Doing research with cousin Rene Cuer and aunt Joelle Aponte in Noumea

So, the database on this site will be down for a spell while I (actively) work out some of the problems with moving data from Legacy (the database software on my hard drive) to TNG (the database software on this website). Non-techies can skip to the next paragraph now! Since these databases are made by different vendors, they use a file sharing protocol called GEDCOM (for library and web geeks, it’s kind of a markup language). I export my family data from Legacy to a GEDCOM file, then import the GEDCOM file to TNG. The confounding problem is that GEDCOM is outdated and there is no consistency in the way that software vendors markup newer database fields that need to be shared. There are also some issues with how differently my two databases handle media. I will be working out a system for managing the digital versions of my documents and photos and getting them online.

Add to all of the above that we’ve been moving across the country and, well, the blog has been quiet. In the coming weeks, I’ll be posting about some of the conundrums in managing the collection. And, for those in my family whose eyes glaze over at that practical stuff, I’ll be posting some stories about serendipity, which has factored largely in the TwoCaledonias project over the past couple of years.

Catherine Gallacher Morrison and her son Robert's children.

I love the web. Just yesterday another relative found me on Ancestry.com. I had been looking for a connection on the Scottish side, in Scotland; someone who perhaps could help me identify the subjects of the many unmarked Morrison family photos in our collection. I’m excited to meet Elaine and see where this leads.

I haven’t had as many chance genealogical connections on the Scottish side as I have on the New Caledonian side. Growing up, my Scots were all around stateside, and the French family seemed so distant. Now, it seems just the reverse. We really lost touch with the family in Scotland once my grandmother (Marion Morrison) passed away. Hopefully this is changing.

Not long ago, another Morrison descendant, Diana Gresham Campbell, found me on Ancestry. I haven’t met Diana in person, but it immediately felt like we were family! The common ancestors that Diana and I share are William James Morrison and Catherine Gallacher, the same common ancestors that Elaine and I share. William and Catherine were my 2x great-grandparents (I think for Diana and Elaine, great-grandparents). Diana’s parents left NJ for California in the 1950s, and Diana was born and raised there. She and her husband are now in Idaho. It’s been amazing to find someone with the same amount of enthusiasm for hunting down details and identifying photos as I have.

Putting your family history data out there and pooling research efforts is really the way to make progress. It’s also the way to get really overwhelmed! I am a bit behind on adding information that has been graciously sent my way since starting this online project. Coupled with my job search, the blog has been a bit quiet. The photos and document scans are coming soon, I promise, and next up is a post about all the fabulous people I’ve met who have helped me on the French side.

TwoCaledonias.net has been a little quiet lately, but I haven’t been slacking! I’ve been working for weeks to add the new genealogy database, which replaces the old Family Charts and Surnames pages. You will need to register for an account if you wish to see information about our living family; otherwise, all information about our ancestors is publicly accessible. Click on the Genealogy Database link above, follow the registration and navigation instructions on the database homepage, and start browsing! The database is an exact mirror of my local database and a vast improvement over the old charts. Throughout the database, you will see opportunities to contribute information and photos…please do! The data still needs to be “scrubbed” and there is still much more to be added. The next step is to begin adding images; the first image upload should take place sometime this week. Thanks to the developers of TNG, the database software! Read a bit more about TNG on the Research Tools page.

WWII Memorial, Noumea, 2010

Some of our Martins, who lost their lives during WWI, on the WWI Memorial in Noumea. I can’t forget that I need to do some research into our New Caledonian’s involvement this war as well.

I also did some more hunting for ship’s manifests and immigration records that document the arrival of my maternal grandmother (Marion Sellars) in the U.S. Nothing was turning up in the Ancestry.com immigration and travel databases, and nothing on the Ellis Island website. I was getting quite frustrated and decided to pick my Mom’s brain a bit for some clues. My Mom recalled having found these records on the Ellis Island website. Assuming she would have sent these to me, I did a search of my email accounts for “Ellis Island” and, sure enough, she had…in 2007!!

A few clicks of links later, and I had the passenger list I was looking for. I couldn’t find them in my searches because, in my haste, I forgot one of the cardinal rules of genealogy. My great-grandmother, Ellen Harper McMeekin, was also known as Helen, and nicknamed Nellie. My grandmother, Marion, was often called “Mari” for short. It was pronounced “Maree” with the emphasis on the first syllable, easily mistaken for “Marie” with the emphasis on the second syllable. So, my great-grandmother appears on the manifest as “Nellie Sellars” (who’d have thought she’d use a nickname?) and my grandmother is listed as “Marie Sellars.” I also didn’t think to search for May Sellars, my great-aunt, who (of course!) would have been traveling with them. They were also traveling with her my grandmother’s younger sister, her mother, and a McMeekin who was the right age to be a brother, but of whom I have no record (could be a cousin). Alas, I had only been looking for Sellars. More about their arrival on the S.S. Columbia, on October 20, 1923, when I write about Nellie in a few weeks.

Here is the manifest, in two images…

S.S. Columbia Passenger List 1

S.S. Columbia Passenger List 2

New P-38s being hauled from the port area to the airfield at Noumea, September 1942
(Source: www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USA/USA-P-Strategy/Strategy-15.html)

I made a few minor research breakthroughs this week, but not enough for me to write about the next person in the French family story…that’ll have to wait a week. Instead, I thought I would focus a bit on the context in which Louise Martin and Henri Stumph would have known each other, into which my father was born, and in which Louise made the decision to marry John Aponte and move to the United States. This context comes from a book I’m currently reading: Rock of Contention: Free French and Americans at War in New Caledonia, 1940-1945. The “Rock” in the title makes reference to a colloquial name (“Le Caillou”) for New Caledonia used by mainland French (because of its terrain and the rocky relationship with the territory). “War” in the title refers to both WWII and the conflict between American and French (not New Caledonian) leadership in the South Pacific.

New Caledonia, with its rich mineral resources, was a highly desirable bit of real estate in the eyes of the Japanese, and by early 1941, local leadership was faced with ultimatums (to support Vichy France, with whom the Japanese were allied, or face invasion). The local population was anxious, and the Free French under de Gaulle could not defend the island. At the same time, the American military leadership recognized the strategic importance of New Caledonia, given its location in the middle of sea lanes between Australia and the United States. An uneasy alliance was formed, which is the focus of Kim Munholland’s book.

Imagine, then, that a 20-year-old Louise and her/our family wake up on the morning of March 12, 1942, and in the bay of Noumea, Operation Poppy Force, has arrived – a flotilla carrying the first 15,000-22,000 of an eventual 40,000 troops and all of the equipment and supplies necessary to support them, defend the island, and support operations elsewhere in the South Pacific, including the Solomon Islands, particularly Guadalcanal. Click here for some photos of the arrival. Not even DeGaulle was given the details of the size of this mission for security reasons, so you can imagine the surprise of the populace. One Noumea resident is quoted in the book as saying “If Martians had landed among us, we would not have been more surprised.”

Let’s put this in perspective:

• The population of the entire island was approximately 57,000: 29,000 Kanak, 17,000 of European descent, and 11,000 Asians (mostly Javanese and Tonkinese, who will figure into a future blog post). The European population were either the majority Broussards (ranchers, coffee growers, shopkeepers, etc., many descended from bagnards, or prisoners) or the minority wealthy elite (owners of large cattle ranches, mining companies, and other large commercial enterprises).
• The population of Noumea was about 18,000. So, for most of three years, the American military presence outnumbered the locals by almost 2:1.
• By 1943, the amount of tonnage passing through Noumea harbor was second in the Pacific only to San Francisco. At one point, the wait time to unload was six weeks.

Ships waiting to unload, Noumea harbor
(Source: http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USA/USA-P-Strategy/img/USA-P-Strategy-57.jpg)

The economic and social impact could have been nothing less than astonishing. A sleepy, tropical colonial town was transformed overnight. The impact was mostly positive in the eyes of the Kanak and Broussards, but the French leadership and eventually the local elite were not so enthralled. The latter’s obsession with assumed American ambition to claim New Caledonia outweighed their concern with Japanese ambition to claim the island. This is at the center of the book, although Munholland does devote at least a chapter to the cultural misunderstandings that fed the obsession, the economic impact on French-Kanak-Asian labor relations, the issue of race (particularly the presence of African-American soldiers and the Kanak), the strain on local utility and other resources, and the bad behavior of some servicemen, amongst other issues.

For a while, the French may have been right about American interests in the New Caledonia. But by late 1944, strategic concerns moved U.S. combat operations elsewhere, leaving only medical and supply operations in Noumea. The withdrawal of American troops from the island had an equally startling effect on the island; with them went access to material goods and entertainment. In the eyes of most locals, with the Americans went modernization. I am nearing the end of the book, which covers this period, but you can imagine what a young Louise must have thought about what life in the United States must be like. John shipped out at a date to be determined, and Louise followed not long after, kids in tow.

*This is a hastily written post, composed to meet my self-imposed French Friday deadline. All facts, figures, and ideas are from Kim Munholland’s book, save the references to Louise and the family. I’ll go back and add page references over the weekend. Buy the book! It’s a great read.

Marion's engagement photo (click for larger images)

Scots Sunday is late today, although it is still Sunday, MST. Yet again, my assumption that it would be easiest to start writing about my most recent ancestors proves a challenge. We tend to focus our research less on them sometimes because they were such integral parts of our lives and their memories are very much alive. We think we’ll remember. By writing this post, I learned more about what I don’t know and have forgotten about my maternal grandmother than I thought possible.

Marion (l), her mother, and little sister Mae

Marion Cunningham McMeekin Sellars was born in Glasgow on the 16th of December 1919. Yes, all of those names are on her birth certificate! It was common Scottish practice to name your firstborn daughter after her maternal grandmother (first and last names) and to include the mother’s maiden name. Marion was the granddaughter of “Marion Wallace” Cunningham and the daughter of Ellen Harper “McMeekin.” There are several good web pages on traditional naming in Scotland, including ScotlandsPeople, the Saban family history site, and others (google “Scottish naming patterns” for oodles more). Marion was born to Ellen (aka Helen) McMeekin and Andrew Sellars at 20 Marquis Street (which no longer exists) in the Bridgeton district. Curiously, her birth certificate also lists her father living at 20 Delburn Street, so I’m not sure if Marquis Street is where a hospital was located, where Helen’s parents lived, or one of many other possibilities. I’ll have to do some more digging around on this. The back of her birth extract indicates that she was baptized by William Sutherland at Dalmarnock United Church in Glasgow on January 11, 1920.

Marion, dancing school days

My mother and I chatted today for a bit and realized that neither of us knew when my grandmother emigrated to the U.S. with her parents. My mother thinks it was around 2 years old, but I couldn’t quickly locate passenger lists. I’m pretty sure I remember my grandmother telling me they came through Boston, not New York. Marion became a U.S. citizen on March 16, 1939, when she was 20, but her Certificate of Citizenship wasn’t issued until 1971. Perhaps the “original” I have was a replacement or perhaps the government moves that slowly?). Oy…my research agenda is getting longer! The family landed in Kearny, New Jersey, which was known as “Little Paisley” at the time, given the number of Scots who settled there.

Marion, modeling days

Marion and Bill, around the time of their marriage

Not long after graduation, Marion met Bill Morrison, probably through Bill’s brother, Stewart, who Marion hung around with. Bill was older by six years. At the time they met, Marion was living in the family home at 42 Windsor Street in Kearny. The house is still there (although renovated). I don’t know a lot about their courtship, but Marion and Bill were married on the 28th of June 1941, at Knox Presbyterian Church in Kearny, NJ. I’m hoping some of these photos will come out of storage as well.

I’m not exactly sure where Marion and Bill lived after the wedding; I need to do some more digging. But by the time my mother was about two, they bought the house they would be in for almost the rest of their lives, at 22 Beaver Avenue in North Arlington, the town just north of Kearny. This house is so central to so many of my memories my grandparents, and growing up in general. Crowded holidays…adults at long tables in the small kitchen, kids at a small table at the end, or relegated to the adjacent sitting room when there were too many of us. The holiday food smells are so distinct still…turnip and potatoes (“neeps and tatties”) cooking…pearl onions and sweet pickles. Eating until we were “fou the noo” (full)…

Marion and her first born, my Mom

Marion and Bill had three living children: my mother Sandy, my Uncle Doug, and my Aunt Gail. They had a fourth child, a daughter named Linda, born in 1948 with a “hole in her heart” who died a short time later. I still have to locate a copy of Linda’s death certificate. Marion stayed in touch with many of her Glaswegian kin over the years, some of whom landed in Canada, the Boston area, and South Africa. She made at least one trip back to Scotland that I can recall. Her letters to and from her Scots cousins have been an invaluable resource in identifying more family across the pond (and which I will publish here at some point), whose descendants I hope to locate.

Marion and Edna

When I think of my grandmother, I often remember her dressed to the nines (in gowns that she made) for an Eastern Star meeting or event. The Masons and the Eastern Star were the sum of my grandparent’s social life together and separately, as I remember it. My grandmother’s closest friend for life, Edna Smart, she met through the Star. All of my maternal female relatives were involved in the Star at some point. Marion’s daughters, however, had no interest, and interest in such organizations was dwindling generally by the 1970s. For some reason, which I couldn’t pinpoint now, my grandmother convinced me to be initiated. I remained a member for a couple of years, but couldn’t see myself lasting much longer given the religious overtones and lack of people my own age. But, in retrospect, it was the single best thing I ever did with my grandmother. I got to know her as her friends knew her, and got to know her friends. We got crafty, went to Burns’ suppers, and planned (politically-incorrectly titled) “Chinese auctions.” We went out together at least once a week, gossiped, and I learned she enjoyed a good…er…’suggestive’ joke. She served as Worthy Matron of her chapter more than a few times and complained about it as much as she enjoyed it. I would not have traded this time for anything in the world.

Conversely, I remember my grandmother in her housecoat and slippers at their house “down the shore” (as we say in Jersey), in Ocean Beach #3. Yahtzee, game shows, and her “stories” (soap operas)…knotty pine furniture, the taste of Hawaiian Punch, and the smell and sound of salty bay water always take me back to summer there. As a driver, she had a lead foot. And, she loved to tell folks that she had the same name as John Wayne.

In the last years of her life, after my grandfather passed away, Marion lived in a few separate rooms in my mother’s house. My daughter and I lived in an apartment upstairs, so we got to see her a lot then too. One of my favorite photos is of my grandmother playing Duck Hunt on my daughter’s new Nintendo at Christmas (most of you know I’m in Denver temporarily and this photo is in deep storage in Phoenix). She loved Disney World. She had a great sense of fun. And, she desperately wanted to see Alaska.

I wish this memory weren’t so foregrounded: It seems like yesterday that I went downstairs to see my Gram, and she was having trouble breathing. I called 911, then my mother, and I remember the rest of the day in the hospital with her. She looked pretty good, but over what I remember as a few days, she deteriorated quickly. Most of the family went to see her on Christmas Eve in the hospital. She systematically said goodbye to each of us, although we insisted we would see her the next day. She died on December 25, 1994, just after midnight. Christmas was her favorite holiday. I remember my Mom having to cancel the Alaskan cruise Marion had planned with Edna.

Marion will come up again and again here I am certain, as I locate more documents or remember other stories needing to be told. Her Empire Biscuits are standard Christmas morning breakfast for us; in fact, her recipes are such a big part of our family’s culinary repertoire that they will have to debut at some point! For now, it’s time to get out the voice recorder and compare notes with my mother, my aunt, my uncle…

What do you remember about Marion?

Louisette & siblings, c. 1933-37 (click for larger view)

My memories of my paternal grandmother are of a gregarious, lovely, warm woman who would have to run through every one of her children and grandchildren’s names before she got to yours when you made her mad (her English was also impaired by anger). She loved John Kennedy and Shirley Temple, almost as much as she loved us. I remember that when she and my grandfather addressed each other as “mon cheri,” I was confused as to why they called each other “my shitty.” Especially because I recall they had tremendous affection for one and other.

In writing this post, I realized that almost everything else I knew about my grandmother were memories belonging to and information from my father and aunts. It made this post very difficult to write, because her history is…complicated. By kicking off the blog with posts about my most recent deceased ancestors, I quickly realized the impact this could have on my living family. I called my father to talk about it at the eleventh hour, and then called one of his sisters. What follows is what I know from a few documents and memories I have of Louise Eugenie Martin, and some of the myriad questions I have. I will have to write about her again because, although she died when I was 16, her story is still unfolding.

Louise, about 7-10 years old

In 2010, I visited the mairie (city hall) in Noumea, New Caledonia, to get a copy of Louise’s birth certificate, marriage certificate, and the original birth certificate of my father, all of which helped sort out some chronology (please email if you want copies). Louise was born on October 14, 1922 in Noumea, to Eloi Eugéne Martin and Clémence Louise Vedel (who I will write about in future posts). I have a few early photographs of Louise courtesy of her sister, Thérèse (now in the custody of my Aunt Joelle), and from a photo album belonging to my grandmother (in the custody of my Aunt Linda). I now realize I know almost nothing about her childhood and will have to return to Noumea so that Aunt Jeanette and Aunt Thérèse can fill in the blanks!

Louise and John, c. 1942-3, Noumea

The next I know of Louise’s story, she had a relationship with my biological grandfather, Henri Sarso Stumph. Henri was in the late stages of Alzheimer’s when I met him, and my French wasn’t strong or delicate enough to ask anyone else about the circumstances of their meeting. How did they meet? Why didn’t they pursue a relationship? Louise gave birth to my father, Gerineldo Manuel Aponte, on December 2, 1942, as a result of her relationship with Henri (more on Henri in a few weeks). A little more than three months after my father was born, on the 29th of March, 1943, she married John Gerineldo Aponte, an American GI serving in the South Pacific during WWII. My wonderful cousins Thierry and Kathy, along with Aunt Thérèse, took me and Louise’s second daughter, Joelle, to the church in Noumea where Louise and John married (not the church we had always assumed). But when and how did she meet John? Are there any wedding photos? Again, we have to get back to Noumea for some answers!

Louise, Jerry, and Linda, probably in Yonkers, c. 1946

Following the end of hostilities in the Pacific in 1945, Louise boarded the U.S.S. President Polk with her three year old son and 5 month old daughter, Linda, bound for San Francisco. Hers was not an uncommon story; the number of young mothers on the same trip suggests that more than a few GIs left New Caledonia with families. [My friend Julie Harris blogged here about a similar story…more about Julie in a later post.] Louise then made the long trip by train across the U.S. to Yonkers, New York to reunite with John…a courageous 23 year old woman to be certain. Her life in Yonkers was not, I imagine, what she expected. I am told there was domestic violence, but that it abated following the birth of Louise’s third child, Joelle, and after the family moved to Ocean Grove, a quaint New Jersey seaside town. Sometime between late 1957 and early 1958, the family moved back to Noumea at John’s wishes (you’ll understand why when I post about John in a couple of weeks). Louise, however, very much wanted to return the United States and within a year, they were back in Ocean Grove. Louise’s last child, Carlyn, was born there in August of 1959.

Louise, John, and Joelle (far left) in Noumea c. 1958. Louise's mother, Clemence, is at the far right.

Louise, early in Ocean Grove

I have to collect more stories of life in Ocean Grove, but I do know that it was characterized by the number of properties the family lived in. They were not well off and always one step ahead of the rent. I only remember two houses after I came on the scene in 1961 – on Olin (?) and on Main. I remember them as happy places, contrary to the stories of Louise being unhappy. I particularly remember her and John in the kitchen, together or separate, cooking. Recently, Joelle has reconnected with my grandmother’s best friend in the United States, Lydia. Lydia may be able to help fill in some of the blanks for us. Despite a rocky relationship, why did Louise and John stay together all those years? Did they love each other? Joelle and I believe they did. Perhaps this is fantasy, but we’re sticking with it for now. (To Joelle: Lydia. Voice recorder. ASAP.)

Louise in Noumea with her sister Jeanette c. 1976

Louise returned to New Caledonia once more, not long before her death in 1977. She looked very happy there, but only her sisters (and perhaps Lydia) could tell me now how my grandmother may have felt about life at that point in time. Louise died during the night on May 15, a result of an ‘enlarged heart’. She was only 54. One of my last memories is of my grandmother happily riding a bicycle to help get her weight and health under control.

Writing this first post about a specific family member has been fraught with uncertainty. Who might I upset by saying too much? Am I doing a disservice by saying too little? This post lacks in verifiable facts, but relies on hearsay and memory. In that regard, it was a great exercise in defining my next research steps. For example, I need a copy of Louise’s death certificate for my files. Although I could get a copy through the state, we’ve lost track of other papers related to Louise and John following John’s death. So, on my to-do list is finding and reaching out to John’s second wife in hopes of locating some of these papers. My family will see the many questions above and hopefully comment below or email me. More important, I need to sit down with my Dad, Aunt Linda, and Aunt Joelle and a voice recorder. A trip to the home state is in order.

Louise's passport photo c.1976, and how I remember her best

While I might be able to sum up what I know about some ancestors in a paragraph or two, it was impossible to even skim the surface of my grandmother’s colorful life. What I’d give to know about my earlier ancestors what I know about Louise! To my family, let’s get this down on paper/audio/video soon…

What are your memories of Louise?