1. The Incomparable Marge, who is the mother of the TOFsprings, shown here in their cute-and-innocent versions:
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| Sara, a/k/a Dear in the Headlights |
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| Dennis: Wait, What's Going On Here... |
2. Elsie Vera Hammontree (1924-1951) of Oklahoma
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| Elsie Vera Hammontree, mother of the I/M |
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| The Marge, imitating a bean bag |
Elsie was the daughter of....
3. Ora Vanora Harris (1901-1967) of whom TOF has no digitized photograph. The Marge was largely mothered by this grandmother (and by multiple aunts) after Elsie died. Ora was a Holy Roller and spoke in tongues, a religious exercise which scared the bejabbers out of little Margie.The Harrises had come out of Hardin Co., KY. They moved to Spencer Co. IN, thence to Cold Springs, MO and on to Indian Territory. Ora's mother was...
4. Sadie Frances Holland (1884-1918), who had been born in Louisiana and moved with her parents to Chickasaw Nation in 1898, where the met the Harrises. Sadie was the daughter of...
5. Annie Eliza Helms (1861-1939), who had been born in Lee Co., Georgia of North Carolinian parents, married Henry Thomas Holland in Claibourne, LA, then moved to Chickasaw Nation.. She was the daughter of...
6. Gatsey [Helms] (c. 1826 - after 1880), maiden name not yet known, was born somewhere in North Carolina.
1. Rita Marie Singley (1924-1993) a/k/a "The Mut"
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| Mut, displaying her bona fides as a mother |
2. Helen Myrtle Schwar (1896-1952) a/k/a "Big Mom"
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| Big Mom, with her smaller brood: Mut in arms, twins Ralph and Paul below |
She was born in Revere, Bucks Co., moved to Fountain Hill, then to Easton. She was the daughter of....
3. Frances Hungrege (1870-1926)
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| Frances: I'll see your five and raise you ten Big Mom on far right |
4. Magdalena Rieß (1836-1901), who emigrated to America, where she married Conrad Hungege in Bucks Co.
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| Magdalena Riess, No family shots |
5. Franziska Stefan (1799-1856) who lived her whole life in Oberhausen/Niederhausen, Baden
who was the daughter of...
6. Maria Anna Pflüger (c.1772-1845)
Her mother appears to have been
7. M. A. Schwörer (1729-???)
who was the daughter of
8 Franciska Lang (1710-1771)
At this point, even German record-keeping falters and it may be that some records were lost during the Napoleonic wars.
Other Mothers
A potpourri of other mothers plucked from the TOFian tree.
Cynthia Ann Marlow, great grandmother of the Marge, likely source of Choctaw ancestry. She was born in Missouri, the granddaughter, it was said, of Moontubbee, moved to Texas, where she married George Washington White.
Cordelia Adeline Jones, grandmother of Elsie Vera Hammontree, pioneer woman. She was born in Sugarloaf, Ark., where she married Harrison Burton Hammontree, and moved thence to Quinton, OK.
Blanche Jean Cantrel, the other grandmother of TOF.
Mary McGovern, Co Cavan, mother of TOF's grandmother, Blanche Cantrel
Matilda Loretta Ochenfuss, mother of TOF's grandfather, Francis Thomas Flynn
Ann Elizabeth Lynch, mother-in-law of Matilda, born in Burlington, VT, "six days after her parents arrived in the US.
Sarah Jane Metzger, mother of Helen Myrtle Singley. Born and raised in Bucks Co, where she married Anthony Singley, and later moved to Fountain Hill.
Theresa Kresh, grandmother of Helen Myrtle Schwar. Born in Niederhausen, emigrated to Bucks Co,, met and married her first cousin, Joseph S. Schwar
Theresa Phillip, mother of Joseph Schwar, born in the Elsaß, married in Niederhausen across the river to Sebastian Schwar, and emigrated in the 1850s.
Happy Mothers' Day, All.
Mr. Flynn, I have a question to ask. What is your position on the criticisms of Mother Teresa by authors such as Christopher Hitchens and Aroup Chatterjee? Namely, that she supposedly enjoyed people in her homes suffering, that she had connections to evil figures, and that she abused the funds that she recieved via charitable donations? How do you respond to such accusations?
ReplyDeleteEasy. I pay them no credence. How would the late Mr. Mitchens know what Mother Theresa enjoyed?
DeleteYeah, I've always found it funny that atheists like Hitchens railed against all things they consider superstitious, and then attempt mind reading upon their opponents.
DeleteOn a side note, you once told me a while back that there were probably influences on your writing style that you were not consciously aware of, besides Heinlein, Anderson, and deCamp. Well, after much reading of many sci-fi novels, I think I've found a few of them.
ReplyDeleteIf you don't mind telling me, do the authors Bob Shaw, Henry Kuttner, and Clifford Simak ring a bell? Because I have noted similarities between your writing style and theirs.
DeleteI recognize all three. Shaw did not write many stories that I recall, but "Light of Other Days" and its sequel and THE TWO TIMERS ring a bell. Of Clifford Simak, I recall: CITY and WAY STATION and the short story "Grotto of the Dancing Deer." Kuttner I read in many collections and anthologies, and though I may remember some of his stories, darned if any actual titles spring to mind.
DeleteThe thing that always led me to see similarities between your work and theirs is that all four of you possess the ability to balance golden age notions of intense technical detail and new wave notion of deep character analysis.
DeleteOne story in particular that I see similarities with your own work is Kuttner's "Two-Handed Engine". To me this story is similar to your own "Places Where the Roads Don't Go" in that both stories use technological inventions as catalysts to meditate on heavy philosophical issues.
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