Navy in DC and they were married in 1950.

Audrey Seekford Cantley at Wedding Reception at Junkaroo in DC

She moved up from clerk typist to accounting and statistical work working at the Department of the Army, with a brief stint over at the Department of Commerce in the late 50’s, she returned to the Department of the Army to be the person who received and compiled the causality and death count from Viet Nam which took a toll on her.  She spent the rest of her career on various projects as Budget Analyst for weaponry like the Abram’s Tank which never would past tests but would run on a desert parade ground.  I would wonder what she would think knowing all that money they appropriated out finally paid off and they could now use it in a war we should never had entered again (just a personal opinion).

She still wondered who Leora and Marion Seekford were, so in 1980 Jimmy Carter wanting to cut the Federal Workforce, offered a early out with a bonus for those who had the years (which had) but not the age, she was only 56, to retire.  So with the death of my father in 1975 who adamantly opposed to her doing this for fear she would end up hurt, we began our adventure.

I went to the library and started digging through Virginia and Maryland phone books, In Arlington we found an Aaron Seekford who pointed us in the direction of Amos Seekford who lived in Manassas.  Amos was a cousin of Marion and he gave us the brothers and sisters names to my mother, so we decided the call Monroe the one closest to my mother who lived in Maryland.  I placed the call an explained to him who we were, and that we were just looking for information not anything else.  He let us know that Leora was in a nursing home in Alexandria, Virginia.  So the following weekend we met up with Monroe and Maxine (his wife) and finally mom was able to meet Leora, who had suffered a stroke, she was basically dying, but my mom was able to see her and touch her.  So we had come full circle and closed the loop for her.

It was a strange feeling being close to Gladys and her children Richard, Joe and Louise and their families We had spent birthdays, graduations, weddings, and holidays together. My mother was very close to Louise, Joe her husband and her and stood for my parents when they were married, and my middle name is Louise. We lost Gladys in 1983, she approved of mom quest to find her mother. So we lost Leora in 1982, but mom had developed a close friendship with Monroe and Maxine, and I had cousins and nieces and nephews. Monroe passed away in 1986, the day he died my cousin Janice (his daughter and her husband) were helping us move. In 1988 my mother passed at my house with visits from her Monroe and Maxine and my cousins, at the same time my mom sister Virginia was also dying of cancer. She passed one month before my mom died. Mom’s two older siblings lived longer Norman died in 1996 and Pauline the oldest lived in 2005, Maxine called to give me the news. We have all remain close to some degree even though we live miles apart now, so after 40 years here we are..and she would be happy.

Mom, Maxine, Me (Jean) Janice, Monroe (behind) James

Jo, Juliet, Francesco, Oliver, Jon, James, Jean (Me), Janice, Ruby and Jamie

We lost two legends this year.. One you know.. one well..

This has been a sad year for me, it seemed liked more and more we are loosing more of the fabric of our country and our lives.  It started this year when we made a casual email to our dear friend of 32 years to get together at our favorite pub in downtown Fredericksburg.  But to our surprise we got an email back from Lynn's (yes he's a guy a named Lynn)wife Pam, she informed us that he was extremely congested, he had not slept (well hardly), he had been back and forth to the doctor and had had numerous tests, and the verdict was Pulmonary Fibrosis.  Well our jaws dropped being both medical we knew this was not a good diagnosis, there is no cure and death is usually the outcome.  Lynn was a Navy Intelligence Officer in Viet Nam, he also had come in contact with Agent Orange.  As a genealogist and friend I had started a while back to do his family history, as well as his wife's, and Im still working on it to give to Pam to pass on..

We lost another Viet Nam veteran this year, Senator John McCain another Navy Officer who served on a Aircraft Carrier deck as well in Saigon and was also exposed to Agent Orange.  For several years glioblastoma, a lethal brain cancer has not been on the VA’s list of presumptive diseases, but since it is being diagnosed at an  accelerated rate over the past few years among Vietnam veterans who were exposed to Agent Orange, there has been increased pressure to add it to the list for benefits.  Senator McCain work hard for VA rights and benefits, hopefully now more Representatives will pick up the mantle to carry on the fight. I say that because its harder and harder for veterans to get the benefits like for Agent Orange, Lynn and Pam finally applied a year ago and they didn't get it until November of this year and now with his death on December 7th, that will be that.

All of this happening this past year has been reflected in my own research work and how important these records are for the family to see the service of a loved one. By getting their military service records, you have a record that will include their health records, service records and awards.  Some service members are really good at keeping these records some are not. Take my own family my father who I talked about in the last post, kept only part of his records, his entry and exit that was it.  However I contacted the National Archives.  Everything you need to request records for deceased veteran either as family member of veteran.

I will have to admit they send you an awful lot, every physical, every service review, every promotion,  and every muster roll which is done every 3 months.  Alot of the records I set aside, what I was interested in was the citations for his medals and awards and for his main service ships and duty, as well his physicals. They are a trove of information.  So if you need or are curious about a service members records even as far back as the Revolutionary War, I recommend joining Fold 3, or the Daughters of American Revolution (DAR). 

Also having the records brings joy to those who didn't know or want to learn more about a friend who recently had passed away.   This past weekend we attended Lynn's Memorial Service, Pam had included people who served with him as well as  his commendations and service medal for Valor in Viet Nam. It was nice to see them, his family and wedding pictures and to meet other friends we had not seen in awhile, Lynn was the one that what held us all together.  Through genealogy research its a way to keep the pages of the story together. 

Pam and Lynn 2016

Here's to happy hunting and a bounty of research for 2019..

Today is the Day of Infamy.. and the worse day of my Dad's life.. let me explain.

First let me say that alot of men and woman had a bad day that day.. for my dad whenever I asked him what was Pearl Harbor like.. he would just say well I never got a cigarette or cup of coffee. then he smile and walk off or get away so he wouldn't have to talk about it. 

Seaman Bernard James Cantley, at home in Bloomingrose West Virginia

My father Bernard James Cantley enlisted in the Navy on the 16 of July 1940, before Pearl Harbor in Richmond, Virginia.  He was born on December 1, 1919, in Bloomingrose, West Virginia, a small hollow off the beaten path outside of Charleston.  His father worked as a farmer and  Coal Miner.  My dad was one of 7 children, he lost one brother in 1929 of appendicitis,due to the fact the family did not own a car and couldn't get to the hospital.  My grandfather supported his family during the depression by continuing to work as a Coal Miner in a mine near the Boone and Logan borders and the older boys,  my father and his brother worked for a Works Project Administration  (WPA) project in Boone. Working for the New Deal was one way to make a living without Coal Mining.  Daddy always said that there was only three ways to make a living in West Virginia, moonshine, coal mine or moving on down the line.  So that's what my dad did, he enlisted in the Navy. 

He went to thorough basic navy training and then given the rank of Seaman 1st class, he stationed on the USS Medusa upon his completion. The USS Medusa's career was spent with the United States Pacific  Fleet.  When she was commissioned in 1924, the ship was home-ported at San Pedro, California and assigned as a Training Squadron 2 Base Force upon that commission.

USS Medusa - AR-1 Repair Ship

The Medusa continued to support her fleet duties out of the San Pedro until mid-August 1941, when she was moved to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. She was there on 7 December 1941 when an Imperial Japanese Navy carrier aircraft attacked. At the time her commanding officer ashore, her repair officer, Lieutenant Commanding Officer, John F. P. Miller, took the command. Also at the time of the attack which started at 6am the USS Medusa was tethered to the USS Curtiss. 

On the Japanese second attack, all regular anti-aircraft guns were manned and supplied with ammunition and were firing. It was on this attack that the plane, having been set afire, deliberately crashed into the USS Curtiss just abaft the after stack. Immediately following this crash several planes concentrated n this immediate area. One bomb hitting the USS Curtiss on the fantail, two falling approximately twenty-five feet off the starboard bow of the my dad's ship the USS Medusa, and two more falling just off the port quarter of the ship hitting the destroyers on our port hand. Both of these planes were brought down. One cut in two just before starting to level out and crashed on the east bank on this loch. Neither of these planes released their bombs.

Immediately following this attack word was received that an enemy submarine was loose in the harbor. Upon receiving this word orders were given to ring up ammunition and powder to supply the five inch guns. Up to this time all effort had been concentrated on supplying ammunition to the three inch gun and the machine guns.

According to a copy of an after action report, the submarine was sighted as it rounded the stern of the USS Curtiss and started up this loch (see map above) At first only its periscope was visible and it was immediately fired upon. Gun #1 was loaded and ready for firing with the exception of the primers which were stored in the pyrotechnic locker and by the time these were procured it was too late to use this gun. However, the machine guns and gun six opened fire on the submarine with three inch anti-aircraft projectiles as solid shot was not available. The submarine went behind our stern and then either by turning around or by backing down started out of the loch back to the main channel. When it came into the training field of gun #5 part of the conning tower was visible above the water. As it neared the stern of the USS Curtiss a destroyer (USS Monahagan) came down the main channel and made to ram it. The Submarine's conning tower was on the starboard side of the destroyer. After passing over the submarine the destroyer released a depth charge and the submarine was no longer visible above the surface of the water.

From the seaman reporting it appeared that the submarine had been hit several times with the projectiles from our three inch guns and from the guns firing at it from the USS Curtiss. Most of the guns was unable to fire more than three rounds at the submarine because of the small field of vision, having the bridge hide the submarine directly after it was first sighted and on the submarine's return trip the destroyer cut into the line of sight after the three rounds had been expended.   At the same time all the Browning Automatic Rifles were broken out and rushed up to the signal bridge with what ammunition was in the armory. Most of the attention was again concentrated on the planes in the air which were making isolated attacks and were forming into formation to leave the scene.More ammunition was then brought up and the ready boxes of all guns were filled to capacity, as well as for the machine guns on the signal bridge.

Noted there was only one casualty during the battle and that a laceration caused by falling shrapnel on the left arm of BESS, D.M., Sea2c, U.S.N.,  (Seaman 2nd class) a member of the crew for Gun #2. Gun #5 expended 43 rounds of ammunition and suffered no casualties, although the breech stuck three times.

It was also noted that the conduct of all the men in the forward battery and under the forward battery supervision and on the forecastle was admirable and beyond all reproach. This was especially noticeable in the crew of Gun #5 which did all the firing done by the forward battery and whose crew, the most part of which, is made up of men who have never fired before.

My father had shot before coming from West Virginia, he knew how to shoot.  I don't recall if he told me which Gun area he helped man but he did mention it.. But as I said he was just trying to take it all in and keep his fellow seaman safe, yes without a cigarette or cup of coffee.  Im sure that may sound facetious to some, but in our family and with all Cantley's that was a stable of life (till my generation, that is)  Because of one of those staples my father lived a short life, he died at 56 of generalized cancer, which started in the lung.  But he was my hero, he was my walking buddy, my dad.  He was career Navy, he then retired and stayed in the reserves and worked for US Navy Supply Corp till the cancer became to much.. So on this day I always remember all those brave seaman who served to protect their shipmates and United States.

CHIEF PETTY OFFICER (CPO), BERNARD JAMES CANTLEY, STOREKEEPER CLERK (SKC)

   

The Spruce Squadron of WWI and Grand Uncle William C. Halstead

This weekend the world is celebrating the centennial of the end of WWI, a war that was suppose to be the end of all wars. I had many male's ancestors on my Cantley-Halstead line which is my Dad's line, as well as my mother's Seekford-Martin line, that did their bit so to speak for the USA and our allies. But not all men served carrying a gun, or marching through the mud, or in any form of combat in general, some swung an axe...

So let me tell you about my Grand Uncle "William Clarence Halstead" who was stationed in the Pacific Northwest, of the good old USA, as part of the "Spruce Squadron". He was born in 1895 in Peytona District of Boone County, West Virginia to James Halstead and Philena Keffer.  Peytona can be found along the Coal River which runs near the county seat of Madison and near the town of Racine in Boone County, making Coal mining the main occupation, however William's family were farmers of poor soil

 

 

 

 
Farms of the 1880s were predominately independent or subsistence entities where everything needed by the family was raised or manufactured.  Extended family and close neighbors provided the bulk of the basic needs of the farm family. Because cash was not readily available on the subsistence farm, barter was an important element of the agricultural economy.  All the families living near William C. Halstead's family, the Meadows, the Harless's, and the Workman's are interconnected through marriage, as with small town's everyone knew each other up and down the hollow.  

When WWI started the United States under the presidency of Woodrow Wilson had no intention of entering the War. The American public reflected the sentiment of isolation and remaining neutral, a strong sentiment shared by the Irish, German and Scandinavian Americans, and church leaders as well as mothers throughout the United Stated.  Most Americans opinion on Germany was very negative and Europe in general, due to an anti monarchy sentiment for raging war over boundaries and petty family squabbles.  But when reports started hitting the US papers on atrocities in Belgium in 1914 and following the sinking of the RMS Lusitania in 1915, American sentiment changed seeing Germany as the aggressor in Europe.

 

Then in January 1917, Germany resumed unrestricted submarine warfare.  Then the German Foreign minister Arthur Zimmerman, invited Mexico to join the war in Germany as an ally against the United States.  In return, Germany would send Mexico money, which after the revolution would be welcomed and would help in the recovery of the territories of Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona, all states Mexico lost 70 years earlier during the Mexican-American War which was warmup act to the American Civil War. However, the British intelligence intercepted Zimmerman telegram sent to Mexico with the offer of money for their support, and President Wilson released it to the public as a "Cause for War".

 

 

At the time of the United States declaration of war in late 1917, we only maintained a small army, and very unprepared Army.  After the passage of the Selective Service Act in 1917, 4 million men were drafted in military service.  

 

 

 

As late as 1917, the United States maintained only a small army, one which was in fact smaller than thirteen of the nations and empires already active in the war. After the passage of the selective service in 1917, it drafted 4 million men into military service . By the summer of 1918, about 2 million US soldiers had arrived in France, about half of whom eventually saw front-line service; by the Armistice of November 11 approximately 10,000 fresh soldiers were arriving in France daily.  But some didn't go to France, like my Grand Uncle William C. Halstead they went to Olympic Peninsula in the Northwest to join the "Spruce Squadron".

 

 

It was established in 1917 to produce high quality Sitka Spruce timber and other wood products needed for planes.  The division was established through the Army Signal Corp's Aviation Section, and headquartered out of Portland Oregon, and the main operation in Vancouver, Washington.  

The Spruce Production Division established approximately 60 military logging camps throughout the Pacific Northwest, usually near existing sawmills. While privately owned, these mills were operated under the direction of the army. In early 1918, the division opened a sawmill at Vancouver Barracks, the largest spruce sawmill in the world producing more than one million feet of spruce lumber each day. The mill complex covered 50 acres and was operated by 2,400 soldiers from the division. The army also built sawmilles in Coquille and Toledo, Oregon and in Port Angeles, Washington.

 

 

The armistice that ended World War I was signed on 11 November 1918.  The next day, all Spruce Production Division logging ended, most construction projects were stopped, and sawmill operations were curtailed.  Government machinery and equipment from all over the Northwest was shipped back to the Vancouver Barracks, and division personnel were quickly discharged from military service.

 

William Clarence Halstead came back to West Virginia he continued working as an Insurance Agent in Charleston and commuted on weekends home to rural Boone County, were his wife Opal was a school teacher.   He died in September 1958 of Heart Disease at the VA Hospital in Huntington.  

 

 

 

So even though he didn't carry a gun but an axe, he didn't shoot Germans, he chopped down trees.  However his service was valuable to the war production, because without those planes we would of never have been able to shoot down the enemy, including Manfred Albrecht Freiherr von Richthofen "The Red Baron"  a fighter pilot in the German Air Force.  Hes was considered the ace of aces of the war, being official credited with 80 shot down victories. By the end of the war the US Air Service had received some 1214 planes, all in all we help build a strong foundation for the future of the US Air Force. 

William C. Halstead is buried in Madison, West Virginia. He only served as a private but he served, he did his bit, as I said not as others think of serving but he still served and was buried as such.