Genealogy Slam!

 October is Family History Month
And time for the VWM Center's bi-annual
GENEALOGY SLAM!

This time of year, the Genealogy Team routinely fields questions from homeowners wishing to research the history of their home and its previous owners. Particularly those prior occupants whose presence is still felt in their home.

Join the team as we explain how to:

• Research your home's history.
• Research the people who have lived in your home.
• Use maps to enhance the history of your home.

Saturday, October 30th from 1- 4 p.m.

You have the option of attending in person or via Zoom by signing up HERE.

Take Me Out To The Ball Game!

 YES!! It is that time of year again when we get to watch the boys of summer play ball.

However, it was not too long ago when those “boys” were sent to war and a new type of baseball league was formed.



In 1943, the Chicago Cubs owner, Phillip Wrigley, founded the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL).

Medina County is fortunate to be able to say one of its former residents played in this special professional baseball league.

Lois Youngen, the daughter of Elden & Helen Youngen, was born in Ragersville, Tuscarawas County, Ohio in 1933. In about 1938, her parents, who were teachers, moved the family to Westfield Center (formerly known as LeRoy) in Medina County.

 

Lois grew up in Westfield Center where she learned the basics of baseball from her dad, who was a pitcher for Kent State in the 1920s. She began playing baseball with the neighborhood kids and continued to play through high school.

The year before her graduation from high school, she attended an AAGPBL game for the Ft. Wayne Daisies and the next morning she tried out for the Daisies’ Manager, Max Carey. After the tryout he told her she would hear from them and in January of 1951, she did.

The Times Reporter (New Philadelphia), 5 July 1992

She was asked to join the Daisies at their Spring Training in Alexandria, Virginia and she was given special permission from the county superintendent of schools to go. So after a senior trip to Washington, D.C., Lois attended Spring Training, which led to a contract with the Daisies. Youngen graduated from Westfield Center High School in 1951 and began her professional baseball career that summer as a catcher/left fielder for the Ft. Wayne Daisies.

Defiance Crescent News, 11 Jan 1952

    In one one many articles written about her, she stated the   game was played just like the men played. It was baseball…  not softball. She went on to say the equipment was not fitted for women and she had to cut the catcher’s outfit down to fit her.

The Times Reporter (New Philadelphia), 5 July 1992

   

The skirted uniform they wore was one piece and according to Youngen, was uncomfortable to play in and made sliding painful. 

The team would travel by bus playing 7 days a week with some of the games being double headers. They were accompanied by the coach and a chaperone. 

www.aagpgl.org

www.aagpbl.org

Throughout her career, Lois played for the Daisies, the Kenosha Comets, and the South Bend Blue Sox. She ended her career with the Ft. Wayne Daisies. While she was with the Daisies, in 1952, they won the league pennant and when she was with the South Bend Blue Sox, in 1953, she played in one of her best games, when she caught a perfect game pitched by her teammate, Jean Faut, against the Kalamazoo Lassies. 

Her stats for all four seasons combined were, a .255 batting average with 39 runs and 44 RBIs in 116 games. 

In the fall of 1951, Lois began using her earnings of $200 per month to pay for her college tuition at Kent State University. 

Dover Times Reporter, 13 Jan 1972

In 1955, she graduated from Kent State University with a Bachelor of Science degree. She then went on to obtain her Masters in Education at Michigan State where she became an Associate Professor for 3 years.

In 1960 she became an emeritus professor of physical education at the University of Oregon and then in 1971 received her Doctorate in Health & Physical Education at Ohio State. She eventually became the head of the Health & Physical Education Department at the University of Oregon.

Lois became a part of the Women in Baseball, a permanent display at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York in 1988.

 

In 1992, when the movie, A League of Their One, was being filmed, Youngen and other former AAGPBL players were asked to go to Wrigley’s field and hit, throw and catch so the actors and director, Penny Marshall, could watch how they moved and played the game. 

She was asked to throw out the first pitch at a Seattle Mariner’s game in 2007. At 74 years old, she not only made it across the plate but received a standing ovation!

Lois Youngen is still living in Eugene, Oregon, where the University of Oregon is located… how do I know this? My brother, Dan, is a manager at a local grocery store in Eugene where Youngen is one of his customers. In one of his conversations with her, he told her his sister lives in Medina County, Ohio and she told him her connection to this county. It was due to this conversation that I found out about Lois…She even gave him one of her cards with her signature on it. Isn't it a small world? 

If you want to learn more about Lois Youngen's  professional baseball career and see some fabulous photographs use the link below: 

https://www.aagpbl.org/profiles/lois-youngen/468

Sources:

website: https://www.aagpbl.org

Medina County Gazette, 29 May 1951, pages 2 & 8

Medina County Gazette, 9 May 1952, page 3

Medina County Gazette, 12 Oct 1956, page 1

Defiance Crescent News, 11 Jan 1952, page 8

The Times Reporter (New Philadelphia), 5 July 1992, pages B-1 & B-6

Dover Times Reporter, 13 Jan 1972, page A-8

Dover Times Reporter, 16 Oct 2009, ages A-1 & A-5

A big THANK You to Rick Chapman on the Roadside History of Medina County Facebook page for sharing information on his mother, who also played in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League:

Dorothy (McAlpin) MacGuire/Chapman played from 1943-1949. Check out her biography on the League's web site here: Dorothy (McAlpin) MacGuire/Chapman "Mickey"

From the All-American Girl's 
Professional Baseball League's site.

She continues to be honored. Black River High School named one of their softball fields for "Mickey":

Medina County Life

Major Update to the Digital Archives!

 In order to provide greater access to even more Medina County newspapers, The Digital Archives has undergone a MAJOR update.

If you are new to the Digital Archives, Lauren did an excellent blog on this fantastic database on February 17th: Introducing the Digital Archives of MCDL The blog tells what is included in the database and how to search and save the articles.

What is different?

Now, if you are inside one of the Medina County District Library branches you have access to more publications and more years.

For example, I used the database extensively to research the history of the Girl Scouts in Medina County for last week's blog.

From the remote, publicly-available access to the database my results looked like this:

Notice that the search returned 537 results and it lists six publications covering the decades 1910 (remember the Girl Scouts were founded in 1912) through 1970.

From within any of the six Medina County District Library locations, the search results look like this:

Notice the search has now returned almost double the results with 936 entries. The publications represented is now 10, including some very unique items held by the Medina County Historical Society and the Lodi Harrisville Historical Society. Match Tips was a company newsletter put out by the Ohio Match Company in Wadsworth. Bank Notes was published by the Savings Deposit Bank in Medina.

The years represented now cover the 1980's and 90's. Even the 1970's now has 292 search results compared to 183 pages in the publicly available version of the database.

Access is still through https://www.mcdl.info/newspapers

To access the expanded coverage, visit any of the MCDL branches: Brunswick, Buckeye, Highland, Lodi, Medina or Seville.  Hours and locations can be found here: About Us

So why have two different levels of access depending on where you use the database? 

Copyright law. 

U.S. copyright law says that publications 95 years or older are in the public domain, which allows anyone to use it. For newspapers, that means anything published in 1926 or older is in public domain. And any newspapers published after 1977 are protected under current copyright law.

But the years 1927-1977? 

It depends. Those years are a grey area in copyright law. IF the newspaper published a compliant copyright notice, then they are protected. We have not found a published copyright notice for the Medina newspapers for those years. *

*http://www.advantagearchives.com/blog/the-advantage-companies-newspaper-copyright-law/#:~:text=The%20copyright%20laws%20we%20refer,therefor%20they%20have%20copyright%20protection.

Digitization! A Unique Way To Spring Clean!

According to the calendar, it is Spring!!!

This season always makes me feel like cleaning and organizing! If you feel the same way...watch the video to learn how digitizing can be the way to clean up & organize your family research & keepsakes! 

Document Your Heirlooms to Celebrate National Quilting Day

Family history includes family heirlooms. An important step of owning a family heirloom is to document any details you know about it.  By documenting what you know, it helps preserve the heirloom's story and the story of the individual(s) who made it.  Stories make the heirloom more meaningful to future generations.  

Since National Quilting Day is March 20, the focus of this blog post will be on documenting quilts. In spite of that, the suggestions below apply to most heirlooms.

Three Steps for Documenting

The three basic steps of documenting an heirloom include writing, labeling, and photographing.

1. Write about your quilt.

Record what you know about the quilt in writing. You’ll want to both document its history and its current whereabouts. The more you write, the better documented the quilt will be for future generations. At a minimum, try to answer the 5 W (+ 1 H) questions, including:

About the Quilt's History:

• Who made it?
• How was it made? Note if it is hand or machine sewn/quilted or uses techniques like applique or embroidery.
• What does it look like? Describe it’s dimensions, condition, fabrics, color scheme, and pattern.
• Where was it made?
• When was it made?
• Why was it made?

About the Quilt's Whereabouts:

• Who owns it?
• Where (at what address) is the quilt at now?
• When did the current owner inherit or purchase it?

For convenience, you can download, print, and complete this Heirloom Documentation Form.  (It can be used to document quilts or any other family heirlooms!) 

This "Double Wedding Ring" quilt may have
been created as a gift for newlyweds.

If you aren’t sure of the answers for your quilt, you’ll need to do a bit of information gathering.

• If they’re still living, talk to the quilt’s maker or a previous owner.
• For an heirloom that’s been passed down in your family, ask relatives for help.
• Research the quilt’s pattern.

Researching the pattern will improve your description and might help you answer the questions of “where,” “when,” and “why” a quilt was made.

• 

  "Anvil" Quilt Pattern
  (also called "Jacob's Ladder") 

  Where: Some patterns, including the “Ohio Star,” the “Arkansas Traveler,” the “Nebraska Pinwheel,” have geographic connections.
• When: Other patterns might suggest a time period for when they were created; for example, the “Lincoln Platform” pattern could only have been made after 1862.
• Why: Patterns may also give you clues about your family’s occupations, interests, and life events. For example, various patterns are called the “Anvil” (blacksmithing), the “Saw-Tooth” (carpentry), the “Corn and Beans” (farming), or the “Compass” (sailing). Blue and white quilts -- especially in the pattern the “Drunkard’s Path” -- may indicate an individual’s participation in the temperance movement. Meanwhile a “Wedding Ring” pattern may have been made as a wedding gift.

Important Note: A pattern may not have a deeper significance -- the quilt’s maker may have simply selected a pattern because they liked it!

Some resources for quilt identification are noted below.

2. Make a label for your quilt.

Using the information you’ve researched, collected, and written down, create a label for your quilt. The golden rule of labeling an heirloom is to never do something that can’t be undone (without damaging the item). For a quilt, you’ll make your label from a natural fiber fabric and an archival, permanent pen. You’ll attach the label by hand sewing it in place with cotton thread. For detailed directions on how to label quilts, see the Quilt Alliance’s “Label It Already!” post at https://quiltalliance.org/labeling/label-it-already.

3. Take (several) photographs of your quilt.

• Make sure to get a snapshot of both the front and back.
• On the front, take an image of the overall design, but also detailed views of a block, border, or any unique features.
• On the back, make sure you photograph the label you’ve added.
• If the maker is living, photograph them with the quilt. If the maker is deceased, take a selfie with it to document yourself as the owner! If you use the quilt, photograph it in the context of your home.

Make sure to take a phot of the full quilt top, 
plus some detail snapshots.  In this photo of a 
"Drunkard's Path," it documents the two blocks,
plus the double border, and binding.  

FAQ

• Want to make your own quilt, but don’t have a sewing machine? You can make an appointment to use the sewing machine in MCDL Makerspace. Just contact us at 330-725-0588 x5017 or makerspace@mcdl.info.
• Trying to identify a quilt pattern, but not making much progress? Email a photo of your quilt to the MCDL Genealogy Team at me-team.genealogy@mcdl.info and we’ll see if we can determine which pattern block was used.
• Need information on preserving quilts or other family heirlooms? Sign up to attend the Genealogy Slam! The live virtual event will be held on Saturday, April 24. The first session will focus on preserving your family’s treasures. Register to attend at https://mcdl.info/slam.

Resources

• For more ideas for celebrating National Quilting Day, see https://quiltalliance.org/nationalquiltingday.
• Learn about “reading” a quilt at https://www.ncmuseumofhistory.org/reading-history-quilts-and-museum-detectives-use-solid-evidence.
• See examples of traditional patterns at https://www.nps.gov/home/planyourvisit/quilt-discovery-experience.htm.
• To research quilt patterns, use your library card to place holds on “5,500 Quilt Block Designs,” “Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns,” or “The Collector's Dictionary of Quilt Names & Patterns.” “The Collector’s Dictionary…” can also be borrowed as a digital copy briefly from the Internet Archive at https://archive.org/details/collectorsdictio00khin.
• For more patterns, search 50,000+ images on The Quilt Index at https://quiltindex.org.  
• Learn about Ohio History Connection’s “Ohio Quilt Research Project” at https://www.ohiohistory.org/learn/collections/history/history-blog/2017/march-2017/oqrp.
• Download your free  Heirloom Documentation Form.  

Reminder!

We’re at the one-year anniversary of the COVID-19 pandemic. We’d love for you to record your experiences for future historians. Share your story here.  

A Year in the Time of COVID

March 9th was the one year anniversary of Governor Mike DeWine's declaration of a State of Emergency in Ohio due to detection of the COVID-19 coronavirus in the state.

Today, we want to take a look at the impact that the COVID-19 virus has had on our lives this past year.

A brief timeline of events:

• After DeWine's declaration, most businesses started shutting down. This included public libraries.
• Cleveland Public, Cuyahoga County and Columbus Public libraries shut down almost immediately.
• Medina County Public District Library followed suit on Saturday March 14th 2020.  The doors remained shut for 3 months.
• While the incidence of the virus remained low for many months, Ohio's shutdown gave our hospitals and communities time to prepare. 
• Production of masks, sanitizers and medical equipment were ramped up. 
• Remote learning became the norm for everyone.
• Education of the public about how to combat the virus was implemented. Terms like "social distancing", "essential workers", "Zoom meetings" and "the rona" entered our vocabulary.

• In May, DeWine said that the state could start re-opening, but slowly. 
• Medina County District Library re-opened their doors on June 15th with limited hours and limited services. All programs had been cancelled, meeting rooms shuttered, curbside service implemented and masks were (and still are) required to enter the building. Staff had to take their temperatures each day before coming to work. 
• Other libraries from big metropolitan areas, like Cuyahoga county and Columbus opened later, as the spread of the virus was worse in large urban areas.
• The incidence remained high in November and December of 2020 and going into January of 2021. 
• Now we have started to see a glimmer of hope as numbers have started dropping and vaccination programs have kicked into gear.

No one can really say how the next months (or years?) will play out, but it is time to contemplate what we have been through.

Here in the Virginia Wheeler Martin Family History and Learning Center (the Center) we want to take a snapshot of this year and record people's personal experiences of this unprecedented historical era.  

We are asking everyone who is reading this to complete the form below. All questions are optional and your responses will be kept private. A summary of the responses may be shared on this Blog.

My Year in the Time of COVID-19

The Center will compile and archive the responses for historical purposes. 

Imagine! A hundred years from now, someone may be reading how YOU survived living during the time of COVID.

Thank you for participating!