Welcome to my site:
This site is open to anyone but is unlikely to be of much interest to anyone outside the family.
Note 1: Due to the way 'Blogspot' was developed there is a limit to the number of items that can be placed on the thread, when you come to what looks like the 'end' of the site look for the link 'older posts' and click on that to continue viewing the blog site.
Note 2: Blogspot is a Google product which is no longer being supported by them. If you find something you want to keep then you should download it or copy it as there is no way to guarantee it will be there next time you go to look at it.
10/19/20
Just a general update on health issues.
Between approx 9/7 and 9/17/2020, it seems that I had what I call the 'Chinese Flu'. Shortly after this I had my yearly physical and the blood work showed that I had recently gotten that flu. My GP tells me that I am now 'immune' so that is a good thing even through I did feel poorly for some days and even lost some weight which was a side benefit even if it was a hard way to lose weight!
6/1/20
(Photo Blog Author: 6/16/20 Backyard)
CHANGING TO LARGER SCREEN TV
With the 46" Sony I noticed that I had to squint sometimes to read the channel lineup.
2 ways to solve this problem:
A. Move the Lazy Boy chair closer to the TV
B. Buy a new LG 65" TV
Guess which I did.
1/22/2020
Traded in the 2016 Ford Explorer Limited for a Ford Explorer Limited 2020, both had ruby red exterior and black interior. I am averaging 10.4 miles a day, probably should have just signed up for Uber or one of those ride services. Here is the new 2020 Ford Explorer Limited:
Trade in was valued at $21,000 and I put $25,578.35 with it for a total vehicle cost of $46,578.35.
Misc Info June 11, 2020: My health has been so-so. Issues first came up about 2005 then in 2007 I went to India for the replacement of a heart valve with an artificial valve. This was at the Apollo Hospital in Delhi, India.
This sort of thing is called Medical Tourism, where you leave the US for another country and get more reasonably priced medical care.
There were some complications once I got back to the US and I ended up spending another 2 weeks in 2 local hospitals.
I now use a cane to assist in getting around. My will has been made out for the last dozen years, and updated every now and then. I am not leaving anything to my ex-wife or the son and daughter. I had considered shipping them some photo albums etc, but I decided not to bother and instead set up this blog site with photos and information.
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7/15/20 from facebook post
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This sort of thing is called Medical Tourism, where you leave the US for another country and get more reasonably priced medical care.
There were some complications once I got back to the US and I ended up spending another 2 weeks in 2 local hospitals.
I now use a cane to assist in getting around. My will has been made out for the last dozen years, and updated every now and then. I am not leaving anything to my ex-wife or the son and daughter. I had considered shipping them some photo albums etc, but I decided not to bother and instead set up this blog site with photos and information.
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7/15/20 from facebook post
DO YOU HAVE A WILL? INFO FROM THE ARCHIVES FYI:
I need to go back in time quite a bit, to the late 1970's to set the stage for how this ended in 2001.
My grandfather was into stocks all his life, bought them mostly and seldom sold any. He encouraged me to put my little savings into some stocks - this when I was in grade school and then in High School.
So eventually he passed on, leaving his portfolio to his wife, my grandmother. It remained pretty much unchanged, little if any was spent. Then she also passed on and I returned to the family home in Cook County, Illinois for her funeral.
During my few days of visiting before going back to my home I asked my mother if 'grandma' had left a will. I am going to take a guess that this was about 1978, I was about 32 years old. My mother simply said 'No, she didn't have a will, she wanted me to have everything'.
Well I was just asking a casual question and the reply was all I needed and I didn't think of it again for over 20 years. Then my mother passed on in 2001 and in her will she nominated me as her executor for the estate and I went up to Cook County (think Chicago suburb here) home to start the ball rolling.
Now most of this is done by a section of the bank which assigns a rep to move it along and also the bank lawyer is working on it to a certain extent, but still decesions have to be made by the executor (me), the house has to be sold but even before that, the executor has to see to the disposal of all manner of stuff.
Drawers long shut must be opened, expired records tossed out, clothing given to the church for their rummage sale, a lot of stuff cramed into my 5 day visit.
Now my mother (and father also) was in the Marines and she had a lot of correspondence from that plus she was to a certain extent a writer of stories she tried to market. I had file cabinets of stuff to glance at, make a decision: keep or toss out. Almost all was tossed out. Papers from the 1950's ended up in the trash.
All, that is, but one five page item that should have been long ago trashed. It was my grandmothers will and in it she left the stocks and some money to be divided equally between my mother and myself. I expect that the total was about $300,000, half to me half to my mother. The will was never disclosed or filed for probate as it should have been.
So I guess the moral of the story, if there is one, is that you can't even trust your mother when money is involved.
As the years had passed I also went back to college to get a 2nd degree, this in paralegal studies and the favorite course for me was titled: "Wills, Trusts and Probate" This was 1985-6, pretty much between my mother saying there was no will and her demise.
So when the lawyer for the bank forwarded me a copy of my mothers executed will during those 5 days I spent at my old home, I got as far as page 3 and stopped everything to call both the bank rep and the bank attorney.
My mother had given various bequests to this or that person, then for the main body of her will she gave away percentages of the remaining funds (ie: stocks and cash in various accounts). I got 50% another person got 15 percent, the VFW got 5% and after listing all this the sentence that got me on the phone to the bank officials read- ". . . and my son can choose any property he wants".
Possibly she intended I could have the toaster, or a favorite lamp or some photos. Very sloppy drafting of this will, the lawyer should never have let something so ambiguous be in the will. Happily for me he made a mistake.
Now 'property' has a significant legal definition, property is 'anything of value'. It can be a toaster, a lamp, or stocks, money in accounts etc. Property is 'anything of value'.
So in my 2 phone calls I read the relevant sentence to them and told them that 'I choose everything'. So that odd little sentence that probably meant something different to my mother, got me from having 50% of the estate to having 100% of it (less some specific bequests).
The stocks my grandfather bought, passed down to my grandmother largely intact, then from her to my mother (who should have had only half of it) and finally 30 or so years after my grandmother died I regained the bulk of my grandfathers stock portfolio, still about $300,000.
So what is learned from all this?
1) Never trust your mother,
2) Take law classes, particularly those involving wills,
3) If you are a beneficiary to a will be sure and read the damn thing,
4) All of the above!
I believe I mentioned that I always do my own will, and have it vetted by my attorney.
My own estate isn't much and it isn't complicated so I can do my own, and in fact this summer I will re-draft it and get it witnessed.
(photo: my grandmother Mabel Hunter, 1970, Ft Lauderdale, Fla)
11/26/19
The last cut and yard cleanup for the year (cost $50)
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NOTE: Since I am highlighting and pasting various sections of other of my 250 or so blog sites there will be duplication here and there. I will try to delete such, but I will not take a lot of time looking for duplicates as I have other things to do.
Posted on Sat. 4/20/19
ANOTHER GOVT REG TO WASTE TAXPAYER $ AND TIME
Got the yearly renewal notice for plates. State wants their $20 renewal fee.
This time around I need to get the car inspected which in most places costs $25.
Usually I don't have a vehicle long enough to have to get an inspection, but this time around I put off an Explorer 2019 purchase as the E is being completely redone for 2020 so no use wasting $ to buy a 2019, which is going to be a short production year for the E anyway.
Last 2 times I purchased I said it would be the last time as I didn't think I would live long enough to have to buy another car. Unfortunately I am still here and unless I get lucky it seems I will be having to buy a 2020.
(as you scroll through this blog you will see a lot of photos of this red car, guess I just like the damn thing)
(as you scroll through this blog you will see a lot of photos of this red car, guess I just like the damn thing)
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I received a Publisher's Clearinghouse Sweepstakes notification that says I can win up to $5,000 a week for life if I send back the entry form and win.
A closer reading of the material discloses that the odds of winning are 1 in 6,200,000,000 (1 in 6.2 Billion).
Coincidentally that is the same chance that Trump has in getting the Democrats to fund the needed border wall/fence.
Hey, I sent in the entry form anyway.
3/20/19
Had a cleaning service come in today. 3 maids, cost $312 and $40 for a tip. Something to do every 3 years or so.
The below 2 photos show the 'old' wooden fence, now there is a new one which cost a few bucks under $3,000.
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3/5/19
$265 MIROTECH KNIFE ARRIVED
Just 2 comments FYI:
A) When ordering they send it 'Signature Required' via UPS, this is a pain in the rear. If I had known up front that someone had to be home to sign for it I would have had it directed to my POB. They should let you know of this requirement before you arrange for the delivery.
B) The release slider on the side of the knife works hard. Probably a safeguard so it won't suddenly spring open in your pocket, but still, be advised that to open or close it is going to require some effort.
Otherwise it is just as expected.
Knife is:
Ultratech OD Green D/E Automatic OTF D/A Knife (3.44 in Satin Plain M390) 122-40D.
Ultratech OD Green D/E Automatic OTF D/A Knife (3.44 in Satin Plain M390) 122-40D.
Got this rather expensive knife today. SN: 102162
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12/7/18
Above: 'Office' really my spare bedroom at home.
Above: I get most of my books from the local library but also have a good supply of purchased books. The horse's head book ends were purchased in Mexico as a gift for my mother 45 or so years ago and I got them back when I was in Orland Park to settle her estate.
Below: I was considering a new car to replace the 2016 but didn't find anything I was real interested in. Maybe when more 2019's are available I will trade this in and add 25K more for a new one.
12/31/18
Dinner New Years Eve 2018
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7/16/18
Above: current home for 2 3/4 yrs
2018 - New fence cost a few bucks under $3,000 for 160 ft / 1 gate
6/2018 - going to lunch at IHOP, Ford Explorer red 2016 is mine
Above: Still have my old ID card from my first college\
Below: photo from about age 5 (around 1951)
I asked my grandmother Mabel Kelly Hunter, several times to set down info of our earlier days, she was not interested, however it seems that my mother Beverly Elaine Hunter (Harris), along with info from my grandmother, did set down the below items of information.
Here it is FYI:
Below: Mabel Hunter (my grandmother), on a visit to my home 1025 NW 13th Street, Ft Lauderdale, Fla, Jan 1972 and prayer card from her death July 1974. I attended her funeral and was a pall bearer.
Owned a condo for a few years 2007 until about 2011, sold it back to the developer for a $65,000 loss and was glad to have gotten rid of it.
Purchased this Ford Escape V6 Dec 15, 2009, an early Xmas present for myself. $16,700 plus 2002 Explorer trade in and some dealer discounts.
Above: Robert J Hunter, Wife Thelma and myself (Charles E Harris ll)
Above: My only military service was one semester at Panhandle A & M College in Goodwell, Oklahoma 1965. (Sept 65 to Jan 66)
Below: Norman Hegyi and his step brother Mark Von See, taken by me. We worked at the Silver Lake Country Club in Orland Park, Illinois. 2 summers and after high school also. (freshman and Sophmor years 1960-1962) Note: I started at 85 cents an hour and as I recall got up to $1.35 an hour.
Here it is FYI:
Beverly Elaine Anderson, "United States Social Security Death Index" (my mother)
| Given Name: | Beverly |
| Middle Name: | Elaine |
| Surname: | Anderson |
| Name Suffix: | Mrs. |
| Birth Date: | 31 December 1921 |
| Social Security Number: | 338-14-4818 |
| State: | Illinois |
| Last Place of Residence: | Orland Park, Cook, Illinois |
| Previous Residence Postal Code: | 60462 |
| Event Date: | 16 January 2001 |
| Age: | 80 |
Above Photo: Robert James Hunter (grandfather) and Mabel Kelly Hunter (grandmother) in their apartment in Blue Island, Illinois. About 1966.
2010 Escape replaces 2002 Explorer
The 'old' Green 2002 V8 Ford Explorer was replaced in Dec of 2009 with a Blue 2010 Ford Escape V6, the old one had 59,788 miles on it. The new vehicle is really just a 'junior' Explorer. It was 8 yrs old and it was time to trade it in for something new.
Labels: Ford Escape, Ford Explorer
Just FYI:
Various items pulled from other blog sources are in no worthwhile order, sorta higgly piggly, this is because the photos and documents here are selected to be sent on to other family members as documentary items for the family they had little contact with.
More like what the Govt calls a 'document dump'. I am providing this in lieu of sending off boxes or photos etc. That would not be worth the postage. Putting some (maybe 2%) of items online will give info should any of them want to know about this side of the family.
4 below photos taken at 1025 NW 13th St, Ft. Lauderdale, Fla 1971-72. These were after my wife had left me to go back to NM.
Below 3 photos taken at 708 NW 3rd Ave, Lake Worth.
Top: Wife Thelma Natseway Harris, Mabel Hunter and Robert James Hunter (grandparents) For a VERY brief time Thelma worked at a cafeteria in Lake Worth. The 1964 Chevy Impala was later given to me by my grandparents.
Below: Norman Hegyi and his step brother Mark Von See, taken by me. We worked at the Silver Lake Country Club in Orland Park, Illinois. 2 summers and after high school also. (freshman and Sophmor years 1960-1962) Note: I started at 85 cents an hour and as I recall got up to $1.35 an hour.
Below: My great grandmothers death certificate:
Below is 1952 Plymouth which my mother bought new.
Below is my 1964 Corvair Monza, shown in the driveway of the family house in Laguna Woods, Orland Park, Illinois. This is the car I took with me to Panhandle A & M College and used up until it was sold the summer of 1966. Thelma rode it it often.
Below: Thelma Natseway visiting me at 1520 University NE #2, Albuquerque NM 87102 (1972?)
Below: Me and 'Butch' as a puppy at rented downstairs apt in Lake Worth, Fla 1966
Above my Home: about 2006
Below: Fla condo, bottom floor on corner. Never buy a condo!
2 Below Photos: Top shows the incision that was made when I got back to the US from my India heart valve operation. Turns out I had a serious infection Oct 2007 and I was back in 2 local hospitals to get that sorted out.
2nd one down is me and some of the staff in the Apollo Hospital in Delhi, India. Photo: October 2007
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Below: This is a reasonably current photo of the first place that Thelma and I lived. It was 1013 Iron SW in Albuq. Just a block north of the zoo. We were in the 2nd (rear) apt of the smaller duplex in the center of the photo. Rented from Toby Chavez. We were there about 2 1/2 months in the summer of 1966 and we left there for Florida where I was to attend Florida Atlantic Univ in Boca Raton.
Below: 7901 Redondo Ln, (Laguna Woods) Orland Park, Illinois. Although the photo was taken some years after I left 'home' this was where I grew up, from 1953 to 1964.
1/1/19 Current Inventory:
1/1/19
The below 7 photos are screen shots from posts on other of my Harris blog sites. For some reason I could not get them pasted in from those sites both Picassa and Blogspot are old creaky apps and they don't get any easier to work with as time passes.
NOTE: Since I am highlighting and pasting various sections of other of my 250 or so blog sites there will be duplication here and there. I will try to delete such, but I will not take a lot of time looking for duplicates as I have other things to do.
Friday, January 16, 2015
Saturday, November 01, 2014
Put up a message board for my old elementary school and high school. Seems no one uses it but it has some info on those schools.
Tuesday, September 09, 2014
1964 Orland Park Elementary School Graduates
49 Graduated and most went on to Carl Sandberg HS where our 49 disappeared into the 1,500 or so students at CSHA. I don't recall ever having a class with one of my old OPE grads the entire 4 years at CSHS. I only saw former grade school friends on the school bus and of course in Laguna Woods itself.
The night of the graduation ceremony my mother, step father and I had dinner at a local restaurant and for my graduation present I got a Timex watch. First watch I ever had.
Around 1956 or 1957, Orland Park, Ill.
For more info on my grade school and high school years go to:
http://orlandpark1960.freeforums.net/ Saturday, August 16, 2014
2 poems are by B. E. Anderson and this was put together about 1974 and posted here in Feb. 2006 by C. Harris
1/28/14
World Ends! Film at 11
I had a 1 pm appt to get the cars oil changed, got 3 miles from home in this traffic and called to cancel the service until Thurs.
Whole outing, all six miles took nearly 3 hours start to finish, then couldn't get the car up the hill and into the garage, its now parked at the curb.
Whole outing, all six miles took nearly 3 hours start to finish, then couldn't get the car up the hill and into the garage, its now parked at the curb.
Schools will be closed on Wednesday; most county government offices will have a delayed start while others, including some courts, will be closed.
Despite plenty of advance warning, Tuesday's winter storm seemed to take many in metro by surprise, as commuters sent home by their employers and students released early were stranded on roads and at schools into the evening hours.
As much as three inches of snow were reported in the metro area, and more than an inch or more in places in the County.
But it was ice that quickly hardened on roads and bridges that made driving treacherous, and all but impossible for many everyday motorists and school bus drivers to go very far at all. Late Tuesday afternoon, Gov. declared a state of
emergency.
As much as three inches of snow were reported in the metro area, and more than an inch or more in places in the County.
But it was ice that quickly hardened on roads and bridges that made driving treacherous, and all but impossible for many everyday motorists and school bus drivers to go very far at all. Late Tuesday afternoon, Gov. declared a state of
emergency.
Thursday, December 12, 2013
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
The First home I remember
I remember playing under the porch with neighbor kids and getting extremely dirty and of course yelled at by my grandmother. My mother and I were here from about 1947 to 1952.
7234 S LAFAYETTE Ave CHICAGO, IL 60620
Beautiful & Unique total gut rehab brick 2-flat located in Greater Grand Crossing! with exterior/interior renovations new windows, tuckpointing, plumbing, heating, electrical, elegant lighting, soffits, arch interior wall designs, hardwood floors, exotic tile in bathrooms, jacuzzi tubs, 42in kitchen cabinets, appliances incuded, granite counter top, alarm system, enclosed porch. Too much to list! Close to Dan Ryan!
| Property Type: | Multi-Family (2-4 Unit), 2 Flat |
| County | Cook |
| Community | Greater Grand Crossing |
| MLS# | 07524958 see: |
Robert J Hunter, my grandfather
Sunday, November 11, 2012
My grandfather, posted on Memorial Day 2012
Robert James Hunter, Sgt.
US Army Discharge Information
Born: Sept 8, 1891
Died: April 9, 1969
Discharged as Sgt of Infantry June 2, 1919
Inducted March 6, 1916 at Chicago.
Prior Service: Illinois National Guard, Nov 4 1909 to Nov 3, 1912
Campaigns:
Defense of Verdin Sector, June 23 to July 1, 1918,
Offensive Hamel July 4, 1918,
Somme Offensive Aug 8-19, 1918,
Defense Marbasch Sector Oct 26 - Nov 9, 1918,
Mosselle Offensive Nov 9-11th 1918.
Army of Occupation April 12, 1919 to April 19, 1919.
Discharged June 2, 1919
for larger image right click and open in new window:
MEDAL: THE GREAT WAR FOR CIVILIZATION
Bars for:
Somme Offensive
St Mihiel
Meuse-Argonne
Defensive Sector
(Top: Front, Below: Reverse)
Dog Tags from WWI
Updated 7/7/18
Thursday, May 31, 2018
ANYBODY OLD ENOUGH TO RECALL ROAD TRIPS WHERE YOU SLEPT IN YOUR CAR?
My mother got this 1952 Plymouth and I recall several road trips to visit relations in Houston and Jasper, Arkansas, where we pulled over at dark and slept in the car until the next morning.
This was the early 50's and while there hotels in the cities for travelers, auto courts were just coming into play in mid-America and it was still a good few years before motels came on the scene.
It wasn't unusual on the outskirts of small or mid-sized cities to find a scattering of cars pulled over to the side of the major roads, travelers just saving $ by sleeping in their cars and going on with their trips the next day.
(Photo summer of 1952, Chicago, me at 6 and the 52 Plymouth.)
The Name and Family of Harris
Now keep in mind that this is generic information and our branch of 'Harris' has no royal connections, but it is of some interest so I will put it here for general reference.
It is claimed by some authorities that the name of Harris is of Welsh origin and means “son of Harry.” The Christian name of Harry is a diminutive form of Henry, which was originally German. Its meaning is “chief or head of the house.” Hence, the probable meaning of Harris is “son of the head of the house.”
About 1086 one Hericues of France has a son who was called Ivo Fitz Herice or de Heris. Many of the branches of the Harris family are descended from Ivo, who became Viscount of Nottingham before 1130. The sons of Ivo were Ralph Hauseline, Robert Fitz Herice, William de Heris of Nottingham, and Humphrey Harris of Berks. The difference in surnames of men belonging to the same family, which occurs here, was quite usual at that time.
It is believed that from this line were descended most of the numerous branches which were to be found in England and Wales in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. In the eighteenth century members of the family emigrated to Ireland, but the greater portion of these soon went on to America.
John Harris, of Wiltshire, England, bought from William Penn in 1681 the right to lands in the proposed Colony of Pennsylvania. These lands he left to his son, John and also Edward. The brothers, however, sold the lands, and the sons of the elder of the two, John, are believed to have been the first of this line to emigrate to America. The name of these emigrants were William, John, and Thomas.
Thomas appears on the records of Chester County, Pa., in 1747. John is on record in 1754 in Bucks County, Pa., and William came to Philadelphia from Ireland, where he had lived for some time in 1742.
John Harris, of Charlestown, Mass. (not the John mentioned above), married Amy Hills at Charlestown in 1658. Their children were Samuel, John, Thomas (died early), Thomas, and Joseph. Joseph, the youngest son of John, was the father by his wife, Naomi Stevens, of Joseph, Jonathan, Amos, Samuel, Naomi, Mary, Josiah, and Huldah.
Another of the name to settle in Charlestown was Thomas Harris, who, with his wife, Elizabeth, came from England in 1630. Anthony, Daniel, John, Thomas, Ann, and William are believed to have been their children.
The date when Robert Harris, of Gloucestershire, removed to America is not certain, but his name is on record in Roxbury, Mass., as having married Elizabeth Boffee (or Boughey) in 1642. The children of this marriage were Elizabeth, John, Timothy, Daniel, and Priscilla.
James Harris, of Boston, married Sarah Deccison in 1666 and had by her eleven children; Sarah, Deborah, James, Margaret (died early), Asa, Elizabeth, Mary (died early), Hannah, Ephriam (died early), Mary, and Ephriam.
The eldest son of James and Sarah, Lieutenant James Harris, had issue by his wife, Sarah Rogers, of Sarah, James, Mary, Jonathan, Alpheus (died early), Abigail, Lebbeus, Alpheus, and Deligh.
Another James Harris, progenitor of the New Jersey branch of the family, emigrated from the city of Bristol, Somersetshire, England, to Essex County, New Jersey, about 1725. He married a Miss Boleyn and had Abigail, Thomas, George, John, and three other sons whose names are not certain.
Captain Thomas Harris, a member of the Virginia Company in 1609, was probably the first of the name to settle in America. He made his home in Virginia in the year 1611. Captain Harris married, first, Adrea Osborne, and had one son, Robert. By his second wife, Joane, he had three children, Thomas, William, and Mary.
Others of the Harris family to settle in Virginia were Sir William Harris, who came from Grixes, England, and was one of the incorporators of the third Virginia Charter; and Henry Harris, who came to Virginia in 1691 and was given a grant of land by King William of England.
Those of the Harris family who fought as officers in the war of the Revolution were Lieutenant Arthur, of Maryland; Lieutenant Benjamed, of Virginia; Captain David, of Pennsylvania; Lieutenant Edward, of Vermont; Lieutenant-Colonel Francis Henry, of Virginia; Surgeon Jacob, of New Jersey; Lieutenant- Colonel James, of Virginia; Lieutenant John, of Virginia; Lieutenant Jordan, of Virginia; Lieutenant-Colonel Joseph, of Connecticut; Ensign Joseph, of Rhode Island; Captain Josiah, of Mass; Captain Robert, of Maryland; Lieutenant Robert, of Massachusetts; Major Thomas, of North Carolina; Surgeon Tucker, of South Carolina; Lieutenant West, of North Carolina; and Lieutenant William, of Pennsylvania.
The favorite Christian names of the family for its male members were William, Thomas, John, and Joseph.
-- Compiled by Media Research Bureau
Washington, D.C.
The Harris Coat of Arms
A Coat of Arms is an emblem or a device which is displayed by titled persons, persons of royal blood, and their descendants. Coats of Arms were originally used for purposes of identification and recognition on the field of battle as well as in civic life.
It is claimed by some writers that Coats of Arms, in a crude form, were used by Noah’s sons after the flood. There are records of other coats of arms, in one crude form or another, at different periods of ancient history. Heraldry, however, as we know it today, did not become of much importance until soon after the invasion of England by William the Conqueror, A.D. 1066.
The Harris Coat of Arms is the basic arms of the Welsh family of Harris. The ancestors of the Earls of Malmesbury bore this coat, and it forms part of their insignia today. In a simpler form, and with different motto and crest, it is the Arms of the descendents of William de Heriz, who came to England from France in the middle of the twelfth century.
Coats of Arms similar to this are used by Baron Harris; the Harrises of Radford, county Devon; of Radford Boreatton, county Salop, Bowden; and many others. Numerous other branches of the Harris family had coats of arms resembling it.
This is the most widely used of all Harris Coats of Arms and had been in existence for many centuries. It is described in “Burke’s General Armory”, “Burke’s Landed Gentry”, “Burke’s Peerage and Baronetage”, and other reliable works of heraldry, in many cases accompanied by illustrations and pedigrees. It had been used for generations by many American branches of the Harris family.
Sir Bernard Burke, of Heralds College, London, said; “Heraldry is prized by all who can show honorable ancestry or wish to found honorable families.”
Besides its family significance this Coat of Arms makes an excellent mural decoration and inspires the admiration and comment of all who see it.
It is quite appropriate that members of the Harris family who have a pride in their ancestry should display the family Coat of Arms, in proper colors.
Description:
Heraldic Language
Arms Azure, a chevron ermine between three hedgehogs
Crest A hedgehog
Motto Ubique patriam reminisci
English Description
Arms An ermine chevron between three golden hedgehogs on a blue shield
Crest A golden hedgehog
Motto To remember your county everywhere
(From: J. Montgomery Seaver’s Harris Family Records published by the American Historical-Genealogical Society.)
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3/24/18
New addition, cost w/box of ammo just under $700.
#1 (Top) Sat. March 24, 2018
COLT Combat Cmdr, .45 Satin
#70SC39796
#2
KEL - TEC 9 mm Blue
132496
#3
SDIG SAUER .380 Equinox, Blue/silver
27B373967
#4
NORTH AMERICAN ARMS .22 Nickel
L024265
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Lunch at local IHOP March 18, 2018
12/6/17
1940 CENSUS INFO NOW PUBLIC
Do you have any interest in knowing about your family or friends from 1940?
I did. I had the address of where my grandparents, great grandmother and mother lived in Chicago (17th Ward). So I looked up the address and found very interesting info.
In 1946 I became a member of this household and lived there for about 5 more years. So I remember the house, neighborhood and of course my family.
What I found in looking up the address was a very neat and legible page with many questions. This was in the days when people freely gave out information about their households.
I copied the page, copied a blank census form of that era and completed it online, taking the handwritten information and inputting it in a printed typeface.
You can do that also, just takes some time and effort, but even if you never bother to make up a more legible form like I did, you still can fairly easily access your family records, and keep in mind that the info is available for pretty much everyone on that block or blocks.
So you can do a bit of snooping to find out where the neighbors worked, what they made, who they were etc.
The cute kid in the below photo is 'me' from Easter 1949, standing on the sidewalk in front of the Chicago, Illinois house researched in the records below.
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11/23/17
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Here is a direct link to another blog site that has this story:
https://gonetoglory1876.blogspot.com/
Below is a short story from years ago:
GONE TO GLORY
(London, 1991 - Georgia, 2017)
Unlike most of my New Years resolutions, the one I made in this centenary year of 1900, I faithfully kept. The fulfillment of my housekeeping duties eventually brought me to a stack of tattered newspapers that I had kept, sitting on an old trunk in the darkest part of my attic.
Although up to that point I had been suitably ruthless in discarding various odds and ends I found myself brought to a standstill by my almost forgotten copies of the Deadwood Courier, variously dated in June and July of 1876.
With muttered apologies to sleeping dogs everywhere, I eventually undid the latch and opened the musty trunk. Glinting dully in the light cast by my lantern, just as I had left it 20 years and more ago was a tarnished brass bugle with a frayed yellow cord. The raised insignia on the top was that of crossed sabers and the “U” and “S” to either side and the numeral 7 above.
With a clarity I had hoped never again to experience I recalled an expedition to the Powder River area of what later became the 41st State of Montana. During that more adventurous period of my life I was bitten by the gold bug and my late brother Seth and I joined an expedition in May of 1875 and we set off with high hopes and a limited budget to seek our fortunes.
Montana Territory was remote but beautiful. It was by recent treaty the home of the Sioux Nation who had been promised by President Ulysses S. Grant that they could live there undisturbed so long as the sun rose and the rivers flowed.
Unlike the White man the Indians believed that a promise given by a chief was to be respected. Perhaps they would have been left to themselves but a trapper who had also done some prospecting around Sutters’ Mill in the 50's found some “color” as we called gold dust in those days.
Seth and I were in Rapid City that summer and full of piss n’ vinegar, so when the opportunity to join Ed Bismark’s group presented itself we quickly agreed. We wouldn’t have recognized a gold bar if it had dropped on our toes but we had some time on our hands and the Indians were said to be down Laramie way keeping the Buffalo Soldiers on the hop.
We stopped by the dry goods store and got some extra rounds for our.44's and started west on our 130 mile journey.
So many things went wrong with that trip that after only 7 weeks we were down to just five in the party, the others having had enough of the rattlesnakes and the baking heat of the hottest summer known in those parts since the White man had come, most had decamped for the saloons of Silver City and Deadwood. We resolved to try just one more spot, a tributary of the Yellowstone, west of the Rosebud. It wasn’t much of a river, only knee high at the deepest, tho to judge by the river banks it would in most years, be considerably higher.
The 24th of June that year was only memorable for being extremely hot and also Seth’s 30th birthday. We had as much of a celebration as 5 people could reasonably expect to have with 2 bottles of whiskey and the nearest town 100 miles away. None the less the next day I was the only one frisky enough to want to do any prospecting.
So as not to annoy my companions with a show of my enthusiastic gold panning I left the camp quietly.
After several grueling hours of working steadily up river I was a good three miles from camp, not a particularly smart more in Indian country and I had resolved to start back when I thought I heard faint shouted commands and the jingle of harness which was caused, I felt certain, by the passage of a considerable body of men further up the river.
Having been without sight of any but our own party for almost two months I was anxious to get news of what was happening in the world. I hastily emptied my pan and snatched up my Sharps Buffalo Gun and legged it for the bend in the river, beyond which I was hoping to find some new faces and perhaps even news of any new gold strikes.
No more than a stones throw from the bend I came to the place where several hundred shod horses had forded the river. I pressed on in their wake and shortly came upon a small but hastily deserted Indian encampment. Several Teepee’s, a still smouldering fire and a divergence in the tracks, the larger group going North and a somewhat smaller group heading South.
Plainly I could not keep up with mounted men so with a second glance at the recently abandoned Indian camp I prepared to start back the four miles or so to our own camp site.
A scattering of shots got my instant attention. I dropped to the ground before I realized that no one was firing at me. In the distance a bugle called, more shots, a cheer and a second call which I clearly recognized as the charge. Intense and sustained firing now to the north. It was four miles to the dubious safety of my four companions or just over the hill to what must surely be several hundred U.S. Cavalry.
Not much of a choice in the suddenly hostile countryside. I was up and running Northward in a flash. Breasting the rise I looked down at the banks of the river and saw a sight that would forever be etched in my memory. Engulfed in a swirling sea of mounted Indians was a rapidly diminishing knot of blue uniforms struggling up the slopes of a gentle hill towards the high ground at the top. Seeing no chance of help from that quarter I quickly turned to retrace my route, but in my haste I stumbled on a half buried rock and I felt my feet going out from under me.
It could have been hours or minutes later when I felt a hand shaking my shoulder and Seth was asking if I was all right. I croaked out a reply about my throbbing headache, grunted and haltingly got to my knees. I pointed feebly towards the river and after a quick glance Seth said that it was a real nice view but that if I was finished with my nap we should start back for the camp or not expect anything to be left from dinner.
Seth helped me up, handed me my Sharps, then picked up my hat and from under it produced a dented brass bugle which he admired briefly before commenting that I was suppose to be looking for gold, not lost army property. With a final look North to the placid and empty hillside by the river I followed Seth. By the time we got back to camp I had decided not to say anything about what I thought I had seen. I got some good natured ribbing about the dangers of sleeping on the Job with Indians about.
As we had no luck in finding any “color”, the 25th of June was our last day and we packed it in. Seth went back to our folk’s place in Council Bluffs and I sent the bugle back with him. I remained in Wheeler that winter and put my Sharps to good use doing some hunting for the army at Ft. Peck. They hadn’t gotten any contracts let for the supply of beef, so except for the supplies coming up the Yellowstone by steam boat, the only fresh meat for the fort was what buffalo and elk I brought in.
The talk that Winter was all about the Indian troubles. The Sioux and Cheyenne had been raising Hell as close as 10 miles from Laramie and enough was enough. Gen. P. N. Sheridan was told to round them up and to make sure they stayed on their reservation.
My having recently been out in the Yellowstone and Black Hills areas it was natural for the army to offer me a job as civilian scout for a 90 day term. I signed on in mid-March.
Units of the 5th and 7th cavalry assembled at various frontier outposts and after considerable delay we rode out of Camp Cook on the Little Missouri in mid-May to the 7th Cavalry tune of “Gary Owen”.
For over a month 1,200 men and horses, in 3 columns followed one trail after another without finding more than small encampments of women and children. Finally our Cree Indian scouts came across the tracks of several very large groups moving North from Wyoming into the Rosebud area.
By now my contract had expired and I was simply riding along for a few more days until I could find a likely place to try my luck just one more time in panning for gold.
And so it was that on the 24th of June 1876 I was again in the Big Horn/Powder River area. This time with 9 troops of the 7th Cavalry. At my recommendation we stopped that night at the same camp where Seth and I had been prospecting the year before.
The final evening I spent with the troops I was invited to eat with the Colonel and I was able to give him a good commentary on the surrounding countryside based on my wanderings the previous year.
However, I decided not to make mention of my hallucination or dream of the year past. The Colonel was an educated man and a graduate of West Point, not a man likely to appreciate such campfire stories from a departing civilian scout.
The next morning the bugler sounded “Boots and Saddles” and I watched my former comrades ride out. Gathering my meager belongings I started out after them at a more leisurely pace, better suited to my new civilian status.
A few miles later I forded the river after them and almost immediately came to a small but deserted Indian encampment. The command had divided here as I knew they had planned. Capt. Benteen taking 4 troops South to join Maj. Reno, while the Colonel continued North with 5 troops.
I continued on westwards at a good pace anxious to reach the foothills of the Bighorn Mountains. I cut many sign of large and small groups of Indians moving Northeast. Whole villages were on the move and had passed by only a few days previously. My luck held and I saw not a living soul, White or Red.
June faded into July, August came and went, in early September the first bite of Winter was in the air and I decided to head on over to Deadwood in the hopes of getting on with Bill Hickok as a deputy or even riding shotgun for the Overland State.
It was by then obvious to me that my fortune was not to be made as a prospector.
A weeks ride brought me to the fringe of civilization in the form of a fence line and I followed that to a line shack which looked promising for a hot meal and some civilized company. Anyone out of work or riding the fence line as they say, was always welcome to drop by for a free meal at any ranch or line shack. So I was welcomed by a grizzled old cowboy and we swapped lies and inquired of mutual friends.
A pile of dated issues of the Deadwood Courier newspaper was stacked next to the pot bellied stove and pointing to them I asked what was going on in the world? He replied that he was a bit shy of ‘book learnin’ but I was welcome to help myself as he was just using scraps of them to light fires in the stove.
I picked up the top paper which had been torn across and wadded up, I was going to pass on to the next paper but the heavy black border of a death notice caught my eye and I read with interest: “. . . was the youngest Brevet Major General of the Union’s Michigan Cavalry Brigade at Gettysburg, accompanied Gen. Sheridan on his last great cavalry raid. He led the last charge at Appomattox Court House which stopped Lee’s army and personally accepted Gen. Lee’s flag of truce.
Accepting a lesser rank of Lt. Colonel in the regular army at the end of the war, he served in the frontier Indian Wars, winning numerous victories and defeating Chief Black Kettle. In his final battle, June 25, 1876, he was beaten by Chief Crazy Horse and died alongside his brother Tom, a Captain in his command and 262 others in a fierce and bloody battle in the Black Hills, Montana Territory. He is survived by his wife Elizabeth.”
The papers I saved from the stove that day in September 1876 I had put with the dented bugle in my parents attic where they remained all these many years. I’ve often wondered if I should have mentioned my hallucination or vision to the Colonel that final evening, but perhaps he wouldn’t have thanked me for telling him what I thought I saw over the hill that day on the bank of the Little Bighorn river.
With a start I realized that the afternoon had gone and I quickly replaced my mementos in the old trunk, just before the lid slammed down my eyes were drawn for the final time to the last line of the obituary, “Gone To Glory: George Armstrong Custer, R.I.P.”
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Author: ‘C W Harris, this 6 page short story was started in London in 1991 and put away until April 2017 when I found a copy, did some minor edits and finished it off. I guess you could say that I am a pretty slow writer, but like the story of the turtle and hare, I finally got it finished.
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3/15/17
No the car wasn't repoed it is at the Ford dealer for a fix on the electronic throttle which has a service bulletin out. No charge to me, just an annoyance for a day.
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Below, Lahr, then 'West' Germany.
Aug 1994, Below, Buffalo NY Downtown.
June 15, 1999 Below - While on a 2 week vacation to Cape Town South Africa I got a SA driver license, it was awallet sized item, like our own documents, the shown item was just the larger form they provided you.
6/13/99 Signal Hill, Cape Town, South Africa during 2 week vacation
Below 3 taken at rental unit, 303 Beach Road, Sea Point, Cape Town 8080
Photo Below: Steve Henry, a friend from S. Africa.
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Sept 1994 - On vacation at home of friend out west.
9/94 at some amusement section of strip hotel
Below: Valetta, Malta
Above: Valetta Waterfront
Below: Sept 1995 Valetta, Malta, On Vacation
9/95 Valetta Harbor in background
Below: 11/16/96 London (Hammersmith bus station), UK
11/96 UK Visit - on train
7/94 Below: On a trip to Fla from Buffalo NY, Taken at Holiday Inn, Ft Lauderdale
During 7/94 I took photos of places in Fla that I had lived or stayed.
1st below is of my father's house at 3281 Boutwell Rd, Lake Worth Fla. He lived there until his death in the 1970's with his second wife Skeeter and step daughter. I first visited for 2 weeks in the summer of 1960 - later I visited many times as I lived in Florida also.
2nd is where I and wife Thelma lived at during my Junior year at Florida Atlantic Univ (Boca Raton) 310 S 3rd Ave in Lake Worth. Photo taken 9/94.
3rd below is 620 Allen Ave, Delray Bch where wife Thelma and I moved to after the 3rd St rental in Lake Worth. This was for a year+ during Senior Yr at FAU 1967-8, taken 9/94.
Below: Aug. 1994 Dining Room of rented condo - lived there 5 yrs and 2 months.
Below: 6/19/95 at condo putting away a newly purchased rechargeable lantern for hurricane season.
4/14/96 Below 1985 Chevy Astro Van, had it for years, originally bought in Oregon
4/14/96 Below: parking deck of shopping center.
Below: Jan 1996 at condo.
March 31, 1999, Kitchen of above rental condo
June 1995 condo
Below: Sept. 1999, 4 photos of me
2000/2002
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8/4/2004 - Backyard of home purchased in 2001. Still have the hat and the lawn furniture. The umbrella did get replaced.
Now and then I post and add photos to this blog, it is just for my own use and to document my life to a very limited extent.
Sunday, January 01, 2017
December
Always good to have something handy in case you need it.
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Sept 15, 2016 house at night:
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5/18/16
house, backyard. Fence was replaced in 2018 with $3,000 new board fence.
12/26/15
Some new things for the end of 2015. A new 11 yr old house for 150,000 and a new 2016 Ford Explorer for 45,280, a Rolex GMT watch for a few bucks under $10,000.
11/30/15
Purchased this 2016 Ford Explorer Limited edition last Friday for $45,272 cash, and turned in the leased 2013 Escape that I had for 2 yrs 9 months.
The 'old' house is gone and it has been replaced by a 3 bedroom 2 bath house The lot is smaller as it the house, but it is all that I need for just myself.
Purchased it for about $150,000 cash and moved in Sept, 2015. The place is 11 years old. I have taken out a homestead and age exemption of the property, this should take effect and greatly reduce the $1,200 tax for the property, but not until next tax time, already paid the higher cost for this tax season.
Shown below is myself, in the small bedroom used as an office. That is one of 4 of my mothers paintings that I have in the house. I ended up coming out ahead on the sale of the house and put some $9,850 into a Rolex watch, and the car shown above. The house purchase came out of other funds not attributed to the home sale.
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3/22/15
Looking at old photos I came across this one from 1979 when I was 33 yrs old. The emblem on right side is for the American Society for Industrial Security.
8 Photos at 'old house' where I lived for 15 years:
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In Sept 2007 I went to India for a heart valve replacement.
2 Photos of my current house
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Natseway: Wrongful Death
The entire appeals case runs 22 pages, mostly legal arguments. Here are 2 pages FYI, if you need more into then pull up the entire case.
https://law.justia.com/cases/new-mexico/supreme-court/1952/5542-0.html and at
http://www.nmcompcomm.us/nmcases/NMSC/1952/1952-NMSC-104.pdf
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