On The Map. Week #38 52 ancestors in 52 weeks. Downing's Restaurant and Bar Flatbush, Brooklyn

     In March I  posted a picture of my grandfather in the Bar he owned in Flatbush, Brooklyn. This photo has hung on the wall in at least three homes I've lived in over the last 38 years, the original belonged to my father and hung in his house. Over the years I had lost track of where exactly it was located. I'm sure he told me the address but I had forgotten. I knew somewhere in Flatbush near Empire Blvd. but where?  So I asked for help. My cousin Marguerite commented that another cousin Richie had mentioned that the bar was called Mulligans before Larry bought it.  Richie added that the customer was none other than his father my Uncle Dick Downing. Leads! Cool!

    While researching I  found Larry's World War II Draft card which listed the name and address of his employer as John Mulligan , 1042 Nostrand Avenue. 

    New York City has some really detailed pictures taken in 1940 for tax purposes. With the address I was able to locate it on the map. 

The little red square in the map is 1042 Nostrand Avenue. The map shows more information in the box at right. .

What I needed was the block and lot number for the location.  Block 1320 and lot 43. Using that I could search the tax photo collection and sure enough there was a photo!

    I am pretty sure this is the place. It is still most likely Mulligans since he listed his employer as that place on the WWII draft card. There is no sign in the window but above the bar is a sign hanging perpendicular to the wall that might have had some more information on it. It looks like Beer advertisements in the window and the window to the left of  the apartment entrance as well. Schaefer Beer? Nostrand avenue is still cobblestone in the photo, it was paved when I was a kid.

Here is what it looks like today,

    Using Google Maps Street View  I was able to find a recent photo. There's a Lenny's Pizza and a liquor store there now. Lenny's was the best pizza in our neighborhood. This is not the same Lenny's. The original was further south on Nostrand Ave. between Newkirk and Ave. D.

    Google Maps is wonderful it allows you to rotate and view 360 degrees and  move down the block. I took a look around and spotted spotted the Church where my Mother and father were married in 1951, St. Francis Assisi. Just South about two city blocks.

 

    I remembered that my mother lived at 1154 Nostrand in 1940.  I had a photo from the tax files.  I have often wondered if the lady in the photo was my grandmother Lucy. So they lived a few blocks down from the bar, its a small world.

Resources

New York Genealogical and Biographical Society

https://www.newyorkfamilyhistory.org/blog/find-photo-any-nyc-building-1940

Google Maps Street View.

Back To School

                St. Edmund Girls High School Brooklyn New York Graduating Class of 1944 or 45.

My Mother June is in the second row 6th from the right, looking sad or maybe bored. I recognize that look. I believe she was 16 or 17 years old. Following High School she went straight into the work force having learned skills such as typing and stenography.

St. Edmund Preparatory High School was established in 1932.  It opened on February 2, 1932 as St. Edmund Academy, a two year high school for girls, with a class of 60. In 1936 it became St, Edmund Commercial High School, offering a two year commercial program. It became a four year high school in 1962 and was renamed St. Edmund High School. 

Here's some food for thought.  A Historical view.

U.S. Percentage of High School Graduates by year.*

1899-1900	6.4
1909-1910	8.8
1919-1920	16.8
1929-1930	29.0
1939-1940	50.8

1941-1942	51.2
1943-1944	42.3
1945-1946	47.9
1947-1948	54.0
1949-1950	59.0
1951-1952	58.6

1955-1956	62.3
1957-1958	64.8
1959-1960	65.1
1961-1962	69.5
1963-1964	76.7

This table is reproduced from Kenneth A. Simon and W. Vance Grant, Digest of Educational Statistics, Office of Education, Bulletin 1965, No. 4 (Washington, D.C., U.S. Government Printing Office, 1965).

Education has changed in so many ways over the last 120 years, and yet stayed the same in many other ways. Today with the pandemic the role of educator changes almost weekly.  I see some of my own grand children in front of virtual class meetings and others wearing masks socially distanced in face to face classrooms. I think its a lot harder today for kids. Having taught High School and Middle School for 34 years I can only imagine the stress parents and teachers are experiencing at this time.


I decided to trying to find out more about the educational experience some of the members of our two families. What grade level did they reach? What kind of experiences did they have? I found two things in US Census Data. In all the censuses  these two questions that were asked; Can Read and Can Write? Also the 1940 US Census listed highest grade last attended by the household members. For adults I assumed that was the highest they had last finished. This is what I found.

Name (DOB) Can Read and Write? Highest Grade Attended (1940)


Catherine Riordan Downing (1864) YY 8th
Michael J. Downing (1893) YY
Richard C. Downing (1898) YY 8th
Timothy J. Downing (1896) YY 8th
Viola Downing (1898?) YY 8th
Lawrence J. Downing (1899) YY 8th
Francis Downing (1907) YY 8th
Eleanor Castle Downing (1904) YY
Alice Anable Downing (1896) YY College +


Peter n. Miller (1890) YY 5th
Clara S. Miller (1898) YY 11th
Teresa Miller ( 1919) YY 8th
Leonard Miller (1918) YY 8th
Sylvester Miller (1920) YY HS 4yrs
Andrew Miller (1861) YY 6th
Lizzie Thies Miller (1867) YY 8th
Lawrence Noll (1894) YY 8th
Minnie Noll (1894) YY 8th

Helen Noll (1920) YY HS +
Bloss Noll (1846) YY
Mary Hund Noll (1855) YY


The majority of our recent ancestors could read and write and went as far as eight grade.  Based on family knowledge the more recent generations have almost all finished high school, with many finishing college and advanced degrees.

Labor

    The theme this past week was; "Labor" for 52 ancestors in 52 weeks. It is a weekly writing prompt for folks researching family histories. So that is me I guess.  Thinking about the history and times that my ancestors lived in has always interested me. I enjoy finding out about the stories  more that the who begat who stuff, although I will do some of that as well as the year progresses. For this prompt I had to decide how to interpret the term labor. Having Children? Jeez there was a lot of that. Occupations? How did they make a living and get by in the situations they found themselves in.  I chose occupations. So I set out to back track through the two sides of our families, my wife's being the Millers and mine the Downing side, to see just what these folks did for a living.

    I've listed the names, date of birth and occupations I found in a several  sources. The best source for this was Federal  and State Census information. Ive also listed some occupations that might not have appeared in legal forms but have come from family lore.

Here are some of the ways people in our families chased the American Dream

 

                The Millers and Nolls have been farming for a long time! Kansas was a territory when they arrived.

                                                    Photo courtesy Kansas Historical Society

                                            Blauss Noll Farm circa 1918 Winchester Kansas

    * Andrew (1861) Farmer. Lizzie (1867) Keeping House 

    * Peter ( 1890) Farmer. Clara (1898) Housewife

    * Leoba (18) H.W, Keeping House

    * Blausis (1846) Farmer, Farm Manager. Mary (1855) "none"

    * Lawrence (1894) Farmer. Minnie (1895) "H.W." "At Home.

    * Sylvester Miller (1920) Farmer, Night watchman. Helen Noll Miller (1927), Hair Stylist, "Farm Partner".

    * John Shaltz (1868) Farmer.  Mary Wertin Shaltz (1876) "blank"

    * Thomas Corpstein (1856) Farmer. Kate Corpstein "none"

    

        The Downings and Moores have been doing a  little bit of everything.

    * Michael Downing (1868) Laborer, Catherine Riordan Downing (1864) Grocery Store, House Work. Boarding House, At Home.

    * Louis Moore (1893) "Unemployed", Private Detective, Clerk, Laborer. Lucy  Sinclair Moore (1901) "None" , "HW", Small Time Bookie.

    * Asa Moore (1857) Carpenter. Augusta Johnson Moore (1865) "none"

    * Lawrence Downing (1899) Runner Brokerage NYC, Bartender, Bar Owner and Speakeasy. Eleanor Castle Downing (1904) Nurse, "none. Alice Downing (1899) Teacher, HW.

    * Lucius Castle (1881) Carpenter, Farmer. Sarah Cummings Castle (1872) House work, Housewife , "none".

    * Daniel Castle Jr. (1849) Farmer. Fannie Castle "none" 

    * Lawrence Downing Jr. (1927) Police Officer. June Moore Downing (1928) Paralegal, Clerical Secretary, News Reporter, 

    * Richard Sinclair (1846) Actor, Model, Bartender, Barman, Watchman New Buildings, Gardener. Ellen Gordon Sinclair

 

                                                Brooklyn , Flatbush Avenue 1920s

Richard Sinclair in a Camel Cigarette ad 1923 Brooklyn

                                                    Timothy "Ted" Downing NYPD 1922

                            Lawrence Downing and fellow Officers 1970s Far Rockaway NY

                                    June Downing on assignment as a reporter Flatbush Life 1960s

                                        Jeannette Moore Fashion Retailer 1910s Brooklyn

                                                    Fireman Bill O'Leary and sons Brooklyn 1960s

In looking at the information two things jumped out at me.

1. The work of  the women  both on the farm and elsewhere was not seen as an "occupation". I was not raised on a farm, my wife was and I have seen that a farm doesn't run solely on the labor of the "head" of house. Farming is a labor intensive three hundred sixty five days a year profession that requires the knowledge, skills, and ingenuity of both people in the home, and the added labor of the children. The contributions of women to farming were undervalued when listed as "none" or "at home" or left blank as it was in at least once for each couple over time.   I shared this  list with my wife. She shared a story with me about her parents Sam and Helen. At some time in their past Sam and Helen  had this discussion; Helen asked Sam "just what is you think I do here. what is my role? Sam Replied "You are may partner in the farm, of course". Sam was a wise man.

                                             Sam and Helen Miller Jefferson County Kansas

2. Our ancestors who immigrated to farm country until this present generation pretty much stayed in that occupation. Our ancestors who immigrated to cities had many more "occupations" making ends meet. Laborers, actors, vaudeville performers, clerks, cab drivers, sanitation workers, lawyers, bartenders, watch polishers, pattern makers, nurses,  police officers, and fire fighters. Stories of speakeasys, bootlegging, and bookie making also  filled the air of family dinners in the past. Police work or "on the job' as its known has been in my family for over a hundred years. In searching records I found my Grandmothers maternal Grandfather was a New York Police Officer  in the late 1800s. I had a Great Uncle who was a Detective, Two Uncles and My Father all worked for The NYPD,  my Aunt  worked in corrections, Uncles who were NYFD Firefighters, and my Uncles mother was one of the early "Police Matrons" in New York. For most city immigrants working in some capacity for the city even in construction was pretty constant until the present generation as we have spread out across the country.

NYPD uniforms through the years. Illustration courtesy NYPD History site.

Roots and Wings

 My Mother had a quote that she carried around in her purse for years; " There are only two lasting bequests we can hope to give our children. One is roots and the other wings". My parents gave me both of these things.This blog is the story of the family history of two children who grew up in very different distant parts of the country, fell in love , got married and had children of their own. It is an attempt hopefully to explore and give a deeper understanding of those roots for our own children and  grandchildren.