# 32 - Books. Books. BOOKS!
A few words regarding this photo
before we start. All of the volumes in this photo have been added to the “Drum
Library” by me. They were not volumes read and used by earlier members of the
Drum Family Tree. I include them here, therefore, as a representation of books,
the topic this post celebrates. Shown here are the collection’s earliest published
to the most recently published. The oldest-published
acquired to date is shown in the lower left-hand corner. I call it “Elements of Therapeutics and Materia Medica” but,
according to the book’s title page the full title is: Elements of
Therapeutics and Materia Medica to which are
prefixed two discourses on the history and improvement of the Materia Medica,
originally delivered as introductory lectures (honestly, the titles are
sometimes longer than the books!). It is volume 2 of the set’s second edition
and was written by Dr.
Nathaniel Chapman, first president of the American Medical Association.
The book was published in 1822. Directly above this book in the photo we see Lessons
Selected from the Historical Parts of the Old Testament; for the use of Schools.
It was published in Dublin in 1824. In the center of the photo we see a book by
Pete Souza. He served as the Official Photographer for the Obama Administration
and the book is a collection of some of his photos and memories. It was
published in 2017. On the photo’s right is the Washington Post’s paperback
version of the 2019 edition of The Mueller Report. Now to the post!
Our posts so far have looked at the lives and times of
various Drums since Philip first arrived in Philadelphia in 1738 from Germany. We
saw how they knitted themselves into the community as the community emerged
around them; sometimes because of them. We examined the Drum’s religious
beliefs and watched various Drums march off to war (no pun intended but
I already used this joke at the end of a previous post [which, BTW, was
a sly attempt at getting you to read one of the earlier posts if you had not
already done so!]. Did you get the pun? Drums. War. Marching. Right. Anyway!). The most
recent posts involved our family members interaction with the Anthracite Coal Industry.
Now we begin to look at the more personal elements that made up being a Drum.
Their education, employment, illnesses, hobbies; in other words, their daily
lives.
As I’ve said before, the biggest issue with researching
this family’s history is the lack of diaries, letters, or other personal
documentary material that might give us information about what transpired
before we arrived on the scene! In “The Hat Box Collection” (see post #25 Faith – In God for information
about, and a look into, this box of family papers) we find a multitude of
handwritten receipts and recipes, obviously showing that someone in this line
could write, and therefore, read; or at least had friends who could. This
collection includes newspaper clippings as well, and a few informational
agriculturally-related pamphlets. However, most of those that we can identify
to individuals, belonged to “extended Family Tree members” such as Elmer’s wife
Ella’s uncle, Jacob Santee, or earlier Santee and Balliett family members.
Still, the assumption, and I stress it is just an
assumption, is that most of the Philip Drum Family Tree members could write
and, therefore, read, although some of the evidence is circumstantial requiring
leaps in faith for sure. We know that Progenitor Philip (1702-1788?) could at
least write his name. He
signed the Oaths of Allegiance and Abjuration upon arrival in Philadelphia in
1738. Some of his fellow passengers had to “make their mark” (usually
an X), not being able to write even their name. If Philip could do more than
just write his name, if he could read and write (probably in German), it would
be difficult to believe that a parent would not pass this knowledge on to a
child. So again, we assume Jacob (1730-1774?)
could read and write.
We have stronger evidence that Jacob’s son George (1762-1831)
was able to read and write. He became a Justice of the Peace in 1811 which
would obviously require him to write out and read documents, or at least sign his
name to documents in order to render good judgement/know the law. This same
logic applies to his son Abraham and daughter Margarett. They played a major
role in the two Drums Hotels operated by Drum family members. Indeed, Abraham
Drum served as County Sheriff for some time as well, again a position
logic would tell us would be enhanced by the ability to read and write.
This same logic is applied to another of George’s sons;
Abraham’s and Margarett’s oldest brother; Philip (1787-1858) who built and
operated the first carding mill in the valley. Philip’s children included
politically active merchants Nathan S. and Redmond while Philip’s youngest son,
Edward, is credited with playing a role in the establishment of the Conyngham
Post Office. Philip’s oldest son, John (1825-1881) was the Drums Hotel’s
proprietor until he died.[1]
Abraham’s sons, Josiah and Steven, ran a dry goods store. All of which,
although not “proof-positive” they could read and write, one has to agree that
not being able to do so would surely prove to be a handicap in such roles!
At this point we begin to find real, hard evidence of Drum
family reading and writing ability among the receipts and other documents that
have survived. We assume it was John’s son, the coal miner Nathan A.
(1868-1934), who wrote the inscription in the bible he gave to his wife as a
Christmas present in 1895[2]
and there are a number of envelopes (absent the letters, darn-it!) and
postcards (mostly tax notices or with messages that tell so much like, “Wish
you were here.” Darn-it, again), probably saved for the stamps (yes, we are
stamp collectors, too), that were sent to Nathan and Mary. There is abundant
evidence of his son, Elmer’s (1895-1959), reading/writing ability as well as Elmer’s
son, my dad, Harry’s (1923-1986) ability. Heck, I witnessed Dad reading and
writing! For example, I often saw him reading my school report cards and
signing his name on them certifying he’d seen those “tremendous” grades of
mine. Usually, after one of those episodes, there was more encouragement
provided to me for further reading, if you catch my drift.
Given that most of us Drums could read, what importance did
newspapers and books play in the lives of the Drums? In a box found in the back
of our attic, were newspapers and books obviously saved from times past; yet
another collection from varied sources and times. From this box came the oldest
printed document I’ve yet found connected to/saved by this family. It is a
newspaper page, written in what apparently is German. There is nothing about
this item that this “reader” found that gives obvious reason for it to have
been saved. Perhaps it was simply packing material left over from some move!
Given the following that appears on the reverse of the
page shown here, it was published in Easton, PA and appears to be called “The
Correspondent”. It is dated “Freitag, den 7ten Januar, 1831 (Friday, the 7th
of January, 1831).
Was it a newspaper read by George? He died February 27,
1831 from “an accidental gunshot wound.”[3]
Perhaps, this was one of the last things he read.
A number of smaller religion-related booklets from the
Drum Library have been preserved. I lived in eastern Massachusetts in the
1980’s and I think I may have picked up the copy of Alleine’s Alarm
there, but the rest of the books in the photo came from the Drum’s
“collection”. Alarm, by the way, does not show a publication/copyright
date but I believe it is from around 1850. The oldest of the other little books
in the photo is Gospel Hymns Number 5. It was published 1887, although I
can’t figure the use of it, it’s just the words! I guess it was handed out
during a service to be followed as the hymn was played, but I like to see the
music, too. It helps me follow along. I guess that’s just me. The youngest of
this group is the 1957 volume entitled Prayers for Every Need. I
included it here because, well, it’s as old as me. The others are Grace
Before Meals (1911), A Child’s Book of Prayers (1918), and Prayers
for all Occasions (1940).
I’m including the next book just to prove the Drums
didn’t have a corner on the religious books market. Just 5 ¼ inches high, this
little book is falling apart, obviously heavily used, but you can tell it was
much loved. It is entitled The New Testament of our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ; Translated out of the Original Greek and with the Former Translations
Diligently Compared and Revised. It belonged to my Grandmother, Bertha
Zboray (my mom’s mom), when she lived in Hazleton (around 1915). The inside
cover page is brown paper and her name is written on it in pencil so it was almost
impossible to capture in a photo, but it reads:
Miss Bertha M.
Zboray
624 Lincoln St.
Hazleton,
PA
Getting back to the Drums’ collection, the religious
books they read were not only small things. They had some large to gigantic
books as well! Following is a photo of some of those. The oldest of the ones
included in this photo that are not bibles is entitled Household Treasury of
Christian Knowledge published 1891 (on the right in the photo). Moving
clockwise, is a volume entitled Manger to Throne published 1893. Story
of the Bible was published 1908. It probably belonged to Ella’s Uncle,
Jacob Santee. Next we find two family bibles. The one above “The Story…” is a
bible published in 1893; the year Nathan and Mary were married. Was it,
perhaps, a wedding gift? However, Nathan presents Mary with a new bible on
Christmas, 1895. This leaves us with the quandary, why so many bibles! The next
bible in the photo makes a tad more sense. This one, the one in the middle of
the photo, belonged to Ella’s father, George Santee. It was published 1879. The
final book in the photo is Bedtime Bible Stories. It was probably read
to my brother, Nathan, when he was very young (and probably to me as well). It
was published 1955.
For much of history, through the 18th Century
and into the 19th century, to give or receive, or even to buy, a
book was a noteworthy occurrence. Although people owned books throughout
history; that ownership was usually a mark of wealth and distinction - or a necessity;
Lawyers owned law books; physicians owned medical books. Thomas Jefferson was
known to have owned enough books to make a small library. In fact, after the
British burned Washington, D.C. during the war of 1812, Jefferson sold his
personal library to the United States to replenish some of what had been lost
in the burned Library of Congress. Then he bought more books (A man after my
own heart).
However, for “common people” to own books, or even one
book, was a luxury. I can’t imagine that
Philip or his son Jacob, owned any books. George and even his son, Philip, if
they did own a book, probably would have considered it a frivolous waste of
money. But by the end of the Civil War, books were becoming more accessible and
cheaper to buy, so therefore more people were purchasing and owning books. Books
of religious nature, poetry and romance, exciting tales of Knights, Pirates,
and war or Western exploits, advances in science, biographies, and more soon
began to appear in the “everyday man’s” household.
Jacob Santee, Ella’s uncle, who at one time called
himself a Jeweler, owned a number of books that made it into the present Drum
library. One I particularly like, because it was written by a U. S. President,
Theodore Roosevelt, is African Game Trails. This was a Library cast-off
(I hope) because it has the Butler Township High School sticker inside the
cover. According to the sticker, it was volume 1,227 in their collection. This
edition is from 1921 and seems heavily used.
I don’t know if Uncle Jake actually went to the Columbian
Exposition of 1893, but he owned a book about it as well as a Columbian
Exposition Commemorative coin. A Journey Around the World, 1901, was
also his. We are sure both were his because he either wrote or stamped his name
inside them.
On the inside cover, in very fancy script, is written "Master Christian Schoesche's Book, Center Hills, Luzerne County, Penna." Above that, in less fancy script (neatly written school cursive, actually), we see "Jennie Santee". That is followed by what appears to be "Jenie Sante". This incorrect version appears to have been erased, or someone attempted to erase it but used a bad eraser that just smudged the graphite somewhat badly. Christian Schoesche was Jennie's mother's brother, or to put it another way, Jennie's uncle. My guess is that he used it first and then passed it to Jennie.
I included the outside cover and inside cover-pages in the photo for your perusal. Swinton’s Geography is dated 1879. Someone, I'm guessing Jennie, seems to have used its cover page as an opportunity to practice making letters. The Peerless Atlas shows a copyright date of 1901. Both are quite interesting! To check out another Geography book of Uncle Jake’s, visit the post: The Drums and their times, Part 2. He stamped his name in that one.
Another volume Jake did not identify as his but I believe
was his, is this volume 3 of the three-volume set entitled A History of the
Nineteenth Century Year by Year published in 1900. I’m sure he got it
because it covers the Civil War. I have since found volumes 1 and 2 to complete
the set. One I found in a used book shop in San Antonio, TX and the other was
given to me by my son (he knew I was looking for it). Yup, I
like books, too.
It appears that after the turn of the century, 19th
to 20th that is, the relationship between Drums and books picked up.
In this next batch we find books of wide interest with the earliest being 1911
and the “youngest” being 1943.
Joyce of the North Woods is the 1911 volume. On
the inside front cover, we find “Ella 1914” written so, I can only assume my
grandmother liked this book. Buddy in Dragon Swamp and Finding New
Trails are both 1942 editions. Inside “Trails” is a stamp reading, “Butler
Township School District”. I hope this was also a library cast-off. Knowing us Drums, it was. Heidi is the youngster at 1943. The
“G” Man’s Son at Porpoise Island is actually not an original Drum’s Library
acquisition. That one, according to the inside cover, belonged to my mother’s
brother, Nelson Shearer. It was published in 1937. Nelson acquired it in 1939;
at least that’s the year he wrote inside beside his name.
It’s no mystery that we Drums liked books. Given the
following collection, we must have liked mysteries, too! Representing the many
Mysteries in the collection are these four Carolyn Keene volumes from 1932.
Another book I particularly like is
this little volume entitled Science of Trapping. It is copywritten 1909
but marked “revised edition” so may be “younger”.
Speaking of mysteries,
however, I have no idea why the cover art includes three swastikas (see them up
there in the top left corner? Right before “Science”). Prior to the 1930’s when
it was adopted as the emblem for the German Nazi Party, the swastika was a long-held
symbol of good luck and fortune. Perhaps that is just what one needs to be a
successful trapper!
It is clear that by the time Elmer and Ella’s children
came along, reading was seen as essential to a child’s development. There are
numerous children’s books in the Drum’s Library that were once owned and read
by Harry and Clara.
Some of them even have their owner’s names in them. The
Blue Network Stories for Children was Clara’s. She was born 1925 and the
book was published 1929. Children’s Best Story Book belonged to Harry.
He was born 1923 and the book was published 1922. As proof these belonged to
them, here are their names “carefully” written on the inside cover pages.
Harry’s seems more scratched then written and is missing the “Y” in “Harry”, but
his name is there none-the-less. Maybe he got help writing “Drum”.
Book enthusiasts looking at this photo are all cringing
right now. Yes, that is duct tape holding “Children’s Best” together. I think
my mom did that but it wasn’t the first time some type of tape was used on this
book (note the red tape below the silver duct tape) or other books from this
collection.
Those things you were able to get, you found a way to
keep. Enough said.
Here are a few more of Dad’s books. Actually, A
Frightened Baby was Clara’s and “Harry Drum and Ella Drum” is written
inside Aesop’s Fables (the book with the rose on the cover).
In addition to library cast-offs, it appears that at
least one other source of books for this family was a Hazleton store known as
The Bon Ton. Here is a Bon Ton ad that appeared in the Hazleton newspaper Plain
Speaker in 1928. It doesn’t mention books.
However, the price tag that is on the inside cover of
this 1928 book mentions Bon-Ton. That 1928 price of 25 cents would be around
$3.75 today. I’d pay that for this cute, little book!
It seems when my mom was a teen, her fancies didn’t
completely fall in line with the teenager’s reading stereotypes. Here is proof
from 1946 that my mom read more than just love stories. That’s her maiden name
written on the back of Edison’s head. Of course, her dad was an electrician so
that probably helped with the reading selection. Maybe he gave her the book!
Mom and Dad made sure that we children, Nathan and I,
found a love for books as well. Here is a tiny book that I loved to pieces -
literally. It was one of the first books I ever owned and I made sure no one
could get confused over the book’s ownership. Take note that I didn’t “scratch”
my name in it, either! It appears, however, that I did have some problems
forming letters but not bad for an early try, if I have to say so myself!
For the next few years, each year, my parents gave me a
few more of these “Tiny Golden Books” and I treasured each one.
I also made sure to write my name in each one, some
written better than others, but the name is there all the same.
No matter what other toys or books I received in any
given year, it was the “Tiny Golden Book” that I looked most forward to
receiving and enjoyed the most. You could make book on that!
One more book to show you and here it is.
You probably just said, “What the heck?” This little book
is an 1874 edition of Who were the First Builders. The pages in it that
remain do not show an author’s name. The publisher was T. Nelson and Sons of
London, Edinburgh and New York. The “builders” it is referring to are beavers,
termites, and birds. If there were more, the pages are no longer in the book to
tell us their stories. On the inside cover page, in most elegant handwriting,
is the following:
Award of
Excellence
presented to
Marian W.
Morris
by her attached
teacher
M. A.
Longstreth
12 mo. 1874
I received this book as a gift from my mom, 12 mo. 1972.
On the inside of the cover she wrote, “In Wilkes-Barre
flood of 1972.”
I don’t know how she came upon it. We were in Drums, not
Wilkes-Barre, during the flood.
But she knew I’d love it.
And I do.
In our next “Interests” post, we’ll have a look at some
of the other reading materials that were saved by a Drum “tree-leaf” over the
years. To read that one, return on September 9, 2019 for “Extra! Extra! Read all About It!”
[1]
See earlier posts for discussions about these family members, especially the
post “The Stagecoach” located at: https://drumsofdrumspa.blogspot.com/2018/10/the-stage-coach.html
[2]
For picture of the Bible and Presentation Page see previous post entitled:
Baptisms, marriages, and deaths, oh my!: https://drumsofdrumspa.blogspot.com/2019/03/baptisms-marriages-and-deaths-oh-my.html
[3]
“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
