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Category: Vayo

pumpkins
‘The Man Who Kept Watch Over Pumpkins’

‘The Man Who Kept Watch Over Pumpkins’

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A Hallowe’en treat from Mom, dated 1999. Best read out loud, I think: The Man Who Kept Watch Over Pumpkins He dubbed them Tweedledum and Tweedledeeand dreamed them huge as harvest moonsone he would carve into a castlethe other would be laughing Jack O’Lantern Extravaganza! he would cryinciting them to growhe knew their seed and soil were paramountwith sun and rainthey nursed inside the earthand bloomed above it Protecting them from thieves and varmintsthe old man guarded them in day…

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autumn blueberry bushes
‘Roots’

‘Roots’

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There’s something very odd about pulling up stakes and moving away. Mom had never experienced this until she and Dad married. In 1973, we moved from Fairfield, Connecticut, to Carmel, Indiana. We’d only lived in Fairfield for three years and had spent many hours tending to gardens and other landscaping, as this was a brand-new house and yard. It was so nice of our Connecticut neighbor to stay in touch, especially with the news that those stubborn blueberry plants had…

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Card to Mom from Madeleine L'Engle
Love & blessings, Madeleine L’Engle

Love & blessings, Madeleine L’Engle

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They were friends, Mom and Madeleine L’Engle. Dear friends. Sifting through the bulging folder of their correspondence, I can trace the history of their friendship. They met during the 1976 Midwest Writers Workshop, when Madeleine, author of A Wrinkle in Time, served on the conference faculty (Mom would go on to do the same a decade later). They became fast friends: She wrote, in part: I am very grateful that you were at the Writers’ Conference and that we spoke…

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Sam Bass shootout reenactment
The outlaw

The outlaw

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My latest “Your famous ancestor” listing on the Ancestry.com app nearly made me cry. Why? Because I wanted to call Dad and hear his reaction. As you may recall from The Maine man (sadly, the final story Dad and I worked on together), he reacted unexpectedly when I shared with him that his grandfather George was once accused of arson: “Oh, boy! Ever since I was I kid, I’d hoped there was a criminal somewhere in our family tree! Not…

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Meigs Point
‘Turning Pages’

‘Turning Pages’

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We haven’t had a poem from Mom in far too long! Here’s one from 1999: Turning Pages What is the driver turning toparked with his back to the sea I have been singing and turning pagesof the Christmas carols our son played for the family Before we left to sing in Indianawe met a man on Meigs Point herea former soldier carrying his coffeetelling about his happy lifehis Christmas shopping during this vacationhe had turned a page Below Meigs Point…

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1886 photo of Katahdin steamer
Death aboard the steamer Katahdin

Death aboard the steamer Katahdin

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This one’s a bit of a shocker. Earlier this week, we learned about Vedal Pooler, victim of political violence in 1904. Today’s story is about his grandfather, also named Vedal Pooler (with the same multiple variations of name spellings I griped about before). This Vedal is my great-great-great grandfather. He is Dad‘s grandmother Alice Pooler Vayo’s grandfather. He was born in Canada in 1828, give or take. Vedal immigrated to Maine with his wife, Angelina. First, they lived in the…

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1904 Pooler beaten
1904: Political violence

1904: Political violence

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It always shocks me to come upon a family story that follows our current news cycle. Maybe it shouldn’t. It’s taken me a few weeks to piece this together – and there are still some lingering questions. But here is the story of Vetal Pooler, Jr. First of all, let me share that I’ve learned from several genealogists’ tutorials recently that the spelling of names didn’t really matter until the 1930s. Shocking, I know! That knowledge, though, helps in the…

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1965 GE Family Day demonstration
GE Family Day 1965

GE Family Day 1965

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Before beginning this story, I must confess to adding an “i” to the word ordnance the first several times I came upon it at my first job. Maybe no one else at the tiny rural radio statio noticed it. The news gal liked to correct typos, after all. For the record, according to Grammarly.com: An ordinance is an authoritative order or decree, often a rule established by a governmental authority or church. It typically involves legislation or regulation and has a civic…

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Stephen Hopkins portrait, public domain
‘My hand trembles, my heart does not’

‘My hand trembles, my heart does not’

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In an email to my brothers a few days ago, I mentioned September 13 as a trifecta in our family: Before anyone accuses me of being some sort of family-history savant, I must confess the reminders come from the Ancestry app. Something else the app provides? A feature called “Your famous ancestor.” Of course, if you go back enough generations, we’re all related in one way or another. So, no big deal, right? However, this relative in particular is like…

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1981 Bob Caplinger print 3
The West Virginia Hillbilly

The West Virginia Hillbilly

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Thank you for your concern about my getting a new heart. I really am eager for them to call me up and tell me to get to the hospital right away. At the same time I am full of fear and anxiety. It is a hell of a way to live for an extended period of time. I find that the best way is to get busy reading, going to movies, or even coming down here to the fisheries and…

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