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Tag: genealogy

  • Bessie’s Recipe Book

    Week 48-Family Recipe

    Mac Goughler and Bessie in living room of Portland home. Mac was Bessie’s last husband.

    I met Great Grandmother Goughler and two of her younger sisters in the summer of 1969. This lady, Bessie Reynolds Cabell Curtiss Goughler, was the great grandmother of my fiancee, Craig Foster. The showing of my engagement ring somehow reminded her of the men she had loved and married.

    Bessie said,

    Do not to grow too attached to Craig as it has been my experience that husbands died. I found another. I married three and I outlived them all.

    Later on, I lived part time with Bessie’s granddaughter, Rose Foster, while my husband served in the army. When the topic of ancestors came up Rose would talk about the Coursens and the Cabells. The Coursens were from her father’s side. The Cabells were from Frances Perritt’s side. She said her grandfather, Edgar Coursen played the pipe organ for 43 years at the First Presbyterian Church in Portland, Oregon. The Coursens did not drink. As for the Cabells and her grandmother Bessie, Rose said they made bathtub gin. I did not find this recipe in Bessie’s recipe book.

    Bessie Cabell Curtiss Goughler’s Recipe Book

    Among the family papers and other items, I inherited from Grandma Perritt was a loose-leaf leather receipt book. Bessie used it for a recipe book. Bessie typed the individual recipes into 3 and 1/2” by 7” paper stencils and mimeographed copies. Bessie wrote recipe for Plain Cake and her clear distinctive handwriting. Bessie had a stylized way of forming the number 2. She started out with a little loop. I know this because I have her letters and all the 2s have loops at the beginning.

    As an illustration, here is her recipe for Plain cake written in cursive with a loopy 2.

    Bessie’s Birth

    Bessie, born to Margaret and Edwin Reynolds on November 30, 1874, in Baker City, Oregon, was a middle child. George, Addie, Frances and Bertha came before her. Margaret Stewart, Mildred, Louis and Mary Lydia came after her.

    The Ferguson Family Bible entry for Bessie reads, “Bessie Ferguson Reynolds girl baby November 30th 1874.”

    First Husband-John Breckenridge Cabell

    Bessie Ferguson Reynolds married John Breckenridge Cabell on August 23, 1893, at 8 pm in the evening. The Ceremony took place in the Baker city Episcopal Church Rev. Isaac Dawson officiated. She was only 18 while John was 43.

    John and Bessie had two children before John died on September 6. 1901.

    The Next Five Years

    The next five years treated Bessie poorly, ending with the death of her father, Edwin Reynolds on September 1, 1906. These years saw Bessie poor and living with family members in Baker City.

    In March of 1904, she took her younger sister, Millie Reynolds, and her son, Rudy, to Portland, Oregon to look for work. In Portland, Bessie Millie and Rudy lived in a room located at 6th and Madison Street. This was not far from where Millie found a job at one of the oldest department stores in the west. This store, Olds and King, was located at 5th and Washington Street.

    Her 8-year-old daughter, Frances Cabell, traveled to Juneau, Alaska, with another sister of Bessie’s, Margaret Reynolds Russell. Frances spent an adventurous 8 months there living with her Aunt Tootie and Uncle Ed Russell.

    Second Husband—Arthur Marshal Curtiss

    Shortly after the loss of her father, Bessie remarried.  Arthur Curtiss, older than Bessie by 4 years, had worked as a blacksmith in Baker City.

    Since they both lived in Portland they married in Portland on December 9, 1906. Here is a clipping from Grandma Perritt’s scrapbook.

    Sadly, this marriage ended in 1916. Arthur died on April 26, 1916, in Portland, Oregon.

    Hawaii

    Bessie voyaged to the Hawaiian Islands in October of 1917 to see her first granddaughter, Rose Coursen. The 6-month-old Rose, the first child of Frances and Raymond Coursen, lived with her parents, on Maui Inland. Frances had married Raymond in May of the year before. Bessie spent 3 months in this scenic spot. Here she got to know her granddaughter before she returned to the mainland on January 19, 1918.

    Bessie Curtiss and her granddaughter Rose Margaret Coursen

    Third Husband–George “Mac” Goughler

    In October of 1918, she married Mac Goughler, a printer in Portland.

    In October of 1918, she married Mac Goughler, a printer in Portland and the owner of The Daisy Press. Bessie was married to Mac Goughler about 30 years. The 1920 U.S. census records show George, Bessie, Rodolph. Helen, George’s daughter from his first marriage, was in this Multnomah County census record.

    Mac died on January 19, 1950. This time Bessie did not remarry.

    Last Year of Life

    She attended our wedding event where her grandson and I were married in December of 1969. She died a year later on December 7, 1970.

  • Howard Melvin Shelton Foster

    Week 9–Family Secret

    Howard Melvin Foster at Jefferson , Oregon in 1986

    On the whole, Howard Foster did not display secretive qualities. He willing talked about any topic that came up. He answered questions about himself in detail. If he didn’t know the details he filled in the details. The only thing he knew about his birth grandfather father was the name, John Lawrence Shelton.

    Howard Melvin Foster, a glass half full person, was my father-in-law. Also, he was Grandmother Perritt’s son-in-law. I spent some time with him and my mother-in-law, Rose. This was when my husband was in the army, stationed in Shemya, Alaska. My obstetric doctor practiced medicine in Portland, Oregon where my in-laws lived.

    Being the positive person Howard was, he was not about to share the unhappy parts of his life. If something bad had happened he quickly forgot about it.

    Being the nosy person I am, I asked questions about his life. If the event was good, I got detailed answers. If not, I got half answers.

    Howard’s Brother Dick

    Charles Richard Foster, his half-brother, was born three years after Howard. They were close while growing up. Charles or “Dick” as the family called him, grew up to be an alcoholic. Howard grew up to be a family man with a house in the suburbs, a business of his own, a loving wife, two sons and a dog named Eagle.

    Dick, on and off the wagon, showed up at regular intervals, drunk and asking for money. Howard helped him until he broke with Dick when his boys were under five.

    I asked what happened to Dick. Howard said he thought he died sometime in the 1950s and his family lived in Silverton, Oregon. Years later, I was searching for a Charles Richard Foster and found him in a Silverton Phone Directive for 1997.

    Dick Foster, Spokane, August 1943

    Early Life

    A wild story about Howard’s early life came from his half-sister, Jean Wardian. How Howard came to have a half-sister, and two half-brothers is a different story I will tell now.

    Edna Naomi Miller fell in love with Carl Shelton in Portland, Oregon. They lived in the same Portland Ward. They were both in their early twenties. When Howard was born on July 31, 1914, in Portland, Oregon, Edna was 25 and Carl was 24.

    Back to the wild story, the first part is true. Auntie Jean, Howard’s half-sister, said Howard’s small family moved to a small logging community in the northeastern part of Oregon. They moved to Enterprise and Enterprise is where Carl died and is buried. I found his grave in Enterprise Cemetery. He had died July 24, 1915, just a few days before Howard ‘s first birthday.

    The wild part of this story involves the reason they moved.  Jean said, “Carl’s parents were well off, well known in the Portland music scene and were trying to get custody of Howard.”

    Howard Melvin Shelton at 3 months

    New Father

    Edna married again on June 10,1916 about a year after Carl died.  Howard grew up knowing no other father beside Charles Wallace Foster.

    The Fosters used Shelton as Howard surname in the 1920 U.S. census. Here it is for OK Gulch, Wallowa County, Oregon.

    1920 census showing Charlie Foster’s Family in OK Gulch, Wallowa, Oregon

     Using Foster as His Surname

    After Howard started school in Lewiston, Idaho, he used Foster as his last name. Here is the 1930 U.S. census from Mount Pleasant, Skamania, Washington.

    1930 census showing Charlie Foster’s family in Skamania county, Washington

    A Problem Develops Later in Life

    In 1963 Howard needed a name change. He went through the Multnomah County circuit court system to change his name.  His birth certificate named him Howard M. Shelton. In life people and institutions call him Howard Melvin Foster.

    He graduated from Fort Vancouver High School as Howard Foster.

    He studied for four years at Reed College as Howard Foster.

    He married Rose Coursen on June 3,1940 as Howard Melvin Foster.

    His two boys carried the surname of Foster.

    His printing business was called Balwin-Foster Printing Co.

    As a scout master from 1961-1965 he was known as Howard Foster.

    He served his country in WWII and separated from the army as Private First-class Howard M. Foster.

    I don’t know the immediate reason he needed to do this in 1963. I do know his church was planning a group trip to Israel and Rome. Howard would need a passport for this trip and a birth certificate with the name he had used for 45 years.

    Certificate of Change of Name

    On April 2, 1963, Howard Melvin Shelton, on his own behalf, petitioned the Circuit Court that his name be changed from Howard Melvin Shelton to Howard Melvin Foster. On April 29, 1963, his name was changed, and an official Certificate of Change of Name was issued to Howard.

    Going Ahead to 1972

    Moving ahead, I spent more time with my in-laws in Portland waiting for the baby. During my last month of pregnancy, my obstetrician wanted me to cut out my trips between Seattle where my parents lived and Lebanon where my grandmother lived. Being consigned to Portland, I had more chances to ask Howard about his life. He didn’t want to talk about his experiences in WWII.

    Years later, going through Howard’s papers, I found his separation papers containing a summary of some of what he did. I was impressed. I don’t know if he didn’t talk about this last assignment because he didn’t want to, or he wasn’t supposed to. Here is the quote from his separation papers.

    Title-Description-Related Civilian Occupation

    Master, Ship: Served with 329 Harbor Craft in European Theater of Operations. Served aboard General McNarney’s private yatch. Was second in command of the boat. Drew all rations and supplies to be used. Acted as purchasing agent and bought on the civilian market. Supplies to be used that couldn’t be secured through the army.

    At the time Howard was the Ship Master of this yatch, General Joseph T. McNarney was commanding general of the United States Army Forces, Mediterranean Theater. Howard separated from the army on March 17, 1946.

    Howard Foster, center and army friends oversea on leave in France. Taken in 1944 or 1945.

    Granddaughter

    Then my daughter was born on a hot day in August of 1972 in Portland, Oregon. The grandparents had time to bond strongly with this new human.

    In February of 1973, my husband came home from Shemya, Alaska. Soon after we headed to Fort Devens, Massachusetts where my husband finished his enlistment.

    The grandparents were grieved with our going. This suggests the emotions in the family legend of Howard’s parents taking Howard away from his grandparents about 58 years ago.

    We did come back to Oregon, living and working about 50 miles south of Portland. Howard and Rose attended their granddaughter’s wedding in 1998.

    Howard died on December 27, 2000, in a care home in Portland, Oregon. We buried him in Skyline Memorial Gardens in Portland, Oregon. He has a flat bronze veterans headstone marker.