So, today I am putting out a call for questions regarding bliauts, handout requests (a few are available online, but I have to mail or fileshare the rest), etc.
If anyone needs or wants copies of my handouts (these are the same ones from KWCS a few years back), pleasego download from Lulu.com (free, may ask you to register) or convince me to post them at Scribd (I have an account and have not yet posted anything). If you have the handouts and want to pick my brains for stuff not in them, please ask!
Direct links to the lulu.com pages:
Introduction to 12th century Western European Clothing for Women and Men
Serpentine Braids or Straight as a Scabbard: Women's Court Hairdressing in 12th Century Europe
I have a couple more that are not yet online, and one that is a handout version of the Adventures In Dagging project, done for a workshop. I will hunt those up and mail out copies on request.
I am also considering reworking my old "bliaut handout" into a more updated version, with the cheats (shortcuts in girdle making, mostly) as a separate section. Any interest?
I am duplicating this post over at my livejournal, so if you subscribe to it as well as read here, ask in one place or I might get confused ;)
Showing posts with label history. Show all posts
Showing posts with label history. Show all posts
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Monday, June 28, 2010
Frankenblogging Part 2: On facings in Medieval costume
Author's note: The Frankenblogging feature is a republication of older content from my former personal webpage, with some annotations. It occurs every Monday morning.
I wrote this a decade or so ago, originally for a post to a discussion list, later re-written for my old website. This is installment 2 of the bits and bobs coming over here from over there.
On facings
First, for clarity and beacuse the two are often confused:
In modern clothing the facing is often only attached at the garment edge (collar, cuff, placket, hem, etc) and is left to hang loose inside the garment. These loose facings are often interfaced to keep them from crumpling, flopping, or slipping out of the garment edge. Which they always do anyway. Personally, I hate these and I sew them down invisibly inside my garments.
In some eras of period costume, facings are used as a decorative motif, and are often embroidered. They serve a dual purpose, in that they are both a finishing technique (practical) and a form of ornament (decorative). Where facings are used as a decoration, additional fabric bands may also be applied to continue the ornamental theme across the garment. I do 12thc, and therfore I make use of this decorative technique, and I find that I almost never have to interface my applied facings, *unless* it is a fine or unstable fabric.
On fastening keyhole necklines
I have often been asked how one should fasten a keyhole neckline. The simple, documentably period answer? A brooch.
Author's note: Small brooches are also really useful on regular clothing as well as medieval period clothing. They are also a really nice fashion detail. Every time I've worn a period-costume jewellry item with my everyday clothes, I've been complimented on it.
Medium-sized annular (unbroken ring) brooches with a hook catch on the back to anchor the pin seem to work well, as well as simpler ring- or disc-brooches. It takes a bit of practice to use a pen-annular (broken
ring) brooch to close the corners of a keyhole neckline, but it can be done.
You only need to close up a keyhole neckline if it's cold enough to, or if decency calls for it. If the corners of the neckline like to fly open and you don't want adventurous people looking down the inside of your tunic, pin them together. If you don't want to have to pin them, apply a trim or decorative facing that is fairly stiff.
This type of neck-finish was fashionable in various areas for hundreds of years. Generally speaking, the period way will turn out to be the most practical way, IME. If you are curious about exactly what is right for your persona, look at illuminations and period art for help.
I wrote this a decade or so ago, originally for a post to a discussion list, later re-written for my old website. This is installment 2 of the bits and bobs coming over here from over there.
On facings
First, for clarity and beacuse the two are often confused:
- Interfacing: A supplemetary layer of fabric, normally placed between the fashion fabric and the lining, or between the fashion fabric and the facing. It is intended to help stiffen or strengthen the fashion garment. In fully lined garments (such as jackets), all stress points may be interfaced, sometimes severaly layers deep, to help the garment keep its designed shape.
- Facing: A shaped piece of fabric intended to finish a garment edge, often cut as an abbreviated version of the garment piece it matches. This is seamed along the garment edge, turned and either finished and left loose inside, or sometimes sewn down either inside or outside, depending on the design of the garment.
In modern clothing the facing is often only attached at the garment edge (collar, cuff, placket, hem, etc) and is left to hang loose inside the garment. These loose facings are often interfaced to keep them from crumpling, flopping, or slipping out of the garment edge. Which they always do anyway. Personally, I hate these and I sew them down invisibly inside my garments.
In some eras of period costume, facings are used as a decorative motif, and are often embroidered. They serve a dual purpose, in that they are both a finishing technique (practical) and a form of ornament (decorative). Where facings are used as a decoration, additional fabric bands may also be applied to continue the ornamental theme across the garment. I do 12thc, and therfore I make use of this decorative technique, and I find that I almost never have to interface my applied facings, *unless* it is a fine or unstable fabric.
On fastening keyhole necklines
I have often been asked how one should fasten a keyhole neckline. The simple, documentably period answer? A brooch.
Author's note: Small brooches are also really useful on regular clothing as well as medieval period clothing. They are also a really nice fashion detail. Every time I've worn a period-costume jewellry item with my everyday clothes, I've been complimented on it.
Medium-sized annular (unbroken ring) brooches with a hook catch on the back to anchor the pin seem to work well, as well as simpler ring- or disc-brooches. It takes a bit of practice to use a pen-annular (broken
ring) brooch to close the corners of a keyhole neckline, but it can be done.
You only need to close up a keyhole neckline if it's cold enough to, or if decency calls for it. If the corners of the neckline like to fly open and you don't want adventurous people looking down the inside of your tunic, pin them together. If you don't want to have to pin them, apply a trim or decorative facing that is fairly stiff.
This type of neck-finish was fashionable in various areas for hundreds of years. Generally speaking, the period way will turn out to be the most practical way, IME. If you are curious about exactly what is right for your persona, look at illuminations and period art for help.
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Frankenblogging Part 1: Some thoughts on the gown in The Accolade
Author's note: Welcome to Frankenblogging! This is a feature in which I comment on my own older web-published advice and reference, as a way to make myself feel better about subjecting folks to new posts of it while I am porting it over here.
I wrote this piece a decade or more ago, originally for a post to a discussion list, later re-written for my old website. While it is an older opinion, most of what it has in it is still both valid and consistent with my current opinions on the subject of medieval costume in Victorian artworks.
What I see in this gown:
It looks to me as though the artist spent a bit of time looking at a couple of costume texts of the day in an effort to get the right feel. However, some of the details are a bit off for the probable intended period, while, at the same time, being right on target for later periods.
12th century elements:
It seems, at first glance, to be a sort of 'Victorianized' bliaut, which probably doesn't help much, if you are at all familiar with the contorversy about how these garments might have been made. Things that make me think it's a bliaut (or just generally intended to be a noble lady in 12th C. dress, which would fit nicely with the knighting motif, and the dress of the rest of the figures):
I like The Accolade. Really. It's a charming, romantic work, and was the stuff of my knights and princesses fantasies as a child. Plus, the dress is like every little girl's fantasy Medieval queen dress up outfit. It makes a fantastic wedding gown, and a number of custom wedding gown makers have a version in their catalogs. That said, it's a Really Really Bad Historical Reference, don't use it as one.
Also, I've been asked DOZENS of times about how to make this "bliaut" for historical reenactment wear. At the time I wrote this, I had been asked about seven times, and I was already getting kind of burnt out. I think I made up a form letter, actually, then thought better of it and put this on my site and just redirected folks to it.
Some other thoughts on Victorian ideas about Norman dress
Don't blame the painter too much for the dress being wrong, although the subject matter is romantic fantasy. The whole 19th century concept of how Norman court dress was made and worn was very wrongheaded. Much of this had to do with the idea that it had to be constructed in some manner similar to that of formal dress of the time (restrictive, separate bodice, either over or under the gown). Additionally, art and costume historians of the 1800's had little or no archaeological evidence to work from, and this, combined with the lack of clear photographs (most worked from others' redrawings of period artworks) contributed to their ideas about how things must have been made. Unfortunately for the beginning costumer interested in Norman court dress, most costuming books easily available today still use these ideas.
I think the current transmission of these ideas mostly comes through Braun & Schneider and Norris, but originally came from Voillet-Le-Duc (who WASN'T a tailor, and boy did it show - I'm not of the opinion that he was much of an artist, either) when he sketched the statues badly 200 years ago. Montfaucon's (earlier) sketches were much better but are less well known. Interestingly, Strutt wasn't as influenced by Voillet-Le-Duc's ideas, possibly because they were near-contemporaries. Strutt, however is more useful for later eras and leaves much out in his redrawings of clothing of the 12th century, though he does seem to have done them from direct observation of illuminated manuscripts.
This bit is more of an analysis of the whole 19th century take on Medieval dress in general. Still pretty opinionated.
I wrote this piece a decade or more ago, originally for a post to a discussion list, later re-written for my old website. While it is an older opinion, most of what it has in it is still both valid and consistent with my current opinions on the subject of medieval costume in Victorian artworks.
Some thoughts on the gown in The Accolade
I get asked about this every once in awhile, since it's such an attractive painting, and the gown shown is so lovely to the modern eye. Unfortunately, it's also a Victorian fantasy of what a generalized 'medieval' gown would look like. While it would make a nice 19th century theatre costume, fancy dress outfit, or even a modern wedding gown, it isn't really a medieval gown at all. I'm going to go over its various features and analyze them for the reader, based on my background in studying and recreating medieval, rennaisance and Victorian dress. |
| Image from Wikimedia Commons |
What I see in this gown:
It looks to me as though the artist spent a bit of time looking at a couple of costume texts of the day in an effort to get the right feel. However, some of the details are a bit off for the probable intended period, while, at the same time, being right on target for later periods.
12th century elements:
It seems, at first glance, to be a sort of 'Victorianized' bliaut, which probably doesn't help much, if you are at all familiar with the contorversy about how these garments might have been made. Things that make me think it's a bliaut (or just generally intended to be a noble lady in 12th C. dress, which would fit nicely with the knighting motif, and the dress of the rest of the figures):
- The 'V' neck on the overdress
- The tight and wrinkly undersleeves
- The neck of the undergown closed with a brooch
- The bicep trimmings
- The wide sleeves of the overdress,
- The location of the belt.
- The puffy sleeve cap on the overdress sleeves (regency/Victorian)
- The plaque belt (which *is* medeival/rennaisance, but doesn't
appear until about 100-200 years later than the intended period
in its earliest form) - The fact that the belt has no upper loop around the torso
- The overgown and undergown being of the same colors (although
this is probably both a painterly and a theatrical convention) - That the torso's silhouette is that of a gently corseted woman
of about 1880-1900 (which would make sense if he had a model pose
in a theatre costume to get the light and shadow right - she would
have worn her stays underneath it).
I like The Accolade. Really. It's a charming, romantic work, and was the stuff of my knights and princesses fantasies as a child. Plus, the dress is like every little girl's fantasy Medieval queen dress up outfit. It makes a fantastic wedding gown, and a number of custom wedding gown makers have a version in their catalogs. That said, it's a Really Really Bad Historical Reference, don't use it as one.
Also, I've been asked DOZENS of times about how to make this "bliaut" for historical reenactment wear. At the time I wrote this, I had been asked about seven times, and I was already getting kind of burnt out. I think I made up a form letter, actually, then thought better of it and put this on my site and just redirected folks to it.
Some other thoughts on Victorian ideas about Norman dress
Don't blame the painter too much for the dress being wrong, although the subject matter is romantic fantasy. The whole 19th century concept of how Norman court dress was made and worn was very wrongheaded. Much of this had to do with the idea that it had to be constructed in some manner similar to that of formal dress of the time (restrictive, separate bodice, either over or under the gown). Additionally, art and costume historians of the 1800's had little or no archaeological evidence to work from, and this, combined with the lack of clear photographs (most worked from others' redrawings of period artworks) contributed to their ideas about how things must have been made. Unfortunately for the beginning costumer interested in Norman court dress, most costuming books easily available today still use these ideas.
I think the current transmission of these ideas mostly comes through Braun & Schneider and Norris, but originally came from Voillet-Le-Duc (who WASN'T a tailor, and boy did it show - I'm not of the opinion that he was much of an artist, either) when he sketched the statues badly 200 years ago. Montfaucon's (earlier) sketches were much better but are less well known. Interestingly, Strutt wasn't as influenced by Voillet-Le-Duc's ideas, possibly because they were near-contemporaries. Strutt, however is more useful for later eras and leaves much out in his redrawings of clothing of the 12th century, though he does seem to have done them from direct observation of illuminated manuscripts.
This bit is more of an analysis of the whole 19th century take on Medieval dress in general. Still pretty opinionated.
Monday, December 25, 2006
It's always something
Oh, yes, before I forget, Happy Christmas.
We got the bedroom painted last night - well, sort of. We went into this week with the attitude that we'd get the house ready enough to "not get paint on the furniture or plaster dust in the food," as I said elsewhere. The bedroom is painted on all the walls that would be impossible or highly inconvenient to paint with the Great Bed* in the room. That leaves out the end of teh room where we still need to buy another can of spackle to level out the difference between the old closet, the patch where the ex-wall was and the bedroom walls. It's a nice soft, restful cloud grey, and I felt calmer just being in there while we painted it, or that could have been the fumes.
The ceiling isn't painted, but that's not just because of the strip of unfinished patching (though the rest of the ceiling is solid now, after we patched 1908039794856289 nail holes from the removal of the pasteboard tiles). It's also because, if we cannot get it satisfactorily smooth (which is unlikely just now), we're going to paper it with a grey and white marble-pattern paper and just go with it. I know, I know - people who paper ceilings to cover problems are evil. I should know. But it'll be a lot easier to paper than paint the ceiling after the big bed's in there - it makes fabulous scaffolding. And we have to live there, too. So that's my defense.
Here's the Cool Original Detail, before painting over:
It was a simple frieze of wreaths with ribbons, stencilled on the original thin layer of ocher yellow paint (probably milk paint), in green and russet. It was about 14 inches high.
Detail shot:
It's pretty, and it was a real pity to paint it over. At least we were able to document it.
Handy Tip For the Day:
Bicycle handgrips, applied to the non-business end of a paint roller pole really help with control when using it at full length. And you can't drop them paint roller downward when you're up on a ladder...
And now, to this week's installment of "I Thought We Bought That!" : We went to put the outlet plates on in the kitchen and discovered that we had somehow bought three times as many double outlet plates as we needed, and only one box of single plates. Which are all gone, having been installed elsewhere in the house, I guess.
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot? I bought the outlet plates, and I distinctly recall buying the right number of everything. Well, back to the home store we go. Next week. Or sometime. We've got bigger fish to fry right now.
But our bathroom looks beautiful! Of course, I didn't take any pictures of that...
We got the bedroom painted last night - well, sort of. We went into this week with the attitude that we'd get the house ready enough to "not get paint on the furniture or plaster dust in the food," as I said elsewhere. The bedroom is painted on all the walls that would be impossible or highly inconvenient to paint with the Great Bed* in the room. That leaves out the end of teh room where we still need to buy another can of spackle to level out the difference between the old closet, the patch where the ex-wall was and the bedroom walls. It's a nice soft, restful cloud grey, and I felt calmer just being in there while we painted it, or that could have been the fumes.
The ceiling isn't painted, but that's not just because of the strip of unfinished patching (though the rest of the ceiling is solid now, after we patched 1908039794856289 nail holes from the removal of the pasteboard tiles). It's also because, if we cannot get it satisfactorily smooth (which is unlikely just now), we're going to paper it with a grey and white marble-pattern paper and just go with it. I know, I know - people who paper ceilings to cover problems are evil. I should know. But it'll be a lot easier to paper than paint the ceiling after the big bed's in there - it makes fabulous scaffolding. And we have to live there, too. So that's my defense.
Here's the Cool Original Detail, before painting over:
It was a simple frieze of wreaths with ribbons, stencilled on the original thin layer of ocher yellow paint (probably milk paint), in green and russet. It was about 14 inches high.
Detail shot:
It's pretty, and it was a real pity to paint it over. At least we were able to document it.
Handy Tip For the Day:
Bicycle handgrips, applied to the non-business end of a paint roller pole really help with control when using it at full length. And you can't drop them paint roller downward when you're up on a ladder...
And now, to this week's installment of "I Thought We Bought That!" : We went to put the outlet plates on in the kitchen and discovered that we had somehow bought three times as many double outlet plates as we needed, and only one box of single plates. Which are all gone, having been installed elsewhere in the house, I guess.
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot? I bought the outlet plates, and I distinctly recall buying the right number of everything. Well, back to the home store we go. Next week. Or sometime. We've got bigger fish to fry right now.
But our bathroom looks beautiful! Of course, I didn't take any pictures of that...
Wednesday, December 06, 2006
Scraping, Scraping, Scraping
The master bedroom is nearly denuded of its many layers of Vile Old Paper. Some of it, say, the gray-and-pearl stripe with its coordinating ceiling paper and edgings, was okay (not my taste, but tolerable), but others were emphatically NOT. Let's just say that I really don't think that Mrs. Songer (2nd owner of the home, from whose life most of the wallpapers date - the renters in the 40's may have papered too, but the Whites mostly painted, before the panelling went up) and I would have agreed on any decorating decisions. I am especially unfond of the mint-icecream colored floral stripe dating from the 1930's and its posy borders. Made me feel like I was in a perfume box, just looking at it, and I reminded myself that it was the choice of an older widowed lady.
I still like the ochre that the Wolfes painted the bedrooms originally, even if it also covers the ceiling, making it an oppressive color choice. I liked their paper in the dining room and hallway. We're not going with that color scheme, though. The bedroom will be gray, a soft, cloudlike, cool gray, with a coordinating sandtexture painted ceiling and a blue stripe at wallpaper-border level around the room.
We are returning to the Hell of Vile Paper Shreds momentarily, to continue our labors. Surely we must have painted over old wallpaper in some past life to have earned this suffering. O! See How I Lament! Perhaps if I do enough of this in this life, I will never have to do it again.
My happy place for this work is the vision of the soft grey room in which I will sleep, in our overpoweringly large bed with its new curtains. So calming. Our bed really isn't quite so large, but it's close enough to pretend that we have that bed.
Also, the heat isn't on yet. We wanted to get the soaking and scraping done with first, before we dry out the house too much. Hurrah for wrongheaded prioritizing!
I still like the ochre that the Wolfes painted the bedrooms originally, even if it also covers the ceiling, making it an oppressive color choice. I liked their paper in the dining room and hallway. We're not going with that color scheme, though. The bedroom will be gray, a soft, cloudlike, cool gray, with a coordinating sandtexture painted ceiling and a blue stripe at wallpaper-border level around the room.
We are returning to the Hell of Vile Paper Shreds momentarily, to continue our labors. Surely we must have painted over old wallpaper in some past life to have earned this suffering. O! See How I Lament! Perhaps if I do enough of this in this life, I will never have to do it again.
My happy place for this work is the vision of the soft grey room in which I will sleep, in our overpoweringly large bed with its new curtains. So calming. Our bed really isn't quite so large, but it's close enough to pretend that we have that bed.
Also, the heat isn't on yet. We wanted to get the soaking and scraping done with first, before we dry out the house too much. Hurrah for wrongheaded prioritizing!
Monday, September 18, 2006
More Housestory
Here are some tidbits about the house's history. I searched the local paper summary, based on "Kate Songer," who was supposed to have bought the place in 1921. It's pretty thin until 1930, and after that it's mostly funerals:
5/15/1930: Seth Clark FOSTER of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, formerly of Kinmundy, was born near Kinmundy on Dec. 4, 1860. Early in life he entered the employment of the I.C.R.R. and was station agent at Kinmundy at the time of his removal to Oklahoma where since 1903 has made his home. On Aug. 29, 1886, he married Miss Anna FENSTER of Kinmundy, and they had 1 daughter, Mary Edna. A sister, Amanda FOSTER, and a brother, Willis ROSE, also survive. The funeral was conducted at the home of Mrs. Kate SONGER, sister of Mrs. FOSTER, where her mother, Mrs. R.H. FENSTER also resides. Interment in Evergreen Cemetery.
10/13/1932: Nelson Hawley LINGENFELTER was born March 13, 1867 in Albion, Ill, son of Rev. and Mrs. V.D. LINGENFELTER. When he was 5 years old the family moved to Kinmundy, where his father was pastor of the local M.E. Church. He completed his studies at McKendree College, and having learned the printing trade, he returned to Kinmundy and purchased "The Kinmundy Express", bringing his father and mother with him. In 1895, he married Jennie Belle FENSTER, daughter of the late George and Mrs. FENSTER and the following year, Launce was born. 3 years later, their twins, Charles and Roy were born, but Charles died a few days later. After residing a short time in St. Louis and Memphis, Nelson moved his family to Oklahoma City, Okla., and associated with the Daily Oklahoman in 1901. He also served in the newspaper business in Sioux City, Iowa, and Frederick, N.C. He died in Charlotte, N.C. on Oct. 4, and the body was accompanied to this city by Mrs. LINGENFELTER and his son Roy. The funeral was held at the home of his sister-in-law, Mrs. Kate L. SONGER, and interment was in Evergreen Cemetery. He is survived by a widow; 2 sons, Roy of Charlotte, N.C., and Launce and wife, Elaine, of Omaha, Neb.; 3 sisters, Mrs. Belle BEACH of Gozales, Texas; Mrs. Josephine WILLIAMS of Richmond, Mo.; and Mrs. Hattie ORGAN of Chicago.
10/10/1935: Mrs. Rachel FENSTER died Oct. 4, 1935. Rachel H. CURTIS was born in Waverly, Ohio, on June 22, 1844, where she spent her childhood and young girlhood. On May 22, 1862, Miss CURTIS married Gotleib FENSTER, and they were married for 48 years. This was a happy marriage but at the commencement of the Civil War, the couple was separated for 4 years. Soon after the war, Mr. and Mrs. FENSTER came to Kinmundy where they have lived, Mr. FENSTER until his passing April 16, 1910, and Mrs. FENSTER until Friday. They had 7 children: William G., died in infancy; Anne E. FOSTER of Oklahoma City, Okla.; Mary GRAY of Weleetka, Oklahoma; Jennie LINGENFELTER of Kinmundy; Charles C. FENSTER of Oklahoma City, Okla.; Kate L. SONGER of Kinmundy; and Roy FENSTER of Champaign, Ill. There are 5 grandchildren: Miss Edna FOSTER of Oklahoma City, Okla.; Mrs. Gail GRAY DUBIE of Tulsa, Okla.; L.M. LINGENFELTER of Omaha, Neb.; R.C. LINGENFELTER of Detroit, Mich.; and Mrs. Zelma FENSTER HALEY of Houston, Texas. There are 2 great-grandchildren. Since Mr. FENSTER’s death, Mrs. FENSTER has made her home with Mrs. SONGER, and the past 3 years Mrs. LINGENFELTER has been with them. Services were held from the SONGER home with interment in Evergreen Cemetery.
2/13/1936: [yay! NOT a funeral!] Miss Audrey DUNCAN and Robert MOATS were moved Feb. 1 at the First Methodist Church in Champaign. Attendants were Miss Dorothy DUNCAN, sister of bride and Robert ARMSTRONG. The bride is daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Robert DUNCAN of Sandoval, and the groom is son of Rev. and Mrs. Ira MOATS of Maquon. Mrs. MOATS attended Kinmundy school, the school her mother, then Forrest WOOLLEY attended, while living with her aunt, Mrs. Kate L. SONGER. Mrs. MOATS has lived in Champaign with an aunt and uncle, Mr. and Mrs. Roy FENSTER.
4/15/1937: [also not a funeral]- Mrs. Anna FOSTER and daughter, Miss Edna, of Oklahoma City, Okla. arrived in Kinmundy Saturday. They will make their home with Mrs. FOSTER’s sisters, Mrs. Kate L. SONGER and Mrs. Nelson LINGENFELTER. Kinmundy is Mrs. FOSTER’s girlhood home, and where she lived for a number of years after she was married.
5/19/1938: [Another death. Poor Kate seems to have spent a good deal of her life taking care of ill and dying relatives.]- Charles C. FENSTER died at the home of his sister, Mrs. Kate L. SONGER, May 17, after an illness of several weeks. He was 65 years, 3 months, and 20 days. Services were held from the SONGER home this afternoon with interment in Evergreen Cemetery.
5/26/1938: Charles Curtis FENSTER was born on a farm near Kinmundy on Jan. 27, 1873, and died May 17, 1938. He married Miss Mae BRENNER on June 8, 1897, and they had 1 daughter, Zelma. They made their home in this city until 1903 when they moved to Oklahoma City, where he lived until recently, having spent the past year in the home of his brother, Roy, in Champaign. He became ill in January and came to Kinmundy 5 weeks ago. He leaves a wife and daughter, Zelma, now Mrs. Joe HALEY, of Houston, Texas; 3 sisters of Kinmundy; 1 sister of Weleetka, Oklahoma; and 1 brother of Champaign, Ill. Services were held at the SONGER home with interment in Evergreen Cemetery.
9/22/1938: Mr. Launce LINGENFELTER died at his home in Champaign, Sept. 16, 1938. He was born in Kinmundy, Sept. 12, 1896, son of the late Nelson and Jennie LINGENFELTER, nee FENSTER. In early childhood, his parents moved from Kinmundy, but his frequent visits to this, his birthplace, to visit his grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Gotlieb FENSTER, now deceased, and his aunt, Mrs. Fred S. SONGER, have made him quite well known here. He was married to Miss Eulaine WEST of Fort Worth, Texas on Dec. 2, 1928. Besides his wife and son, Danny, he leaves his mother, Mrs. Nelson LINGENFELTER of Kinmundy, his brother, Roy LINGENFELTER of Cleveland, Ohio, an uncle, Roy FENSTER of Champaign, and aunts, Mrs. Edward GRAY of Weleeka, Okla., and Mesdames Seth FOSTER and Fred S. SONGER of Kinmundy. Mr. LINGENFELTER was a member of the Christian Science Church. The burial service was conducted by Mrs. Melvin B. ROGERS, a Christian Science Reader from Champaign, at the home of Mrs. SONGER. Interment was made in Evergreen Cemetery. A list was included of those traveling from a distance.
11/26/1942: - Mrs. Kate SONGER suffered another stroke Monday. [I hope she had someone to care for her like she cared for everyone else.]
5/6/1943: - Mrs. Annie FOSTER passed her 80th birthday May 4 in the home of her sister, Mrs. Kate SONGER. Due to the serious illness of Mrs. SONGER, the day was spent very quietly. Most of Mrs. FOSTER’s life has been spent in Oklahoma City, OK., but for the past 6 years, she has made her home here. [Looks like her older sister cared for her. That's good.]
5/20/1943: - Mrs. Kate SONGER died at her home here Saturday after an illness of several months duration, aged 67 years, 6 months, 6 days. Services were held from the home with interment in Evergreen Cemetery. Katherine Louise, daughter of Gotlieb and Rachel FENSTER, was born in Kinmundy, 1 of 7 children. The parents; 3 brothers, William Grant, Charles and Roy; and 1 sister, Mary (Mrs. Ed GRAY), have preceded her in death. She was married to Dr. Frederick S. SONGER on Dec. 7, 1903, and he died July 4, 1919. She was a member of the Easter Star and White Shrine. She is survived by 2 sisters, Anna (Mrs. Seth FOSTER), and Jennie (Mrs. Nelson LINGENFELTER), both of Kinmundy; 3 nieces, Miss Edna FOSTER, St. Louis, Mrs. Paul DUBIE, Tulsa, Okla.; and Mrs. Joel HALEY, Houston, Texas; 1 nephew, Roy LINGENFELTER, Kinmundy.
4/20/1944: The names of the following will be included in the next call from this county: Carroll Wayne GARRETT, Glen Charles WHITE and Gilbert Lowe DOOLEN. [I don't know if the Whites had bought the house yet]
6/1945: - Mr. and Mrs. Glen WHITE have a son, David Chester, born in Centralia last Friday. The WHITEs now have 3 boys. [I still don't know if they owned the house yet or not]
11/21/1946: Miss Anna SUKUPCHACK, daughter of Paul SUKUPCHACK of Benton Harbor, Mich., and Merle JACKSON, son of Mr. and Mrs. A.J. JACKSON, were married in the Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in East Chicago, Ind. on Nov. 18. They were attended by Miss Mary SUKUPCHACK and John J. VANA, of Chicago, both cousins of the bride. The bride is a graduate of the Twin City Business College of Benton Harbor, Mich. Since her graduation, she has been employed by the State of Michigan at Lansing. The groom is a graduate of the local high school with the class of ‘30. Soon after his graduation, he entered the service station business, which business he still has. He entered the service on April 17, 1941, and was discharged Nov. 4, 1945, after spending several months overseas It was while he was stationed at Fort Custer, Mich., that he met the bride. They couple will make their home on the LINGENFELTER property for the time being. {These are the first renters! I wonder if they were renting at the time the White family bought the place?]
I'll keep you posted as I find more.
5/15/1930: Seth Clark FOSTER of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, formerly of Kinmundy, was born near Kinmundy on Dec. 4, 1860. Early in life he entered the employment of the I.C.R.R. and was station agent at Kinmundy at the time of his removal to Oklahoma where since 1903 has made his home. On Aug. 29, 1886, he married Miss Anna FENSTER of Kinmundy, and they had 1 daughter, Mary Edna. A sister, Amanda FOSTER, and a brother, Willis ROSE, also survive. The funeral was conducted at the home of Mrs. Kate SONGER, sister of Mrs. FOSTER, where her mother, Mrs. R.H. FENSTER also resides. Interment in Evergreen Cemetery.
10/13/1932: Nelson Hawley LINGENFELTER was born March 13, 1867 in Albion, Ill, son of Rev. and Mrs. V.D. LINGENFELTER. When he was 5 years old the family moved to Kinmundy, where his father was pastor of the local M.E. Church. He completed his studies at McKendree College, and having learned the printing trade, he returned to Kinmundy and purchased "The Kinmundy Express", bringing his father and mother with him. In 1895, he married Jennie Belle FENSTER, daughter of the late George and Mrs. FENSTER and the following year, Launce was born. 3 years later, their twins, Charles and Roy were born, but Charles died a few days later. After residing a short time in St. Louis and Memphis, Nelson moved his family to Oklahoma City, Okla., and associated with the Daily Oklahoman in 1901. He also served in the newspaper business in Sioux City, Iowa, and Frederick, N.C. He died in Charlotte, N.C. on Oct. 4, and the body was accompanied to this city by Mrs. LINGENFELTER and his son Roy. The funeral was held at the home of his sister-in-law, Mrs. Kate L. SONGER, and interment was in Evergreen Cemetery. He is survived by a widow; 2 sons, Roy of Charlotte, N.C., and Launce and wife, Elaine, of Omaha, Neb.; 3 sisters, Mrs. Belle BEACH of Gozales, Texas; Mrs. Josephine WILLIAMS of Richmond, Mo.; and Mrs. Hattie ORGAN of Chicago.
10/10/1935: Mrs. Rachel FENSTER died Oct. 4, 1935. Rachel H. CURTIS was born in Waverly, Ohio, on June 22, 1844, where she spent her childhood and young girlhood. On May 22, 1862, Miss CURTIS married Gotleib FENSTER, and they were married for 48 years. This was a happy marriage but at the commencement of the Civil War, the couple was separated for 4 years. Soon after the war, Mr. and Mrs. FENSTER came to Kinmundy where they have lived, Mr. FENSTER until his passing April 16, 1910, and Mrs. FENSTER until Friday. They had 7 children: William G., died in infancy; Anne E. FOSTER of Oklahoma City, Okla.; Mary GRAY of Weleetka, Oklahoma; Jennie LINGENFELTER of Kinmundy; Charles C. FENSTER of Oklahoma City, Okla.; Kate L. SONGER of Kinmundy; and Roy FENSTER of Champaign, Ill. There are 5 grandchildren: Miss Edna FOSTER of Oklahoma City, Okla.; Mrs. Gail GRAY DUBIE of Tulsa, Okla.; L.M. LINGENFELTER of Omaha, Neb.; R.C. LINGENFELTER of Detroit, Mich.; and Mrs. Zelma FENSTER HALEY of Houston, Texas. There are 2 great-grandchildren. Since Mr. FENSTER’s death, Mrs. FENSTER has made her home with Mrs. SONGER, and the past 3 years Mrs. LINGENFELTER has been with them. Services were held from the SONGER home with interment in Evergreen Cemetery.
2/13/1936: [yay! NOT a funeral!] Miss Audrey DUNCAN and Robert MOATS were moved Feb. 1 at the First Methodist Church in Champaign. Attendants were Miss Dorothy DUNCAN, sister of bride and Robert ARMSTRONG. The bride is daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Robert DUNCAN of Sandoval, and the groom is son of Rev. and Mrs. Ira MOATS of Maquon. Mrs. MOATS attended Kinmundy school, the school her mother, then Forrest WOOLLEY attended, while living with her aunt, Mrs. Kate L. SONGER. Mrs. MOATS has lived in Champaign with an aunt and uncle, Mr. and Mrs. Roy FENSTER.
4/15/1937: [also not a funeral]- Mrs. Anna FOSTER and daughter, Miss Edna, of Oklahoma City, Okla. arrived in Kinmundy Saturday. They will make their home with Mrs. FOSTER’s sisters, Mrs. Kate L. SONGER and Mrs. Nelson LINGENFELTER. Kinmundy is Mrs. FOSTER’s girlhood home, and where she lived for a number of years after she was married.
5/19/1938: [Another death. Poor Kate seems to have spent a good deal of her life taking care of ill and dying relatives.]- Charles C. FENSTER died at the home of his sister, Mrs. Kate L. SONGER, May 17, after an illness of several weeks. He was 65 years, 3 months, and 20 days. Services were held from the SONGER home this afternoon with interment in Evergreen Cemetery.
5/26/1938: Charles Curtis FENSTER was born on a farm near Kinmundy on Jan. 27, 1873, and died May 17, 1938. He married Miss Mae BRENNER on June 8, 1897, and they had 1 daughter, Zelma. They made their home in this city until 1903 when they moved to Oklahoma City, where he lived until recently, having spent the past year in the home of his brother, Roy, in Champaign. He became ill in January and came to Kinmundy 5 weeks ago. He leaves a wife and daughter, Zelma, now Mrs. Joe HALEY, of Houston, Texas; 3 sisters of Kinmundy; 1 sister of Weleetka, Oklahoma; and 1 brother of Champaign, Ill. Services were held at the SONGER home with interment in Evergreen Cemetery.
9/22/1938: Mr. Launce LINGENFELTER died at his home in Champaign, Sept. 16, 1938. He was born in Kinmundy, Sept. 12, 1896, son of the late Nelson and Jennie LINGENFELTER, nee FENSTER. In early childhood, his parents moved from Kinmundy, but his frequent visits to this, his birthplace, to visit his grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Gotlieb FENSTER, now deceased, and his aunt, Mrs. Fred S. SONGER, have made him quite well known here. He was married to Miss Eulaine WEST of Fort Worth, Texas on Dec. 2, 1928. Besides his wife and son, Danny, he leaves his mother, Mrs. Nelson LINGENFELTER of Kinmundy, his brother, Roy LINGENFELTER of Cleveland, Ohio, an uncle, Roy FENSTER of Champaign, and aunts, Mrs. Edward GRAY of Weleeka, Okla., and Mesdames Seth FOSTER and Fred S. SONGER of Kinmundy. Mr. LINGENFELTER was a member of the Christian Science Church. The burial service was conducted by Mrs. Melvin B. ROGERS, a Christian Science Reader from Champaign, at the home of Mrs. SONGER. Interment was made in Evergreen Cemetery. A list was included of those traveling from a distance.
11/26/1942: - Mrs. Kate SONGER suffered another stroke Monday. [I hope she had someone to care for her like she cared for everyone else.]
5/6/1943: - Mrs. Annie FOSTER passed her 80th birthday May 4 in the home of her sister, Mrs. Kate SONGER. Due to the serious illness of Mrs. SONGER, the day was spent very quietly. Most of Mrs. FOSTER’s life has been spent in Oklahoma City, OK., but for the past 6 years, she has made her home here. [Looks like her older sister cared for her. That's good.]
5/20/1943: - Mrs. Kate SONGER died at her home here Saturday after an illness of several months duration, aged 67 years, 6 months, 6 days. Services were held from the home with interment in Evergreen Cemetery. Katherine Louise, daughter of Gotlieb and Rachel FENSTER, was born in Kinmundy, 1 of 7 children. The parents; 3 brothers, William Grant, Charles and Roy; and 1 sister, Mary (Mrs. Ed GRAY), have preceded her in death. She was married to Dr. Frederick S. SONGER on Dec. 7, 1903, and he died July 4, 1919. She was a member of the Easter Star and White Shrine. She is survived by 2 sisters, Anna (Mrs. Seth FOSTER), and Jennie (Mrs. Nelson LINGENFELTER), both of Kinmundy; 3 nieces, Miss Edna FOSTER, St. Louis, Mrs. Paul DUBIE, Tulsa, Okla.; and Mrs. Joel HALEY, Houston, Texas; 1 nephew, Roy LINGENFELTER, Kinmundy.
4/20/1944: The names of the following will be included in the next call from this county: Carroll Wayne GARRETT, Glen Charles WHITE and Gilbert Lowe DOOLEN. [I don't know if the Whites had bought the house yet]
6/1945: - Mr. and Mrs. Glen WHITE have a son, David Chester, born in Centralia last Friday. The WHITEs now have 3 boys. [I still don't know if they owned the house yet or not]
11/21/1946: Miss Anna SUKUPCHACK, daughter of Paul SUKUPCHACK of Benton Harbor, Mich., and Merle JACKSON, son of Mr. and Mrs. A.J. JACKSON, were married in the Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in East Chicago, Ind. on Nov. 18. They were attended by Miss Mary SUKUPCHACK and John J. VANA, of Chicago, both cousins of the bride. The bride is a graduate of the Twin City Business College of Benton Harbor, Mich. Since her graduation, she has been employed by the State of Michigan at Lansing. The groom is a graduate of the local high school with the class of ‘30. Soon after his graduation, he entered the service station business, which business he still has. He entered the service on April 17, 1941, and was discharged Nov. 4, 1945, after spending several months overseas It was while he was stationed at Fort Custer, Mich., that he met the bride. They couple will make their home on the LINGENFELTER property for the time being. {These are the first renters! I wonder if they were renting at the time the White family bought the place?]
I'll keep you posted as I find more.
Housestory
Instead of working on the house itself today, I worked on learning more of its story. I'm assembling quite a picture of its history and the lives of the people who lived here. It's amazing how much more real a place seems, how much richer, when you know about its "life."
I went to the tax office and asked about records on the house, and while what they had was a single sheet of manila from when the records had been standardized in the 1970's, that single sheet had a 30 year old photo of the house stapled to it.
Look! There is a vent gable on the front, just like I thought. And look at the gentle, highly Craftsman-style curves on those beams on the porch. Sigh. I must figure a way to copy that in my makeover of the porch.
Unfortunately, they also have its build date at 1925, which isn't possible (see below), and I suspect that's actually the year the parcel was split into 2 parcels, when the house was sold. I'm going to go down later and bug them about the old records (probably on microfilm, and maybe in Springfield -ack-) maybe I can get my hands on something more concrete.
I also have the following statement, from the notebooks of the late owner (my neighbor's mother)comments [in brackets] are mine, spelling and formatting are hers:
Interesting, no? There's more. If I may interest you in some tidbits about the family that built it, from our local paper:
11/2/1905: Advertisement: Get Ready for Winter! If you have not bought that Heating Stove, Range or Cook Stove. Everything in Hardware. TOMLINSON & WOLFE. [I think this was where Ellis worked, as the partners are elsewhere described as "our enterprising young hardware men."]
8/23/1906: Two Electric Storms: This vicinity has been visited by two severe electrical storms, the first occurring last Friday and the last one Sunday. During Friday’s storm H.G. LACEY, residing two miles east of town, had two good horses killed by lighting. A number of farmers report the loss of hay stacks. During Sunday’s storm, Theo. GARRETT, residing five miles west of town had a good horse killed, and Wm. C. THREEWITT of Meacham, also reports the loss of a good horse. In the vicinity of Farina and LaClede the wind did great damage to the orchards and the apples. In many orchards the fruit was estimated to be one-half destroyed. Sunday afternoon the farm house of William JONES, one mile south of Miletus, was struck by lightening to two places and considerable damage done, but fortunately the house did not catch on fire. Several young people of the neighborhood had gathered in this place to spend the afternoon and all received a shock and were knocked unconscious for a time, some being worse affected than other, but no one was seriously hurt. The residence of Ellis WOLFE, in this city, was in the way of the lighting and received a slight wound [I think this might have been another house]. Mrs. S.B. SARCHET received quite a severe shock which lasted for several minutes but she escaped without much injury only a bad scare. Taking everything into consideration, our city and citizens were very fortunate in escaping as luckily as we did.
4/4/1907: we discover that Mr. Wolfe was a Republican, as he ran for Town Collector (and lost).
6/6/1907: Firm Dissolved: The hardware firm of TOMLINSON & WOLFE have dissolved partnership and Mr. WOLFE has retired from the firm. Mr. TOMLINSON will continue the business at the old stand where he invites your patronage. [still not sure if this is the same Mr. Wolfe.]
1/21/1909: Advertisement: When in need of Nails, Bolts, Locks of all kinds, axes, hatchets, hammers, pocket knives, table cutlery, copper nickel plated ware, heating stoves, cook stoves, ranges, pumps, kitchen sinks, etc., etc. I’ll be glad to show you. Ellis WOLFE. [I guess it was teh same Mr. Wolfe!]
2/11/1909: - Fire Dept. Elects: A meeting of the members of the Kinmundy Volunteer Fire Department was held last Friday evening and the following officers were elected for the ensuing year: N.A. RICE - Chief; Ellis WOLFE - 1st Ass’t Chief; F.W. KILLIE - 2d Ass’t Chief; J.T. BROWN - Engine Foreman; W.H. STORRS - Ass’t Engine Foreman; C.F. PRUETT - Hose Captain; J.L. LASWELL - 1st Ass’t Hose Captain; G.M. NIRIDER - 2d Ass’t Hose Captain; F.E. NELMS, Marion BRANSON, F.O. GRISSOM - Ladder Man; F.O. GRISSOM - Sec. and Treas. The Treasurer’s report for the past year was read showing a balance on hand of $24.39. The 1st Assistant Chief was instructed two axes to be added to the engine equipment. On motion the department adjourned to meet on Friday night, Feb. 26, at which time all members are requested to be present.
8/24/1911: Ellis wolfe is listed as having a telephone, along with numerous others.
2/8/1912: Members of the Kinmundy Fire Dept. met last Friday in pursuant to a call by Chief C.F. PRUETT. The Annual Election of officers was held, and elected were: Geo. W. SNELLING, Chief; Ellis WOLFE, 1st Asst.; C.F. PRUETT, 2nd Asst.; J.L LASWELL, Hose Capt.; C.B. MENDENHALL, 1st Asst.; F.W. KILLIE, 2nd Asst.; G.M. NIRIDER, 3rd Asst.; F.E. NELMS, Ladder Captain; B.J. ROTAN, Asst.; J.T. BROWN, Engineman; Andrew JACKSON, Asst.; F.O. GRISSOM, Sec.-Treas.
4/25/1912: The Senior Play at GRAY’s Opera House; Wednesday, May 1st, Cupid at Vassar. A College Comedy in Four Acts. Cast of Characters; Myron ROSS, Clarence CONANT, Leon HANNA, Hugh SPENCER, Lauretta SCOTT, Elsie ROHRBOUGH, Josephine O’BRIEN, Ruby HULTS, Ruth DOOLEN, Vera BARGH, Bess BRYAN, Dorothy DOOLEN, Marcelline WOLFE. Doors Open 7:30. Curtain 8:30. Admission 25 cents. Children 12 years of age 15 cents.
9/5/1912: On Sunday afternoon, Sept. 1, 1912, at the home of the bride’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. Ellis WOLFE in the presence of a few relatives and friends, occurred the marriage of their daughter, Marceline E. to Mr. Edwin D. WILLIAMS, of Terre Haute. At 2:30 o’clock the bride and groom attended by Miss Lois NELMS, of this city, and Mr. Arch MORROW, of Chicago entered the parlor to the strains of the wedding march played by Mrs. Frank DAVIS, where the beautiful ring ceremony was pronounced by Rev. R.D. WOODLEY of the First Methodist Church. After hearty congratulations the guest were invited to the dining room where delightful refreshments were served. The couple received many beautiful and useful presents. The bride is the oldest daughter of Mr. and Mrs. WOLFE and enjoys a large circle of friends and acquaintances and is one of Kinmundy’s most highly respected young ladies; she will be greatly missed by her many friends and classmates. The groom is a young man of high, moral character, and holds a good position in the Auditing dept. of the Vandalia Line at Terre Haute; he has quite a large acquaintance here, especially among the young people. The happy couple departed Monday morning for Terre Haute where they will make their future home.
1/29/1914:- Mrs. Edwin WILLIAMS and babe of Terre Haute, are visiting here with her parents, Ellis WOLFE and family.
4/23/1914: In the school election Saturday, J.F. DONOVAN was elected president, and E.W. DOOLEN and I.D. INGRAM, members of the board. The hold-over members of the board are W.W. LOWE, W.H. GRAY, C.S. NEIL, and Ellis WOLFE.
12/19/1917: Mrs. Edwin WILLIAMS and little daughter, Valeda, of Pittsburg, Pa. are visiting here with her parents, Ellis WOLFE and family.
4/17/1921: Mrs. Ellis WOLFE and daughter, Edith, and mother, Mrs. NELMS left Monday for Centralia where they plan to make their home. Mr. WOLFE is employed there. [This is why I say it's impossible for the house to have been built in 1925. Why would they build a house here when they never again lived in Kinmundy?]
After this point, it's all news about the family, and none about the house.
6/8/1922: June 7th was the 78th birthday of Mrs. E.E. NELMS, former resident of our city now living in Centralia. There was a surprise given for her on June 4th at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Ellis WOLFE, of Centralia. All of her living children were there to give her a birthday surprise.
10/19/1922: Emma E. WINTERROWD was born in Shelbyville, Ind. on June 7, 1844, and died at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Ellis WOLFE, in Centralia on Oct. 16, 1922. She married Anderson DEIWERT in early life and with her family she moved to Effingham, Ill. She married John T. NELMS, and they moved to Kinmundy in about 1870. He died Dec. 29, 1890. The children were raised in Kinmundy. When her health began to fail about 2 years ago, she made her home with her daughter, Mrs. Dudie WOLFE. She leaves her mother; Mrs. Ellis WOLFE of Centralia; 4 sons, Myron DEIWERT of Everett, Wash.; John H. NELMS of Kinmundy; Frank E. of Centralia; and Maurice B. of Hindsboro, Ill. Also 11 grandchildren, 8 great-grandchildren, and 2 brothers, L.H. WINTERROWD and E.A. WINTERROWD of Ennis, Texas; 3 sisters, Mrs. Nora RAMSEY, Mrs. Delia EVANS, and Mrs. Ella ADAMS. Services were held at the Christian Church here with burial in Evergreen Cemetery. [That's kind of sad, that her daughter gave her a party and six months later it's a funeral.]
8/7/1924: Last Monday evening, Miss Dorothy PRUETT married Dr. H.A. LANDESS, both of this city. Miss PRUETT and Dr. LANDESS were accompanied to Salem by Miss Edith WOLFE of Centralia, Mr. James MORGAN, and Mr. and Mrs. R.J. ANDREWS of this city. The marriage was performed at the M.E. parsonage in Salem. The bridal party was entertained afterwards at the home of Mr. and Mrs. John W. DOOLEN of that city. The bride is graduated from K.H.S. in ‘23, attended 1 semester at DePauw University in Greencastle, Ind, and this spring attended S.I.N.U. at Carbondale. "Doc" is a popular young dentist in this city. Dr. LANDESS is the only son of Mrs. J.O. WILLSEY of Ashley, Ill. He graduated from St. Louis Washington Dental College in ‘23. The couple will make their home here.
8/27/1925: Swift School Items: A birthday party was held at Mark SWIFT’s for his birthday. Those present were: Otis CHARLTON and wife, Thurman McCULLEY and family, Jeffie McCULLEY and family, Ellis WOLFE and wife of Centralia, and Gerald STRONG, uncle and aunt of Champaign.
8/18/1932: A son was born to Mr. and Mrs. Edwin WILLIAMS on Aug. 11, weighing 8 lbs. The mother is formerly Miss Mercelline WOLF(sic).
2/28/1935: - Mr. and Mrs. Ellis WOLFE of Centralia, announce the marriage of their daughter, Miss Edythe (sic), to Mr. Rolland J. HEPP, which took place Feb. 20 at St. Mary’s Church in Centralia.
4/29/1937: Mr. and Mrs. John NELMS were host and hostess to the NELMS family Sunday in honor of Mr. NELMS brother and wife, Mr. and Mrs. Myron DEIWERT of Everett, Wash. The party attended the morning service at the Methodist Church after which dinner was served at the noon hour at the ARNOLD home. The afternoon was spent in the John NELMS’ home, where the family in jovial mood, with gay repartee and reminiscent stories, whiled away the hours. A number of years had passed since the brothers and sister, Mrs. Ellis WOLFE, had been together. In the family party were Mr. and Mrs. John NELMS, Mr. and Mrs. Myron DEIWERT, Mr. and Mrs. Frank NELMS, Mr. and Mrs. Maurice NELMS, Mr. and Mrs. Ellis WOLFE, of Centralia, and Mr. and Mrs. Lois NELMS ROBB and son, Howard.
4/27/1939: Mr. Ellis WOLFE, a former Kinmundian, has recently sold his tin shop in Centralia, and retired from the business world. He and Mrs. WOLFE are comfortably situated on their little farm south of Sandoval.
5/11/1939: Mrs. Edith SHULTZ, nee WOLF [Edith Wolfe Hepp must be named after this aunt], of Chicago, returned home Sunday after spending a few days with her cousin, Mrs. Florence SHRIVER. Mrs. SHULTZ, her brother and wife, Mr. and Mrs. Ellis WOLF of Centralia motored to Champaign Sunday to the home of Mr. and Mrs. WOLF’s son-in-law and daughter’s, Mr. and Mrs. Edward WILLIAMS, where they celebrated Mr. WOLF’s birthday at dinner.
5/7/1942: At the regular meeting of the Kinmundy Lodge A..F. & A.M., Ellis WOLFE was presented with a gold button signifying that he had been a Mason for 50 years.
3/18/1943: Mr. and Mrs. Ellis WOLFE of Sandoval spent Saturday here with Mr. and Mrs. J.H. NELMS. They just sold their property south of Sandoval and are looking for a new home. We tried to tell them there was only one place for them to locate and that was right here in Kinmundy. [these folks were obviously well loved here..]
6/17/1943: Mrs. Lois ROBB entertained to dinner, honoring her father, J.H. NELMS on his 75th birthday. Those present were Mr. and Mrs. J.H. NELMS, Mrs. Alma NELMS, Mrs. Hazel SEIMER, and Mr. and Mrs. Ellis WOLFE of Centralia.
I really hope I can find out more. The more I know, the more I want to know.
I went to the tax office and asked about records on the house, and while what they had was a single sheet of manila from when the records had been standardized in the 1970's, that single sheet had a 30 year old photo of the house stapled to it.
Look! There is a vent gable on the front, just like I thought. And look at the gentle, highly Craftsman-style curves on those beams on the porch. Sigh. I must figure a way to copy that in my makeover of the porch.
Unfortunately, they also have its build date at 1925, which isn't possible (see below), and I suspect that's actually the year the parcel was split into 2 parcels, when the house was sold. I'm going to go down later and bug them about the old records (probably on microfilm, and maybe in Springfield -ack-) maybe I can get my hands on something more concrete.
I also have the following statement, from the notebooks of the late owner (my neighbor's mother)comments [in brackets] are mine, spelling and formatting are hers:
Edith Heppe [of] Centralia, IL }cousin of Glen's [Glen is my neighbor's late father] This is Dudie and Ellis Wolfe's daughter. She is a sister to Marceline Wolfe Williams, wife to Eddie Williams of Champaign (They are freinds of Elwyn Cheatums){visited in Kinmundy April 21 1994. Ellis Wolfe built the house we now live in (it is a Sears Pre Cut). They sold it to Kate Songer. Her nephew afer her death sold the house to us. We then rented it to Ann and Merle Jackson, then to Trickey (who was manager of Ill. Brokerage in Salem).
When Chuck graduated in May of 1950, we moved in and have lived here since. We later sold the house next door [apparently they owned both addresses?] to Dave and Sue and they tore it down and built the home they now live in [it was apparently in very poor condition and very tiny] Chuck graduated from high school in 1950, Jim from middle school in 1950, and Dave was 5 and a half years old.
Dudie Wolfe was a sister of Johnny Nelms. Her real name was Allie(?) Nelms. She was a relative of Grandma Sarah White, grandmother of Glen.
Edith Wolfe Hepp was Dudie and Ellis' daughter. She lived in Centralia.
Interesting, no? There's more. If I may interest you in some tidbits about the family that built it, from our local paper:
11/2/1905: Advertisement: Get Ready for Winter! If you have not bought that Heating Stove, Range or Cook Stove. Everything in Hardware. TOMLINSON & WOLFE. [I think this was where Ellis worked, as the partners are elsewhere described as "our enterprising young hardware men."]
8/23/1906: Two Electric Storms: This vicinity has been visited by two severe electrical storms, the first occurring last Friday and the last one Sunday. During Friday’s storm H.G. LACEY, residing two miles east of town, had two good horses killed by lighting. A number of farmers report the loss of hay stacks. During Sunday’s storm, Theo. GARRETT, residing five miles west of town had a good horse killed, and Wm. C. THREEWITT of Meacham, also reports the loss of a good horse. In the vicinity of Farina and LaClede the wind did great damage to the orchards and the apples. In many orchards the fruit was estimated to be one-half destroyed. Sunday afternoon the farm house of William JONES, one mile south of Miletus, was struck by lightening to two places and considerable damage done, but fortunately the house did not catch on fire. Several young people of the neighborhood had gathered in this place to spend the afternoon and all received a shock and were knocked unconscious for a time, some being worse affected than other, but no one was seriously hurt. The residence of Ellis WOLFE, in this city, was in the way of the lighting and received a slight wound [I think this might have been another house]. Mrs. S.B. SARCHET received quite a severe shock which lasted for several minutes but she escaped without much injury only a bad scare. Taking everything into consideration, our city and citizens were very fortunate in escaping as luckily as we did.
4/4/1907: we discover that Mr. Wolfe was a Republican, as he ran for Town Collector (and lost).
6/6/1907: Firm Dissolved: The hardware firm of TOMLINSON & WOLFE have dissolved partnership and Mr. WOLFE has retired from the firm. Mr. TOMLINSON will continue the business at the old stand where he invites your patronage. [still not sure if this is the same Mr. Wolfe.]
1/21/1909: Advertisement: When in need of Nails, Bolts, Locks of all kinds, axes, hatchets, hammers, pocket knives, table cutlery, copper nickel plated ware, heating stoves, cook stoves, ranges, pumps, kitchen sinks, etc., etc. I’ll be glad to show you. Ellis WOLFE. [I guess it was teh same Mr. Wolfe!]
2/11/1909: - Fire Dept. Elects: A meeting of the members of the Kinmundy Volunteer Fire Department was held last Friday evening and the following officers were elected for the ensuing year: N.A. RICE - Chief; Ellis WOLFE - 1st Ass’t Chief; F.W. KILLIE - 2d Ass’t Chief; J.T. BROWN - Engine Foreman; W.H. STORRS - Ass’t Engine Foreman; C.F. PRUETT - Hose Captain; J.L. LASWELL - 1st Ass’t Hose Captain; G.M. NIRIDER - 2d Ass’t Hose Captain; F.E. NELMS, Marion BRANSON, F.O. GRISSOM - Ladder Man; F.O. GRISSOM - Sec. and Treas. The Treasurer’s report for the past year was read showing a balance on hand of $24.39. The 1st Assistant Chief was instructed two axes to be added to the engine equipment. On motion the department adjourned to meet on Friday night, Feb. 26, at which time all members are requested to be present.
8/24/1911: Ellis wolfe is listed as having a telephone, along with numerous others.
2/8/1912: Members of the Kinmundy Fire Dept. met last Friday in pursuant to a call by Chief C.F. PRUETT. The Annual Election of officers was held, and elected were: Geo. W. SNELLING, Chief; Ellis WOLFE, 1st Asst.; C.F. PRUETT, 2nd Asst.; J.L LASWELL, Hose Capt.; C.B. MENDENHALL, 1st Asst.; F.W. KILLIE, 2nd Asst.; G.M. NIRIDER, 3rd Asst.; F.E. NELMS, Ladder Captain; B.J. ROTAN, Asst.; J.T. BROWN, Engineman; Andrew JACKSON, Asst.; F.O. GRISSOM, Sec.-Treas.
4/25/1912: The Senior Play at GRAY’s Opera House; Wednesday, May 1st, Cupid at Vassar. A College Comedy in Four Acts. Cast of Characters; Myron ROSS, Clarence CONANT, Leon HANNA, Hugh SPENCER, Lauretta SCOTT, Elsie ROHRBOUGH, Josephine O’BRIEN, Ruby HULTS, Ruth DOOLEN, Vera BARGH, Bess BRYAN, Dorothy DOOLEN, Marcelline WOLFE. Doors Open 7:30. Curtain 8:30. Admission 25 cents. Children 12 years of age 15 cents.
9/5/1912: On Sunday afternoon, Sept. 1, 1912, at the home of the bride’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. Ellis WOLFE in the presence of a few relatives and friends, occurred the marriage of their daughter, Marceline E. to Mr. Edwin D. WILLIAMS, of Terre Haute. At 2:30 o’clock the bride and groom attended by Miss Lois NELMS, of this city, and Mr. Arch MORROW, of Chicago entered the parlor to the strains of the wedding march played by Mrs. Frank DAVIS, where the beautiful ring ceremony was pronounced by Rev. R.D. WOODLEY of the First Methodist Church. After hearty congratulations the guest were invited to the dining room where delightful refreshments were served. The couple received many beautiful and useful presents. The bride is the oldest daughter of Mr. and Mrs. WOLFE and enjoys a large circle of friends and acquaintances and is one of Kinmundy’s most highly respected young ladies; she will be greatly missed by her many friends and classmates. The groom is a young man of high, moral character, and holds a good position in the Auditing dept. of the Vandalia Line at Terre Haute; he has quite a large acquaintance here, especially among the young people. The happy couple departed Monday morning for Terre Haute where they will make their future home.
1/29/1914:- Mrs. Edwin WILLIAMS and babe of Terre Haute, are visiting here with her parents, Ellis WOLFE and family.
4/23/1914: In the school election Saturday, J.F. DONOVAN was elected president, and E.W. DOOLEN and I.D. INGRAM, members of the board. The hold-over members of the board are W.W. LOWE, W.H. GRAY, C.S. NEIL, and Ellis WOLFE.
12/19/1917: Mrs. Edwin WILLIAMS and little daughter, Valeda, of Pittsburg, Pa. are visiting here with her parents, Ellis WOLFE and family.
4/17/1921: Mrs. Ellis WOLFE and daughter, Edith, and mother, Mrs. NELMS left Monday for Centralia where they plan to make their home. Mr. WOLFE is employed there. [This is why I say it's impossible for the house to have been built in 1925. Why would they build a house here when they never again lived in Kinmundy?]
After this point, it's all news about the family, and none about the house.
6/8/1922: June 7th was the 78th birthday of Mrs. E.E. NELMS, former resident of our city now living in Centralia. There was a surprise given for her on June 4th at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Ellis WOLFE, of Centralia. All of her living children were there to give her a birthday surprise.
10/19/1922: Emma E. WINTERROWD was born in Shelbyville, Ind. on June 7, 1844, and died at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Ellis WOLFE, in Centralia on Oct. 16, 1922. She married Anderson DEIWERT in early life and with her family she moved to Effingham, Ill. She married John T. NELMS, and they moved to Kinmundy in about 1870. He died Dec. 29, 1890. The children were raised in Kinmundy. When her health began to fail about 2 years ago, she made her home with her daughter, Mrs. Dudie WOLFE. She leaves her mother; Mrs. Ellis WOLFE of Centralia; 4 sons, Myron DEIWERT of Everett, Wash.; John H. NELMS of Kinmundy; Frank E. of Centralia; and Maurice B. of Hindsboro, Ill. Also 11 grandchildren, 8 great-grandchildren, and 2 brothers, L.H. WINTERROWD and E.A. WINTERROWD of Ennis, Texas; 3 sisters, Mrs. Nora RAMSEY, Mrs. Delia EVANS, and Mrs. Ella ADAMS. Services were held at the Christian Church here with burial in Evergreen Cemetery. [That's kind of sad, that her daughter gave her a party and six months later it's a funeral.]
8/7/1924: Last Monday evening, Miss Dorothy PRUETT married Dr. H.A. LANDESS, both of this city. Miss PRUETT and Dr. LANDESS were accompanied to Salem by Miss Edith WOLFE of Centralia, Mr. James MORGAN, and Mr. and Mrs. R.J. ANDREWS of this city. The marriage was performed at the M.E. parsonage in Salem. The bridal party was entertained afterwards at the home of Mr. and Mrs. John W. DOOLEN of that city. The bride is graduated from K.H.S. in ‘23, attended 1 semester at DePauw University in Greencastle, Ind, and this spring attended S.I.N.U. at Carbondale. "Doc" is a popular young dentist in this city. Dr. LANDESS is the only son of Mrs. J.O. WILLSEY of Ashley, Ill. He graduated from St. Louis Washington Dental College in ‘23. The couple will make their home here.
8/27/1925: Swift School Items: A birthday party was held at Mark SWIFT’s for his birthday. Those present were: Otis CHARLTON and wife, Thurman McCULLEY and family, Jeffie McCULLEY and family, Ellis WOLFE and wife of Centralia, and Gerald STRONG, uncle and aunt of Champaign.
8/18/1932: A son was born to Mr. and Mrs. Edwin WILLIAMS on Aug. 11, weighing 8 lbs. The mother is formerly Miss Mercelline WOLF(sic).
2/28/1935: - Mr. and Mrs. Ellis WOLFE of Centralia, announce the marriage of their daughter, Miss Edythe (sic), to Mr. Rolland J. HEPP, which took place Feb. 20 at St. Mary’s Church in Centralia.
4/29/1937: Mr. and Mrs. John NELMS were host and hostess to the NELMS family Sunday in honor of Mr. NELMS brother and wife, Mr. and Mrs. Myron DEIWERT of Everett, Wash. The party attended the morning service at the Methodist Church after which dinner was served at the noon hour at the ARNOLD home. The afternoon was spent in the John NELMS’ home, where the family in jovial mood, with gay repartee and reminiscent stories, whiled away the hours. A number of years had passed since the brothers and sister, Mrs. Ellis WOLFE, had been together. In the family party were Mr. and Mrs. John NELMS, Mr. and Mrs. Myron DEIWERT, Mr. and Mrs. Frank NELMS, Mr. and Mrs. Maurice NELMS, Mr. and Mrs. Ellis WOLFE, of Centralia, and Mr. and Mrs. Lois NELMS ROBB and son, Howard.
4/27/1939: Mr. Ellis WOLFE, a former Kinmundian, has recently sold his tin shop in Centralia, and retired from the business world. He and Mrs. WOLFE are comfortably situated on their little farm south of Sandoval.
5/11/1939: Mrs. Edith SHULTZ, nee WOLF [Edith Wolfe Hepp must be named after this aunt], of Chicago, returned home Sunday after spending a few days with her cousin, Mrs. Florence SHRIVER. Mrs. SHULTZ, her brother and wife, Mr. and Mrs. Ellis WOLF of Centralia motored to Champaign Sunday to the home of Mr. and Mrs. WOLF’s son-in-law and daughter’s, Mr. and Mrs. Edward WILLIAMS, where they celebrated Mr. WOLF’s birthday at dinner.
5/7/1942: At the regular meeting of the Kinmundy Lodge A..F. & A.M., Ellis WOLFE was presented with a gold button signifying that he had been a Mason for 50 years.
3/18/1943: Mr. and Mrs. Ellis WOLFE of Sandoval spent Saturday here with Mr. and Mrs. J.H. NELMS. They just sold their property south of Sandoval and are looking for a new home. We tried to tell them there was only one place for them to locate and that was right here in Kinmundy. [these folks were obviously well loved here..]
6/17/1943: Mrs. Lois ROBB entertained to dinner, honoring her father, J.H. NELMS on his 75th birthday. Those present were Mr. and Mrs. J.H. NELMS, Mrs. Alma NELMS, Mrs. Hazel SEIMER, and Mr. and Mrs. Ellis WOLFE of Centralia.
I really hope I can find out more. The more I know, the more I want to know.
Sunday, April 09, 2006
House Rehab Illustrated
I finally remembered to bring the camera. Included herein are images of the kitchen, so far; before/after images of the front door; some cool Basement Archaeology shots; and other things, with my typical boring narration. Oh, and please pardon our dust and construction debris. Everywhere.
And Now, to the Pictures!
First, the kitchen, before:
Bleh. Notice the grimy blue carpet. It's glued down ... with wood glue.
and so far:
The cabinets are being painted flat black (blackboard paint), with silver lower doors, and Safety Red drawers and upper doors. I cleaned the chromed handles, which are all the same for the main bank of cabinets (BTW, magic eraser sponges work great for this, with a bit of degreaser for the greasy parts - my friend K. thought I had replated them!), then picked out the six most worn ones and sprayed them black with epoxy paint. Those six went on the matte silver doors, and the cleaned chrome ones look wonderful against the red painted drawers.
We plan to do the same to the sink cabinet, but it involves a bit more work to take apart. Plus we need to buy more paint...
I am really loving how the cheapo sticky tiles are making the old floor look larger. It's not ideal, and not period to the house, but we'll have a kitchen we can enjoy until we can do better.
And now, the Original Front Door (now the living room interior door), with Icky Kwiky goldtone lockset:
and without:
The paint is pretty bad, yes, but cleaning the hardware and making it pretty can wait until we're in the house. Removing the offending modern lockset prior to moving in could not wait. And it still looks better than it did.
I'm no Indiana Jones, but I did discover some cool stuff in the cellar.
For example, when you look up and you aren't busy being terrified by Horrible Old Wiring, you can find some bizarre things, like an old Esso sign being used to fit the new ductwork under the original coal furnace heat vent:
Plus, I think the part that was cut out is leaning against a wall elsewhere. Neat.
Now, I know it's not cellar related, but do you remember these?
Anyway, those panels? They're made of another old sign:
I think the rest of it has been used to make the interior cellar door solid, and that's a whole entry all by itself. Anyway, get a load of the name - "Critic Feeds" :D
Back to creeping around in the basement. I stuck the camera through a hole I punched in the plastic stapled over the access to the foundation of the dining room bay, adn I took some photos, to see what was there.
I found an old porch swing and some mouldings:
and what probably happened to parts of the original kitchen cabinets:
Yep, that's what they are. I don't think they are salvageable. Makes you sad, too, doesn't it? At least I will have references to use when we do get around to doing the Big Kitchen Renovation.
And finally, to close, here's a couple of images of the old (but not original) coal furnace:
More photos later, but this is a good start. I still haven't found any stamping, but I'm too pregnant to fit through the attic access panel, which is where i'm most liekly to find marks.
And Now, to the Pictures!
First, the kitchen, before:
Bleh. Notice the grimy blue carpet. It's glued down ... with wood glue.
and so far:
The cabinets are being painted flat black (blackboard paint), with silver lower doors, and Safety Red drawers and upper doors. I cleaned the chromed handles, which are all the same for the main bank of cabinets (BTW, magic eraser sponges work great for this, with a bit of degreaser for the greasy parts - my friend K. thought I had replated them!), then picked out the six most worn ones and sprayed them black with epoxy paint. Those six went on the matte silver doors, and the cleaned chrome ones look wonderful against the red painted drawers.
We plan to do the same to the sink cabinet, but it involves a bit more work to take apart. Plus we need to buy more paint...
I am really loving how the cheapo sticky tiles are making the old floor look larger. It's not ideal, and not period to the house, but we'll have a kitchen we can enjoy until we can do better.
And now, the Original Front Door (now the living room interior door), with Icky Kwiky goldtone lockset:
and without:
The paint is pretty bad, yes, but cleaning the hardware and making it pretty can wait until we're in the house. Removing the offending modern lockset prior to moving in could not wait. And it still looks better than it did.
I'm no Indiana Jones, but I did discover some cool stuff in the cellar.
For example, when you look up and you aren't busy being terrified by Horrible Old Wiring, you can find some bizarre things, like an old Esso sign being used to fit the new ductwork under the original coal furnace heat vent:
Plus, I think the part that was cut out is leaning against a wall elsewhere. Neat.
Now, I know it's not cellar related, but do you remember these?
Anyway, those panels? They're made of another old sign:
I think the rest of it has been used to make the interior cellar door solid, and that's a whole entry all by itself. Anyway, get a load of the name - "Critic Feeds" :D
Back to creeping around in the basement. I stuck the camera through a hole I punched in the plastic stapled over the access to the foundation of the dining room bay, adn I took some photos, to see what was there.
I found an old porch swing and some mouldings:
and what probably happened to parts of the original kitchen cabinets:
Yep, that's what they are. I don't think they are salvageable. Makes you sad, too, doesn't it? At least I will have references to use when we do get around to doing the Big Kitchen Renovation.
And finally, to close, here's a couple of images of the old (but not original) coal furnace:
More photos later, but this is a good start. I still haven't found any stamping, but I'm too pregnant to fit through the attic access panel, which is where i'm most liekly to find marks.
Lockset Archaeology, plus more working lights!
We spent yesterday continuing with the electrical work and moving original parts of the house around. Now, thanks to our Wonderful Freinds, we have a hallway light fixture, and my son's room has light, and things are really moving along that way. So well, in fact, that we need to buy some more wire :)
However, Chris and I did stuff not related to electrical work. We went looking for various bits of hardware that had been relocated over the years and tried to put it back. This kind of thing is one of my favorite rehab activities - I get to play archaeologist.
I was started on that path because our original (now interior, as our porch was enclosed 10 years ago) front door had had its lockset and attendant hardware removed and replaced with a modern Kwikset lockset (YUCK! I despise shiny yellow goldtone) sometime in the last 30-odd years. There have not been any keys for that lockset for nearly 15 years (according to the PO), so we were going to have to remove it, no matter what, and replace it with something that our 3-year-old can't use to permanently exclude us from the house.
I thought of something odd I had seen on the (now interior - also has a now-enclosed porch) back door, involving a knob/key plate that didn't look like it was set right. It looked too large, and the interior one, while smaller, was still larger than the rest of the interior plates. This matched up nicely with the scars on the front door, as did the edge face of the lockset, once we removed the Icky Kwicky lockset and knobs. I delightedly disinstalled the relocated mortise lockset and brought it into the living room, where Chris was working on the door.
Chris observed that the latch was going the wrong way, and said that this must not be the right set. I pointed out that somebody had clearly disassembled the lockbox and removed the deadbolt (I'm guessing about the time the key disappeared) and the button stops (privacy knob-locks). It looks very similar to this repro mortise lockset, but is made of iron with steel working parts. Chris then unscrewed the two screws, pulled out the latch and flipped it over, and put it all back together. After all that, it worked fine and tapped into its original hole perfectly. We still have to strip off the eighty-one billion layers of old paint from the plates, and then refinish them and the knobs, but it already looks a million times better.
Yes, our internal kitchen/back door is now without knobs, but I know where its originals went (and plan to harvest them and replace them), and the latch hadn't lined up with the (wrong) strikeplate for decades anyway. It had locked with first a twist bolt (since painted into oblivion) and then a small surface bolt for ages and ages.
I have ambitous plans for relocating various doors throughout the house so they are more useful (such as the all-glass basement entry and its lovely old wood-framed screen door, the current interior kitchen rear door, and the old kitchen/hall door). There are two non-original, but clearly older, doors that are going to go away to more appropriate homes once the doorway shuffling is complete.
There's also some strangely located edge molding that was stuck into the cellar stair doorway in addition to the stop molding. For no good reason. That will also be removed, stripped and reused in one of the several places such molding was yanked out. But it can wait. Next winter, maybe...
As for future plans, anyone have shellacking or varnishing tips for me? I'll need to coat the cleaned door/window hardware to make it match any non-painted stuff that still exists in the house, as all the hardware was in place when the wood was finished, with shellac. And our windows in the dining room bay need to be refinished, as there's old water damage from before the storm windows went on.
Why is it, that as soon as a task gets struck from the list, two more spring up to take its place?
However, Chris and I did stuff not related to electrical work. We went looking for various bits of hardware that had been relocated over the years and tried to put it back. This kind of thing is one of my favorite rehab activities - I get to play archaeologist.
I was started on that path because our original (now interior, as our porch was enclosed 10 years ago) front door had had its lockset and attendant hardware removed and replaced with a modern Kwikset lockset (YUCK! I despise shiny yellow goldtone) sometime in the last 30-odd years. There have not been any keys for that lockset for nearly 15 years (according to the PO), so we were going to have to remove it, no matter what, and replace it with something that our 3-year-old can't use to permanently exclude us from the house.
I thought of something odd I had seen on the (now interior - also has a now-enclosed porch) back door, involving a knob/key plate that didn't look like it was set right. It looked too large, and the interior one, while smaller, was still larger than the rest of the interior plates. This matched up nicely with the scars on the front door, as did the edge face of the lockset, once we removed the Icky Kwicky lockset and knobs. I delightedly disinstalled the relocated mortise lockset and brought it into the living room, where Chris was working on the door.
Chris observed that the latch was going the wrong way, and said that this must not be the right set. I pointed out that somebody had clearly disassembled the lockbox and removed the deadbolt (I'm guessing about the time the key disappeared) and the button stops (privacy knob-locks). It looks very similar to this repro mortise lockset, but is made of iron with steel working parts. Chris then unscrewed the two screws, pulled out the latch and flipped it over, and put it all back together. After all that, it worked fine and tapped into its original hole perfectly. We still have to strip off the eighty-one billion layers of old paint from the plates, and then refinish them and the knobs, but it already looks a million times better.
Yes, our internal kitchen/back door is now without knobs, but I know where its originals went (and plan to harvest them and replace them), and the latch hadn't lined up with the (wrong) strikeplate for decades anyway. It had locked with first a twist bolt (since painted into oblivion) and then a small surface bolt for ages and ages.
I have ambitous plans for relocating various doors throughout the house so they are more useful (such as the all-glass basement entry and its lovely old wood-framed screen door, the current interior kitchen rear door, and the old kitchen/hall door). There are two non-original, but clearly older, doors that are going to go away to more appropriate homes once the doorway shuffling is complete.
There's also some strangely located edge molding that was stuck into the cellar stair doorway in addition to the stop molding. For no good reason. That will also be removed, stripped and reused in one of the several places such molding was yanked out. But it can wait. Next winter, maybe...
As for future plans, anyone have shellacking or varnishing tips for me? I'll need to coat the cleaned door/window hardware to make it match any non-painted stuff that still exists in the house, as all the hardware was in place when the wood was finished, with shellac. And our windows in the dining room bay need to be refinished, as there's old water damage from before the storm windows went on.
Why is it, that as soon as a task gets struck from the list, two more spring up to take its place?
Wednesday, April 05, 2006
More Inaction & some book nerditude
Well, this week has so far been mostly taken up with non-house time commitments - doctor's appointments, historical society meeting, grocery shopping. However, a couple of good things came of it.
First, we now own a copy of the Schoolhouse Electric catalog. WOW! We definitely want to upgrade to some of those fixtures in the future. Lots of them are perfect for our house.
Next, I'm an enormous book nerd. I used to be a bookstore employee, prior to finally becoming a professional graphic artist about 10 years ago. So, in that vein, here is my book geekery for those who care to read it:
Dover Books offered me a Presidents' Day discount coupon ( I saved a whopping 10 bucks, but I had wanted to get some more books for a long while now) and I took advantage of it to buy some references.
And, finally, some I'd like to get:
First, we now own a copy of the Schoolhouse Electric catalog. WOW! We definitely want to upgrade to some of those fixtures in the future. Lots of them are perfect for our house.
Next, I'm an enormous book nerd. I used to be a bookstore employee, prior to finally becoming a professional graphic artist about 10 years ago. So, in that vein, here is my book geekery for those who care to read it:
Dover Books offered me a Presidents' Day discount coupon ( I saved a whopping 10 bucks, but I had wanted to get some more books for a long while now) and I took advantage of it to buy some references.
- The 1912 and 1915 Gustav Stickley Craftsman Furniture Catalogs
- Aladdin "Built in a Day" House Catalog, 1917
- Easy-to-Make Arts and Crafts Lamps and Shades
- Arts and Crafts Designs
This was mostly purchased for the purpose of getting a better idea of the overall look of a furnished Craftsman house. I might keep it, but I may also donate it as I already have a much more practical reference for building my own repro furniture.
I bought this, just in case my house might be an Aladdin, since Rosemary Thornton can't pinpoint it as any particular Sears kit model. So far, I've determined that it clearly isn't an Aladdin, either (all the hardware/details being Sears items is a big giveaway there). However, this catalog shows several light fixtures identical to several that are reproduced by Schoolhouse Electric. If you have an Aladdin, they are definitely the company to get your replacement fixtures from!
Since I've answered my own question, this catalog will probably get donated to the local library. There are probably at least a couple of Aladdins around here, since they were the other major manufacturer of kit houses in this region.
I bought this out of curiosity, and I may actually be getting quite a bit of use out of it. The instructions are for making lampshades (and building lamps and light fixtures) out of cheap, lightweight materials. Very Sexy. Chris has been inspired.
I bought this as I have several other Dover Pictorial Archive books from the Art Nouveau and Arts&Crafts periods. I was hoping it would have new things. Unfortunately, no. Most of the things in it are redrawn from other sources, all of which I have. However, if you want a nice cheap general design ref and can only afford one, it's worth it. This is going to the library, too.
- Making Authentic Craftsman Furniture: Instructions and Plans for 62 Projects
- Authentic Designs from the American Arts and Crafts Movement
- Art Nouveau: An Anthology of Design and Illustration from "The Studio"
- Art Nouveau Animal Designs and Patterns: 60 Plates in Full Color
- A Treasury of Art Nouveau Design & Ornament
I LOVE this book. It's great, and if you have the basic skills and tools, you can make great stuff using the diagrams. It's what I'm using to help me plan my built-in buffet (an eventuality).
This is a nice reference, but mostly really useful for graphic artists and ceramicists. I like it, and it has many of the designs that are redrawn in Arts and Crafts Designs.
Art Nouveau, of course, but I am as much in love with this style as I am with the Arts&Crafts style (which was both a companion and a reaction to it). Lots of great stuff in here :)
In addition to having fabulous designs in it (this is the book from which one of the small historical wallpaper companies drew its lavendar and green bat wallpaper), this book is a great color reference, and while it's title says it's Art Nouveau, it clearly demonstrates the stylistic flow from Art Nouveau to Arts&Crafts and finally showing the beginnings of Art Deco. A great reference for anyone who loves these styles.
This one has lots of designs suitable for making stencils or wall murals from, if you are at all ambitious. Also a great all around graphic reference.
And, finally, some I'd like to get:
- Limbert Arts and Crafts Furniture: The Complete 1903 Catalog
- Arts and Crafts Stained Glass Coloring Book
- Arts and Crafts Stained Glass Pattern Book
- Floral Stained Glass Lampshades
- Arts and Crafts Furniture: The Complete Brooks Catalog of 1912
- Stickley Craftsman Furniture Catalogs
- Craftsman Homes
- More Craftsman Homes
- Craftsman Bungalows: 59 Homes from "the Craftsman"
I just want to get a copy of this because I like the odd combination of basic and wacky that is embodied in this furniture.
See, I'm a big kid, and I love coloring books. I can't come up with a better excuse.
I'm not a glass craftsperson, but I have a friend who is. I really just want to give her this.
I do, however, have a better excuse for this one. I might be able to adapt the designs to the Easy-to-Make Arts and Crafts Lamps and Shades instructions. I can dream.
This is just me wanting to have every available reference. Greed, plain and simple. ;)
I just want to see this one. If I buy it, it will probably end up in the library too.
These are fairly obvious. I want to find a house plan like my house. It might be in one of these books. Ah, if I had disposable income!
Well, also, there are lots of interior images in these books which might be useful in my renovation. But I really don't need to be buying these books :)
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