Some old Photos for your enjoyment

[Pistolero]

I used to bring home blue crabs and oysters when I was very young, then later rabbits, quail (occasionally)
and armadillo when I was a teen.
I distinctly remember thinking it was pretty cool to bring home the main course at
dinner when I was just a kid.

Bill

 

[KeithB]

I have greatly enjoyed reading (several times) the "Arms of Krupp" by William Manchester. Largest privately owned firm in the world, made armaments for the world market, they sold arms to everybody. They had a marketing scheme starting in the 1800s where they sold guns powerful enough to destroy the armour of country A to country B, then sold armour strong enough to resist the guns to country A, then sold better guns to country B, then better armour to country A, and then... You get the picture. This went on for almost 100 years and did much to fuel the endless European wars during that century and really up to WWII.

I highly recommend this book. Not only is it interesting to me from the military/historical perspective (guns and armor) it is also very interesting to learn about all the manufacturing/machining/metallurgical advances they made. The development of many alloy steels, tool steels, and carbides. Many heat treating and metal processing techniques. Much of what they did forms the underpinnings of many modern machining and manufacturing processes.

Talking tanks and seeing old military equipment brought this to mind.

 

[462]

Yep, it's an excellent read.

The name's still visible locally -- Thyssen Krupp does elevator maintenance. A couple old Nazi names that survived.

 

[KeithB]

Well yes, the firm actually pre-dated the Nazis but did collude with them.

 

[462]

If I remember correctly -- it's been several years since I read the book -- the Krupp name goes back to sometime in the 1500s, though I don't know when the Thyssen Krupp partnership started.

I have set of .357 dies marked Krupp American, which I think were sold by Herters.

 

[Pistolero]

Very interesting, Keith. I knew of the Krupp armements firm but nothing of that history, especially so much
of the underpinning of modern metallurgy and engineering. Since I made a career out of that sort of stuff,
pretty cool.

I just ordered a hardback copy, 978 pages on eBay for $4.18 delivered. Can't beat that!

Bill

 

[KeithB]

I think you are right 462. They started out making flatware by rolling it out of metal plates using specially made rollers. Thyssen Steel was a competitor to Krupp. After WWII Krupp was broken up. Since then one of the entities merged with Thyssen to make elevators. I do believe that Herter's probably sold a lot of stuff made by Krupp after WWII.

There are some interesting pictures in the book.

By the way, Basil Lydell-Hart (?) wrote several really good books about the Wars, especially the mechanized part of it.

 

[Bret4207]

L Ross, the pigeon "coop" or "coot" (I've seen it spelled both ways) was a staple on a lot of farms up to WW2 anyway. People say, "Oh! How could you eat pigeon, they're nasty!" Obviously people that have never seen what a chicken will eat and how it will live. I have an old 1880's/90's story about what would amount to a modern multi-generational welfare family where the kids are sick of it and start bettering themselves with barn pigeons, taming wild blackberries, etc. via instruction by a successful uncle. Pigeons aren't real smart and once you get then used to nesting and roosting someplace, you can pretty much have pigeon (Rock Dove I think is the actual name) once a week or so.

 

[462]

Bill,

You'll enjoy the book, but may need a stand to hold the heavy book.

I gave me copy to the local library, but my interest has been piqued and just might have to get another.

 

[Pistolero]

At the prices of many old books, hard to pass up. I don't think our younger generation can
read, or if they can, they never bother to.

Bill

 

[Bret4207]

Bill, Ebay is great for books. I have a book on my "wish list" thingy there, "The Fullam Genealogy" which I stumbled on researching my ancestors. It covers a whole side of my family down to my mothers, mothers mother. It lines me up for the Sons of the American Revolution. What's really neat is I also found an online copy so I know whats there. Really in depth, with descriptions of the people and their livelihoods, physical characteristics, notable deeds, etc. And there is it in hardcover on Ebay for $35.00. Amazing!

 

[Pistolero]

Yeah, amazing. My wife has been searching down our genealogy, too. She has her family back
to a General who worked for Washington in the Revolution, and my side way back to England and Scotland, too.
She got an email this morning from some 4th cousin via my grandmother's sister, who I had met
a few times. Her daughter, my second cousin, I think, is still around, and great person. This guy
was doing genealogy and ran into her searching tree. Apparently what you piece together - your part
of the puzzle- can be seen by others to help them piece together their part of the puzzle.
Kinda fun rummage around in the attic like that. So far no killers or horse thieves have been found.

Pretty darned neat that there is a book on your ancestors, Bret. And $35 seems a bargain. I just
search on the title, and try to avoid Amazon if I possibly can, they are just scamming all the small
retailers that sell through them, I would rather deal directly with a small book seller. No fan of
Amazon's politics, hate giving that guy my money. I got this on eBay, too. Oh, I already said that.

Bill

 

[462]

I buy most of my book from Thrift Books on-line. Spend $10 or more and get free shipping. Spend $50 and get a free book valued up to $5. They sell on Amazon's site, also, but those prices are higher.

 

[Pistolero]

Of course they are higher via Amazon. I understand that Amazon provides a marketing and billing
service, but at a price, and I prefer cutting them out of the loop.

Lots of good small book sellers out there.

Bill

 

[L Ross]

L Ross, the pigeon "coop" or "coot" (I've seen it spelled both ways) was a staple on a lot of farms up to WW2 anyway. People say, "Oh! How could you eat pigeon, they're nasty!" Obviously people that have never seen what a chicken will eat and how it will live. I have an old 1880's/90's story about what would amount to a modern multi-generational welfare family where the kids are sick of it and start bettering themselves with barn pigeons, taming wild blackberries, etc. via instruction by a successful uncle. Pigeons aren't real smart and once you get then used to nesting and roosting someplace, you can pretty much have pigeon (Rock Dove I think is the actual name) once a week or so.

I've also seen dove cote. We ate a lot of barn pigeons and then Dad got into raising domestic pigeons specializing in utility and meat breeds. Squab took the place of tough old barn pigeons after that. A pound pound and a half squab, individually stuffed with dressing is a delight!

 

[Bret4207]

L Ross, squab is something I don't think I've ever eaten. But I see no problem with it. We used to eat a lot of stuff that isn't even offered anymore. "Cote", that's a 3rd word for the pigeon nest. Learn something new every day!

Bill, only issue with using someone elses tree is that if they have the wrong info and you use it, it's a bear to undo. My tree has a lot of notation I've added that runs along the lines of "Alleged wife of..." or "Alleged to have died in Shoreham, Vt in ...". It's the old garbage data in, garbage data out issue. You really have to look at other peoples sources. I have one relation with a fairly odd name and I know where he lived for a fact, yet there is another guy with the same name, same spelling, same middle name that lived 300 miles away during the same period and there must be a half dozen other trees using his info instead of the correct info. Screws the whole lineage up.

 

[Pistolero]

Great point, Bret, will pass that on to my wife.

 

[462]

I've been doing some family research and found that my father's mother is listed with two spellings of her first name, and his father is listed with two first names and three last names.

Turn of the nineteenth-century immigration officials and local census takers were very proficient at inventive spelling.

 

[Bret4207]

Oh yeah! Thats part of the hunt. I've got a grandfather I can find out absolutely nothing about. All my father ever heard was something to the effect of, "The less you know about him, the better." I can find him in census records but not a thing else. Problem is he might have been named "Fenwick" or "Fredrick" or "Frederick". "Fenwick" is a definite family name, but who knows what the census taker heard him say. As far as the rest of the family was concerned, he did something that merited "He Who Has No Name" status, so I imagine it will remain a mystery. The other side of the family has quite a lot of French Catholics in it and if there's one thing the Church is good at, it's record keeping. That side is a snapper between the Church and the fact there is an entire village named after the family in France and a professionally done genealogy on line, in addition to several magazine article about the family. The Scot side is pretty easy too. My wifes side goes back to the Plymouth colony and is fairly easy to do except for the alleged Native American bits. It appears, or is believed at least, that one grandmother was member of one of the tiny northeastern tribes that long since vanished/were killed off by the Mohawks. But trying to find any record beyond a name in a census is impossible. Of course my wife and her sisters all think it's dead true because Dad had the long narrow, high cheekboned TV indian face. All the eastern indians I've been in contact with, and that's a lot of Mohawks, Senecas, etc have round faces, not a cheeekbone to be seen. Can't and won't go into that with my wife.

 

[RBHarter]

Lots of Scandinavians in the wood pile so if you do a DNA thing and it only shows up what you know and a smudge of something that doesn't fit it's normal . Oddly enough that smudge might be the confirmation you need .