Thankfully Celebrating My Grandmother's 110th Birthday

Today is Thanksgiving, November 28, 2024 and it would have also been the 110th birthday of my grandmother, Elizabeth Anna Leach Tubbs. A woman I am so very thankful was a part of the first 30 years of my life! So today’s blog is dedicated to her.

Early Life

Clay, Florence, and Elizabeth

Elizabeth Anna Leach was born on November 28, 1914, in Hancock, Michigan, the third and youngest child of Edward James Leach and Florence Mary Stoddard. Her mother always called her Elizabeth, but I heard most people call her Betty or “Tibby”, but the second nickname comes after meeting my grandfather.  Betty faced the early loss of her father at just five years old. Despite this hardship, she grew up with a strong spirit, spending her formative years in Michigan, particularly in Reed City with her mother, brother, and grandparents while her mother secured her teaching certificate and then later in Ypsilanti when her mother found an elementary school teaching position. Her early life set the foundation for her unyielding perseverance and adaptability.

Betty’s mother never remarried and I think was an incredible model of female independence and fortitude for her. Although my grandmother was married for nearly 60 years when my grandfather died, she was an independent woman and raised her daughter (my mother), and taught my sister and I to be independent, developing our own careers so that we could live without a spouse. “Mary Lynn”, she would say, “you never want to be dependent on a man!”

1937 Wedding

In 1935, Betty and Walter Elliot Tubbs (called “Tubby” by friends) eloped and two years later in 1937 they had a beautiful wedding that made her mother happy. (I wrote about that in The Amazing Power of Newspaper: Part 3). I don’t know if this is true for my grandparents, but my Uncle Clay (Betty’s brother) and Aunt Vivian also eloped in the 1930’s and they always said it was because during the deep depression married women were not allowed to hold a teaching position, so they eloped and lived apart for a while.

It’s only speculation, but I believe that my grandparents met at Michigan Normal School (now Eastern Michigan University). Betty’s older brother, Clay, was also at Michigan Normal School and I believe knew Tubby first. The story of how Betty and Tubby met is forever lost, along with exactly why they chose to elope, and who Betty was originally engaged to before meeting my grandfather! We only know that she broke off her engagement!

Early Married Life

Tubby’s father and older brother (11 years older!) served in World War 1 (actually in the same unit!) and his brother made a career of the military, so it was not surprising that Tubby would too. He started in the National Guard and did two terms before joining the Army. By 1941 he was promoted to Lieutenant and stationed in Louisiana, which is where my mother Mary Anne Tubbs was born in December 1941. She is the only child of Betty and Tubby and although more would have been welcomed, it was not to be. 

Source: Collection of the Henry Ford

During the war years, Betty and little Mary Anne were back in Michigan, where Betty could work and live close to her mother and in-laws. I have been told (but I haven’t yet been able to confirm it) that Betty worked at the Ford Motor Company Willow Run Bomber Plant in Ypsilanti during these years. Some sources say that 12,000 women were hired and they were paid the same rate as men ($0.85/hr) in one of two nine hour shifts a day. This is the plant that prompted the Rosie the Riveter campaign. At their peak production they were making a B-24 every HOUR! (sources: Willow Run | Detroit Historical Society and How Ford's Willow Run Assembly Plant Helped Win World War II | 2019-01-03) 

If this was true, I know it would have been at least her 2nd foray into factory line work. She told me the story that when she was younger (I’m assuming teenage summer work), that she lived with her grandparents in Reed City and worked at a cherry canning plant. She described working on a line with a chute as cherries were hurtling past. The workers were supposed to pluck out the rotten or wormy cherries and place them along the edge. As a result of working there she NEVER EVER bought a can of cherry pie filling or any canned cherries because she KNEW how many rotten cherries went past her. For anyone who ever watched the I Love Lucy show, remember the iconic episode of Lucy and Ethel in the chocolate factory? Yeah, that’s what I imagined as my grandmother was telling me the story…except I’m sure she was not popping the cherries into her mouth!

Credits: Vachon, J., photographer. (1940) Untitled photo, possibly related to: Migrant girls working in cherry canning plant, Berrien County, Mich. United States Michigan Berrien County, 1940. [July] [Photograph] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2017720609/.

Beside working and taking care of young Mary Anne and doting on her mother who was also working, she was the consummate hostess in various societies. Both she and her mother were members of the Ypsilanti DAR chapter and I have numerous newspaper articles identifying Betty as the hostess or meeting presider during the years immediately before the war and then again right after.

Middle Married Years

After WW2 ended, life changed dramatically for this young family. My grandfather was stationed first in Japan from 1946-1949, so the whole family moved and lived there with him. My grandfather was making the military a career and moving up the ranks. My grandmother became an Army Officer Wife and learned to live this part. My grandparents became known as Tubby and Tibby, my grandfather earning his name because he was always a little portly and my grandmother maintained a thinner figure. My mother tells me that this period in their life was pretty “cushy” with a maid and cook and my grandmother playing bridge and entertaining other officer wives. My parents entertained a lot as I was growing up and they were spectacular hosts! As I reflect back on it, I’m sure it was my grandmother’s influence and model for my mom. 

The two Tubbs brothers.

My grandmother, too, was an excellent hostess and having “everything just right” was important. For example, the ketchup (she called it “catsup”) bottle could never be put on the table, it must be served in a bowl with a spoon and there were always many condiments (for any meal) like pickles of various varieties and pickled beets. She had hors d’oeuvres every day before dinner which usually accompanied her 4pm Manhattan cocktail. I’m sure much of this was learned by her own mother who grew up in the Victorian Era whose family members’ names frequently graced the social columns of the newspaper, except that last bit…the Manhattan cocktail. Her mother, my great-grandmother, was a teetotaler and never had a drink in her life…except the one time when she and my grandmother were at a shower of some sort and she tried the punch and remarked to my grandmother how wonderful the punch was! My grandmother told me that she didn’t have the heart to tell her that it was spiked with alcohol. But I digress.

Betty and Tubby returned stateside for a few years before going overseas to West Germany from 1952-1955. This was less ”cushy” but still did allow for some European travel and weekend trips. Once they returned stateside in 1955, the family stayed, although my grandfather was stationed in Iceland and while abroad missed many of my mother’s high school milestones, including her graduation. My grandmother, much like her own mother, was the glue that kept things together and took on a job along with taking care of her daughter and doted on her now retired mother. She was now an accountant at Eastern Michigan University.

It is because of my grandmother that we spend our summers at my happy place! Because of her work, she knew the Rynearson family who owned a cottage on Sand Lake. In the early 1960s, the Rynearson's wanted to sell and my grandparents bought the first cottage our family owned! I am so very thankful to my grandmother for encouraging them to seize the opportunity and the foresight to keep it in the family.

Later Married Life

My grandmother was devoted to her mother, which kept them in the Ypsilanti area. When my grandfather returned from Iceland, which ended his 20-years of service, he retired from the Army and became a high school industrial shop teacher in River Rouge. Both of my grandparents retired and became snowbirds (spending the summers at Sand Lake and the winters in Clearwater, FL) shortly after my great-grandmother passed away in 1974.

They lived in On Top of the World, a 55 and older retirement community, on a golf course. They played golf, played bridge, rode large wheeled tricycles, and entertained and went to parties in their retirement. I knew her mostly in her retirement years, because I was still small when they retired. And I spent most of my time with them at Sand Lake. 

In the summer at Sand Lake, we lived two houses away and every day I would run over to their cottage to see them. Like most older people, my grandma was a creature of habit. She didn’t usually eat much breakfast but she had her coffee, toast, and a cigarette. Yes, she was a smoker. I think it was the Officer Wife thing in the 1940s and 1950s. She wasn’t a heavy smoker but smoked enough that she was very concerned about the smell, so she always had rolls of Certs everywhere and she often would be sucking on one. She also wore perfume and had air fresheners in the cars and house to help. She was an early riser but also always took a nap in the afternoon. After lunch, she would retire to her bedroom with a book (she was an avid reader too) and take a nap. After her nap was time to prepare the hors d'oeuvres and dinner so that by 4pm she could have her Manhattan. They often went into Ann Arbor to meet up with friends or entertain their friends at the lake. And she never went out without lipstick and her clip on earrings.

Cherished Memories

This was my 5th birthday party at the lake.
Notice the flower arrangement!

My grandmother always had a flower garden because she loved fresh flowers in the house. She often had a bouquet picked from her flower beds. The flower that she never wanted to see was carnations. Carnations were the only thing she remembered about being at her father’s funeral and it was traumatic for her. Her favorite flowers were daisy’s and black-eyed susans and peonies…or maybe they were just the ones she grew best in her garden? My mother always had rose bushes at the in town house, so I would cut roses and bring them out to my grandmother on the weekends when we came back out to the lake. She was always so pleased to receive them and it made me feel so good when she promptly put them in a vase. In 1974, she invested in a beautiful paddle boat, it was one of the first ones on the lake and it was heavy duty aluminum with a canopy (because she was fair-skinned and tried to keep out of the sun). She used it on occasion to visit with neighbors down the beach or to pick cattails, but she loved watching the grandkids playing on it. She would be so happy to know that we still have this paddle boat, which is used and appreciated by everyone and in fact one one of her great-grandchildren (my daughter) wanted to have
a senior picture taken in it.

My grandmother never understood my fascination with investigating the family tree, even though she had a wall in her condo in Florida with a painted on family tree and small photos of the several generations hanging on it in! About a month ago as I was sorting through papers I came across a letter she wrote to me in 1981. I loved seeing her handwriting and I could hear her voice say the last line as I read it, “Hope this is what you want dear”. Made me cry. Thank you, Grandma, for supporting me even when you didn’t understand.

We are in the kitchen cooking
for my sister's wedding shower.

My grandmother was also a good cook. Not the kind to always be cooking in the kitchen or have “specialties” but she was always one with a new recipe! She would go to luncheons to play bridge or go out to dinner parties and come home with a new recipe. Some of these “new recipes” have become some of our family favorites–not so much the main courses, but the desserts. One of these favorites we call “Caramel Brownies”. In fact, I didn’t even realize it until writing this blog today, that both me and one of my daughters made it to share with others this Thanksgiving weekend--without the nuts, but she loved nuts in everything! (The recipe is at the bottom, she didn't like her handwriting and she was quite adept at a typewriter so often typed everything but you can see her trademark smiley face with "G".)

My grandmother was a great listener. I could share anything with her and I appreciated her guidance and loving reassurance or funny little sayings. One that I still use and my kids have picked up on is, when you have decided that although it wasn’t exactly what you were hoping for but are grateful for what you have, she would say, “well, it’s better than a kick in the pants”. She never told me what to do, although on occasion she might say something to put me in my place, “Mary Lynn, don’t let your halo pinch you too tight”! She was always so proud of me and one of my greatest supporters and she then extended that to my husband. When we asked to learn to play bridge, she patiently taught Jim and I and had my grandfather practice with us as a foursome.

She never thought that she would see me graduate from college or get married, but she saw both! She didn’t meet our twin daughters who were born in 1999, but I told her on the phone during our last conversation that I was pregnant, so she knew a baby was coming. Unfortunately, she also passed before I earned my PhD in 2001, but I could feel her presence as I defended my dissertation and knew she would be so proud.

She passed away on October 16, 1998, in Clearwater, Florida and we remember her as a woman who lived life fully, embraced challenges with grace, and enriched the lives of those around her. 

I love that Thanksgiving is your Happy 110th Birthday, Grandma–Elizabeth Anna Leach Tubbs. Your life was a gift, and your legacy remains a treasure to us all.

First Family of PA Comes to Life!

This week, two exciting things came together for a really interesting week. 

LiveMemoryTM 

First, Geneamusings (Randy Seaver) announced a new feature available on MyHeritage APP called "LiveMemoryTM " that uses AI to make a 5 second video out of a photo. It's more than just animating there is significant movement. Right now it is free to try and I tried it on 3 photos so far. There are problems, of course, but it is fascinating and really brings the people to life! I tried it on Jim's 3rd great-grandfather, Jacob Breyvogel/Breyfogle who was born in Berks County, PA in 1805. This photo (based on his necktie and wide lapels of his suit) was taken between 1860 and 1870. He died in 1871, so that is the latest this could have been.  Try the video and tell me what you think!!

Jacqueline_Wolfe shared this photo 

on Ancestry.com in 2016.

First Families of PA

Second, I learned about an opportunity to record Jim's lineage through the Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania. It's not really a Lineage Society, more like an opportunity to record and allow others to learn about their history. The program is First Families of PA and they have four "levels" of membership based on the time frame for when your ancestors arrived to PA. 

Wedding Announcement in the Bloomsburg, PA
Newspaper "The Star of the North" 1861

You can probably tell where this is going. Yes, I spent about 15 hours putting together all of the documents required to "prove" Jim's family back to Jacob Breyvogel who fits early in the Keystone and Cornerstone (1791-1865) category. The packet ended up being nearly 50 sheets of paper that includes everything from birth/marriage/death certificates for those that existed for both members of the couple at each generation to newspaper clippings when records aren't available, like this newspaper clipping for John H. Breyfogle and Elizabeth Harriet Santee in 1861. Apparently getting names wrong in the newspaper is not a new thing....Driefagle is Breyfogle. Yep!

This is John and Elizabeth(Santee)
Breyfogle in their younger years.
Photo provided by Holly Prescott
in 2014 in Ancestry.com

The documentation to Jacob's father, Daniel Breyfogle (1775-1849), is not yet to the level the society accepts and although I have documentation that puts the Breyfogle's in PA as early as 1744, proving the connection between generations can be a little tricky. I will work on it, once I know that this first application was accepted! 

Jim's grandfather (Russel Pealer Breyfogle) and his mother (Mary Ann Pealer) were born in Michigan, but everyone else in this tree were Pennsylvania residents. None of these family names were yet to be listed among the First Families, so I have a little work (and investment, each application costs $75) ahead of me, but it is my goal to prove them. 

Pioneer Certificates

I don't know if every state has some sort of equivalent to First Families or Pioneer families, but Michigan does, too! In an earlier blog (Michigan, my Michigan) I shared that my mother's family has every grandparents and their ancestors coming (or being born) in Michigan back to at least the 1860s. Michigan has only two levels: Pre-statehood (prior to 1837) and First Families.

After finishing Jim's PA First Families I decided that I would work on an easy line for me in the Michigan Pioneers. Again, none of my family names are already recorded so I have lots to choose from. I decided to go with the Stoddard family, my mother's maternal grandmother's side. This took me less than 10 hours and the application fee is only $25. I'm not sure if I am getting faster or because I have already submitted to DAR on this family I knew I had acceptable proof. 

So, the application is submitted for Rodman Stoddard and Mary Matteson as a couple and we'll see in about 4-6 weeks what the Michigan Genealogical Society has to say about my application. 

Mary Matteson Stoddard
(1809-1893)

Rodman and Mary have an interesting story, they actually met in 1822 in Canada when Mary's father (Epaphras Matteson) kept moving west with his family and Rodman was into lumbering. With Michigan opening up, Rodman ends up buying land in Michigan (in Detroit) and Epaphras buys in Ann Arbor around the same time in 1824. When Epaphras dies in May of 1828 and his wife about 6 months later Mary at 19 is left an orphan. Rodman and Mary get married a few short months after. 

The most interesting thing that I found while digging in to the documents were the Probate Records for Rodman Stoddard who died in 1853. Mary lives for another 40 years a widow spending her last decade in Reed City, where my great-grandmother (who I knew!) knew her.

I tried my hand at transcribing these Probate hand written documents from 1853 which clearly show that Henry Clay Stoddard was the son of Rodman and Mary and along with the headstone of Rodman and Mary I could prove their relation. Lots of fun!

Saturday Night Fun–Probate Record Reveals

Edward James Leach, c. 1890

Genea-Musings prompted Saturday Night Genealogy Fun with the prompt: “Today’s challenge is to Share something you learned from a probate file or will that you wouldn’t have otherwise known about.”

I don’t normally post twice in one day, but I was intrigued by this prompt and it is not something I’ve written about. 

One of my brick walls is Henry Edward Leach (1834-1892), my great-great-grandfather who when he died, left my great-grandfather, Edward James Leach (1883-1919) an orphan. He emigrated to the US in 1860’s from England and I knew nothing about any of his family, only a wife he met and married in Michigan in 1882 and his one son. Even though he died in 1892, I couldn’t locate a Death Record. I wrote about Henry early on in January 2023 (My First Brick Wall).

After writing that blog I came across an index to Michigan, US, Wills and Probate Records, 1784-1980, Houghton through Ancestry. It’s only an index, but it directs you to where it is held. I wrote to the State Archives who directed me to Michiganology and a Request form for Probate Court Research ($10). They said that it would be about 1-2 weeks before I received it. It took 19 days, but it was well worth the wait!

Probate Record

The Probate Record was 82 pages long! I have learned that probate records can vary wildly in what they contain, which depends on the familial circumstances and financial holdings. Henry was not a rich man and didn’t own the home they were living in, but he had a comfortable existence as a bookkeeper for a Copper Mine. The probate record included information about his death (location and date), his executor, friends, will, and lots of purchases made for young Eddie! His personal estate was estimated at $2,300 which in today’s dollars is about $79,000. All of the men that are mentioned are all men Henry knew through his membership in  I.O.O.F(International Order of Odd Fellows), which provides camaraderie but also Life Insurance.

Will

The will was a standard will handwritten by his friend and executor of the estate, Charles Smith just a day before he died. Looking at his signature, he must have had a stroke or something that affected his writing ability because this was clearly not his normal signature. We have confirmation that his son is E.J. (Edward James) and Charles Smith is his guardian. No information about his parents or other family.

Fun Expenses

The fun things for me were all of the expenses that little Eddie had in the first couple of years. Clearly nice clothes for a growing boy were important because there were several receipts for new suits, over coat, cap and socks from local clothier L H Richardson’s and a receipt for a suit for Henry from Detroit’s men’s clothier R. H. Traver. (The building does still exist and was renovated for offices.)

There were school supplies listed, link ink and pen tips, paper supplies like toilet paper, and even receipts for oranges and milk.

Unexpected finds

There were 3 unexpected finds: 

1) evidence of ownership of land in Minnesota! I looked it up in the BLO website and it appears that a George Sigel was the original purchaser in 1869. I haven’t figured out when Henry Edward might have bought it (yet) or if it was sold before Edward was of age?

2) purchase agreement for 2 grave markers for he and his wife. This is interesting, but unfortunately any evidence of their gravestones is gone. They were originally resting in what was called Pioneer Cemetery originally owned by the Quincy Mining Company. In the 1970s there were announcements asking relatives if they would like to move their loved ones. I’m guessing by that time, they had no knowledge of living descendants for Henry and Flora, so their headstones were removed and their bodies remain there with a small park between the Catholic Church and Lutheran Church. Some names were recorded, but Henry and Flora don’t appear on any of them. I actually knew this before learning about the purchase of their headstones, which actually made me a little sadder.

3) A receipt from Charles Smith to the County Clerk’s office for copies of his death certificate! So there was one at one time! I was so excited to find this, I had proof that his death was recorded and where. In 2023, armed with this receipt, I went in person to the County Clerk’s office. I had been through the on-line death records numerous times and never found him, but it must be there. There’s an amazingly wonderful clerk there who helped me with finding my grandmother’s birth record and she was anxious to help me. With this death record, I might actually find out his parents’ names!!

But alas, she said that she searched through the whole book and never found him recorded. It was so disappointing, especially because I know that at some point they did have it recorded somewhere.

I have gotten no further with finding his parents, but the Probate Records were still worth it!

 

The Mysteriously Appearing China

My grandparents, Roc and Dot Massey,
and my parents at my parents'
wedding reception, 1962

As care takers of the family heirlooms, Jim and I have an old house full of fun and interesting things. Much of it we know who it originally belonged to and how it came to be in our possession. It’s important, though, as we are blending so many families’ things that we catalog it for future generations. I listened to Lisa Louise Cooke podcasts sharing the importance of a genealogy will, in order to describe heirlooms and make sure that treasures get to the right people. If we don’t document the stories and provenance, it will be more likely that things end up being donated or even worse, in a dumpster.

Most of our treasures came from my mother’s mother’s mother’s side of the family, but some came from my father’s and husband’s families. My mom happens to be the only child of the youngest child (Elizabeth Leach) of the youngest child (Florence Stoddard). (Interestingly, I have no known family heirlooms from my mother’s father’s side, except for a few photos.) I’m not sure which is more important (birth order or gender) for the passing down of heirlooms but since I am the youngest and a daughter it was doubly certain we would receive many of the treasures! 

Our China Cabinets

This past summer, I spent time investigating and cataloging china that came from my father’s parents. My grandparents, Rockwell Joseph Massey (born Rocco Mazziotti) and Dorothy Sedlock, were married on the 9th of February 1934 (the 26th wedding anniversary date of his parents). Given that it was the midst of the depression and they were both 1st generation Americans, I’m not sure how prevalent it was to register for/choose a china pattern. (It seems widely accepted that the Chicago-based department store Marshall Field’s established the first bridal registry service in 1924, so it would have been possible in 1934.)

My Grandparents’ China

My father remembers china displayed in a built-in china cabinet in his childhood home in Ridgewood, NJ between 1940-1950. But when the family moved to Michigan (he was about 10 at the time), he never remembers it being used or even displayed. There apparently was no place in either of their homes in Dearborn, Michigan to display it, so it remained for over 40 years in “barrels” in their basement. My grandfather traveled for work (he became a Regional Manager for the GM Training Centers) and my grandmother didn’t entertain often once they  moved to Michigan so there wasn’t much need for using the china. I remember hearing about china in the basement as a kid visiting their house, but I don’t think I ever saw it.

In the 1990s, my grandparents passed away, my parents retired and downsized, and Jim and I were married, so in the late 1990s we became the caretakers for their china. In 2002, when we moved into our present house (built in 1896) we had an entire wall of built-in shelving in our dining room perfect for all of the china! It’s not a mystery how WE came to possess the china, but how it came to my grandparents is a mystery to my dad and me! 

Was it my grandparents' wedding china? Was it passed down from my grandmother’s parents’ wedding china…she was the youngest? Or was it just purchased at yard sales/resale shops up by my grandfather to fill the china cabinet in their Ridgewood house and really has no sentimental value? But if this was the case, then why wouldn’t they just have gotten rid of it when they didn’t have the room? Maybe some investigation into the actual china might help?

Beginning the Investigation

The interesting thing about all of my grandparents' china is there is not a complete set of anything! There are bits and bobs from 7 different sets. Some look fairly similar but others are very different. One set has 11 plates and a serving bowl, another is just 4 cups, 5 saucers and 6 lunch plates, another has 13 small plates, 11cups/12 saucers–you get the idea. As a kid, I had heard people (mostly my mom and grandfather) oohing and aahing about “Limoges” china. I really didn’t know what it meant until this summer. 

Limoges China

I had thought that Limoges was the name of a company that made china. No, it is the name of a town in France close to the abundant kaolin mines, out of which comes the special white clay used to make the hard paste-porcelain. “Porcelain Limoges is famous for its durability, whiteness, and ability to resist chipping” (limogesboutique.com) and you know it’s real if you can nearly see through it when you hold it up to the light. 

There were many companies that used Limoges, but the most famous companies were Haviland & Co, Theodore Haviland, and Charles Haviland. The Haviland Company history began in 1840 with David Haviland who had a china shop in New York City and established an alliance with a manufacturer in France who would specifically make the pieces for America. In 1853, he established his own company and was the first to have artists on site to do the decorating. His sons went on to develop their own companies. Theodore Haviland was apparently known as an innovative marketer and his goal was to have “a set in every home” and in the 1920s, the Sears Catalog had 32-piece sets for $22.50 (about $412 in today’s money). (From History of Haviland).

“Our” China

Out of the 7 different sets, three are Haviland & Co. and two are Theodore Haviland brands (the 6th and 7th are Zeh Scherzer from Bavaria). I wondered if/how I might be able to identify the patterns and maybe narrow down the timing for when they were produced. I’ve written a couple blogs about some family heirlooms, like my great-great-grandfather’s gift of a pocket watch to my great-great-grandmother, my great-grandmother’s irises, Jim’s great-great grandfather’s trinket, and Jim’s father’s treasured toy car. In each of these cases, I learned a lot and found that there is a collector’s organization for nearly everything! Haviland China is no different!

There is a Haviland Collectors International Foundation (HCIF) dedicated to the study of porcelain and pottery produced by the Haviland companies. They have a newsletter and even an annual conference! They do also have an identification service, but I thought I would try my hand at it. The HCIF does have a very handy guide to Haviland Blank and Decorator Marks. 

What is a blank? That was new to me, too! The blank is what they call the porcelain item before it’s been fired and painted. Some blanks are plain, but others have a pattern and the size and shapes differ and help to determine the specific pattern. Looking at this photo, this blank is quite decorative, with the scalloped edges and it might be hard to tell, but that shadowed pattern is actually a raised pattern around the edge and into the plate to make it look like petals. 

There are two sets of marks (this was not a mistake!), there are marks that are made prior to glazing and then marks made by the decorator after the glazing. You can see here on this cup the green underglaze mark, which is Mark I that was used between 1894-1931 and the red decorator mark, which is Mark c, used 1876-1878/1889-1931. So we’ve narrowed to 1894-1931. Can the flower pattern help us at all in the identification?

Schleiger Numbers

It turns out that there are estimated to be over 30,000 different Haviland China patterns created by the 1930’s and most did not have a name and very few even had a number. According to the A Pattern Identification Guide for Haviland China: Volume Two by Gertrude Tatnall Jacobson (1979) only 725 of the patterns had a name. These 30,000, though, are just variations and combinations of blanks, flower patterns, and use of gold/silver trim. Because there was no easy way to catalog these, an amazing collector, Arlene Schleiger, decided to try to do it. She, with the help of her talented architect son, provided hand drawings and descriptions for nearly 11,000 of these patterns. She produced 6 volumes of these amazing books beginning in 1950 through 1991. One amazing benefit of working at a university is the library collection. It turns out that my university had the first 4 volumes of her books!! Unbelievable luck!

Using her guide, I was able to identify one of the 4 sets. It is a Theodore Haviland set BL 205 (blank #205) Pattern # 248, described “Small pale pink flowers touched with white. Some all white. Green leaves and stems. Gray shadows around flower groups.” (p. 48, Volume II) An additional investigation into the mark suggested S, 1903. (https://archive.org/details/havilandchinavol00gert/page/157/mode/2up?view=theater). 

Unfortunately, I couldn't find the other 3.

Replacement, Ltd.

I contemplated joining the HCIF, but thought I would try one other source recommended by the organization. Have you ever broken, chipped, or lost a piece of your everyday plates or your fine china or crystal or sterling and found that it was discontinued? But you really wanted to replace the piece? Well, there is an organization that began in 1981 called..you guessed it…Replacements, Ltd that went into business collecting and distributing replacement pieces. You need to know your manufacturer and then pattern name to really be successful, but once you do their search engine brings up a photo of your item. For example, our everyday plates we chose before our wedding in 1990 are the Poetry pattern from Pfaltzgraf. It was long-since discontinued but if we wanted to, we could replace all of them!

Although I could have paged through all of the Haviland patterns it would have taken weeks! Instead I ordered from Replacements, Ltd the book Haviland: A Pattern Identification Guide (no, our library didn’t have this one, so I invested in the book–I was hooked now). This 577-page book includes photos, pattern names for those that had names,  the Schleiger #s and Blank #s. After pouring over the china and the book for just 3 days, I was able to identify two of the other patterns! 

So, whose were they?

I am now asking myself, what did this GIANT rabbit hole (and huge investment of time and money) gain me? Am I any closer at figuring out whose they were and how they came to be with my grandparents?

Well, given the Theo Haviland patterns were around 1903 (based on the mark), I am pretty convinced that none of these were wedding china for my grandparents…and I have no idea whose they were…I’m leaning toward the theory that my grandfather just picked up them random places to make the china cabinet look pretty.

But…

Remember how I said that 5 patterns were Haviland and the 6th and 7th was Zeh Scherzer? Well, using my skills in porcelain developed through investigating the Haviland patterns, I think I figured out who these sets might have belonged to. 

Zeh Scherzer (Z S & Co) was a porcelain producing company located in Bavaria, Germany that began in 1880. Their marks changed over the years and the mark that we see on our china was used from 1899-1910. I haven’t found the exact patterns (there doesn’t seem to be a collector’s club for this china) but given the timing, I would say that this was perfect timing for my great-grandparents Alonzo Sedlock and Louisa Hillman who were married 18 May 1904. Louisa’s parents were both from German families, her father (Johann Willheim Hillman) immigrating in 1879 from Bremen, Germany and her mother (Emma Amanda Sackman) was born in Germania, Potter County, Pennsylvania but her older siblings were born in Hamburg, Germany (Emma was my last week’s post.). According to newspaper accounts of Louisa in the social columns, she was a socialite and it would not be surprising to me that they were given china for their wedding. 

So, I am going out on a limb and conjecture that the 11 plates and 4 cups/saucers and 6 small plates were gifts to Alonzo and Louisa Sedlock for their wedding.

We probably won’t ever know the real story of this mysteriously appearing china but for as long as we own our current house, it’s a beautiful addition to the shelves and I don’t mind using the china for entertaining. In fact, this past weekend, I used several platters for our DAR Special Tea!