Family Ramblings... Hawaii

I've been scanning more post cards in to sell... which makes me think of the conversations Mom and I had about Aunt Laura (Granddad's sister, the artist. See picture above.).

The post cards from Hawaii especially got me questioning Aunt Laura. Some of those cards are SO BEAUTIFUL! Almost feel like silk, and I'm sure those post cards were from around 1915 or so. Now, I never heard that Aunt Laura ever went to Hawaii, so I asked Mom about it. I knew that Pat (Mom's sister) went over there in the 1950s, but I never heard of Aunt Laura going. So here's our conversations:

Me: When did she [Aunt Laura] go to Hawaii? Did she also go over there when Pat went over?

Mom: I don’t think she did, but she had many friends who might have gone and sent it to her – or maybe she found the card? She often picked things to keep that others had thrown away. But my guess some one who had been there gave it to her. You know her very good friend, Mrs. (John) Eleanor Nef was a daughter of the Bishop family. This family was one descended from the original protestant missionary families that went to Hawaii – like in the Book by Mitchner, “Hawaii”. So it probably came from her in some round about way. The Bishop family became very wealthy in the sugar business over there. The “C&H” sugar company. I think that Eleanor’s mother might have been related to the “C” in C & R – Cook, I think it was, and then she married into another old family, the Bishop family.

Me: GREAT information! I *knew* all this, but... now that I want to recall it, it’s all fuzzed in the brain, of course! Nice to have it in writing! I just looked up that poetry book... “Birthday Party”, by Mabel Wing Castle. The dedication is to her children, “Elinor Castle Nef” and “John Ulric Nef”. So does that help jog any more memories for you?

The reason why I asked if Aunt Laura actually went to Hawaii is because there’s a WHOLE STACK of cards from Hawaii – many of them “art” cards, like of beautifully drawn and painted fish. I can’t see anyone picking up cards like these (and old sunsets etc. from the 1920s) EXCEPT her. If it was Eleanor who picked them up for her, she REALLY knew Aunt Laura!! The couple of cards from the 1950s, then, I’m assuming Pat brought them. Maybe to give to Gramma.

Mom: Oh yes! The “C” in C & H sugar company is of course, “Castle”. And you spelled Eleanor, correctly as “Elinor”. Now you know why the Hawaiian post cards. Elinor of course. Maybe the cards could be framed for wall art? Look at the name of the artist or photographer or printing company on these cards, might be informative. I don’t remember the book you mention – “Birthday Party” – what was it? Cards from the 1920’s are probably VERY collectible. That was when the only way to get to the islands was by boat and the islands were part of a romantic and idealized vacation for wealthy Americans and Europeans. Did you know Bing Crosby started his singing with Hawaiian songs? Or was it country? Well, he was in there somewhere in the ‘30’s & 40’s however.

Me: Just did some research:

Founders of Castle & Cook: Samuel Northrup Castle, and Amos Starr Cooke. Both were missionaries. Samuel Northrup married Mary Tenney

C&H sugar is a sugar cooperative.

Castle & Cooke: Freight lines, part of the sugar coop, and in the 1930s (?) Dole pineapple. They also went into real estate and hotels.

Henry is one of “many” children of Samuel and Mary, although I have ONLY found his name as a child. He married a German girl who died a month after their daughter Dorothy was born.

Henry’s second wife was Mabel Wing, who was Elinor’s mother.

A month after Elinor was born, Henry (Elinor’s father) and her half-sister Dorothy were both drowned in a ship accident up in the North Sea. Henry never saw Elinor.

Thought this was interesting:

Kawaiahao Church Cemetery
The Kawaiahao Church was the first church on the island of Oahu. It was the mother church for all the missionaries that came here in 1820 and later. It is located on the corner of King and Punchbowl Street in downtown Honolulu.

The Cemetery is divided into three major parts . The first is the tomb of King Lunalilo on it the insciption reads:

LUNALILO

KA MOI

1874

The secound part is the Mission Houses Cemetery where all the missionaries and their families are buried in it can be found the following grave stones.

ELINOR CASTLE NEF

1894 1953

DAUGHTER OF HENRY NORTHRUP

& MABEL WING CASTLE

WIFE OF

JOHN ULRIC NEF 1894 - (NO DATE)

THEY WERE UNITED IN LIFE

AND BY DEATH THEY WERE

NOT DIVIDED

Mom: WOW! That is very interesting. Castle & Cooke, that’s right, I remember now. And Mabel “Wing” Castle, Pat & I met when I was about 11 or 12. She had a house in the Highland Park area of Los Angeles. At one time I imagine this was a very good area to live – wealthy people lived there, I think. “He married a German girl - - -“ was this Mary? Was there anything about the “Wing” family? Dad & Mom [Gramma and Granddad] & girls [Mom and Pat] were invited to lunch at their house because we were related to Aunt Laura. The invitation came by phone the evening before and Mom was upset because her girls did not have dresses and shoes that were appropriate, she thought. As I remember, we wore blue, cordoury pants suits. Also I remember the yard seemed neglected and that the table was set with “finger bowls” – bowls of water to dip your fingers into between each course and wipe them on your napkin.

Me: No, Mary was the second wife. The German wife’s name was Frida and she died “in a tragic accident” (just saw that it was while she was riding in a wagon and something frightened the horses).

Well, THAT’S an interesting story to remember about you meeting Mabel!! Great details!! Do you have an impression of Mabel? And did you get to meet Elinor? I can just imagine Gramma being upset over what clothes to wear!!! So funny!

Musings about Aunt Laura etc.

I'm feeling reeeaaalllly sentimental today! (yeah, like this is something new for me... )

As many of you who frequent my eBay store know, Mom sent to me a few weeks ago a shoebox full of old post cards. She was going to throw them out, and I told her to send them to me because there are many post card sellers on eBay and they actually make a living selling them. (Actually, Mom is finally getting into the habit of calling me every time she's going to throw something out now -- whew! If not to sell it, for me to KEEP it! LOL ...as though I have any room and know what to do with them....!) Anyway, she was trivializing the worth of this heavy little box, and I'm visualizing 1) $$ and 2) memories.

Today, the memories are just flooring me. Especially about Aunt Laura (my great aunt, who was my grandfather Alfred's half sister). To describe her as an artist is an understatement. For those who don't know, she taught art at the Art Institute of Chicago for 62 years! Yes, SIXTY-TWO (I just recently verified that with Mom, BTW). During her summers she travelled and painted EVERYwhere. And, she never married because she never wanted to give up her art. Quite incredible for her day! (To get a sense of her time period, she was born in 1883).

What I'm having a hard time with today is the questions I have for her. I've gone through this before with many of our relatives who have passed on. The older I get, the more questions I seem to have for them, and I'll ask myself, "why didn't I ask them while they were alive?" Well, the answer is simple: I didn't even have the knowledge to even ASK the question! Sad.

Going through this box of post cards just raises even more questions for me. I can tell which ones spent time with Aunt Laura because they're covered in the Chicago soot, or they were mixed in with the ones that had her handwriting on them.

Today I've been working on the post cards from Hawaii.

Hawaii? you ask. Yup, Hawaii. Aunt Laura had a good friend named Eleanor Neff who was an heir to the Castle & Cook Company of Hawaii. Now, I never remembered anything about Aunt Laura even GOING to Hawaii. But obviously she did by the collection of post cards. I thought Eleanor lived here on the mainland somewhere, but can't remember (I'll have to find Eleanor's book she wrote... that should tell more).

These cards from Hawaii are SOOOOO Aunt Laura!! There are a bunch of fish ones that I just KNOW she picked up because of the color and design of the fish (unlike me who would buy them because I wanted to identify the fish!). She did stuff like that. She would also just buy a small swath of cloth for the same reason, too. And for the feel of things. These post cards not only have the design and color that Aunt Laura would go for ("oooooo, honey!" -- can't you just hear her?), but many of these cards have a FEEL to them that I know she just caressed. They're almost like silk!

So my questions today are: when did she go? with whom? why? what did she do over there? how long did she stay? how many times did she go? where did she stay?

And stupid questions like, did she know how to swim? I don't ever remember her swimming... I'll have to ask Mom that one...

So, just who are we?

We're those types of persons who seem to live in their vehicles -- and, sometimes, live is literal.

We have trucks, not cars. For us, cars just don't hold enough stuff. Well, my grandparents had a Willy's Jeep and then a Ford Econoline van that my grandfather (an inventor and mechanical engineer) revamped the interiors to meticulously cram in everything needed to live while on the road.

Actually, our story -- or traveling and collecting habit -- starts with my grandfather, Alfred, and his artist sister, Laura. Aunt Laura was 20+ years older than Granddad. She never married because she never wanted to give up her art. She taught at the Chicago Art Institute for decades, and during the summers would haul her little brother along to help her set up her easels, change the tires on her Buick, and whatever else a teenage boy could do to help out. This was back before 1920.

Aunt Laura loved the Southwest! She painted all the landscapes and people she saw, from Santa Fe and Taos, and even down to Mexico where she spent time with Diego Rivera and Freda. And everywhere she went, she collected "pretty things". Not things to use, mind you, just things that she thought were pretty -- bits of cloth, pieces of pottery, blankets -- you name it!

In 1928, my grandfather married my grandmother, Alda, and they took their 3-month honeymoon on the back of a Harley-Davidson motorcycle -- which my grandfather modified with a tent that attached to it. They went from Keokuk, Iowa all the way to the California coast and back, all on roads that were barely roads back then. Needless to say, my grandmother was now in love with the Southwest.

So my grandparents moved to California. I think they would have moved to the desert, but my granddad had a job in the aeronautics industry in California. I remember constant travels with them to the desert where we studied plants, animals and rocks. Of course, many of the rocks we found were brought back to adorn our gardens and table tops. And we seldom left home without books to look up all the fascinating things we saw! And once back, we spent hours reliving our adventures through my gramma's stacks of slides. Yes, she was a prolific photographer!

Okay, so fast-forward to today. There's me (Christine) who loves plants. I can be a walking encyclopedia at times when it comes to plants. There's my son Jacob (who is 35) who is the walking encyclopedia of rocks and a true gold prospector. And then there's Derek, my grandson all of 9 years old, who is into chess. Chess??? Where did that come from? Well, he also likes rocks, plants and animals, adores his Uncle Jake, and tries to help him find GOLD. I think he likes bugs better than gold, though. I have one other son, but he lives in California so he can surf and fish. He prefers the city to the Southwest deserts and mountains, so is rarely traveling with us. But he does create art.

So now you basically have an idea of who we are and why we're on the road a lot -- and why our yard looks like a junk pile (I vow to someday make it look like a yard!). I will try to keep you tuned in to our travels and what we find. Sometimes it's just ho-hum, but a lot of times are really exciting!