Biography of Eddie August Schneider (1911-1940) Aviator

Eddie Schneider was born October 20, 1911 on Second Avenue, and 17th Street in New York City. Later his family moved to Red Bank, New Jersey where he attended grade school. From there his family moved to Jersey City, New Jersey and he graduated from Dickinson High School. In 1928 his mother passed away and his father took him, and his sister, for a visit to Germany and Norway to visit relatives. It was in Germany that he had his first airplane flight and it was then the "bug" bit him. Eddie received his flying instructions at Roosevelt Field in 1928. In October 1929 he received his commercial pilot's license and so became the youngest commercial pilot in the United States at age eighteen. He also received in that year, his aircraft and engine mechanic's license and so again he became the youngest licensed aircraft mechanic. In August 1930 he succeded in breaking Frank Goldsborough's Junior Transcontinental record from New York to Los Angeles in 29 hours and 55 minutes, lowering the previous record by 4 hours and 22 minutes. He made the return trip in 27 hours and 19 minutes, lowering the previous record by 1 hour and 36 minutes. His total time for the round trip was 57 hours and 14 minutes, thus breaking the preceding record for the round trip, which was 62 hours and 58 minutes. His A.I.I. license was signed personally by Wilbur Wright. Following his transcontinental flight, Eddie flew to Chicago where he was one of the ouststanding personalities at the National Air Races. While there, he was highly complimented for his ability to avoid an air crash over the crowded grandstand, a crash which had it occured, would have cost a number of lives. Schneider had just taken off in his Cessna (with a Warner Scarab engine) monoplane from the Chicago field bound for the balloon races at Cleveland, when he saw the crowd scatter below. Noticing the panic, he looked up and saw the 40 foot left wing of a twenty passenger Buranelli transport plane directly over his. The youthful aviator saw passengers in the Buranelli scramble to the other side of the cabin to tilt the the sloping wing. The danger of the crash was great, and in an instant, Schneider sent his plane diving just as the Buranelli's wing scraped his. The crash was averted by the dip. The officials said his quick action in dipping his plane close to the ground and then pulling clear of the grandstand had probably averted the most serious accident in the races. He then entered in the Ford National Reliability Tour, the youngest pilot to have ever been so honored by an aircraft company. These tours were in reality effeciency races for commercial airplanes flying over a course of five thousand miles, which undoubtably made these races the longest commercial aircraft races in the world. Schneider completed the tour with further honors, winning first place for single engine aircraft and the Great Lakes Trophy. Incidently, he was the first pilot to fly a Cessna throughout the itinerary. Others had been entered in previous tours, but none had finished. Returning to New York, Schneider put in considerable time appearing in smaller air shows, where he attracted hordes of boys and girls to whom he spoke on any and all occasions, impressing upon them always the fact that any one of them could do what he was doing; that aviation belonged to them; that they should grasp the opportunity presented to them. In 1931, the Ford National Reliability Air Tour found Eddie once again a Cessna entry. During the race, the propellor broke and, causing him to lose his engine and so forced him out of the race for three days. This happened over the mountains of Kentucky. After pleading and cajoling with the Warner Company in Detroit, he made the neccesary repairs with a new propellor and had been given permission to reenter the race. Naturally when he reentered the race, he found himself in last place and way behind the leaders, but he gained on his fellow pilots until on the last day, he found himself in first place again for a single engine aircraft and was the winner the second time of the Great Lakes Trophy. In 1932 he became chief pilot for the Hoover Business League. After that he became a student instructor until 1935 when he leased the Jersey City Airport in New Jersey and managed it and conducted his own flying school, aerial photography and charter work. At that time he one of the largest flying schools in the East with over one hundred and twenty-five students. And so he carried on. No flying club was too small or insignificant to win his willing cooperation in the furtherance of their plans. It was at the meeting of the Jersey Journal Model Plane Club that he met his wife, Gretchen Hahnen, who then lived in Jersey City, but was from Des Moine, Iowa. They were married in New York City on June 02, 1934. In December 1935, after a unsuccesful battle to save Jersey City Airport from becoming a stadium, he did exhibition flights and was an instructor at several New Jersey airports. By 1936, flying jobs were hard to come by. Schneider was "invited" to go to Spain and fly for the Spanish Loyalists. He accompanied Bert Acost, Gordon Berry and Freddie Lord. They left New York on November 11, 1936 and arrived in Spain a week or so later. There he flew antiquated planes, but got disgusted and gave up, and came home, in January 1937. Between then and June of 1940 he bacame a mechanic for American Airlines at La Guardia Field, but his heart was not into it, he wanted to fly. He applied to the US Government for a job as a civilian instructor for the Army and was assigned to Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn. On December 23, 1940, while instructing a student and coming in for a landing, he was hit in the rear by a Navy Stearman which brought Eddie, and his student, to their untimely death. When the Navy plane landed, it still had Schneider's plane's left wing in their undercarriage. And so, aviation, as an industry, owes a debt of gratitude to it's younger contingent, such as Frank Goldsborough, Bob Buck and Dick James and others who followed, and to these youthful trail blazers who were constantly winning new recruits to the ranks of those who look uopn aviation as a part of themselves and to whom the industry must continue to look for its new leaders.

Source: Special Collections, McDermott Library, The University of Texas at Dallas

2 die as planes crash at field. Eddie Schneider, who flew at 15, is killed when his craft and Navy trainer collide. Passenger also victim US ship is landed safely at Floyd Bennett Airport despite damaged wings.

Eddie Schneider, who started flying when he was 15 years old and set a junior transcontinental record in 1930 at the age of 18, was killed with a student passenger yesterday when their light training plane was in collision with a Naval Reserve plane, also on a training flight, just west of Floyd Bennett Field. The Naval Reserve plane landed safely at the field but Schneider's plane went into a spin, tore off a wing, and crashed into Deep Creek, a few hundred feet across Flatbush Avenue from the city airport in Brooklyn. Both Schneider and his passenger, George W. Herzog, 37, a contractor living at 535 North Second Street, New Hyde Park, Long Island, were dead when their bodies were pulled from the submerged wreckage. At the Naval Reserve base at Floyd Bennett Field it was said the Navy biplane, a Stearman trainer, had been piloted by Ensign Kenneth A, Kuehner, 25, of Minister, Ohio, with Second Class Seaman Frank Newcomer, of Rochester, Ohio, as a passenger. The right lower wing of the naval plane, the left upper wing and the propeller were damaged. The third accident, in two weeks in which a Naval Reserve plane based at Floyd Bennett Field was involved, it brought the comment from Dock Commissioner John McKenzie that it was the sort of thing to be expected “where there are training: flights at an airport.” “That is the point that Mayor La Guardia has been making". Mr. McKenzie said, "in his efforts to keep training away from commercial fields" Police said the witnesses to the accident were agreed that the Naval Reserve plane was crossing above the plane piloted by Schneider, a high-wing Piper Tandem Cub monoplane, as the two approached the field for a landing 600 feet above Deep Creek, Schneider's plane went into a tight spin as the two planes disengaged after colliding, the witnesses said, appeared to straighten out and then plummeted into the water as its left wing tore loose. Many would-be rescuers were on the scene within, a few moments, including police, Coast Guardsmen and fliers from Floyd Bennett Field. The bodies of the two men were pulled quickly from the wreckage and onto a half-submerged barge near which the plane fell, but it appeared both had been killed when the plane hit the water. Joseph Hanley, first assistant district attorney of Kings County, opened an investigation at the scene and a naval board of inquiry, headed by Commander H. R. Bowes, was ordered convened by the Navy Department in Washington. Schneider lived at 32-50 Seventy-third Street, Jackson Heights, Queens. He leaves a widow. Herzog leaves a widow and two children. He had been flying some time, holding a limited commercial pilot's license, but had enrolled for a refresher course with the Archie Baxter Flying Service, Inc., owner of the plane. Schneider was an instructor at the school. The bodies of the two men were taken to Floyd Bennett Field pending funeral arrangements. Schneider first gained public attention as a flier in the Summer of 1930 when he announced plans for an attempt to break the junior transcontinental east-west record of 34 hours 57 minutes set the year before by 15-year-old Frank Goldsborough, who was later killed. Taking off from Westfield, New Jersey, August 14, he landed at Los Angeles four days later with a new elapsed time mark of 29 hours 55 minutes. He then flew the west-east passage in 27 hours 19 minutes to better Goldsborough's time for that flight and also for the round trip. He continued active in aviation, competing in National Air Tours, races, and as an instructor. He went to Spain in 1936 to fly for the Loyalists, but returned the next year without having collected the $1,500-a-month pay that was promised him. He and other American fliers were looked on with suspicion by many of the Loyalists, he said, because they were not Communists. Schneider had a narrow escape from death May 15, 1935, when the engine of his training plane failed and it fell into Newark Bay with him and a student passenger shortly after they had taken off from Jersey City Airport, of which he then was manager. Schneider's father, Emil, a Jersey City banker, financed his son's transcontinental flight after having first opposed his efforts to become a flier. The boy had quit school at 15 and worked as a mechanic at Roosevelt Field, Mineola, Long Island, and at the Westfield airport to secure money for flying lessons. He was the youngest licensed flier in the country when he received a limited commercial license shortly after his eighteenth birthday in 1929.

Source: New York Times, New York, December 24, 1940

Local pilot killed. Eddie Schneider and passenger die in crash.

Eddie A. Schneider, 29, veteran pilot and former holder of the junior transcontinental speed record for airplanes, was instantly killed yesterday afternoon when a small monoplane in which he was giving a refresher course to another pilot was struck by U.S. Naval Reserve plane at Floyd Bennett Airport, Brooklyn. Schneider’s plane, one wing sheared off, plummeted in a tight spin into an inlet of Jamaica Bay, causing instant death to Schneider and his student, George W. Herzog, 37. Schneider, a native of New York City was a resident of Jersey City until a few years ago. He became interested in aviation while still a student at Dickenson High School, Jersey City, causing him to leave school when 15 to go to work as a plane mechanic at old Roosevelt Field Hempstead, Long Island. Schneider during his career in aviation broke the East-West, West-East and round trip junior transcontinental records in 1930 in his famous red Cessna monoplane, when only 18. He crossed the continent from Westfield Airport, New Jersey, to Los Angeles in 29 hours and 41 minutes, breaking the record of the late Frank Goldsborough. Eddie was at one time the youngest licensed commercial pilot and competed in air races and meets with men far more experienced and older than he was, after carrying off first honors. In the Ford National Reliability Tours of 1930 and 1931. Schneider with his red Cessna, carried off the Great Lakes Trophy one year, and then took first place the next year. In one of the air tours a defect in a propeller caused the engine of his plane to break loose while flying over a mountainous section of Kentucky, and Schneider made a forced landing in a corn patch on a side of the mountain. A new engine was rushed to him and after an extremely difficult takeoff, which experienced airmen, said was not possible, he went on to win first place in the tour. Schneider in 1934 became the manager of the old Jersey City Airport at Droyers Point, operating the filed for a period of a little more than a year. While at the airport he taught many Hudson County students how to fly. Schneider had a narrow escape in 1935 when a Travelair biplane in which he and a student were taking off from the airport landed in Newark Bay after the motor suddenly went dead at 100 feet of attitude. The plane was only slightly damaged in the forced water landing. Schneider and the student Al Clemmings, wading to shore. In 1936 Eddie with Bert Acosta and three other pilots, enlisted in the Yankee Escadrille of the Loyalist Air Corps in Spain. For several months Schneider was flying antiquated planes, which had been rigged up with racks, dropping bombs on military objectives of the Franco forces. Schneider finally became thoroughly disgusted with the Communist regime, which he said was directing the Loyalist forces, and after many difficulties, returned to this country. Since returning from Spain, Schneider, a licensed airplane mechanic since he was 15, worked for American Airlines, first at Newark Airport and then at La Guardia Airport, New York City, first as a mechanic, then as instrument inspector. About six months ago he resigned his post with American Airlines to take a position as student instructor with the Archie Baxter Flying Service teaching Civil Aeronautics Authority students to fly. Yesterday afternoon Schneider took Herzog, a resident of New Hyde Park, Long Island, up for a refresher course. Herzog, holder of a commercial license, had allowed the license to lapse, and was required to take dual flying time before his license would be renewed. Schneider was flying at about 600 feet altitude, coming in for a landing, when a United States Naval Reserve biplane piloted by Ensign Kenneth A, Kuehler, 25, of Rochester, Ohio, was observer, struck the tail assembly of Schneider’s tandem Piper Cub. The tails surfaces and left wing of Schneider’s plane were badly damaged and as the two planes separated after the mid-air collision, the small monoplane went in a tight spin, striking Deep Creek several hundred feet from Flatbush Avenue and sinking. The Naval Reserve plane was able to land at the airport. Airport emergency crews raced to the spot where Schneider’s plane had submerged and the bodies of Schneider and Herzog were taken from the plane within a very few minutes after the crash. Attempts were made to to revive the two, but a Kings County Hospital ambulance intern pronounced both dead on arrival at the scene. It is believed that both were killed by the impact of the plane with the water. The bodies were taken to Kings County Hospital and Schneider will be released today and brought to Jersey City for funeral services. Herzog is survived by a widow and two small children. Schneider lived in Jersey City at 114 Carlton Avenue in the Hudson City section when he established the transcontinental records.

Source: Jersey Journal, Jersey City, New Jersey, December 24, 1940

Lars Magnus Wingblad (1794-?) aka Lars Magnus Vingblad, aka Gesellen Wingblad; Journeyman (Gesellen) Carpenter (b. Västra Vingåker parish, Södermanland, Sweden - d. unknown, Stockholm, Sweden)

Name
Lars Magnus used the family name "Wingblad" but his only living child, Anton, used the surname as "Winblad" and thats how it appears in his descendents.

Birth
Lars Magnus Wingblad was born in Västra Vingåker parish in the county of Södermanland in Sweden on June 3, 1797 or June 3, 1794.

Stockholm, Sweden
The 1820 Sweden Census has Lars Magnus Wingblad living in Stockholm, Sweden.

Impregnation
Lars Wingblad impregnated Brita Christina Ökneberg (1793-?) in November or December of 1822.

Engagement
Lars became engaged to Anna Ericsdotter Wennström. They made their vows at Katarina parish on February 09, 1823. This was just one month after impregnating Brita Christina Ökneberg.

First Child
Brita gave birth on August 10, 1823 to Carl Wilhelm Wingblad (1823-bef1830) just six months after Lars got enagaged. Carl was baptised at Hedvig Eleonora parish, Stockholm, Sweden on Sunday, August 18, 1823. Lars and Brita were listed as "Gesellen Wingblad" and "Br. Chr. Oknaberg".

Break Engagement
At their own request Lars and Anna were released from their vow to marry on August 03, 1824. The record says: "after closer knowledge of each others temperment and reasoning they realized that a union of marriage would cause them both unhappiness". The real reason was Lars child with another woman. They had been engaged for one year and six months.

Marriage
Lars, just two months later, married Brita Christina Ökneberg (1793-?) on October 10, 1824 at Katarina parish, Stockholm, Stockholm, Sweden. She was born on September 28, 1793 at Torshälla parish, Södermanland, Sweden. Her parents may have been: Lars Ökneberg (c1747-?), a soldier; and Brita Olsdotter (c1747-?). There may be two people with the name "Brita Christina Ökneberg" so her parent's names will have to be conformed from the marriage record.

Second Child
Their child, Anton Julius Winblad I (1828-1901), was born on October 08, 1828. Anton was baptised on October 11, 1828 in Stockholm at St. Maria Magdalena Church (Mariakyrkan).

Linköping, Sweden
The 1830 Household examination rolls show Lars working as a carpentar in Linköping, Sweden while Brita was still working as a maid in Stockholm, living with her child Anton. By 1834 the rolls show that Brita and Anton joined Lars in Linköping, Sweden.

Relationship
Lars Magnus Wingblad (1794-?) was the third, great-grandfather of Richard Arthur Norton (1958- ).

Julia Ann Lattin (1880-1960) Memoir written in 1960

Birth
I was born on Long Island on January 7th, 1880, and I have lived here all the later part of my life.

Jarvis Andrew Lattin
My father was born in Farmingdale on May 29th, 1853. As a young man of 20 years he worked for a short time on the Long Island Railroad selling foodstuffs on the train. He was the youngest of eleven children and had a roaming disposition and left home to see the world. He got as far as Lake City, Iowa and a short time later met his future wife to be, a Mary Jane Puckett, who was a young school teacher at the time.

Mary Jane Puckett
After about six months, [on October 15, 1874] they were married and lived in Iowa for about one year when my oldest sister was born. Then they came back to Long Island for about three or four years where my next older sister and I were born. But my dad still had that longing for the Old West where things were rugged, so he left again and settled in Nebraska near the Niobrori River, which was 20 miles from the nearest town called Atkinson. This was a very lonely place.

Black Hills of Dakota
Dad had bought quite a number of farm implements on time, but things were bad, so he could not pay for them, and they were taken from him. My mother had a cow and a feather bed given to her from her parents, so they could not take them for payment, and dad decided to try his luck in mining gold in the Black Hills of Dakota. That left my mother alone with the children right across the river from the Indians, but they were friendly and traded many things, which were allowed them from the government. I remember especially some blankets from them. They were rather dark blue with a black border.

River crossing
My mother used to leave the baby [in] bed [in the] morning when she had to cross a stream on a foot-log to milk her cow. One day starting back with her milk, she saw the child starting to creep across the foot-log to meet her, and just in the middle of the stream the child fell overboard in the water. Mother sat her milk pail down and ran and jumped in after her, catching hold of her nightdress. It was a puzzle to know how she got herself and the child on the foot log again, as the water was deep in places. Finally she managed to get her skirt off in the water and fastened the child with that until she climbed up herself.

Loss of eye
We only had a cook stove for heat, and when I was a little more than a year old, I was sitting in a high chair near the stove to keep warm and my mother was combing her hair with her head bent over when she heard a terrible scream. I had fallen on the stove. My sister [Catherine Lavinia Lattin], 1 1/2 years older had pushed the chair. My left eye had hit one of the galvanized balls on the stove leaving the skin on it, causing me to lose sight in that eye. The eye was almost closed. The doctor operated on it three times, but it did not improve the sight. I was seven years old the last operation, and they laid me right on the floor.

Rattlesnake
We used to sleep in the trundle beds. When not in use the one is pushed under the other. I can remember the sand cherries, which grew on little trees about three feet high. Also [I remember] the covered wagons and the tumbleweeds rolling across the plains. I have two baby brothers buried out there. When my oldest sister, [Mary Esther Lattin], was seven years old [in 1882], she was bitten by a rattlesnake. It had thirteen rattles. She had a little dog with her and it killed the snake. They could not wait so long for a Dr. to come from town and my dad cut the fang out and sucked the poison till the Dr. arrived. Mother had her on a pillow for weeks with bread and milk poultices, but she carried the mark to her grave. It was a hollow spot about the size of a quarter just below the knee.

Long Island
When I was 8 years old we moved back to Long Island. This was just about 10 days before the blizzard in 1888 [which started March 11, 1888 and ended March 14, 1888]. I can remember my father carrying bags of coal home on his back as no trucks could get through. During the blizzard, we children were in a dark room in bed with the measles we had caught on the train coming east.

Farmingdale
We attended school in Farmingdale, Long Island until I graduated from the 9th grade. For a few years I did dressmaking in Brooklyn, but spent my summers at home. I did not care for city life. I was rooming at the Young Woman's Christian Association (YWCA), and it was during this time that I met the man that was to be my future husband. On Sundays we usually took a trip to the Aquarium or the Statue of Liberty or the Eden Museum, which was then on 23rd Street, New York, but has long been removed.

Theodore Roosevelt
In 1903 we attended a reception [for] Theodore Roosevelt at Sagamore Hill, and I still have the souvenir glasses from that affair. We were married in 1905, and paid $8 a month for rent. My husband was working as a carpenter for $15 a week, which was fair, wages at that time. He used to drive 8 miles on Sunday mornings to bring the Sunday papers and he received $2 for the trip. We had a horse and a little farm, raising most of our own vegetables.

Children
My first baby daughter, [Ruth Lattin Poole], was born in the summer of 1906. Then we moved back to my old hometown. We lived in a house that was real old and when it was windy the carpet on the floor would raise a little from the air beneath. My second daughter, [Eva Gertrude Poole] was born there. A little later we managed to save a little money and bought a little five room house for $1,300, paying off $100 a year. The house had no improvements, only a pump in the kitchen, and on washdays we brought in a tub, setting it on two kitchen chairs. We always had home made bread, by baking twice a week, 5 loaves each time. It never had a chance to get stale. We bought flour by the barrel those days. Butter was 25 cents a pound and sugar was 5 cents a pound.

Isles of Pines, Cuba
In that year [1909,] my parents moved to the Isle of Pines, just south of Cuba, which was populated at that time by 90% Americans. They had expected that the United States would take it over, but several years later it was turned over to Cuba. My parents [Jarvis Andrew Lattin and Mary Jane Puckett] celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary [on October 15, 1924] there, and my sister Eva, and I made them a suprise visit. They were so happy to see us. The boat made only two trips a week between Cuba and the island. We had our luggage inspected in Havana and spent one night there. It took about two hours to cross Cuba by train, and the boat was waiting for us. It was just an overnight trip to the Isle of Pines, and it was so calm there was hardly a ripple on the water. But we did experience a very bad hurricane while there. Every one boards up their windows when they see the storm approaching. After Cuba took over the island, many of the Americans left and went back to the States as my parents did.

Lake Helen, Florida
They settled in a little town in Florida, and a few years later my mother passed away, and was brought back north to our hometown for burial. Father spent most of his remaining years in Florida, but things were not the same. He also passed away at 88 years of age and was laid beside my mother. She was such a wonderful, good, Christian mother to us, but she experienced many hardships in her life. She gave birth to thirteen children, nine of them lived to be grown and married. Six of us are still living and scattered far apart.

Retire
My husband retired about ten years ago. We have lived on the same street, [Columbia Street] for the past 50 years. My youngest daughter, [Julia Marion Poole] was born in the house next door, and she is a grandmother now. My husband's health was not so good the past five years. Our three daughters gave us a grand celebration on our fiftieth wedding anniversary nearly four years ago, but the time seems to come too soon that we all must part from this world.

Hospital
I was taken sick very suddenly last November and rushed to the hospital in an ambulance. This was a great shock to my husband in his condition, and five days later he was brought into the hospital, it being the night before Thanksgiving. The nurses were so kind to us. They had a little table set up for us in the solarium with a nice little white tablecloth and a large chrysanthemum for our Thanksgiving dinner. That was a dinner long to be remembered as it was the last one we ever had together. My husband spent four weeks there, and then was taken away to a nursing home, where he passed away six weeks later.

God's plan
I remained in the hospital for six and a half weeks, spending Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's [Day] there. I started improving and was allowed to go with my daughter, Ruth, for a few weeks until I became stronger. I have a great deal to be thankful for, with three nice daughters, and so many good friends and neighbors. I am resolved now that God had a purpose in saving my life, and I sincerely hope I can carry out his plans.

Eloise Ensko II (1925-1993) Memoir of July 03, 1965

Sophia Weber and Oscar Arthur Moritz Lindauer in Alsace
My great-grandmother Sophia married an Oscar Lindauer. They came from Alsace-Lorraine on their honeymoon, by boat. Alsace-Lorraine was then owned by the French. Great-grandmother brought a lovely picture of Napoleon over from the other side - none of which I have ever seen duplicated. It is still in the family and in excellent condition. The Lindauer family owned a huge department store over there.

Philadelphia
When the newlyweds came to this country about the early 1800's they settled in Philadelphia. The living room furniture is still in the family. I have in my possession one of the sitting chairs. It is a very pretty, light wood in color, Victorian style. It is now of heavy material and cover. Sophia and Oscar had three boys and later on one girl. The boys were Charles, Louis and John and the girl, Eloise, was named by her brother, Charles. He found it by reading a book (Heloise & Abelard). The boys were much older than Eloise.

New York City
Eloise grew up in old Greenwich Village in New York City. She played the piano and also sang in the Saint Thomas Church, on Fifth Avenue & 53rd Street, New York City, on Sundays in the choir. For a short period of time Eloise Lindauer attended the Convent of the Sacred Heart with her best friend. She died at her home 155 West 171st Street, New York City in her ninety-second year, from old age. She played her piano by note and from memory until the week before she passed away. She had reddish blonde hair up until the end with a very slight trace of white and wore it in an old-fashioned knot on the top of her head.

Eloise Lindauer Ensko
Eloise Lindauer married William Ensko, of New York City and had four children: William Arthur Ensko, Charles Edward Ensko, Eloise Ensko and Sophie Charlotte Ensko. Uncle Billy was in the linen business and traveled all over the world. He had a son, Arthur, by his wife, Ethel Minerva Beaver. Arthur was married to Jewell Ripple who later on [wasted] away from cancer. He later married Rose La Gattufa. Eloise was mostly at home caring for her aged mother. Before that she worked as a stenographer in a bank. Sophie was a school teacher. She taught English and sewing later in the Junior High School, Public School 52 on Academy Street in New York City, Washington Heights section. Before that she taught elementary school, Public School 181 in New York City.

Charles Ensko
Charles Ensko was my father and the father of Charles Edward, Junior. Charles was manager a firm in Budapest, here in New York City. Later on he went into the publishing business and then Uncle Robert, of Robert Ensko, Inc. Silversmiths, took daddy into the business with him. Daddy remained there until he retired, selling his stock to Stephen Ensko, son of Robert. Daddy also collaborated with on books with Stephen written about old silver. They worked hard learning the business from bottom to top. The books have become rare now. However due to Stephen, your University now has a course in Antique and Early American Silver. They often call in Stephen to give lectures. The University has a complete set of these books. I have a complete set also. The Phi Delta Theta Fraternity at Lafayette College has a set too. This was donated by my father and brother as Charles attended and was graduated from Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania. For a short while Charles attended the Dwight School for Boys which was on Park Avenue in New York City for a spell. Before that he graduated from George Washington High School in Washington Heights.

Eloise Ensko Higgins
I am Eloise Ensko Higgins, daughter of Charles and Elizabeth MacIlwraith. I attended Public School 98, Public School 52 for elementary classes and went on to Barnard School for Girlson Fort Washington Avenue, Washington Heights, and then on to the Garden Country Day School in Jackson Heights, Long Island, New York. I studied the piano and played duets with my teacher, Florence Hanford Friedman, at the High School and elementary school Parent Teacher's Association and at the church. I was a member of the Holy Trinity Church on Cummings Street, off Dykman Street in New York City (Washington Heights). We lived on 212th & 213th Street off Broadway. I sang in the church school choir, belonged to the Girls Friendly and Girl Scouts. I was in many shows they put on there.

Thomas Patrick Norton II (1920- ) Memoir written on February 02, 1998

Mastoiditis
It is said that strong memories can many times be associated with traumatic events and in my case my earliest has to do with intense pain. When I was about five years old I developed an ear infection which resulted in mastoiditis and I can remember when the specialist who was recommended by our family doctor came to our home at 603 Garfield Avenue in Jersey City, New Jersey to examine me, and my mother's tearful reaction when he told her that I would have to be hospitalized and operated on to drain the abscessed ear. I can still remember fighting the ether mask and how sick to my stomach I was when I finally awoke and also how heavy my head felt when I tried to get up.

Tonsilitis
The next time I was hospitalized and given ether, I was a little older and wiser and did breathe slowly and deeply as I was told and as a result did not suffer the same after effects. This was for a minor overnight stay to remove my tonsils and adenoids when I was about eight years old.

Scarlet Fever
I was the first born and may have been a little premature because I weighed only about five pounds. My brothers and my sister were bigger and were in the seven to eight pound range at birth. I only mention this because I seemed to be the one who was to get all the childhood diseases and one of the worst was a very bad case of scarlet fever. This was when I was about ten and I was kept under quarantine at home. I was isolated in a small room which had to be kept dark to protect my eyes and the doorway was covered by a sheet dampened by a solution of Lysol. The effect of the fever caused a mild heart murmur and as I continued to grow up, a gradual lessening of flexibility in my joints.

Physical Education
I remember this very well because in junior high school we had to take physical education under the supervision of a special teacher in a gymnasium (in elementary school we just went outside to play games while the teachers watched) and the special teacher, a Mr. Schenkle, a grossly overweight, loud-mouthed, profane, bully was, to me, a sorry example to set as a result of physical education. Again, intense pain is the reason this is burned into my memory because when we were doing our exercises and were required to reach down and touch our toes, I could not get much further than my knees and Mr. Schenkle who loved to vocally excoriate "slackers" as he called the non-achievers, decided to help me by coming up behind me and pushing my back down. This just about finished me as he strained not only my back, but my hamstrings as well. I was not able to go to school for quite a while and never took physical education again. The subject is required under New Jersey state law but I was able to avoid it by having my doctor petition the school authorities to excuse me due to my heart murmur.

Second Mastoiditis
I developed mastoiditis in my other ear when I was twelve years old but it was caught earlier and the operation was merely to puncture the eardrum to drain out the infection. It was performed at home by the same specialist, a Doctor Morris Pyle who had his office at Exchange Place in Jersey City.

Appendicitis
My most serious medical problem was a burst appendix which resulted in gangrene and peritonitis and almost cost me my life. I remember the pain. I had the attack in high school when I was just sixteen and the nurse sent me home. We had no telephone then and really never had an automobile (my father had won a car in a church raffle some years before but he was such a poor driver that my mother had him sell it. Jersey city was not a good place to have a car anyway because there was no place to garage the car or to park it.) I lived about two miles from the high school and started to walk home. When I was one block away from my house my appendix must have burst because I remember trying to hold myself upright by grabbing the pole that held the sign for Stegman Street and Ocean Avenue but I gradually slipped down to my knees and then blacked out. I do not know who got me home or how my mother got word to the doctor but it took time before he could get to me and make the arrangements to get me to the hospital. It was an emergency operation which was performed about midnight and the delay undoubtedly led to the serious nature of the infection. I was in the hospital for a month and was given the last rites of the church. I was kept under sedation by morphine not only for the pain but also to keep me from writhing and inadvertently pulling out the tubes which were feeding me but also draining the infection. I lost twenty five pounds and came out as a living skeleton. Our family doctor, George Brick (the one who sent me to Dr. Pyle, the specialist and who arranged for me to be sent to the St. Francis hospital for the appendectomy) gave my father a recipe for a tonic to help me gain back some of the weight I had lost. It was like eggnog with milk and cinnamon but was fortified with sherry wine. My dad dutifully made this for me every day and at the same time made one for himself. It gradually helped me to gain back some of the lost weight but unfortunately caused him to gain weight he did not need. My general health improved considerably after the appendix operation and recovery and to compensate for the missing physical education at school I took up dynamic tension, a form of non-equipment exercise. I always like to run and so kept in good shape.

Grocery Store
When I graduated from high school at sixteen I was, in a way, still a kid. I was small and shy but I got a full time job as a clerk in our local eagle grocery store. It was a two man store, the manager and me. The pay was five dollars a week for sixty hours of work but I did such a good job that the manager, an old man named Bill Miller who suffered from ulcers, gave me an extra fifty cents out of his own pocket because I did most of the work and let him take it easy if possible. The corner grocery store in 1937 was a far cry from the supermarkets of today. As the clerk of the two man staff I had to sweep the sidewalk every morning, put up or down the awnings as the weather dictated, wash the display windows once a week and when the grocery delivery was made the truckmen would just put the barrels and boxes on the sidewalk, the manager would confirm the delivery, sign for it and I would have to move it all inside to the back storeroom. Also much of the items such as flour, sugar, butter, milk, eggs, potatoes, etc. had to be broken down into smaller amounts such as pounds, dozens, quarts, etc. This was my job also. I had to restock the shelves by carefully removing the old items, wiping the shelf and then replacing the old items in front of the newer ones. When the store was busy I also would wait on customers by physically moving about the store to bring whatever they wanted to the counter, wrapping it up and also delivering it to their home if that was requested. That was usually worth a ten cent tip! There were no scanners then so you had to know all the prices and you had to add up the total (twice as a matter of fact for the required confirmation). After about a year I left Mr. Miller to work as an experienced clerk for the National Grocery Company at a salary of eight dollars a week. Grocery stores then were open six days a week from 8 am until 6 Monday through Thursday and from 8 a.m. until 9 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.

Eagle Printing Ink Company
When I was eighteen I got a job with the Eagle Printing Ink Company as a shipping clerk on the recommendation of Pete Van Deusen who used to live next door to us on Garfield Avenue. Pete was seven years older than me and had the same job with Mr. Miller when he was just out of high school. He was a quality control inspector at the ink plant and was the manager of the company softball team in the Jersey City industrial league. He wanted me to play on the company team and I agreed to do it. I had played for him once before in the Sunday softball league in Bayside Park in Jersey City. About this time in my life I became a member of the Jersey City Lancers a local neighborhood sports club made up of young men for fun more than anything else. It was encouraged by the grownups because we played at the local parks or schools and generally kept out of trouble. Besides working at the ink plant and playing on their softball team in the summer, I also played softball and baseball for the Lancers on Sunday in the summer and football in the fall and winter. I played football for the Lancers on Thanksgiving day in 1939 and was hurt so that I could not go to work the next day at the ink company. Since we did not have a telephone, there was no way that I could report my reason for being absent and when I went to work on the following Monday I found out that I was fired.

Mutual Chemical Company
I went to the state unemployment office to see if I could register for benefits. (I was not sure if my circumstances were covered) and instead they sent me on an interview for a job with the Mutual Chemical Company of America a large bulk processing and refining company in Jersey City. They were looking to hire a traffic clerk. I had never worked as a traffic clerk before or even knew what one did but I had observed how the shipping room operated at the ink company and told them I was willing to learn and they hired me for fifteen dollars for a five and a half day, forty-four hour week. The traffic clerk job was to keep the necessary records of all of the incoming raw materials and the outgoing finished products. It involved both railroad and trucking and domestic and overseas shipments. I worked under the traffic manager who was also the office manager and paymaster and he encouraged me to go with him to the local traffic club when they had educational seminars in order to broaden my knowledge.

World War II
When our country went to war against the axis in December, 1941 I felt particularly obliged to contribute because one of my friends from the Lancers was killed in the attack on Pearl Harbor. He had joined the Navy only about six months before. I told them at the chemical company that I was going to enter the service and they said my job would be there when I returned. When I went to the Navy recruiting office in New York City in early 1942 to enlist, I failed the physical because I was underweight, had bad hearing and the heart murmur. They suggested that I try to gain eight pounds to bring me up to their standard for my height and build to ensure that I had no chronic health problem which was keeping my weight so low and to be re-tested. It took me several months to gain the weight (I had to eat a lot of bananas and cream plus a regular high calorie diet) and when I was re-tested I was sent to the officer in charge, a full Navy captain, who explained that he would have to make a recommendation because my hearing and heart were not 100%. He said the problems were slight but enough to keep me out under ordinary circumstances but this was wartime and if I still wanted to join the Navy he would approve a limited duty enlistment which would mean I could not serve in the submarine service or in the naval flight service. I agreed and was sent to the U.S. Naval training station in Newport, Rhode Island for boot camp then to Bedford Springs, Pennsylvania for radio school and then to Noroton Heights, Connecticut for special advanced communication school. I was finally assigned to the United States Navy armed guard service facility at the Brooklyn Naval Armory in late November of 1942. The armed guard service of the Navy provided gunners and communication personnel for allied shipping which moved in convoys under naval protection against German planes and submarines. My first ship, the James Iradell, was in the invasion of Casablanca in December, 1942 and in the invasion of Sicily in 1943. During my almost three years of sea duty I was on many ships and went to Cuba, Trinidad, Jamaica, England, Ireland, Scotland, France and Algeria as well, to some of these countries many times. I was discharged from the Navy at the Lido Beach Separation Center in Long Island in late 1945.

Salmine Sophia Severine Pedersen (1862-1914) aka Salmina Sophia Severine Olesdatter; Emigrated 1884 from Farsund, Norway to New York City, New York, USA (b. March 27, 1862, Braekne farm, Vanse parish, Farsund, Vest-Agder, Norway - d. December 18, 1914, Saint Josef's Hospital, Kristiansand, Vest-Agder, Norway)

Name:
Salmine took the name "Salmine Pedersen" when she emigrated to the United States. Her sister would take the name "Lina Olson" also spelled as "Lena Olson"; and her brother would take the name "Otto Olson" also written as "Ottan Olson", when they emigrated.

Birth:
Salmine was born in 1862 to Ole Mattias Pedersen (1822-1914) and Thea Johanne Torstensdatter (1825-1865). She may have been born on Braekne farm. Ole was a baker on Kirkegaden Street in Farsund.

Baptism:
Salmine was christened on June 08, 1862 in Vanse parish in Farsund under the name "Salmine Sofie Severine Olesdatter".

Siblings:
Her siblings include: Peder Mathias Olsen (1848-?); Teodor Johan Olsen (1849-?); Sophia Marie Olsdatter (1852-?); Josette Teresia Olsdatter (1854-?) aka Joletta Theresa Olsdatter; Otto Olson (1858-1921) aka Ottan Olsen, who emigrated to Chicago in Illinois and became a barber and married Hannah E. Hansen (1864-1936) aka Hanne Hansen; and Lena Elaine Olson (1860-1938) aka Hanne Eline Olsdatter, who emigrated to Chicago in Illinois, and married Andrew Havig Jensen (1861-1930).

Vaccination:
She was vaccinated on March 25, 1864 by Dr. Buch. The Vanse churchbook incorrectly lists her vaccination as performed on "April 25, 1864". She was 2 years old at the time.

Death of Mother:
Thea died around 1865 and Ole raised the seven living children on his own and he never remarried.

Kirkegaden Street, Farsund, Norway:
Salmine appeared in the 1865 Norway Census under the name "Salmine Sopie Olsdatter". She was living at 39 and 40 "Kirkegaden" Street in Farsund in the home of her widowed father, Ole. Living just a few doors away at 36 Kirkegaden Street was Ole's brother: Peder Andreas Pedersen (1831-?), who was also working as a baker.

Confirmation:
Salmine was confirmed in the Lutheran Church on October 01, 1876 in Vanse parish. Her name at confirmation was "Salmine Sofie Severine".

Marriage:
She married John Edward Winblad (1856-1914) of Sweden, around 1883. John was the son of Anton Julius Winblad I (1828-1901), a schoolteacher; and Elsa Maria Elisabeth Näslund (1829-1907). John had run away from home, rather than train to become a minister in the Lutheran Church. He became a ship's mate, and his travels eventually brought him to Farsund, Norway.

Emigration:
She appeared to be traveling outside Norway with her father, Ole, on September 04, 1884. She was listed as "Salmine Wemmeland" in the Norwegian Emigrants Register for this trip and this may be a phonetic spelling of her married name "Salmine Winblad".

Children:
John and Salmine had the following children: Anton Julius Winblad II (1886-1975) aka Anthony Winblad, who married Eva Ariel Lattin (1892-1939) and after her death married Marguerite Van Rensselaer Schuyler (1891-1972) aka Marge Van Rensselaer Schuyler; Theodora Winblad (1888) who died as an infant; Mary Winblad (1889) who died as an infant; Otto Edward Winblad (1892) who died as an infant; Marie Elizabeth Winblad (1895-1987) aka Mae Winblad, who married Arthur Oscar Freudenberg (1891-1968); John Edward Winblad II (1897-1899) aka Eddie Winblad, who died as a youth from pertussis; and Otto Perry Winblad (1902-1977) who was born in New Jersey and married Helen Louise Hollenbach (1905-1928), and after her death married Leah Maria Way (1901-1986).

Manhattan, New York:
In 1886 the family was living at 540 Canal Street in Greenwich Village in Manhattan, New York City. On April 27, 1894 Salmine, and her son Anton, were returning from Kristiansand, Vest-Agder, Norway and they were listed in the Norwegian Emigrants Index as "Vinblad".

Jersey City, New Jersey:
Around 1898 they had a custom house built in Jersey City, New Jersey and they moved there to be in a more countrified setting. During the 1900 Census they were living at 437 Wayne Street in Jersey City in their new house.

Norway Trip:
On August 02, 1901 John Winblad was in Kristiansand, Norway returning to the United States. It is not known if Salmine was with him. John's father died on October 30, 1901.

Isle of Pines, Cuba:
In 1910 John and Salmine moved the family to the Santa Barbara area of the Isle of Pines in Cuba. They may have bought a citrus plantation. On April 03, 1910 the family appeared on the census in Jersey City without Anton. On April 17, 1910 Salmine's son, Anton Julius Winblad, married Eva Ariel Lattin (1892-1939) on Long Island. The family oral tradition was that they met in Cuba. On June 24, 1910 the house in Jersey City was sold. The family's many trips returning from Cuba and Norway are recorded in the passenger lists for New York harbor and several trips are recorded in the Norway passenger lists. Salmine returned to New York City from Cuba, alone, on August 08, 1911. John and Salmine's children Maria and Otto spent about a year and a half in Cuba and returned to Jersey City, New Jersey on March 26, 1912. Anton became the postmaster for Santa Barbara around 1914.

Daughter's Wedding:
John and Salmine returned to New Jersey to attend Maria's wedding to Arthur Freudenberg on February 28, 1914.

Trip to Norway:
Salmine and John, and their son, Otto Winblad, went to Farsund in 1914. Salmine's sister, Lena Olson, joined them that year in Norway. They most likely went for the death of Salmine's father.

Death of Father:
Her father, Ole Mathias Pedersen, died on August 24, 1914. He was 92 years old.

Death of Husband:
John Winblad, her husband, died on September 24, 1914 in Klugeland. He died of "cancer" just one month after the death of his father-in-law. Lena Olson, Salmine's sister, returned to the US from Norway on September 30, 1914, just six days after John's death.

Death:
Salmine died of a heart attack on December 18, 1914, just 11 weeks after her husband died of cancer. She died at Saint Josef's Hospital, Kristiansand, Vest-Agder, Norway.

Burial:
Salmine was buried on December 22, 1914 in the Vanse Church Cemetery in Farsund. She was buried with her husband. Their tombstones have not been located yet, and may have been recycled.

Otto Winblad:
Otto Winblad, now parentless returned to the United States on July 06, 1915 from Norway. On that same day, Otto's brother Anton, and Anton's wife Eva, returned from Cuba to meet Otto Winblad in New York City. Otto was the only passenger on the ship.

Other Relatives in the United States:
Salmine had two cousins that came over from Farsund. The first was: Jakob E. Willumsen (1853-1928). Jakob was the son of Oleana Andrea Pedersdatter (1819-1912) and he settled in Minnesota. Oleana was the sister of her father. The second was: Inga Pedersen (1885-1927) who married Emil Schneider (1884-1955) and lived in Jersey City, New Jersey. Inga was the daughter of Peder Pedersen (1831-?), who was the brother of her father.

Relationship:
Salmine Sophia Severine Pedersen (1862-1914) was the great-grandmother of Richard Arthur Norton (1958- ).

Arthur Oscar Freudenberg (1891-1968) aka A.O. Freudenberg; Typewriter Repair, Real Estate Agent, Insurance Broker (b. August 09, 1891, 104 Madison Street, Hoboken, Hudson County, New Jersey, 07030-1811, USA - d. January 22, 1968, Jersey City Medical Center, 50 Baldwin Avenue, Jersey City, Hudson County, New Jersey, 07304-3199, USA) Social Security Number 156051651.

Birth:
Arthur was the son of Maximillian S. Freudenberg I (1858-1921) and Eloise Lindauer II (1860-1935). He was born in Hoboken and later his family moved to Jersey City.

Siblings:
Eloise and Max had 15 children, 9 lived to adults. One child that died at birth is still unaccounted for and may be buried in Hoboken Cemetery. The children of Max and Eloise are: Max S. Freudenberg II (1881) who died as an infant; Ada Augusta Freudenberg (1885-1957) who married Ralph Kohlman (1885-1957) the printer; Charles Fredrick Freudenberg (1887-1942) who married Julia Mary Buttomer (1883-1973); Jenny Gertrude Freudenberg (1888) who died as an infant; Clara Freudenberg (1890-1959) who never married; Arthur Oscar Freudenberg I (1891-1968) a real estate broker who married Maria Elisabeth Winblad III (1895-1987) aka Mae Winblad; Max Freudenberg III (1893-aft1900) who lived till at least 7 years old and appears on the 1900 census; Louis Julius Freudenberg (1894-1918) who was killed in action in the last battle of World War I; Harry Freudenberg (1895-1896) who died as an infant; Richard F. Freudenberg I (1896-1988) a chemical salesman who married Charlotte C. Kahrar (1897-1963); Eloise Freudenberg (1898) who died as an infant; Eugene Freudenberg (1900-1956) aka Gene Freudenberg who was a freight handler that married Florence Catherine Skinner (1901-1986) and died of emphysema from smoking; Ralph Freudenberg (1903-1980) a typesetter for the New York Times who married Nora Belle Conklin (1905-1963) and after her death married Lottie Dombrowska (1916-1995); and Grace May Freudenberg (1904-1981) who married George Dewey Sanford I (1898-1965) who worked at a print shop.

Education:
He went to the local public schools in Hoboken, and then his parents moved to Jersey City, graduating from high school around 1909-1910. He also attended evening school for two years.

Occupation:
Arthur first worked at Street and Smith, in the mailroom, where he saved all the airmail and first class stamps that came in. All the stamps in the collection of Richard Arthur Norton (1958- ), from around 1910 till 1915 are from Arthur. He worked there for 10 years. Then for about two years he operated a typewriter exchange in Jersey City and New York. In 1918 he went to work for the Travelers Insurance Company of Hartford, Connecticut, as a field representative. He worked for the Globe Sales Company on Fulton Street in New York in 1920. On October 12, 1922 a caricature of him was published in the Hudson Dispatch when he was the Secretary for H.J. Bauridel Real Estate, Insurance and Auctioneer. He later had a real estate business with a partner and the company was "Freudenberg and Saedler" located at 109 Paterson Plank Road in West Hoboken, New Jersey. He taught Sunday School at Waverly Congregational Church.

Marriage:
In 1914 he married Maria Elizabeth Winblad (1895-1987). Together they had three children: Naida Muriel Freudenberg (1915-1998) who married Burnett Peter Van Deusen (1913-1993); Selma; and Helen Eloise Freudenberg (1928-1987) who married John Earl Borland I (1924-1986) and later married Al Brindley (c1930- ).

World War I:
He registered for the draft on June 20, 1917 but did not serve. He already was married and had a child. His brother, Louis Julius Freudenberg, served and was killed in action and his brother Richard Freudenberg served at Camp Meade in Maryland, but was not sent overseas.

Abandoned Family:
Arthur was a womanizer, and around 1928 he ran off with another woman but never divorced Maria, his wife. The oral family tradition has been that she was a burlesque stripper, but the stripper may have been a woman that he was dating at a later time. Arthur never gave any money to support his family. Maria had to scrub floors and wash laundry through the Depression to pay for food and shelter.

Cadillac:
Around 1947 he sold one of the buildings he owned on Central Avenue in Jersey City, and used the money to buy a brand new Cadillac. This was the building that he had his office in. Everyone in the family told him not to sell the building and to keep collecting rental income from it. He sold it and the Cadillac he bought was ruined within a few years.

Edlycoe Klynman:
During the late 1940's he was living with Edlycoe Klynman aka AdaLee on Cottage Street and she had a daughter, but Arthur was not the father. Richard Freudenberg (1918-1994) aka Dick Freudenberg dated the daughter. Arthur wouldn't get a divorce from Marie to marry her, so she left him after taking all his money.

Diabetes:
Later in life he had diabetes and had to have a few toes amputated. His daughter Helen told him: "don't worry, the women will still love you".

Easter 1961:
He showed up for Easter in 1960 or 1961 and a series of memorable photographs were taken.

Death:
He died in 1968 on Journal Square in Jersey City at the bus station. He had a heart attack. His nephew, and namesake Arthur Freudenberg (1929- ) was walking home in Jersey City and saw a crowd surrounding a man lying on the ground. He had come across his uncle Arthur having the heart attack. Arthur loved to collect first edition books, engravings and antique clocks. He died with a large collection of antiques but the family never inherited them. Selma and her son Richard went to his house the day he died and there was a pile of material from the house thrown into the backyard. They rescued several engravings from the pile and they are still with Richard Norton (1958- ). One of them is titled "Othello, the Play Scene" and it is by C.W. Sharpe.

Burial:
He was buried in Flower Hill Cemetery with his parents and siblings.

Biography:
In 1923 Arthur had a one page vanity biography published in the "History of Hudson County" and it reads as follows: "Taking a prominent part in the present day advance of Hudson County, New Jersey, as a dealer and operator in real estate and insurance. Mr. Arthur O. Freudenberg is carrying into his business principles of honesty and fair dealing which bear so important a relation to the public welfare. Still a young man, and always in close touch with the movement of the times, Mr. Freudenberg is counted among the influences of progress which are carrying Hudson County to ever larger prosperity. He is a son of Maximillian and Eloise (Lindauer) Freudenberg, the father a native of Germany, the mother of New York State. Of the sons of these parents Louis J. Freudenberg was killed in action in the World War. He served as a runner or messenger with Company M., 309th Infantry, 78th Division, and was shot in the Argonne, October 16th, 1918. Richard, another brother, served at Camp Meade, Maryland, but was not sent overseas. Maximillian Freudenberg was active in the insurance business in New York City for many years, in the capacity of actuary in the German department of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company. Arthur O. Freudenberg was born in Hoboken, New Jersey, August 9, 1891. His education was begun in the local public schools. Later attending the public schools of Jersey City, as the residence of the family changed, he continued his studies at the Jersey City public and high schools, and also attending evening school for two years. Mr. Freudenberg’s first business experience was with the famous publishing house of the Street & Smith Company, of New York City, where he continued for a full decade, then for about two years he conducted a typewriter exchange in Jersey City and also in New York. In the year 1918, Mr. Freudenberg identified himself with the Travelers Insurance Company of Hartford, Connecticut, as a field representative, and is still active in this capacity. He also handles a very extensive real estate and insurance business, and with offices at No. 109 Paterson Plank Road, West Hoboken, and is taking a definite part in the local advance. Mr. Freudenberg acts as a notary public, is a Democrat by political affiliation, and is a member of Waverly Congregational Church. His brother Eugene Freudenberg, fraternally holds membership in the Junior Order United American Mechanics, of Jersey City, Summit Council, No. 87. He is also a member of the Waverly Congregational Church. Arthur O. Freudenberg married, February 28, 1914, Maria E. Winblad, daughter of John and Salmine (Pedersen) Winblad, both now deceased, her father during his lifetime being associated with an ocean steamship line. Mr., and Mrs. Freudenberg are the parents of two daughters; Naida Muriel and Selma Louise."

Memories of Arthur Freudenberg:
Arthur Oscar Freudenberg II (1929- ) said on May 05, 2003:
"I think Helen Freudenberg got his house in Keansburg and she sold it to a milk guy named Burke in Jersey City. I think its 164 Center Avenue in Keansburg. I brought over a load of chopmeat an he ate it raw. I got it free because I was picking up food for the nuns at the hospital. He owned a building on 309 Central Avenue, 329 Summit Avenue, 138 Cottage Street and a 10 room house in Keansburg, New Jersey. He never gave his wife May and money. He was a cheap bastard."

Selma Louise Freudenberg (1921- ) said on February 20, 1999: "I remember my father would bring us a Christmas tree or a turkey for us [after he abandoned the family]. Once he brought us a turkey that went bad in our ice box. The butcher that lived in the four family house next door had us soak the turkey in salt water for a few hours and we were able to cook the turkey. Across the hall was a woman named Mrs. Edwards and she would bring over food, but she would stay for hours trying to find out gossip. After she moved out the Brady’s moved in and we were good friends with them. They didn’t have any kids. The Berberick’s lived downstairs and they later moved to Fair Lawn. I remember on hot nights everyone would stay outside on their porches in Jersey City."

Archive:
Very few photographs of him survived, all his posessions were discarded when he died, by his lawyer. A few pages of his letterhead survived and are archived. His collection of stamps removed from envelopes at Street and Smith is extant. A few of the engravings he collected survived. There were rumors that his diary may have survived with the Borlands.

Relationship:
Arthur Oscar Freudenberg (1891-1968) was the grandfather of Richard Arthur Norton (1958- ).

Ann Elizabeth O'Malley (1933- ) Trip to Coalpit and Hollygrove, Ireland on September 28, 1982.

On September 28, 1982, Fred [Henning] and I drove to Roscommon in search of Catherine Carr’s birthplace. We asked the postmaster for directions to Holly Grove or Coal Pits. Before leaving the U.S., I spoke to Joe Kennedy, Catherine Carr’s son, who suggested that we speak to Postmaster Flannigan in Roscommon. Unfortunately he had been transferred to another office. In Athleague, the closest town of any size to Coal Pits, we asked the first elderly man we saw if he had ever met Thomas Carr. He said if it is the Thomas Carr who married Mary Kelly then he had. That was our lucky day. He directed us to the Holly Grove/Coal Pits area. We stopped in front of a two story granite house and asked a middle aged man if he knew whether this was the former residence of Thomas and Mary Carr. As luck would have it, once again he said that it was not, but that he owned the old Thomas Carr estate. His name was Mr. McCann and he said that the property had been divided and the Rourkes had built a house on a portion of the original property. He stated further that the house was in bad condition because no one was living in it and that cows had roamed through it. He also said that the house was hard to spot because it was very far back from the road. Mr. McCann also said that his mother would love to talk with us but unfortunately we could not find her house. We drove back and forth several times and finally saw an elderly woman who had known Tom and Mary. She said that they frequently cycled into Athleague. The neighbor also said that Mary loved children and often gave them sweets. We turned the car around and spotted the house high on the hill. It is hard to say how much property was originally with the house. It might be as little as twenty acres or more than one hundred. It would have been an interesting question to ask Mr. McCann. At the entrance to the property there were two stone posts. We walked approximately 600 feet straight ahead and then turned to the left and continued up a slight grade approximately 200 feet. It was a stone house with a door framed in an interlacing pattern of diamonds and ovals. There were quoins on the two front corners of the house. The front door was boarded up so we climbed through a back window into the kitchen which still had only a mud floor. At the front entry hall there was a staircase straight ahead and a hallway to the left of the staircase leading to the kitchen. There were two large rooms, one on each side of the entry hall both with interesting fireplaces. A stairway with nicely carved banisters, still intact, led to the second floor. The second floor like the first consisted of two large rooms, both with a fireplace. To the left of the house was a stone shed. There was also a spring on the property and someone said that many years ago it was used as a community spring. It was a great thrill to see the house where my grandmother was born and grew up. If only the cows had not roamed through it and destroyed the floors it would still be a picturesque house on a hill. After dinner that evening we went to a general store in Athleague and mentioned that my grandmother, Catherine Carr, was born in Coal Pits. They said that Mary Kelly’s sister, Mrs. Haughey, was still alive and lived in Athleague right next to the church. We also learned that there were Carrs in neighboring Fuerty Parish. We went to see Mrs. Haughey the next day and her son came to the door and said that his mother was very low. He asked if we could come back later. Unfortunately our schedule was tight and we reluctantly headed for Donegal.

Memoir of Eloise Ensko II (1925-1993) written on July 03, 1965.

My great-grandmother Sophia married an Oscar Lindauer. They came from Alsace-Lorraine on their honeymoon, by boat. Alsace-Lorraine was then owned by the French. Great-grandmother brought a lovely picture of Napoleon over from the other side - none of which I have ever seen duplicated. It is still in the family and in excellent condition. The Lindauer family owned a huge department store over there. When the newlyweds came to this country about the early 1800's they settled in Philadelphia. The living room furniture is still in the family. I have in my possession one of the sitting chairs. It is a very pretty, light wood in color, Victorian style. It is now of heavy material and cover. Sophia and Oscar had three boys and later on one girl. The boys were Charles, Louis and John and the girl, Eloise, was named by her brother, Charles. He found it by reading a book (Heloise & Abelard). The boys were much older than Eloise. Eloise grew up in old Greenwich Village in New York City. She played the piano and also sang in the Saint Thomas Church, on Fifth Avenue & 53rd Street, New York City, on Sundays in the choir. For a short period of time Eloise Lindauer attended the Convent of the Sacred Heart with her best friend. She died at her home 155 West 171st Street, New York City in her ninety-second year, from old age. She played her piano by note and from memory until the week before she passed away. She had reddish blonde hair up until the end with a very slight trace of white and wore it in an old-fashioned knot on the top of her head. Eloise Lindauer married William Ensko, of New York City and had four children: William Arthur Ensko, Charles Edward Ensko, Eloise Ensko and Sophie Charlotte Ensko. Uncle Billy was in the linen business and traveled all over the world. He had a son, Arthur, by his wife, Ethel Minerva Beaver. Arthur was married to Jewell Ripple who later on [wasted] away from cancer. He later married Rose La Gattufa. Eloise was mostly at home caring for her aged mother. Before that she worked as a stenographer in a bank. Sophie was a school teacher. She taught English and sewing later in the Junior High School, Public School 52 on Academy Street in New York City, Washington Heights section. Before that she taught elementary school, Public School 181 in New York City. Charles Ensko was my father and the father of Charles Edward, Junior. Charles was manager a firm in Budapest, here in New York City. Later on he went into the publishing business and then Uncle Robert, of Robert Ensko, Inc. Silversmiths, took daddy into the business with him. Daddy remained there until he retired, selling his stock to Stephen Ensko, son of Robert. Daddy also collaborated with on books with Stephen written about old silver. They worked hard learning the business from bottom to top. The books have become rare now. However due to Stephen, your University now has a course in Antique and Early American Silver. They often call in Stephen to give lectures. The University has a complete set of these books. I have a complete set also. The Phi Delta Theta Fraternity at Lafayette College has a set too. This was donated by my father and brother as Charles attended and was graduated from Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania. For a short while Charles attended the Dwight School for Boys which was on Park Avenue in New York City for a spell. Before that he graduated from George Washington High School in Washington Heights. I am Eloise Ensko Higgins, daughter of Charles and Elizabeth MacIlwraith. I attended Public School 98, Public School 52 for elementary classes and went on to Barnard School for Girlson Fort Washington Avenue, Washington Heights, and then on to the Garden Country Day School in Jackson Heights, Long Island, New York. I studied the piano and played duets with my teacher, Florence Hanford Friedman, at the High School and elementary school Parent Teacher's Association and at the church. I was a member of the Holy Trinity Church on Cummings Street, off Dykman Street in New York City (Washington Heights). We lived on 212th & 213th Street off Broadway. I sang in the church school choir, belonged to the Girls Friendly and Girl Scouts. I was in many shows they put on there.

Oscar Arthur Moritz Lindauer (1815-1866) Possibly a Free and Accepted Mason at Eastern Star Lodge, No. 227, New York; Immigrated from Strasbourg, Alsace, France to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA in 1834 (b. 1815, Strasbourg, Alsace-Lorraine, Bas Rhin, France - d. September 05, 1866, 42 Grand Street, Manhattan, New York County, New York City, New York, USA)

Birth:
Oscar was born in Strasbourg in Alsace where his parents owned a department store. His birth certificate and baptismal records have not been found in Alsace. The name of his parents are not known, but will be determined once his death certificate is located.

Marriage and Emigration to Philadelphia:
In 1834 he married Sophia Weber (1815-1891) and on their honeymoon they emigrated to Philadelphia in the United States.

Children:
They had three children in Philadelphia: Charles Frederick Lindauer (1835-1921) who married Anna Augusta Kershaw (1841-1931) and have several children and grandchildren; John Jacob Lindauer (1841-1888) who married Nellie X (1853-1899), worked as a cigar maker, and had several children and grandchildren; and Louis Julius Lindauer (1842-1915) who married Mary Sheehan (1842-1888) and had several children and a few grandchildren but no known great-grandchildren. Oscar then had the following child after moving to Manhattan: Eloise Lindauer I (1852-1944) who married William Arthur Ensko II (1850-1889) and had several children and grandchildren.

Manhattan, New York:
Oscar and Anna moved to New York around 1850 and their daughter, Eloise Lindauer was born there. Oscar and Anna lived on Houston Street in Greenwich Village in New York City and Oscar and his children may have operated a "liquor" vending business or an "exchange". Other entries in the City Directory list the children as "brokers". Oscar may have been a Freemason and one or more of his children may have served in the Civil War. Oscar was listed in the 1866 Manhattan City Directory living at 81 Grand Street in Manhattan and his occupation was listed as "exchange".

Death:
Oscar died in 1866 at age 51. He most likely died in New York City, but his death certificate has not been located.

Burial:
He was buried in Cypress Hill Cemetery at 833 Jamaica Avenue in Brooklyn, New York City and his obituary appeared in the New York Herald on Friday, September 07, 1866. There is no marker for his grave but there are two markers for two other family members buried in the plot: William Arthur Ensko II (1850-1889); and Stanley Marlton Massey (1895-1902).

Obituary:
New York Herald, Friday, September 07, 1866, page 9: "On Wednesday morning, September 5, Oscar A.M. Lindauer, aged 51 years and 2 months. The relatives and friends of his sons, Charles, Louis, and John Lindauer, also the members of Eastern Star Lodge, No. 227, F. and A.M., are respectfully invited to attend the funeral from 42 Grand Street, this (Friday) afternoon, at two o'clock. The remains to be interred in Cypress Hill Cemetery."

Archive:
The only known photograph of Oscar Arthur Moritz Lindauer was from the collection of Eloise Lindauer I (1852-1944). Eloise also inherited the family bible which contained a list of births and deaths for the first generation of Lindauers in the US. It was housed with Eloise Ensko Higgins (1955- ) in Lawrenceville, New Jersey as of 2005.

Family Memoir:
In 1965 Eloise Ensko (1925-1993) wrote the following: "My great-grandmother Sophia married an Oscar Lindauer. They came from Alsace-Lorraine on their honeymoon. Alsace-Lorraine was then owned by the French. Great grandmother brought a lovely picture of Napoleon over from the other side - none of which I have ever seen duplicated. It is still in the family and in excellent condition. The Lindauer family owned a huge department store over there. When the newlyweds came to this country about the early 1800's they settled in Philadelphia. The living room furniture is still in the family. I have in my possession one of the sitting chairs. It is a very pretty, light wood in color, Victorian style. It is now of heavy material and cover. Sophia's Oscar had three boys and later on one girl. The boys were Charles, Louis and John."

Legacy:
There are at least five living lines descending from him. The lines are: (1) the Enskos that descend from the marriage of Eloise Lindauer to William Arthur Ensko. The second line is (2) the Freudenbergs that descend from Charles Frederick Lindauer's daughter, Eloise Lindauer II (1861-1935), who married Maximillian Freudenberg (1857-1921) and had 15 children, nine of them living to adulthood. A third line descends from (3) Grover Cleveland Lindauer (1885-1968) who was listed in one census as Grover Dunne. It is not known if Grover was adopted or if Charles Frederick Lindauer fathered him outside his marriage to Anna Kershaw. Grover's mother is named Mary Dunne. "Charles" is listed as Grover's father on his death certificate and Grover would never discuss who his parents were. Grover had a daughter, Gladys Stanley Lindauer (1908-1997), and her descendents are the Grover Lindauer line. The fourth line was discovered in August 2003 from the obituary of Anna Lindauer (1881-1956), a daughter of Charles Frederick Lindauer. Anna married Ira Lowe and had two children, Blanche and Joseph Lowe. Blanche married John Wahl and had at least three children, later she married a Testerman and lived to be 100 years old. Other lines descend from John Jacob Lindauer and these lines were confirmed on Thanksgiving, November 25, 2004 when John's 1880 Census entry was discovered. Other lines may exist from Louis Julius Lindauer, who had a daughter, Grace, that married a Massey and had at least one child. Louis Julius Lindauer also had a daughter, Sophia, that married a Davis. It isn't known if these lines died out or continued. Oscar Arthur Moritz Lindauer (1815-1866) has the following people named in his honor: Arthur Oscar Lindauer (1867-1944); Oscar Arthur Lindauer (1873-c1965); and Arthur Oscar Freudenberg (1891-1968). In the year 2000, his name was placed on the American Immigrant Wall of Honor at Ellis Island.

Uncompleted Tasks:
His death certificate from New York City has not been located in the archive despite three attempts to find it. Perhaps he died in New Jersey. More trips will have to be made to the New Jersey and New York archive until it is located. His death certificate should name his parents and will take this line back an entire generation in Alsace. He also needs to be found in the 1840-1860 Census in Philadelphia or in New York City. All efforts to search under his first and last name have been fruitless.

Relationship:
Oscar Arthur Moritz Lindauer (1815-1866) was the third great-grandfather of Richard Arthur Norton (1958- ).

Eugene Freudenberg II (1925-1945) aka Eugene Freudenberg, Jr.; aka Eugen J. Freudenberg; US Army, Killed in Action in World War II (b. June 29, 1925, Jersey City, Hudson County, New Jersey, USA - d. January 24, 1945, Luzon, Philippines) Military Service Number 42014477.

Name:
The "J" as his middle name in his World War II record appears to be a truncation of "Jr.", there is no record of a middle name for him. He also appears as "Eugen Freudenberg" again through a truncation in his military records.

Birth:
Eugene was the son of Eugene Freudenberg I  (1900-1956) aka Gene Freudenberg; and Florence Catherine Skinner (1901-1986).

Siblings:
His siblings include: Louis Julius Freudenberg II (1922-1986) who had a child with Mildred Piatt (1918-?); Arthur Oscar Freudenberg II (1929- ) who married Helena R. Bonowicz (1919-1988); and Ralph Kohlman Freudenberg (1937-1995) who fell from a window as an infant and landed on a wrought iron fence and was later burned in a fire.

World War II:
Eugene enlisted as a Private in the US Army on September 17, 1943 from Newark, New Jersey. He had completed 1 year of high school and wasn't employed. The New York Times listed his death in a supplement published on March 20, 1945 on page 14. Arthur Oscar Freudenberg II (1929- ) has Eugene's purple heart and the flag used at his funeral, and may have his military photograph.

Burial:
Eugene was buried at the Santa Barbara Number 1 Cemetery in the Philippines and was disinterred on August 30, 1948. His skeletal remains were reinterred at Beverly National Cemetery in New Jersey on February 11, 1949. They initially used a Star of David on his plot because they thought the name Freudenberg was Jewish. Florence went to visit the cemetery on October 24, 1949 and told the cemetery officials that he was Christian. They later replaced the Star of David with a Latin Cross. His name is recorded at the National WWII Memorial in Washington, District of Columbia.
 
Burial:
Beverly National Cemetery, Beverly, Burlington County, New Jersey, USA. Plot: F, 0, 1844L.

Richard Arthur Norton (1958- ) Trip to Thailand in May of 2001.

Trip from Bangkok to Village #11, Nakopamark Subdistrict, Bangkratum District, Pitsanulok Province
Richard Arthur Norton
Saturday, May 12, 2001

The night before I came into Bangkok and got a room at the YMCA, I ate breakfast there and there was a large group of students on their way to Vietnam. Breakfast was poached eggs and Thai noodles. Thidawan picked me up at the YMCA lobby around noon. We took a taxi to her apartment and she packed all her stuff in boxes. We took a taxi to a place near the airport and there was her brother Chorba was waiting with his van. We took the van back to her apartment and then packed it tightly. There were 10 of us all together in the van. We picked Kevin up at the airport and added his three large bags to the car, now there were 11 in an even smaller space. We drove 6 hours to get from Bangkok to Village #11. Two people were in the front seats, 4 people were in the back bench of the pickup and 5 people were crammed into the bed of the pickup with Thidawan’s possessions and Kevin’s luggage and my luggage.

Making Mango Paste
Richard Arthur Norton
House 13/3, Village #11, Nakopamark Subdistrict, Bangkratum District, Pitsanulok Province. Thailan
Monday, May 14, 2001

Thidawan’s mother spent the day cutting mangos into small pieces and placing them into a cooking pot.  She started a charcoal fire in a stove that looks like a small water jar; it is open on the top and has a hole in the side about the size of a postcard for removing the ash and letting in the air for combustion.  A wok or a pot fits snugly on the top. She boiled the mango until it was the consistency of applesauce and the color of cooked butternut squash. Thidawan’s sister, Hai took the yellow mixture after it had cooled and poured a ladle full of it into a plastic ring that sat on a piece of sheet plastic that was set out in the sun on top of a piece of thin plywood. She poured out maybe 50 of these 6-inch diameter circles and let them sit in the sun to drive off the water. Honeybees come from all around to drink the sweet liquid that is expressed from the mixture as it dries. Hai was adjusting the boards that supported the plywood when the plywood collapsed and 30 of the circles slid to the ground. The dogs and the bees were very happy as the mixture landed on the ground in a pile.  That afternoon the circles were brought inside. They were firmly attached to the plastic and could be peeled off like a fruit rollup that you would find in a US supermarket.  Other people in nearby houses collect the small bananas that grow here. They are maybe 6-inches long and grow in clusters of 30 or 40. The bananas are picked, flattened and placed on reed mats that are raised off the ground. They sit in the sun until partially dried, and then they are brought to the banana factory nearby. Thidawan has a sister that works there. At the factory they dry the bananas further and then pack them into small plastic bags for sale.  Some are sliced, sugared and dried further until they are the consistency of the banana slices found in health food stores in the US.

Visiting The Temple (Wot) and the Waterfall then wake for “Si-Wa-Chun”
Richard Arthur Norton
Nakopamark Subdistrict, Bangkratum District, Pitsanulok Province. Thailand
Tuesday, May 15, 2001

At 6:30 am a local monk walks the road in front of Thidawan’s house looking for alms. He is dressed in saffron robes and is followed by an acolyte dressed in a white robe. Thidawan’s mother gave him some rice and he continued walking down the road. Thidawan says that he is the brother in law of her father. We went to Prichit to go shopping and we bought a cooked chicken and some Thai noodles. On our return trip we stopped at the temple where there was a festival. There were representatives of the banana factory and people carrying papier-mâché chilies and ears of corn. We stopped at a waterfall and had food brought to us from the rest stop from across the street. We had chicken and some soup and rice. Later we stopped at a cousin of Thidawan’s mom, they had three very friendly puppies. The women chewed betel nuts that stained their teeth red. The last stop was for the wake of Si-Wa-Chun. He drowned in the river a few days earlier. He was his parent’s only child. During the ceremony while the monks were chanting a praying mantis flew into the room, it stood on a ceiling rafter and watched the ceremony from above. A few minutes later it flew away. After the monks were finished we ate some food. It was a dish of fat Thai noodles in a broth with some green vegetables. It was very good. I gave 100 bhat as a donation to the parents; it was all I had in my pocket. They tied a red string around my wrist.

Rice Production
Richard Arthur Norton
Nakopamark Subdistrict, Bangkratum District, Pitsanulok Province. Thailand
Wednesday, May 16, 2001

Today we visited a small plot of land Han grows rice on. There is a large combine that cuts the rice stalks and then separates the rice from the chaff. The chaff is discarded through the back of the machine and the rice is collected in bags from the side. The rice still has its husk, and the next step in processing rice is to polish it to remove the husk. The husk or bran is saved and used as fuel. The polishing process is done elsewhere. As the combine moves over the rice field the dragonflies and the swallows move in to eat the insects that have been disturbed by the combine. While we waited for the rice bags to be dropped into a pile from the combine onto the side of the field we ate lotus seeds, litchis and drank cold water. The bags of rice now have to be moved from the side of the field onto the tractors so they can be taken to the place where they polish the rice. The tractors are very useful, they are used to till the rice fields and the engine is used to drive the pump that floods the rice field while the rice is growing. Kevin and I help load the bags onto the tractors.

Cremation of  “Si-Wa-Chun”
Oonkaeng, Nakopamark Subdistrict, Bangkratum District, Pitsanulok Province. Thailand
Richard Arthur Norton
Thursday, May 17, 2001

Today we attended the cremation of the boy that drowned in the river. It was raining most of the day, a light rain followed by a powerful downpour that would last just 10 or 15 minutes. We traveled by motorcycle to the temple; it was about 15 minutes from our house. There was a procession carrying the boy’s body in its casket from the truck that brought the casket to the temple. Young schoolgirls passed out sealed plastic cups of drinking water and straws to people in the crowd. In front of the casket was someone carrying a picture of the boy. I joined the procession as it circled the crematorium 5 times. A young boy in the crowd watching the procession fainted from grief, he was carried to the back of a pickup truck while a crowd of concerned people fanned him and administered smelling salts. There was a man throwing pieces or cardboard, the size of a postcard, with a strip of silver and a strip of gold. I wanted to pick one up but no one else did. As the man approached me he grabbed a handful of the now moist gold and silver papers and threw them toward me, but they were no longer dispersing like confetti and they hit me in the side of the head with a thud. A few moments later someone with coins wrapped in gold plastic was throwing them to the crowd. I picked up a few of them. We were handed a small lotus flower made of paper that had a rubber band at its base. The rubber band held a small piece of incense and a small piece of candle wax, the traditional Buddhist offerings. Everyone with a lotus flower walked up the steps on the right side of the crematorium, placed the flower on a dish, clasped their hands in a prayer then descended the steps at the front of the temple. As you descended the steps you were handed a key chain and were greeted by the boy’s father. The heavy rains began again and everyone ran for the nearest protection. Kevin, Hi, Hai’s brother who drives the car and I took shelter under the patio of the temple. When we returned home there was a swarm of termites that flew into the house, hundreds of them flew in, lost their wings and started crawling through the house. We picked them up and threw them into a bucket of water to be eaten later.

Fishing then Drinking Beer and Eating Termites
House 13/3, Village #11, Nakopamark Subdistrict, Bangkratum District, Pitsanulok Province. Thailand
Friday, May 18, 2001

About mile down the road is a man-made fishing pond. It’s the size of a standard rice field, maybe a quarter of an acre or more. It’s about 6 or 8 feet deep and filled with fish that resemble carp. There was perhaps 20 or 30 fisherman in the pond, each having his own area to fish in. Some fish from the sides of the pond and others stand on bamboo tripods anchored to the bottom of the pond and throw their nets into the water. The nets are circles about 20 feet across and have weights along the edges. The fisherman throws it into the water as far as he can, and he usually falls into the water when he does this. When we returned we went to the market in Pitsanulok. The market is filled with about 50 stalls all selling cooked and uncooked food. Every fish imaginable is represented there, and there was a woman who was selling fried bananas covered with sesame seeds, I bought a small bag and they were delicious. They was a stall that sold insects for food, a 4-inch long water insect that resembles a large version of the swimming beetles in the US. You can buy a plastic bag filled with shaved ice and they fill it with two cups of Fanta for about 10 of 15 bhat. On the trip home we bought some beer and that night we ate the fish from the pond for dinner and drank the beer until late in the night. We ate some of the termites that came into the house that night. You pick off the wings then roast them with a lighter, then pop them in your mouth. There isn’t enough meat to really give you a flavor.

Bicycle Trip to Phichit
Richard Arthur Norton
House 13/3, Village #11, Nakopamark Subdistrict, Bangkratum District, Pitsanulok Province. Thailand
Saturday, May 19, 2001

Kevin and I bicycled from the house part way to Phichit. It took over three hours using the children’s bicycles. We stopped frequently for repairs and cold drinks, and gave up on reaching our final destination when we reached a karaoke bar in the middle of nowhere. It looked like a typical rest stop for Pitsanulok Province selling Fanta soda and potato chips, but it had a huge karaoke machine. We called Thidawan and she sent her brother to pick us up in his truck. When we sat down two men were drinking whisky and singing, and there where two women that were there also. The thin man wearing glasses asked Kevin to arm wrestle and Kevin won three times. The last time it was a struggle. As we were leaving the young, pretty woman asked in Thai if I was single, then she hugged me. We posed for a picture then Chord took us home in his truck. The woman’s telephone number is 671-285.

Playing Pool and Merit Making
Richard Arthur Norton
House 13/3, Village #11, Nakopamark Subdistrict, Bangkratum District, Pitsanulok Province. Thailand
Sunday, May 20, 2001

We bicycled to a local shop that had a pool table. Kevin played snooker and lost about 200 bhat. That night we attended the 100-day anniversary of another villager’s death. It was a large party identical to Kevin’s wedding (I didn’t attend the wedding but watched the video he took). There were about 30 or 40 circular tables, each with a tablecloth and a set of silver cups. A woman brought us 5 dishes of food, a large bowl of rice and several bottles of drink. There was Fanta, water, beer and whisky. The entertainment was the same musicians as Kevin’s wedding. A male singer and 8 female dancers were on stage. 4 of the dancers also sang. I don’t know what the lyrics are but the movements of the dancers is very sexual. They thrust out their hips and rock back and forth like they are engaging in coitus. The food was excellent; one dish was chicken in a broth with some type of yellow gelatinous material on top. Another dish, which was my favorite, was tomatoes and some sort of vegetable similar to fenugreek. It had small pieces of pork in it. A third dish was pineapple with chilies. There was a dish with that was sweet; it had what had the texture of large tapioca and hard-boiled eggs in coconut milk. I got to dance with Hai, and the main singer started singing about the “falong” and she started touching herself suggestively. Everyone in the audience looked my way and started laughing. The next morning the monks were chanting as the ceremony continued.

House 13/3, Village #11, Nakopamark Subdistrict, Bangkratum District, Pitsanulok Province. Thailand

Thidawan’s family home is raised off the ground by concrete pylons, the walls are made of teak boards that run vertically and they are painted red on the outside.  The house is maybe 30 feet by 30 feet.  All sorts of useful materials are stored between the pylons: unused teak boards, rice husks in recycled fertilizer bags, wicker baskets of charcoal, and the family bicycles. The roof is made of corrugated zinc-steel and the interior is lighted with fluorescent lights that get their power from metered electricity from the government. The bathroom is an enclosed room in the rear of the house with a squat toilet. To flush it you pour water from a bucket directly into it. The waste is flushed into a septic tank that is buried in the ground. The kitchen is next to the bathroom and a stove that looks like a small water jar is used for cooking. It is open on the top and has a hole in the side about the size of a postcard for removing the ash and letting in the air for combustion.  A wok or a pot fits snugly on the top. There is an electric refrigerator for storing perishables. Thidawan has a stereo for playing music. The house is supplied with government water and there is a small pump for sending the water up to the house to fill the large water storage jars. The water jars hold about 20 gallons of water and are covered with a plastic top. When we were at the house an electrician had come and installed two more fluorescent lights and 6 more electrical outlets. His bill for the work was about  $20 or 850 bhat. Food grows abundantly in the rich soil around the house. In their garden they cultivate chilies, eggplant and cucumbers. Coconuts, mangoes, bananas and papayas grow wild. The mangoes can be eaten fresh or boiled into a paste that can be dried. There are maybe 20 chickens on the property and a man rents the rice field on the property to raise his ducks. The family gets supplied with duck eggs in exchange. Thidawan’s mother cooked a mixture of corn and grated coconut that was delicious. I saw the same dish for sale in the market. At night we sleep on reed mats on the floor under mosquito netting.

Thidawan “Nok” Ruasamran aka Pitsanu Ruasamran
Thai Identification Number: 3650500120403

Her nickname, “Nok” means bird. Born February 03, 1973, daughter of Chuen Ayuklai and Serm Ruasamran, She lived in Bangkok but was raised at House 13/3, Village #11, Nakopamark Subdistrict, Bangkratum District, Pitsanulok Province. Thailand. Her son is Jaras Chaimuangchuan (ID = 1650500085628). Jaras’ father is Songsak Chaimuangchuan. Thidawan is married to my cousin, Kevin Borland. He met her in Bangkok when he was taking an international law course for the summer.  He was talking to the bar maid when her friend came in. That friend was Thidawan.

Jaras Chaimuangchuan
Thai Identification Number: 1650500085628
Jaras’ father is Songsak Chaimuangchuan and his mother is Thidawan Ruasamran. He will be the adopted son of Kevin Borland. Kevin says that he is having trouble in school, he has been bullying the other students and at home he is very rough on the animals. He picks the cat up by the neck in a choking position.

Bunchorb “Chorb” Ruasamran
Chorb means “like” or “enjoy”. He is the brother of Thidawan Ruasamran, he owns the pickup truck and drives us around. He has a high-pitched voice. He is married to Dim and he has a son Tarpakon Ruasamran. His son is very loud and is about the same age as Jaras.

Bunchod “Chod” Ruasamran
He is a rice farmer. His son is Wanjad the oldest of the children. He also owns cattle. 3 of the cattle in his herd belong to him and one belongs to Hai. His wife is named Nut.

Sarot X
Sarot is the nephew of Thidawan Ruasamranand the son of Sung Ruasamran. He is Thidawan’s sister’s child. Sarot is studying electronics and is building an amplifier. He and his mother live at the banana factory. Sung lives and works at the banana factory. She is married but her husband does not live with her.

Chu Ruasamran
He is the brother of Thidawan Ruasamran and has a motorcycle. His son is “boy”. Chu’s son’s name is Charnalong. His wife is very attractive. His wife’s name is Turian and her nickname is Kwan. Turian “Kwan” X.

Withan “Han” Ruasamran
His name, “han” means temple (wot also means temple). He is the brother of Thidawan and he is covered with tattoos. He owns a plot of land near his mother’s house that he grows rice on. He has two children and his wife’s name is Ing. We went fishing with him on Friday, May 18, 2001. His oldest child is named Philapon and is married. He applied for a job in Singapore. He is good at math and plays guitar. He is going to school in another city. He drives a truck and did service as a monk. He is 22 years old in 2001. The youngest, Ootsa “Dam” Ruasamran, she is studying in another city. She borrowed a dress from Thidawan for the wedding. At the wedding she handed out favors and she washed Kevin’s feet. She is around 14 years old in 2001. Dam means black. She is very dark skinned.

Ootsa “Dam” Ruasamran
Ootsa “Dam”, she is studying in another city. She borrowed a dress from Thidawan for the wedding. At the wedding she handed out favors and she washed Kevin’s feet. She is around 16 years old in 2001. Dam means black. She is very dark skinned. January 01, 1985 is her birthday.

Chontichar “Hai” Ruasamran
She is the sister of Thidawan Ruasamran and lives with Thidawan’s mother in her house at 13/3. She raises Jaras and her brother’s child, Tarpakon.  Tarpakon Ruasamran is the child of Chorb and Dim. Her nickname “Hai” means giving, which is most appropriate for her. She has a very muscular build. She has dark slightly curly hair like her deceased father. Hai always makes sure everyone in the house is taken care of. She helps her brother Chorb on his rice field.

Chuen Ayuklai
Mother of Thidawan, she is over 70 years old. She says her legs hurt and gets medicine for it. It may be arthritis. She may also not have good circulation in her legs.

Chaimuangchuan
This is the family name of Thidawan’s son

Thidawan Borland
  Thai Identification Number: 3650500120403
  female
  3-Feb-74
  Mother: Chuen
  Father: Serm
  25-Feb-74

Jaras Chaimuangchua
  male
 1650500085628
 5-Mar-94
 Mother: Thida Wan
 Father: Songsak
 11-Mar-94

Somsak Ruasamran
He may be mentally handicapped; he attended the wedding of Thidawan and Kevin Borland. He sells snacks in Bangkok and Vichit takes care of him
   
Vichit Ruasamran
His wife’s name is Nam, which means water. Nam is the sister of Nut who is married to Bunchod, the rice farmer and cattle owner. Thethun is their maiden name. Nat Thethun and Nut Thethun. Their father and a brother died this year (2001). He is a construction worker and has three sons. One of his sons is married. He takes care of Samsok in Bangkok.

Sung Ruasamran
She works at the banana factory and lives there too. Ban Koatoon is where the banana factory is. Her son is Sarot and he is studying electronics. He is an only child.

Chien Ruasamran
He lives in village #11. His daughter was dressed up at the fair we went to and there is a picture of her.

Home Grown Food:
Cultivated Chiles
Cultivated Cucumbers
Cultivated Eggplant
Wild Mimosa Fiddleheads

On Property:
Bananas
Mangos
Papaya
Coconut
Crabs
Frogs
 
Nearby:
Lotus Seeds
Fish

Vocabulary:
Falong = Gringo
Falong Sok-Mok = Filthy Gringo
Sue Why = Pretty
Ma Muang = Mango
Ma Prow = Coconut
Ma = Fruit
Som = Orange
Pitt = Hot
Prik = Chili
Now = Cold
Nam Kang = Ice
Nam = Water
Chang = Elephant
Dang = drop
Ghin Nam = Drink = Take Water
Ghin Khao = Eat = Take Rice
Non = Sleep
Khao = white
Me You = I’m Full
Khao = Rice
Moo = Pork
Ghai = Chicken
Phad = Fried
Khai = Egg
Dom = Black
Sunuk = Dog

Children of Chuen Ayuklai (c1930- ) and Serm Ruasamran (1929-1980):
     1. BrotherA
     1. BrotherB
     1. Somsak Ruasamran (1950- ) different mother and slight mental handicap, he lives in Bangkok
     1. Sung Ruasamran (c1953- ) works and lives at the banana factory in Ban Koatoon
           2.  Sarot X (c1980- ) lives with mom at factory and studies electronics
     1. Chontichar “Hai” Ruasamran (1955- )
     1. Chu Ruasamran (c1958- ) + Turian “Kwan” X, owns a motorcycle
           2. Charnalong “Boy” Ruasamran (c1985- )
               3. “Bee” Ruasamran (2001- ) she was born around March 05, 2001
     1. Withan “Han” Ruasamran (c1960- ) he is covered with tattoos and lives in Village #11
          2. Philapon Ruasamran (c1980- ) monk and truck driver, he wants to get a job outside Thailand
          2. Ootsa “Dam” Ruasamran (c1985- ) she is dark skinned and goes to school outside the village
     1. Vichit Ruasamran (c1963- ) + Nam Thethun, they live in Bangkok and take care of Somsak, he is a construction worker
          2. Son A
          2. Son B
     1. Wichien “Chien” Ruasamran (c1965- ) + Meow X. He has curly hair and rarely leaves his house; he says it’s because of the sun
          2. Daughter Ruasamran (c1995- ) she was at the fair we went to
    1.  Bunchorb “Chorb” Ruasamran (c1968- ) + Dim
          2. Tarpakon Ruasamran (c1994- ) the loud child
     1. Bunchod “Chod” Ruasamran (c1970- ) + Nut Thethun, rice farmer and cattle owner
          2. Wanjad Ruasamran (c1985- ) he plays pool
     1. Thidawan “Nok” Ruasamran (1974- ) pronounced tea-dah-wan
          2. Jaras Chaimuangchuan (1994- ) he picks up the cat by his head and kicks the dog
     1. “Nam” Ruasamran (1974) she lived one day
Note: there are 13 siblings, 10 are living

Source: Thidawan “Nok” Ruasamran (1974- ) Translated by Kevin Borland, Compiled by Richard Arthur Norton, Friday, May 18, 2001

Village#11:
Thai Identification Number:
     3-6505-00120-40-3 Thidawan “Nok” Ruasamran (1973- ) aka Pisanu Ruasamran
     1-6505-00085-62-8 Jaras Chaimuangchuan (1994- ) Son of Thidawan and Songsak
     3-5105-00012-69-5 Songsak Chaimuangchuan (1973- ) Father of Jaras
     0-0000-00000-00-0 Thanee Chaiyapasi (1973- ) First Husband of Thidawan