Charlesina Smith Love Findlay, Ella’s grandmother, was born at 57 Jute Street in Aberdeen on the 14th of August 1883, as the 3rd of 7 children to Alexander and Caroline Smith Love. She was actually a twin!(1)(2) And all 7 of the Love children were daughters. Her father, Alexander, was a fancy box maker (which Ella was told meant chocolate boxes); her mother, Caroline, worked in the same industry for some time as well.(3) When she was 19, she married George Findlay on 31 December 1902 in Aberdeen - at 40 Blackfriars Street, which was her home. He was 23. Elizabeth Love, her older sister, and John Findlay, his older brother, were the witnesses. Charlesina and George had 11 children together (5 boys, 6 girls). Ella’s father, George was the oldest - Charlesina had him when she was 19 - and their youngest child was born when she was 41.(4) However, 4 of their children (2 boys, 2 girls) died at ages 2 years or younger, with 7 of the children growing to adulthood (3 boys, 4 girls). Four of their adult children served in WWII(5); and 3 of their children emigrated from Scotland (2 to the United States and 1 to New Zealand).
Five days after their marriage, their first child, George, was born, on 4 January 1903 at 41 Blackfriars Street, Aberdeen. At some point they moved to another home, living there until 1911, and later they moved to 40 Merkland Road East in Aberdeen.(6)
The home that Ella remembers visiting her grandparents at is located at 4 Ferrier Crescent, in the Woodside area of Aberdeen. Ella speaks fondly of frequent Saturdays spent at the home of her “dear sweet grandmother,” where they would enjoy eating and visiting together while her father, grandfather, and uncles would attend the local football games. After the games, the men would head to a pub, but Ella’s father would hang back with the women - he didn’t drink alcohol. Those Saturdays were so special: “We had Grandma to ourselves!” Ella likes to tell. On Sundays, the rest of the family - aunts, uncles, and cousins - would usually congregate at their home, but because of church commitments on Sundays, Ella’s family would go the day before. I imagine that Charlesina’s days were busy, filled with taking care of house and home and looking after the needs of her husband and children. And it seems like Charlesina would have been well acquainted with hard work and with grief, but Ella remembers her as being steady, loving, and “couthie” (agreeable, lovable).
Charlesina is Ella's paternal grandmother
When Ella’s father, George, left in December 1948 en route to America, Ella, her sister Ina (7), and their mother Kate moved in with their grandparents Charlesina and George at their home at 4 Ferrier Crescent. They lived there until May 1949 when Ella and Kate emigrated themselves; Ina stayed until the following October when she joined her parents and sister in Arizona.(8) Charlesina came to the train station to say goodbye to her dear granddaughter Ella and daughter-in-law Kate in May 1949. Ella recalls that she was keeping her emotions composed as she was saying goodbye to friends and family that day on the train platform, until...her grandmother Charlesina was the last person that Ella hugged before boarding the train - at that point the tears really started to flow! That was the last time they would ever see each other.(9) Charlesina passed away on 5 Jan 1960 at 76 years old. According to the death register, she died at Woodend Hospital in Aberdeen from thrombosis, general [illegible], and broncheopneumonia. She was survived by her husband George (he died about 5 years later) and all 7 children who had grown to adulthood. After her cremation, her ashes were scattered at the Garden of Remembrance surrounding the Hall of Remembrance at Kaimhill Road in Aberdeen.(10)
George and Charlesina - 1927
George and Charlesina - 1956
57 Jute Street, Aberdeen - Where Charlesina was Born
Ralph and Ella at the Garden of Rest at the Kaimhill Funeral
Home, Aberdeen. This is where the ashes of both Charlesina
and husband George Findlay were scattered - May 2017
Charlesina's Parents: Alexander Love and Caroline Smith Love
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Dear family: Have any additional memories or details I can add here? Email me directly or submit through the Contact Form at the bottom of this page. Also, see the section of Questions, below, to see if you might have more pieces to our puzzle.
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Notes:
Ella remembers visiting with Grandmother Charlesina’s twin, “Auntie Annie” (Annie White Love Sharp, 1883-1950), who lived just up the street from Ella’s family when they lived on Holburn Street in Aberdeen.
Twins run in our family! Ella’s grandmother Charlesina Smith Love Findlay had a twin (sister Annie White Love Sharp, 1883-1950)); Ella gave birth to twins herself (son BM and daughter BR); and Ella’s granddaughter AG gave birth to twin girls HG and GG. Are there twins further back on Charlesina’s line as well?
The occupations of Charlesina's parents, Alexander and Caroline, are listed on the parish marriage entry for their wedding. Both were fancy box makers.
Their children, in order: 1 - George Findlay; 2 - Jane Love Findlay (passed away at 6 weeks old); 3 - Dorothy Findlay (died at almost 14 mos old); 4 - Alexander Love Findlay; 5 - Caroline Smith Findlay; 6 - Ethel Findlay; 7 - Walter Findlay (passed away at just over 25 mos old); 8 - Elizabeth Love Findlay; 9 - James Webster Findlay (died at almost 6 weeks old); 10 - John Heatherwick Findlay; 11 - Marjorie Love Findlay
The 1911 census lists their residence as ... is it 37 South Constitution Street in Aberdeen? See below as it's hard to make out. Looks like it was a 2-room flat. The marriage record for their son George Findlay to Ursula Katherine Bruce (Ella’s parents) in 1927 lists their address as 40 Merkland Rd. Also see this blog post for photos and videos of that location:http://greatflyingscots.blogspot.com/search?q=merkland+road
Ella’s sister’s full maiden name was Charlesina Findlay, named after her grandmother, but she always went by “Ina.”
Do we know what part of Aberdeen Charlesina's family lived in when she was growing up?
How would her family describe her appearance? Stature? Personality? Any additional stories to share?
Was their first son, George, born just 5 days after they were married? Marriage date: 31 Dec 1902. George Findlay junior’s birth date: 4 Jan 1903. No judgement, just checking my facts and confirming dates. :D
How long did they live at each of their residences?
Confirm her death date - some websites list it at 7 Dec 1959, but the death register says 5 January 1960?
Can anyone make out the 3 causes listed for her death, on the death register? Thrombosis, general [illegible], and broncheopneumonia.
Birth entry for Charlesina Smith Love.
Click to enlarge- see line 1294 (her twin sister is on line 1295)
Marriage entry for George Findlay and Charlesina Smith Love.
Click to enlarge - see line 25.
1911 Census
Click to enlarge - see line 141
Death entry for Charlesina Smith Love Findlay.
Click to enlarge - see line 30
Bertha Clarice Copeland Inglish, Ralph’s maternal grandmother, would often get a dreamy look in her eye as she’d say, “You know, we have a castle in Scotland? The MacRae Castle!”
I imagine that Bertha had grown up being told stories of her Scottish ancestors. Her mother was a McRae(1)—Mary Ann McRae (1853-1899)—and it was Bertha’s great grandfather (Ralph’s 3rd great grandfather)—Hugh Bain McRae (1761-1853)—who had immigrated from Scotland to America.(2)
Bertha Clarice Copeland Inglish and her mother Mary Ann McRae Copeland
(Ralph's grandmother and great grandmother)
Grandmother Bertha couldn’t say where “their” castle was located, so Ralph and Ella started doing a little more research. They initially came up empty handed: there are no castles in Scotland named “The MacRae Castle.”
However, when Ralph and Ella were on their first trip back to Scotland (in the late 1990’s), they asked around and finally found someone who had more information: It’s the Eilean Donan Castle (pronounced “EEE-lan DAWN-an”), perched on an island where three lochs meet in the western Highlands. With its prominent location and stunning backdrop, it has become one of the most widely recognized castles in all of Scotland.
Eilean Donan, located in the western Highlands
Eilean Donan means "island of Donnán” (Donnán was a Celtic saint), and the first fortified castle was erected here about the mid-13th century. The castle later got the nickname of the “MacRae Castle” because the MacRae clan became constables to it in 1509, ensuring the safety of the MacKenzie clan, who were the lairds, and protecting and maintaining the surrounding areas.(3)
In 1719 much of the castle was destroyed in a Jacobite uprising, and it was in this state for 200 years until purchased by Lieutenant Colonel John MacRae-Gilstrap, a descendant of the last MacRae constables. He spent 20 years (from 1911 to 1932) painstakingly restoring it to its former glory.
Eilean Donan in ruins, before fully restored in 1932. Image Source.
What’s interesting to note is that the castle as we see it now was not in this state until 1932. The castle that Grandmother Bertha was told about what likely the version of it in ruins, as her ancestors had immigrated in the 1800s. Wouldn’t she really think it was dreamy if she saw it now!
Also interesting: Robert the Bruce is believed to have sheltered at Eilean Donan during the winter of 1306 to 1307— our family lines cross (he is Ella’s 20th great grandfather)!(4)
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Ralph shares the story of his grandmother, Bertha Clarice Copeland Inglish, and the Eilean Donan Castle.
Filmed 24 November 2020 (Min 3:34)
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I know that many of our family have made a pilgrimage to this site. Have a photo you'd like share? Let me know! I'd love to add it.
McRae descendants return - 2008
KF and sister AG - 2008
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Sources:
Conversation recorded with Ralph on 9 July 2016.
Video recorded of Ralph on 24 November 2020.
Additional information referenced from these sites:
Note that our family line spells their surname as “McRae” while the clan is “MacRae.” Did our ancestors ever spell it as the latter variation?
We’re still trying to determine when Hugh Bain McRae (1761-1853) immigrated to the United States. I’d love to know why and how too! A journey of that distance at that time in history doesn’t sound like a comfortable one. Did he come when he was 8 years old, with his parents, Malcolm M. McRae (1743-1834) and Isabel Bain (1745-1817)? Some info seems to suggest that.
Despite the origins of Scotch Eggs being traced back to the 1700s, Ella doesn't remember eating the hard boiled eggs wrapped in ground sausage while growing up - likely due to the strict food rationing during WWII and the years afterward when the economy and food supplies were still recovering.
But since being introduced to them [when? 20 years ago?], Ralph and Ella usually have some on hand, often making them in batches and keeping them in the refrigerator to enjoy when the craving hits. Quite delicious when eaten with Ralph's homemade salsa too. Yum!
They are tasty any time of year - so portable for summer picnics but also reminiscent of winter holidays as they are such a comfort food. Whether eaten al fresco or in casa, during the summer or winter, we hope you enjoy! (Thanks to Ralph's son, BM, for sharing his favorite recipe for them!)
Scotch Eggs (Oven Baked) Ingredients
2 eggs (uncooked)
1 Tbs water
1 Tbs mustard (regular or spicy)
1 cup bread crumbs (Panko, Stove Top Stuffing, or make your own)
Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees. Beat eggs, water, and mustard in a small mixing bowl.
Place bread crumb mixture in a second mixing bowl.
Divide sausage into 6 equal portions. Wrap one portion around each shelled hard boiled egg.
Roll each sausage- wrapped egg in bread crumbs, then the egg mixture, then breadcrumbs again.
Bake for 30-35 minutes, rotating once halfway through. Serve with salsa (Grandpa Ralph's homemade version, if you have some on hand), mustard, ketchup, etc.
Photocopies of a Bruce Family Register. Where is the original?
Maybe the mystery has been solved, and the answer had been right under my
nose? (Or maybe this was a mystery to no one other than myself?) When we visited Shetland in September 2014, I was hoping to visit the graves of Robert Bruce (1827-1865) and his wife Wilhilmina Inkster (1835-1896) - Grandma Ella’s great grandparents - but we weren't sure where they might be.
Robert passed away in Symbister, on Whalsay (a different island than the one his manor house was on)...we thought he might be buried in a Bruce crypt there? Or perhaps in the little kirkyard in Hamnavoe, not far from his manor house in Burravoe, on the island of Yell.
Ella's Great Grandparents, Robert Bruce and Wilhilmina Inkster
Wilhilmina remarried after Robert's death, and she passed away in Lerwick, on the mainland of Shetland. There are two cemeteries there, the "old" one and the "new" one. Based on the year of her death, we thought she might have been buried in the old cemetery, and we spent time walking each row, and reading each headstone, but we didn't find her there.
But just recently as I was looking through files at home, I came across this photocopy that Grandma Ella sent me in March 2014, a few months prior to our trip.
I'm not sure what type of document this is (a family register?) or where Grandma got the copy, but in any case, it's a goldmine! It states:
Robert Bruce of Burravoe died at Symbister the 16th of August 1865, and was buried at the Kirk of Hamnavoe.
and
Mrs. Bruce or Campbell died at Lerwick on the 28th of December 1896 and was buried at the new cemetery in Lerwick.(1)
Also listed on that photo copy is information about the other children of Robert and Wilhilmina, two of whom are also buried at the Kirk in Hamnavoe: Baby Mary Margaret Robina Bruce, who died at just 11 months old, and Baby William Bruce, who died at 18 months old.
Mary Margaret Robina Bruce ... Kirk of Hamnavoe in Burravoe, Yell.
William Bruce ... buried at the Kirk of Hamnavoe.
While visiting the St. Magnus' Kirk of Hamnavoe in 2014, we saw the unmarked graves that are partitioned off, directly behind the kirk, that local folklore supposes belong to Bruces, but which were left unmarked (or tombstones removed?) as they weren't well liked in the community. (See the video below.) Perhaps this location is in fact where our Robert is buried, as well as babies Mary Margaret Robina and William. (Perhaps there are other records somewhere that could confirm? From the kirk?)
The Kirk at Hamnavoe. View from the back. Image Source.
The Kirk at Hamnavoe. View from the front.
Behind the Kirk at Hamnavoe. This partitioned area is where
Bruce family members are believed to be buried.
During that same trip, we also briefly visited the New Cemetery in Lerwick, not realizing that Wilhilmina was buried there, spending more time searching through the Old Cemetery.
The New Cemetery in Lerwick, where Wilhilmina Inkster
Bruce/Campbell(1) is buried.
On our next trip, we'll visit these locations again, with a greater surety that we're in the right spot.
Grandpa Ralph at the Kirk of Hamnavoe. Super windy! 27 Sept 2014 ………
Sources:
Photocopies of a family register, shared by Grandma Ella. Not sure who has the original.
Photos and video taken by KF, September 2014, unless otherwise noted.
Notes:
After Robert’s death in 1865, Wilhilmina remarried, to Duncan Campbell in 1870.
There was lots of laughter when I asked Ralph and cousin AP to tell me more about their grandmother, Bertha Clarice Copeland Inglish (1882-1977), whom they were very close to growing up. She was a hard worker, a natural at raising children, had a prolific garden, loved ice cream from Dairy Queen, and was an excellent cook (including at making a crowd-pleasing cornbread stuffing). Her hair was often worn back in a tight bun, and her eyes sparkled.
Here are some stories shared about her by Ralph and cousin AP (grandchildren of Bertha), as well as BR (great granddaughter). What more can we add here? Please leave a comment (short or long) in the contact form at the bottom of this page - we’d love to fill in the details of her life to get to know her better.
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Overview
Born in Telephone, Texas, on 25 August 1882, she was the sixth of nine children of Samuel W. Copeland (1835-1902) andMary Ann McRae (1853-1899). At age 19 she married Earl Inglish(1873-1958) in Ivanhoe, Texas - he was 28.
Earl and Bertha had 6 children together, and by the time she passed away at age 94, she was survived by great, great grandchildren (would be interesting to know how many!) - 5 generations alive at the same time.
Born in Telephone, Fannin County, Texas, Bertha loved to say that there wasn’t a telephone in the town at the time. Her father, Samuel Copeland, was a schoolteacher (1), and her mother, Mary Ann McRae, was busy caring for their 9 children and their home. (2)
When Bertha was 16, her mother passed away. With her father needing to support the family, he needed someone to help take care of his children, so they went to live with his sister. (3)
AP: Her mother died, I think in childbirth, with one of the younger children. And her father went to live with his sister. Her father was a school teacher, and he took his children and went to live with his sister. They owned a big plantation or something where there were a lot of workers, and they would cook the meals for the workers. She said that her cousins, the children of the aunt she was living with, they were kind of lazy and didn’t do much, but she stayed in the kitchen and helped her aunt all the time and helped her fix the meals for all the people that worked at this place.
She would tell us how they would go out way early in the morning to start working and then they would come in for breakfast, about breakfast time, they would get up about day break and do what they could before, then they’d come in to eat and always have a big breakfast of fried potatoes, eggs, and pancakes, and biscuits, the whole works. And then, they would just barely get the kitchen cleaned up in time to start the dinner. The next meal was dinner, and all the workers would come in hungry from the field and they would feed them. And in the evening, they would just snack on bread and milk and onions, something like that. … She mostly stayed in the kitchen and helped her aunt with all those meals. (4)
Courtship and Marriage
AP: [They met] at some dance, and somebody wanted her to come over and meet this fellow. I think he introduced himself as Earl Inglish. I can’t remember what it was he he said about why he was there, and she made some remark about he looked like one that the cat brought in or the dog brought in, something to the that effect....but it didn’t seem to deter his longing to date her. [Chuckles] She talked like she was a little bit smart aleck about it.
When it was time to get married - she was 19, he was 28 - it was a very common practice in that era that “they got in the buggy and rode to the justice of the peace’s home, and just sat in the buggy, he came outside, and married them, and signed all the documents and so forth and gave them, and they went on their way.” As far as AP knows, their parents were not in attendance and there were no witnesses, but we don’t know for sure.
Personality
AP: She really was kind of quiet. She wasn’t real outspoken.
RM: I would say she was opinionated but not overbearing or outspoken.
AP: Right! That’s it! Opinionated but not overbearing or outspoken, really.
RM: But she did get her point across!
AP: I never heard her raise her voice or get upset or mad at anybody or anything. She did get a little out of sorts with Granddaddy every once in awhile. [Chuckles]
RM: Earl! [Chuckles]
AP: He was quite overweight and he loved to eat candy bars. And sometimes I think he did it just to get at her. So he would sit and eat candy bars and he was real quite overweight, and she’d ask him how it felt to pregnant all of the time. [Chuckles] The more she fussed at him about those kinds of things, the more he did it. [Chuckles]
Daily Life
AP: She was a very good cook. You never wasted a thing. When you set a dish on the table to be served, if there was anything left in the bowl, even just a little bit, it got put away in the refrigerator and it came out at that next meal. And so besides whatever she fixed for that meal, we would have all these little dishes of leftovers.
She was always big on having a big breakfast. She would do biscuits and pancakes and toast...we always had something of that sort, along with eggs and bacon and sometimes potatoes or cooked cereal, cream of wheat or oatmeal or cracked wheat, something like that.
A Hard Worker and Always Active
AP: She was [a very hard worker]. All of her life she gardened and was very active. When Uncle Ray finally built a new home for them, kind of up the street from the ward building, and there was a little park right there next to the ward building, she would go out and take her walk around that park every morning.
Her Grandchildren Growing Up Near Her
AP: I did live with her in high school. My family was living in Phoenix, and I went back to live with Grandmother in Mesa so I could attend Mesa High School…. But as a child growing up, we didn’t necessarily live with them, but we spent a lot of time at their place.
They lived in a little section of Mesa that we used to call “Little Jerusalem” [which has since been torn down and built as condos for temple workers] because it it was just a bunch of little houses built by the LDS people, and the house that Grandmother and Granddaddy lived in looked just like the houses in Jerusalem. It was sparse, two-story, had two rooms on the bottom - kind of a living room/bedroom combination and then a kitchen - and then there was one full room up above. And the stairs went up on the outside of the house, to the room that was up above. And at first there was no bathroom or anything; they did put a toilet underneath the staircase finally, and you bathed in the wash tub.
We spent lots of evenings there, Thanksgivings and just every little bit we were at Grandma’s house for dinner and playing around the yard there.
When they lived in this Little Jerusalem area, it was south of the temple, and we lived about a block north of the temple, on the other side of Main St. in Mesa, and if Mother was not at home, we were to go to Grandmother’s. And so, lots of time after heading home from school, I would walk across and I remember running my hands along the bars of the temple fence there. I was talking to M [her sister] last week and she was talking about how she would run her hands along the bars of the temple fence too! There were just little bars that go up and down. We would get a stick or use our fingers and run them along those bars as we walked by the temple on our way to Grandma’s.
A Natural at Raising Children
AP: She was quite the lady! When I went to high school and lived with her, I got a real education on how to raise children. She was always telling me how I should do it. Take your children to church and don’t let their feet touch the floor. Teach them how to sit on the bench and behave. She said if you raise your first children right then the others you don’t need to worry about. I learned a lot! I give Grandma credit for a lot of my skills and knowledge that I gained to raise my family.
She babysat children until she was I think 92...I remember our chorus teacher when I was in high school, she took care of his children and she took care of their doctor’s children. And she was up in her early 90s babysitting! The people that she babysat for loved her. They thought that she was the best, and so when she did have this stroke, the first thing they did was call the doctor she had been babysitting for.
She was just very strict about teaching children integrity, honesty, all those kinds of things to really focus on teaching children properly to grow up to be good parents. And she would say, when you spank your children, you should tell them, “I’m spanking you because I love you and I want other people to love you too. I love you no matter what but I want other people to love you too, so I spank you to know how to behave so other people will like you.”
KF: I wish I could call her up when I have parenting questions! AP: Yes, I’ve thought about that a few times too! RM: How would Grandma handle this? [All chuckle]
Teaching Life Skills and Life Lessons
RM: I think we were all aware of how fair she was, and how firm, how strict and firm, but fair. There was no monkey business.
AP: Right! You did not put your feet on the couch! You did not jump on the bed! I never allowed my kids to do that either! And now the kids just tear the place up! [Chuckles]
RM: She taught us to take care of the things we got.
AP: We grew up during the depression. When something got broken, you could not replace it! So we took care of what we had and used it for many many years.
AP: She taught us to be polite. She was extremely strict in some of these things but always taught us to have good manners. To say please and thank you, and respect your elders and all this kind of stuff. She was very quiet about it. She didn’t raise her voice. She was very staunch for things that were not proper.
As an example, there was an argument that Larry and I had when we were dating. My family was living in Phoenix and I wanted to go to Mesa High, so I had to live with Grandmother to be able to do that. So I would live with Grandmother during the week and then go home on weekends. I met Larry when I was a freshman in high school, and at about basketball season was our first date, and we dated all the rest of that year. Then I went back to Phoenix to be with my family, and he was living in Mesa, and so I told him, “I know that I’ll be coming back to Grandmother’s this summer because she had some painting she wanted me to help her do.” He said, “When you come, call me and let me know that you’re here, and I’ll come get you and we’ll go do something.”
So when I got to Grandmother’s, Grandmother didn’t have a phone but the neighbors next door did, and I was real close friends with the girl there. And I wanted to go next door to use the telephone to call Larry to let him know that I was there. And Grandmother would not hear of it. Girls did not call boys! When I look back on it now, I think most girls nowadays would have just gone over to their friend's house and used the phone and called. But I didn’t! I was told not to do it, and I did not do it. Even though I was over there visiting with my girlfriend, I did not dare call Larry and let him know!
The whole week went by and it was time for me to go home, and I was feeling sad because I hadn’t been able to make contact with him and let him know that I was there, and I was sitting out on the lawn in front of Grandmother’s house when Larry rode by on his bicycle. And he saw me! So he stopped. He was happy that I was there in Mesa. He said, “When do you you have to go home?” I said, “Tomorrow.” He said, “I thought you were going to be here for a week. I said, “Well, I have been, but Grandmother would not let me call you.” Well, Larry had kind of a quick temper. He just got on his bicycle and rode off. I was devastated! I cried and cried!
Before he had asked me this, he had mentioned his brother’s wedding reception that night and wanted to know if I would like to go with him to this wedding reception. And I said yes. But when he got mad and rode off I didn’t know whether he was going to come back or not! And I went in and cried to M. M was there and she was going to spend the night, and the both of us were going to go home the next morning. And I cried to M, “Grandma wouldn’t let me call him and now he’s mad at me!” Oh, I was so sad and cried and my eyes were all swollen red!
And there was a knock at the door and M sent me to answer it, and it was Larry. And he was standing there with his chin and his lip quivering, and he wanted an explanation. And when I explained to him that Grandmother would not let me go call him, then he realized it wasn’t my fault. We made up and we went to the reception that night. That was my first sad love argument, or however you want to call it! But Grandmother was very strict that way. You did not do those things that were improper! [Chuckles] And we did not cross her! When she said don’t do it, we did not do it!
Teaching Lessons through Singing Songs
AP: As they were raising their family, they spent a lot of time in the evening singing songs. They had a lot of cute songs! They would put famous poems to music, and then they would sings these songs. Mom used to sing them to us.
She had the song about the grasshopper, the grasshopper who once had a game of ball with a cricket who lived nearby.
“The grasshopper once had a game of ball with a cricket who lived nearby.
But he stubbed his toe and oh he [wept?] in the twinkling of an eye.
The cricket leaned up against the wall and laughed ‘til his sides were sore.
But the grasshopper said, you are laughing at me, and I won’t play anymore.
So off he went, though he wanted to stay, for he was not hurt by his [?].
But the great gay little crickets went on with their play, and never missed him at all.
A bright eyed [squirrel?] called out in defense, hanging from a tree by his toe,
[Not sure of the lyrics here] where that grasshopper was, but he [?] on his own little nose.
She would use that in teaching us - don’t get upset over things. Let it go, go play, or they’re just going to play without you. And we have sung that song to our kids, and my kids have sung it to their kids. In fact my daughter now says she’ll go play with the crickets and let the grasshopper do what it wants.
There was also the one about “The Nobody Man.” If we had done something and she couldn’t get to the bottom of what happened, then she’d start singing about the Nobody Man.
“I walked one day, a long long way, to a topsy turvy town,
But it rained all night and it [shined?] all day in the land of Upside Down ...
And it goes on to tell about why he is the Nobody Man and how he takes the blame for anything that nobody will own up to. When she had trouble getting to the bottom of the quarrel and whose fault it was, she would just kind of walk off singing “The Nobody Man”, and blame it all on “the Nobody Man.” She’d do that a lot! Sometimes she didn’t really say anything but would just sing the song and go on and leave us to ponder because we knew what she was talking about.
KF: Did either of your grandparents parents play a musical instrument? Were these songs accompanied by a harmonica or guitar or anything?
AP: No, I don’t think they played any instruments. They just sang the songs there. That was just what they did in the evening in those days, ya know, because they were living out in the middle of the prairie a lot of times. No TV, no radio, no nothing. And so they would just sit around in the evening and sing songs.
Happy Memories and Funny Stories
AP: She loved Dairy Queen. [RM: “I worked there so I would bring some home.”] And in between times she would go down and get some! When her and Mom and Aunt Wee [Juanita, Ralph’s mother] lived together, they always went nearly every evening to get ice cream at Dairy Queen. The neighbors all around there used to call them the Three Musketeers.
RM: I brought a quart of Dairy Queen home one time. We had some for supper, and put it back in the refrigerator. The next day, I asked her, “Can I have some Dairy Queen?” and she said, “We don’t have any. There wasn’t enough left in the quart to freeze it.” [She had finished it off all by herself!]
AP: I remember the day she got her hand in the wringer, in the old wringer washing machine. She was putting the clothes through the wringer to wring them dry to put into the next tub, and she got her fingers caught some way and it went almost all the way up to her elbow before we could figure out how to stop it. There was a safety handle there to release it. It was pretty red and bruised for a long time! I don’t remember whether she went to the doctor or anything. I don’t think she did.
Toward the End of Her Life
One morning she went out - we were talking about how her mind was really good. She was alert and didn’t seem to have any dementia, she participated in the Sunday School class that Sunday, and went out Monday morning and took her walk around the park and came in and was fixing her breakfast when she had a stroke. She lived for about a week after that but she was completely immobile and really didn’t know what was going on at all.... My daughters and I and others who were able there took turns staying the night and sometimes during the day to come and take care of her.
She babysat for a doctor there in Mesa who was very good - he was her regular doctor. And that doctor’s family loved her like their own. So he was the first person they called. And he told them, because of her age and the situation we weren’t to do anything, just keep her mouth moist, give her a little Jell-O if we could. Other than that, just let her relax and keep her taken care of. She lived about a week in that condition.
She passed away on 2 May 1977 and was buried in the Mesa Cemetery. She was 94 years old. (5)
Bertha's Gravestone in the Mesa Cemetery
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Memories shared from MJ, Granddaughter Here, Ralph's cousin MJ shares how Grandmother sharing wisdom and spiritual/scriptural messages; joining MJ for school programs; teaching her how to sew.
Recorded 26 October 2018
2:14 min
And here, Ralph and MJ share about Grandmother's pancakes and biscuits, Grandaddy with his hot drink, snuggling Grandaddy in his chair and his hearing aids.
Recorded 26 October 2018
3:20 min
Memories from BR, Great Granddaughter
One time when Grandma Inglish was visiting us, I was in high school, I asked how long her hair was because she always wore it in a bun at her neck. She disappeared then returned to the room and her hair was let down. It was all the way down her back. She was so cute.
She always traveled with a bottle of blackstrap molasses. She had some everyday. [Her build] was small and thin. I don’t know if she shrunk but I remember her being small. She had a mild [Texan] accent. Very mild. Her eyes sparkled.
She had the most amazing garden. Her sweet peas were huge and growing outside her kitchen window. Her vegetable garden was huge, out in back of the house.
Obituary for Bertha
Newspaper Article about Mesa's Gay Nineties Club
20 Sept 1972
Funeral Program
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Sources:
Phone call with AP and RM, grandchildren, on 11 October 2015
Text from BR, great granddaughter, November 2015
Videos of Ralph and MJ recorded 26 October 2018
Notes:
Did Samuel Copeland teach a particular grade or subject? Or did he teach at a one-room school house? In which city did he teach? AP has a copy of his teaching certificate. Note also: The 1880 United States Census lists his occupation as “laborer.” See "United States Census, 1880," database with images, FamilySearch(https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MFN4-BM7 : accessed 9 March 2016), Sam W Copeland, Precinct 6, Fannin, Texas, United States; citing enumeration district ED 29, sheet 498D, NARA microfilm publication T9 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), roll 1303; FHL microfilm 1,255,303.)
The 1880 United States Census lists Mary Ann McRae’s occupation as “keeps house.” See "United States Census, 1880," database with images, FamilySearch(https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MFN4-BMW : accessed 11 March 2016), Mary A Copeland in household of Sam W Copeland, Precinct 6, Fannin, Texas, United States; citing enumeration district ED 29, sheet 498D, NARA microfilm publication T9 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), roll 1303; FHL microfilm 1,255,303.)
FamilySearch lists Mary Ann McRae’s death date as 26 Jun 1899 in Elwood, TX. However, her youngest child, Arthur Bryan Copeland, is listed as being born in 1890 (after she had passed away?) in Telephone, TX. These dates then don’t seem quite correct. Was this the child she died in childbirth with? Or even, did she in fact die in childbirth?
Which aunt did Bertha, her widower father, and siblings go live with after her mother passed away? AP thinks it was a sister of her father, but no sisters are listed on FamilySearch. AP thinks there was a set of twin cousins, children of that aunt. Or was it one of her mother’s sisters? Did her 3 younger siblings (Rosie, Hugh, and Arthur) and the sibling just older than her, Walter, join them also? Thinking on it more, did her widower father come as well, or did he work elsewhere while the aunt looked after the children? What city was this in?
Does anyone have an obituary or funeral program for her?
