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The Life From The Roots blog topics have changed several times since I began this blog in 2009. I initially wrote only about the family history I had been working on for 20 years. Years later, I was into visiting gardens, historical homes, churches, libraries that had genealogical collections, historical societies, war memorials, and travel/tourism places. I also enjoy posting autographs and photos of famous people I've met or have seen.

Along with my New England roots, other areas include New York, New Jersey, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, and the Eastern Townships of Quebec, Canada.

Please check out the labels on the right side for topics (please note, they need work). Below the labels and pageviews is a listing of my top nine posts, according to Google. Four of them pertain to Lowell, MA. These posts change often because they are based on what people are reading.

Tuesday, August 10, 2021

The History of the House my Grandfather Built as shown in Photos, 5 Christmas cards, His Architect's Home Description, and a Recent Listing.

Do you know the history of one or more of your ancestors? In my case, I just researched the house my grandfather built in 1949. The address has always been the same, but it has been listed in three different towns. I recently discovered this when I googled his house. Wow, the house is now in Berlin, CT, not New Britain or Kensington as in the past. I decided to look at some of my handmade Christmas cards he made to see what they had for an address. He built this in 1949, his second-built home. His first built house in 1930 was covered in my post called 90 Adams Sreet, A Very Special Place (I was born there). My grandfather left me a good trail, but I had to find the clues. It helped that he was the architect.

No date with this card, but it is probably before 1952, based on my grandmother's death. Here they were in New Britain, CT.

A year later my grandfather was remarried, so this must have been 1953 since he was working in NYC, but also living in Kensington, CT.

He often used his house as his design for Christmas. Other cards are shown below.


Photo card, undated. Annual Christmas message on the back.

My grandfather had a sense of humor and was into Star Wars. He even put his age on this card, can you find it?
Annual Christmas message on the back.

This 1976 painting shows his backyard on a snowy day. About 11 years ago, my husband and I went to the house and I gave the new owners this painting. They were delighted.
My grandfather having fun in 1950, in front of his house. All Christmas cards show a circular driveway, so he made that change after he moved in.

My grandfather wrote up a detailed description of his 1949 house. There are so many unique features, he didn't skimp on anything. I especially liked the cold storage room, I seem to remember it was lined in cedar, and that was where my grandmother stored her fur. When my grandfather died, the female relatives could take what they wanted. (I do believe he made a mistake in the description of the cold storage, it should have been "never goes below 32ยบ", it should read "goes above.") We used to freeze in that room.

The "An Architect's Home" has been in my possession since his 1980 death, and I thought it was written at the time he completed the house in 1949. Turns out, I was mistaken because there is a 1978 date at the bottom, which means he must have been thinking of selling the house. It sold for $82,000 in March 1982!



Of course, we all had to have a map to get to his new house. I believe there was much confusion because this was to the second town, Kensington.


When I googled the house, there was an active link for the house showing 36 photos and a detailed description.   https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/62-Chatham-Rd_Berlin_CT_06037_M48895-69375 

This is a snippet from one of the 36 photos. The red and white open bookcase on the left was what my grandfather used for his piano music and photos. There is another bookcase on the opposite side of the fireplace.
I took this family photo in 1956. It is the same room as the snipit above. The window behind my father was removed and the room enlarged.

  • Sold
  • Closed
  • Single Family
  • 5 Beds
  • 3 Full Baths
  • 1 Partial Bath
  • 2,699 Sq. Ft.
Impressive, Stately Colonial located in the Kensington section of Berlin and within walking distance to Shuttle Meadow Country Club. This house is extremely spacious....walk inside the front door into the formal foyer area. Large remodeled kitchen offers plenty of cabinet space and is open to the large dining room area. The formal living room includes a fireplace and overlooks the gorgeous backyard. You can also enjoy the yard from the three-season porch which opens onto a lovely patio. The family room is tremendous. From the high ceilings to the incredible stone fireplace, you will love spending time in this area of the house. Upstairs are the four bedrooms. The master bedroom includes a full bath and a walk-in closet. The lower level of this house includes an in-law apartment. It has its own separate entrance and includes a living room, kitchen, full bath and bedroom. This apartment can also be changed back to a 1-car garage as well. The flat backyard offers many possibilities for either gardening, a play set, or a pool. Great location.....very convenient to all major highways. Welcome home!


for 62 Chatham Rd

GENERAL

  • Sold For: $325,000
  • Taxes: (7/14-6/15)
  • Status: Closed
  • Type: Single Family
  • MLS ID: G10055335
  • Added: 2, 227 day(s) ago

INTERIOR

  • Number of Rooms: 10
  • Interior Features: Fireplace, Sauna, Smoke Detector(s)
  • Number of Fireplaces: 2
  • Appliances: Dishwasher, Oven/Range, Refrigerator

ROOMS

bathrooms

  • Total Bathrooms: 4
  • Full Bathrooms: 3
  • Half Bathrooms: 1

bedrooms

  • Total Bedrooms: 5

other rooms

  • Laundry: First Floor
  • In-Law/Au Pair Suite: Separate Entry

EXTERIOR

  • Exterior Features: Garden Area, Patio, Porch-Enclosed

PARKING

  • Parking Features: None
  • Garage Description: None

LOCATION

  • Area: Berlin
  • County: Hartford
  • Neighborhood: Kensington (23)
  • Driving Directions: High Road to Simms to Cornwall to Chatham

SCHOOL INFORMATION

  • Elementary School: Mary E. Griswold
  • Middle School: Catherine M. McGee
  • High School: Berlin

COMMUNITY

  • Community Name: Kensington

HEATING & COOLING

  • Cooling Type: Central Air
  • Heating Type: Warm Air
  • Heating Fuel: Natural Gas
  • Water Heater: Natural Gas

UTILITIES

  • Oil Tank: Non Applicable
  • Sewer: Public Sewer Connected
  • Water: Public Water Connected

STRUCTURAL INFORMATION

  • Architectural Style: Colonial
  • Exterior Const.: Vinyl Siding
  • Basement Desc.: Full Basement with Walk-Out, Partially Finished
  • Attic: Yes
  • Disability Adopted: Yes
  • Disability Access: Bathroom Grab Bars, Ramps
  • Square Feet: 2,699
  • Sq. Ft. Source: Town Records
  • Year Built: 1949





Thursday, August 5, 2021

First and Third Cousins Sharing Their Old Family Albums, and Look What I Got!

My first Poole cousin shared many of the photos with me in 2021.

In December 2001, I received an email from a rather young researcher inquiring if I was related to a particular member of his Poole family. David found me through a Rootsweb Gedcom and provided quite a bit of information about his line. We emailed back and forth several times and he reluctantly shared some photos of his line, which I am showing at the end of this post. It wasn't his album and the owner wasn't keen on his sharing. David and I are third cousins once removed. When family trees online came into our lives, I often thought about these pictures, but always kept them private. We didn't correspond again until I wrote him recently, fortunately, he had the same address and email.

In the past few months, I have been talking genealogy with my two first cousins, one living in Illinois and the other in Colorado. I met the Illinois cousin when she was about three in 1953 at our grandfather's house. Several years ago, she and her husband photographed a large family album, with about 100 small pictures all glued on! Each page was sent to me, but it was put aside until now since I did no genealogy last year. I knew it would be a big project because I couldn't read some writing and it was difficult cropping individual photos out of groups of 4 or more tiny pictures.

This year through a discussion with my two cousin sisters, I learned they were going to get together and plan to talk about their genealogy. Since I am a first cousin, with a lot of information, and they have the album, I told them I would send quite a bit of information to them before they meet. They don't use a database like my RootsWeb. I'm not sure either about FamilySearch.org or the other genealogy companies, I won't name them.

I realize these albums and the story will mean little to anybody else, but it is important to me to share what I have and what they have, and our relationship with each other. The lineage chart was done in order to figure out their relationships for this post. I wish more writers would do lineage charts to help readers follow their complicated family stories.

William Frederick Poole and his wife Fanny (Frances) Gleason. I can't tell which of the two photos of him is the oldest. I think he is younger than the below picture. He is one of my most famous ancestors. I've written a lot about him, but here is Wikipedia's information.

There are many photos of William, see my post The Aging of My Great-Grandfather. Now I have a few additional photos to add.

Clarence Frederick Poole was my grandfather. His wife was Marjory, her name and ancestry aren't shown, because I didn't want anything about my father shown. I have photos of two grandparents (Clarence and Marjory), two greats (Charles Clarence Poole and Anna Poole), four great-grandparents (Charles, Mary, William, and Frances), and two great-great-grandmothers (Eliza Cutler Poole and Elizabeth Wilder Poole).


I believe the oldest photo is of Eliza Cutler Poole, dau. of Manassah Cutler (Wikipedia article) who was born on 4 July 1779 and died on 22 April 1854. Mother of Charles Henry Poole.
Mary Abbie / Abby Daniels Poole (wife of Charles Henry Poole) Born 5 Feb. 1825. Below, she is with her granddaughter, Frances.

Nurse Frances and the Flu was a popular blog post of mine, it might be of interest to you.


I'm not sure if we ever met, but I was lucky to inherit my great aunt's dining room table when my mother died in 1990. Dorothy died in 1965 in Florida. Her death was noted in my diary which I still have.


Charles Henry Poole went to West Point. He married Mary Abbie Daniels, her father was Stephen Daniels of Salem, MA. (There are six direct lines of Stephen Daniels in her line.) He was a civil engineer and surveyed San Diego, Roxbury, MA, and Long Island, MA. Also wrote the 250+ page manuscript of the Poole family located at the New England Historic Genealogy Society, and I copied it, and then a friend transcribed it for my blog.


Charles Clarence Poole married Annie Poole, they were my great-grandparents. He was a patent lawyer.

Annie Poole and Charles Clarence Poole, perhaps before they married. At least some names were clearly written with dates in this album.

My Great-grandmother, Annie Poole married Charles Clarence Poole in 1884.

Clarence Frederick Poole, my grandfather. He was a patent attorney like his father, Charles Clarence.

I feel this is a sweet page. The pictures at the upper right show of my grandmother Marjory Adams Poole holding my father in 1919. I have the original photo, so apparently, copies were made. The photo below was enlarged so you could read why these pictures were taken.


Below are photos from the second album. I selected just a few to show.

The Family of William Frederick Poole, his wife Fanny, daughters, Alice and Anna (their husbands), son William Frederick and grandchildren.

Elizabeth Wilder, mother of William F. Poole
Born 1801 in Keene, New Hampshire
Died January 1859 in So. Danvers, Massachusetts

Two photos of Alice Poole, born in 1855. She was a sister of Annie.