Special places to Grandma and Grandad White in Ohio

 Here is a list of places important to Grandma Kathleen and Granddad Jerry in Ohio, in their own words:

Amelia.  Population was 550 when we were growing up.  No traffic signals, Rte 125 was a two lane road until 1951.  HS basketball games were the major social event.  Places of interest:

• Wallace Music Shop.  Grandma's home.  Where her dad sold and repaired musical instruments.  Later run by your great aunt Janet.
• Little green house next door to the West.  Owned by the Wallaces, where Janet lived, after her marriage,until she moved into the Music Shop.
• White Acres.  156 acres.  I think it is now all homes, it's called Quail Creek, except for a small commercial area on Main St.  Big house with really high ceilings, a grand staircase.  Other buildings.  Two barns, one for horses, one for cows.  Groom's House.  Combined 3 car garage, tobacco stripping shed and hired hand's two tiny rooms, and a two-hole outhouse.  Tenant house next door (It once caught on fire) and another tenant house about 3/4 of a mile back from the road.  A long walk to a highway.  The tenant house was later moved to front on 125.

White Acres House

 

• Amelia Elementary School.  This was the HS in our time, our elementary school building was torn down.  You might be interested in how small the school was.  Also the gym where Granddad was the hero in two straight basketball games where we won by three and one points to keep our home streak winning alive at 46 and 47 games.  He scored the winning points in the last 30 and 5 seconds respectively.  He was carried around on shoulders after the last game.  Ex girl friend cheer leader kissed him and professed her love while Grandma looked on.  NOTE: Both Grandma and Granddad walked to school.  See how close they lived to each other.
• Wallace Restaurant.  About a block in distance to the west of the Wallace Music shop (where the old CG&P railroad crossed 125).  Was next to a gas station, while the lumber yards were across the street.  NOTE:  CG&P stood for Cincinnati, Georgetown and Portsmouth.  But the railroad never got past Georgetown.  Ran through White Acres.  Granddad remembers seeing the cars.  Abandoned circa 1940.  When the road was abandoned the ties and rails were removed.  The railroad fill was used by White Acres to get across a small stream.  Prior to that we had to go through the stream.  There were times our truck got stuck and had to be pulled out by our horses.  NOTE: Granddad was driving the tractor across the fill when he lost his steering.  The tractor went over the side and started to tip over when the front wheel got to the bottom of the fill and the tractor righted itself.  He was really scared.
• Granddad's best friend, Jack Francis, lived on Cleveland Lane.  Granda and his brother Jock occasionally rode work horses to get there.  We took the back route through our farm.  Usually Jack picked us up on his bike.  I rode on the crossbar, Jock on the carrier on the rear.
  
• Coffey's store.  A few homes east of grandma's house.  Doug and Peg went there for candy when we stopped at Granny and Gramp's house on Main Street after they moved from White Acres.
• New Richmond, Ohio.  Granny and Gramp lived on Front St. before moving to White Acres.  The last we knew the big homes were still there.  It was a great view of the Ohio River.  Granddad had relatives there when he was growing up.  Great view of the river and towboats moving along.  There was a ferry that White Acres horse truck used to get across to fairs at Germantown and Alexandria.  Later the ferry closed at 6PM.  Once our family was going to Clermont County from Frankfort and we tore along the roads to get there in time.  However we were just a little late getting there.  We raced down the drive blowing our horn.  Thankfully the pilot was a nice guy and came back and picked us up.  Otherwise we would have had an extra two hours drive.  NOTE:  The Ohio used to flood enough every few years that the homes on Front St were flooded.  Granny said the secret to the clean up was to sweep out the water and mud as the water level dropped below the level of the floor.
• Ohio River.  That was our primary place to water ski.  Initially we were at Varnholdt's marina on Front St.  There was about twice the difference in elevation compared to our Lake Anna home.  It was all steps.  Granny Jo and her boys used to camp in pup tents on a deserted beach at Point Pleasant.  We tubed, especially when a big stern wheeler went by.  There used to be a Dam just below New Richmond.  However it was eliminated and the water level is now higher eliminating almost all the beaches we used to visit.
• Coney Island.  Entrance at Kellogg Ave and Three Mile Road.  Really clean.  It was the big amusement park in southwestern Ohio.  Where your Great Uncle Cecil played in Clyde Trask's band at Moonlight Gardens.  He made a lot of money as a teenager.  Coney had at the time the largest swimming pool in the world with circulating water.  There were three coasters plus a very steep descent in a boat on Lost River.  There were a lot of other rides.  Than Coney developed King's Island and closed just about everything but the pool.  Since then they reopened some rides; how many we do not know.
• FYI.  The Island Queen used to transport passengers from the foot of Broadway to Coney.  It also made trips to places like New Orleans and Pittsburg.  There was a huge dance floor and Trask's band played on the Queen.  While tied up in Pittsburg, Cecil was watching a welder when he decide to go uptown.  The Queen blew up just a little after he left the boat.  Probably caused by the welder .  Coney opened up for orphans once a year before opening to the public.  They would board at Broadway and ride the Queen both ways.  Rides were free.  Granddad's Aunt Marie worked with the orphans.  So Jerry joined in with the orphans for their ride on the Queen and Coney's rides.  Granddad and his friends spent a fair amount of time at Sunlight Pool.  Coney is on US 52, just up from the Circle Freeway.
• TP White Funeral home.  TP White originally had funeral homes in New Richmond and Mt. Washington.  AS TP passed the homes on to his sons, the ultimate result is the MT. Washington home was owned and operated by the Croxtons and the New Richmond one by Sumner Powers.  He later opened a 2nd funeral home in Amelia.
• Clermont County Fairgrounds in Owensville.  The County Fair ran almost a whole week.  Granddad Cliff was on the Fair Board until he moved away and he was replaced by Granny Jo.  Granny Jo was always the Secretary of the Horse Show.  Granddad used to be at the fair every day it was open.  He got to sit in the Judges stand by the announcer.  While White Acres showed Registered Saddle Horses, he always liked the Hunter and Jumper classes best.
• We have no knowledge of the house Frank Gruppenhoff built, nor where Granddad Cecil studied music.

Valentine's day in Cincinnati, circa 1953

For the longest time, I thought I had the stereotypical sweet grandmother, the kind who gave her grandchildren unlimited sweets and never yelled, and was perfectly sweet and kind in every way. To be fair, I never heard Grandma Kathleen yell (even when she was upset!) and my siblings and I were always delighted by the amount of sweets and other treats we got while we were at her house. Grandma made visiting her home truly magical for us kids.

When we would talk about it with her as adults, she would say, "Well, you don't know; I'm not actually all sugar and spice!" We didn't believe her, even after she told us about devious plans that she'd come up with in the past--that never came to pass.

Until ONE day, we found out that she sent mean Valentine's to Granddad and his roommates!

Grandma was living at the YWCA in Cincinnati, and Granddad was attending the University of Cincinnati. They were living close enough that they could see each other. Granddad says that Grandma even came over at one point and cooked a meal for everyone to share.

Jerry (1951), Kathleen (1952)

Grandma had a brilliant idea. Months in advance, she prepared cards to send to Granddad and each of his roommates, and sent them home with her roommates during Christmastime. Why, you may ask? To throw them off the scent! Each of Grandma's roommates sent the card from her own hometown.

So when mean Valentine's cards started arriving for Granddad and his roommates from seemingly unrelated places in Ohio and Indiana, Granddad and his roommates were perplexed. 

When retelling the story, Granddad said, "The cards started out with something that looked nice and then got right nasty when you opened them up."

Granddad received this one "signed" by his cousin and roommate, Dave Grupenhoff:

Me thinketh

Thee stinketh

Another one that came in, also "signed" by the roommate of the recipient:

I would climb the highest mountain

I would swim the deepest sea

just to get 

away from thee.

I can imagine Granddad and his roommates' confusion, and Grandma struggling to keep a straight face while he tells her the riddle of the mean Valentine's cards. "How could this be happening?" Granddad and his roommates must have wondered out loud.

Granddad reminisced, "When the culprit finally confessed, we all could imagine she and her friends just sitting around and laughing at our confusion." 

He and Grandma both get a good laugh out of it now.

White Family Stockings: Pattern and instructions

In the previous post, I shared some background on how the family stocking tradition began. This post tells how to make the stockings.

3 complete and 2 incomplete stockings

Printable Instructions

If you want a simple printable pattern, use this PDF for the instructions (Steps A-H) and this PDF for the image grid pattern (Steps A-B). 

Find the 2-page PDF for the image pattern grid here

Find the 1-page PDF of the instructions here

Sarah digitized the pattern based on the 1940s grid pattern and notes that Grandma had hand written, and the new PDF pattern is at least 10 times easier to follow than the original pattern. Sarah added numbers that make it easier to follow. You can either print it in color or shade it in after printing it in greyscale to help remember which color to use. Message me if you would like a copy of the editable spreadsheet.

The 1940s pattern with grandma's handwritten instructions

More detailed instructions

Skills required: 

• Knit stitch, purl stitch to make stockinette stitch
• Knit two together
• Mattress stitch
• Duplicate stitch 
• Crochet daisy chain for hanging loop

Materials:

-4 ply yarn (worsted weight = ordinary yarn)

I used Red Heart Super Saver. Get enough of each color to finish your stocking.

• 2 ½ oz. Red (boy)/ White (girl)
• ½ oz Green
• ½ oz. White
• ½ oz. Red 
• Beige (Santa face, hands)
• Black (belt- boots- face)

-Size #3 Needles

• I like 2 sets of aluminum circular needles. 29 inches long.
• If you like straight needles instead, you'll need 2 straight needles, 15 inches long, and 4-5 double pointed needles- 7 inches long

-Thread that matches to sew bias tape at top of stocking: Red (boy)/White (girl)

-Matching bias tape to keep the top from curling

• I got Wrights white Bias Tape Hem Facing (1.875" wide x 2.5 yd long) from JoAnn Fabrics and Wrights scarlet Double Fold Bias Tape Quilt Binding (0.875" wide x 3.0 yd long)

-Small crochet hook for repairs, darning needle, 2-3 stitch holders, stitch marker
-Print pattern and image, add name to pattern, Draw 3" and 8" marks on your paper for the heel flap length and foot length, respectively.

Instructions:

A. Body:

• Cast on 90 stitches (Gauge: 8 sts=1 inch from the pattern. I actually knit 6 sts = 1 inch). For this long-tail cast on I think I've been using about 5 feet of tail.

Instructions for long-tail cast on

A basic idea of what each step looks like on the stocking

• Follow image pattern until row 64. Each row in the pattern image is a double row: a knit row + a purl row.

Progress of the stocking body worked with straight needles. January 2017.

Notes on switching colors in the middle of rows:

• Leave at least a 6 inch tail, you can weave ends in later (optional). The Kitchener/ toe Stitch video at the end of this post has a good demonstration of weaving in at the end of the video.

There are lots of ways to manage the tails of the many colors on the stocking. The clothes pins in the photo above are one method, as well as yarn bobbins, for tails shorter than 3 feet, I recommend pulling them out ever couple of rows to keep them from tangling too much. I'm about to try yarn bobbins for longer strands though.
Note about how much yarn is needed for each section: for my gauge (about 6 stitches per inch), I use about a foot of yarn for every 10 stitches in the pattern (double rows). For example, to do the red for Santa's left shoulder, there are 25 stitches, so I would need a minimum of 2.5 feet of working yarn, plus a foot for 6 inches of tail on either side. I would need at least 3.5 feet of red yarn for that section. Another example: The black belt has less than 64 stitches, so I would need a minimum of 6.5 feet + 1 foot tail = 7.5 feet of yarn. I would want a bobbin for this since it is more than 3 feet.

Grandma Kathleen recommends only stranding (carrying a piece of yarn across the back of your work between colors) when you have 3 or fewer stitches in between. For example, most of the letters, there's less than a 3 stitch gap between colors, but on the middle of the belt, there's a 6-stitch gap. On two of my stockings, stranding between those colors caused the middle of the belt to be raised, not flat.

The video below shows examples of stranding and how you can carry more than 3 stitches across the back of the work without too many problems. Sometimes I have floats that are 10 stitches long, but they are twisted in, as the video shows from 10:40-the end.

This video below shows how to twist new colors together so that they don't leave gaping holes, especially when there's a straight up/down color change.

B. Instep: (start with 72 stitches total)

• 18 Stitches off each end to start the heel. You can place these on stitch holders or on a string of contrasting yarn, 36 stitches in the middle 
• Stop pattern with 36 center stitches on one needle (row 73). You can put this on a long stitch holder if you'd like.

C. Heel:

• Combine both 18 heel stitches on one needle for a total of 36 and K&P for 3” from bottom of tree
• On last row of the 3 inches, P back for 20 stitches, P2 together, P 1,  and turn
• K 6, K2 together, K 1, and turn
• P 7, P2 together, P 1, and turn
• K 8, K2 together, K 1, and turn
• Continue until all of the stitches are used, about 15-20 rows, and 15-20 stitches across(?).

D. Gusset:

• Pick up 23 - 30 stitches along the heel for the gusset on each side, depending on how much you want it to gather. More stitches will give more gathering. Fewer stitches will give a flatter appearance.
• Divide all Heel & Gusset stitches on 2 needles (either straight or circular needles)
• K&P, decreasing 1 stitch each side at next to last stitch of every row until even with front panel

E. Foot:

• Put onto 3 double ended needles (1 each back side, 1 for front panel) (or 2 sets of circular needles)
• Continue K around in a circle w/4th needle
• Dec 1 st on each side of the foot every row until 18 sts on each underside needle
• Then Knit stripe
• 4 White (boy) / Red (girl)
• 4 Green
• 4 White  (boy) / Red (girl)
• Continue to K red (or white for girl) until foot is 8” long from the back of the heel

F. Toe:

Dec4=K2tog at each end of front & sides of back

(1) Dec 4 st in row

(4-5) K 4 rows plain

(6) Dec 4 “”

(7-9) K3 rows

(10) Dec 4

(11-13) K3 rows

(14) Dec 4

COLOR CHANGE

Boy: *WHITE toe*
Girl: *RED toe*
(1-2) K2 rows plain

(3) Dec 4

(4-5) K2 rows plain

(6) Dec 4

(7) K1 plain

Lastly, Dec 4 every row at sides of toe until you have 16 stitches total (8 stitches/4 stitches/4 st’s)

G. Weave Toe: (using yarn needle. K&P indicate how to insert needle- Kitchener Stitch. Not normal K&P)

• Front (instep) K – slide off
• Front P – Keep on
• Back P – Slide off
• Back K – Keep on

Sometimes when I do this it looks fantastic. Other times it turns out like purl on the outside. Not sure what went wrong there.

• Continue until the last stitch is on the needle. Then thread onto a sewing needle and push inside of the stocking and tie off. 

Here's an example of this:

H. Finishing:

• Stitch eyes, nose, mouth onto Santa using the duplicate stitch, demonstrated in the video below

• Darn together back halves of top & gusset sides with mattress stitch. The video below has the best demonstration of the mattress stitch I've seen from 2:20-9:25

• Crochet the top loop
• Sew matching bias tape to top of stocking to keep top from curling

The end!!! Congratulations. That's all.

Complete stocking except for bias tape at top

White Family Stockings: Origins

Christmas 2018. 2 generations of stockings.

In the 1950s, Grandma Kathleen started knitting Christmas stockings for her three children. She had no idea that it would become such a beloved tradition.

She already knitted some of Granddad Jerry’s socks, so it wasn’t anything new for her to do this too. When Aunt Peggy was about 13, she learned to make them too, and made stockings for Granny Jo, Grandma Kathleen, and Granddad Jerry, making three generations with the stockings.

Grandma Kathleen and Granddad Jerry's
stockings, made by teenage Aunt Peggy

Next, Aunt Peggy made stockings for her own children, Roger, Russ, Chris, and Jan. Uncle Brent liked the tradition, and learned to knit too. He made stockings for his kids too. Sarah was the first of those of my generation to start making the stockings, followed by Jan. They made stockings for their children too, making 5 generations of family with the stockings.

While teaching high school science during the 2008-2009 school year, I learned how to knit while attending a knitting group that a friend started. While visiting Aunt Peggy and Uncle Brent at Christmas 2009, I got introduced to the stocking. Aunt Peggy gave me knitting needles and yarn. I got off to a great start. After a while, I forgot what I was doing, and had to watch a few YouTube videos to get started again.

The record for fastest of the stockings was Cyrus': done in 4 days!

I really got stuck on the heel, but Aunt Peggy came down to help me mid-December 2018, and got me back on track. Right before Christmas 2018, nine years after beginning, I finally finished my own stocking. I finished Paul’s stocking a month later (1/22/19), and Ada’s stocking three weeks after that (2/10/19). It’s amazing what experience and dedication can do for a stocking.

Isn't that a fantastic stocking hanger?!

Working on the stocking makes me feel closer to the White/ Wallace side of the family. Thanks to the dedication of Aunt Peggy and Uncle Brent, what began as a craft of love by Grandma has blossomed into a dear tradition for five generations.

Bryan has started his own on the left.
Jo's on the right is the last Gentry stocking.

This post shows the background of the stocking. To see the pattern and instructions on how to make the stockings, see the next post.

Grandma Lucy's Blackberry Cake

Renee sent me an e-mail with a couple of pictures and a story about how she was able to re-create one of Grandma Lucy's most famous cakes. The recipe she started with had ingredients, but no instructions!

Well, Renee tried it for the first time as a 13-year-old, and it turned out poorly. The cake was dry and the frosting was uninteresting. Something had gone wrong, but she wasn't sure what. Years later, Renee tried the recipe again, and got this delectable beauty:

Finished product of perfected cake 

How did she do it? Here is her story in her own words:

"Since Grandma Lucy owned her own restaurant, I felt that I wasn't doing justice to her cake. Granted I made the recipe as a 13 year old, and didn't have much baking experience.  

I received this recipe from Grandma Kathleen (Lucy's daughter). I received it on a visit to Florida in 2014.  

The way you make this cake is as follows: 

Make sure that you purchase heavy whipping cream for the cream. I also like to add a quarter teaspoon salt to the caramel sauce. Totally optional. 

For the cake, I found that it is best if it is baked in thin layers. So instead of baking and typical baking pans, bake it in four circular pans instead of two circular pants. You can bake them in thicker layers too, but you'll have leftover batter, and the cake may turn out dry, since it will need to be baked longer. 

Also, I line each pan with aluminum foil, spray with Pam, and dust with flour. You should do this step if you plan on making a layer cake. 

To make the cake, mix wet ingredients (except jam) in one bowl and dry ingredients in a bowl. I made my own sour milk. I placed 1 tablespoon of lemon juice or vinegar into a glass measuring cup. Then I poured in whole milk to the one cup line. Then I let it sit for a few minutes while I mixed together the dry ingredients, to let the milk sour. By the way, do not add blackberry jam until the very end. I am not sure exactly the best way to incorporate the jam. I put the jam into the cake batter by small spoonfuls and gently stirred the batter. Also, as in cake mixes, whisk the batter for two and a half minutes,. I did this before adding the jam. When the batter is ready, place into pans, and bake at 350 in a preheated oven. For the thin layers, you can get away with baking them for only 15 minutes. Bake them until done though, testing with a toothpick until it comes out clean. If you bake too long, it will make the cake dry. Sometimes very dry.

While the cake was baking, I heated up the cream on my stovetop. I added the cup of white sugar and packed cup of brown sugar and whisked it at high temperature, stirring occasionally until it was no longer grainy. After that point, I believe I only cooked it for three minutes. You want to have something similar to the consistency of caramel, but a little thinner. You want it to be thin enough that it can soak down into the cake. At this point, I have put the cake with bamboo skewers to make shish kabobs, and let the caramel ooze down into the cake. This cake is decadent, and delicious! Make sure that you pull the cake gently out of the foil soon after it is done baking. This is because the blackberry jam makes it stick to the pan, if you let it cool that for a very long time. The foil makes this much much easier. Feel free to simplify these directions. I have made this cake before, and made the caramel topping very thick. I don't believe that's how Grandma Lucy made it. I do like very much the consistency of the caramel topping oozing down into the cake."

What a treasure! I don't have very much experience with making cakes (box mix, anyone?), but it did occur to me that maybe the blackberry jam could be incorporated as something between layers. What do you cake-making people think? Would it ruin the effect of the runny frosting?

Also, anyone that tries out this recipe, feel free to let us know what you did and how the cake turned out. Happy baking!

EDIT: I asked Grandma Kathleen about mixing the jam in and the consistency of the frosting. Here's what she said:

"Mom's blackberry cake - yummy!

Yes, the jam gets mixed in with the cake batter.

Consistency of the frosting? Just like you are making candy (fudge). It gets sugary all too quickly. As I remember, it could be sort of saved by a spoonful of milk or cream at a time, stirred in. Good luck. It is certainly worth working for."

Pictures of Wallace children

There are so many great pictures of Grandma Kathleen's family! Also, who knew that Grandma had blonde hair when she was little? Just like so many of us :)

Uncle Cecil with Kathleen. Isn't this the most amazing picture?

The following picture was labeled "Janet, Kathleen". I know that Kathleen is the littlest girl in the picture (from the picture above with Cecil), and I'm guessed that Janet is the one on the far right. However, on further inspection of other pictures taken on the same day, I found one that was labeled with Cecil and Janet. Janet is the other blonde little girl in the picture!

Georgiana, Janet, Kathleen (two in middle), Grace

This picture wan't labeled when Rachel scanned it, so we don't know who she is. Grandma says that this is probably Grandma Lucy when she was young, and that this young lady (below) was not from her generation--she would have recognized her otherwise.

Probably Grandma Lucy

Recipes from Our Grandparents

So my sister Rachel has a food blog, and on it she has a lot of recipes from our grandparents. Here I'll make it nice and easy for you to access their recipes!

Tuna Cheese Swirls from Grandma Izzy. I remember my mom making these sometimes when I was little. I loved them! I tried a recipe I found in a cookbook, and it was disgusting. This recipe looks like it will be much more delicious.

Cheesecake from Granny Jo

Six recipes from Grandma Kathleen, some of which probably came from Grandma Lucy (her mother):

1. Pistachio Salad - one of my favorite fruit salads growing up
2. Pecan Surprise Bars - this looks delicious. I think I've been deprived all my life.
3. Amish Broccoli - I heard this one came from Grandma Lucy. 
4. Chicken Enchiladas - This one also looks really delicious.
5. Lemon Jello Cake - This cake is DIVINE. It's also dairy free!
6. Pasta Salad - also dairy free

Pictures-Wallace and Henize

Grandma's home video finally got here! (I've had it for a little over a week now, I just didn't get around to editing it and putting it up). I now have a video editing program, but I can't get it to show more than about 13 seconds of the video. I have managed to get some screenshots from it, so here's a little preview for the video that Grandma sent to me:

Aunt Janet, Kathleen, and G'ma Lucy

John Henry Henize, Mollie Elizabeth Chambers

Julia Anna Peters, James Wallace

Lucy Henize

Aunt Bee (Dora Bedah Henize)

Uncle Paul (Aunt Bee's husband, Paul Liming)

Cecil Jr with pet dog

Kathleen

Janet

Cecil Jr.

Cecil Sr.

Cecil Jr

Kathleen on a scooter

Cecil Jr with Kathleen

Cecil Jr pulling Kathleen and Janet on a sled

Snowball fight: Cecil Jr, Kathleen, Janet

Cecil Jr

"WALLACE MUSIC SHOP" -sign outside their house

Cecil Sr's band

Lucy and Kathleen

Cecil Sr.

Uncle Ralph (Ralph Lawrence Henize)

Aunt Louise and/or Aunt Alverta (wife of Ora Bery Henize)

 I couldn't find a Louise among Grandma Kathleen's aunts unless it was her Aunt Hazel Louise, married to her Uncle Harley. But there's a shot of her Aunt Hazel that shows her a bit heavier than this woman.

Edit: Grandma sent me an e-mail telling me that Aunt Louise was married to Uncle Ralph.

Cecil Sr with pet dog

Janet

Janet making a fish face

Kathleen and Janet with pet dog and cat

Janet and Kathleen