1893 - GRANDPA'S BEGINNING to 1913

The beginning of his life and the beginning of his diaries. Grandpa nearly always wrote in green fountain pen ink. As I have read more & more working on this project, I realize the class colors at Leonia Grammar School were green & white, and I'd bet real greenbacks that he began using green ink there and just never stopped! On 1/8/1965 Grandpa began cleaning out his "...trunk of materials no longer needed." He worked on this for several days. It was apparently a trunk of old memorabilia and got him thinking about his life to this point. On January 13, 1965 he says: "Am bringing diary up to date for early years." The following entries for 1893 up until he began keeping his actual diary in 1913 are obviously those updates. The green ink and handwriting on the added-in pages are the same as his 1965 diary. He worked on this project for a few days, as on January 16 he says: "Collecting all my "poems" & "bright" sayings together in one notebook." I have this notebook and have used it many times for quotations. In it Grandpa transcribed things he composed as a young man & pasted in printed things he found that he obviously liked. His original writings have his initials and the date of original creation; the quotes from others are easy to determine. Eventually I will transcribe the notebook in a section of its own. Now that I know when & why he created the notebook, some of it makes much more sense to me! The days in January of 1965 during which he was cleaning out that trunk, adding to his diary and making that notebook were typical snowy, cold New Jersey January days. The temperature on the 16th was 8 degrees with 5 or 6 inches of new snow, the 15th it was zero & 9 inches of snow fell on the 11th. A great project for snowy cold dreary days!1893: 8-7-93 M I was born at Dunkirk, NY at the corner of 7th and Swan Streets. There was a great depression this year & Coxey's Army marched in Washington.
1894: Lived in Dunkirk, NY
1895: We moved to East Aurora, NY.
1896: Lived in East Aurora, NY where Jennie [his sister] was born on Thurs., Feb.26.
1897: We lived back in Dunkirk, NY.
1898: We traded our home in Dunkirk, NY for a farm at Sheridan, NY.
1899: Lived in Sheridan, NY. Grandpa at 6 1/2 years of age.
1900: Moved from Sheridan, NY to Ft. Lee, NJ. Margaret [his other sister and only other sibling] was born at Sheridan, NY on Monday, March 5th.
1901: We lived in Auburn, Mass., on a farm. Went to a one room school house there.
1902: We lived at Hawthorne, NJ and then on Main Street in Paterson, NJ. I attended school in both places.
1903: Lived in Fair Lawn, NJ. Went to school there. [Relatives were there & are buried there.]
1904: Lived in Palisades Park, NJ at two places, first on The Hill and then in valley east of Broad St. Finished 3rd grade and rec'd cert. dated 6/24/04 signed by Principal C. B. Armstrong. Uncle Theake & Aunt D. stopped at our house on their trip to Holland. They stopped again & brot [brought] back Peter A. Vander Meulen with them taking him to Dk. [Dunkirk] with them. He was 12? years of age. [see later for more on Peter including his dates- he was grandpa's cousin and very important at Rutgers University. I have quite a bit of information about him I will be publishing.] His parents came later & also stopped with us.
1905: Lived in Palisades Park, NJ and finished 4th grade, receiving cert. dated 6/23/05 signed by Principal C. B. Armstrong. I knew Earnest Heckler, John Edsall and Jennie & Howard Lundberg; [Howard died apparently in 1916 as in another notebook of Grandpa's he copied a poem he wrote to Howard's parents when he died which entry is dated 1916. Keep an eye out for Jennie Lundberg's name, they corresponded for MANY MANY years!] also Osmond & Karsten Johnson. Visited Uncle T. and Aunt D. in Dunkirk, NY during summer vacation & spent my 12th birthday there. Met Peter Vander Meulen [we will call him Dr. Peter for short] again there & we had great times together. He was making rapid strides in school and in becoming Americanized. [Great-grandpa Peter Folkert & his brother Theake, Uncle T to grandpa, designed and landscaped the public gardens of Palisades Park. Grandma told me this years ago but I couldn't remember which city, but in a letter to me in 1999, Grandpa's sister Jennie's daughter June Selberg Marcinkevich told me this.]
1906: Still in Palisades Park, NJ but planning to move to Grand Ave., Leonia, NJ. Rec'd 5th grade cert. dated 6/28/06 and signed by Principal C. B. Armstrong.
1907: Lived in Leonia, NJ, in old brownstone mansion on Grand Ave., near the Harry Moore Farm. It was built before the Revolution. We still used wood & coal stoves & kerosene lamps. We had a horse "Charlie" and a black milch cow and chickens & a garden. Father had a greenhouse there [Great Grandpa was a nurseryman, any wonder where grandpa got his green thumb - and my dad his love of tulips?] Finished 6th grade in June at Leonia Grade School.
1908: Still in Leonia, NJ. Finished 7th grade in June at Leonia Grade School. I ranked first in class.
1909: Rec'd diploma dated 6/9/09 from Principal Lester L. Rosenkrans at graduation exercises held at Leonia Grammar School on June 25th. I was Honor student in class of 13. Lily Moje, the 14th member did not pass. I kept a copy of the Graduation program & the class picture. Those graduating with me were:
Edw. E. Bell, Jr. (died France 1918); Gerald M. Gantz, Ida C. Ellerbrook, Furman Dean Storms, William C. Lang, Walter George Erb, Chas. F. Egues, Florence Verona Frevert, Eliz. Anna Maria Nisslein, Frank W. Bogert, Chas. Herbert Craft (Died in NYC accident 10/10/17), Edwin R. Trafford. Started Commercial Course at Hackensack H. S. as did Bill Lang. Mr. L. L. R. [Principal L. L. Rosenkrans] taught 8th grade and he was a wonderful man and teacher [Italics will take the place of Grandpa's underlining as it appears I can't underline!] I corresponded with him several times up till his death 3/6/22, Branchville, NJ. [6/5/11-In going thru a box last night, see below, I came upon a card on which grandpa recapped information he had about Mr. Rosenkrans. It was obvious to me when I transcribed this part of the diary that he admired LLR immensely, but when I think that still in 1965 grandpa took the time to bring together facts about Rosenkrans on this card, he must have really wanted to be sure he didn't forget him! Other than his own family members, and maybe FDR, I don't think grandpa thought so much of anyone in his long life. HERE is the card - the front of the card is a ticket for a New England Women card party fund-raiser in September, 1964. It will show up on that date and is going to our NEW newsletter as a bit of history. Obviously grandma had some of the cards left over and grandpa used them for his notes. This is the second time I've found one]
[100 years later here I am: A few days after I typed the above I was looking thru a stack of pictures I was going to give to one of my kids & found a drawing of grandpa's from 8th grade, a drawing of a school classroom, (I have a whole set of his drawings from that 8th grade year, more on that another time) and as I was looking at it, which I've done MANY times before, I noticed sets of initials on the classroom wall...some looked familiar, so I came to my computer and find that the initials are those of some of his graduating classmates! Perhaps the classroom had other students besides the 8th graders? Gantz, Ellerbrook, Erb & Frevert's initials are on the wall in the drawing. That finding caused me to unframe the graduation photo - I had forgotten he had written the names and other info on back, to wit: Class of 1909 LGS, Leonia Grammar School. Then the names of the students and death dates as above. The graduation exercise was at the school on Broad Street, but the date is listed as 6/25/09; the diploma date must have been filled in earlier. Class colors were GREEN & white; flower, white carnation; Motto: Knowledge USED is power. Perhaps now I shall display the two items together! The drawing is probably his classroom, (maybe from another year or perhaps a class where grades were mixed), an assumption I made long ago. It never occurred to me to wonder what those initials are! I apologize that the photo is so fuzzy; the drawing is framed and I'm unwilling at this time to unframe it to get a better scan, it is one of many the kids & I framed long ago for our home & dad's. I just realized my favorite pic of grandpa, which I’ve had framed on display in my home for years, is his 8th grade graduation photo, complete w/ a white carnation in one lapel and his graduation pin on the other. I have had the pin for years, used to wear it on the lapel of my favorite navy blue blazer. Of course, I now wonder if he began using green ink at LGS and just never stopped. I remember all my life receiving cards from Grandma & Grandpa, her name first in blue ink and below or next to it, his in green fountain pen ink - never ballpoint! Amazing how all of these bits of a life come together, probably just what Grandpa planned!!!]

6/4/2011 - I just unpacked a box, finding things I forgot I'd packed away. It's overwhelming. But the important thing is that I found the 1909 Graduation Exercises program that Grandpa said he'd saved, but I couldn't find. It's printed in green of course, and on back is the list of graduates, with grandpa's name at top, butchered: Folkert A. Van Der Muellen, Honor. He of course has penciled in the corrections! See above links for the program where are listed two recitations given by two students, one "The Wood Box" by grandpa. Attached is a yellowing paper in grandpa's hand in pencil, with the recitation he gave:

"The Woodbox" (Note the program said The Wood Box, but in grandpa's hand it is as I have just typed it.)
I It was kept out in the kitchen, and 'twas long and deep and wide, and the poker hung above it and the shovel stood beside, And the big, black cookstove, grinnin' through its grate from ear to ear, Seemed to look as if it loved it like a brother, pretty near. Flowered oilcloth tacked around it kept its cracks and knotholes hid and a pair of leather hinges fastened on the heavy lid, and it hadn't any bottom - or, at least, it seemed that way when you hurried in to fill it, so's to get outside and play.
II When the noons was hot and lazy and the leaves hung dry and still, and the locust in the peartree started up his planin'-mill, and the drumbeat of the breakers was a soothin' temptin' roll, and you knew the "gang" was waitin' by the brimmin' "swimmin' hole"- Louder than the locust's buzzin', louder than the breakers' roar, you could hear the woodbox holler, "come and fill me up once more!" And the old clock ticked and chuckled as you let each armful drop, like it said, "another minute, and you're nowheres near the top!"
III In the chilly winter mornin's, when the bed was snug and warm, and the frosted winders tinkled 'neath the fingers of the storm, and your breath rose off the piller in a smoky cloud of steam- Then that woodbox, grim and empty, came a dancin' through your dream.

One of grandpa's 8th grade drawings is of a cookstove, I'll have to go find it, I'll bet it fits the description of this story.
[I just can't resist, from Grandpa's notebook - November 1909 Hackensack High School "Critic" (literary magazine also printed in GREEN):
A One Act Tragedy
A dog. A railroad track, Toot! Toot! Sausage.]
1910: I did well at high school [Hackensack High School] receiving 100 in Bookkeeping and 99 in math in Feb. exams. I, however, quit h.s. in the Spring in order to help Dad add to the family support. I did a lot of reading while in Leonia and ever since. (See note 1 on next sheet.)[see below at end] On Sept. 10th we left Leonia for Portland, Ore., via Dunkirk, NY. After visiting in Dk. we left there on 9/23/10. (This move was made by Dad mostly due to Mother's health.)[I believe this photo was taken as a record of the family before Peter F & his family departed for Portland, OR on 9/23. Photo courtesy of Carolyn Gast Depp.]

9/23/10 F W=C [W=C is the weather, recorded daily after he got started. This date is the first time he used this code. The following description of their trip to Portland, OR was copied from an early diary into this notebook. So far we are still in the part where he is recording in 1965. The early diary must have been in that trunk & he copied those pages into the new pages he added.] Left Dunkirk, NY, @ 5pm. Uncle T., Aunt Diena & R. and P [Dr. Peter his cousin]. & Renske were at Depot to see us off. Farewells were affecting. Arrived Dayton, NY @ 6pm. Left there 6:20pm. Ar. Jamestown @ 7:20pm. We looked around a bit, and otherwise enjoyed ourselves going to a movie. Wrote postals to Uncle T. & grandfather.
9/24/10 SA Left Jamestown at 3:18am. It rained when we left here and continued for much of the way. One sees many cornfields through this region. Land appears rich. Saw brown hogs & sheep. Our train contained a fugitive from justice. Arr. Chicago at 5:34pm. Sent postals again to Uncle T. & Grandfather. Busy City. Caught sight of our trunks and they were all OK. Left here at 10:16pm on the O. Wash. Stnd. for Portland, Ore.
9/25/10 SU Passed thru Ill. by nite. We all had a fine rest. The storm we had in Jamestown could be traced all along the line. We passed thru Corn Belt. Miles & miles of corn could be seen. Arr. @ Omaha @12:30pm after crossing Missouri R., into Neb. Left O @ 12:45pm. During nite we entered plains region. A heavy thunderstorm raged over us, the Plains being lit up around us. Wrote postal from O. to Uncle T.
9/26/10 M Arrived Cheyenne @ 5am. Left @ 5:15am. We passed thru nothing but desert country all day. Saw bones (bleached) and skeletons of animals. One never knows how great is the US until he has passed thru it! Arr. Granger at 4:30pm and took the Oregon Short Line for Portland. Many ranches which seem to thrive wholly on sage brush! Everything seemed wild & gloomy after leaving Ch[eyenne]. Passed 3 tunnels so far. Very mountainous! Bot [bought] more provisions at Green River. Thanks to our stock of eatables we manage very well. So far we have slept well, but tonight our coach is crowded and must do the best we can. Passed my time reading & viewing the magnificent landscapes. Arr Montpellior @ 7pm. Left 7:30pm. Sheep & cattle raising seem to be the principal industries. Country seems more verdant hereabouts.

9/27/10 TU Arr. Huntington at 7:05am. Left @ 8:30am. Saw many apple orchards. Ate some Ore. grapes here. Oh, you high mtns! Who says railroaders are honest? Why, the Eng., fireman and conductor got out at a stop along line and cleaned out a whole peach grove! Sent postals once more to Dk. from Huntington which is just over the line between Idaho & Ore. Scenery is superb! Passed along Columbia R[iver]during night. This part of journey is most beautiful. Too bad we didn't pass it in daylight. Arr. Portland at 11:15pm. Uncle C. [Christian Van Beek] met us at the depot, and we took a car [streetcar likely] near same & then transferred to another after which we arrived at uncle's house at 1447 Oneonta Street in Woodlawn, a suburb. Was impressed with the size and natural beauty of the C[ity] of Portland our new home. We later rented a house at....Winona Street in Woodlawn.
1911: April Graduated from YMCA Electricity & Algebra courses. 6/1/11 Started my employment with the Coin Machine Mfg. Co. in Portland as janitor of the Laboratory on Grand Avenue. 7/1/11 Took up Mechanical Drawing with Math ICS Course.
11/11/11 Started Complete E. Eng. Course with I.C.S. [The ONLY good thing about moving is that we sometimes find things we haven't seen in awhile due to their being stored away. Such was the case today, 12/10/10, when I was working on unpacking boxes and found a notebook of dad's that was erroneously stored with some of his space career papers. The two courses mentioned in 1911 were purchased as "scholarships" and if you've clicked on those links, you've seen his actual class confirmations. In July 1911, the address listed is 125 Grand Avenue N., Portland, OR. In November the address is listed as Grand Ave. & E. Hoyt Street. I believe he registered for these courses using Coin Mfg. Co.'s address as he states he began working there "on Grand Avenue" - see above. I must assume the reason grandpa knew the exact dates of his classes was because he found these two certificates in that trunk of papers and pulled them out to keep; makes me wonder how dad got them. Perhaps when grandpa died, dad took some of the things from grandpa's study. Bless grandpa for keeping them, and dad for finding and saving them in a 3 ring binder full of things that were obviously of interest and importance to dad. BTW, one of grandpa's tests, on which he received 99%, is written in green ink 4/5/1918.]
1912: Became draftsman at C. M. Mfg. Co., in July. Was laid off at the Coin M M Co., temporarily at end of July or Aug. Company has financial troubles.
2/2/12 Moved to 284 E. Stafford St., Portland, from Winona St. in Woodlawn.
11/6/1912: Jennie was married to John R. Selberg. [Grandpa wrote 11/3 but I think he was thinking of his parents' anniversary which was indeed 11/3.]
[Here is the page he added in between 9/24 and 9/25/1910 mentioned above]:
NOTES: Miss Ada C. Fritts, AB, Cornell Univ., was one of my two teachers at Hackensack High School [I have been there too] & she taught Math, Comm. Geog. & Bookkeeping among other commercial course subjects. When I quit in Spring of 1910, she came to see me at Leonia & all but begged me to stay in high school. When she saw it was useless she suggested that I learn Comptometry which was then coming into vogue. She was a real teacher and a "brick". My Home Room teacher was Miss A. L. Bennet, AB, Barnard. She taught English & languages. I did not like her as well as I did Miss Fritts.

FROM HERE THE NEXT PAGE BEGINS THE ORIGINAL DIARY ON 5/5/1913. The ink is green, the pen point very fine, telling us he started using green very early - he is not quite 20 yet. I am going to stop here as it seems a logical place to do so. On 5/5/13 Grandpa begins making a diary entry every day until just about two weeks or so before his death. The entries are short, with few exceptions, but once you read it through, you end up with a real sense of their lives. I have an advantage because of knowing them, others in the family will know particular parts better than I. I have been to the house in Dunkirk but now that we have these specific addresses, or can find the places of residence through old city directories & such, I want to see more of them!