Small town churches, shape-note song books and Ross Greenlee - Stories for my grandchildren

 Recently,  Richard Beck, author and professor of psychology at Abilene Christian University wrote  on his blog “Experimental Theology”  about the history of shape-notes and the song books that were so influential in the history of the Churches of Christ. It's an interesting read, and you can find it here.

In his blog, Richard said, “I grew up with shape-notes.” I did too. In Breckenridge Texas, which means I have to talk about Ross Greenlee.

Ross Greenlee was the song leader in the church where I grew up. He was a barber by trade, and I guess the Barber Shop Quartet tradition was a big part of Ross' life; he loved to sing. And every Wednesday night he instructed the high school class in the best tradition of  A Capella singing.

This was the era of all day singing and dinner on the ground, and sometimes there was just singing and no dinner in some nearby community. We sang songs out of the “Great Songs of the Church” song book (song book – not a hymnal), in four part harmony using shape notes.

If it was a new song, we didn’t sing the words at first, rather we sang the name of the note. For example, if we were learning “We Praise Thee O God” we would sing, “so do do do do; do re me me me me; do me so so so la so me me re re re.”  With each part singing different note names, it was often rather calamitous, but we learned to sing every song that song leader knew.

And of course all the boys took turns leading songs, working on that song-leader-hand motion (quickly learning that 4-4 time was the easiest to lead) and when the elders weren’t listening we even had some mixed quartets from time to time.

I don’t know how long Ross taught that class. From before I was in high school till the time my son was in high school at least. I made a trip home for a retirement celebration for Ross when Rob was a Freshman.

And there is a side note about Ross. If you were ever asked to lead singing, you didn’t have to pick out your songs. All you needed to do was pick up a song book in the auditorium – almost any song book - and in the fly-leaf you would find a selection of song numbers that Ross had penciled in at some time or another. Three songs, one for after the prayer, one for the invitation and the final song.

Monday Meanderings - 8.29.2016

The latest issue of Consumer Reports magazine proclaims on the cover, "Secrets to Stress Free Flying." We could have used some of those secrets a few weeks ago when we set out to embark on a cruise.

Our first setback came at the hands of Alaska Airlines. We made the trek out to the airport in time to board a 7am flight to Seattle, only to find that the plane - which at the time was sitting on the tarmac at ABIA - was delayed, first for 30 minutes, then an hour, then 7 hours!. Yes, the 7am plane was now leaving at 2pm - far too late to board the ship in Seattle, and Alaska Airlines couldn't find us a flight on any other airline that could get us there in time.

After a lot of discussion, the cruise line put us on a flight the next morning - again at 7am - that would get us to Juneau by mid-afternoon, where we could join the cruise. So we went home, spent the night in our on beds, and again got up in time for a 7am flight on American, which was also delayed. Long story shortened - after 23 hours of travel - Austin to Dallas to Seattle to Ketchikan to Juneau, we got to our hotel in Alaska, and did board the ship the next morning.

But we're not through. Our return trip was on Delta by way of LAX, only when we got to LA, we were informed that our plane to Austin was not up to the trip, and they would have new equipment in about 3 hours, which put us at home at 2am - just in time to get ready for the first service at church. So between Alaska Air, American and Delta, the only conveyance to leave on time was the ship!

Oh, the Secrets to Stress Free Flying? "Score the best seats." Sorry, when you get re-booked, you get the middle seat. Period. "Board Early." Why? The plane is not going anywhere. "Avoid the crowds." Excuse me? You should see the lines that form when your flight is delayed 7 hours. "Maximize Comfort." In those super-comfortable airport lounge chairs. Check. "Make sure you're insured." The best advice of the lot. We were, and the cruise line and trip-interruption policy covered the cost. Assuming I can finally get Alaska Air to refund my bag fees.

Speaking of travel, I saw an item this week that the nation-wide chain of Howard Johnson Restaurants has dwindled down to... one. Years ago, I joined two other intrepid travelers and drove straight through from Texas to New York. There were HoJos about every 2 hours on our route and I think we stopped at every one of them. Fried clams and a lot of coffee.

Granddaddy Brown's secret - Stories from the Tree

Last week we read between the lines for a glimpse of Grandma Barbara's early life. Now it's Granddaddy Brown's turn.

 Barb's paternal grandfather, Ray Mordella Brown, or perhaps Mordella Ray Brown (there is official documentation for either sequence. For that matter, his name sometimes appears spelled Mordello and sometimes  Mordella), had a secret.

Well, I'm sure some in the immediate family knew, but of all the stories told by and about granddaddy Brown - and there were a lot of stories - neither Barb nor her brother nor her sister ever heard that as a young man Ray left his family behind in Texas and hopped a ship to live in Guatemala for a year.

Or did he?

I came upon this mystery when I found a passport application that Ray Brown filed in late August, 1920 at the New Orleans Passport Office. The stated purpose of the document was to allow Ray passage to Guatemala for a period of a year, where he was to be employed by the Standard Fruit Company as a railroad engineer.

In August, 1920, Ray is three months short of his 29th birthday. He has a wife and two boys, ages 8 and 3 1/2 back in Pleasanton, Texas and in less than 6 months his wife will give birth to Walter Allen, my wife's father. So the first question is, why on earth is Ray headed to Central America?

WWI had ended just a few years earlier, and by 1920 and 1921 the country was in what most termed a depression. Ray had been driving trains for the San Antonio, Uvalde and Gulf Railroad, based out of Pleasanton, The S.A.U. & G. had fallen on hard times and in 1917 had filed for bankruptcy. Like every other US railroad, the S.A.U. & G. was taken over by the federal government on January 1, 1918. It was returned to the bankruptcy receiver in February of 1920, still broke and now without government subsidy. Ray was, in all probability, out of a job, and looking for work wherever he could find it.

Since Ray couldn't come up with a birth certificate, it was necessary for him to go up to San Antonio early in August and get his father, George T. Brown, also a railroad engineer, to prepare a sworn statement that Ray was born in the US of A, in 1891. He also got two other individuals, John Starr and  J. L. Ginn to vouch for him, swearing that Ray was  "...a loyal American citizen and worthy of consideration." Affidavits in hand, he set out for New Orleans.

In addition to the statements vetting Ray, there is a letter in the file from the Assistant to the Vice President of the Standard Fruit Company addressed to the Secretary of State of the United States, the Hon. Bainbridge Colby, urging quick action, as a Mr. M. R. Keller, General Superintendent of Railway Lines in Guatemala,  had already hired Ray to drive locomotives for their company, and they needed him to set sail to Puerto Barrios, Guatemala as soon as he could! The passport was to be hand delivered to the New Orleans offices of Standard Fruit, in order to expedite things.

Standard Fruit (which became Standard Fruit and Steamship Company, which became Dole Food Company) apparently had some clout; Ray made application August 21 and the passport was issued August 25th. Try that today.

But did Ray actually set sail to Puerto Barrios? That's the big question. No one in this branch of the family has ever heard a whisper that he spent a year in Guatemala. We know he lived in Mexico as a boy. We know he began a 50-year career in railroading as a fireman for the National Lines of Mexico at age 15. We know he spoke fluent Spanish. We heard the stories about having to carry a rifle in the cab during those days to prevent the likes of Pancho Villa and his banditos from stopping and boarding the train. We know he famously rejected all things General Motors when diesel locomotives made by that company replaced his beloved steam engines and displaced his firemen co-workers (no one ever told him that his new Frigidaire was made by a GM subsidiary).

But there are no stories from a year spent in Guatemala. There is a lengthy article from the Zavala County newspaper, published upon his retirement in 1957, describing his long and varied career, mentioning many of the lines he worked for and places he lived. Guatemala is not mentioned,

Did he go and find the situation so intolerable that, like some war veterans, he never spoke again of the experience? Standard Fruit and its larger competitor, United Fruit, were notorious at the time for mistreating and endangering native workers, often aided and abetted by the greedy dictators of the various countries they did business in.

 Did he not go? Maybe he got cold feet after hearing that US troops had just been sent to Guatemala to protect American interests while various local factions were engaged in the National Sport of all Banana Republics - guerrilla warfare? Or maybe he decided that he couldn't take a week of sea-sickness?

Or perhaps on August 22, he got a telegram from his wife back in Pleasanton that said:

COME HOME AT ONCE -STOP- 

MISSOURI PACIFIC HIRING -STOP-

You pick the ending you like. Chances are, we'll never know for sure.

Monday Meanderings - 8.22.2016

Planes, trains, ships and automobiles. Gathered the entire family on a cruise to Alaska! Didn't start out as planned - Barb and I missed the boat, thanks to Alaska Airlines, and the kids and grand-kids sailed without us! We did manage to catch up with the boat in Juneau, and as Will said, "All's well that ends well."

By the way, cruise ships don't limit the amount of food they serve, and it was interesting to see how much teen-age boys can put away. Want another/different entree? No problem. Multiple desserts? You got it!

Alaska was wet and cool, and we brought that weather back to Texas with us. You're welcome. We've had about 7 inches of rain this past week and a few more expected, they say. Pretty nice, as long as we don't end up like Louisiana.

The Rio Olympics have concluded. Since we were cruising part of that time, we missed a lot of it, but we did see the opening and closing ceremonies (and lots of highlights). Didn't get into the Olympic junkie mode like I often do, but it's only 534 days until the Winter Olympics.

And now, in accordance with tradition, I declare the Games of the 31st  Olympiad closed, and I call upon the youth of the world to assemble four years from now in Tokyo, Japan to celebrate the Games of the 32nd Summer Olympics.

Reading between the lines - Grandma Barbara - Stories from the Tree

The genealogical record is an accumulation of facts - who, what, when and where. This person was born on this date, married some other person on this date and died on this date. Record the essentials, the dry facts and move on to the next person in the line.

But if you read between the lines, those dry facts often tell interesting stories. That's true for Grandma Brown - my wife's paternal grandmother, for whom she was named.

Barbara Augusta Meyer was the first of 8 children born to German immigrants Frederick and Annie Schiebler Meyer. True, Frederick was born in New Orleans, but his parents were fresh off the boat, the "Admiral," and his wife Annie was born in Berlin. They met and married in New Orleans, but by the turn of the century, Charles had a carpentry and contracting business in Houston, where Barbara Augusta and her siblings were born.

In 1910, the Meyer family was living at 3418 Texas Street in Houston's 3rd Ward; Frederick's parents were just around the corner on the same block at 608 York Street. And right next door, at 610 York, were brand-new neighbors George T. and Molly Brown and their children, Ray and Pearl.

George was a railroad engineer and Ray, at age 18, was a railroad fireman. The Brown family previously lived in Mexico, where George and Ray drove trains in San Luis Potosi, Chihuahua, Cardenas and Guadalajara, Mexico. And did I mention that Ray was good looking?

Here's a picture of Barbara, Ray and Barbara's sister Lizzie, taken in 1910.

In 1911, the record shows that Barbara went to work for the National Biscuit Company at their brand-new bakery on North Chenevert, about a mile and a half from home. And she married Ray in August of that same year.

And there is one other item in the facts of Barbara's early life. She is listed in the 1912 Houston City Directory as working at the Magnolia Coffee Company in Houston, putting labels on cans of WABA brand coffee, alongside her sister Lizzie, who had been working there for at least a year. Interestingly, she is still listed as Barbara Meyer, and her address is still 3418 Texas Street.

That's probably just the slow-moving nature of the city directory business. But she did marry a railroad man, and it is possible that she (and Ray - when he was in town) continued to live with her parents for a while.

But less than 5 years later, Ray and Barbara were living in Kleburg, Texas, where Ray is working for the St Louis Brownsville & Mexico Railroad in Kingsville. And 5 years after that, there is another fascinating read-between-the-lines story about this family. I'll tell that story next week.