Speaking on Family History at Cornerstone Community Church

Here's my powerpoint presentation from my talks at Cornerstone on May 18 and May 25, 2014. Thanks for coming.

Genealogy 101 extended version for Cornerstone 052614 v2 from Bill Leslie

Never forget, never.

Is it love?  Respect?  Honor?

Perhaps all of the above.  Whichever, we need more of it.  Never forget

http://videos.komando.com/watch/5259/viral-videos-this-woman-searched-for-her-mia-husband-for-68-years-youll-never-believe-what-she-found

Family History: Sometimes you get the shivers

Every once in a while, a family historian will find something that gives the shivers.  It can be pleasant, or unpleasant.  And sometimes, it can be very intense.  That happened to me.

Like many families, my family wasn't close.  After my folks divorced when I was five, I almost never saw my father's siblings.  His brother, George Leslie, lived in California, so that was easy to explain.  His sister lived about fifteen miles away, so that was harder to explain.  But like many families, it was what it was.  (Shrug.)

Dad's brother was George Leslie.  I saw him a few times when I was a kid, and then once, just by chance, when I was 28, and then never again.  I used to be amazed at how seldom my wife got together with her cousins, but later I realized that my own cousins were complete strangers.

George passed away some time ago.  I reconnected with his wife, my Aunt Pat, a few years later, and the family historian in me kicked in.  I asked Pat about George, and what he had been like.  It quickly became clear that we would have liked each other a lot.  She said that we had the same sense of humor, an interest in history, and broad other interests.  George was career military, which had been a dream of mine until I realized that I would flunk the vision portion of the physical. 

When we got down to details, my hair stood up.  George graduated from Oregon State University in 1939. I graduated from Oregon State University in 1979, exactly forty years later. Cool. We walked the same campus, studied in the same halls. Stood under the same trees to get out of the rain. 

After the war, the army decided that George needed more education to become a senior officer.  (He ended up a full Colonel.)  So they sent him to the University of Pittsburgh, where he earned his MBA, in 1947.

My career took me to Pittsburgh as well.  I graduated from the University of Pittsburgh.  You guessed it, in 1987.  Exactly forty years after my Uncle George.

It's interesting to realize that I probably walked the same pathways and hallways as my Uncle George, not dozens, but literally hundreds of times. 

Sorry I didn't get to know you, Uncle George. 

Old books, old memories, and the Whitman Massacre

In the July, 1966 issue of The Denver Westerners Monthly Roundup there is a fascinating article called Adventures in Americana, by Clifford M. Drury.  Drury, once a pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Moscow, Idaho, is a fine researcher in his own right.  He has a passion for the history of the Northwest, and it shows.  In the 1960s he began to nose around the history of the earliest white settlers of the northwest.  His technique is seldom used, but it works.  He asked.  He visited living descendents of early pioneers  Or he asked who were the oldest people living in the area, and walked up to their door and asked if they had old books and papers. 

Several times, he arrived just a little too late, after important documents or papers were tossed, or burned up in a fire. 

He collected some fascinating information on the Whitman massacre in this manner. 
Visit with your ancestors, and collect their memories. Write it all down.  Sit down with grandma and grandpa, and write names on the back of all of the old photographs.  One hundred years from now, you will be remembered fondly.

If I had my life to live over...

If I had my life to live over,

I'd try to make more mistakes next time.

I would relax.

I would limber up.

I would be sillier than I have been on this trip.

I know of very few things I would take seriously.

I would be crazier.

I would be less hygienic.

I would take more chances.

I would take more trips.

I would climb more mountains,

    swim more rivers, and watch more sunsets.

I would burn more gasoline.

I would eat more ice cream and less beans.

I would have more actual troubles and fewer

    imaginary ones.

You see, I am one of those people who lives

    carefully and sensibly and sanely,

    hour after hour, day after day.

Oh, I've had my moments and,

    if I had it to do over, I'd have

    more of them.

In fact, I'd try to have nothing else.

Just moments, one after the other,

    instead of living so many years ahead

    each day.

I have been one of those people who never goes

    anywhere without a thermometer, a hot water

    bottle, a gargle, a raincoat, and a parachute.

If I had it to do over again, I would go places

    and do things and travel lighter than I have. If I had my life to live over, I would start barefooted earlier in the spring and stay that way later in the fall.

I would play hookey more.

I wouldn't make such good grades except by

    accident.

I would ride on more merry-go-rounds.

I'd pick more daisies.

Nadine Stair, 87

Louisville, Kentucky

120413 

(Following newspaper article courtesy of Linda Clements, of the Dayton Valley (Nevada) Historical Society.  Thank you, Linda, for all you do to preserve the history of your community.)

============================

Reno Evening Gazette July 29, 1939

Pioneer Family of Dayton Took Prominent Part in Early Day Activities of Busy MIll

and Farm Community

Children Reside in Nevada Still, and are All Well Known.

By Mrs. Thurlow Douglas, written under the sponsorship of the Sagebrush chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, as one of a series of articles on Nevada pioneer families.

George Alexander Leslie, whose ancestors were Scotch, and his wife, Ann Howard Leslie of Newton Moor, Cheshire, England, arrived in Dayton in 1862.  They came from Utah Territory, where Mr. Leslie had furnished supplies for the army during the time the army was in Utah.  He had amassed considerable property there, a store at Camp Floyd, another at Fort Lehigh, two grist mills, stock, and land.

Had he left the territory with the army, he would have fared better, for good times for him and his family departed with the army.  When he did leave, he was fortunate to salvage several big six-horse wagons loaded with grain and his family.  At that time his family consisted of his wife and three children- George, Lillie, and Minnie May, the latter being a babe in arms.  Belle Leslie was born later in Dayton.

His objective on leaving the Utah Territory was California, but when he reached Dayton on the Carson River there was a placer gold boom on Gold Creek which ran through Dayton.  There the family made their camp on the spot where, years afterward, the railroad depot stood.  The family lived in Dayton for many years, until both parents died and were laid to rest in the peaceful Dayton cemetery.

Shortly after arriving in Dayton, Mr. Leslie purchased four blocks of land and had a substantial home, still standing, built.  An office and stables entirely enclosed one block of his land and he conducted a big hay and grain yard until his death.  He also built an immense stone barn which is still a landmark of Dayton.  One interesting item concerning the stone barn is that when Grant and Seymour were opponents for election to the United States presidency a bet was made between two men of whom one was a rancher, as to which candidate would be elected.  One of the men posted $2,000 in gold coin against $2,500 of the rancher’s grain.  The rancher lost and the grain was stored in the Leslie barn where the children of the neighborhood played happily among the grain sacks until the grain sacks finally were piled to the top of the barn.  

During the Civil War feeling in Dayton ran high between the Republicans and the Democrats.  Leslie was a staunch Democrat, but was a great admirer of President Lincoln and a believer in his policies.  He was bitterly grieved when news of the President’s assassination reached Dayton.

While conducting his hay and grain yard, Leslie invested in Como mining ventures adn lost heavily.  After his death, among his assets was found a whole chest full of Como mining certificates, all worthless at that time.

The three Leslie girls, Lillie, Minnie, and Belle all taught school and also assisted in church and cultural activities in Dayton and elsewhere.  They married and established homes of their own in Nevada.  Lillie married a mine and mill owner, Albert J. Taylor of Silver City.  three of her four children are still living.  William Leslie (“Big Dick”) a mining engineer, Chester C. Taylor (Little Dick”), traveling engineer under the Taylor Grazing Act, and Mrs. Hazel Cain, wife of a California business man.

Minnie married John Edwards Bray, who did much for the educational system of the state and served over eight years as State superintendent of public instruction.  Her older daughter, Florence Leslie Bray, died on December 30, 1933.  Mrs. Bray and her younger daughter Mildred Bray make their home in Carson City.  Mildred Bray is at present superintendent of schools for Nevada.   

According to an early history of Nevada, John Bray was superintendent of hte Lyon County schools in 1881.  He and Miss Minnnie Leslie were teachers of he Dayton school at that time.  Quoting from the historical record:

“It was remarked by the Hon. John Swett, one of the most experienced teachers in the United States and now principal of the Girl’s High School in San Francisco, while present at an Institute held in Virginia City in 1880, that hit was a pleasure for him to meet the teachers of this state, that he found them sprightly and familiar with the details of their work, and that they lost nothing by comparison with the teachers with whom he was co-worker in California.”

Bell married Ed Hancock, well-known machinist and they celebrated their golden wedding anniversary this week.  They have four living children:  Mrs. Edna Hardy, a successful teacher in Fernley; J. Leslie Hancock,  division engineer of the state highway department in Reno; Leonard Hancock, prominent young business man of Carson City; and Mrs. Florence Cool, a talented singer and happy housewife of Oakland.  Mr. and Mrs. Ed Hancock live in Reno.  

Devoted to Nevada, the three daughters of this pioneer couple who crossed plains in covered wagons have always been glad that destiny directed their parents to western Nevada.

(Ed:  Article includes some rather rough newspaper photos of Mrs. Ed Hancock, of Reno in 1914, of Mrs. Minnie Bray, of Carson City, and of Mrs. George A. Leslie, in 1868.)

Gresham Outlook March 1, 1929
The Reuben Peterson family will move Monday from the Lusted house, on Kenney St., to the Easton house, on Second Street.  (Ed:  Both the Easton house and the Lusted house were apparently rentals, and it seems likely that both were owned by relatives of mine.  Annie Easton was born Annie Leslie, my grandfather George Leslie's sister.)

Gresham Outlook 03/26/1929
Mr. & Mrs. William Chaney and son Raymond of Portland were guests Sunday of Mr. & Mrs. F.G. Gillett
(Ed:  Raymond's son, Patrick Chaney, married my sister Marti.  Here, Raymond would have been about six.)

Gresham Outlook 07/26/1929
Mr. & Mrs. Edward Hancock of Reno, Nevada visited for a few days this week with George Leslie and MR. & Mrs. A.W. Easton.  Mrs. Hancock is a sister of MR. Leslie and an aunt of Mrs. Easton.  A trip around the Mt. Hood Loop was enjoyed with Mr. & Mrs. Clarence Zeek and son Leslie, of LaCenter, Washington.  A stop was made at the home of Mr. & Mrs. Joseph Comstock, son-in-law and daughter of Mrs. Easton. (Ed:  Had lost track of George Leslie's sisters.  Here's a clue that will lead to one, in Nevada. )