HAPPY 50th ANNIVERSARY

I paid a surprised visit to Uncle Raymond and Aunt Janes Shelton this Sunday afternoon for their fiftierth Wedding anniversary open house. I always enjoy getting a visit with them and they had a nice turn out for their special day. I am looking forward to seeing them again very soon on as they travel to their place in Florida in January.

Janet and Raymond with grandson Adam.
Opening their cards!

Happy Birthday Keegan

Happy birthday to my nephew Keegan - He is eight years old today. This picture was taken at New Harmony Indiana last summer. I recently found out that Keegan is wild about BBQ ribs!

Charlie Rogers - Dec 24

My Uncle Charlie Rogers was born on Dec 28, 1895. Here is a picture of him that Aunt Pearl gave to me when he worked at the Veteran;s Hospital in Denver.

Happy Birthday Jennifer!

Happy birthdeay to my cousin Jennifer! She lives in Florida now. This picture was taken on Christmas Eve 1972

Dec 26, - Leone (Rogers) Shelton

Happy birthday to my Grandma Shelton! She is 93 today. In the first pictrue she is standing next to here sister Emma Jane, who is holding their niece Hazel. This next picture was taken just last month and Grandma is standing with my motther, Elaine.

Dad and Grandma

This picture was taken of Dad and Grandma on Christmas Afternoon. Linda prepared a great dinner -(I got to have two that day!).

Bunnell House 2007

Here are three pictures taken of Harve and May Bunnell's house on December 25, 2007. The first two are taken at ta great distance from the Blue Point crossroads. Many trees have been cleared between the crossroads and the house this year and the house can now be seen from the crossroads. The second picture was taken with a telephoto setting.
This last picture gives you a view from the Blue Mound Road up the lane to the house.

Forty years ago today

I can remember this little truck I got for my first Christmas - Dec 25, 1967. It came with tools and you could take it apart.

Christmas Morning

HEre are the Christmas flowers that I put on Granddad's grave this year - thought the other grandkids would want to see them. I took this picture Christmas morning on the way over to Bob and Doris' for Christmas dinner.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all of you who faithfully check in on this site - I really appreaciate all the input I get. This is a picture of this years Christmas tree at my place in St. Louis.

Dec 24 - Walter Rogers

Walter Rogers was the eigth child of Willard and Mattie Rogers He was born Dec 24, 1903 and died in 1942.

Christmas Eve 2007

Christmas Eve was always very special as the Shelton clan got together at Grandma's house. This year the gathering was much smnaller - Billl & Janis and myself joined Grandma for snacks and a great visit.

Here are a few pictures from Christmas Eves from previous years:

19671968
1969 1970

1971
1972

1975 1977
1978
1979
1982

Lincoln

Abe Lincoln was a VERY distant relative on my mother's sitde of the family (I won't go into that now) but, but just wanted to share this image with you. This photo has been colorized by a computer and that has always fascinated me. It is amazing what we can now do on a computer. I have tried my hand at this a few times and published the results here. This photot was taken Apr 10, 1865, just four days before Lincoln was shot.
I was always faxinated with photos of Lincon as a child. In high school , I discovered a book of every known photo of Lincoln . I never owned a copy of the book but kept it checked out f the library for years - studying the man's photographic history. Everytime I make a trip to Springfield it is always an incredible event to walk the same streets as Lincoln - one of the greatest men who ever lived.

Happt Birthday Lisa!

Happy birthday to my cousin Lisa - This is an older school pictre - not sure of the year,but she is a lovely young woman and mother now. Hope you had a great birthday kiddo!

Edna (Rogers) Walker

Dec 12 wsa the birthday of Edna Irene (Rogers) Walker (1901 - 2001), seventh child of Willard and Mattie Rogers. She is shown here c. 1920.

Me 'n' Molly Brown

Several years ago, I would guess about 1995, I was invited to the Molly Brown house in Denver,Colorado for an intimate dinner, You will remember the name from Meredith Wilson musical "The Unsinkable Molly Brown" and from her notoriety in the famed Titanic disaster in 1912, - I guess there were about twelve of us invited. Below is a photo of a punch bowl from the collection of Molly Brown. I was approached at the Ship's Tavern at the famed Brown Palace (my favorite Friday night hangout) by the curator of the Molly Brown house to offer a personal testimony of what music meant to time and how music had influenced me. I had just sang a song to the audience at the Brown and was singled by the host probably because my age the age of the song were so very incongruent. I, of course, accepted.
We were served not in the main house, but in the upper level of the carriage house (shown below) I wish I had taken notes - there were various performers of local prominence seated at the table. I remember that my good friend Mary was there (she still lives in Denver), We were served a wonderful meal and between courses we were asked to stand and tell a bit about what music had meant to us . When it came to be my turn I stood and told bout my interest in the ancient recordings made by Thomas Edison -those preserving the voices of George Gaskin, Len Spencer, Ada Jones, Billy Murray and Arthur Collins - all of whom (and their contemporaries) their records I collected. I told of what a recoding session was like in 1910, in the days of Molly (actually she went by Maggie) Brown. I spoke of how to properly sing into the recording horn, how to market a recording as a music promoter, I told of the best (and worst ) recording machines - the ones I owned and the ones I would like to have. It was a great dinner and one I will never forget. Below is a photo of Molly serving a dinner at the same home

Sometime in my life, I would like to host a similar dinner -hopefully I will - but, I will always remember this particular dinner at the Brown home on Pennsylvania Avenue in Denver.

Frank Charles Bunnell

I am pulling this post out of my hat. It was icy cold Monday and I spent the day huddled next to the fireplace, basking in the glow of a TV screen (my own M*A*S*H marathon) and hastily left early Tuesday afternoon - forgetting to pack up my external hard drive (and some 12,000 photos). Anyway here is a bit of history about a well known member of the Bunnell Family.

The fifth cousin of my great -great -great Grandpa - Seneca Bunnell was Frank Charles Bunnell. This would make him my fifth cousin five times removed
(We are both descended from Benjamin and Ann (Wilmot) Bunnell . He was the son of James Bunnell born Mar. 9, 1842 Frank enlisted in the 52nd Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, and was mustered in as a Sergeant in Company B on September 20, 1861. On March 1, 1862 he was promoted to Quartermaster Sergeant of the regiment, a duty he performed until he was discharged due to disability on April 2, 1863. He became a successful banker, and made an unsuccessful Congressional run in 1872. However, late that year Congressman Ulysses Mercer resigned his seat to become a Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice, and Frank Bunnell was appointed to fill the vacancy. He represented Pennsylvania’s 13th District in the United States House of Representatives, serving from December 14, 1872 to March 3, 1872, when the duly-elected Congressman James Dale Strawbridge was sworn in. Returning home, he served in local political offices until 1884, when he was elected was a Republican to represent Pennsylvania’s 15th District in the United States House of Representatives. He served from March 4, 1844 to March 3, 1888, and did not run again for election after serving two terms (his seat was subsequently filled by Congressman Myron Benjamin Wright). He passes away in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on Sept 11, 1911 at the age of 69.

William and Lunetta Shelton

Here is a bit about my grandpa (Harry Shelton's) uncle - William Wiser Shelton. William was the oldest son of William and Margaret Shelton, born in Muncie IN on May 29, 1867. His twin brother was Wilson Adam Shelton. William was married to Lunetta Walterson Jan 20, 1892. They had eleven children. The family were members of the Brown Church. near Mt. Erie IL.
William's son, Leonard (twin brother of Lawrence), died December 23, 1919 at the age of twenty in a fatal hunting accident. Heartbroken, William never recovered from the loss of his son and spent the last years of his life at the Southern Illinois Hospital at Anna.

William and Lunetta are pictured above with their first grandson Virgil (1917-1988, son of Eldon Shelton) about 1919.

Happy Brthday Doris Bozarth

Happy birthday to Aunt Doris Bozarth - fifth child of George and Faye Block. I will be spending a part of my Christmas day at her house for Christmas dinner.

Fairfield's First Automobile

The date is lost for this clipping form the Waynce Coutny Press - c.1900-1905. I found this clipping on the internet. The photo does not depict the photo implied in the4 atrticle, but merely an auto of the period - a 1905 Oldsmobile - the model that won the first cross country race and was the inspiration for the 1905 Gus Edwards song hit (recorded by my favorite pioneer singer Billy Murray) "In My Merry Oldsmobile".

Fairfield's First Automobile
John Gaddis and son, Jacob Gaddis, enjoy the distinction of being the first of our citizens to invest in an automobile. It was bought in St. Louis, and was brought out by a representative of the house last week. Brief stops were made at Nashville, Centralia and Mt. Verson, and the machine exhibited to prospective buyers. It cost $725, and is the "run about" size and pattern.
The Gaddis families enjoyed numerous spins Saturday and Sunday and Monday morning John and Jake Gaddis went to Salem, where they have a mill, returning Tuesday morning. Both trips were made in about five hours, which is almost as quickly as it can be made by rail, via Flora, including the stop of thirty minutes or more at the last named place which must be made in going by rail.
The automobile trip could be made in faster time by the automobile were it not for the stops rendered necessary by frightened teams along the road. Many horses that are not afraid of trains or anything else, frighten badly at the sight of an automobile, and the slight chucking noise made by the gasoline motor, while other horses pay no attention to it. The Messrs. Gaddis will use all precaution possible, but it is well for our people to be a little on the guard until they see how their horses take to the "horseless"carriage.
Many of those who have used the automobile think it is great sport, and it probably only remains for the manufacturers to get them down more reasonable figures to insure their general introduction.

Garmany 1968

I thought cousin Mark Shelton would enjoy seeing this snapshot taken with his older brother Wayne - taken in Germany about 1968. Mark, nice talkig with you this evening and I hope you and Katie can make it to StL for Earl's show on the 18th. It should be a great night.

40 years ago

This looks like Grandma and Grandpa Shelton's backyard - someone can correct me on that, I guess. I do know that the picture was taken in Dec 1967 and is of Raymond's kids, Jennifer, Jill Janie (on sled) and JR withthe thankless task of pulling the kids! Looks like fun ! Don't know if I'd want to get down in the cold, wet snow like I did when I was a kid, though.