Slice of history - Altamont Church Service Announcements

I found the following newspaper article while searching for genealogical records:

Guilderland

FEDERATED CHURCH NOTES

Rev. G. H. Pettlngell, pastor.

Sunday, July 22nd:

Church school will be held at 10 o'clock.

Morning worship at 11 o'clock. The pastor will speak on "The Stream That Never Dries Up."

Christian Endeavor will be held at 7 o'clock. Reports on the State Christian Endeavor convention will be given by Edyth E. Pettingell and Glendora Ebert, who attended as delegates.

- Originally published in The Enterprise, Altamont, N.Y., Friday, July 20, 1934.

Bonus! Immediately after that, in the Community Notes section:

The following girls held a picnic at Magill's farm Tuesday night: Eleanor Wood, Edyth Pettingell, Eleanor Vetter, Janet Hadley, Bertha and La-Vaughn Schaadt.

Source URL: http://historicnewspapers.guilpl.org/altamont-enterprise-1933-june-1935-april/altamont-enterprise-1933-june-1935-april%20-%200678.pdf

Double Bonus! Another church services announcement:

Guilderland

FEDERATED CHURCH NOTES

Rev. G. H. Pettingell, pastor.

Sunday, October 31st:

Church school at 10 a. m. There will be a special temperance program in observance of world temperance Sunday in addition to the usual study period.

Throughout the Presbyterian church today is the hundredth anniversary of the Board of Foreign Missions. A special program will be given at the hour of the morning worship, 11 a. m.

Christian Endeavor at 6:30 led by Miss Edyth E. Pettingell. It was the privilege of a large group of young people to attend the youth's meeting last Sunday afternoon and of others during other days of the week. The though (sic) of the service will center about "Impressions of the Preaching Mission."

All these services will be held in the Presbyterian church.

- Originally published in The Enterprise, Altamont, N.Y., Friday, October 29, 1937.

Source URL: http://historicnewspapers.guilpl.org/altamont-enterprise-1937-march-1938-october/altamont-enterprise-1937-march-1938-october%20-%200435.pdf

Notes: the Rev. G. H. Pettingell mentioned in the article is almost certainly Rev. George Henry Pettingell. Edyth Pettingell is either his wife or his daughter (both had the same first name). I think the latter is more likely in the Community Notes section, based on the content of the article ("The following girls..."). The other references to Edyth are in the context of Christian Endeavor, which seems to be a youth organization. So, I think it's likely that those references are also made at the daughter (who would have been 19 and 22 at the time, respectively). Finally, in the latter service announcement, Edyth is referred to as "Miss" and not "Mrs.".

[Originally posted on my personal blog]

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

I found one more church services announcement that I wanted to share. Round Lake was at one point in time a Methodist camp, but I don't remember hearing about a graduate school there.

Guilderland

FEDERATED CHURCH NOTES

Rev. G. H. Pettingell, pastor.

Sunday, July 17th:

Church school at 10 a. m. under the direction of Milton Wingate and Mrs. Cylde Pangburn, superintendents.

Morning worship at 11 a. m. with the administration of the sacrement of the Lord's supper. All members are urged to be present.

A goodly number enjoyed the annual church and Sunday school picnic at Central Park last Saturday.

Rev. G. H. Pettingell is attending the graduate school of theology at Round Lake.

A food sale and ice cream social will be held on the Magill lawn, Saturday, July 23, commencing at 2 p. m.

- Originally published in The Enterprise, Altamont, N. Y., Friday, July 15, 1938.

Source URL: http://historicnewspapers.guilpl.org/altamont-enterprise-1937-march-1938-october/altamont-enterprise-1937-march-1938-october%20-%200982.pdf

[Originally posted on my personal blog]

Slice of History - Obituary of Blanche Sifritt Hedges

I came across this obituary in a copy of The Richwood Gazette (out of Ohio).

Mrs. Blanche Hedges

Funeral services were held Wednesday in Green Camp United Methodist Church with Rev. James Spears of Columbus officiating, for Mrs. Blanche Hedges, 85, of Indian Trail Mobile Home Park, Marion. Burial was in Prospect Cemetery.

Mrs. Hedges passed away Saturday evening, July 20 in Marion General Hospital, after an illness of three weeks. She was originally from the Green camp (sic) area.

Her husband, William Ray Hedges, preceded her in death in 1954.

Surviving are eight children, Mrs. Helen Davis of Cardington, Mrs. Vena Schertzer of Ada, Mrs. Mildred Burley and Mrs. Marilyn Rasey, both of Prospect, Mrs. Dorothy Eberts of Evanston, Ill., Dwight of Green Camp, Lowell of Prospect and Kenneth of Marion. 26 grandchildren and 33 great-grandchildren also survive.

The family's favorite charity is the Gideon Bible Society. All arrangements were in charge of Deming-Thomas Mortuary, Marion.

- Originally published in The Richwood Gazette, Thursday, July 25, 1974, Page 2

Also, on the same page, I found this little bit of filler:

Ten thousand acres of soybeans are needed to produce the enamels used in one million American automobiles.

Talk about a slice of history.

[Originally posted on my personal blog]

Beautiful Interments: Babcocks in Ballston Spa Village Cemetery

Ballston Spa Village Cemetery is a wonderfully large and beautiful cemetery. Horton Field (one of the old sections) is particularly beautiful. Obelisks abound, and there are even several sarcophagi. A few interments caught my eye:

Rev. Theodore and Elizabeth Wash Babcock: a pair of sarcophagi, adorned with what looks like a Templar cross. (There's also a reference here to another Babcock being a member of the Knights Templar).

Rev. Deodatus and May Babcock: perhaps the most ornate gravestone I've seen. The inscription is sheltered by a house-like overhang, and above it sit a trefoil and a sun cross (well, whatever the Christian term for a sun cross inspired crucifix is). The writing is ornate; so much so that it's difficult to make out May's maiden or middle name.

Old Stories - "A Young Girl's Muscle"

I've noticed quite a few interesting snippets in old newspapers as I read through them. Here's one that caught my eye, initially because the protagonist bears the same name as an ancestor (the age is off, though; she would have been 15 at the time of this piece). As I read through it, I knew I wanted to conserve it.

A Young Lady's Muscle

She Knocks A Man Down For Wanting A Kiss

Miss Minnie Ratz, while walking in the suburbs of Pottsville a few evenings ago, was followed for some distance by a middle aged man much to her annoyance. Miss Ratz endured the fellow's impertinence as long as her indignation would allow and then she turned towards him and asked what he wanted. He replied that he was struck with her beauty and would give the world if it was his for a single kiss. She replied that such a little favor as that was hardly worth paying for after walking so far after it and bade him come and get it, without money and without price. He advanced to take the coveted prize.

Now, Miss Ratz is a young lady about 22 years of age and is not only a girl of prepossessing appearance, but one of extraordinary strength. She is as brave, too, as she is strong. As the man approached her she squared off and gave him a regular Sullivan blow between the eyes, knocking him down. She then hurriedly picked up a stick and commenced operations on his head and before the fellow could recover himself the claret was flowing pretty freely from his nose and his head was in anything but a lovely condition. When the importunate suitor got up he wanted for no explanation but took to his heels at once. The man was an entire stranger to the girl.

-- Originally published in The Agitator: Wellsboro, PA., Tuesday, July 7, 1885, Page 7

Gwraig said it best: "Good for her."

Note: none of the punctuation survived into the graphic I was reading. Whether this was the effect of time or scanning, or both, I don't know. In any case, it was gone, so I made my best guess as to the intended punctuation. There may have been an m-dash or two in there, especially right before "without money", but I chose to use a comma instead.

[Originally posted on my personal blog]

Lonely Grave: Walter Cleveland, Sr.

I was walking through Ballston Spa Village Cemetery today, attempting to locate old gravestones to fulfill photo requests for members of Find a Grave, when I came across a burial with no stone at all, just a worn marker from a funeral home.

I put up a memorial on Find a Grave, and found his SSDI record (which allowed me to fill in additional records). I haven't yet been able to find his obituary, if one was even written. I promised him that I'd at least put this up, so that when someone does eventually come looking for him, they'd have half a chance at finding him. Maybe some day he'll even get a full marker.

He's interred next to a young girl, Rebecca Elizabeth Curley (1984-1997), not too far away from the Pettit/Bunyan circle (near the fence).