Keeping Secrets

Every family has secrets. In my journey through family history, I have found plenty of secrets. The secrets come from family members and from documents. At some point in time, secrets get revealed. So, let me reveal two family secrets.

My adoptive parents, Frank George Newhouse (1906-1972) and Florence Marie Swinburne Newhouse (1907-1997), were married on June 11, 1938, with the ceremony taking place in a park in Oronoco, Minnesota. My dad could never remember their wedding anniversary, and it seemed I had to remind him every year of that special date.  I never told my mom I was doing this. After he died in 1972, my mother was reminiscing and revealed to me that they had actually eloped (probably to Iowa). The reason:  My dad did not want anyone else dating his girlfriend.  I had to laugh. I now understood why he could never remember his “official” wedding day. 

Another secret involved an uncle on my adoptive dad’s side of the family.  John Leon “Jack” Newhouse (1882-1932) was a barber by trade and operated his own barber shop. As related to me by his niece and my dad’s sister, Elizabeth Newhouse Harman (1917-2006), John lived with another woman, Cora Graden (1879-1964), and her daughter, May Graden. Cora’s husband was Walter Graden (1878-1935):  They were not divorced. I was told this before I found evidence in the 1930 U.S. Federal census for Corvallis, Benton County, Oregon. In the census, John is listed as being single and as being Cora’s brother (which he was not). Cora is listed as being a widow; however, her husband was alive and well in California. Tracing Walter, I found a listing in the Find A Grave website. He and Cora are listed as husband and wife, and the picture of their headstone shows both of their names. Obviously, Cora was never a widow; but is the family secret true? Well, I did look at the 1920 U.S. Federal census, and found Cora operating the Pine Island (Minn.) Hotel; John was one of the boarders in the hotel. It is interesting that they both ended up at the same address in Oregon as brother and sister in the 1930 census. All I can say, based on the 1930 census, is that John and Cora lived together. The family innuendo was that they were passing themselves off as husband and wife, but as to proof – I found none other than they lived together.

Winston Churchill is quoted as saying, “Study history, study history. In history lies all the secrets of statecraft.” This could be changed to say, “Study genealogy, study genealogy. In genealogy lies all the secrets of family.”

The Glove Box

While growing up, my paternal grandmother, Elizabeth Swarthout Newhouse, and I lived in the same town.  During the 1950s, we used to gather at her house every Sunday for the traditional noontime Sunday dinner.  During those Sundays, and on other days when I would visit, she would allow me to try on her jewelry.

To me, my grandmother’s jewelry box was a treasure trove.  The jewelry box was kept on her dressing table, and I was allowed to sit there and try on anything and everything.  However, there were two rules:  I had to stay at the dressing table and not traipse around the house adorned with the jewels I had found, and everything had to go back into the jewelry box.

Fast forward about 50 years.

My grandmother’s only daughter, Elizabeth Newhouse Harman, lived with her husband in Tampa, Florida.  They did not have any children.  I would travel to visit with them at least twice a year.  The first year I went for a visit, I discovered my grandmother’s jewelry box sitting on my aunt’s dresser.  I was thrilled to see it, and it brought back a rush of memories I forgot I had about sitting at fabric-skirted dressing table trying on jewelry from a unique jewelry box as only a little girl could do.

As my aunt aged, she would continually remark that I would get an inheritance from her; and, I would continually respond back by saying the only thing I wanted was the jewelry box—which I now knew to be a glove box.  A glove box is what ladies used to use to store their finest gloves when they were not being worn.

On one visit, when I stated that I wanted the glove box as my inheritance, my aunt decided to give it me.  As we were emptying out the box in which she, too, kept her jewelry, we discovered writing on the bottom of the box:  “Libby Swarthout, Pine Island, Minnesota, From, Fritz Newhouse.”  My aunt had not known the writing was on the bottom.  What a wonderful discovery!

This lovely, dark-green box was a gift from my grandfather to my grandmother before they were married in 1905.  The box is lined in silk, which no longer is in one piece as it has deteriorated;  the bronze clasp is no longer on the box (though the plates for the clasp are present); the sides are embossed with flowers which look like clover; and the top is exquisite:  a young lady sitting on the side of a boat.

 When I discovered the inscription on the bottom of the glove box, I understood the significance my grandmother placed on this treasure:  a gift from her husband, who died too young at 42 years of age.  When I look at this glove box, now on display in my home, it brings back wonderful memories of my grandmother and her jewelry and when I had such a marvelous time “dressing up” in beads, bangles, and baubles.

Famous Women: Six-Word Tribute

March is National Women’s History Month which we usually associate with “famous” women.  However, all of us have “famous” women in our families—all we have to do is look.  In thinking about the women in my family tree, I thought I would try to describe some of them in six words (it's not as easy as it would seem).

• Alvina Bertha Forster Oliver (mother-in-law)—kind, generous, hard worker, crafter, baker 
• Betty Jean Barlow Malcomson (second cousin)—antique expert, writer, friend, teacher, funny 
• Camilla Elizabeth Swinburne Newhouse (paternal grandmother)—kind, generous, industrious, card player, friend 
• Daraxra Olle Numbers Swinburne (maternal grandmother)—pioneer, adventurous, farmer’s wife, strong hearted 
• Elizabeth Esther Newhouse Harman (paternal aunt)—bridge player, generous, critical, adventurous, “Northerner” 
• Florence Marie Swinburne Newhouse (my mother)—intelligent, opinionated, Latin teacher, handywoman, mentor 
• Mary Josephine “Mary Jo” Randall Teigland (first cousin)—best friend, industrious, baker, warm hearted 
• Opal Minnie Swinburne Stave (maternal aunt)—funny, farmer’s wife, teacher, school principal

How would you describe the women in your family who may not be famous like Martha Washington, Amelia Earhart, or Eleanor Roosevelt, but they are famous within one’s own family?  Think of the pictures we have of them, the stories we have of them, the memories we have of them:  All of that makes them “famous.”  Can you describe them in exactly six words?