For those descended from Chloe Angeline Stickney and Asaph Hall, you have at your disposal the most engaging family memoir I have have ever found. For the rest of us, we have the most wonderful story of life in the 1800's of America. If you ever wondered how 'opposites attract', if your girls have ever loved the American Girl Series, if you have ever had an interest in the Civil War and want a snapshot of life in DC during those years, if you want to know about the early origins of Cornell University, if you love sky, clouds, flowers and trees, if you want to know about the black lady named Moses and the 'bloomers' the suffragists wore, if you follow the Mars rovers, ... if ...
Angelo Hall is the third son of Angeline and Aspaph. He wrote this memoir, "An Astronomer's Wife: the Biography of Angeline Hall", copyrighted by Angelo in 1908, but public domain now. It can be found in many places. I like the one from archive.org, it's through Cornell. The other sites for public domain books seem to be glitching up these days. I'm glad they have this put up so nicely. It's definitely worthy.
Angelo deserves credit for his writing. He tells of life in that time in a way that transports you back there, and describes religion in surprisingly modern ways for a Minister. They were a lot broader and narrower than we take them for, these 'ancient' ones. One of my favorite parts is the story in Washington DC during the time of Lincoln, who visits the Naval Observatory, speaks with Asaph, then returns a while later to ask why the Moon is upside down in the telescope. Methods of saving wounded soldiers are (tastefully) described. The mentality of those times come through in his writing. After all, he lived and died then. These are his memories of life and of his parents. The genealogical book, dated 1869, actually stops in 1868, so kids, like my grandfather, born then, had to be added in via hand or news clippings. The same goes for the descendants of the four children of the two who found the moons of Mars. I can tell you that they descend from the second child of the original William Stickney. I traced it back. Later for those bits of boring. The book was published through Nunn & Co, Baltimore, MD, printed by the Lord Baltimore Press. The Epilogue is a poem by Angelo. It holds only a candle to the newspaper eulogy that a precedes it, and that, even less than the prologue, written to Angelo's daughter Peggy, which says so much about the early 20th century. And then, the story begins, 1806, prior to her birth, which is listed as 1829 & 1830, depending on the source... A Granddaughter of the Revolution... through the eyes of a son who loves her. The book ends with her death in 1892, but the story doesn't. The seal resurrects the The Halls of Goshen, the Sons of Mars 1775, the Moons of Mars 1877... She is one for the ages, one for all of us, and she would have wanted it that way. It was her way.
Showing posts with label Mars. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mars. Show all posts
Friday, April 12, 2013
Thursday, April 11, 2013
1904 Olympic Golf & a Crater on Phoebos
Well, while the 77th Master's starts in the other room, I have been poking around and finding more than I begin to tell you. So I'll start with the golfers and the lady who has a crater named for her.
There is a small clipping from the Boston Herald in the book, with the headline "Stickney Leads Field". I didn't pay it much mind, obsessed with Sarah Stickney Ellis (who was English, but worth knowing about).
According to Wikipedia, two Stickney's played on the 1904 American Olympic Golf team. The team won silver. Stuart Grosvenor Stickney (9 Mar 1877 - 24 Sept 1932) finished 15th in standings. He finished first in individual competition but was eliminated in the 2nd round of match play. He won the Trans-Mississippi Amateur in 1913. (Article: Stuart Stickney). Also on the 1904 team was William Arthur Stickney (25 May 1879 - 12 Sept 1944). He attained a 17th standing, and finished 4th in individual, also to be eliminated in 2nd round match play.
The clipping reads:
There is a small clipping from the Boston Herald in the book, with the headline "Stickney Leads Field". I didn't pay it much mind, obsessed with Sarah Stickney Ellis (who was English, but worth knowing about).
According to Wikipedia, two Stickney's played on the 1904 American Olympic Golf team. The team won silver. Stuart Grosvenor Stickney (9 Mar 1877 - 24 Sept 1932) finished 15th in standings. He finished first in individual competition but was eliminated in the 2nd round of match play. He won the Trans-Mississippi Amateur in 1913. (Article: Stuart Stickney). Also on the 1904 team was William Arthur Stickney (25 May 1879 - 12 Sept 1944). He attained a 17th standing, and finished 4th in individual, also to be eliminated in 2nd round match play.
The clipping reads:
"STICKNEY LEADS FIELD
[Special Dispatch to the Boston Herald]
Springfield, June 27, 1906. The Springfield County Country Club's open golf tournament opened today. Ninety-eight players started in the qualifying rounds for the Springfield cup, the Country Club cup, the Governor's cup, and the Bunker cup, 16 to qualify for each. The first round will be played tomorrow morning, the second in the afternoon, the semi-finals on Friday and the finals Saturday. S.N. Stickney of the Springfield Country Club today broke the amateur record for the course, doing the 18 holes in 68, in the first round and leading the field in the day's total with 142."
I will have to look up S.N. to see if he was a younger brother or cousin, or. maybe a misprint, assuming wikipedia is correct, which is another question. I'll update later...
Update: > That clipping was a second one, not the one I found first, upping the golfer tally to 3, which states:
"Samuel W. Stickney of Springfield, who is at the Mt. Pleasant with his parents, Mr. & Mrs. Charles Stickney, and Miss Isabel Stickney, broke the record of the Bretton Woods golf course on Wednesday, doing the 18 holes in 71. This is several holes better than the record of Brice S. Evans, who won the recent tournament, and who is entered in the tournament at Deal Beach, N.J., this week." (There is no reference to the newspaper. It looks like a society column entry to me. A handwritten date of either 1907 or 1917 is noted. "Miss Isabel" was my great-aunt, with quite a story of her own. Another research project....).
In honor of my favorite ISS Commander, I have to mention Chloe Angelina Stickney Hall, the astronomer's wife, of whom the largest crater on the Martian moon Phoebos is named. Her biography was written, excellently, by her third son, Angelo Hall. It's public domain, and it's a gem. Her story, as well as the family story in the book, is really special. I'll bring more of that story later, too... Along the way I found a poem by Augustus Snowe (no relation) entitled "There are Hundreds of Them" and had to laugh, stop, and read, thinking the same thing about Stickney descendants. At first glance, I thought he spoke of stars, but it ended up being poets writing under them. My first thought was right, after all. P.S. The Master's is airing very early on the Golf Channel, then on ESPN from 3-7:30 EDT.
Update: > That clipping was a second one, not the one I found first, upping the golfer tally to 3, which states:
"Samuel W. Stickney of Springfield, who is at the Mt. Pleasant with his parents, Mr. & Mrs. Charles Stickney, and Miss Isabel Stickney, broke the record of the Bretton Woods golf course on Wednesday, doing the 18 holes in 71. This is several holes better than the record of Brice S. Evans, who won the recent tournament, and who is entered in the tournament at Deal Beach, N.J., this week." (There is no reference to the newspaper. It looks like a society column entry to me. A handwritten date of either 1907 or 1917 is noted. "Miss Isabel" was my great-aunt, with quite a story of her own. Another research project....).
In honor of my favorite ISS Commander, I have to mention Chloe Angelina Stickney Hall, the astronomer's wife, of whom the largest crater on the Martian moon Phoebos is named. Her biography was written, excellently, by her third son, Angelo Hall. It's public domain, and it's a gem. Her story, as well as the family story in the book, is really special. I'll bring more of that story later, too... Along the way I found a poem by Augustus Snowe (no relation) entitled "There are Hundreds of Them" and had to laugh, stop, and read, thinking the same thing about Stickney descendants. At first glance, I thought he spoke of stars, but it ended up being poets writing under them. My first thought was right, after all. P.S. The Master's is airing very early on the Golf Channel, then on ESPN from 3-7:30 EDT.
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