#15 – Nice
In the previous post we saw there were quite a number of
Drums living in in Drums through the years. That many Drums can have an impact
on, change the rhythm of (get it?), a community, for sure - not one but TWO
hotels, a shoemaker, saddler, woolen mill, Dry Goods Store, civic involvement,
I mean, sheesh!
Yet, the Drums put their stamp on the community in still another
way, as well. The Drums weren’t only involved with the Post Office at the
beginning with George’s “de facto” Post Office in his tavern. Beginning with
George’s Tavern in 1820 and stretching through Elmer Drum’s career as a postal
carrier, for close to 140 years a Philip Drum descendent had been involved with
the Post Office, primarily in Drums.
After the involvement of William and George II in the
1820’s – 1840’s, Abraham’s son, George, was appointed Drums Postmaster in 1854.
Abraham Alex (known as A.A.) Drum(Josiah, Abraham, George, Jacob, Philip)
became Postmaster in the 1880’s. Nathan S. Drum’s daughter, Carrie M., was
appointed Postmaster (called “Postmistress” at the time) in the 1890’s and served
in this role until she died in 1941 at the age of 67. Her Assistant Postmaster
(“Postmistress”) was her sister, Lottie.[1]
Finally, Elmer Drum became a Letter Carrier in the 1920’s and continued in this
role until he died January 23, 1959. The 1930 and 1940 U. S. Censuses each list
him as “Letter Carrier, U.S. Mail” which is also the profession listed on his
death certificate. During his son (my father) Harry’s funeral in 1986, a woman
told me, “You didn’t know your grandfather, Elmer, did you? He was such a
wonderful man. He looked out for everybody, cared for everybody! I should know
because he delivered my mail I don’t know how many years! Such a wonderful
man!”
The back of this photo reads “Hazleton Mail Carriers”.
There is no date on it. Someone did hang an arrow over my grandfather’s head,
however. Back row, third from the left. My guess is the photo was taken in the
1930’s. Given the color of Pap Pap’s hair, however, maybe the ‘40’s.
On January 27, 1959, the Consistory of the St. John’s
U.C.C. wrote the following letter to Ella Drum.
Dear Mrs. Drum,
At the meeting of the Consistory
on the evening of January 26, 1959, a Resolution was passed commemorating the
passing of your husband. …we, the members of the consistory, wish to pay
tribute to a Christian man to whom God came first, others came second, and
himself last. His life was an inspiration to those who were privileged to know
him.
…for the officers and members
of the Consistory
(signed) Edward V.
Longenberger, President of the Consistory
For the church
(signed) Russell A. Bechtel,
Pastor
As for the question of who was living with whom across
the years, one mystery emerges from the U.S. Census data. It may be a story of
great love, wonderful caring for another, or it may be a story of embarrassment
and cover-up! From all that I have come to learn about the various members of
this family called “Drum”, I believe it is the former. The truth, however, may
never be known and forever be lost beneath the sands of time.
A study of the U.S. Census data for Butler Township of
1870 will show an entry that has John Drum listed as “Head of Household” and
the following individuals listed as making up that household: A. Maria (John’s
wife); their children, Benjamin F., Philip A., John A., George B.M., Nathan A.,
Agnes V., and Louisa Jane. These names are followed by the mystery: Bough,
James H., age 21, male, white, worker on farm. Obviously, Bough is a hired
hand, one assumes, living with the family at the time of the census-taking.
However, a check of the 1880 census data, reveals the
household recorded in this manner: John, Head of Household, Hotel Keeper; Anna
M (John’s wife, note the switch in emphasis between first and second names);
the children, John A., Louisa J., Geo. B. McC., Nathan A., Mary M.; and
finally, Bough, James H., white, male, age 32, step-son, single, idiotic.
In ten years this individual named James H. Bough went
from a “worker on the farm” to “step-son.” Who was James Bough? Where did he
come from? Was he, perhaps, a mentally challenged individual John and his
family took in and called their own? There is no evidence James was a son of
John’s wife from a previous marriage; in fact, it does not appear she was
married previously. After John died in 1881, the next available U.S. Census
data is from 1900; the 1890 data being mostly destroyed in a fire. On the 1900
Census, James appears in the household of John’s son, Nathan, this time listed
as a “step-brother”. He is not listed in the 1910 Census. He is also not
included by Laura Helman in her 1927 genealogy of the Drum Family! James is a
mystery.
John presents us with another “mystery” as well. Helman
tells us one of John’s sons was named “George B.”[2]
When we examine the 1870 census, we find him listed as “George B. M.” In the
1880 census he is found listed as “Geo. B. McC.” “George
B. McC” was born February 24, 1865[3],
about six weeks before the Civil War ended. The previous year had been an
election year in which President Lincoln’s Democratic adversary was the Union General
George Brinton McClellan. Was George B. McC. named after the
Union General and Democratic Presidential candidate George B. McClellan? John’s
brother, Nathan S., was very active in the Democratic Party. It would seem John
was too! George may not have liked this designation, however. His grave stone
reads simply “George B.”, just as Helman has it.
One final thought about the Drums from Drums. Of course,
this “final thought” may be seen as a bit self-serving since I am, after all, a
Drum. Still, as one reads the records that still exist of these Drums, it becomes
more and more apparent that the members of this family, by and large, were, for
the lack of a better term, nice. We read again and again how members of this
family helped others, cared for others, worked to make the lives of others
easier/better. So many lived lives of service, both public and private.
We see this idea come alive in the questions around James
Bough; in the stories about George I’s life, ending up helping his whole
community; in Abraham, the sheriff who made friends instead of enemies; in
Elmer, who was a beloved Mail Man; and in the lives of the various Drums who
held leadership roles in government or just in their churches or community
organizations, whether in Drums, St Johns, Conyngham, or elsewhere.
When my father died in 1986, I spoke at his memorial
service. Long before this notion of “nice” had formulated, I told the attendees
of that service, in part, “his life was a lesson of love. All who met him,
learned and with each hand shake, he left behind a little piece of his heart.”
That was true for my Grandfather as well, as was noted by the woman who knew
Elmer only because he delivered her mail. Yet she loved him enough to tell me
her story 27 years after he died!
My dad made this
little figurine in the 1930’s.
Happy Halloween!
|
In fact, I’ve only
ever found one documented instance that implies something other than members of
this family as being nice. Even in this, however, the evidence is rather
ambiguous. Judge for yourself. It comes in the form of a letter[4].
The year is 1945 and the letter is from a 19-year-old woman to her soldier
sweetheart, Conrad. Her name is Marion but she goes by the nickname “Ditto”. On
October 31st, Halloween evening, she writes,
Drums, Penna.
October 31, 1945
7:45 P.M.
Dear Conny,
Tonight is the time when all the witches and
bats are supposed to be flying around. Yes, and ghosts, too. I’ve seen some of
them; the ghosts, however, are the ones that haven’t learned to fly yet – maybe
they’re too young. It is a dark and dreary night, though, very suitable for
Hallowe’en pranks. So far, they’ve been confined to throwing corn & soaping
windows.
After some further chit-chat and news of friends and
recent occurrences, she writes in her final paragraphs,
Someone (Mrs. Rhodes) just called up and
told us “my brother” was at their place tearing things up. Tch, tch! So now my
pop has gone to hunt him up. Shucks, tho’, it’s Hallowe’en; after all . . . . (sic)
Pop just came back & said they (Gertie,
Norma, Lucille, Willard, Bob Walp, and Chas) weren’t doing anything. Mrs.
Rhodes must be worse than Drums!
I’ll have to say “so long” now.
Always with Love,
Ditto
George W. Drum.
My mom photocopied this from somethingbut never recorded the source |
On November 7, 1913, George W. Drum(George, George,
Jacob, Philip) died. Born in 1832, he had lived his entire life in
Conyngham. He had been elected as Justice of the Peace of Sugarloaf in 1860 and
continued in that role for the next 53 years except for the four years when he
served in the Pennsylvania Legislature. He was a member of the Pennsylvania
State Legislature Lower House from 1879-1882. He was the only Democrat to have
been elected from Luzerne County in 1878. A tribute to him appeared in the Valley
Vigilant on November 14, 1913. Perhaps in partial response to “Ditto” we
can point out it included the sentence, referring of course to George W, “There was tenderness, sweetness, purity and
love beneath his rather gruff exterior.”
In another paragraph it said: In professional business and private life he was just and generous, one
who was interested in good works and in moral welfare of the town, and for all
the qualities of good citizenship. He was incapable of and could never stoop to
do a mean or unworthy thing.[5]
This statement could be written about so very many
members of this family. It was my son, Philip, who first pointed it out to me.
Almost in exasperation he said to me one day, “Dad, was EVERYBODY in this
family NICE?! They all just seem so NICE!”
“You know, Philip,” I answered, “I think so!”
Return to the Drums of Drums, PA on January 14,
2019, to read Post #16 – They call it "Progress".
[1] Drums,
PA, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Drums,_Pennsylvania&oldid=726559076
accessed 9/20/2016.
[2] Helman, Laura M., History and Genealogy of the Drum
Family (Allentown, PA: Berkemeyer, Keck & Co., 1927), p 8.
[3] Helman,
p 8.
[4] Letter
was one of 73 letters found in an attic of a home near Drums corner now in the
home owner’s possession.
[5]
“Conyngham’s Grand Old Man Dead, Honorable George W. Drum is no more – was the
town’s oldest native citizen” Valley Vigilant, November 14, 1913. P 23