1927 Tornado in St. Louis

My dad, LeRoy Long, had pretty vivid memories of the 1927 tornado in St. Louis. The above photo is from a website. When my parents would tell a story, I'd grab a piece of paper and start writing. This is what I wrote:

"1927 Tornado---I was attending Stix School behind Jewish Hospital at Euclid and Forest Park when the tornado hit. The Polarway stables (they hauled ice and coal) had 2X4's sticking in. There was a Columbia Touring Car with a jump-seat up against the building. Kids had to stay at school until their parents came for them. I think it hit in September around 1:30PM. Somebody had hauled coal coming through a gang-way but the brick had buried him. Aunt Mary (Wassmund) was an infant sleeping with broken glass all over her. Grandma [Annie Reed Maupin] picked the glass off her."

His sister Norma Long Adams Rogers recalled that Uncle Albert Maupin had to get them at school. They were living in a house across from the firehouse near Forest Park (Expressway)---the only house Roy owned. Vivian and baby Mary went in the bathtub during the tornado---the house was destroyed. They had no insurance and couldn't rebuild the house.
Here's a video that discusses this tornado with movies and interviews.

The Fry Family at Home

Isaac Henry Fry and Alice Alderson Fry

Dave's mother's family had 9 children total. I remember them "alphabetically": Alfreda and Alderson, "Buddy", Cecil, Donald, Eloise, Phil (F-sound), George (doesn't count because he went by "Buddy"), Hale, Irene Fry.
In the photo (banded by yellow) above, they are in birth order---starting with Irene and ending with Cecil Fry. (Double click on the photo to enlarge, then use the back arrow to come back)
Most of their growing up was in Princeton, West Virginia where they lived on 304 Walnut Street. The photo above might have been before they moved to Princeton for better schools. Beginning with the mother Alice and going clock-wise: Alice, Donald, Phil, Alfreda, Irene, Alderson, Hale Fry.
The top photo taken Sept. 1920, doesn't have Donald, but does have their cousin Virginia.
The photos above are all of Alice Alderson Fry. My favorite is the one dated 2-20-46. There she sits so elegantly with her coffee cup (surely not tea!) with the photos of her children on the table behind her. She deserves a leisurely cup of coffee and an easy chair after all of those children: Irene Fry Vogt, Alderson Fry, Alfreda Fry Morris, Phil Fry, Hale Fry, Donald Fry, Eloise Fry Morgan, George "Buddy" Fry, Cecil Fry.

William Farncome: 35th Regiment

Barbados

If you are interested in genealogy, a great occupation for an ancestor is the military--records are kept of their every move. One of my ancestors was in the British army, and we know where he was every year. Double click on the photos, maps, documents to enlarge, then use the back arrow to come back. Pauline Reid, a distant cousin in England, has researched our common ancestor William Farncombe who was Annie Reed's grandfather:

As I mentioned Alasdair (my husband) and I visited The National Archive at Kew last Friday specifically to see the muster rolls for William whilst he was in the 35th Regiment. I got such a thrill from handling documents that are now 200 years old - even if they are rather musty.

Anyway, William enlisted in the 2nd Battalion at Lewes, East Sussex on 19th November 1805, when he was 14 years, 6 months old. He got the huge amount in those days of £16, 6 shillings on enlisting - the army were desperate for recruits because of the ongoing Napoleonic war.

Map of the Seige of Flushing

He seems to have stayed in this country and mostly in the south of England until 1809 when the Battalion was involved in a battle at Flushing in Holland.

Following this William and a lot of other men were transferred to the 1st Battalion and from May 1810 to June 1813 he was on Zante, a Greek Island in the Mediterranean. He was promoted to corporal on 13th June 1813.

Ellice Morgan letter: 17 July 1945

Dave, Eloise, Harry Morgan, July 10, 1945

Ellice talks about canning peas and peaches. She also talks about the visits of Mason and Clifford's families, the death of Janice's aunt Clara. Mostly she seems concerned that Grover will be shipped over-seas leaving Eloise and the boys in Louisiana.

Dave, Grover, Harry Morgan: July 10, 1945

H.B. Morgan Letter: 16 July 1945

Garrett, Harry and Dave Morgan: May 1945 (with kittens,ducklings?)

This note tells of visits from Clifford and Mason's families and an update on the gardens with a prediction about the end of the war with Japan.

1949: Noel, Dave, Tom and Harry Morgan