Friday, December 30, 2005


Drew Posted by Picasa

Jalen and Drew Posted by Picasa

Brayden Posted by Picasa

Mark and Karen Posted by Picasa

Chris Posted by Picasa

Shirley with her gift Posted by Picasa

Drew Posted by Picasa

Brayden, Scott, Jalen, and Sherry Posted by Picasa

Mark and Karen Posted by Picasa

Mark Posted by Picasa

Shelly Posted by Picasa

Sue and Brayden Posted by Picasa

DADDEE and Brayden Posted by Picasa

Sherry Posted by Picasa

Chris and Jalen Posted by Picasa

Brayden, Sue, and Sherry Posted by Picasa

Shelly Posted by Picasa

Chris Posted by Picasa

Jalen and Oliver Posted by Picasa

Sue and Sherry Posted by Picasa

Sherry and Scott Posted by Picasa

Shirely and Jalen, Christmas 2005 Posted by Picasa

Norman, Christmas 2005 Posted by Picasa

Margaret, Christmas 2005 Posted by Picasa
I just found an e-mail from Joe that we failed to post before:


"Our Mom was very fond her of Aunt Molly, who lived in Springfield, out north in the vicinity of Doling Park. Among other things, she had lots of flowers & they raised raspberries & sold some of the berries. When we lived on the farm, they gave us several plants, which we set out in the small field just east of our house on the farm. The soil was mostly clay & the raspberries did not do very good & very few survived.

She & Grandma Madden must have been sisters? After Grandma Madden died, I think? we all met at her house sometime after the funeral?

Does anyone recall if her married name was Miller? Seems like it may have been?

bro Joe

Happy New Year"


Rose and I once went to see Aunt Molly and Uncle ?. Uncle ? had had his gallstones removed and had them in a jar. Without telling me what they were, he placed them in my hand. When he then told me they were his stones, it didn't take me long "to look at that horsehoe." [For those who don't the old joke, it is about a city slicker who visits a blacksmith in the country. The cityslicker knows everything. At some point he picks up a hot horseshoe and immediately drops it. The blacksmith says, "So, hot is it?" To which the cityslicker responds, "No. It just doesn't take me long to look at a horseshoe."]

We have a house full of company now. Shirley's friends, Dena and two children, are here. Dena leaves for Chicago and the children, Layla and Jamil, will stay with us until Monday. We also have Brayden and Jalen who stayed when their Dad and Sherry had to return to Louisville yesterday. The four children play well together, and three Old Ladies are worn out, resting at every opportunity. Mark and Karen are going with us this afternoon to the City Museum which is a gigantic playground to children AND adults. We will report in later, if able.

Thursday, December 29, 2005

We had a perfect Christmas celebration last night at Chris and Shelly's. The two of them served a dinner fit for Kings and Queens. Chris said Shelly's goal in decorating for the holidays was that no matter where anyone cast an eye, he/she would see a reminder of Christmas. The two of them achieved the result. Their house is beautiful. We have many photos to post as time permits.

Joe sent us an interesting e-mail about family history:


Thanks to your most appreciated efforts some of the family tree is gradually coming into focus.

Grandma Madden's brother Ezra aka Unk, Ez & Uncle Ezra spent some time with them. He was crippled during a tornado when he was a little boy. Seems like a chimney fell on top of him? He may have alternated staying with our Grandparents & one or more of his siblings. I am almost sure he spent a lot of time with Mom's Aunt Molly (his sister?)

I can remember when Uncle Ezra passed away. I think he is buried in Robberson Prairie Cemetery, just North of the Springfield-Branson National Airport & west of hwy 13. Mom's Granddad Stone, (the one who she was watching when he was delirous & raised up in bed & said something like "Shoot dem rebels, shoot dem rebels" must be the same Granddad Stone, shown in the blog picture. He is also buried in Robberson Prairie Cemetery. David & I looked up his grave several years back & it has a Civil War Veteran tombstone.

Mentioned some time in past emails were Kate & Gib Stone, the ones that brought a lot of garden vegetables to Mom, when she had the store in Marshfield. He has been dead less than 5 yrs. They are both buried near Granddad, Grandma & Aunt Mit's graves in the Fordland Cemetery along with some other relatives. Previously I also mentioned Sean
Madden had contacted the caretaker at Fordland Cemetery re one of Mom's siblings, who died in infancy & is buried in an unmarked grave in the old part of the cemetery.

Also within the last couple of years, a Civil War Veteran named Stone & buried in the Cass
Chapel Cemetery just North of Fordland had his tombstone replaced with a Union tombstone,
or at least switched the side he was on. He apparently had the wrong tombstone. It made
the local media.

My to do list calls for me to take pictures of these various tombstones & forward, preferably
via email.

Bro Joe

================

We appreciate all input to family history. Joe reminds us that we want anyone connected with ANY ancestor to come to our family get-together in June. Chris and Shelly have volunteered to be primary hosts, but we will need tons of help from many to pull off this event. A feature that will make it really fine for all attending will be details, such as Joe provides, about our family history. We may simply end up printing off relevant posts from this Blog as our family history document. Perhaps one volunteer will step forth to do all gathering and editing of information?

Rose and I believe Aunt Virginia (Madden) has an old, old family Bible that has a lot of family history recorded in it.

More as we get clearer about details of the family celebration.

Saturday, December 24, 2005


Another photo from the Spreitler-Boaz Archives. We think this is mother's mother's, Grandma Madden's (nee Stone) father. But who is Clarence Miller? From the age of Grandpa Stone, probably Clarence is his grandchild. Some of you siblings may know a lot more about these two people than either Rose or I. Fill us in, please.

We have more photos, but they take a while to upload, and we are still learning the technology.

Any information you Readers can add to this spattering of family history will make our 100th Birthday Celebration of Mother's birth all the richer.








Rose, Shirley, and I are fixin' to have a traditional Christmas Eve dinner with Margaret's lemon mirangue pie for dessert. Later Rose and Shirley are going off to church (Anglican, no less!) for midnight mass. I'm opting out because of the lateness of the hour.

Tomorrow Margaret and Norm are coming for brunch. In the evening Rose, Shirley, and I will go to Chris and Shelly's for dinner. All the Abbott Clan are gathering at the Abbotts' this evening, their traditional Christmas 'do.'

Our big family gathering will be Wednesday, again at Chris and Shelly's. Scott and Family will drive from Louisville that day. We will keep Jalen and Brayden for a few days.

I had a wonderful conversation with Pete and Janet this morning. Their holidays are full of family and travel. On Monday they will go to Boise to see Kelly and sons. They return to Quartzsite in early January.

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL OUR DEAR READERS. OR, IF YOU PREFER, HAPPY HOLIDAYS. [We think worrying about what to call Christmas is like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.]

Friday, December 23, 2005

Joe retrieved an April '05 e-mail from Margaret ["Mag"] about Grandad Madden's sisters and forwarded it with his comments today:

[Mag entitled her email "the more I fish the bigger the fish"

"A portion of the message lists Denzil Sanford Madden, b. 1-22-1872 in Olney, IL d. 2-6-1942 in Hardy, AR. Denzil's brothers & sisters were Harve Madden, Springfield, MO. Neil Madden, Illinois, Christy (Madden) Woolridge, Thayer, MO., Lily (Madden) Angelos, Mattie (Madden) Sedalia, MO., Carrie (Madden) Springfield, MO., Goldie (Madden), Denver, Co., and Springfield, MO., Bell (Madden) no info given, Josephine, who died young."

"Sue found this photo of Irene Browning, 1837 Grant Street, Denver, CO." From a recent Blog.

Remember the old saying. "The waitresses must get their food free, they are all fat? I believe it must have been Lily Madden Angelos or her husband Nick? who said that when we took them to the bus station in Marshfield to catch the bus back home, after attending Granddad's funeral services?

The Irene Browning, l827 Grant Street, Denver, CO is not mentioned in the long email but it could be a daughter of Goldie (Madden)?

I will make a hard copy of this & keep it in my family tree folder.

Bro Joe]

--------------------------------------------

Rose and I were sorting through photos and kept finding ones of Nick Angelo, an intriguing name and an interesting face. Now we know, from Margaret and Joe, that he must have been our grandfather's brother-in-law. That would make him our great uncle. We'll post more of these old photos when we have time.

Rose remembers that when Grandad Madden was ill, shortly before he died, some unknown relatives visited. They prayed over him, and some prayed in an 'unknown tongue.' This was the explanation later to the awe-struck Catholic Rose who was astonished at the display. These relatives were probably some of Grandad's siblings or their offspring?

All this family history will add a great deal to our 100th birthday gathering next year. Someone more knowledgeable than we are will have to sort out this who's who of Madden/Felin/Lafoe/Stone lineage.

In other news, Donald called yesterday. He and Vita plan to spend the Christmas Holiday with their daughters and their families.

Shirley has been in her Christmas baking mode. She makes delicious goodies that are supposed to be fruit cakes. However, she makes them without the fruit and with lots of nuts and whiskey. We are left not knowing what to call them (everything we come up with sounds pretty awful) but enjoying it anyway.

I spent a good part of yesterday with my son Christopher. We shopped, ran errands, oversaw some work we are having done on the Oakland House, and ate. He is one pleasant young man to spend time with. Rose and I made a rash deal with him that we would pay $10/pound for any weight loss. (This was back when losing weight was just a plan.) The deal has cost both of us dearly. And he is still losing!

Mark and Karen dropped in last night. They and their young adult offspring are headed to Vail, CO, for a week of skiing on January 1.

Tuesday, December 20, 2005


Sue found this photo of Irene Browning, 1837 Grant Street, Denver, CO. We think this is the relative, or one of them, that our Madden grandparents went to visit. [Joe sent us information about trip.]