I've just spent about an hour reading an old Journal

[Grace]

Ex went to a yard sale today and brought it home along with an old 1937 El Rodeo USC yearbook. But my interest was more on the journal a lady wrote in dating from 1919. From what I could gather with her script writing, it centered mainly in Bakersfield/Taft aread of California. Her family were in the oil well worker ranks, but one son "arrived safely home in NY, returning on the USS Huron from France".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Huron_(ID-1408)
"My boy Cappy is safely home" and the family was thrilled. There is a mix match of her daily entries, and she had another son named Warren who was train man and worked for a Conductor someone or other, as a brake man but unfortunately not caboose...which I guess was what Warren wanted.
The end of the book (1933) is her very sad and destitue that warren had died and she didn't know how she was going to carry on without him but she guessed he just couldn't take the pain any more (I think he was in a car wreck).
Anyway...I read it, and I felt like I was back there with her. Fascinating stuff.

 

[Truthmatters]

It would be nice if you tried to track down some family member and gave it to them.

 

[rightwinger]

It would be nice if you tried to track down some family member and gave it to them.

Good idea. Ancestry.com is usually good for leads

 

[Grace]

It would be nice if you tried to track down some family member and gave it to them.

That's what I intend to do. Last year, we bought an old wooden trunk at a yard sale. Inside were love letters. Very delicate, but still in their envelopes. I put it in Craigslist in the town the letters were addressed to. One of the family members saw it and I shipped it to them. They were thrilled.

Now...how to find a passenger soldier list for the USS Huron, first name Cap or Cappy..

This is what it says:

"Thursday, May 6, 1919
Sure was a happy day for us. We got the glad news that our dear boy landed in the USA from France. Oh my how happy we were. He landed in New York".

"Thursday, May 13, 1919.
We got this first letter from him after he landed (Written in New York) May 7 1919 one year and five months from this date he left home I got letters from him saying he had landed safely in New York. He left Frisco April 25-1919 on the USS Huron landed in New York Thursday May 6 1919".

Next page is dated

wednesday, may 28 1919
OH my what a happy day our boy Cappy came home from the army in france a 1 55 SP train it was later and he didn not get home till 250. We sure was suprised and happy. brought a lot of souvinrs with him

 

[Grace]

It would be nice if you tried to track down some family member and gave it to them.

Good idea. Ancestry.com is usually good for leads

I can't afford Ancestry.com

 

[Truthmatters]

There will be likely other clues to sir names in the journal if it is long enough.

What an interesting task you have in front of you.

Good going

 

[Baruch Menachem]

you might take it to a nearby university. there are several oral history projects going on.

 

[Grace]

They were mostly railroad men from what I could decipher. It was bought here at the coast and Bakersfield/Taft is only 2.5 hours away so if there are any family left...they might still be in the valley. One was living in Long Beach, though.
I just think it a shame stuff like this gets lost.

 

[Dabs]

It would be nice if you tried to track down some family member and gave it to them.

Good idea. Ancestry.com is usually good for leads

I can't afford Ancestry.com

Seriously??....it costs money to browse thru Ancestry.com??
Damn that sucks! I never knew that~

 

[Grace]

I bought an old diary about 20 years ago in Santa Monica at a thrift shop. Dates in that were 1920's up to 1940's. BIG diary. Lady was really in to the hollywood scene of going to the hot places, wearing flapper dresses with lots of fringe. She was a secretary and her best friend Doris gave her the diary. Finally found Doris buried in Forest lawn, next to a huge tree. I don't remember the gal's name writing it..its been a long time. But I so wanted to know which guy she married. She was being courted by so many. She seemed really taken with Rex but I never found out who Rex was or if they finally hooked up. He bought her red roses all the time.
I sold that one on ebay, and hoped someone could track more than I could.
This one in front of me, there are no last names. Might not be any family left. I'll fuss with it a bit, but eventually hand it over to someone else who is in to railroad stuff and wants to dig deeper. I'll do a bit of hunting, but then I'll probably get fed up or frustrated. When I do...it will go in ebay (more exposure) or craigslist in Bakersfield and see if any of the names ring any bells from someone there. IF any family is left alive.

 

[Grace]

Good idea. Ancestry.com is usually good for leads

I can't afford Ancestry.com

Seriously??....it costs money to browse thru Ancestry.com??
Damn that sucks! I never knew that~

Yep, Dabs. They offer free services for a few days during veteran days but then it ends and you have to go back to paying. I think its like 75 bucks or something.

 

[Grace]

you might take it to a nearby university. there are several oral history projects going on.

Actually..I was thinking about sending it to Santa Fe railroad in Bakersfield since the family mainly worked for them back then. There is a conductor named in the book but I'd have to hunt it down again cuz it's somewhere in the middle.

Found some very old dog tags one time, too. Tracked down the number and he was frm Missouri but had no family so I sent it to the town's historical society so they could display it as one of their own who didn't make it back from the war.