Family Friends Friday – The Mermon family of Cherry Valley, PA

Frank & Anne Mermon and children, Cherry Valley, PA
10 June 1919. Copyright 2013 GenealogySisters.com

My sister and I had always wondered who the people in this photograph were. Although they didn’t look like anyone in our family, we kept the photo anyway. The family is dressed up in their good clothes and the pose is formal, yet was taken outdoors. The wind seems to be blowing the boys ties. Everyone looks so serious. This was just too interesting a photo to toss out.

We took a copy of this photo with us when we went to a Wasik family reunion.  All of our mother’s cousins looked at this photo and all agreed they weren’t Wasiks.  Later in the day a friend of the Wasik family started looking at our old photos and was stunned to see this one. She told us it was a photo of her parents and older brothers and sisters that was taken before she was born. She had never seen this family portrait. The photo was given to our grand-parents before they left Cherry Vally, PA to move East as a remembrance of the good friends, Frank and Anne Mermon, they were leaving behind. We in turn were able to give Frances a copy of this old photograph of her family.

The photograph was taken on 10 June 1919 in Cherry Valley, PA. Frances told us the names of everyone in the photograph. From left to right is Ignace, Frank (her father), Helen, Ed (standing behind Helen), Anne (her mother), baby Adelle in her arms, and Irene. 

Family Friends Friday is a daily blogging prompt suggested by John F.W. Goodwin of Remember When Genealogy.

Family Treasures Sarah Van Pelt and Jeremiah Smith

Sarah Van Pelt & Jeremiah Smith Marriage Certificate. 2013 Copyright: GenealogySisters.com

The marriage certificate confirms the marriage of Sarah Van Pelt (b. Staten Island 1811 – d. 1880) and Jeremiah Smith (b. Long Island 1810 – d. 1891) and is dated June 15, 1831. The marriage occurred at the Reformed Protestant Dutch Church, Port Richmond, Staten Island, New York. Rev. John E. Miller of Tompkinsville officiated. By some genealogical miracle this marriage certificate has remained in the same family’s possession for 182 years, having been passed down through the matrilineal line from mother to daughter.  There is some discoloration of age and some wear and tear in the lower right corner. I love it that one of her descendants pasted a green star sticker on the glass.

By the time of Sarah & Jeremiah’s marriage, the first Dutch Reformed church building in Port Richmond had been destroyed by the British during the Revolutionary War. Their marriage ceremony was held in the second structure (circa 1810-1844) built on the site. That building was also demolished but this time it was torn down on purpose because the congregation had outgrown the building. The third structure (built 1844-45) is intact and has recently been designated a historic building.

Dutch Reformed Church, Port Richmond, Staten Island, NY. Photo from the files of the Staten Island Advance.

Thanks to a unanimous decision made by the City’s Landmarks Preservation Commission in 2010 this historical treasure is guaranteed to avoid the wrecking ball. In this photo, from the files of the Staten Island Advance newspaper, the Dutch Reformed church’s old burial ground is seen at the left foreground of the church lot. Some of the oldest families on the Island are buried there, including Van Pelts.

Another treasure we are happy to still have in the family is Sarah Van Pelt’s silhouette. As befits a married woman of this era, Sarah is wearing a cap to cover her hair. Her dress has a high neck collar.  Her silhouette is lovingly framed with a beautiful dark wood and brass acorn and oak leaf hanger. We did not attempt to take the silhouette out of the frame so we don’t know if it was signed by the artist.

Silhouette of Sarah Van Pelt Smith (1810-1895). Copyright 2013 GenealogySisters.com

Unfortunately we do not have a silhouette of Sarah’s husband Jeremiah Smith, but his recipe for making wine has been passed down in the family.  His grand-daughter Augusta (Heal) Dakin recorded Grandpa Smith’s Wine recipe in her Recipe Journal. I have transcribed the recipes, most donated by family and friends, but for those who can’t wait for her cook book to be published, here’s Grandpa Smith’s very simple recipe for making wine. “For 1 gallon of wine 3-1/2 lb. of sugar, 3 quarts juice & 1 quart water.” Obviously, Jeremiah assumed the methods of making wine was general knowledge. I hope to make “Grandpa Smith’s Wine” this summer and raise a glass of it to toast him when family comes to visit in October. I’m thinking blueberry wine might be interesting. 

Jeremiah and Sarah Smith were blessed with six children (born between 1832 and 1850). Their first daughter, Mary Van Pelt Smith, seems to have been particularly close to her parents. Upon her marriage to Joseph Hughes Heal (born in Hope, Maine) the couple took up residence in the Smith farmhouse. From then on they either lived with the Smiths or very near by, as did her four brothers and sister Phoebe Ann.

According to a note taped to the back of the following two silhouettes, which are presumed to be Mary Van Pelt Smith and Joseph Heal, they lived “in the big farm-house on lower Jewett Avenue, between Forest Avenue, and Post Avenue, and on the East side of Jewett”. This neighborhood is in West New Brighton.   I don’t know if the old Smith farm-house is still there or whether it was torn down to make room for more homes. A good many members of their extended families lived in this locale from the earliest settlement in the late 1660s up through the late 20th century.

Mary Van Pelt Smith and her husband Joseph Hughes Heal. Copyright 2013 GenealogySisters.com

On the front of these two silhouettes is the artist’s signature “Cut without hands by M. A. Honeywell. ” Not understanding what this meant I did a Google search and found out the artist was Martha Ann Honeywell (approximately 1785-1848), a woman of Hungarian descent who was born without hands. She apparently cut the silhouettes using her mouth and became well- known for her artwork. We are so thankful to have these wonderful likenesses of Mary and Joseph Heal made by this remarkable artist still in the family.

While doing family research a few years ago at the archives of the Staten Island Institute of Arts & Sciences we found Jeremiah’s obituary, which was posted in The Staten Islander, April 1, 1891.

Staten Island Cemetery, maintained by the Friends of Abandoned Cemeteries on Staten Island.

JEREMIAH SMITH
Jeremiah Smith, an old resident of West Brighton, died of pneumonia Friday last. His funeral which took place from the Trinity Church, West Brighton, Monday was largely attended. The interment took place in the Staten Island Cemetery. The deceased leaves six children, all of whom are well known in the community. They are Mrs. James Hillyer, Mrs. Joseph Heal, George, Henry, Theodore and Silas Smith.

A special thank you goes out to Carolyn and Pidge for sharing the Smith and Heal family treasurers with us and future generations. 

Workday Wednesday – Evelyn S. Barnes, Registered Nurse

This sweet photograph from November 1941 shows Evelyn Stewart Barnes (1919-2008) of Kingston, New Jersey, in her first nursing uniform.  She was the daughter of Benjamin and Maude Eisenberger Stewart. Evelyn had graduated from Beaver College (now called Arcadia University) in 1941 with a B.S. degree in Home Economics. Loving school, she decided to continue her education by attending Yale University’s School of Nursing in New Haven, Connecticut. She had married Thomas Barnes, from her Kingston neighborhood, in 1943. While her husband, Tom, was in the Army, she lived in New Haven, CT, on her own, and attended graduate school. On 13 April 1944 Evelyn received her Master of Nursing degree from Yale University after many months of hard study, student nursing, and examinations.

Shown above are Evelyn’s first nursing cap, her diploma, and the program from the graduation exercises. The Connecticut State Board of Examiners for Nursing in 1944 required a passing percentage of at least 70% in these subjects: Medical Nursing; Surgical Nursing; Pharmacology and Therapeutics; Nutrition, Foods and Cookery, and Diet Therapy; Obstetric and Gynecologic Nursing; Anatomy and Physiology; Nursing of Children; Microbiology; Communicable Disease Nursing; and Psychiatric Nursing. Since Evelyn had passed all of the exams, she was a certified Registered Nurse as of 21 September 1944.

Two beautiful graduation portraits of Evelyn Stewart Barnes from her time at Beavers College and Yale University School of Nursing, above and below.

After receiving her R. N. degree, Evelyn moved back to New Jersey. She had been recruited to become an Army nurse, but she didn’t think her specialty was surgical nursing. Evelyn raised her two young children while juggling shifts at local nursing homes, so she could be with them as much as possible. In 1955, Evelyn heard of a new program that was starting up in Somerset County, NJ, sponsored by the Somerville Elks, to help disabled children in the community. They were looking for a registered nurse to oversee the fledgling facility, to be housed in a basement room at the local High Street School.  The Elks hired Evelyn Barnes to start up the program. She stayed as nurse and then director for what became the Somerset Handicapped Children’s Treatment Center for 42 years, retiring in 1997.

“Evelyn Barnes, R.N., left, director of the Somerset Crippled Children’s Treatment Center, Bridgewater, explains uses for a set of steps in the therapy room to (Left to right) Freeholder Vernon Noble, county human services chairman; Edith Regan, R.N., coordinator of community-based services for the N.J. Department of Health, special child health services; and John A. Koopman, chairman of the center board of directors. The treatment center, a nonprofit organization run by Elks lodges, hosts the Somerset County Special Child Health Services Case management Unit.” August 16, 1985.

During her tenure, Evelyn had a dedicated staff of a secretary, speech therapist, occupational, and physical therapists who supported her in helping the children. The Special Child Health Services of Trenton, NJ worked with Evelyn in making sure services were provided for local children in need. Evelyn also worked with many wonderful volunteers from the  Elks and Women’s Auxiliaries, from not only the Somerville Elks (B.P.O.E. 1068), but also Manville, Bound Brook, Middlesex, Plainfield, Flemington, and Princeton Lodges. The Center’s goal was to help any children from birth to age 21 that needed assistance.

In 1993 a 3,600 square-feet special playground for the children was built by the Elk Lodges, and dedicated to Evelyn, much to her surprise.

With Evelyn Barnes, at the dedication of the playground, longtime Physical Therapist, Nancy Meyers, B.S., RPT.

Evelyn, or “Mrs. B” as she was called, was really a pioneer in getting so many services all under one roof.  Another of her skills was a knack in finding the best people to work with her. Amazingly, during her 42 years at the treatment center, Evelyn only had two secretaries. Along with the Somerville Elks, the Somerville Red Cross, and the Evening Membership of the Somerville Civic League, Evelyn started a swim program for physically handicapped children, which was one of the first in New Jersey. The staff and volunteers at the Treatment Center also ran many other fun events, such as trips for the children to Disney World and Dorney Park, fishing derbies, and holiday parties. Below, Evelyn is shown at one of the parties with her two granddaughters.

Evelyn Barnes with her first secretary, Flo.

Later, the Elks twice built new and more modern facilities, and they are now located at 377 Union Avenue in Bridgewater, NJ. This link tells more about the Treatment Center: http://www.somersetchildrenstreatmentcenter.com/16842.html

Here’s one last picture of Evelyn Stewart Barnes, Registered Nurse, at her desk from June 1978 while working. She was quite a remarkable woman!

“How can we help you?” ~ Evelyn Barnes, R. N.

Workday Wednesday is a blogging prompt suggested by GeneaBloggers to celebrate the careers and occupations of family and ancestors. Any nurses in your families, dear readers?