Friday, March 27, 2009

V-MAIL FROM THE FRONT - WORLD WAR II

V-Mail April 1944 (click on image to enlarge)

During the Second World War, to minimize the weight of transporting the mail, "V-Mails" were introduced to carry short messages from soldiers on the front lines to their homeland. Some kind of micro-filming process was used. I think that perhaps little cartoon messages were provided military personnel, such as this Mother's Day V-Mail from Jim Fecht to his mother Mildred Crites Fecht in Mexico, Missouri. April 1944

Monday, March 23, 2009

DAMON FECHT VISITS DODGERS' SPRING TRAINING CAMP


Both Damon and his mother Janne work long and hard at this time of year, so they took a break this last weekend to visit the Los Angeles Dodgers at Spring Training in Glendale, Arizona. To make sure that they got the full measure of their "sports fix", Damon and Janne went to see Phoenix play their NBA rivals, the Washington Wizards.
OK Janne, it's back to tax season.
Damon is the great grandson of Leona Belle (Weaver) and John F. Crites.

Monday, March 16, 2009

LIVE OAK CALIFORNIA c 1915




Mary and Mildred Crites attended public school in Live Oak, California the same year Mt. Lassen erupted. The children in this photograph may include children of Irene and Albert Crites. The eruption occurred in 1915.
Click on these images to look at the children closer. Mildred Crites had very blond hair.
This post card was mailed to Miss Ettamay Crites (the girls older sister) in Hindale, Montana. Their Grandmother Weaver lived on a homestead there. "To Ettamay from Mary Crites.

NORTH WEBSTER ICE FISHING


Flowing Well on Epworth League Grounds - North Webster, Indiana - S.B. McQuown, Monmouth, Illinois - Image in the Archives of The Museum of the San Fernando Valley 2009 - (click on image to enlarge)

Message side:
"Just a little way out on the lake from this well is where I fished through the ice yesterday and today."

Before moving his family to Minot, North Dakota, John Franklin Crites operated a steam boat on Lake Wawasee near North Webster, Indiana. This postcard was among the family records kept by Mildred Crites Fecht in Snohomish, Washington. The card was shared with this Crites Family Photographs blog by Genevieve Rebbe.
The Epworth League is a youth organization founded by the Methodist Episcopal Church. The League founded an outdoor retreat camp on the banks of Lake Webster, near North Webster around 1923. John Franklin Crites returned to Indiana for a winter visit about that time.

Sunday, March 15, 2009

1907 POST CARDS FROM JOHN F. CRITES

Cashmere, Washington - Published by Whitten and Dennison, West Bethel, Me. (click on image to enlarge) Archives of The Museum of the San Fernando Valley 2009

Seine Fishers on Puget Sound, Washington - Puboished by the Puget Sound News Company - LLeipzig, Germany (click on image to enlarge) Archives of The Museum of the San Fernando Valley 2009

These two historic postcards were among the records of Mildred Fecht. They were sent to her by her father John Franklin Crites on the 13th of May 1907
"Miss Mildred Crites, Minot North Dakota c/o J. F. Crites
This is the building where I bought these cards."

CHILDREN OF FOREST WEAVER


Left: Loyal Weaver, center Phyllis Weaver, right in Janet Gage. (click on image to enlarge)
Forest Weaver was twice married to Leulla Bare. In their second marriage a twin girl Loyal was born. After Luella's death, Forest married again to Velda Rising Gage (a divorced woman.) She brought into the marriage a daughter Janet.
Velda and Forest has a daughter Phyllis Weaver.

LUELLA VICTORIA BARE (c-239)
(first wife of Forest Weaver)
born: 20 May, 1887 in Eden Township, Seneca County, Ohio
mother: Mary Elizabeth (RICHARDS) (c-1046)
father: William Henry BARE (c-1045)
married: 10 December, 1906 to Forest A. WEAVER (c-205) in ___________, Indiana
divorced
re-married: __________________ to Forest A. WEAVER in _____________, Indiana
died: 30 November, 1921 in Grafton, Lorain County, Ohio
source: death certificate
buried: 2 December, 1921 in North Street Cemetery, Grafton, Lorain Co. Ohio

Saturday, March 14, 2009

CHILDREN OF FOREST A. WEAVER

(click on image to enlarge)
Forest A. Weaver was the brother of Leona Belle Weaver Crites. The note on the back of this photograph reads: "F. A. Weaver;s children Step daughter Janet Gage, Phyllis and Loyal Weaver. Loyal maybe the baby in the center. Just a guess - to the right might be Phyllis.