Trip on the S.S. Astoria by James B. Eddie Family (without James)

S.S. Astoria

Hamish Brown Eddie traveled between New York and Glasgow on the S.S. Astoria in April 1902 at the age of eight with his mother Margaret, and his sisters Margaret, Iona, and Marie (who was only two).  By 1910 he was living in Pasadena.  In 1917 he is listed in his draft registration as living at 474 E. 49th St, Los Angeles.  In 1920 he was living in Los Angeles, as head of household, with Harold (my grandfather) Margaret (my grandmother), my great-aunt Iona and her husband Irving Bowen, and my great-aunt Marie.  They were all in their twenties.

 

James B. Eddie family portrait

My cousin Claire writes "According to Uncle Don [Leddy, son of Harold and Margaret], this is the "Eddie Family:  Auntie I [Iona] and Grandpa Eddie [James B.] in the back, Aunt Marie, Uncle Hamish and 'my mother' (our grandmother [Margaret]) in front."  Thanks Claire!


More on James Eddie latter.

Jack's short encounter with Lee De Forest

Lee De Forest

Jack wrote in at a letter to nccc@contesting.com on Dec. 30, 2006  "I had a summer job as 'Office Boy' in a patent attorney's (Albert G. Morris) in Pasadena in 1934.  It was my first real job and I was paid $1 a day to run errands.  One day Lee De Forest came over from Hollywood to review his lawsuits with Mr. Morris and to file for some new patents.  I was sent over to the Pasadena City Hall to get some copies made of the size "C" drawings.  In those days before copying machines the only way one could get copies made was to wait a long time in an ammoniated atmosphere while blueprint copies were made of the drawings. Then I ran back to the office on the 10th floor of this building and delivered the original back to De Forest.  De Forest was spending a large part of his income on lawsuits against RCA and Hazeltine over his patents and also had legal problems with his 3 ex-wives.  At that time he was also wasting his talents on medical inventions including ultra-violet diathermy machines that only resulted in a good tan but no income.  He struck me as another frustrated inventor up against the best lawyers in the country that were hired by Sarnoff at RCA.  Later in life I also lost out to Sarnoff and his big money when he put his son in as an RCA distributor in the Central Valley when the TV boom took place.  But in 1934 I was making some money.  Some former executives were selling apples on the street just in order to eat.  The Great Depression was really tough and I am afraid that a good many of you have never been through such an experience.  It can happen again!  After buying a hamburger and a milkshake for 25 cents and paying 20 cents for a round trip to my home I still had 55 cents profit every day with no taxes to pay in those days and could spend the money on radio parts, including triode tubes."

Jane's Trip to North Dakoka by way of the Hotel Breen in St. Cloud Minn., 1939

Jane remembers this as her first trip, possibly written when she was twelve (and never sent to anyone...the letter begins To: ?).  They were headed to North Dakota where her father owned a farm that was rented to an O'Toole family.  The O'Toole's had 12 children and Jane thought that was wonderful since she was an only child.  The mother had it well organized so that the children did all the chores while she sat and chatted with my grandmother.  Jane was disappointed that when the O'Toole's visited them in Norwalk they did not bring the girl who was her own age:  it wasn't that child's turn to travel.  It is remarkable how much this early letter is in my mother's style and shows her personality.

James B. Eddie

My grandmother's father, James B. Eddie, has figured often already in these pages. He was at one time a missionary in Africa.  A book of his is published and available. A Vocabulary Of Kilolo: As Spoken By The Bankundu, A Section Of The Balolo Tribe, At Ikengo, Equator, Upper Congo (1887).  L. M. De Hailes is listed as co-author in the 1891 edition. 
 

Jane's Little Box

So I spent a lot of time at Jack and Jane's waiting for the Best Buy boys to deliver a new TV.  I found a small box in a larger box and photographed the contents while discussing them with Jane.  Here they are.

S

Somebody thought this poem was worth keeping in the box. Here's a lot of information on Wilbur D. Nesbit, the author.

Jane thinks this is a tintype of one of her uncles, uncle Bill?

Jane thinks that this is a tintype of one of her grandfathers.

Jane says that Mrs. Samuel L. McClelland is a relative, but I couldn't say how.

Jane says she had relatives in Sacramento, CA. Perhaps the first address is theirs.

Below is the actual box.  Imperial Granum was a well-known "medical food."  This one is dated 1877.  I also took a picture of the inside of the box with the various items left in it after I took out the photos, poem and obit.  I haven't been able to find anything that looks just like this box on the web.

H.M.S. Kilbirrnie BEC 1?

Jack has often told stories about being assigned to the British Navy.  Me refers to the ship as the HMS BEC 1.  I think it is the HMS Kilbirnie BEC1.  It was made by the Pullman Standard Car Company in Chicago.n 1943.  But Jack would have been 22, not 19 as stated in the note. Here's some information:  "Pullman Standard Car Manufacturing Company established a shipbuilding division and dived into wartime small ship design and construction.  The yard was on Lake Calumet, on the north side of 130th Street, at the most southerly point of the lake: you can see where it must have been but there is no sign of a shipyard there now.  Pullman built the boats in 40-ton blocks, just as we do today, the blocks being assembled in a fab shop on 111th Street and moved to the yard on gondola cars.  In two years, they built 34 PCEs, which were 180 feet long and weighed 640 tons, and 44 LSMs, which were 203 feet long and weighed 520 tons."Shipbuildinghistory.com  I also found that it was "temporarily assigned the hull number BEC 1 in expectation of transfer to Britain" Tiornu