Will Our Hacketts Please Stand Up

During the last half of the 1800s there came and went through Taunton, MA, a whole slew (technical term) of Hacketts.  The trick was not to find them - the abundance of city directories listed them from year to year.

Who, however, were those most directly related to TRAEA's Grandma?  The choices were:

• Benjamin the painter
• Edward the upholsterer
• Francis F. the junkman turned harnessman
• George E. the laborer
• Henry F. the moulder
• Myron H. the carpenter
• Nancy the widow 
• (No first name) the laborer
• Philander the laborer
• William the furnaceman turned moulder
• William the upholsterer
• William the hairdresser
• William the moulder (another one)
• William H. the farmer
• William H. the stone mason and
• William M. the laborer

Whew!  I really wanted to see everyone pretty much at the same time.  Sure.  Being a pencil-and-paper sort of researcher, I folded a blank standard sheet of along the longer side to create "strips."  I ended up needing multiple sheets, so an 11"x17" sheet of paper would have been better.  But that's hindsight.  A spreadsheet might also work for those who prefer computer analysis.

I wrote the name of one Hackett at the top of each strip, followed by the first year I found that person in a directory, their profession that year and their address.  Through the decades, those addresses and occupations changed - or people appeared and "removed" from the scene.  If information remained the same, I wrote just the directory year.  As information changed it was added to the growing information base.

Truth be told, I had pretty much known at the start that the most direct ancestors were William the furnaceman turned moulder and Francis F. the harness maker turned junkman.  And, since the number of Hacketts was mushrooming by the end of the century, this search spanned only about 50 years.

But the exercise served several purposes.  First by combining this with census data I felt more certain that a great uncle hadn't become lost somewhere.  Then it opened my eyes to a whole crop of possible relations (what's with all the Williams???).  And finally it provided some guidance when TRAEA's Grandpa and I visited Taunton.  It's unlikely that we saw all the same houses where these Hackett ancestors lived. But there was a sense of place - literally standing in the middle of the street and knowing it was the same neighborhood where some of my Hackett ancestors lived.  Way cool!

Cookie Tree 2011

Wendy suggested that I include a picture of the actual cookie tree - great idea!  When that posting appeared, however, TRAEA's Grandma was nowhere near ready to display cookies.  They weren't baked, and the tree wasn't up.  But everything was ready by the time everyone arrived.

The non-edible decorations are purposely unbreakable, just in case there is a too-close encounter.  Not to worry, at least this year.  Kids and adults alike cruised the branches picking out a treat - and laying claim to a specific cookie for the future.  Although they're wrapped, the boxes around the tree have no presents except spare cookies wrapped for future display.

Advent Calendar - Christmas Cookies

It's hard to describe how big a deal Christmas cookies were in our house.  Beyond a REALLY BIG DEAL, they were a production.

First:  They were always homemade from scratch in multiple batches.

Second:  They were always made, at least in part, with our neighbor, Joan.

Third:  They were always decorated not just by quickly swooshing some homemade icing over the top, but meticulously.  Make that m-e-t-i-c-u-l-o-u-s-l-y.  Decorating required frosting in glorious colors.  It required icing details applied by toothpicks.  It required the equally careful application of dragees or raisins or cinnamon candies or sprinkles.  It required patience that would have taught Job something new.

Fourth:  Once the decorations were sufficiently set, every cookie was cradled individually in its own plastic-wrap envelope and received a hanger made of ribbon.

Only then were they ready to display, oh so carefully, on the little cookie tree.  Kids from the preschool that Mom taught, neighbor kids, friends' kids, and parents - everyone took their time selecting just the right cookie every time they visited.

TRAEA's Grandma remembers growing up with sugar cookies, gingerbread families and pecan sandies on our cookie trees.  When our children were young their little cookie trees also featured a few additional recipes.  The 21st century version of the cookie tree was an equally huge hit with grandkids and their parents when Christmas was last at our house two years ago.

The grandkids may not remember that visit, but what do you want to make a bet that they, and their parents, will have as much fun choosing cookies from the tree this year as TRAEA's Grandma had those many years ago.

Advent Calendar - Christmas Cards Aren't What They Used to Be

It used to be the best spot to display Christmas cards.

Remember when the snows were deeper, the winters colder and Christmas cards flooded your home every year?  (Those were the same years we walked five miles to school every day, uphill both ways.)

No, really, there more Christmas cards back then.  In fact the mail carrier, he really was a mailman, trudged through the snow twice a day during the weeks before Christmas.  And it was so much fun to see what every delivery brought.  Not that many of those cards were addressed to us kids.  But there was always such a variety to look through.

In our house these cards were displayed variously.  At least one year they were on the fireplace - which was brick all the way to the ceiling.  Hint - taping to unpainted brick doesn't work, regardless of your tape choice.  For several years they were displayed on the opaque fiberglass divider between our dining room and front hall.  But then all we could do was admire them from a distance, or climb around the potted plants to read them again.

The best spot for card display was around the built-in dining room shelving.  Everyone passed them going to and from the kitchen.  And we could read at least some of them repeatedly, except maybe those that were way up near the ceiling.

TRAEA's Grandma and Grandpa later tried to replicate some of that same festive look in our home.  For years we faithfully taped cards around the archway between our living and dining rooms.  Then we repainted over the tape residue, this grandma became lazy, the price of postage convinced more people that Christmas cards weren't worth the effort and the annual Christmas letter became as much a point of humor as the fruitcake.

We still send a few cards - including a genealogy-based update to family, some of whom actually care.  And our the mail carrier, a lady, still delivers a smattering of cards, usually also from family.  But we don't tape cards up for display, instead collecting them in a decorative basket, where anyone who wants can read through them - although most people don't.

Christmas cards may just be going the way of that walk to school that was uphill in both directions.  Sigh.

Advent Calendar - Of Course it was Magic

TRAEA's Grandma sits in awe of the magic.

Our Christmas tree was nothing less than magic - every year.  Oddly, TRAEA's Grandma doesn't remember any of the always-live trees being brought into the house, or the decorating process - except for tying them to a nail on the window frame just in case someone carelessly bumped this temporary guest.

The tree just happened every year.  And it was gorgeous!

Although memories see tall pines, pictures of Christmases past don't quite match those recollected towering heights.

But one magical memory remains secure.  The tree had been decorated, providing the only light in the room, and TRAEA's Grandma was ready for bed.  I lay under the tree - waaay underneath, not around the fringes - and looked up through the branches.

Multi-colored lights, bubble lights, a yellow light behind the plastic star way on the top, a red bird ornament with its soft-bristle tail, an ornate glass tea pot, a miniature water mill dusted with artificial snow, large and small round glass balls, silver and red blown-glass pine cones, metal bells that really rang, colored tinsel roping, tinsel strands dutifully placed one at a time.

The moment was completely captivating.  And today that memory roars back in full Technicolor every time TRAEA's Grandma unwraps many of those same ornaments to hang on the family tree.  I can hardly wait to point them out to our grandchildren this Christmas.  Maybe one of them will lay under the tree and look up . . . . .

TRAEA's Great Uncle sits with his sister after the presents were opened.