Genealogy & Family Stories

[andyfox]

Awesome idea for a thread, and an awesome thread.

[Borodog]

Another story about the afore-mentioned grandfather.

My grandfather was named Hilfort Craft Owen. The story goes that when he was born, there were two aunts squabbling over what the child's middle name was to be, Aunt Hill and Aunte Forte (indeed, two old family names). Story goes that my great-grandather settled this in anti-Solomon-like fashion by cleaving the two names together to make Hillfort his first name, and using another old family name, Craft, for the middle name.

My grandfather hated that name his entire life. He went by various names instead, such as Bubba as a child, John, and Ted, after Ted Lewis the famous saxophone player, after going to the Naval Academy. He earned this name because he played a mean jazz saxophone (not to mention clarinet, any stringed instrument, or any instrument at all for that matter; he had perfect pitch and was a natural musician; he could play any instrument after only a little practice). He also went to the Naval Academy when he was 2 years underage, by using his stillborn brother's birth certificate (as I understand it he celebrated that stillborn brother's birthday as his own for the rest of his life, and it is indeed the date on his head stone at Arlington National Cemetary; I told you, I have a million stories).

In any event, my grandfather has this very unusual name. Every few months I google on his name, since new old material always seems to be making its way onto the web. For the longest time, the only hits that would come up were for the ship that he commanded during WWII, and a brief mention in a document about the Naval Research Laboratory. That ship, by the way, was the USS Unimak:



But that isn't the point of this story.

Anyway, in 2001 a new hit suddenly appeared on google, for something called "Timeless Records." I clicked on it, and found a web page for a CD entitled Jazz Is Where You Find It 1924-1930: The Extremely Rare and Unknown Bands.

Mystified, I searched on the page and discovered that my grandfather had played on 2 of the tracks with the "U.S. Naval Academy Ten"! The two songs are called "Navy Girl" and "My Dream Ship."

Needless to say, I was incredibly excited. To our knowledge, there were no known recordings of my grandfather playing. This was an unbelievable find. I phoned my Aunt Rita (his daughter, the genealogist, you'll recall) and told her the news. She couldn't believe it either, but it was late at night and she had to go to bed. She said she'd look for it in the morning.

The next day I got a perplexed phone call. Rita couldn't find the web page. Odd. I went back to google and typed in my grandfather's name and . . . nothing. It was gone. WTF?!?

Now, I knew the page was there, and in fact recalled that I had already bookmarked it. So I went to the bookmark, and there it was. And as soon as I saw it, it LEAPED off the screen at me why Rita couldn't find it and nor could I the second time:

Hilford C. Owen

His name was spelled wrong in the credits. Which means . . . the only reason I found it at all is that I accidentally typoed my grandfather's name in exactly the right way to find it! [img]/images/graemlins/shocked.gif[/img]

I called up Rita and explained what had happened, and she indeed found it. It was only then, in looking more carefully at the page that I realized that not only did my grandfather play on the two songs he actually WROTE one of them, "My Dream Ship." Furthermore, the front cover of the CD, in the upper left corner, has an image of one of the original labels from one of the original records on the disc; you guessed it: "My Dream Ship", (H.C. Owen) U.S. Naval Academy Ten. [img]/images/graemlins/shocked.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/shocked.gif[/img]


We ended up ordering a [censored] load of copies of the CD (which involved more story because we thought it was out of print; I talked to the guy who owns the original 78s and did the audio restoration, a cool guy who lives in England who ended up personally mailing me copies and refused payment; later we found out the disk was not out of print, and he still refused payment).

When we got the CDs on the inside we discovered there was a photo of the band in the liner notes, including my grandfather of course. This was a completely unknown photo to us.



My grandfather is on the front row, second from our right.

Some of the members of the USNAT went on to become rather famous, including trumpetman Oliver F. Naquin, who commanded the infamous Squalus (a submarine that sank with all hands, but was the first sub from which the crew was rescued by the new rescue bell technology; she was recovered and recommissioned as the Sailfish). He was also embroiled in the even more infamous USS Indianapolis incident; he was the officer in charge of the routing instructions to the Indy's captain, Capt. McVay, who was courtsmarshalled (scapegoated) for the incident and later committed suicide:

"There was also information withheld from McVay's defense counsel. It involved the testimony of a Captain Oliver Naquin who had been in charge of the routing instructions for the Indianapolis from Guam to Leyte. When asked about the risk of enemy submarine activity in the ship's path, Naquin replied "it was a low order" and "the risk was very slight." Being responsible for sending the Indianapolis across the Philippine Sea without a destroyer escort, Naquin's response served him well. Later it was learned that Naquin was aware of the submarines in McVay's path, had not told McVay and denied McVay's request for a destroyer escort."

If someone has a place where I can host mp3s without too much hassle, I will post the song my gandfather wrote and played on. It's in the public domain, so there are no copyright issues. Or PM me and I'll just email you a copy to host. I would appreciate it.

[Zeno]

[ QUOTE ]
My great great great grandfather killed General Canby in 1873. He was hung and beheaded. His head/skull was put on display in the Smithsonian museum.

Joe

[/ QUOTE ]


Captian Jack of the Modoc tribe of Northern California killed General Canby in 1873. He was put on trail and hung on October 3, 1873 for this crime. Jack's body was embaled and taken to Washington DC and may have for a time been part of a sideshow. Eventually the remains were taken to the museum of the Surgeon General's office in Washington, reduced to a skeleton, and for many years displayed as a specimen of Indian anatomy. The above information is from The Modocs and Their War by Kieth L. Murray p 300- 305. Whether his skeleton is now in the possession of the Simthsonian is unknown to me.

There is no mention of Captain Jack being beheaded or the three other convicted Modocs that were hung with him (Boston Charley, John Schonchin, and Black Jim).

The Modoc tribe was exiled to Oklahoma until 1909 then allowed to return to the Klamath Indian Reservation in Oregon, which some did.

It is interesting to visit the battlefield(s) around Tule Lake, California (also where many Japanese were interned during WWII) where much of the Modoc war took place, which I have done numerous times. It has changed little since the 1870's except that the lake level has gone down. Rock fortifications in the lava beds from the war still exist.

-Zeno

[bernie]

I'm related to a pirate that took over Barbados and a witch that was burned at the stake.

b

[kidcolin]

Nothing of major interest. My family name is disconnected from my blood line. My Dad's grandmother had some sons with one man, whose last name is now mine. However, he died (or maybe divorced.. I think died,though), and she started shacking up with a fellow named Cox. She got pregnant with my grandfather and gave birth before she got remarried. He kept her original married name, rather than Cox or her maiden name.

Apparently ancestors on my mother's side were the first settlers of Dighton, MA, and we also have a commander of the USS Constitution somewhere in the family. That's about it.

[Zeno]

Vicious Norse/Viking blood seethes through my veins. I am very proud of all the butchery, slaughter, pillaging, and general marauding mayhem all my remote ancestors perpetrated on the parasitic and insidious Christians in Ireland and England all the way to the far reaches of Eastern Europe even to Kiev. They were also traders and trafficked in everything from hides and exotic silks to human slavery. Bully for them. Of course once the Norseman/Vikings became Christianized they degenerated into loathsome settled citizens and haven’t accomplished anything worthy since those fun days of old. Of such bloodthirsty stock I am derived. Recent relatives bolted from Norway for America in 1890 where they stomped though Ellis Island cutting a swath of ignorance and degenerate mayhem that reverberates to this day.

My father possesses a family portrait of my Norwegian born great grandfather and great grandmother (taken in 1903) and their brood of eleven children, all good looking, cocky, and ready to engage in any thuggish behavior necessary to further their family schemes of wealth, success, and honor. This leads directly to me - The full embodiment of all that is vile, diseased, and evil in the human soul.

-Doppelgänger

[TheProbst]

I am related to Martin Luther, the CEO (former as of two days ago) of EA and the host of survivor.

[7ontheline]

One other story in addition to my royal blood (bow down, peons!): my maternal great-grandfather, who was a government official in the old pre-communist Chinese regime, fled to Taiwan after the People's Revolution. Apparently he was on the very last plane allowed out to Taiwan before flights got shut down. I'm sure you can all guess what happened to government officials who got left behind.

[Evan]

[ QUOTE ]
No stories handed down generation to generation? Quite a famous guy.

[/ QUOTE ]
None that I know of, sorry.

[Josem]

my paternal grandfather lost eleven brothers and sisters in the holocaust.

my maternal grandfather served in the german navy.


all 4 of my grandparents migrated to australia in the early 1950s; both couples had two kids, and the two kids became my parents and produced me.


a wonderful story of australian multiculturalism and integration.