Right to Vote - Check, Run for Office - Check

In my last post, I wrote about my nana and her mother gaining the right to vote. Since then, I have been introduced to a new ancestor on my dad’s side who went beyond casting a vote. Eusebia Krise born 1884 in Altoona, lived most of her life in the New York City area. Eusebia was 35 years old, single, working as a clerk for a furniture store in New York City when she gained the right to vote in 1920.

Eusebia's Candidate Photo

Two years later, living in the Junior League Hotel for Women at 78th Street and East River, New York City she decided to run for the 16th District New York State Senate seat as a Prohibition Party candidate. The Prohibition Party founded in 1869 is the nation’s third-oldest operating political party. Since 1872, the party has fielded presidential and vice presidential candidates every four years. The Prohibition Party was formed by a group of disillusioned Republicans defecting from the GOP, believing that big business had claimed their party. They decided to focus their new party on the continuing problems caused by alcohol. The new forward-thinking party also sought suffrage for women and was the first to grant women equal status as convention delegates. As a modern single working woman it is understandable why Eusebia would have been drawn to the party's women's plank. While we have not found any concrete information that Eusebia actively participated in the suffrage or prohibition movements, it seems logical she must have been involved in one if not both the movements, given her run for office on the Prohibition ticket. As the only woman running for the office she came in 4th in the field of five. Clearly this was a lady ahead of her time, and I am proud to call her cousin.

For my Armstrong cousins this diagram shows how Eusebia Krise fits into our family tree.  After a DNA match led me to Lewis Krise I have had contact with one of his great granddaughters who is a wealth of information on this branch of our family including providing pictures of Eusebia. There is a question as to whether Lewis Krise was Eusebia’s biological father. However, Lewis treated her like a daughter, and she carried the Krise name so she’s family.

#familyhistory #womensvote100 

100th Anniversary of Women's Right to Vote

Ritts Family Reunion Circa 1927

This photo popped up on my Facebook timeline today. As we celebrate the 100th Anniversary of the Ratification of the 19th Amendment, I reflect on what a difference the suffrage movement had on the women in this picture. My Great Grandma, Lizzie Hudson Ritts [1866-1947] was a grandmother many times over before casting her first ballot. While my Nana, Mary Ritts Burket [1893-1981] was married and had a daughter before gaining the right to vote. My Aunt Maybelle Burket Gillespie [1917-1992] age three 100 years ago was part of the first generation of women to grow up with the right to vote. #WomensVote100

Mary Ritts Burket and Lizzie Hudson Ritts

Maybelle Burket Gillespie with her parents and childern

Effort Underway to Support Wreaths Across America in Roxbury, New Jersey

Ferro Monte Chapter DAR is looking for wreath sponsors to ensure that all veterans at Succasunna Cemeteries are honored this December

Thank you wreath
made by Roxbury children

The Ferro Monte Chapter Daughters of the American Revolution and local volunteers are working hard to ensure that all veterans laid to rest at three Succasunna cemeteries: Flanders-Hillside, First Presbyterian Church and United Methodist Church. are honored this December on National Wreaths Across America Day. This year, the ceremony, held simultaneously across the country at nearly 2,000 participating locations, will be on Saturday, Dec. 14, 2019.

The goal: to place a live, balsam fir veteran’s wreath at the headstone of every veteran buried there and spread patriotism and ensure no one if forgotten. The cost: Each wreath sponsorship costs $15.

 “Every wreath sponsorship is a meaningful gift from a grateful American who knows what it means to serve and sacrifice for the freedoms we all enjoy,” said Karen Worcester, executive director of Wreaths Across America. “We are so grateful to the community of Roxbury for participating in our mission to Remember, Honor and Teach.”

“It is an honor and a privilege for DAR to support Wreaths Across America” said Denise VanBuren, DAR President General. “For years DAR members have remembered those who have worn the uniform of our nation through participating in their local Wreaths Across America observance.” The Daughters of the American Revolution is a volunteer women’s service organization with more than 185,000 members, who seek to honor their revolutionary ancestors and promote historic preservation, education, and patriotism in their communities. The partnership between DAR and WAA helps to ensure communities across the United States learn the indelible mark our veterans have on our country and the value of honoring their sacrifices. National Wreaths Across America Day is a free, non-political event, open to all people. For more information, to donate locally, please visit www.RoxburyWAA.org, facebook.com/RoxburyWAA, and twitter.com/RoxburyWAA.

About Wreaths Across America
Wreaths Across America is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded to continue and expand the annual wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery begun by Maine businessman Morrill Worcester in 1992. The organization’s mission – Remember, Honor, Teach – is carried out in part each year by coordinating wreath-laying ceremonies in December at Arlington, as well as at more than 1,800 veterans’ cemeteries and other locations in all 50 states and beyond. To learn more about Wreaths Across America visit youtube.com/WreathsAcrossAmerica

About Daughters of the American Revolution
The National Society Daughters of the American Revolution was founded in 1890 to promote historic preservation, education and patriotism. Its members are descended from the patriots who won American independence during the Revolutionary War. With nearly 185,000 members in approximately 3,000 chapters worldwide, DAR is one of the world's largest and most active service organizations.  DAR members are committed to volunteer service having served more than 12.5 million hours in communities throughout the world during the past three years.  To learn more about the work of today's DAR, visit DAR.org or connect with DAR on social media: facebook.com/TodaysDAR, twitter.com/TodaysDAR and youtube.com/TodaysDAR.

The Sewing Machine

Today I started "The Sewing Machine" by Natalie Fergie. It is a story spanning four generations

Review: Murder at the Mansion (Victorian Village Mysteries, #1)

Murder at the Mansion (Victorian Village Mysteries, #1) by Sheila Connolly

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A new series by one of my favorite authors Sheila Connolly, a little mystery, a little history and a little genealogy. The heroine of the series Kate Hamilton is a hotelier in Baltimore when a childhood friend asks her to help "save" their hometown. Sheila paints a picture of a small town who's best days may be behind it unless it can be re-imagined. The old 1800 mansion the town recently acquired figures prominently in Kate's revitalization plan for the town and her life.

Best yet, my favorite character Nell Pratt and the Pennsylvania Antiquarian Society from Sheila's Museum Mysteries series is called upon to help sort out some historical finds at the Henry Barton estate. Whether the treasures inside the estate will be enough to save the town only future books will tell.

Unfortunately, Kate and the police first have to solve who killed Kate's high school nemesis at the Barton estate.

Review: Hardcore Twenty-Four

Hardcore Twenty-Four by Janet Evanovich
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I think this may be the Plum saga's jumping the shark book. I'm not sure which irritates me more, Stephanie pumping her own gas or the lack of character in this book. Ms Evanovich has lived in New Hampshire too long, she has forgotten Jersey Girls NEVER pump gas. This in NJ where it is blessedly illegal to pump gas. [Seriously, it is 7 degrees out, why in Gods name would anyone want to get out of their car to fill up?]

Years ago when the first three books were out, my friend's teenager and her girlfriends wanted to read the series. Their parents wanted to know if the series were appropriate for the girls, I said yes. The books were light and laugh out loud funny. Stephanie was working in a new field, taking the advice from a great mentor who was super sexy. She had an on again/off again relationship with a high school flame who had a good job and was super sexy. Unfortunately in the 20 books since Stephanie, Ranger and Morelli have had little character growth. Meanwhile that teenager has become a lovely woman, married and about to have her 1st baby. Where I used to purchase the book and read the Plum books the day they came out, I have lately been borrowing them from the library. Now I'm at the point, I'll read the reviews, if it looks like the characters have finally grown [adding Diesel doesn't count, he should go back to his own series] I'll consider reading Plum again.

View all my reviews

Review: My Life to Live: How I Became the Queen of Soaps When Men Ruled the Airwaves

My Life to Live: How I Became the Queen of Soaps When Men Ruled the Airwaves by Agnes Nixon
My rating: 5 of 5 stars


What an amazing life Agnes led! It was interesting to know the first show Agnes worked on "Guiding Light" was the first show I worked on, albeit decades apart. Continuing the how small is this world, one of her early scripts picked up by Hallmark Hall of Fame “Forgotten Children” starred Morgan [Dylan, GL] Englund’s mom Cloris Leachman. The biopic of Martha Berry and the founding of Berry College, which is supported by Daughters of the American Revolution. If only I had half the talent of Agnes…