E d i t e d a n d p u b l i s h e d s e a s o n a l l y b y t h e C a l k i n s F a m i l y A s s o c i a t i o n

CALKINS WORLD

Vol. 25, Issue 4

Fal l 2018

Dedicated to the memory of our immigrant ancestors,

HUGH and ANN CALKINS,

who braved the seas in 1640 to the New World,

and to all their descendants.

Inside this issue:

Calkins Family Association News

CFA Holiday Gift Ideas

Still hunting for memorable holiday gifts? Consider CFA!

• A gift of membership is only $20, or $10 if you are renewing a membership. • One Calkins Family Recipes cookbook is $10 postage paid. Each additional

book is only $7.00. Contact Nanette if you want more than 4 books. • Special! CFA Swag Bag A: For just $20

you’ll receive an iron-on patch with the Calkins crest, a pen that says “Calkins Family Association”, an anniversary edition cloisonné lapel pin, and a cookbook.

• Swag Bag B: For $26 you’ll receive an iron-on patch, a pen, the lapel pin, a cookbook and the CFA shopping bag.

• The ultimate gift: a CFA Lifetime Membership. Receive a nice certificate and never have to remember to pay renewals. $150. Send your check to our treasurer. Thanks for your support!

Sales items can be ordered by sending a check (payable to CFA) to Nanette Armstrong, 215 Disney

Lane, Sedona, AZ 86336.

Christmas 1919 2

D-Day, June 1944 3

Betsey Calkins Hunt 4

Betsey Calkins Hunt (cont.)

1904 Earthquake

5

Charles Rendell Calkins 6

D-Day, June 1944 (cont.)

Christmas 1919 (cont.)

7

Mission Statement, Dues, Policies, and Officers

8

Page 2 CALKINS WORLD

My Favorite Christmas Memories - 1919 My favorite Christmas memories are of Christmas 1919. While the events creating this memory

happened a few decades before my birth, they have long been a part of my collective remembrance,

the heritage of my home rooms. Thanks to my mother’s recollections and to the careful notes and

prolific writings of my cousin Doris Whittier Pierce and others, these lovingly recorded details persist. I

celebrate with them.

For the Caulkins’ family on Smyrna Park Road,

in Smyrna Park, CA, east of Ceres, CA, Christmas of

1919 was celebrated with special joy and

thanksgiving. Although World War I officially had

ended November 11, 1918, Caulkins’ son Ellis J.

Caulkins, (my mother’s brother/my uncle ), an Army

Veteran of that war, did not arrive home by ship

from France for several months, arriving in San

Francisco on April 22, 1919 where he was greeted

by his grateful mother Mary (Minnie) Caulkins and

others.

Although Ellis was gone for a relatively short

time, his year in the trenches with the 91st Division

(including the infamous Argonne-Meuse Battle in

September 1918), resulted in many frightening

encounters leading to his hospitalization and

recovery. He made quick field notes of these

events in the Argonne Forest, so many harrowing

details are known: “We now met with more

resistance, being often hugging the ground to get

out of the way of the whistling machine-gun

bullets . . . .There was a good deal of shooting

around there and I saw for the first time our men

get killed.” Excerpt of a WWI Battle by Corp. E.J.

Caulkins CO.E. 363rd. Infantry Regiment American

Expeditionary Force.

But Christmas 1919 in Smyrna Park was not

about reliving war, but of celebrating reunion, the

safe return of Ellis, family, friends, and faith.

More than twenty family members seemed to

have been staying in or near the Caulkins’ farm

house two miles from Ceres for Christmas 1919.

These family members included Whittier relatives

from central Ohio, with two young daughters Doris

and Louise sharing the Caulkins’ home with their near age cousins Nelly, 18, and Dora, 10. It is to Doris

and her 1983 Family of Philander Ellis Whittier and his wife Mary Parker Tufts that I owe her personal

reporting of the Caulkins’ Christmas of 1919: “. . Ellis just back from the war in France. . . .It was a gay

and happy group! How busy, happy, merry and musical it all was! Sings around the piano were fun,

with Ellis’ rich bass, Doris’ full alto, Louise or Nelly playing the piano or filling in the soprano.”

Continued on page 7

U.S. Army photo of Ellis Judson Caulkins of Ceres, CA,

taken April 3, 1918 while stationed at Camp Lewis,

American Lake, Washington.

CALKINS WORLD Page 3

D-Day, June 1944 As recalled by Margaret Caulkins (b. August 24,1918), on June 7, 2014, San Mateo, CA, 70 years later. Told to Remi Goss

Barron (grandson of Margaret’s Aunt Nellie Ellis Goss), his granddaughter Audrey Barron, Margaret’s first cousin Patricia

Melugin Cousins, her husband Michael D. Cousins and their son, Nathanael Cousins.

I was in the U.S. Army Air Corps as a Registered Nurse, a First Lieutenant, and stationed in England

at the beginning of June 1944. This was before the Air Force was created. In 1941 I graduated from

Highland Hospital School of Nursing in Oakland as a registered nurse. Soon World War II came and I

went into the Army’s Nurse’s Corp at Letterman in San Francisco, and then to open a military hospital

in Pittsburg, CA.(Before,I didn’t know there was a Pittsburg, CA.)

The soldiers in Pittsburg were being treated on their way to being shipped to the South Pacific.

Most had scarlet fever with high fevers and some with rash. After Pittsburg, about 1942, two of us left

for flight school in Louisville, KY, at Bowman Field, graduating under pressure as we were wanted in

Europe to get things done to prepare for invasion. Our job

would be to evacuate patients not returning to duty. We

would fly the patients to Scotland and from there another

flight would return them to the USA. We sailed from New

Jersey on an ex-British passenger ship, headed for Scotland

in a convoy. An aircraft carrier with P51 fighter planes on

deck and submarines underneath accompanied us for

safety. A convoy is an arrangement of ocean vessels. The

cargo ships surrounded our middle ship containing

personnel, the women, children, pilots and flight nurses of

Squadron 817. An aircraft carrier, a flat top, carried the P 51

fighter planes. Under the convoy were USA subs to protect

all above. When on deck we could see these ships around

us. The pilots loved looking at their P 51 planes.

In the beginning of June 1944, I was stationed at

Grantham near Nottingham, England, maybe 20 miles away.

Grantham is about half way between the English coast and

Nottingham, all north of London. We knew preparations

were being made for something, but we did not know what.

General Eisenhower was in charge of everything. He kept

moving around to confuse the Germans. A plane came on

June 5 with landing craft and we got in but did not know where we were going. The plane started to

land nearby, but was waved away. We knew that D-Day was scheduled for that evening and the

presence of lots of airplanes near the coast would have raised German suspicions.

When we did land we went to a small hospital on an airfield where flight crew (pilots etc.) were

treated, stitches done. My two friends and I were given beds. We had dinner and washed our hair.

When we were told to go out on the field, we reported to Flight Command and we wore our helmets.

It was a full-moon night. The Airborne 101st was loading its paratroopers. Our planes were DC-3’s. We

heard of trouble. A 101st paratrooper had killed himself with a hand grenade and killed many others

too.

Continued on page 7

Page 4 CALKINS WORLD

Betsey Calkins Hunt Back in 2011, I was fairly new with Ancestry.com and one day I found myself on the

rootsweb.ancestry.com guest area. I perused the postings and one caught my eye. It was from a Bob

McCollum in Texas and dated 2010-10-06. The post read in part: “Hi Calkins cousins, I have an old

picture of Betsey Calkins Hunt, daughter of Elijah Calkins and Mehitable Heath. Betsey married William

Lord Hunt in March of 1798. Among her children were Dr. Jacob Hunt and Rev. W. W. Hunt, both of

whom signed the picture on the back of the frame.”.

I wrote a note to Mr. McCollum after reading his

post and explained who I was and that Betsey was

my third great grandmother. I also said that I would

be delighted to see her pictures. Shortly thereafter

he, as promised, sent me a picture of Betsey and

pictures of the back of the frame as well. Written on

the back frame it says: “Betsey Hunt 1864”. “My

Mother Dr. Jacob Hunt”. “Rev. W. W. Hunt”. Jacob

and Ward Wesley were two of Betsey’s sons. They

had 10 children .

In addition to seeing the post from Bob

McCollum that day, I saw a post from a Jason Hunt

who said that he had grown up on the family farm in

Westmoreland, NY and that Betsey was his fourth

great grandmother. He was also interested in seeing

the pictures.

In July of 2015, I was inspired to write a note to Jason Hunt explaining who I was and that Betsey

Calkins Hunt was my third great grandmother. I sent it to his email and he wrote back within a couple

of days. We wrote back and forth a few times after that and as he provided me with his phone number

as well, so one day I called him. We chatted on the phone and have been chatting ever since, mainly

on our phones. In October of that year he suggested that we meet. So we met half way between

Massachusetts where I live and New York where he lives. He and his wife and my husband and I

enjoyed a long, leisurely lunch. And during which time, his wife Wendy exclaimed: “He NEVER checks

his email!!” To which Jason then added: “Even if I do, I just delete them. But there was something

about yours that caught my eye.” (Divine intervention is what I said it was.)

It was wonderful meeting Jason since I grew up with mainly no relatives. So after meeting Jason

and feeling like “kissin’ cuz’s” my daughter said to me one day: “Now you don’t feel like an ‘orphan’

anymore.” I told her that it was wonderful to have a cousin and to be able to talk with him and have

something in common as well. Another interesting thing is that I brought some pictures for Jason to

see of some of the Hunts that my grandmother had in a very old velvet picture album. Ironically, one

of the pictures of the Hunt men surprised us because Jason looks just like him! And my husband said

that he also sees a resemblance between Jason and me.

Continued on page 5

CALKINS WORLD Page 5

1904 Earthquake in Long Beach, CA

Betsey Calkins Hunt (cont.) So back to the story of Betsey’s photo........Over the next few months and years Bob McCollum and

I corresponded occasionally and finally his wife began to write to me and said she would be happy to

send me more pictures. At one point he wondered if I would like to have the portrait of Betsey. Of

course it was a resounding YES! To date McCollum still has the original picture of Betsey. He told me in

a short email in 2013 that he had had her picture on the wall for over forty five years and “wasn’t ready

to part with her yet” and that he his wife had bought her at an antique store in Houston, Texas because

he “liked her stern look”. (How did a picture of Betsey, who was from New England, land in an antique

store in Texas?)

I had assured him I would proudly hang it on the wall next to a painting that great, great uncle

Charles D. Potter had painted of the family farm (which I believe to be the same family farm of Betsey

and William’s in NY) in 1868. I did offer to purchase the portrait at one time as well.

Another good thing from this - I started looking for information on Calkins Cousins and found the

CFA website. As I was reading, I learned that there would be a Calkins Reunion right in my home state

in Gloucester, Massachusetts (2015). I followed up on this and ultimately attended my first reunion

with lots of my cousins! Thrilling indeed! And back to what my daughter had said about me not feeling

like an orphan anymore; ain’t that the truth now!!!!

Barbara DiBenedetto

Page 6 CALKINS WORLD

Charles Rendell Calkins Charles Rendell Calkins was a music teacher, pianist, and

organist. The second child of Frederick Walter Calkins and Alice

Iola Burpee, he was born 20 July 1887 in Allston, MA. His siblings

included Frederick Walter Calkins 1885 – 1889; Harold B. Calkins

1890 – 1975; and Alice Elizabeth Calkins 1899 – 1988.

Charles married Willie Fagan on Aug. 16, 1916. They had at

least one child; also Charles Rendell Calkins and also a music

teacher. A musical family, he had a cousin, Nellie Towle, an opera

singer.

Calkins was the director of the school of music at Alabama

Technical Institute and College for Women from 1916 until his

death 28 Aug 1921. It is now the University of

Montevallo, and before that Alabama College.

While there, the Department of Music was built

and named Calkins Hall after him. It contained

"the usual studios and practice rooms and a

special feature, the concert room finished in

ivory and old gold, the walls richly decorated in

plaster work." The building served as the music

building until 1971. When the Music

Department switched buildings, Calkins Hall,

now called Calkins House, became an

administration building.

Calkins worked to standardize the

“Progressive Lessons” in music theory and piano playing. He wanted the teaching of music in colleges

and with private teachers, to make definite requirements of music students, and when met, give them

recognized credit points for each study. This putting the study of music on par with the study of other

subjects. Teachers too were required to pass a written exam.

The Alabama State Song began as a poem written by Julia Strudwick Tutwiler. Charles Rendell

Calkins was one of several who wrote a music score to the song’s word. His wife, Mrs. Willie Calkins,

published his version of the song in the 1930’s. His version was endorsed by the Alumnae Association

of Alabama College, Montevallo, AL but that is not the official score used today.

Charles Rendell Calkins II was also musical. He received a Bachelor of Music Degree from

Birmingham Southern University and on June 5, 1952, he received his Masters of Arts from Columbia

University in New York. He taught music in several different schools before joining the Music faculty at

Troy State University in 1960 where he retired from in 1982. During World War II he served in the

Signal Corp of the U.S. Army. Most of his tour he was stationed in Alaska. He lived to the age of 91,

passing away September 6, 2008, in Troy, AL.

Nanette Armstrong

CALKINS WORLD Page 7

D-Day, June 1944 (cont.) I didn’t know before then that the soldiers carried grenades in the many pockets of their flight

suits. When I did triage, I had to first remove the hand grenades from all the pockets. Then I could treat

wounds, set up IVs, etc. I had no training for the grenades. The grenade stack was about 3 feet high. At

one or two a.m., by ambulance I took injured patients to a nearby General Hospital. We travelled by

moonlight, no headlights allowed due to the total black-out. I lit the cigarettes for my injured patients;

a lot of them smoked. The procedure was always to take a healthy soldier with the injured with the

same blood type for direct transfusions. Later I learned my patient died. All of the Airborne 101 planes

got back from crossing the Channel and delivering their paratroopers.

We did not know the extent of the invasion for a few days. No phones were allowed. In 2-3 weeks

we crossed the Channel to an airstrip near an invasion beach, near floating docks. Our plane was filled

with kids just 17-19 that we had picked up in Scotland. (I was in my mid-20s.) I prayed we would not

land by a cemetery and we didn’t. I didn’t want the young soldiers to see that. Later in France, first

cousin Don Davis, next door neighbor on Roeding Road and also a soldier in the War, and his Ceres

friend photographer Richard Ham, who had been with Eisenhower, came to see me.

(Although they were not a part of D Day, eight of Margaret’s Caulkins’ kin served in World War II.

The family Army and Navy personnel who served were seven cousins of Margaret by blood and one by

marriage from the extended Caulkins’ family on one mile of Roeding Road in Smyrna Park, two miles

east of Ceres, CA, in alphabetical order by last name: Ivan Caulkins; Ralph Caulkins (sons of WWI

veteran Ellis Caulkins); Parker Crawford, nephew of William and Minnie Caulkins: Don’s brothers Irvine,

Stanley, and Franklin Davis (sons of Faye Caulkins Davis); and, Stanley Keck, husband of Evelyn Caulkins

Keck, daughter of Ellis.) After the War, all returned safely home, some to Ceres and others to more

distant places. As of June 2014, military survivors are Margaret Caulkins, Ralph Caulkins, and Irvine and

Franklin Davis.)

Patricia Melugin Cousins

My Favorite Christmas Memories - 1919 (cont.) In Christmas 2016, 97 years after the Smyrna Park Caulkins' Celebration in 1919, only one person

attending is known to be surviving: Margaret Caulkins, niece of Ellis, living next door, born August 24,

1918, attending as a sixteen month old toddler. (Margaret herself would grow up to be an Army Air

Corp Nurse Veteran of World War II, an R.N., serving in France and England.)

Of this and other similar Christmas celebrations, my Mother Dora Caulkins Melugin, in 2002 at 93,

revisited: “We had little candles, real candles on the Christmas tree, clipped to the Christmas tree. We

only lit them for a little while when everyone was there. Where did we get the Christmas trees? We cut

them down, from the Christmas trees Daddy had planted just for that. They were planted close

together so they could be cut. There was an entire row of evergreens, here by the berries. We strung

popcorn for the tree. We often made chains of colored paper, with loops, making them at home not at

school. The tree was always in the front room, between the two west windows. Mostly for presents I

remember shoes and a new dress, something that a person would make for you.”

My Mother lived to celebrate 100 Christmases in her birth place on Smyrna Park Road, now

Roeding Road. She died in December 2009, having lived to see me, her second daughter, returned

home to practice law in her restored birth home, now at Christmas time 2016 decked out in green, red,

and gold—and electric lights. The Cousins’ Christmas of 2016 looks forward and backward with joy to

the Caulkins’ Christmas of 1919.

Patricia Melugin Cousins

Calkins Family Association

OUR ASSOCIATION’S MISSION

.

President: Nanette Armstrong nancearmstrong@gmail.com 215 Disney Lane Sedona, AZ 86336 928-282-3675

Vice President: Melissa Calkins

mjcalkins817@gmail.com 6 John Avenue Quaker Hill, CT 06375 860-912-5955

Secretary: Marjorie Edwards

ed8845@gmail.com 137 Washington St. Manlius, NY 13104 315-247-0027

Treasurer: Margaret Calkins

mcalkins@ideasinstitute.org 38929 Berkeley Ave. Moreland Hills, OH 44022

Membership: Judie Schiel jttschiel@aol.com 2583 Ionia St. Crystal, MI 48818 989-388-6488

Webmaster: Christopher Calkins, Jr.

chris@mydigisist.com 860-415-4244

Genealogy Recorder: Melissa Calkins

Calkins Y-DNA Project: Keith Calkins

calkins@andrews.edu Historian: Open Position Librarian: Open Position Newsletter Editor: Johnathon Calkins

doinneann@gmail.com 12729 SE 298th Pl Auburn, WA 98092 425-890-3390

New Membership and Dues Lifetime membership - $150, or Annual membership - $20.00 for the first year. $10 per year after that. Due January 1st, late after April 1st. One of the benefits of joining the Calkins Family Association (CFA) is receiving the Calkins World quarterly newsletter. Members are encouraged to support and participate in all the various activities of the CFA, including a reunion every three years at various location all over the U.S.A Send checks payable (U.S. funds ONLY) to Calkins Family Association Inc. to the treasurer, Margaret Calkins, or use PayPal at CalkinsWorld@aol.com. Non-tax deducible donations are always appreciated.

Back Issues

Twenty years of Calkins World, 1993-2013 on CD for $25, includes shipping. Send checks payable to Calkins Family Association Inc. to Judie Schiel, 2583 Ionia Street Crystal, Michigan 48818. Allow 4 weeks for delivery. Recommended for new members. Limited quantities of the 2014 - 2016 newsletters are available in print for $2 per copy.

Pdf copies of newsletters from October 2008 to 2016 can be e-mailed free of charge.

Queries

Genealogy queries about Calkins and other related families are welcomed and published as space permits. For line of descent questions, please contact the genealogy recorder, Melissa Calkins.

Calkins Family Association FOUNDED IN 1993