Transcribing Daddy's Diary

Daddy was a man to be respected and honored. He was dependable, independent, frugal, provided for his family, worked hard, built 3 homes on his own, loved my mother dearly, he was fair and objective, well read, enjoyed opera and classical music.  He was a great help to my mother taking us kids for rides in the park to give her a break. He helped us with homework, was involved in our school activities including the PTA. Before we kids were born, he helped several neighbors build their homes, and worked to get electricity in our neighborhood.

He was also into health foods before most people had even heard the words, health foods. In the early 1960's he was drinking green tea, eating wheat germ and would not let us salt our food at the table and no sugar in our tea. I grew up in a Southern home where there was no sugar in our tea!! He gave us kids Vitamin C for colds and would not give us aspirin.  He was a stoic man who kept his emotions in check, he was not a hugger, and didn't find worldly jokes funny.

For all the wonderful things my father did and was, I was never emotionally close to him. I was outgoing and he wasn't, I wanted to be with people and he didn't care if he was or wasn't. He was friendly in a standoffish way with co-workers and people in the community, but I never remember our family having company who were friends of my Daddy. The only real friend I knew he had was Louise Palmer, the girl in his diary. They were never lovers, but they were like brother and sister. They exchanged birthday cards for at least 70 years. When Louise married Jimmy Garrison, Daddy's grandmother, "Balm" (Georgia Etta Lentz Pike), gave Louise a wash stand she had received when she married in 1885. Louise told Balm she would keep the wash stand and be sure to return it to Joe's first child, who happened to be me! I did receive that wash stand.

Before I got to far into Daddy's diary I wanted to write what I thought about Daddy to see if reading and transcribing Daddy's diaries would give me another perspective about him.

I was so excited the day I found those composition books that Daddy used as diaries. They were nearly 80 years old. They were crumbling as I turned the pages. The string holding the books together was falling out. I decided to put each page in a sheet protector. My thoughts were to transcribe them before they faded. The diaries were written in pencil.

Two or more years have pasted by since I found the diaries. All those ideas about it being a breeze to transcribe them have gone out the window. It takes some time to transcribe them. I read the page first so that I can become familiar with what is on the page. I want to transcribe them exactly as Daddy wrote them. Of course, I'm distracted by the words themselves. Daddy told stories of his childhood and talked about the people who he wrote about in the diaries. I listened to those stories many times and never thought I would forget them. But, as I transcribe the diaries I realize that I have forgotten the details of those stories.

Then there are the references to places in Memphis. Most of them I know about, but there is one that had me stumped. This is the sentence that stumped me, "We saw Miss Cash on Speedway." What was Speedway? I checked to see if it was the name of a street. No. Perhaps it was the name of a church. No.

After the searching the Internet I've come to the conclusion that the Speedway Daddy referred to was the street East Parkway N. bounded on the north by Poplar and bounded on the south by Madison Avenue in Memphis, Tennessee. Between the median was a sunken garden beautifully planted with flowers.

The entry in the diary for that day showed that he and his friend Clifford had taken a walk that day after school. I think they left school (South Side High School) headed for the Speedway. The Speedway was almost 7 miles from Daddy's home and he also walked to Horn Lake Rd., which was about 4 miles from his home. That's a lot of walking! I'm searching for an address for South Side High School. I've found 3 so far and don't know which one to use.
March 27, 1930: Had Manual Training sooner because of music program. It is the last one. Mr. Mankin sent me to the store for a small lock. I did not get all of my arith. As I was coming from the store I worked the problem in my head. We sang a song that we have to sing for graduation. After school Clifford and I went walking. We saw Miss Cash on Speedway. I went to see a fire on *Horn Lake Road. Went to Louise’s and got some pie.

I found a blog, Swing Shift Shuffle, that had a nice post about the Speedway.
http://swingshiftshuffle.blogspot.com/2011/08/memphis-postcards-part-7.html

Another view of the Speedway or East Parkway N., Memphis, TN

Joe Monroe Currie, Sr. Diary, Book 1, pages 2-5

March 24, 1930: Miss Hood put up my autobiography. We had a rainy day recess. Louise and I played the rest of the hopscotch game. She had six king down and I had two. We played throwing marbles in a box. Louise beat me. I am supposed to give her something for winning both games. I got my current event tomorrow.

March 25, 1930: We had Civics first because of radio program. Had study period in Miss Ila’s room. Miss Hood wants me to tell current events. Had music program after Spelling, about Thomas Jefferson. Stayed up at school and saw a play practiced. Came home tried to work Arith, missed the answer a little bit.

March 26, 1930: Had a manual training test to-day. It took away my study period. Did not know much about it. Got two arith problems at recess. Had a arith test. Ate dinner at school. Came home and did some drawing for Mr. Mankin. Went down to see Louise. Pat and I played until Louise was ready. Then we all see-sawed some. I gave Louise the third degree by bumping her on the see-saw board.

March 27, 1930: Had Manual Training sooner because of music program. It is the last one. Mr. Mankin sent me to the store for a small lock. I did not get all of my arith. As I was coming from the store I worked the problem in my head. We sang a song that we have to sing for graduation. After school Clifford and I went walking. We saw Miss Cash on Speedway. I went to see a fire on *Horn Lake road. Went to Louise’s and got some pie.

March 29, 1930: Went to *Cossitt library. Went to school and watch some boys playing golf. Had cake for dinner. Went to school and played baseball. Went down to Louise’s. Went to store with Mrs. Palmer. Played pitch with Mr. Pall, Mrs Palmer and Louise. Mrs. Palmer and I beat. Got home at nine-thirty. Louise had her hair cut and it sure looked beautiful.

<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>

*Horn Lake Road was about 5 miles from Daddy's house on Gage Avenue.

The red sandstone building was dedicated April 12, 1893. It was located at the corner of Monroe and Front Street in Memphis, Tennessee. Daddy walked from his home at 100 East Gage Avenue, Memphis, TN to the Cossitt Library at 33 South Front Street, Memphis, TN a distance of nearly 5 miles. I have faint memories of that old building. It looked more of a pink color to me.

The current building was added in 1959. I worked downtown for several years and would spend some of my lunch breaks at the library. During the summer breaks from school I would go to work with Daddy. He would sometimes drop me off at various libraries for an hour or two. I felt so grownup. 

Joe Monroe Currie, Sr. Diary, Book 1, pages 1-2

March 21, 1930: To-day I am 12 years, 10 months and 6 days old. I got up little earlier than usual and went on my corner. Played with Walter a little bit.  Same after school. Went back to school and listened to radio with Howard Lutz. Cut a few little trees. I used a root for my new golf club. I went down to *Louise Palmers and ate supper. Played hopscotch.

March 22, 1930: *Leon and I found some more roots for golf sticks. Played a little golf. Got a haircut and played with Walter. I got a new *Open Road book, April number. The postman had taken it to Mrs. Humphrey yesterday. It had expired so I subscribed for three years. *Balm gave me a dollar after dinner. I tried to fix posts for my garden. Went to Mrs. Palmers and made Louise a cross. Stayed all evening. That night I took my Open Roads for Mrs. Palmer to read. Louise and I smoked some grape vines.

March 23, 1930: Went to Sunday school. Francis pl...d my hair. I got venture on Jack. He chased me to Davant. I went down to Louise's. I took a piece of cake. About 2 o'clock we went to church where Louise had to practice. I watched some kite flying. We went walking on the highway. See-sawed a little... we got home. Played hopscotch and... Came home and started to ... my life for Miss Hood. I forgot to wash my teeth.

Louise Palmer, life-long friend. She married Jimmy Garrison.

Leon, Daddy's first cousin, Leon Pike.

Balm, Daddy's nickname for his grandmother, Georgia Etta Lentz Pike



Open Road for Boys magazine was published from November 1919 - 1950. The magazine encouraged outdoor life, contained adventure stories, a cartoon contest, ads and articles featuring Red Ryder air rifles, and in 1927 the magazine started an Open Road Pioneers club for boys.

Joe Monroe Currie, Sr. (1917 - 2006)

My father

My parent's home burned to the ground in January 1960. The only thing that was saved was my mother's washing machine. All of our family treasures burned to ashes, including photos  of my paternal grandparents and their love letters. Daddy's parents, Wayne Huff Currie and Gertrude Irene Pike died within 6 days of each other when Daddy was only two and a half years old and his sister Jacqueline, was about two weeks old. Wayne and Gertrude were two out of the many millions world wide who died from the 1918 influenza pandemic. Daddy was raised by his maternal grandparents, Joesph P. Pike and Georgia Etta Lentz. Jacqueline was adopted by family friends. Daddy's grandfather, Joe Pike, died when Daddy was nine years old. Daddy didn't have much growing up.  Most of the time it was Daddy and his grandmother, Georgia.

So, to have those photos and love letters of my paternal grandparents go up in flames was a real loss.

After Daddy died I slowly went through his papers of which there were many! Most were newspaper clippings, and magazines. But, my patience and slow going proved to be rewarding. Tucked away among all those papers were two composition books. Daddy had used them as diaries. 

The first was dated from March 21, 1930 - May 30, 1931, which covered his life from a couple of months before his 13th birthday through a couple of weeks after his 14th birthday. 

The second composition book was dated from May 31, 1931 - January 30, 1933 covering ages 14 through 4 months before his 16th birthday. This was a treasure indeed. Over the years Daddy had shared stories about the few possessions he had left from his childhood. I never remember hearing any stories about these two diaries.

Benjamin Gold and Eleanor Johnson

My 5th great grandparents

                 Benjamin was the son of Hezekiah Gold and Sarah Sedgwick and was born on the 21 Oct 1764 in Connecticut and died the 23 May 1846 at the age of 81, in Connecticut. He married Eleanor Johnson on the 27 Nov 1784. She was the daughter of Solomon Johnson and Eleanor Pierce. She was born about 1766 in Connecticut. She died on the 11 Sep 1858 in Connecticut at the age of 92. Benjamin Gold and his wife Eleanor Johnson were the parents of fourteen children.

The children of Benjamin and Eleanor Johnson Gold were:

         

1. Sarah Ann Gold, 21 Mar 1786 - 25 Mar 1786

2. Thomas Ruggles Gold, 25 Mar 1787 - 31 Dec 1829

3. Sarah Ann Gold II, 29 Dec 1788 - 1888

4. Eleanor Pierce Gold, 04 Jul 1790 - 27 Feb 1809

5. Benjamin Franklin Gold, 29 May 1792 - 05 Dec 1873

6. Mary Wakeman Gold, 08 Mar 1794 -

7. Hezekiah Gold, 08 Jul 1796 - Sep 1800

8. Abby Gold, 28 Jan 1798 - bef. 1898

9. Flora Gold, 25 Sep 1799 - 14 Dec 1883

10. Stephen Johnson Gold, 03 Aug 1801 - May 1880

11. Catherine Melissa Gold, 04 Jun 1803 - 06 May 1888

12. Harriet Ruggles Gold, 10 Jun 1805 - 15 Aug 1836
      Harriet, my 4th great grandmother

13. Hezekiah Sedgwick Gold, 06 Jun 1807 - 15 Apr 1894

14. Job Swift Gold, 27 Nov 1810 - 18 Jun 1844

Delight Sargent Boudinot 
2nd wife of my 4th great grandfather, Elias Boudinot, Cherokee

1799, November 08 - She was the daughter of John Sargent and Delight Bell Sargent. She was born on 08 November 1799 in Pawlet, Rutland, Vermont, USA. She died 20 February1893 in Troy, Albany, New York, USA. Delight was the seventh child born of ten children. Her siblings include Martha, Ralph, Nancy, John, Leonard, Royal, Epenetus, Warren and Daniel.

1837 April 22 – Delight married Elias Boudinot, Cherokee in Creek Path, Cherokee Nation, East

1890 - Troy, New York City Directory, Mrs. D. S. Boudinott, 90 Fourth, Presbyterian Church Home, Troy, NY

1893 February 21 – Obit: BOUDINOTT-At the Presbyterian Home, Feb 21, 1893, Delight S. Boudinott, aged 92 years. Funeral from the Home, 90 Fourth Street, Wednesday, 22nd inst., at 2 p.m. Friends are invited to attend.

Delight is buried at the Oakwood Cemetery in Troy, Rensselaer County, New York, USA, Section H, Lot # 406, Grave # 3.

I was unable to find her grave, but look forward to another trip to New England. Hopefully, I will find her grave this time. I do have a map of the cemetery. The map was the most important thing I needed to take on this trip and I forgot it. Argh!

View of Oakwood Cemetery. September 29, 2010. 

Who is this Mystery Man? Is he a member of the BOUDINOT family or the STARR family. Other possible surnames are HOGDKINS, BERRY, LOWERY/LOWREY/LOWRY, or REESE. In the early 1990's my mother's first cousin HB Berry (now deceased) sent me a copy of this photograph. He had visited with our Aunt Lois, aka, Minnie Berry, aka, Nina Starr, aka Nina Hodgkins. I am not sure of date he visited with her but, it was in the late 1980's before she died in August of 1989. She was in bed, weak and nearly blind. She had pointed to this photograph and told HB it was of Boudinot. For several years I was under the assumption that it was William Penn Boudinot, my 3rd great grandfather. I made copies for all of my first cousins and told them this was their 3rd great grandfather.

MYSTERY MAN

                 

My grandfather, Woodall O'Kuykendall Berry, died in 1978. He was living with my family at the time of his death. Most of the photographs and some personal items were kept my by mother. After my mother, Shirley May Berry Currie, died in 1993 I took position of some of her personal items, including those things left after my grandfather's death. One of the items was an address book which had belonged to my grandparents. There was a name, address, and phone number for Eleanor Boudinot Meigs. At the time I had no idea how she fit into the family. When I called the phone number, a lady named Marge answered the phone. Marge was Margaret Caroline Linder McKee, great granddaughter of William Penn Boudinot. Eleanor Boudinot Meigs was Marge's aunt. Neither one of them knew who my grandfather was. I've had to wonder for years why did my grandfather have her contact info in his address book? From my conversation with Marge I found a BOUDINOT cousin, David. I contacted him and told him about the photograph and sent him one. David told me the photograph was not of William Penn Boudinot. He sent me a copy of a photograph of William Penn Boudinot. So, who is this mystery man? I believe it may be a STARR. My great aunt, Nina Starr, was raised by Pony Starr. She lived in Porum, Oklahoma around the extended Starr family. As the adopted daughter of Pony Starr she grew up as the great granddaughter of Thomas Starr and Catherine Reese. Tom was known as an outlaw around Briartown, Oklahoma. Nina was the natural great granddaughter of Eleanor "Ellen" Reese who married/consorted with William Penn Boudinot. Ellen later married Charles Lowery/Lowry/Lowrey. The photo could be of a REESE or LOWERY/LOWRY/LOWREY.

My husband, Brent, liked the photo because of the three cocked guns the man was holding. I have no idea what kind of guns they are. If you have any information about this photo, please email me at gertrude2@juno.com