Pictures and Genealogy

I just received a new disc from my brother Ron today and have been , thanks to the help I got from Nemiha, putting them on our Family Records. I never knew just how they would bring back so many memories for me. You know the family left the East when I was just 6 years old. Mom and I went back for a visit in 1938 and that was the last time I saw the family all
together. A couple of Moms brothers came to California a few times, but I was much older,
and wasn't around when they were visiting. They stayed with Uncle Bill in South Gate.
I thought it might give you some insight into some of the individuals when you look at their pictures as you never met any of them.
Uncle Daniel Luther Hall - was a potter by trade and raised prize Chickens and was a Chicken Judge at the Fairs in Ohio. The oldest of the Hall Family, he carried a pretty heavy load when
James Madison Hall deserted the family in 1902. He married and had a large family of his own.
Uncle Simon Clarence Hall - was a potter by trade but was also a business man. Had trained as
a bookkeeper and had a lovely handwritting. Back then, men were the clerks, etc. and needed to be able to write a fine hand. He owned his own market for some years and was a good butcher
as well. His wife Bertha was a large raw-boned women. She was sweet and a delight to be around. She worked in the store with Uncle Simon so they had Auth Lib come and keep house for them and care for their children while they were at the store. Made a lovely home for Aunt Lib who was the younger sister of Grandma Hall.
Eunice May Hall married Ode McKinzie. She knew the family was poor, so planned a wedding that would not make things hard for them. I didn't know Aunt Eunice well. She was so much older than Mom. We visited their home, where I learned to love the family. Aunt Eunice was a large boned lady, a great cook, and very neat house keeper.
Martha Olive Hall married Harry Ellsworth Akins. She was a small woman with very narrow feet. I know that because Mom use to have to wear her hand-me-down shoes and Mom had a
Medium width foot. She developed corns on her toes from wearing Olive's shoes. There were always a great many things the family had to do to make sure everyone had what was needed.
Olive had a hard life. Her oldest daughter died as a teen ager, and her second daughter was
crippled with Polio. They had three brothers who I am sad to say were very mean to Grace. She wore braces and was very deformed from the illness. I never met anyone who was more lovely in spirit than Grace.
William James Hall had to be about the best. He married twice and I loved both of his wives. His first Naomi was a lovely lady. She was a great cook and house keeper. She could peel a potato so the skins were almost transparent. Mom said she was so jealous of Bill that is why their marriage never lasted. I suppose not being able to have children was a great sorrow to her. She never remarried and I believe she loved Bill until the day she died. His second wife Clara moved with him to California where they worked in the Potteries. They married shortly after they arrived in California. They bought a home in South Gate, CA where she raised her "dogs" and he raised his Banty Chickens. He was a Chicken Judge and was President of the Chicken Judges Association. He was well know and liked. He made all the major Fairs in California. He became our seragate dad when ours was killed. He was always there for us kids, and we loved having him with us on Holidays. He and Mom were very close.
Oliver Edward "Dick" Hall was the handsome one of the family. Mom said he didn't have to chase the girls they wouldn't leave him alone. She wondered how his wife put up with it for so many years. I guess that is what true love is, long suffering. They had a family of boys. The only daughter they had was killed when she was small when she was struck by a car.
John Richard Hall was the last son in the family. He was a potter as well. I never knew him too well. He moved with his wife and son to California and we saw them a few times, but they did not make that many visits and I was surprised they didn't keep in touch with Mom or Uncle Bill all that much. The Son was quite a business man. In an out of one thing and then another. I don't believe that is why they called him Jack instead of John, but then what do I know?
Uncle John's wife was a frail little thing and not very out going. I thought she was very attractive, but not near as easy to get to know and love as the others.
Mom was the baby of the family and she could hardly have been known as spoiled. It was always her lot to remember not to upset their mother. The effects of that left some pretty big emotional scars on Mom. Ones I was not aware of until I became much older. She resented not having a Dad like other kids.
Lets see: Luther was 14 when their Dad left the family. Simon was 13, Eunice was 11, Olive was 10, Bill was 8, John was 3 and Mom was 9 months old. Luther and Simon became the bread winners in the family. Luther worked in the Potteries and Simon went around the farms as a day laborer. Slept in barns and was paid a small amount plus his food. Every extra pennie he had he sent home to help the family. When Grandma opened a boarding house, Eunice, Olive and Mom had to help with the household chores as well as cooking. When Grandma was out on a nursing case, they were totally in charge of keeping things going.
In my day the way parents tried to keep their children in line, they told stories about how far they walked to school in the snow. When we were kids, our parents had to do little but rehearse their lives. Mom with hers and Dad with his coming from England where things were pretty great, only to find a Step-mother who wasn't the nicest person in town and a Dad who worked hard just to keep things together. Both my parents had to go to work when they were very young. I'm not sure about Dad, but I know Mom went into the Pottery when she was 12 or 13.
I knew all these people. They were brought up with great strenghts. They were bound together in a family unit that took care of each other, but mostly kept appearances up to shore up their
Mother who had been so badly treated by the man she loved and trusted.
A heritage is pretty special, especially when we can look back and see how far we have come. I had a pretty well matched set of parents. They found each other at a time when things were just moving forward following the War to end all wars. The First World War. Things were suppose to be better, but the hard times were not yet over. It would take another War and sending their sons off to fight before their fortunes would turn out better.
When doing without was the norm and stretching what little was had to go all the way around was behind them, they were still frugal and never bought on credit. If they did not have the cash, they could wait. I don't believe we kids ever knew just how much they did for us. I know we were not demanding, because no one we knew had anything more than what we had. I had wished many a time I could have a bought dress rather than one that was home made, but it
was never a big deal. I always had plenty.
I guess what I am trying to put down here is I came from a pretty amazing family. They never gave up trying to find their Dad. They never did. It was only after 95 years that the truth of
where James Madison Hall/Eaton left that the threads of the fabric were knit back together.
I am sorry the family did not realize they were within a stones throw of him most of the time.
They were pretty sure he had changed is name, but had no idea where he was. Thank goodness for a cousin who wanted to know more about her Grand Father that she started doing Genealogy. In a wild chance, she sent a letter to every "J" Rosenberg she found in Califronia.
There were 9. Bingo she found me, and I have been able to piece together from my side what they needed for their side. We have joined into an extended family and keep in touch with each other. Ron and I made a trip for a mini reunion with most of the family in Canada. What a neat trip that turned out to be. We were offically adopted by the Eatons. Since then I have learned
that Eaton is really the family name and not Hall. Not that it changes anything, but it does answer a great deal of the questions I had. So really, what is in a name? I am still trying to find out.

Written this 24th day of October 2009
by: Eileen Charmaine Smith Rosenberg