Histories

GEDCOM line 21952 not recognizable or too long: () 1 SOUR @S01@ Information from family group sheets and temple records. DAD'S STORY Told to me, Arvilla, first child of Herbert and Arvilla Bernice, in November 1959. He said, "My father, George Philip Sanders, born 31 March 1859, in Bells River, Prince Edward Island, Canada, and my mother, Minnie Ada Ketcham, born 26 May 1864, in Maspeth, Long Island, New York, were married 25 January 1886. They met in Long Island where my father was working for the Long Island railroad, as a carpenter foreman. I'm the fourth of five children: three sisters, Genevieve Agnes, born 28 September 1887; Edith Rundell, born 7 November 1888; Minnie Ketcham, born 8 November 1890. I, Herbert Joshua Sanders, was born 26 July 1893, and my brother, George Philip, was born 27 July 1894. My father was raised by his oldest brother, Joseph, his parents having died when he was small. My father was 6 feet 2 inches tall in his stocking feet, very handsome and kind. He was raised on a farm till a young man, then learned the wheelwright and carpenters trade. My father was killed in a railroad accident when he was thirty-two and I was only two years old. My mother was tall, 5 feet 10 inches, and very pretty. She had dark brown eyes and dark hair, so loving and kind. She was a nurse. All her friends and neighbors knew what a wonderful nurse she was. She was the best cook in the world. Mother married Franklin Green Powers when I was five. When I was small, six to ten years old, we traveled all over the East going to race tracks. Race tracks was "Pop's" business. I went to Coney Island often, and roller skated, swam and played games. Impty, bimpty, diddly fig, One-ery, or-ere, Ick-ery Ann dee-la, doe-la, domin-ig Phil-isy, Phollisy, Nickolas Dan Ichee, pichee, domin-ichy, Stinklin, stonklin, Irish Mary om pom tusk ala-bala boo, Squeeby, squaby Buck. Out goes you. I was "King Pin" of our gang, and they weren't the best of playmates. I didn't say prayer as a child. I was christened in the Episcopal Church of England. As long as "Pop", my step-father, was alive we didn't want for anything. We had fine horses and carriages and two servants. Pop gave us too much money to spend for our own good. I was an "A" number one student until my mama died. I was 10 and Mama's pet. After she died I wouldn't go to school. I didn't have any home duties to do and was jut let to run the streets and amuse myself. "Pop" died when I was 14 and I was on my own from then on. Genevieve, my oldest sister, ran the house. She took in five or six teachers as boarders for a while and then went into nurse's training. Genevieve raised and supported all of us. Minnie and Edith took business courses and became stenographers. George worked for a slate roofing company and lived at home while I went to work on a farm. The man I worked for soon went into the painting and decorating business and so did I. One day when I was small I turned the neighbor's cows loose just for fun. My brother, George, was going to tell so we fought and George picked up a rock, threw it, and hit me in the back of the head. It hit so hard that it knocked me out. George was so scared he ran five blocks for the doctor. In the meantime, my sister Minnie carried me into the house and by the time the doctor got there I was all right. From that day on George wouldn't raise a hand to me no matter what I did to him. I took advantage of this many times. I read all the favorite children's books. I liked to read and still do. By the time I was fifteen I was working in Long Island in a bicycle and handyman's shop, and delivered groceries on a hand cart, and worked in a garage where I learned to be a mechanic. At seventeen, I was private chauffeur for a doctor. I soon got the wander lust and went to Florida where I worked as a chauffeur for a millionaire lumberman for two years. I was a chauffeur for a major in the signal corps during World War I. Most of my duties were in Texas. After the army I came to LaGrande, Oregon, and worked for the next fifteen years in the logging camps as a logging engineer. While at a logging camp in 1915, I met my first wife, Edith Leslie. I was twenty two, and she was sixteen when we were married. We had five children. The first baby, George Herbert, lived only eight hours. Edith was seventeen at the time and loosing her first baby was hard on her. Geneveive Mary was born 14 August 1918; Arthur William was born 18 August 1920; Nadine Elizabeth was born 18 November 1922; and Robert Leslie was born 2 April 1925. I bought the Texaco service station in Elgin, Oregon. I was in this business only a short time when Edith passed away. She had an abcess in the brain and suffered greatly. Having been left with four children ages 11, 10, 7 and 5, I had to have a housekeeper. There were several who were incompetent. I finally found one who was satisfactory, but she took ill suddenly and had to have emergency surgery, so her young widowed niece agreed to take over for her and hold the job until she could come back. But,---while the lovely young widow and her baby son, Billy, stayed, I fell in love with her many charms. Bernice was her name and she lived a few blocks from my house with her mother and stepfather. She came to work every morning at seven. I was always looking out the window watching for her to come up the walk. Finally I got up enough nerve to make permanent arrangements to keep her with me all the time. We were married December 2, 1929. To this union eleven children were born, making me the father of sixteen. William (Billy) Walter Newell, being my wife's first child, and a baby at the time of our marriage became my own in every way, except by blood ties. Together we raised sixteen. We encourage you to help us correct any errors by emailing us through our contact page. 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