Nice.

#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 31^st, 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 something
but 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".

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[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