Effie Gullett Midwife Records Part #2

Effie Gullett Midwife Records Part #2

compiled by Teresa Martin Klaiber May 2012

Continued series of midwife records of Effie Gullett who resided in Boyd County, Kentucky.  Every effort has been made to transcribe the records exactly as entered including spelling.  Copies of the actual records will be donated to the Boyd County Public Library at the conclusion of this series. Transcriber notes are in brackets.

Physicians Record 1923 - 1925

Surname, Given	Date of Birth	Family Information
Adkins, Alline	29 Feb 1924	Born Carter Co., Geigerville. Female, legitimate. Father Charl[e]s Adkins, white, 42. Mother maiden Minie Samons, white, 26, born Strait Creek, miner. 5th child all living. [No place of b. cited for father & as written for mother.]
Brooks, Claud	July 1925	Born Carter Co., Geigerville. Male, legitimate. Father James Brooks, white, 32, born Boyd Co., farmer. Mother maiden Linnie Sergent, white, 25, born Boyd. [Day of birth not cited.]
Gallion, Ann Lee	22 Aug 1924	Born Boyd Co., Princess. Female, legitimate. Father C. M. Gallion, white, 45, born KY, miner. Mother maiden Lucy Moore, white, 38, born Strait Creek, housewife. 9th child all living.
Gullett, Jewel L.	24 June 1923	Born Boyd Co., Cannonsburg. Female, legitimate. Father Dallas Gullett, white, 24, born Carter Co., miner. Mother maiden name Hazel Kiger, white, 18, born Mead Station, housewife. Child 2 both living.
Hall, Jack	17 June 1925	Born Boyd Co., Princess. Male, legitimate. Father Gaylord Hall, 22, miner. Mother maiden Allice Stephens, 25, born Carter Co.
Hall, Lillian	Feb 1924	Born Boyd Co., Princess. Female, legitimate. Father Gaylord Hall, white, 24, born Carter Co., miner. Mother maiden Allice Stephens, white, 24, housewife. 3rd child. [Day of birth not listed.]
Hall, Mary L.	25 May 1924	Born Boyd Co., Princess. Female, legitimate. Father Claud Hall, white, 26, born Lawrence Co., miner. Mother maiden Lillie Stephens, white, 20, born Princess, housewife. 2nd child both living.
Jacobs, Nella M.	24 Jan 1924	Born Boyd Co., Princess. Female, legitimate. Father Samuel Jacobs, white, 44, born Greenup Co., miner. Mother maiden Pearl Samons, white, 38, born Greenup Co., housewife, 7th child. All living.
Jenkins, Dortha	2 June 1924	Born Boyd Co., Cannonsburg. Female, legitimate. Father Robert Jenkins, white, 36, born Coalton, miner. Mother maiden Dollie Cary [?] white, 26, born W. VA., housewife. 1st child.
Kazee, Curtis Jr.	29 Nov 1923	Born Boyd Co., Princess. Male, legitimate. Father Curtis Kazee, white, 28, born Princess, miner. Mother maiden name Virgie Dade, white, 25, born Princess, housewife. 2nd child. Both living.
Keeton, Louvenia	28 April 1925	Born Greenup Co., Hunnewell. Girl, legitimate. Father Dan Keeton, white, 23, born Johnson Co., farmer. Mother maiden Dora Blevins, white, 23, born Johnson Co., housewife. 3rd chlld, 2 living.
Kirk, Juanati	13 Dec 1923	Born Boyd Co., Princess. Female, legitimate. Father Vint Kirk, white, 28, born Princess, farmer. Mother maiden Bertha Hicks, white, 26, housewife. 3rd child all living.
Moore, Jessie Lee	30 May 1923	Born Boyd Co., Princess. Male, legitimate. Father Dee Mo[o]re, white, 30, born Boyd Co., miner. Mother maiden name Bertha Woods, white, 23, housewife. Child 2 both living.
Moore, Robert	3 Mar 1924	Born Boyd Co., Cannonsburg. Male, legitimate. Father Andrew, white, 42, born Strait Creek, miner. Mother maiden Essie Whitely, white, 33, housewife. 6th child. 5 living.
Owens, Sim	8 July 1924	Born Boyd Co., Princess. Male, legitimate. Father Garth Owens, white, 27, born Carter Caves, miner. Mother maiden Bertha Wert [?], white, 29, born Carter Co., housewife. 2nd child. Only this one living.
Patton, Joyce	11 June 1925	Born Boyd Co., Cannonsburg. Female, legitimate. Father Bert Patton, white, 32, born Alpharette , farming. Mother maiden Sara Dingess, white, 32, born Alpharette, housewife. 4th child all living.
Sergent, George	16 Mar 1924	Born Carter Co., Geigerville. Male, legitimate. Father Paul Sergent, white, 26, born Star, miner. Mother maiden Allice Samon, white, 26, born Hunwell [Hunnewell], housewife. 3rd child all living.
Stephens, Margaret M.	23 Jan 1924	Born Boyd Co., Princess. Female, legitimate. Father Lade Stephens, white, 29, born Princess, miner. Mother maiden Stella Hall, white, 20, housewife. 3rd child. 2 living.
Stephens, Russell	3 Dec 1924	Born Boyd Co., Cannonsburg. Male, legitimate. Father Denis Stephens, white, 38, born Carter Co., farmer. Mother maiden Etta Birchet [Burchett], white, 32, Carter Co., housewife. Child 7 all living.
Talbert, Freda M.	3 [Mar?] 1924	Born Boyd Co., Princess. Female, legitimate. Father Hiram Talbert, white, 27, born Carter Co. Mother maiden Mary Long, white, 19. 1st child. [Birth date written as 3 1924 not sure if mo. Or day for #3]
Tatten, Kathleen	23 Jan 1924	Born Boyd Co., Princess. Female, legitimate. Father George Tatten, white, 23, born W. VA., miner. Mother maiden Pansy Collins, white, 22, born Princess, housewife. First child.
Terry, Charl[e] R.	12 Feb 1924	Born Boyd Co., Cannonsburg. Male, legitimate. Father Richard Terry, white, 50, born Lawrence Co., miner. Mother maiden Ruthie Bartlett, white, 32, born Carter Co., housewife. 9th child. Children now living 8.
Terry, Mary	18 Aug 1924	Born Boyd Co., Princess. Female, legitimate. Father Ben Terry, white, 35, born Carter Co., miner. Mother maiden Nora Stephens, white, 32, born Boyd Co., housewife. 4th child all living.
Terry, Miles T.	16 June 1923	Born Boyd Co., Princess. Male, legitimate. Father William Terry, white, 26, born Princess, miner. Mother maiden Rose Mary Williams, white, 26, born Pollard. 3rd child all living.
Terry, Richard	16 May 1923	Born Boyd Co., Cannonsburg. Male, legitimate. Father Edward Terry, white, 30, born Carter Co., miner. Mother maiden Rosa Horton, white, 28, born Elliott Co., housewife. [# of child scribbled over.]

Effie Gullett, Boyd County, Kentucky, Midwife 1872 - 1960

Effie Gullett, Boyd County, Kentucky, Midwife

1872 - 1960

Compiled and transcribed by Teresa Martin Klaiber May 2012

Effie was born 20 April 1872, the first child of Fleming Low Brown and wife Sena E. Porter.   She married Henry Allen Gullett [son of James Presley and Susan Ann Fraley Gullett] at  Pleasant Hill School House, Limestone, Carter County, Kentucky on 21 April 1889. 

I am extremely grateful to the Gullett family for sharing pages from the family bible as well as trusting me with ten of Effie’s recorded midwife books between 1920 and 1945.  The genealogy community will benefit tremendously from these wonderful records.

Census records place Henry Allen and Effie in Boyd County beginning in 1900. They are listed as living on Williams Creek, Coalton of Cannonsburg District.  While the district name changes from 1900 thru 1930 the census still indicates they stayed in this area of the county.  Her husband is listed as a coal miner and not one census record indicates that Effie brought countless numbers of Boyd County folk into the world.

Ida Effie Brown Gullett was a midwife in Boyd County more than two and a half decades.  She practiced midwifery in the 1920’s when as many as fifty percent of women gave birth in hospitals.  Living in the southwest section of Boyd County families still found it a comfort to have their babies at home.  Effie practiced into the 1930’s.  By 1930 trained qualified public health nurses practiced midwifery.  Effie followed the protocol filing proper Kentucky Board of Health forms for physicians and signing as midwife.

By 1939 doctors were using “twilight sleep” for deliveries in hospitals. Effie continued in the 1940’s with home deliveries.  By then fifty percent of women and 75 percent of urban women went to hospitals for delivery. 

I have completed digitizing each page of the books entrusted in my care. From dates within the books/booklets there were probably many more births and other little books still tucked away or lost with time. A copy of the digitized records, with permission from the family, will be placed in the Boyd County Public Library for future researchers who wish to utilize them.

A random check of entries show several mis-spellings in the Kentucky State Birth Index.  One child was entered as male when it is clearly a female named Iva [not named Ival].  Another random check shows several filed many years after the initial birth. Other entries could not be located or were filed with a modified given name later.

Some entries are out of sequence in Effie’s books. Entries were written twice and the perforation removed and one copy sent to the state.  A family member says that if a person visited for proof of birth she would tear out the page entry and give it to the person.  There are several pages missing in each book.

Each entry should be checked against an official birth certificate with the State of Kentucky if one is available. 

Book 1920-1923

Surname, Given Name	Date of Birth	Family Information
Flood, Anna G.	22 Mar 1922	Born Boyd County, Princess #10. Girl. Legitimate. Father Virgil Flood, white, age 25, born Salt Lick, occupation traveling man. Mother's maiden name Amellie Shelton, white, age 25, born Old Princess, housewife. Number of children of this mother 3.
Gullett, Henry Marvin	21 July 1920	Born Boyd Co., Princess #10. Male, legitimate. Father J. W. Gullett, white, 30, born Elliott Co., miner. Mother maiden Eliza Maynard, white, 24, born Pike Co., housewife. Number of child of this mother 2 both living.
Hall, Charl[e]s	1 Mar 1921	Born Boyd Co., Princes #10. Male, legitimate. Father Gaylord Hall, white, 20, born Carter County, miner. Mother maiden Allice Stephens, white, 22, born Boyd Co., housewife. 1st child.
Hall, Way Ward	19 Aug 1922	Born Boyd Co., Princess. Father Claud Hall, white, 24, born KY, miner. Mother maiden name Lillie Stephens, white, 18. First Child. [KY State Index filed as Herman Hall, certificate 48612]
Hicks, Andrew	11 Jan 1920	Born Boyd Co., Geyer Bridge. Male, legitimate. Father Andrew Hicks, white, age 71, born KY, laborer. Mother's maiden name Rebeca Lawson, white, 45, born Boyd Co., housewife. Number of child of this mother 11, living 9. [KY Index mis-read maiden as Elis]
Huff, Coals	29 Apr 1920	Born Boyd Co., Cannonsburg. Male, leigitimate. Father John Huff, white, 56, born Carter Co., farmer. Mother's maiden name Mary Brown, white, 39, born Boyd Co., housewife. Number of child of this mother 8 all living. [KY State Index lists him as Samuel C.]
Kazee, Walter Carlis	5 Dec 1920	Born Boyd Co., Geyer Bridge. Male, legitimate. Father Curtis Kazee, white, no age given, born Boyd Co., miner. Mother maiden Virgie Dove, white, no age given, born Boyd Co., housewife. 1st child.
Kazee, Will Jr.	7 Mar 1923	Born Boyd Co., Cannonsburg. Male. Legitimate. Father Will Kazee, white, age 27, born KY, coal miner. Mother's maiden name Carrie Terry, white, age 19, born KY, housewife. Number of chilfren of this mother 2.
Keeton, Lonnie	11 Apr 1923	Born Greenup County. Male. Legitimate. Father Dan Keeton, white, age 21, born Johnson County, occupation roller. Mother's maiden name Dora Blevins, white, age 21 born Johnson County, housefie. Number of child of this mother 2.
Keffer, Garnet	15 Nov 1922	Born Boyd County, Princess #10. Female. Legitimate. Father Robert Keffer, white, age 31, born Grayson, teamster. Mother's maiden name Minnie Steele, white, age 21, born Olive Hill, housewife. Number of child of this mother 2.
Kirk, William E.	3 Sep 1922	Born Boyd Co., Princess. Father Vint Kirk, white, 27, born Boyd Co., miner. Mother maiden name Bertha Hicks, white, 23, born Boyd Co. 2nd Child. Still birth.
Kitchen, Billie G.	19 Sep 1922	Born Boyd County, Coalton #7. Male. Legitimate. Father Charles Kitchen, white, age 37, born Rush, miner. Mother's maiden name Arael Mcnight, white, age 38, born Flat Woods, Ohio, housewife. Number of child of this mother 7.
Lawson, Helen Charline	17 Nov 1922	Born Boyd County, Princess #10. Female. Legitimate. Father Jessie Lawson, white, age 30 born Boyd County, miner. Mother's maiden name Cora Lee Moore, white, age 30, born Boyd County, housewife. Nubmer of child of this mother 4.
Lawson, Millard	27 May 1922	Born Boyd Co., Princess #10. Male, legitimate. Father Jeff Lawson, white, 44, born KY, miner. Mother maiden name Lyda More, white, 40, born KY, housewife. 9th child, 8 living.
Lawson, Waneda F.	3 May 1920	Born Boyd Co., Geyer Bridge. Female, legitimate. Father Jeff Lawson, white, 41, born Boyd Co., miner. Mother's maiden name Lydia Moore, white, 36, born KY, housewife. Number of child of this mother 8 all living. [State index shows Jaunita F. on 2 May]
Pack, Frank	26 Feb 1921	Born Boyd Co., Princess #10. Male. Legitimate. Father Charl[e]s A. Pack, white, no further information. Mother's maiden name Esta More, no further information.
Stephens, Pauline E.	4 Apr 1922	Born Boyd County, Princess #10. Female, legitimate. Father Lead Stephens, white, age 24, born KY, miner. Mother's maiden name Stella Hall, white, age 19, born KY, housewife. Number of child to this mother 2. Number of children of this mother now living 1.
Terry, Ben Jr.	25 Jan 1922	Born Boyd Co., Princess #10. Male, legitimate. Father B. H. Terry, white, 33, born Carter County, miner. Mother maiden Sarah Stephens, white, 29, born Boyd County, housewife. 3rd child all living.
Terry, Ruby Charline	4 Apr 1921	Born Boyd Co., Princess #10. Female, legitimate. Father William Terry, white, 26, born Boyd Co., day laborer. Mother's maiden name Rosemary Williams, white, 24, born Boyd Co., housewife. Number of child of this mother 2 both living. [KY Index as Raby N.]
Troxel, June	17 Mar 1922	Born Boyd Co., Princess #10. Female, legitimate. Twin 2nd in order of birth. Father Luther Troxel, 27, born KY, Mother maiden Bertha Stephens, white, age 30 [20?] born Boyd Co., housewife. [Record says born 17 Mar. State Index filed 27 Mar. Cert. 11257]
Troxel, Pauline	27 Mar 1922	Born Boyd Co., Princess #10. Female, legitimate. Twin. 1st in order of birth. Father Luther Troxel, white, 27, born KY, miner. Mother maiden Bertha Stepehsn, white, 30 [20?], born Boyd, Co, housewife. 2nd child. Two living. "Still"
Walker, Waneda	11 Feb 1921	Born Greenup Co. Female. Legitimate. Father J. F. Walker, white, 39, farmer. Mother not listed.
Withrow, Burton	14 Oct 1922	Born Boyd Co., Coalton #7. Male, legitimate. Father James Withrow, white, 39, born Carter Co., railroader. Morther maiden name Levia Hall, white, 30, housewife. 6th child with 5 living.

To be continued.

Day Research Faux Pas

Day Research Faux Pas

compiled by Teresa Martin Klaiber May 2012

 

The past several years I have been dusting off many years of research and have been carefully scanning and double checking documentation. Amazing what a good review will uncover.

Scanning my Day research I realize I was one of the contacts James Edward Day made shortly before his death.  He had written Descendants of Christopher Day of Bucks County, Pennsylvania in 1959.  His 1994 letters state that he now knew the parents of Christopher were Christopher Day and Elizabeth Gowland from Eston, Yorkshire.

It was not long until I was able to find what I always term a “red flag” in research.  Many of the web sites that are floating state that Christopher Day of Bucks County was baptized  22 March 1689.  My own website has not been updated and is in ERROR.   [Not only did I key in the baptism as 22 March 1689 using secondary material but I also put that he was possibly born in the Province of Pennsylvania.   I must have been sipping wine at the time!]  

The Yorkshire records are now readily available.  But apparently no one has looked at them closely or chose to ignore the burial records.  The Eston Parish records were transcribed by the Yorkshire Archaeological Society & Yorkshire Parish Register Society and I did plow through the transcriptions .

J. Edward Day was correct that a Christopher Day married Elizabeth Gowland  30 January 1677 [Eston Register page 36].  It is followed by the baptism of a daughter 26 August 1677.  Three more daughters were baptized between 1678-1687.  Then on 22 March 1690 Christopher son of Christopher was baptized at Easton [page 46]. It was followed almost immediately with “Christopher Day son of Christopher Day Bur ye 8 Day July” 1690 [page 46].

The following year Christopher and Elizabeth Gowland Day have another daughter Elizabeth baptized and recorded.  The elder Day’s both died within a month of each other at Eston in 1721.

They may have had another son after the death of Christopher in 1690. It was common to name a child after a deceased infant.   It is doubtful there was yet another Christopher with son Christopher during this time when the records for this parish are reviewed carefully.  

There are  other red flags.  Our ancestor, Christopher Day resided in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.

The first recorded land purchase  mentioned for a Christopher Day occurred  in 1689 in the Province of Pennsylvania within what is Bucks County.  The purchase was from Arthur Cooke for a portion of a 2000 acre survey.  1689 places all of the issues cited at Eston in England as infants.  

The History of Bucks County, Pennsylvania mentions an Arthur Day and Richard Day as landowners in Plumstead, Bucks County that J. Edward Day never connected to the family  and warrants further research.

The Christopher Day of this topic is said to have married wife Martha 4 November 1714 and then baptized two days later at Pennypack Baptist Church in northeastern Philadelphia. The church was first known as Lower Dublin Church. Portions of the church wanted Saturday as the Sabbath when Keithians [dissident Friends   sometimes called Christian Quakers] merged with Lower Dublin.  J. Edward Day commented in correspondence that Christopher was a witness to a Quaker wedding in 1722.

Using a mathematical assumption [the word we never want to use in genealogy] that places Christopher of Bucks County just coming of age at his marriage in 1714 – his birth could be about 1693.  Even this presents a problem.  According to The History of Bucks County Thomas Dungan sold 50 acres to our Christopher Day in 1708.  This is about one mile above Cross Keys where Christopher Day is buried.  Dungan was the minister at Pennypack Church.   Using the same mathematical assumption had he just become of age in 1708 he would be born about 1687.   This makes linking Christopher who dies in Bucks County, Pennsylvania in 1748 even less likely to be the son of the Day family cited in the Eston records above.

No one, to date, has been able to pinpoint Christopher Day's age when he made his will in Bucks County in 1748 [WBK 2 p 141].  If he died age 80 he would have been born about 1668. this places him as an older gentleman when he married at Pennypack.  He and Martha had six children including Nathaniel [my line] and Christopher Jr. born about 1723.

This is not the first time that erroneous material has been regenerated.  It is not the first time I have made an error.  When one makes a faux pas it is just best to get it out there and hope that this will also "regenerate" so that the questions can be answered.

Looking at Minuscule Genealogy Clues

compiled by Teresa Martin Klaiber 

March 2012

Tucked away in ornate lacquered box in my mother’s possession was a red season’s ticket to the Monarch Roller Rink.  When I discovered the ticket I immediately noted that it was assigned to “Feiler Reporter” and dated July 1885.   Two aha clues! I already knew that the box was from Portsmouth, Ohio.  But was the ticket from Portsmouth or had it traveled with “Feiler”?

I had worked diligently on my Feiler/ Feyler heritage.  Edward Leopold Feiler made his way to Hamburg from Hungry and boarded the Ship Coblenz on 10 August 1883.  The ship list calls him Leopold, a watch maker from Kenti, Galicia.  The ship sailed to Glasgow where he then boarded the ship Ethiopia and arrived 29 August 1883 in New York.

City directories usually have a lag time of six months to a year on individual listings.  Thus a person could be deceased yet show up as a resident in the same year of death.  The 1884 Indianapolis [Indiana] City Directory lists Leopold Feiler boarding at 84 S. East Street.     This is not far from Union Station and the Jewish Community.  On 29 March 1884 Feiler appeared in Marion County Circuit Court to declare an oath of allegiance.  

The next three years of Feiler’s life in America are murky.  According to his obituary published in the Portsmouth Correspondent, 29 June 1900 he migrated to America in 1884.  We know from the ship lists the newspaper clipping is incorrect by one year.  The same article says he got a position in Indianapolis and came to Portsmouth in 1889 as a help to Mr. C. Cohen.    Again erroneous information as we plow deeper into minuscule details.  While there is error in this German newspaper it was well worth my time to locate it by doing a physical search of the original microfilm.  In 2000 Jeffrey G Herbert abstracted and translated many of the death notices from this paper and after editing by Barbara K. Gargiulo it was published as Translated Abstracts of Death Notices in the Portsmouth Correspondent 1894-1908.  However they completely missed this almost column long obituary of my ancestor.  Thank goodness I follow up, when possible, with the original source material.

Tucked away in my jewelry box is a beautiful blue garnet ring inscribed 17 December 1887 E. L. F. to D. M. C.  D. M. C. is his future wife Dessie Mae Clayton.  There is no indication that she was in Indianapolis in 1887.  She became a member of Bigelow United Methodist Church in Portsmouth, Ohio in August 1885.  There are no family stories of how they met. 

 

On 26 March 1888 Edward Leopold Feiler appeared in Probate Court of Scioto County, Ohio to finalize his naturalization.  The clerk wrote his name as Feiler and then penned over the I with a Y.  With the stroke of a pen his surname became Feyler and all subsequent documentation appears to carry the surname as Feyler.  

And now I am directed back to the two clues on the Monarch Roller Rink Ticket. #1. The spelling is Feiler and #2. The date is July 1885.  When filling a chronology of an individual’s life no one wants a three year gap.  Where was Monarch Roller Rink and where was Feiler in 1885?  I searched the city directories of Indianapolis and found no listing for a roller rink of this name.  I searched for histories of Roller Rinks and yes I searched NewspaperArchives for “Monarch Roller Rink.”  And there is the minuscule computer search error that almost left my trail cold.  

I recently posted the ticket on the popular social network, Facebook on a created wall “You Know You Are From Portsmouth Ohio If?”  With 2120 active members I felt certain if this roller rink were in the area someone would know.  Chris Lewallen jumped in and after a search came back with no location found for “Monarch Rink.”  Not discouraged after several hours he pops back with a rink in Distel Hall in 1917.  When Chris wrote “Monarch Rink” I realized my error in research tactics. Shame on me!  I immediately hit the search engine again.  The Portsmouth Times at NewspaperArchives.com came back with many hits by removing the word “roller” from my search. The search term Monarch was too broad.  The earliest hit is for 5 December 1885 when the city solicitor announced that Monarch Rink had already taken out a license for the skating rink and opera house.   

My chronology now shows that Edward Leopold/Lee Feyler was in Indiana in 1884 and was in Portsmouth, Ohio in 1885.  

The same year he naturalized, 1888,  the Portsmouth Times announced that Ed Lee Feyler who had been associated with Charles Cohen accepted a position with E. Corriell.  The following year he opened his own store on West Second Street.  In 1890 Dessie and Edward Lee Feyler were married at Bigelow Church.  A son, Howard Clayton Feyler was born in September 1893.  Deeds, advertisements, and personal items fill in the years of his short life in America.  Edward Leopold Feiler/Feyler died 25 June 1900 from stomach cancer.  

From articles Feyler had an interest in bicycle racing.  But for now being a reporter at Monarch Roller Rink remains a bit of a curiosity.  Through the years the Monarch held balls, banquets even Temperance Meetings.  The 17 November 1888 Portsmouth Times describes the building as “The old barn like Monarch Rink…”  That same year they ran ads to rent the Rink to responsible parties for fairs, festivals and political meetings.  

My grandfather was just a 3 months short of his 7^th birthday when his father died.  His mother, Dessie, kept postcards that had been exchanged with a cousin and his grandfather in Europe.  Those few minuscule lines sent across the ocean from one country to another have opened doors to learn more about my European heritage and to be introduced to surviving cousins from the Holocaust.  They have led my research from Temisvar now Rumania, Budapest in Hungry,  Bielitz, Austria Silesia and even Komarom Czechoslovakia.  

To date I have not found a record of Edward practicing his Jewish faith in Indianapolis or Portsmouth.  He married, as I have mentioned at Bigelow  United Methodist.  Yet once again I find a minuscule clue  buried within the pages  of the History of Scioto County, Ohio by Evans in 1903 “…and to this day most of the members of the choir at the Temple are also members of the choir of the Bigelow M. E. Church.”

Minuscule clues open the door to wonderful genealogy and historical avenues.

Jomar

Jomar

Compiled by Teresa Martin Klaiber

March 2012

When John Geer Martin was just a little boy he told his mother he had a dream. He was going to own a big horse farm.  He housed his horses in the detached garage by his house on Waller Street in Portsmouth, Scioto County, Ohio.  He went out to Scioto fairgrounds regularly. As he grew he knew that whatever he did it must involve horses. His father sent him to Blacksburg to VPI where he studied engineering.  But he really wanted to be with his horses. 

When World War II started he was one of the first to register.  He became a cargo pilot and flew the Hump.  His daughter and this compiler have all the letters he wrote home to his mother. Among them he told her he would name his farm “Jomar” for John Martin.  He could already visualize what it would look like.  He also acknowledged that engineering was not for him and that he truly wanted to be a veterinarian.   When the war was over, he went to Ohio State University, married, dabbled in journalism and finally with a DVM degree in hand moved across the river to Kentucky.

His wife, Mary Helen Feyler had made a childhood friend with a circus that had been in Portsmouth.  By the time they married she was taking him to meet her friends.  She often joked that his dream farm Jomar stood for John and Mary not just John Martin.  And over the next few years the network of circus associations grew along with his reputation as a circus animal doctor.

In 1961 the dream became a reality.  Martin  had purchased acreage in Boyd County, Kentucky at Cannonsburg.  With the help of his dear friend Michael Polakoff, aka Coco the Clown, they cleared the land.  I remember huge stacks of brambles and sticks and fires.  One of the funny incidences was when “Uncle” Mike was sent to get a tractor just down the road.  By dusk he was nowhere to be found and the call came “Doc I am in a town called Catlettsburg and I am lost.”  He had driven that tractor all afternoon when it should have been a ten minute ride. 

Painting by John Geer Martin

As the house was being built my father ordered brass plaques for the gates he designed.  JOMAR on one side and his name on the other.  His dream became a reality.  To celebrate he invited many of his circus friends.  It must had been the first time that the circus community knew he was calling the farm JOMAR.  They were quick to ask if it was named for John Ringling North’s circus car Jomar.  The car had been named for John and Mable Ringling.  My parents, surprised were quick to tell everyone their story and agreed it was a serendipity moment to tie his loves together.  The county named the newly graveled road Jomar Road.

For a while the train car was used by Rudy Bundy and in the 1960’s my father toured the “graveyard” of circus wagons and old trains rusting and off the track in Florida. There is a short grainy film he shot showing the burning of beautiful circus wagons and the train standing abandoned in the background.

Jomar in Boyd County, Kentucky was full of laughter, horses and circus friends for many years.  Besides the wonderful saddle bred horses that we showed, several retired circus horses lived out their lives on Jomar.  Ringling boarded a beautiful stallion named Royal resplendent with his Kings Range brand.  Royal, retired from the circuit, lived out a happy life with our family.  Hanniford’s left two retired horses to pasture.  Robin who was notorious for scratching his huge back, breaking the fence, usually when my father was out of town; leaving mother to chatter away at him as he followed her back across where he belonged.  The second horse Sherry was a gentle white and my son John got the honor of taking a ride when he was small.

My husband and I were excited when an auction in the Zanesville, Ohio area advertised circus items.  Circus Fans came from all over to bid on what appeared to be mostly posters.  However, my eyes quickly found the familiar Jomar china in one lot.  I remember my husband and I wondering if Circus Fans would realize the value and history of the china but resolved we would add the items to Jomar in Kentucky.  As we began to bid I realized that the group was all looking my way.  Apparently, while I thought I was unknown, these fans knew Jomar and in honor of my parents nodded and did not bid. 

One of the items my parents did not have in the hodgepodge of china was any coffee cups.  Jennie Howerton, mother of Dr. Paul Savage, in Ashland, Kentucky matched the burgandy lettering color perfectly creating a set of six porcelain cups.  While a bit more dainty than the heavy original Jomar china it is a nice addition.

This is not genealogy but is the provenance of something that our family treasures and is as much a part of our history as our lineage.   The provenance of artifacts in history are as important as the people who utilized them.

Today Jomar in Kentucky sits quietly, in need of fence repair and laughter.  My father passed away in 1999.  My mother is still matriarch at Jomar but Alzheimers has stolen her memories. There is talk of restoration of the Ringling rail car Jomar that was in such disrepair so many years ago and its history is well documented.  

The history of Jomar in Kentucky and the legacy my parents left will continue.  My father loved many things in life including flying and journalism.  When he retired from veterinary medicine he decided to write. He wrote two war histories and two books about his life as a veterinarian.  Doc My Tiger’s Got An Itch tells a few of the many tales he had as an assistant veterinarian with Ringling and as veterinarian of many other small shows including Mills Brothers now also only a memory. So many beloved friends – human and animal. 

Our first son is named for his grandfather.   John’s wife is Marina.  Serendipity!  Jomar lives on.