People from the Past: Elizabeth Jane Gamlin

Below is the obiturary for my great-grandmother, Elizabeth Jane Gamlin, who died in 1920. I've always been fascinated by her life. My great-grandparents were both born in England during the Victorian Era. Elizabeth's parents, Benjamin and Catherine Baker, were considered to be members of the upper class and John Gamlin's family were lower class. John and Elizabeth met when Elizabeth's father hired John to be a laborer on their property. The two eventually fell in love, but due to the strict rules of England's social hierachy, they were forced to keep their romance a secret. They decided to move to America and start a new life together. John came over first, and once he was established, Elizabeth made plans to join him. She packed a small suitcase and left home in the middle of the night to board a ship that was sailing to America, giving up everything to be with him. She never saw her family again. 

Elizabeth's new lifestyle was far from what she was accustomed to in England, her fine garments replaced by two calico dresses, one worn for everyday and the other reserved for church and special events. Her bed sheets that were made only of the finest cotton thread were replaced by scratchy wool bed blankets that she clung to in the middle of the night to keep from freezing to death. She went from having servants to feeling like a servant herself, trying to keep up with the demands of a husband and many children.  

She experienced plenty of hardship in life. She had ten babies in the 1870's and 1880's, and lost two in infancy. In 1915, her son, Matthew, committed what was likely one of the first murders in Raymond's history when he shot and killed his brother's wife, Molly, as she sat with John and Elizabeth at their kitchen table. Molly was the first wife of my grandfather, Joe Gamlin. He later married Wilma McCallum and they became the parents of my mother, Eileen Bandy. 

This obituary is taped in a scrapbook that belonged to my grandmother, Wilma Gamlin, along with a swatch of fabric from the dress that Elizabeth Jane Gamlin was buried in. 

Perfect Game

 Please enjoy this encore TBT Post originally published in February 2014. 

This article appeared in The Raymond News, March 30, 1972

This article brought back a lot of good memories of the bowling alley. It was named the "The Raymond Bowl," when it was organized on March 16, 1961 by a group of eight local men. The group purchased the Raymond Community Theatre Corp. and transformed the building into a modern, air conditioned "recreation center" with eight bowling lanes and a snack bar.

Members of the group were Cecil Pitchford, Howard Rebhan, William Anderson, Fred Hantla, Henry Nail, Lester Lessman, Kenneth Smith, and Gerald Langen.

Some of my memories of the bowling alley include:

• Women's and Men's leagues were held a few nights per week, and there were enough teams to have early bowling at 7:00 p.m.and late bowling at 9:00 p.m.
• All the parking spaces on Main Street would be full and the side streets would be lined with cars and trucks (during Halloween week this allowed for many opportunities for "soaping" -- so I've been told). 
• A junior league was held on Saturday mornings. If you got a strike when the red pin was in the center (number 1) position, you won a free game of bowling.
• Hearing the pins crashing from all the way across the street.
• Listening to the jukebox and playing pinball. Spending your last quarter and then being lucky enough to "match" and win another game. 
• The snack bar.
• The black ball with the pink spots.
• Score sheets that clipped on the score tables, next to the built-in ashtrays. 
• Checking the Raymond paper each week to view the team scores and individual high scores. 

Main Street Musings: Gino's Pool Hall

 A few days ago I saw an interesting discussion on the "Memories of Raymond, Illinois" Facebook page about the Pool Hall, and I thought folks might also be interested in this encore Throwback Thursday post, Gino's Pool Hall, originally published in December, 2014.    

From the May 4, 1967 issue of The Raymond News:

A small paragraph about Gino's Pool Hall appeared in the Raymond Centennial booklet published in 1971, "Mrs. Luisa Casolari operates the pool hall since the death of her husband, Gino, some years ago. She has remodeled the building, added air-conditioning and new fixtures, and provides a pleasant meeting place for the young people of Raymond." 

Although the pool hall closed when I was still in my early teens, I have lot of great memories of hanging out there (much to my Mother's chagrin). To this day, when I hear songs on the radio by Led Zeppelin or Foghat or Lynyrd Skynyrd (on the oldies station of course), I'm immediately transported right back to Luisa's, and I expect to hear the solid crack of a good break at any second.   

Luisa Casolari

Luisa did not speak English very clearly, and despite the communication barrier, she loved all the kids in town and everyone loved her. She was certainly a memorable character in the history of Raymond. 

One spring, not long before she closed the pool hall and returned (I think) to Italy, she gave me a card along with this photo. On the inside of the card she had written:

Happy Easter

Happy Spring

Happy Happy Everything.

I think of Luisa every year at Easter and sometimes in between.   

People from the Past: Frank and Bessie Krager

Bessie and Frank Krager

Frank A. Krager (1886-1952) was born at Harvel on November 5, 1886, the son of John Christian and Paulena Baker Krager. He attended Mount Vernon school, a one-room country school at rural Harvel. At a later time, Bessie File was teaching school there and they became acquainted and later married at St. Isidore’s Church in Farmersville on May 3, 1916. Bessie, daughter of Charles and Sara File was born in Salem, Oregon on January 22, 1890, coming to Illinois from Kansas in a covered wagon at three years of age. She attended one-room schools and eventually taught in the same type of schools, Burnett school near Waggoner and Mt. Vernon near Harvel.

Children of Frank and Bessie Krager
From left: Mary, John, Frances, Tony, Sally, and Larry

                         Bessie saw many changes in her lifetime that most of us can only read about - from traveling by horse and wagon to the age of trains and cars - from the first airplane and Lindberg’s historical flight across the ocean, to man’s first on the moon and more. Bessie’s years on the farm were happy ones, though busy.

Frank and Bessie had six children. Frances, born August 29, 1917, married Raymond Herman. The had four children: Gerald, John, Robert, and Gail.

Lawrence (Barney) was born May 18, 1919 and married Mary K. Basso at Litchfield in 1946. They had four children: Janet, Betty, Larry, and Donald.

Celestine (Sally) was born May 3, 1921 and married John Lyons. They had four children: John Richard, Jean, James, and Greg.

John was born April 18, 1925 and married Dorothy Kinney in October 1947. They had ten children: Jeanne, Suzanne, Linda, Joe, David, Nancy, Paul, Sally, Chris, and Gary.

Mary was both on July 8, 1927 and married Shirlen Rosenthal on November 26, 1947 in Raymond. They had four children: Larry, Marilyn, Dennis, and Thomas.

Howard (Tony) was born June 2, 1934 and married Mary Gurick of Litchfield. They had six children: Paul Anthony, Frank, William, Lisa, Michelle, and Julie.

Frank’s ill health determined they should leave the farm and move to Raymond in 1949. Frank died on February 12, 1952. After his death, Bessie continued living alone all but one year due to ill health. She spent the last year in the nursing home in Hillsboro. She enjoyed Cardinal baseball. Bessie died on May 4, 1992 at the age of 102, leaving 6 children, 32 grandchildren, and 54 great grandchildren.

Frank and Bessie are buried in St. Raymond’s Cemetery at Raymond.

Bessie Krager at age 100

The information on Frank and Bessie Krager and family was taken from Raymond's 125 Years of Memories book, published in 1996.