Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories – Holiday Parties: Family, Food, and Photos

This is a continuing post for the Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories which is hosted by GeneaBloggers as a means to encourage family historians to write about their holiday traditions. Today’s prompt is HolidayParties. 

Most of the Christmas holiday parties I experienced as a kid were part of our family gatherings.  There would always be an abundance of food, egg nog (spiked for the adults) or hot chocolate if you didn’t like egg nog, and lots and lots of cookies.  Cheerful holiday music set the tone at the gatherings and provided a festive background while conversations flowed.   

Dressing up was common for these gatherings.  The men usually wore nice slacks, maybe a blazer or perhaps a festive vest or sweater, while the ladies donned skirts and dresses in seasonal greens, reds, or possibly a Scottish plaid.  

Family Gathering + Food/Drink + Cheerful Music + Holiday Dress = Kodak moments.

(Left to right) Elma, Eva, Mary, Alice*, and Fred (sitting in chair).
December 26, 1969 in Richmond, Virginia

Here is a Christmas photo of the EMMERSON siblings
seizing that Kodak (photo) moment. 
*Alice is my maternal grandmother.

©2011 – Frank’s Daughter All Rights Reserved

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday - Our Cosby Men

My two great uncles, my grandfather² and
my great-grandfather¹ in Richmond, Virginia

(Left to Right) Frank, John, Grayson², and Andrew¹ Cosby

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Wordless Wednesday - Playtime in the Kitchen

Betty Lee's Kitchen in the Kitchen
Hanes Avenue, Richmond, Va, abt. 1933

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Wedding Wednesday - A Tom Thumb Wedding

Grayson Cosby in Tom Thumb Wedding,
ca. July 1896

A Tom Thumb wedding pageant, like this one which was held in Richmond, Virginia, is where all of the major wedding roles are played by small children, usually under ten years of age.  In these mock Lilliputian weddings, children would be assigned to portray the bride, groom, attendants, and sometimes the minister.  Smaller children would sometimes play the flower girls and ring bearers.  There would usually be many photographs of the event such as this one where my grandfather, Grayson Cosby, happens to portray the groom.

The term "Tom Thumb wedding" comes from an actual wedding, the marriage of the famous little person General Tom Thumb (born Charles Stratton) to Lavinia Warren, another little person, in 1863. The wedding attracted considerable publicity and was a major event of the time. Tom Thumb was a celebrity promoted by the circus entrepreneur P.T. Barnum, who gave him a stage name inspired by the folk hero Tom Thumb and managed his career starting at an early age.

©2011 – Frank’s Daughter All Rights Reserved

Labor Day – Workers for C&O Railway

As stated at Labor Day Weekend, The History of Labor Day, Labor Day's true meaning is to honor the everyday working people.  The people whose sweat build and maintain the heart of United States.  

This article is dedicated to my great grandfather and my great-great grandfather, who both worked in the early days for the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway.

Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O) Conductors Hat

Captain George B. Emmerson worked for the railroad for most of his adult life.  Employed in his earlier years as a laborer, by the time he was 28, he was holding the position of Conductor for the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O).

Wearing his distinctive uniform and hat, Captain Emmerson had many responsibilities as a Conductor.  The job placed him for several hours each day in intimate contact with hundreds of people.  First and foremost, he had to be a good operating man, then a public relations specialist.  A few of his duties included punching tickets, selling passage to those who boarded the train without purchasing a ticket where there was no ticket agent, supervising the other trainmen, settling arguments, and admonishing misbehaving children or inebriated passengers. He had presided over the cars in the train with a fatherly dignity, answered passengers questions about many things, and performed a "public relations" function for the railroad company.

According to Rails West, as a Conductor, George was the railroad employee charged with the management of the freight or passenger train, and was also the direct supervisor of the train's "Train Crew".  He was required to carry an accurate watch, which was regularly inspected, and ensured that the train was running according to the timetable.  As the Conductor, George was responsible for signaling the engineer when to start moving and when and where to stop.

George’s son Frederick J. Emmerson followed his father in the railroad profession.  By 1901, the same year he marries Eva C. Miskell, Fred is working as a fireman on the C&O Railway.

This image from The Modern Railroad (1911), captures a railroad fireman shoveling coal into the firebox.

As a Fireman, Fred’s job was to feed the firebox with fuel while the engine was in use. During this time, the steam locomotives ran on coal, wood or oil.  Loading the fuel was typically hard work, where wood and coal were transferred or shoveled from the tender to the firebox by hand.  As a Fireman, Fred also monitored the water level in the boiler and kept the cylinders on the drive wheels oiled while the train was underway.

A Fireman learning the trade typically started as a Switch-engine Fireman, who worked in the yard.  Then, there were the more experienced Road Fireman, who traveled with the freight or passenger trains. On diesel locomotives, the firemen would monitor controls and assist the engineer.  Often Firemen served these duties as a form of apprenticeship, aspiring to be locomotive Engineers themselves.  The Fireman knew that if he did his job well, in about three years he would move up to Hostler, and then to Switch-engine Engineer before becoming a journeyman Engineer.

I’m not sure when the promotion occurred, but by 1917 at age 42, Fred was working as a locomotive Engineer for the C&O Railway.  According to Rails West, the locomotive Engineer was the most heroic and glamorous figure during the nineteenth century, for he was the one that was capable of making the steam locomotive come to life and pull the train on its journey.  If the locomotive needed to be repaired in a remote area, he was the one who fixed it.  

As an Engineer, Fred was the person in charge of the locomotives. He was responsible for preparing the equipment for service, checking paperwork and the condition of the locomotives.  He was also in charge of the mechanical operation of the train including controlling steam pressure, boiler water level, fire box temperature, acceleration, braking and handling of the train underway.  He needed to know the physical characteristics of the railroad, including passenger stations, the incline and decline of the right-of-way and speed limits.  As the train moved he watched for obstructions on the rails ahead.  Along with the conductor, Fred monitored the time so the train did not fall behind schedule or leave the stations early.  He made sure the train's speed was reduced when following other trains, approaching route diversions, or when regulating time over road to avoid arriving too early.

The Engineer and the Conductor, who was in charge of the train, compared watches to ensure they were both set to railroad standard time, reviewed any train orders received, and shared the responsibility for the safe operation of the train and application of the rules and procedures of the railway company.

I don’t know if George and Fred worked the same locomotive as Engineer and Conductor, but I’m sure they exchanged many stories at home of their shared labors and experiences as employees of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway.

  ©2011 – Frank’s Daughter All Rights Reserved

Military Monday - School, Wedding, and Korea

June 27, 1950. Truman orders troops to South Korea to participate in a UN force that will help repel North Korean troops from the country, the beginning of U.S. involvement in the Korean War.

One year later, on June 30, 1951, Frank Andersen, U.S.M.C., takes a short break from his Communications studies in Quantico, Virginia to marry Betty Cosby in her home town of Richmond, Virginia.  He returns to his studies and graduates in August.

August 1951-Communications School Graduation-Quantico, VA

Frank Andersen (third row back, second from left)

The following month, Frank ships out to Korea.  He will be stationed there as a communications officer from September 1951 through June 1952.

©2011 – Frank’s Daughter All Rights Reserved

Church Record Sunday - Emmerson and Gilman in Washington D.C.

Once I was aware of the information contained in the little marriage book (see previous post), I then sent for the official Washington D.C. marriage record.

To any Minister of the Gospel authorized to Celebrate Marriages in the District of Columbia:

You are hereby LICENSED to solemnize the RITES OF MARRIAGE between
George B. Emmerson, of Washington D.C. AND Alice H. Gilman, of Richmond, Va. if you find no lawful impediment thereby; and having so done, you are commanded to appear in the Clerk’s Office of the Supreme Court of said District and certify the same.
Witness my hand and seal of said Court this 18 day of July, 1874
I, Jn. C. Smith, Minister of 4^th Presbyterian Church in Washington D.C., hereby certify that, by authority of a License of the same tenor as the foregoing, I solemnized the marriage of the parties aforesaid on the 18^th day of July, 1874, at parsonage Washington in the District of Columbia.
John C. Smith

©2011 – Frank’s Daughter All Rights Reserved

Surname Saturday – Emmerson

According to ancestry.com and the Surname Database, this surname comes from the English name "Emery", itself derived from a Germanic personal name Emaurri, which is composed of the elements amja meaning 'busy' or 'industrious' and ric meaning 'power'.  The name was introduced into England from France by the Normans.  The first recording of "Emery" as a surname dates from about 1182, when a Roger Hemeri was listed in the Cartulary of St. Mary, Clerkenwell (Essex).  Thus, "Emerson", i.e., "the son of Amery or Emery", is first formed as a surname in records in the early 14th Century.

The surname is recorded as Emerson, Emberson and Emmerson in the modern idiom. The marriage of Anthony Emmerson and Margarett Myles was recorded on November 1st 1584 at St. Giles', Cripplegate, London, and one John Emmerson was an early emigrant to the American colonies, leaving London on the "Abigall" in July 1635, bound for New England. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Richard Emryson, which was dated circa 1300, Yorkshire Records, during the reign of King Edward 1, "The Hammer of the Scots", 1272 – 1307.

However, our family picks up at George Benjamin EMMERSON.  George was born about 1852 in Richmond, Virginia.  

The particulars have been lost when George met Alice Hannah GILMAN, also of Richmond, but the couple received a small marriage book which shows the record of their union on 18 July 1874 in Washington D.C.  This is the first source I have on this family line to date.

This certifies that George B Emmerson and
Alice H Gilman were by me
United in Marriage according to the Law of God and of the District
of Columbia at Washington
City this 18^th of July 1874
John C Smith
Pastor Fourth
Presbyterian Church

©2011 – Frank’s Daughter All Rights Reserved

Workday Wednesday - Surveyor for C & O Railway

About 1928-30, after attending Virginia Polytechnic Institute, (VPI) and receiving a degree in civil engineering, Grayson COSBY goes to work for C & O railway as a surveyor.

Grayson Cosby at Work

©2011 – Frank’s Daughter All Rights Reserved

Mystery Monday - The Preston Cosby (Virginia) Connection?

There is a popular "assumption" that Preston Cosby is the father of Azgad Cosby (1800-1854, Gum Springs, Louisa, Virginia) and Anne Booker.  To my knowledge, this assumption has been based on the book, “My Wife’s Family,” by Noah H. Bradley.

p. 302 states the following:

AZGAD NAPOLEON BONAPARTE COSBY

Azgad Napoleon Bonaparte Cosby was the son of Anne Booker Cosby.
Anne Booker Cosby lived in the Louisa-Goochland County area of Virginia, where all the Cosbys living in the area were related. By the process of elimination, it seems possible that the husband of Anne and the father of Azgad was Preston Cosby (#111122416353). In 1829, evidently Anne was a widow, as she transferred by deed property to her son Azgad.

Also, page 270 lists Preston Cosby as :

#111122416353 Preston Cosby b cl777 (in Louisa Co 1797)

...the son of Peter Cosby (1754-1814 Louisa Co VA) a soldier in the Revolutionary War, who married Ann Eggleston.

While, I'm sure much of this book has valid data, the author used deductive reasoning to match a man called Preston as the father of Azgad Cosby; son of Ann Booker Cosby.  Unfortunately, the evidence is unclear of a Preston Cosby; in fact, I do not see a Preston at all in this area.  To complicate things further, public trees have gone rampant with this connection allowing this Cosby family line to erroneously trace back centuries earlier.

Did I miss something?

This is what I have, based upon a Virginia cousin’s research of the Cosby family:

Azgad COSBY, son of Mr. COSBY (no further details) and Anne BOOKER, was born in May 1800 in Louisa County, Virginia.  He died in May of 1854 in Gum Spring, Louisa, Virginia the age of 54, and was buried in the Cosby Graveyard of Gum Spring. 

Research has not produced a father for Azgad, however, evidence points to Anne Booker Cosby as Azgad's mother.

Anne Booker Cosby's first recorded purchase of land in Louisa County took place 20 February 1810, when she and Elizabeth Jackson Cosby purchased a parcel of about seventy-six acres.  Anne Cosby later sold her 56 1/2 acre parcel to her son Azgad for the consideration of one dollar: 

"Know all men by these presents that I, Anne B. Cosby of the County of Louisa for and in consideration of the care and affection which I bear of my son Azegad Cosby of the County of Louisa as well as for the further consideration of one dollar to me in hand paid by the said Azegad Cosby at or before the ….my seal this 31st day of July 1829."

[Signed] Anne B. Cosby
Proved and recorded 12 August 1830 Louisa County [S:271]

The transfer was also recorded in the Louisa County Minute Book:
"A deed of gift from Ann B. Cosby to Azegad Cosby was fully proved in the said office on the 12^th day of April 1830 by William S. Walton the third witness thereto and admitted to record. [1826-1831:471]

Preston Cosby has been a mystery to me.  If anyone knows of a viable connection that links him as the father of Azgad Cosby, please let me know!

©2011 – Frank’s Daughter All Rights Reserved

Tombstone Tuesday - Azgad N. B. Cosby

Azgad Cosby

Born November 1800

Died March 1854

Gum Springs, Louisa County Virginia

©2011 – Frank’s Daughter All Rights Reserved

Chronicling My Cosbys

A couple of years ago a cousin had given me a trove of information she had found on our Cosby family in Virginia.  My last post, "Letter from N.B. Cosby, 9 May 1863," was from that collection.  Further re-reading what she had sent, I came across a newspaper article and its reference.  I decided to search online to see if I could pull up a scanned copy of the article.  No luck; however, it did display a link to the Chronicling America site.  I had forgotten about that newspaper archive for a while and decided to check it out again.  Still staying on track with my Virginia relatives, I typed in various combinations of given names for my Cosby and Emmerson families.

I was rewarded with several articles of interest:  the 1901 marriage announcement of Eva Claiborne Miskell and Frederick J. Emmerson (my g-grandparents), the death of their infant son in 1908, family travel news, a young man’s careless hunting accident, and one I thought particularly enjoyable, yet still on track with the Civil War and N.B. Cosby, about his sweet tobacco. 

From the Richmond dispatch, July 3, 1884:
“The writer was shown the other day by Mr. N.B. Cosby, of Powhatan, near Jefferson, a lot of tobacco taken from a small crop he made in 1861.  It is probably the oldest loose tobacco or oldest tobacco of any kind in America.  Mr. Cosby, when eighteen years old, raised the tobacco on his mother’s farm at Oakland church, in Louisa county, and before he had time to market it he was called into the army.  His mother kept the little crop as a souvenir of her soldier boy, and had it spread on the floor in the garret of her brick dwelling.  After the war her son came back, but never called for his tobacco, went away, married, and is raising a large family, the old lady all the time religiously keeping her boy’s first crop locked up in the garret along with some old relics of her girlhood and her parents and grandparents.  Not long since she died, and Mr. Cosby went home and claimed his tobacco.  He found it covering the floor about six inches deep, without any mould upon it, as sound as when he put it there, with color mellowed by its twenty-three years, and smelling, he says, “like a rose.”  The tobacco is of the Orinoco variety, and there is about 150 pounds of it, and if it is true, as is stated by tobacco-growers, that every time tobacco comes and goes it gets better, the coming and going with every warm, damp spell of the last twenty-three years ought to make this lot of weed as sweet as candy.  Mr. Cosby says he cannot find such chewing-tobacco anywhere, and he intends to keep it till he eats it up.”

ChroniclingAmerica provides free access to historic newspapers and select digitized newspaper images as part of a partnership between the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the Library of Congress.  It contains a searchable database of U.S. newspapers with descriptive information and select digitization of historic pages. An NEH award program will fund the contribution of content from, eventually, all U.S. states and territories.  So, if you haven’t visited it, check it out.  If you have, but haven’t been there in a while, it’s worth a re-visit.

©2011 – Frank’s Daughter All Rights Reserved

Amanuensis Monday - Letter from N.B. Cosby, 9 May 1863

"An Amanuensis is defined as a person employed to write what another dictates or to copy what has been written by another." 

Here is a letter written by my great, great, grandfather, Napoleon Bonaparte Cosby during the Civil War.  He is writing to his mother, Nancy Cosby, shortly after the battle at Chancellorsville and the day before General T. J. "Stonewall" Jackson died.  The transcription was provided courtesy of cousin C. Cosby.

Letter from N.B. Cosby, 9 May 1863

Guinea Station, May the 9th 1863

Dear Mam

i will write you a few lines this morning to let you here from me. i also am well at present hoping that when those few times come to hand they may find you all well. since I have last rote to you we have had a big fightin about ___ about fredricksburg. i have not herd about our loss. have been busy for 5 days carrying away our wounded. we captured about 9000 prisoners & took about 35 pieces of artillery after fighting & skirmishing 3 or 4 days we came back to our old Camp & camped [and will stay] a week or so until the yanks makes us treak some where else. there were too killed out of our company & several wounded, Daniel Childress & Frederick Singleton wer the too that wer killed. And isaac saunders today at guinea was very badly wounded in the head. he was going to Richmond. wee all so captured a quantity of guns i never saw so many in all my life i don't think. you must give my respects to all inquiring friends as i have nothing else to write. I will bring my letter to a close.

from your son. (signed a.n.b. Cosby)

Mrs. Nancy Cosby

P.S. tell the miss bowleses that George is well
©2011 – Frank’s Daughter All Rights Reserved

Treasure Chest Thursday - Alice and Hunker Cosby's Voice Record

This was a fun mememto picked up by my grandparents, Grayson and Alice Cosby, on a trip to New York in 1935.

There was a popular recording booth at the time on the Empire State Building's 86th floor observatory.  When money was inserted, visitors could record their own voices onto a souvenir record.  These made great keepsakes for visitors to recall their special trip to the Big Apple.

The record sleeve is all that remains of that enjoyable day, but the writing on its cover still makes me smile.  "Hunker" was my grandfather's nickname; I'm not sure who comprised "the Gang."

Also in 1935, WNEW in New York became the first music radio station.  Is there a coincidence?

©2011 – Frank’s Daughter All Rights Reserved