Managing Church Records Part 2

Managing Church Records Part 1

Tony Robbins - Make Yourself Valuable (Tony Robbins Motivation)

Obituaries Can Be Time Capsules

I find obituaries to be time capsules, if those writing them put the person and personality of the dearly departed into the obituary.  Here is an example below and if you like it, I can publish her husband's next week.  It is equally interesting.

The Journal's County News Service, 

Melcher, Marion County, Iowa, March 26, 1930

Mrs. A. J. Tickle Aged 93 Dies at Dallas Home
Pioneer Woman was 93; Was Born in Covered Wagon 

Lucretia Helms was born on March 1, 1837, and departed this life at the family home, near Dallas, March 21, 1930, aged 93 years and 21 days.   In May 1861, she was united in marriage to Andrew Jackson Tickle. To this union, eleven children were born, two of whom preceded the mother to the great beyond. John died in May 1926, and Eddie, when 16 days old. 

The surviving children are George of Dallas, Mrs. Mattie Rood of Sedalia, Mo., Julius Tickle of Allerton, Mabel Tickle of Fairfield, Mrs. Barbara Green at home, Elmer of Dallas, Mrs. Raymond Stoddard of Guernsey, Wyo., Mrs. F. B. Wilson of Wheatland, Wyo., and Levi Tickle of Chariton.   Besides the husband and nine children who survive her, thirty-five grandchildren and seventeen great-grandchildren remain to mourn her loss. 

Born in a covered wagon at Davenport, Ia., as the parents were emigrating from Illinois to Iowa; growing to womanhood here in this vicinity of Dallas and Melcher, spending her married years in the same vicinity, living for twenty-three years beyond the allotted time for life, surely this woman spend a long useful life, and benediction to her children.   Her children say of her that she was a good wife and mother, that she lived a cheerful, prayerful, optimistic life. Not a member of any church, she believed in the things of the Kingdom. 

Serviced were conducted by R. V. Hughes at the Christian church on Sunday afternoon, March 23, at 2 p.m. Interment in Dallas Cemetery. 
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Note: Obituary shows marriage date as May 1861, but according to Marion County records Lucretia Helms and Andrew Jackson Tickle were married Nov 16, 1861.

Managing Old Records & Scrapbooks

This is an excellent video on how to manage old scrapbooks, record books, and other old books. I studied this in college. This Archivist does an excellent job explaining standard methods, and she tells you why. For this reason, I am posting here for others to learn and benefit.

The Character of Curtis H. Cline

My father used to say, "A man is only as good as his word."  When I was young, that did not make sense to me, but now I understand he was talking about honesty and integrity.  My father strongly disliked corruption, deceit, and dishonesty.  He was a man of principles.  In 1949 or 1950 farmer ordered limestone for their farms and fields, based on a government subsidy they had received for many years.  At the time, my father owned and operated five lime spreading trucks and had six or seven employees.  He was on top of the world.  He and my mother purchased rent houses and Dad, and a couple of his employees built an attractive duplex on Ingram Street in Sikeston.  In 1948, we took a month long vacation out to Colorado in our new Willis Jeep.  Life was good.

Then, after receiving orders for the product, Curtis ordered the limestone from Ste. Genevieve Lime Company. Within a week of receiving the limestone in a hopper railcar on a switch a block away from our home, the government announced that particular subsidy was eliminated for the next few years.  What!  Not only did it effect my father's business but several other lime-spreading companies in Southeast Missouri.  Dad sold his equipment, laid off most of the workers, and liquidated what he could to pay off the business account.  The loss of income mortified my mother and what she perceived was altered social status.  The other lime-spreading companies declared bankruptcy, but not my Dad.  He felt duty-bound to pay back every cent he borrowed toward the lime product. He gave his word to pay for what was purchased, and he did.  It took him ten years to pay back everything, but he did so with a good conscious.

He tithed ten percent of his net earnings annually to the First Nazarene Church in Sikeston.  After returning to the Sikeston area in 1995, many people told me stories of how he helped them over the years.  Curtis had a soft spot for widows.  He helped them any way he could, and rarely charged them full price for his nursery services.  One lady in Benton, Missouri told me that she had used his nursery services for many years to keep her trees pruned and free from insects.  One year, she recalled Curtis stopped to see if she wanted him to trim up her trees.  She was embarrassed to tell him she had no money for the work, and she barely had money for food.  She thanked him and went back into her house.   About an hour later, there was a knock on her door, and there was Curtis Cline with two bags of food and a bucket of apples and peaches from Diebold Orchard stand.  She said he had tears in his eyes when he told her that he knew what it was like to be strapped for money, and he never wanted anyone to go hungry.  She was shocked but grateful.  This act is only one of many stories I heard of his generosity.  He never told anyone about these acts of kindness.  Curtis H. Cline was a devout Christian, fair-minded, and righteous.  I was proud to call him Dad.

          

My Father's Hands

I wrote about my Dad, Curtis Henry Cline, in his early years a few weeks ago.  I want to reflect on him as a father today.  My father was physically strong due to working with his hands.  I loved my Father’s hands.  They were large, strong and tough from hard work.  On the emotional side, he was a tender-hearted man.  He used to read the Herald Of Holiness magazine from our church and tears would run down his eyes when he read of the needs throughout the world, or of an uplifting article.  He often picked me up in his arms and toted me around with him, when I was small, and I could feel the love he felt for me. I was a lucky child. I remember wanting a swing when I was about five years old.   I kept asking him to build me one in my sweetest voice. I knew he worked from sun up to sun down, but I was sure he could squeeze in time to make my swing.  He had a welding shop behind our home, and I guess I thought he would make it there.  One day he kneeled down on his knee to my level and with tears in his eyes said “Margaret if you want a swing as badly as you say I will build you one tomorrow.”  And he did!  He welded a metal bar across the top from our shed to another bar he buried next to our fence.  He hung log chains down from the cross bar to a wooden seat he made for me.  I thought my Dad was wonderful back when I was a little girl, and that he could do anything and continued to think so until he died December 21, 2002, at the age of ninety-one.  Curtis Henry Cline was my first hero.

Another time, I moved to St. Louis, Missouri and rented a small apartment on the third floor of the building.  Needing furniture, I asked Mom and Dad to let me use some of their extra furniture.  They agreed to help me and Dad loaded some furniture in his truck and drove from Sikeston, Missouri to my Aunt Beulah and Uncle Orville’s house where I was staying until I had furniture for the apartment.  He arrived about 10:00 am and we drove from the suburbs to St. Louis where my apartment was located.  I tried to help him move as much as possible, but it seems I was more in his way, with the furniture than a help.  Therefore, he strapped the dresser on his back and walked the three flights of steps to my new place.  He did the same thing with more furniture.  I carried the boxes and bedding.  When he got to the top of the stairs with the last piece of furniture, he stopped and asked me, “how much less are the rooms on the third floor than the ones on the first floor?”  I told him they were $30 a month less.  He said he would pay the difference for me to live on the first floor when I moved again.  He never complained, he only let me know he wished it had been on the first floor.  Whenever I needed anything, he was there for me with his usual smile.  There are many more memories I want to write but I want to concentrate on his ethics and character in the next issue.