May 2002 Genealogy Forum News

From The Past Unto Me

Submitted by: Alice A. Metzloff (alsblugown@aol.com)

Is the past dead? Something relegated to dusty pictures, old trunks or cardboard boxes tucked away in the attic? Or is it something that is tangible, living and current? Read and judge for yourselves!

I really didn't know my paternal grandparents, William Page HAMILTON and Jean Caroline CLARKE, at all. William Page HAMILTON died in 1938, 21 years before my birth in 1959.

I briefly knew my father's mother, Jean Caroline CLARKE [HAMILTON] HERZOG or "Granny Clarke" as we called her. I met her once at about 7 years old in a nursing home in Laguna Beach, California. I recall a smallish woman with white/gray hair and shining blue eyes. She enjoyed jokes and tending her garden of beautiful flowers. My father had taken my brother and me to see her. I don't remember much about that trip other than it was sunny and hot, she giving my brother and me a quarter to get a soda out of the vending machine and smelling lemons and oranges from the trees in the yard. Granny CLARKE died in 1966.

Granny Clarke [HAMILTON] had remarried after the divorce/death of first husband William Page HAMILTON in 1939 to my father's adoptive stepfather, my step-grandfather, Charles Albert HERZOG. I don't remember much about him either. I do remember meeting Grandpa C. A. and second wife, Ann, in California when I was about 10 years old in 1969. My family had taken a trip to see them and I remember eating dinner followed by Cherries Jubilee for dessert with flaming sauce. There were African face masks and war shields/spears on the walls. I believe his wife, Ann, was English (British) because she had an accent. Grandpa C. A. died later that year.

My fondest memories are those that I have of my maternal grandparents, Mordecai Davis RODERICK (pronounced Mord-eh-cuh) and Jeannette Sharp [APLEY] RODERICK. Grandpa Mordecai Davis RODERICK was born on March 9, 1898, in Massillon, Stark County, OH. He was one of nine children (two sets of twin siblings died in infancy) born to Welsh immigrants Caswallen Hayden RODERICK and Susan ROLLAND.

The RODERICKs were coal miners from the town of Tuneyrevail (pronounced Tonny-revvall), North Wales. Caswallen and Susan came from Wales in 1879 to the United States to get away from the problems of unsafe and harsh working conditions of coal miners. The RODERICK family settled in and around Massillon/Newman, OH, where there was a large community of Welsh. My Grandpa RODERICK and his siblings were first generation "Americans".

In 1990, my husband and I took a trip to Scotland/Wales and met living Welsh relatives of the surname DAVIES who live in Pendaryn, Wales..a small town about an hour north of Cardiff. They were very interesting people and took us up to Tuneyrevail to see the mines and all.

Grandpa RODERICK always joked about his "Jewish" first name explaining the reason for it's "Jewishness" was the fact that his family was "Black Welsh" and one of the missing twelve tribes of Israel. My grandfather was Lutheran by faith!

Grandma Jeannette Sharp [APLEY] RODERICK was born February 8, 1899, in Akron, Summit County, OH. Her parents were Ulyssess S. Grant APLEY and Amanda FLOHR (FLEUR/DeFLEURY) SHARP. Her ancestory is of Pennsylvania Dutch/French extraction. Her paternal side is Pennsylvania Dutch/German with surnames of APLEY, AVY, SLABAUGH, CRAUSE and HOWENSTINE. Her 3 times great grandfather, Henry (Heinrich) HOWENSTINE came over to "The Colonies" in 1751 from Sweden/Germany and settled in Franklin township, PA. Her 2 times great grandfather, George HOWENSTINE served in the Revolutionary War of 1776. Her paternal great grandparents, Jacob HOWENSTINE/Catherine CRAUSE, who married in 1777, left Franklin Township, PA, for Canton, Stark County, OH, where they died and were buried. The maternal side of FLOHR's (FLEUR/DeFLEURY) - SHARPs, WEAGELYs and WEAVERs - came to The Colonies/America about the same time frame of the 1750s. The SHARP side were in Chambersburg, PA, area, served the both Revolutionary and Civil Wars and are buried in and around Chambersburg, PA.

Grandma and Grandpa RODERICK were a huge part of my life. We lived on the next street over from them, so our yards were back to back separated by our garages. Visiting them was easy...just a short walk through our yard, behind and around our garage! My brother and sisters (1/3 respectively) would spend most every evening with them.

My grandpa was a huge teaser and loved to joke around a lot. I remember many times he would amuse us with "magic tricks" like "pulling his thumb or nose off" (which, of course, when we got older...we realized was impossible), sticking balloons to our hair (rubbing it to create static electricity and then placing it our heads), making quarters disappear and reappear as if coming from our ears...simple tricks, but they made us laugh every time. He "smoked" cigars that smelled good...not gross like my parents cigarettes! I can see him in my mind's eye...on warm evenings, after dinner, sitting under their cherry tree, looking up into the sky and smoking. I would sit with him and look up wondering what he was seeing there. He would then point at a specific cloud and say something like " See the giraffe [or lion or whatever animal shape clouds would remind him of]?".

Grandpa had a passion for model trains. He had a huge set in the basement with little towns and everything. He made the houses himself, since he was a very good carpenter/ woodworker. I would often watch him while he worked. When I was older, I remember him showing me how to carve a face or shape a block of wood into an animal. Many a Christmas gift was handmade by him...a wooden jigsaw puzzle, a hobby horse, a toy chest (which became my hope chest and I still have) or set of blocks.

He also loved music. He could sing beautifully! He and Grandma would sing duets while my mother played piano. Grandpa died of a weak heart on the way to work (he was a banker) in October 1969 in Akron, OH. I was 10 years old at the time. It seemed really weird to go over to their house and not see him.

Grandma Jeannette was awesome. She was a fun-loving person who enjoyed playing cards, baking, singing, handicraft art, sewing and travel. She taught my siblings and I how to play card games like Rummy, May I, Eucher, Hearts and even the basics of Bridge. We would spend many an evening playing cards and eating her sour cream iced soft cookies.

She taught us how to make palm frond crosses for Easter, necklaces out of beads and buttons, how to crochet and needlepoint, and would let us help bake. I remember making pies from the fruit we would pick from their cherry and pear trees.

Many a family gathering was held in their home. There would be about 25 of us. Grandma/Grandpa, us 7, and my mother's sisters and kids. I remember Christmas trees with trains running around them, cookies with pastel icing, candy corn, and lots of noise and people. We would have wonderful time, good food and end up with the family singing around the piano! My Aunts could sing well too. The husbands would all sit together and watch sports events since they didn't sing.

After Grandpa died, Grandma really began her travels. She went on a cruise aboard the Queen Elizabeth I (before it was decommissioned), went to France and China. She loved travelling and always wanted to go "Out West". Grandpa hated "The West" so he would never go. In 1976, my family took a trip Out West. We rented a 6-man RV and drove from Ohio to California and back. Grandma Jeannette came with us. So that made 8 people in this RV. It is comparable to National Lampoon's "Vacation" with Chevy Chase. The character's name is CLARK...my father's middle name... and the character's attitude fit my father's to a "T"! A couple of funny things happened on that trip. Grandma was a hefty woman and got stuck in the RV bathroom a couple of times. She could get in but then was not able to get out! She visited friends in San Diego and even came with us to Disneyland. (Space Mountain was under construction at the time) It was a wonderful trip...and Grandma made it that much more fun!

Grandma Jeannette had the uncanny knack of premonition. I remember the summer of 1980. My cousin had just returned home from a divorce in Florida with her infant son, John Andrew. Grandma Jeannette was visiting us at our summer home in Ashtabula, OH, recovering from a broken foot which was in a cast. My mom's sister Mary Alice (Aunt Lolly) and daughter (my cousin) Julie, andbaby John Andrew were up for the day. We had just finished dinner. It was a hot summer day...August 17th. Grandma had a phobia about the 17th. Most of her family members died on that day. We were all sitting around the living room and talking. Grandma was holding John Andrew who, at a month old, was the youngest of the great grandchildren at the time. Then a really strange thing happened! Grandma looked at him, then up at all of us and said..."This is the last grandchild I will ever see because the 17th is not a good day for me." I was married for a year by this time. I looked at my husband, Pete, and he at me...and we were speechless. The rest of the family scoffed at this.. we all were laughing it off. THE PREMONITION CAME TRUE! Grandma Jeannette was a very independent woman in her 80s. She lived in her own apartment and drove her own car. The Fall of 1980, she had a car accident on October 13 th and she died four days later on OCTOBER 17th just as she had said a few months prior!

My daughter, her namesake...Jeannette Elizabeth METZLOFF, was born a year later on July 16, 1981! Creepy huh!?

Today, my grandparents are still an influence in my life. Their love of life and fun and what they taught me comes through. My enjoyment of music, magic, hobbies of piano playing, handicrafts and playing cards are their legacy that I pass on to my own children. With our busy schedules, we still make time to play cards, listen to music and watch magic shows on TV.

Ancestors are never truly dead....they are always with us in what we do, what we say, how we look at life in general, the things we own in our homes that were once theirs, the music we listen to or sing, even in the naming of our children!

I am the oldest of five...one brother and three sisters. The woodworking projects of my grandfather are still around. My toy/hope chest is a coffee table in the summer home in Ohio. The spinning wheel from the my father's CLARK family, who were wool dyers in Scotland before coming to America, is in my living room in Pennsylvania. The art easel/stand made for me as a young child by my grandfather, with his signature on it, is now in possesion of my youngest sister (fifth in line) in OH. The artwork of my father's mother, Granny Clarke, hangs in the home of my first sister (third in line) in OH. The cradle that held my grandmother when her ancestors trekked "over the mountains" from PA into OH is in the possession of my second sister (fourth in line) who lives in Texas. The hobby horse belongs to my brother (only brother/second in line) and sits in his home in Massachusetts.

There are times when a specific song sung in church can still bring tears to my eyes because it was sung at my grandparent's funerals.

So I pose this question to you all..ARE OUR ANCESTORS TRULY GONE?

As we look upon objects that were made or owned by them, inanimate though they may be, we remember! Stories that were told, music heard and sung, jokes laughed at, card games played, cookies eaten and the LOVE they had for us. The sadness goes away. In this we can take comfort and find peace.

To answer the question... NO! THEY LIVE ON!"

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