I have really enjoyed Harry Kemp's Letter to the Editor, and your
commentary, Bill. I'm sorry it is over--hope you'll come up with some more
enlightening family history. GO Bill! Thank you so much!
Betty Davis Phillips
----- Original Message -----
From: "Bill Thompson" <capane(a)verizon.net>
To: "Campbell Mail List" <CAMPBELL-PA-NELSON-L(a)rootsweb.com>
Sent: Friday, December 01, 2006 10:11 PM
Subject: [Ca-Pa-Ne] Harry Kemp's Letter, Part 6 of 6
We finally reach the end of Harry's letter to the editor -- and
of my
commentary.
For those of you who might like to follow the genealogy discussion about
"Uncle Bobby", I just uploaded the latest version of our family --
augmented with most of Robert Steele and Mary Ann Blackwell's
descendants. Even though numbers are not the goal, the tree now
contains 6442 individuals and 2973 marriages. A few days ago, I posted
to this list the obit of Mary Ann BLACKWELL Steele, which may have
answered some of your questions.
Harry wrote:
"But I remember thinking that some day I would go and see the place
where Bobby Steel lived and got prosperous.
A short time ago I set out to find the place.
I found that it was not at Stony Fork, but out Dean Hill way. I
eventually found the great, rambling mansion sitting on the hill side
like a southern mansion house far from the road. When reaching the home
I felt like I was intruding, then when there was answer to my ring and a
pleasant-looking lady opened the door, it was not hard to explain why I
had come to see my mother's uncle's home. I found that it was Dean
English that now owned the home and that he was a grandson of Robert
Steel; that he and Mrs. Steel have eight children. I believe that they
are all college graduates and now in far away places."
As mentioned before, Robert Steele wasn't Harriet CAMPBELL Kemp's uncle
-- Robt. was the husband of Harriet's 1st cousin, Mary Ann Blackwell.
Of course 'Uncle' may have been used as an honorific. My youngest
grandchild has "uncles" who are just friends of his dad's, and no
relation at all.
Dean English was Robert and Mary Ann Blackwell Steele's grandson. He
was born 1889 in Delmar Twp., Tioga Co., PA, and died 1968, RD1,
Wellsboro. In the newspapers, about half the time his name appears as
'Dean' and about half as 'Deane'. Usually, but not always, it is
preceded with an 'R.' -- his first name was Robert. Be careful not to
confuse him with contemporary, Elmer Dean English, of Lawrenceville,
Tioga Co., PA. R. Dean(e) English was a son of the 9th of Robert and
Mary Ann Blackwell Steele's ten children - Mary Ann Steele (1853/54 -
1928) and Willis L. English (1854 - 1932). R. Dean(e) English was
principal of schools in Antrim and Duncan. At that time, schools only
had 2 or 3 teachers and the principal taught a class also.
When I started school, my mother taught K-3 in one room, a 2nd teacher
had another room for 4th & 5th grades, and the principal taught 6th
grade in the other room. One room at ground level; 2 rooms upstairs.
It worked quite well, some of you might want to discuss that later. For
grades 3 - 6 I was in a "big" city school that had 2 rooms and 2
teachers for each grade, a lunch room (no facilities for heating food,
and nothing sold except milk), an auditorium, a janitor's room, and a
principal's office. At that "big" school, the principal didn't have a
class of her own, but conducted sessions of an hour or so for the
"gifted" students. I was not considered one of the gifted.
The "Mrs. English" that Harry met was Elizabeth Dwyer (1888 - 1966),
dau. of John E. and Catherine Kain Dwyer. Harry is probably right about
8 children, but I only have discovered 6 so far. And all may have been
college graduates - with the exception of a son killed in WW2. But I
doubt that they all were in far away places in 1954.
"Mr. English said there were ten children in his grandfather's family,
and that when they left the rooftree, they were each given a farm,
$500.00, and a span of horses. I asked if there were others of the
family of Steels living near, and he told me only a granddaughter left
near the old home."
I'm not sure which granddaughter is meant here: It may have been
Florence Margaret Steele (1896 - 1983), or Helen STEELE Eberenz (1874 -
1963), or some others I have insufficient data on -- or have not even
discovered yet. My current guess would be Helen, because she seemed to
have lived in Delmar Twp. all her life. Rut Robert Steele must have
done well indeed to have given a farm, what was then a lot of money, and
at least 2 horses, to each of he and Mary's children. It wouldn't have
been to all ten. The eldest, Richard died in infancy. Son William died
at 19, at City Point, where Malchia Bosard died. But even if the the
farms, etc. were only given to 8 children, that was a lot of wealth.
Especially for a boy who walked from Ansonia to Stony Fork, with only an
ax and a spare shirt to seek his fortune. Robert suffered financial
catastrophes more than once, but always found a way to bounce back. It
is easy to understand why Harriet CAMPBELL Kemp was proud to have him
"in the family"
Now to some of the "good stuff":
" I asked Mrs. English if there was a part of the house just as it was
when Uncle Bobby lived here. Then she took me into a large hallway to
the front of the house, and opened a door into a great room. The
ceiling was about twelve feet high, large windows, a beautiful panelling
of walled paper in golden colors. Mrs. English said that the room is
just as it was decorated more than ninety years ago. The draperies, she
said, were so far gone that she took them from the windows three years
ago. Then I dropped my eyes to the floor which had the most beautiful
carpet I ever saw. The colors as bright as if they were dyed
yesterday. Mrs. English said that Robert Steel imported the carpet from
England."
Too bad Harry didn't take a camera and that color film wasn't very
available then.
"So that was the home of Robert Steel, built more than a hundred years
ago and looks today as solid and strong for another century."
Perhaps one of our Tioga Co. cousins can find out if the house is still
standing.
From there, Harry goes on to speculate about carpet making Kemps in
England, Flanders, and the Rhineland, back to the 13th century. It's
probably not meaningful from a genealogical point of view, but some of
our Kemp readers might find it of interest.
In conclusion, I'd like to express my gratitude to Harry C. Kemp for
sending that letter to the editor back in 1954. Even if some of the
details of the stories were jumbled or distorted by time, it gave us
valuable insights and glimpses into the past, and led me to a lot of
research I probably would otherwise never have done. Letters like his,
for those who have a good imagination, are the next best thing to having
a time machine.
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