#45- Mapping the Moves of Reynier /Reynear Tyson

Reynear Tyson & Margaret Strypers
Where Did They Live?

On the 11th of Jun, 1683 (William), Penn conveyed to Govert Remke, Lenart Arets, and Jacob Issace Van Bebber one thousand acres of land each, providing  that a certain number of families should go to Pennsylvania within a specified time.  

Very soon thirteen men, with their families, comprising thirty-three persons, nearly all of whom were relatives, were ready to embark from Rotterdam for London.  Through James Claypoole, a Quaker merchant in London, passage had been engaged for them and the money paid in advance.

Krefeld, Germany

The ship "Concord" sailed from England 7 mo. 24, 1683, and arrived in Philadelphia on 10 mo. 6, 1683.  

One member of this little band was Reynier Tyson, a young man, and believed to have been unmarried.  

With his companions he settled in Germantown, and later removed to Abington. 

When in Germantown, under the Penn Charter, he was one of the Burgesses, 1692, 1693, 1694, 1696.  

Base of Founder's Statue, annotated

He was one of the signers of the certificate, issued by the Quarterly Meeting in Philadelphia, addressed to the London Yearly Meeting, which Samuel Junnings bore with him to London, 1693, concerning the Keith controversy.  

In Abington he was a large landowner and an active businessman.

In a memorial published in the "Friend," Vol, XXX., page 229, it is recorded that: 

"Reynier Tyson was born in Germany in the year 1659.  

He was convinced of the truth whilst living there, and for his faithfulness thereto suffered persecution. 

He removed to Pennsylvania a few years after William Penn first obtained the Province, and settled himself within the limits of Abington Monthly Meeting, then called Dublin. 

He continued faithful to the manifestations of truth received, and grew in the esteem of his friends to a father in the church.  In the year 1725 he was appointed an elder, and continued faithful in fulfilling the duties of the station until prevented by age and indisposition.  His friends say he was innocent and inoffensive in life and conversation, and diligent in attending his religious meetings. 

He lived, beloved and honored, to a good old age, dying on the 27th of the seventh month, 1745, aged about eighty-six years." 

----------------------------

In the drawing for lots which took place in the riverbank cave of Pastorius, Reynier Tyson drew No. 5. 

He had purchased fifty acres in the Germantown township and lot No. 5 was laid out along the east side of the Main Street of Germantown, extending southwardly from where Bringhurst Street has since been opened. It reached in front of the highway 231 feet and extended back to the township line. It contained about 18 acres, undoubtedly his first home was erected on this lot. 

To the north of him was the home of Leonard Arets, from whom he had bought, and next towards the city was the lot of Jan Lucken.

Toward his fifty acres he was also given the corresponding No. 5 of the “side lots towards Bristol,” which contained twenty-two acres, lying just north of the present Washington Lane, and extending from the present Chew Street to Stenton Avenue, which was the township line. (See Map in History of Old Germantown). 

To complete the fifty acres there were 18 ¾ acres “broad thirteen perches and twelve feet” in the side land towards Pymouth betwixt the said inhabited part and the land of Jonas Potts.

This land Tyson held by virtue of a deed of sale from Leonard Arets, a first purchaser of 250 acres. 

Tyson's Lot in Germantown, PA 

The deed was dated October 10, 1683, and acknowledged in open court in Germantown, held Eighth Month 8th 1692. These three tracts Tyson sold in 1708 to one Isaac Van Sintern of Philadelphia for one hundred pounds (Philadelphia Deed Book E 5, Vol 7, p. 78).

Reynier Tyson, as he prospered, bought other lands in Germantown.

1st: Two parcels of land adjacent one to the other being both in breadth 14 perches and four feet and in length 11 perches and fifteen feet, being bounded southeasterly with the lot once of John Streipers and now Reiner Tison, westerly with the land of the liberties of the City of Philadelphia, and northward with the lot formerly of Herman op den Graeff and eastward with the eleven acres of Dirck op den Graeff. (Bought November 20, 1692, and November 13, 1683, and sold to John Henry Kuston, April 30, 1709.)

2nd: Two other pieces: “One situated in the inhabited part of the said town, being the very first lot of the same on the west side, containing 23 1/2 acres, making both 50 acres. (Bought of the Trustees of John Streipers, Crefeld, Germany, confirmed on open court in Germantown 12th Mo. 8th, 1703/4. 

Sold April 30, 1709, to John Henry Kuston. (Philadelphia Deed Book E 5, Vol. 7. p 205, etc.)

3rd: Two tracts in Crefeld in the German township, fifty acres of which he bought of Herman op den Graeff 3rd Mo. 1684, and sixty-six acres likewise in Crefeld which he bought of Dirck op den Graeff, 9th Mo. 27th, 1683. 

These were sold to William Strepers, "Leather Dresser" for 35 pounds, January 16, 1699 (Recorded Philadelphia Deed Book G, Vol. 10, p. 301, etc.)

 Reynier Tyson Moves to Abington

On Holmes Great Map of 1684, in the section which is easily identified as the modern Abington Township, is a five hundred acre tract extending from the Cheltenham Township line to the Susquehanna Street Road and labeled “Isaac Hobbs.” 

This is roughly described as being along certain lines of marked trees 480 perches, just a mile and a half in length, and 167 perches, or a little over one-half mile in width. This was patented to Hobbs in 1684 (Patent Book A, Vol 1, p. 259) 

This tract Hobbs sold in 1699 to John Colley, a hatter of Philadelphia, and he, in the following year, sold the half of it lying next to Cheltenham Township to “Reynier Tyson of Germantown, Yeoman.” (Penna. Archives, Second Series, Vol XIX, Minute Book “G,” p. 423.)

Just when Reynier Tyson moved from Germantown to Abington is not clear. 

It was not until 1708 and 1709 that he sold his home and the considerable other property he had accumulated in the Germantown Township, and the presumption would be that he moved to Abington about that time. 

He continued to live on his Abington farm the remainder of his years. 

His family became closely identified with the social life of Abington Meeting and most of his children intermarried with the members and attenders of that Meeting.

In 1727 he and his wife Margaret conveyed the Abington farm to their son Isaac, reserving to themselves, in the quaint language of the deed, “One room, commonly called the stove room, and also the kitchen, and free ingress and egress to the rest of the rooms in the said messuage, during the remainder of their lives.” 

This home farm descended from Isaac to his son Isaac (see Partition proceedings, Orphans Court, June 11, 1770), and again to an Isaac and his sister Sarah who in 1830 sold it out of the family to Samuel Schofield. 

This land may be roughly identified as lying north of the Germantown and Willow Grove Turnpike (or the Plank Road), and extending from Cheltenham Township line on the northwest to the road leading from Jenkintown to Fritzwatertown, called in some of the deeds, Jenkintown Road, on the southwest. 

The growing village of Glenside was spread over its western portion, and old property lines have long since disappeared. The land lay gently to the south on the lower slopes of Edgehill, and is underlaid with limestone. 

The lime which was used to build the State House in Philadelphia is said to have come from the kilns on the Tyson place, whether this is some other Tyson farm in Abington is unclear. A little stream crosses it southwestwardly, flowing eventually into Frankford Creek.

In the tax list of 1734 are the following assessments in Abington Township:

John Kirk -----250 acres

Isaac Tyson---100 acres

Rynier Tyson  100 acres

John Tyson -----60 acres

Peter Tyson ----200 acres

Abraham Tyson—60 acres

In Upper Dublin, Dirick Tyson –100 acres

In Northern Liberties, Richard Tyson—100 acres

In Perkiomen & Skippack, Matthias Tyson ---200 acres

Rynear Tyson’s Will

I, Rynear Tyson, of Abington in ye County of Philadelphia in ye Province of Pennsylvania, yeoman, being tho’ the Divine Mercy in Health of Body and of sound Mind and Memory & calling to mind that is is appointed for men once to die do make this my last Will and Testament, revoking & hereby disannulling all & every will & wills, Testament & Testaments heretofore by me made & declared either by Word or Writing and this only to be taken for my Last Will & Testament and none other & touching such Temporal Estate as it has pleased God to bless me with. I do hereby order, give & dispose of ye same in manner & form following. 

That is to say: First I will that all my Just Debts & funeral Expenses be honestly paid & discharged out of my Estate by my Excr, hereinafter named. 

Then I give, devise & bequeath unto my Grandson Matthew Tyson (son of my son Matthias Tyson) the sum of six Pounds current money of Penna. to be paid unto him out of my Estate by Executors at ye end or expiration of one full year after my decease which said Six pounds shall be in full  Barr against all or any of my said son Matthias Tyson’s Heirs claiming any further right to any other part of my estate. 

My Said Son Matthias Tyson having allredy in his life received of me his full share of my Estate. 

Then I give, devise, and bequeath unto my sons John Tyson, Abraham Tyson, Derick Tyson & Peter Tyson ye sum of Six pounds current money of Penna to each of them to be paid unto each of them, their Heirs or Assigns out of my Estate by my Executor at ye End and Expiration of one full year after my decease. 

Item. I give unto my son Henry Tyson the sum of Eight pounds of like lawfull money the aforesaid which said Eight pounds is to be allowed by him to be the Eight pounds that I answered for him to Benjamin Lay. 

Item. I give unto my Daughters Elizabeth Luken and Sarah Kirk ye sum of Six pounds Lawfull money of Pennsylvania to each of them to be paid unto them or their assigns by my Executor at ye Expiration of one full year after my Decease and over and above what is above Devised I give unto my daughter Elizabeth Luken all my Dutch [Deutch?] books. 

Also my mind and will is that all goods Remaining in ye Stove Roome (except ye stove) shall be equally divided between my sons John, Abraham, Derick, Peter and Henry and my Daughters Elizabeth Lukens and Sarah Kirk. 

Share and Share alike and further it is in my mind and will that on ye receipt of the aforesaid legacies or sums by me bequeathed hereby, that all and all manner of writings that in any wise belongeth to me or that is in any wise relating to any affairs of mine being in ye hands or keeping of any of my aforesaid Children shall without delay be given and delivered up unto the hands of my Executor. 

Item. I give unto my Granddaughter Abigail Tyson my Riding hors to ye use of her and her assigns forever and my mind and will also is that what Remains of my estate over and above ye aforesaid Legacies by me here in before bequeathed that the same shall be and continue in ye hands of my Executor to be ye use of him and his Heirs and Assigns forever.

And lastly, I do hereby nominate, constitute and appoint my son Isaac Tyson to be my Executor of this my Last Will and Testament. In Witness Whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal the twenty first day of December in ye year of our Lord 1741.

Be it known y’t: it is ye mind of y testator that no more of his goods but what is in ye Stove Rooms is to be divided among ye above Legatees inserted before signing.

His

   Reynour       ✘       Tyson (seal)

Mark

Published pronounced and declared

by ye sd. Reynour Tyson

SOURCES for this post:

1 The settlement of Germantown, Pennsylvania, and the beginning of German emigration to North America by Hon Samuel Whitaker Pennypacker, LLD; Printed: William J Campbell, Philadelphia, 1899, New Era Printing Company, Lancaster, PA  (Internet Archive.org; Sept 2020)

2  Genealogy of the Shoemaker family of Cheltenham by Shoemaker, Benjamin H, 1827 Pub 1903, J. B. Lippincott, Philadelphia PA pp 13 and 14 (Internet Archive, Sep 2020). 

3 Reynear Tyson's Will: from Ancestry.com (accessed Sept 2019)

4 Descendant Information from: FamilySearch.com; Ancestry.com and Archives of Margaret B Walmer and Edwin C Tyson

Descendants of Reynear Tyson

Reynear Tyson & Margaret Streypers

Their children

Mathias 1686–1727

Isaac 1688–1766

Elizabeth 1690–1765

John¹  1692–1775

Abraham 1694–1781

Derrick 1696–1776

Sarah 1698–1780

Peter 1700–1791

Henry 1702–1738

 John Tyson¹ (1692–1775) M Priscilla Naylor (1697–1760)

Their children

Reynear Tyson 1721–1797

*John Tyson 1730–1768

Susanna Tyson

Mary Tyson

Sarah Tyson

Margaret Tyson

Elisabeth Tyson

 John Tyson² M. (1730-1768) M Hannah Cleaver (1737–1811)

Their children

*John Tyson Abt 1760 Abington, Philadelphia, PA D 1794

Rebecca Tyson 1763–

Isaac Tyson 1765–1835

 John³ Tyson 1760-1794 M Mary Kirk B Aug 1757

Their children

*John Tyson 1787–1847

Mary Tyson 1789–

Seth Tyson 1792–

Hannah Tyson 1794–1875

John⁴ Tyson 1787-1847 M. Sarah Comly 1787-1818

Their children:

John K Tyson 1813

Calvin Tyson 1811 (?)

*Edwin Comly Tyson 1809-1886

 

My 3^rdgreat grandparents

Edwin Comly Tyson 1809-1886 M Susan (Susannah) Griffith 1807-1875 

Their children:

Seth Tyson 1835-1835

Isaac Griffith Tyson 1833-1913

Rachel Griffith Tyson 1836-1874

Ruth Anna Tyson 1840-1913

*Charles John Tyson 1838-1906

Rebecca Watson Tyson 1842-1923

2nd great grandparents

Charles John Tyson  M Maria Edith Griest 1840-1927

Their children:

Edwin Comly Tyson 1864-1945 

William Cyrus Tyson 1879-1953

Mary Anna Tyson 1866-1931

*Chester Julian Tyson 1877-1938

Great Grandparents

Chester Julian Tyson 1877-1938 M Bertha Charity Hawxhurst

#42 - Trouble Making : Battle of Gettysburg and the Underground Railway in Adams County, PA

Two Stories of Trouble Making

Genealogy is boring. Walking through a field of broken headstones, or looking through old books, or at stained, black & white photos of old people is boring. Unless you knew the people, or know the stories. Personal history can be everything that a movie or play is: funny, tragic, mundane, sweet, horrific and etc.
 In 1987 my mother's sister Mardy (Margaret Tilton) recorded her mother's (double) cousin's reminisces in 1987.  Corrine was the best candidate to interview at the time as she was 10 years older than cousin (Elizabeth, Mardy's mother). Also, Corrine's father (Edwin C Tyson) was nearly 10 years older than Elizabeth's father. Not only that, he (Corrine's father) had been keeper of the family genealogy. 
I came across a transcription of the 1987 interview.
I excerpted two short stories told by Corrine (Tyson Lambert), so you'll read just a gist of the story, and neither is in perfect, fluid sentences.
The first story is of her newly-wed grandmother (Maria Edith Griest, w of Charles John Tyson) and her great uncles. 
The second is of her Maria's parents Cyrus Griest and Mary Ann Cook (Griest) who were Quaker participants in the local Underground Railroad in Adams County, PA (see map below to see how close their area was to Gettysburg).
*******
Story #1 When Trouble Came To Gettysburg 
Little Brothers Run Off to “Rescue” Their Big Sister from the Battle of Gettysburg

As told by Corrine Tyson Lambert: [Charles J Tyson’s granddaughter]:

“Grandpa (Charles Tyson) had a hand for money… He was always doing something else. He had started with a photographic studio in Gettysburg, he was there until year after the battle.

Charles John Tyson 

And they stayed, Grandpa and Grandma, stayed living and working in Gettysburg until 1869.

Then the photographic business [called Tyson Brothers] went to his apprentice William Tipton.

Around that time, he had moved from Gettysburg up to the [Quaker] Valley. And he bought…he worked for his Father-in-law [Cyrus Griest].”

Corrine: “You see when she (Maria Griest his wife) was married (1863) her two little brothers [Griest brothers] Amos [age 15] and next boy both used to play with her--well, they were worried, because she was married, and she was in Gettysburg. 

And now part of the war was between them and her [they lived north of Gettysburg].

Maria E Griest 1861 bef marrying Chas Tyson

One day they heard somebody say, “I wish we knew whether Maria was safe,” because she had just been married [and living in Gettysburg].

And so these two little boys got up early and started on foot, without telling anybody. 

They went missing. 

They got halfway [to Gettysburg] and there was a barn there (for years I saw this barn). 

It was the one where they had gone, and they slept in the hay mow, and in the morning the farmer found them and sent them home.”

S: “They were headed for the battle of Gettysburg?”

Corrine: “They were headed for the Battle of Gettysburg. They were going to find Grandma, their sister, those two little boys. One of them was Uncle Amos. He was the youngest. And the next, must have been Uncle Cyrus.”

[Their journey would have been well over 10 miles]

Story #2 Quakers Running an Underground Railway Station in north of Gettysburg

As told by descendant Corrine: 

“Cyrus [Griest], whose wife was Mary Ann Cook...

Cyrus Griest h Mary Ann Cook

Mary Ann Cook w Cyrus Griest

My grandma [Maria Griest] was their oldest daughter.

Before Grandma was married, when she was 18--that was when the slaves hid in the caves up on Yellow Hill. 

Yesterday we went up there, and drove in back of that house and up in there.

And I could see where the path is still there that they took to go up there…I knew just about where it was and I could see where the path went up. 

The slaves would hide in the caves and come down at night.”

S: “And you can remember your grandparents talking about that?”

Red = area of Griest's & Wrights' Underground RR Stations Blue=Battle of Gettysburg

Corrine: “I remember my Grandmother [Maria Griest Tyson] told me all about that. And she taught in the schoolhouse which is the second floor of the springhouse and that is still there.”

For more information see this: http://www.menallenfriends.org/

Stories Recorded & transcribed:

Participants: Corrinne Tyson Lambert (D of Edwin Tyson & Mary Hauxhurst) Margaret B. Walmer (M) (granddaughter of Chester Tyson & Bertha Hauxhurst, d Elizabeth Tyson & Chas Tilton), her son Sam Walmer (son of Margaret Tilton Walmer)

Conversation with Corinne Lambert, granddaughter of Charles Tyson & Maria Griest recorded conversation at Hill House (Flora Dale, PA); at the Tyson Family Reunion at Mapleton, near Aspers, Adams  County, PA, May, 1987

#27 - Suzanne Poulain, French immigrant

Time for me to admit to being French

One of the reasons you don’t research part of your family tree is because it might be “off-putting.” It was unavoidable, I had to face it: some of my mother’s ancestors were French.

My 9^th   great grandparents were Louis Poulain and Margueritte Daniel of Heillecourt, France.

Louis Poulain

Louis Poulain was born in 1610 in Heillecourt, Meurthe-et-Moselle, Lorraine, France. 

Heillecourt is due south of Luxembourg, not far from Germany, in the province of Nancy, France. 

Marriage

Louis Poulain married Margueritte Daniel on September 10, 1640, in Heillecourt.

Margueritte Daniel 

Louis’ wife, Margueritte Daniel,  was born in 1615 in Heillecourt, France. When she married Louis Poulain, she was 5 years younger than he.

Death: Margueritte Daniel Poulain died on September 10, 1647, in France at the age of 32.
Her daughter was about 3 at the time. I’m not sure if Louis remarried.

Daughter:

Suzanne [Susanna] Poulain – Louis Poulain & Margueritte Daniel’s daughter, my 8^th great grandmother. And yes, she was born in France.

Birth -Suzanne Poulain was born about 1644 in St Germain-en-laye, France, which is slightly NE of Paris, and a good distance from her parent's origin in Heillecourt (now part of Lorriane) in the west. 

Move to Jersey - Susanna (and likely her father or a husband) moved to Jersey, the Channel Islands. Jersey is the largest of the Channel Islands (England), located off the coast of France.

Susanna lived there before leaving for the colonies.  She may have learned English—or liked English—for Jersey was owned by the British, but likely there was a good amount of French and English spoken there. 

The Colonies & NEW Jersey- Susanna sailed to the N. American Colonies on “The Philip,” which sailed from Exeter, England, and arrived in the colonies in 1665, she was 21.

I’m assuming she was accompanied by someone. If not her father, then perhaps a husband who died en route, or after arrival.

So Susanna arrived in the New World in 1665/1666. She lived in New Jersey, (possibly with her father?) until she wed Richard Skinner. 

Records tell me her father, Louis Poulian, died in Monmouth County, New Jersey.

Susanna Poulain and Richard Skinner

Susanna wed Richard Skinner in 1666 in Elizabethtown, Union County, New Jersey (recorded by Sec of East Jersey).

To marry someone with such an English name as Richard Skinner, she likely had at least rudimentary grasp of English.

Children
Susanna Poulain and Richard Skinner had six children.
I am descended from one of their sons named Richard Skinner (to see the relationship, read the end of post).

Death - Susanna died about 1714 in New Jersey, around 70.

Jersey-New Jersey: What’s the Connection?

Is it co-incidence that she had lived on Jersey and then moved to New Jersey? Maybe, but probably not.  The Jersey historians say many people felt New Jersey was suitable place to migrate to.

There was relationship between the Island and the US state of New Jersey which has its roots in the English Civil War.

During that time, King Charles II took refuge in Jersey, as exiled King of England (remember Cromwell?).

The Island of Jersey's loyalty was rewarded when he gave some land in the Americas to Sir George Carteret of Jersey. Subsequently, Sir George Carteret named that part of the colonies “New Jersey.”

Where do the French fit into my mother’s tree? 

  How the French Poulains enter the tree:

Susanna Poulain—Richard Skinner

their son: Richard Skinner M Sarah Moore

....their daughter: Rachel Skinner M  Benjamin .......Webster

.....their son: Joseph Webster M Rebecca Kester

......their daughter: Ruth Webster M William ............Griffith

........their daughter: Susannah Griffith M

.......................Edwin Comly Tyson

           All of their children:

~Isaac Griffith Tyson 1833 – 1913

~Rachel Griffith Tyson 1836 – 1874

~Charles John Tyson 1838 – 1906

~Ruth Anna Tyson 1840 – 1913

~Rebecca Webster Tyson 1842 – 1923

#18 -A Grandson’s Memories, Guest Blogger Billy Recalls Bertha Hawxhurst Tyson

A  Grandson's Memories of Bertha Hawxhurst Tyson

These are memories of my great grandmother Bertha Hawxhurst of Old Westbury,  Long Island who married Chester Tyson of Adams County, PA  as told by my uncle, her grandson. He was a young boy when he went to live in Adams County (my mother is older than he). 

Bertha Hauxhurst as a young woman

Bertha (nearing 70) and Elizabeth at Crestmont c 1950

Thank you, Bill (or Billy) for “guest-blogging” for me:

Guest Blogger Billy & Bertha Hauxhurst Tyson (in her late 60s) behind him

 

A Grandson’s Memories - Guest Blogger Recalls Bertha Hawxhurst Tyson

My maternal grandmother [Bertha Hauxhurst, wife of Chester Tyson] may have raised twelve kids, but she was not known for her nurturing attitude; at least by the time I came along. 

World War 2 Living Situation

Bertha was living in half of (her son’s) my Uncle Don’s quaint house as far back as I can remember, which would probably take us back to World War II. [Bertha's husband Chester Tyson died in 1938, prior to the start of WW 2.]

Uncle Don [Tyson b 1902, eldest child] had a very old place that was half log and half stone.  Bertha lived in the log half. They shared the stairway and the bathroom, which was upstairs, but Gram had her own small kitchen.  Their water came from a spring that was about 200 feet up the road past the barn, and everyone enjoyed the watercress that grew in there.  Unfortunately, this also meant that water pressure was pretty poor in the house, and even worse in the barn.

Transportation

Did she drive a car? I might remember her driving a car, but by the time I really got to know her she no longer did that.  If I recall accurately, she owned the blue Studebaker which was at Don’s house, and it would have been one of their earliest post-war models. The Studebaker was the kind of style we joked about: the sort which you couldn’t tell the front from the back.    

Studebaker c 1950

  

  Staying With "Gram" at Don's

Don Tyson’s farm comprised 80 acres, I was told, and it adjoined Uncle Ralph’s huge fruit farm [Don’s brother & another son, Ralph Tyson, b. 1914] at the top of the hill behind the house.   

Up there along a woods on the property line Bertha would gather wild strawberries for her cereal, and sometimes she walked all the way up to Ralph’s that way.  The alternative route to Ralph’s was the highway on Pennsylvania Route 34, which ran up through Idaville and passed Ralph’s fruit stand right at the Adams County line.  

When my mother’s uncle Ned [Edwin Tyson, brother to her father, Chester Tyson] became visibly ready to die it was decided I should spend some time at Uncle Don’s. In those days my cousin Ken Tyson (b. 1933) was my favorite playmate, and Aunt Irene (Kenyon, Don Tyson’s wife) was a favorite too. 

I was about seven years old. [Edwin Comly Tyson was b 28 Aug 1864, Gettysburg PA. He died 21 Nov 1945. “Ned” married Bertha’s elder sister, Mary W Hawxhurst, prior to Bertha marrying Ned’s brother, Chester Tyson. Guest blogger was seven years old.]

So, I actually stayed with Bertha. Gram [Bertha] had a double bed while cousins Ken and Jim could barely squeeze into their tiny room with its bunk beds. 

It must have been winter as Bertha would send me to bed before she went up, with instructions to heat up the bed.  It was frigid as the heating system did not directly heat any of the bedrooms, and I have never forgotten those miserable long minutes until my own heat started to make the bed bearable.  The window was usually open anyway, held up by a notched apple crate slat, since there were no sash weights to counterbalance it.   

That was OK because you could hear not only the trucks laboring up Route 34 from Idaville, but the crashing stream that fell through a jumble of rocks less than fifty feet from the house. [As mentioned, Ned died at the end of November]

Not Quite Keeping Up With Gram

One day during my stay there Gram [Bertha] decided we would walk up to Uncle Ralph’s, but not over the hill and down to his barn.  Instead, she decided to go up the highway, perhaps to check the mailbox at the end of Don’s long lane. 

It must be a quarter of a mile from the house to the highway, and the last part is up a steep hill.  I got to the highway, but when she started up along the edge of the highway toward Ralph’s, I began falling behind. 

Once in a while she would turn around and shout, “Come on, Billy!” but she never broke her stride, and she got smaller and smaller as the gap between us widened.  

 For some reason that has always stuck with me, Gram [Bertha] knew I could do it and did not have any patience for a laggard, even for a little pre-schooler.  Being on the highway was not a big deal, except for the occasional truck.  Gas rationing ensured that there weren’t many cars on the road.

[Note: in 1945, the year Ned died, Bertha was 64 years old.]

Gram and Chester

One day while she was fixing lunch I asked Gram why she had so many children.  She replied, “I guess Grandpa just liked children.”  It was many years before I figured out what Grandpa really liked.  

Bertha & some Tysons c 1948 (circle around Bertha)

I never met [grandfather, Bertha’s husband] Chester J. Tyson because he died in June of 1938, one month before I was born.  But I was aware of his importance in the community.  

I often explored people’s property in the countryside where we lived, and people inevitably asked me who I was.  I soon learned to say I was CJ Tyson’s grandson, which got me instant recognition and approval nearly everywhere north of Gettysburg.  I was very proud of that.

Chester J Tyson c 1912

  Gram's Cooking (or Not)

Gram [Bertha] was not a very good cook, at least during the time I knew her.  I believe my mother said she was of that opinion also.  When Bertha was a young mother, she always had an American Indian girl from the Indian school at Carlisle Barracks as a maid and cook.  

 And when my mother [who was the eldest daughter] got old enough, she was pressed into service to help with the cooking, cleaning, and raising of all those little brothers. 

Her sister Margaret probably was too young to be much help [Margaret was 2 years younger, and the next in line].   

Gram did bake shoo-fly pie, but I didn’t care for it much.  I don’t know now whether it was just her version, or if I just didn’t care for that kind of pie.

Shoo-Fly Pie, if you don't know what it contains

 

 Gram's Quilts

At that time Bertha had a huge project that went on for many years.  She made quilts on a large wooden quilting frame in her living room.  She made them for all of her children [12] and all of her grandchildren (yes, I still have mine). 

She used to stand for hours over that work, with a thimble and thread, and a little electric lamp that sat on the quilt next to where she was working. 

Later Don got her a television to keep her company, but I think she went right on making quilts.  Most of the designs were cross-stitched through cotton batting.  And that’s all I know about that.

 Gram, the Non-Interfering Mother-in-law

Gram was not one to interfere with [her son] Uncle Don’s family.  Apparently she knew that the mother in law can be a real problem, so she seemed to pretty much keep to her side of the house except when invited to participate in something.   

Their back door was into a small vestibule, with Irene’s kitchen to the left and Gram’s to the left.  I think there was a refrigerator in the vestibule. 

One time a truck load of whiskey overturned on the curve in Gardners, PA.  Uncle Don was an apple buyer for Musselman’s and happened to be in the vicinity, so he went over to see if he could help.   

State troopers were smashing bottles from the cases that had burst open, and gallons of whiskey were flowing down the ditches. 

Uncle Don did what any civic-minded citizen would do in those circumstances and removed a few bottles for safe-keeping so that the troopers would not have as many to smash. 

Gram made the comment to Irene that she thought there might be some liquor in the house, but that it was none of her business.

 Gram Enjoys Traveling & Chris-Craft Spotting

In 1949 my mother bought a new car to replace the tiring 1938 Buick we had driven since her accident in the winter of 1943.  It was a brown Plymouth station wagon (Suburban). One of the reasons she wanted it was to have a reliable car to drive to my sister Ann’s graduation from Rhode Island School of Design, in Providence, RI. 

Naturally we took Gram along, but not my sister Mardy [Margaret].  I’m not sure why; I don’t think she was yet married. She was still at Penn State.  Gram was a good traveling buddy. 

At the time I was engaged in counting every new fish-tail Cadillac on the road, they had introduced their new tail fins by then.  

Then when we got to Rhode Island we saw boats everywhere.  My life’s dream was to have us own a Chris-Craft [brand name], a very popular brand of upscale cabin cruisers and inboard runabouts.  

I had their catalog and knew every current model on sight.  From that trip onward,  whenever Gram would see a small boat in my presence she would say, “Look, a Chris-Craft!”  She was a good spotter, and this was fun when we four went out on Cape Cod all the way to Provincetown. 

But, when I was in my twenties it became a little tiring.

Chris-Craft ad 1951

 Gram's Lye Soap

There used to be a funny song about “Grandma’s Lye Soap.”  It was no joke to us. 

About once a year, probably after someone had butchered a hog, Gram [Bertha] would come spend an afternoon making soap.  She used a full lard can, but that’s the only ingredient I remember.  There must have been some pumice in it, too, and of course the lye.  

She did all the heating and stirring out on our back porch, behind the kitchen, and when she was done there were big pans of white soap sitting around to harden.  The type of vessel I remember was the kind of white porcelain pan you used to wash babies in (I guess you could wash dishes in them, too, but we didn’t.) 

After a few days someone took a large kitchen knife and cut that hardened soap into cubes of three to four inches on a side, and we used those for hand soap and bathing.  It worked really well, and just smelled of soap—no perfume in it.  According to the song, lyesoap was really harsh, but I don’t recall that it was. 

[Billy, I found the lyrics to Grandma's Lye Soap:

GRANDMA'S LYE SOAP

Do you remember Grandma’s Lye Soap,
Good for everything in the home,
And the secret was in the scrubbing,
It wouldn’t suds, and wouldn’t foam,
Chorus:
Oh, let us sing right out, sing out!
For Grandma’s Lye Soap,
Sing it out, all over the place!
For pots and pans, and dirty dishes,
And for your hands,
And for your face!
v.2
Little Therman, and Brother Herman,
Had an aversion to washing their ears

Grandma scrubbed them with her lye soap,
And they haven’t heard a word in years!
Chorus
v.3
Mrs. O’Malley, out in the valley,
Suffered from ulcers, I understand,
She swallowed a cake of Grandma’s Lye Soap,
Has the cleanest ulcers in the land!
Chorus

Gram, Later On

My only memorable encounter with Gram [Bertha] when I was in senior high school was when I was sent to Harrisburg, PA to pick her up at the train station, which at that time was the Pennsylvania Railroad--the same station where they were known to have held up passenger trains so that her husband, CJ Tyson, could get aboard.  (As told to me by my mother).  

I took my girlfriend along and we did meet Gram in the station. My recollection was that she was somewhat grumpy and did not seem overly impressed by my companion.  There was something about who would ride in the front seat and who would ride in back, but at this point I can’t remember how that worked out. 

Then I went off to college and didn’t see Gram until the summer before my final quarter before I graduated.  

Then in 1960, my parents had returned from being in Italy and were then stationed in Wichita Falls, Texas, at Sheppard Air Force Base.   

And Gram [Bertha] had gone to live with them, something my mother had sought for a long time. 

I had a summer job as a laborer for a plumbing contractor who was laying new sewer and water pipe in various new communities there in Texas.  I would come home from work pretty beat from the sun and the work, but Gram was always there to liven things up.  

My father bought their first TV that summer, so they could watch the political conventions, which used to be very interesting. 

Gram and I enjoyed discussions about most anything, but she mostly talked about the distant past. [In the 1950s Presidential Conventions were first televised for both parties, but it was not till 1960 that the Presidential Conventions were widely viewed. In 1960, Bertha was 79 years old].

Gram's Final Years

I suppose she was in the early stages of dementia, which in those days was known as “hardening of the arteries.”   

Recent events were much harder for her to recall, of course.  During that period Gram read every issue of the Gettysburg Times, and I think she read every word, including the ads.  But, of course she started with the obituaries, and would regale my mother with accounts of who had died and what she remembered about them.  Unfortunately, she liked to read out every item that interested her, but my mother tolerated it pretty well.

The last time I saw Gram [Bertha] was at Sheppard-Pratt Nursing Home in Baltimore, and she was to the point that the high point of her day was tossing bean bags with fellow residents.  

Unfortunately, the day we visited she recognized me right away.  This was nice for me, but hard for my mother to take because Gram did not seem to know who she was that day.  But we all knew that is the nature of dementia.

Gram [Bertha] was very proud of her Hawxhurst/Hicks heritage, and often mentioned her childhood.  She also often mentioned Aunt Mary [Hauxhurst], Uncle Ned’s wife, who was her sister.   

I think her loss was quite a blow to Gram, but by the time I met Uncle Ned, Aunt Mary was long gone. The house did have memories of her, including old appliances and devices, like an ice box and clothes mangle, that had been hers.

[Mary Willis Hawxhurst  was b. 1862 in Old Westbury. and died in 1941, only 3 years before her husband died. The guest blogger was only 3 years old when Mary died.]

Ned Tyson (husband's brother) & his wife, Mary (also Bertha's sister)