The House on Harrison Avenue

831 Harrison Avenue - Salt Lake City, Utah

 We've done a blog spotlight on the various homes the WESTRA family lived in as they immigrated to the United States, and then to Utah (A History of Homes...). Also on the Westra side of the family (in our genealogy) are the Erskines. Dad/Lamar's mom, Lucille, and her parents, Claude and Olive Erskine.  

In Lucille's history, she wrote ...

All my life was spent at 831 Harrison Avenue, until I got married in 1935. My mother and dad were married in 1907 and came to live at 831 Harrison Avenue. They lived there all their lives. We had a nice living room, dining room, kitchen, bath, and two bedrooms, and a big sleeping porch. We enjoyed the fireplace and had a fire most every Sunday. We had a piano, which my mother played beautifully. I remember in the summers we would move our beds out on the sleeping porch and use the front bedroom as a playroom. We had a big swing in our backyard. We had a big blackboard out on the porch that we used when we played school. I remember our old coal stove in the kitchen. The good smells of homemade bread and chili sauce and mustard pickles. I remember the flat irons that mother would have on the back of the stove and would wrap in newspaper and put at the bottom of our beds in the winter time. I remember the heatrola in the dining room and how we loved to get behind it to get warm. We had a garden in our backyard and my father grew corn, tomatoes, carrots, beans and peas. I remember taking Grandma Cushing’s dinner over to her two or three nights a week. She just lived on the next block. I would love to visit her and sit at her kitchen table.

Chris did a Google search to see if he could find the house today (in 2021)

 

 

Unemployed?

 

Mom/Margie remembers: He worked there when I was in elementary school and we lived in Murray. At at the first of the year, in the lower grades, the teacher had each student stand and tell what their father did for a living. I would say that my Dad worked at the "Unemployment Office." They probably thought, "poor kid, her Dad is out of work!"

While Grandma Rex did have to rely on unemployment for a time (as many did in the Depression days) as the newspaper article above shows, he did actually WORK for the government in the unemployment office. Here are a couple of excerpts from his history. It was December 1940 and the young couple, with a baby girl (Nelva), had moved back to Mt. Pleasant, parking their little trailer house at Rex's parent's home.

I started drawing my unemployment checks and did some trapping of muskrats. After exhausting my unemployment benefits and still no job, I decided to go to Salt Lake and look for work. I had become acquainted with the Morrison-Merrill Lumber Co (while working with the construction company). They had once told me that if I ever needed a favor to let them know. So I went to see them and informed them that I needed a job. They asked how soon I could start and I told them at once. I went to work that day and was assigned to work in the storage yard unloading the lumber from the railroad cars. A short time later, I was told to spend my time loading the customer’s trucks. Four months later I received a letter offering me a job with the Dept. of Employment Security as a Junior Clerk. It paid $80.00 a month, which was $20.00 less than I was getting. I talked it over with the lumber co., and they suggested since it was more in line with the work I was interested in, to take it and they would hold my job for me if I wasn’t satisfied. I started working for the Dept. of Employment Security on August 26, 1941. My first assignment was in the Fiscal Department stockroom as the mail boy. In a few months, I was transferred to the Claim Section. There I moved up to Intermediate Claims Examiner and on to Senior Claims Examiner. The war, by that time, had reduced the unemployment to a low number. So they asked if any of us knew how to use a typewriter, and I told them I could. They then transferred me to the Statistical Unit as a relief operator on a key punch machine.

Then World War II was in full swing, and Grandpa Rex was drafted into the army. He moved his family back to Mount Pleasant so Zada could be near the inlaws ... another baby girl (Margie) had been added to the family, and a little boy (Merrill) was on the way. After fulfilling his service for about two years, Rex was able to come home.

On January 2, 1946, I went to Salt Lake City and back to work at my old job. At the time of my retirement, which was the age of 60, I had the classification of Computer Operation Supervisor at the salary of approximately $21,000.00 a year. I was credited with thirty-four years and eleven months of service, getting credit for seven months of unused sick leave. I was able to retire for $975.17 a month for life with a guarantee of ten years to be paid to my survivors in case of my death. With about $24,000.00 paid up life insurance until age sixty-five, then going down to about 2% a month until it reaches about $8,000. Upon my retirement, the office and my fellow co-workers gave me a nice dinner and gift of golf clubs, bag, card and golf balls. I tried playing, but I am not too good at it – someday maybe?

 

 

Uploading/Adding Photos to Family Search

Lots of FamilySearch.org is looking. Peeking at the past, checking out the "memories" (photos, documents and stories) for ancestors who have passed away. But another part of FamilySearch.org is adding pictures and memories for the future. So that was the challenge this week ...

Adding a photo is pretty easy - go to your profile, go to "Memories" and from there you have the option to upload a photo, a document, or paste in text for a story (pictures can be included here as well). There are even options to add audio! On the computer/web, there is an "upload" button, on the app, there is a + sign in a green circle.

Janelle won the speed challenge, one minute faster than Conner. Janelle returned her result in three minutes!! If you look at the original collage below, Janelle was SO fast she took her screenshot and submitted it to Chris as it was still processing on FamilySearch. Wendy provided another clearer image ;) If we had a "family participation" award, Wendy got that again, all except for Jared this time.

Mom/Margie wrote: Just remind the kids and parents that to count, the kids need to be the ones doing "the driving" on the computer. Parents can verbally teach or write down the steps for the kids to follow, but we want the kids to learn by doing. You just don't learn and remember when you just see it demonstrated. Of course Layla and Noe can't handle it by themselves yet. And we parents have to give them time to think and reason out the next steps. That's how we were trained as missionaries to help people. We weren't supposed to touch the computer or do it for them, even when it got frustrating. And parents have to be careful to not verbally tell the next steps so fast the child can't think on their own. I know Dad and I tend to give the next steps too quickly. I've been on the receiving end of Dad's so quick instructions that I didn't have time to think on my own and I didn't learn or remember the steps.

Wendy commented: It was Jenna who showed Jase and Ellen and Jared how to do it, not the other way around, ha ha!

Chris:  Also, I think it’s an important skill to know that each picture needs a title, and a date, and a location, and it can have a description, and be related to an album, and have topic tags, etc. Faces labeled also. I noticed that most of the entries did not have any of those.

Perhaps that should have been part of the challenge (or a future challenge) - to add titles/information and tagging to photos in Family Search. But it is fun to have new photos added ... although no one else can see them yet! While a person is alive, all the memories remain private, and can only be accessed by others later on. 

One of the options on the Fan Chart shows how many photos have been uploaded.

Interesting to see, and we're lucky to have quite a few photos of our ancestors!

How many "memories" can you have? A person in Family Search can have up to 1,000 memories tagged to him or her. No limit exists for the number of tags for a given photo or document. So upload away! Your ancestors will be happy for a peek at your past!

Zada's Poetry

 

Grandma Zada was known for her parkerhouse rolls, homemade candies ... and for her poetry. She wrote lots of little poems.   She even wrote a poem about writing poems! This is an excerpt of her "My Life" poem (see Grandma Norman's Autobiography for full poem text) ...

One day I came in just in time for prayer, 

and an announcement made: 

"Dicky Dicky Dare there were no eggs there". 

This was the beginning of the poetry craze 

That has stayed with me the rest of my days. 

    

In the English class in my High School Days 

I composed a poem that the teacher gave praise. 

It was so much fun to get a good mark in her class 

By keeping and reading the poem to the class.

In the recent family history project, a couple new poems surfaced.

This first one is fun, as it is recorded in Zada's handwriting.

When it was time for Zada and Rex's Golden Wedding anniversary,

Zada wrote a poem for the invitation ...

(also included in the My Life poem referenced above)

Years hurried by and Golden Wedding time neared 

We needed invitations to mail to our peers. 

I picked up a pencil and wrote the message, we had. 

Then the printer did the rest--they were nice--we were glad.

Poems for Mother ~ ala Little Lamar

Many mothers keep the cards, drawings and school assignments their children create. I know I have a box of saved stuff (and also many more scanned and saved online). This precious poem and invitation to a school celebration was saved ... it's likely over 75 years old!  This was made by little Lamar for his mother Lucille. Check out the artwork, the poetry, the print, and the cursive! Grandma Lucille probably thought she was hanging onto this cute card for herself, not knowing that many years later future generations would be checking it out.

Here's another card - Another poem for Mother

The picture little LaMar drew is the famous "Whistler's Mother" painting.  

Perhaps this is where the Westra kids and grandkids inherited their artistic ability.  

The original painting is now worth $140 MILLION dollars!

Hmmm, how much LaMar's rendition is worth?

Derek commented: I loved Dad's poems and Whistler's Mother-style portrait! I remember learning about James McNeil Whistler in A.P. Art History with Mr. Bill. I remember two things: 1) Whistler always painted while wearing a full suit and tie, and 2) Whistler took critique really hard - he couldn't stand any criticism. I remember going on my Senior Trip to the Met in NY with Brian Anderson (who took AP Art with me). We knew enough about the artists and paintings that people started to follow us as we walked through and explained things. We got a big kick out of that. Two 18-year-old dudes were being followed for our deep knowledge of art history!

Deciphering Dropbox

 

The recent family history challenges have been focused on FamilySearch.org ... which is a great website for photos and histories and tracking family lines. Once people have passed away, the pictures and documents are available to the public. OUR family history project started with Dropbox, which is a file storage/sharing app. A great backup that is available from anywhere, and a little more private and flexible for our family history needs. There are free Dropbox versions with limited storage (2GB). That wasn't enough for the Westra Photo Project (currently at almost 200 GB) so we have invested in a family plan to give several people full access. A "family" log-in was created so that anyone who doesn't have Dropbox (or only has the free version or doesn't want Dropbox installed on their computer) can still access the full family photo project. With an app for your phone or tablet, or a web-only version on the computer, with the family username/password ... you can log in and see all the preserved pictures, and even upload - adding your own to the project.

To get the login/password, text/call/email Grandma, Jen, Wendy or Chris.

It is saved (an image file) in the main menu ... in case WE forget ;)

The first image is what the Dropbox menu looks like if you have Dropbox installed directly onto your computer. It is basically just using file explorer to go through folders and files. With this, you can change the size of the images (Grandma likes hers extra large and easy to see) or check out the details/dates/properties.  It can be stored on your harddrive (if you have the space) for offline access. There is a search option ... plug in a word/name and see what it pulls up. 

With WebOnly access, simply go to Dropbox.com, and you will see a "sign up or sign in" - and use the family username/password to sign in. It brings up a main menu page, and if you click on (Westra Family Photo History Memory Project) you would get a similar pages  show above & below. You can click on folders and files, and move forward or back through photos and folders to enlarge pictures. There is also a search function for the web version. 

Using your phone or a tablet is another great way to access Dropbox. You would need to add the app, then use the family login/password to get into the Westra Photo Project. As you log in the first time, it will ask you a couple questions (connect and backup all your photos to dropbox? Notifications?) You can just skip these - no commitment! 

These are three screen shots from an iphone - dropbox app.

Showing the main menu and going into the year 2000 folder. 

Folders are first, followed by photo files. 

With limited space on a smaller screen, you may only get partial names/labels.

An ipad shows a slightly different, but similar presentation.

There is a search option in the app too. 

When you are in the app -  check out the menu at the very bottom. HOME is the start page, which shows recent uploads and notifications. To look through folders and photos, tap the FILES to explore. Things are basically in chronological order, with a folder of everything before 1960, then each year after that. Within each year, there are folders for families or specific activities. Then there are some topic folders (all the annual Christmas newsletters/slideshows, another family folder feature). 

If you've ever seen a picture in the Christmas slideshow that you wanted to download to your phone, or wanted to check out the years before you were born, the Westra Family Photo History Memory Project is the perfect place to look. As the end of the year rolls around, upload your best photos so that you are represented in the files (and in the calendar and slideshow) ... it's a great backup too! 

Cooper didn't participate in last week's family history challenge (uploading a photo to Family Search) ... he said "I don't like to take photos of myself". I told him he could use a baby picture, and he asked how he would do that. Well just hop onto Dropbox, look at the year you were born and find a photo. Download it to your phone, and upload to Family Search. Easy peesy! Now that the next generation is mastering the Family Search site with the challenges and scavenger hunts ... exploring Dropbox may be an upcoming contest! 

Animating Ancestors

FamilySearch.Org is the main site that the Westra's use for family history. Backed by the church, it has a ton of information and it's FREE to use. There are other genealogical sites out there, like Ancestory.com and MyHeritage.com ... these often have fees, but can include additional information or fun activities. One of these activities that has been making the rounds on social media lately is MyHeritage's "Deep Nostalgia" which can take an old photo and bring it to life! Animating ancestors! Cool ... or creepy?

Introducing Henry Weeks Sanderson. 1829-1896.

Mom's (Margie), Mom's (Zada), Dad's, Mom's Dad

You need to press play ...

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Instagram - The Westra Way

For being several generations back, there are quite a few memories about ol' great-grandpa Sanderson (98 of them, pictures/text) on the FamilySearch website. Check them out HERE.

Here are more "live" pictures ...
the great-grandparents on the Westra side, Ate and Geeske

... and a young Grandpa Joe, missionary age!

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To use MyHeritage's Deep Nostalgia tool, it seems I did have to create a log-in (free). I used the tool a few times and then received a pop-up to subscribe (after a 14-day free trial). $150 a year, which seems excessive with FamilyHistory.org's free (and already mostly complete line for our family+) offerings. It seems if I came back to the site, I was able to upload and "liven up" more without having to pay or take further steps. I also accessed MyHeritage again from a different browser, and this time used the "Facebook" log-in (rather than setting up an email/PW) and used it several times and didn't get the "sign-up" pop-up (although I did recieve a general "welcome" email at the email address associated with my Facebook). So while you don't have to pay to use the tool, I do think you need to "sign-in" somehow before use.