Happy Birthday Nino (Boothby)

  Today is the birthday of Tersilla Palmina Brondolo, born in Vesime Italy on March 31, 1911. She was my paternal grandmother, but I will always remember her as "Nino".  She had a unique connection to Grass Valley which is where my Dad grew up.   Her journey began in northern Italy, then continued to San Francisco, then to Grass Valley and ended in Sonoma, California. With lots of adventures in between. 

  She was born to Caterina (Bertanosco) and Pietro Brondolo and came to the United States at the age of 5.  She was raised and educated in San Francisco.  

Tersilla on the right.

Tersilla in Florence! 

The date stamp on the back of these photos says July 16, 1935. Any guesses on location?

July 16, 1935

  Nino worked as a stenographer/bookkeeper until her marriage to  Sterl Boothby in 1937.  They moved to Grass Valley in 1947 where Sterl owned and operated Grass Valley Drug. In Grass Valley, she served as president of the Twin Cities Concert Association, Grass Valley PTA, and was a life member of the Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital Auxiliary and Nevada Union High School PTA.

Nino with Dale and Kent 1945 or 46. 

  Nino moved to Sonoma in 1968 after the death of Sterl. In Sonoma she continued hospital volunteering as a "Pink Lady" at Yountville VA Hospital.  She was lovingly known as the "Angel" of the Sonoma Valley Chorale and Sonoma City Opera, attending nearly all performances.  

Nino with Patti (me) 1962.

  She was an active member of Sons of Italy, Order of Eastern Star, Sonoma Sister Cities Association and a life member of the North Bay Italian Cultural Foundation. 
She was honored as KABL citizen of the day in 1980 for her work with the chorale league and has a tree planted in her honor by the Sonoma Sister Cities Association.  Her hobbies included dancing, caligraphy, opera, travel and all things "Pink".  (taken from her obituary in The Union).

This is how I remember Nino.  So full of life!

  Happy 109th!  We are still celebrating your birthday!

Fire! Continued....(Hansen)

  These are pictures of items rescued from the fire in 1950.  They provide a glimpse of what life was like for the VanDuzers and the Hansens pre 1950.  

High School Diploma Margaret Elizabeth Van Duzer 1936

Grass Valley High School Commencement Program 1936

Class of 1936 Commencement Program
Margaret Elizabeth Van Duzer

Lavinia Claire Hansen's Certificate of Baptism 25 April 1943.  She was born 25 March 1943.

Order of Worship the Sunday Lavinia Claire Hansen was baptized.

Harold Hansen was part of the choir at the First Methodist Church in Grass Valley. This was in Lavinia Claire's baby book;  he sang the anthem with the choir after his second daughter was baptized on this Easter Sunday.

Margaret Ann Hansen's baby announcement.  It was inside of Claire Hansen's Baby Book.

  After the fire, the Hansen family lived with Emma Van Duzer on South Auburn Street, then moved to a rented flat on Conway Avenue for a short time, then moved back with Emma, then to Pleasant Street, then back to South Auburn Street with Emma until 1958 when Harold and Margaret Hansen were able to buy their own newly build house on Lidster Avenue.  That is the house I remember from my childhood and early adult years.  That was always "Grandma and Grandpa's house". 

 

Fire! (Hansen)

Emma VanDuzer with Margaret and Claire Hansen 1943.  Picture saved from the 1950 fire.

  In 1950 The Hansen Family (Harold, Betty (Margaret), daughters Margaret and Claire) were living in a house on property owned by Emma VanDuzer (Nana) on South Auburn Street in Grass Valley.  Nana's house was behind what is now A&A Sheet Metal.  Where that building sits now is where the apple and pear orchard was, as well as a berry patch.  Across the driveway from Nana's house was a very small cottage which she rented out and next to that house was the house that burned. Sometime ago someone bulldozed a parking area where the Hansen Family house was that is now level with South  Auburn Street.  Another house was never built where the Hansen  house was.  Nana's house eventually burned down; another one was built on the same spot and it also burned down.  The third building is now Vela Massage Retreat. 

  The Hansen house burned down in 1950.  Mom (Margaret) was 9 and in the third grade. Claire was 7.  Grandma (Betty) and Claire were visiting over at Nana's house when their house caught on fire and they watched in horror as it burned.  The GV Volunteer Fire Department came, but before they got there several neighbors went into the house and removed the piano, Grandma's cedar chest, some kitchen chairs and a few other things in the kitchen they could reach.

 After the fire the Hansen family went to live with Nana in her house.  Townspeople brought clothing and household goods to help and a collection was taken up by neighbors to purchase blankets.      * Information provided by Margaret Hansen Boothby. *

  This is where I have begun my digital archiving.  I have a box of charred and blackened pictures and items that were rescued from the house before it burned.  They are snapshots of family life pre-1950 and have a unique history all their own. 

Margaret Hansen and Don Holman.  Looks like a back to school picture!

Harold Hansen with Claire Hansen.

Christmas 1945-46? Margaret and Claire Hansen.

Fran and Joe Holman probably with Jim as a baby.

Margaret Hansen 1941

Claire and Margaret Hansen. Winter 1945-46?
I'm so glad this one survived. A favorite!

*Emma Lavinia King Hayes VanDuzer (Nana) m. Lester Franklin Hayes 1908 San Francisco, CA

  *Dorothy Ross Hayes Arthur (Auntie Dot)  b. 1910 d. 1989

  *Francis Charlotte Hayes Holman (Auntie Fran) b. 1911 d. 2003

  *Margaret Elizabeth Hayes Hansen (Betty/Grandma) b.1917 d.1991

A Story of Two Gold Country Towns

  When you drive up Banner Mountain on Banner Lava Cap Road, you are technically in the beautiful little Gold Country town of Nevada City, California. That's where my school bus drove Monday through Friday during the school year. Up Banner Mountain, down Banner Mountain. I went to school in Nevada City, first at the Elementary School, then at Seven Hills Intermediate School (which was brand spanking new when I started fourth grade).  I played in the volcanic red dirt under tall cedar, pine and oak trees with my sister Stephanie and all the neighborhood kids.  We shopped every Saturday at SPD Market (started by Mr. See, Mr. Painter and Mr. Dilley) and played at Pioneer Park.  

  At the top of Banner Mountain, you can make a right turn which takes you down Idaho Maryland Road.  Then you are technically in the little bigger Gold Country town of Grass Valley.  I always felt sorry for the kids that lived on Idaho Maryland Road, because they had to go to school in Grass Valley.  I loved my schools, and couldn't imagine schools in Grass Valley were in any way superior.  

  But, a great deal of my life was also spent in Grass Valley.  That's where my relatives lived, worked and attended church on my mom's side of the family.   My dad's side of the family moved to Grass Valley in the late 40's from San Carlos and owned Grass Valley Drug on South Auburn Street since 1949. They lived in a house (Villa Rusticana)  on Mainhart Drive that still remains vivid in my memories.  

  One street up from South Auburn  was Mill Street.  We shopped for shoes and clothes on Mill Street. Dr. Ross the optometrist was on Mill Street. The movie theater the Del Oro (Gold!) with it's unbelievable Art Deco murals was on Mill Street.  Piano lessons were on Mill Street. 

  The next street up was Church Street, home to the Grass Valley United Methodist Church and the Emmanuel Episcopal Church that were so important to my family stories. My Great Grandmother (Nana) Emma King Hayes VanDuzer lived up one more street on the corner of School and West Main.  My Uncle Jack Hansen lived across West Main Street from her in a house built by Uncle Bob Hansen. 

  So, really, we lived right in the middle of both towns when I was growing up, almost to the top of Banner Mountain.  I found this picture of my maternal  Grandfather, Harold Hansen, taken in June of 1928. It is titled "Hiked to Banner". He is on the right.  I sure don't know who Muriel or Neil were, or Yours Truly. But it is fun to ponder on how his trip went, which route they took, or how far they got. Maybe they got as far as the neighborhood where my childhood home was eventually built almost 40 years later. 

Here I am in 1968 or 69 on our back deck with Jay Smart. Banner Mountain. 

Welcome!

Welcome to my Blog! 

  This is where I grew up; beautiful Nevada City California.  More specifically, Banner Mountain (the mountain top in the upper right hand corner). Just looking at this picture of Broad Street brings back  many memories. How did my family come to be here in this unique place? 

  My genealogy journey really began when I was in grade school. I was deeply interested in history. I loved learning all about California history in 4th grade, and especially our local history of gold mining in the 1800's. I was always imagining myself living here way back when in the hustle and bustle of a new mining town. It helped that I had a best friend living at the top of Broad Street in a real Victorian house. It was certainly easier to gain a sense of time and place when you were walking around in the real thing.  
  Fast forward 40+ years and an Ancestry.com gift certificate later.  I found stories of relatives who actually walked these streets and worked as miners in a growing community. Talk about roots. Talk about having a sense of belonging to a place!

  5th grade was all about US History and westward expansion. I loved every minute of learning about pioneers coming across the prairie and settling in the west. For a history project I wrote a pretend diary of a girl coming west in a wagon train, and of all the hardships she and her family endured until they finally made it to California. I remember making the cover of my diary "authentic" by using  a grocery bag that I crumpled up and "aged".  I even wrote the diary using a real fountain pen. Boy was I a history geek. But, through my research and discoveries, I have found several families whose stories mirror what I wrote in my "diary". Families who ended up in California as well as Oregon. Families who eventually ended up in Gold Country.  My ancestors. 

Going back even further, I found that my ancestors seemed to be always moving...moving across the ocean, moving across a continent, moving across states, moving across town.  Each place they lived was more than just a pin drop on a map.  Where they lived and how they lived demonstrated a sense of place: A geographical place, a place in history, a place in a community, a spiritual place, and a place of belonging within a family. 

This blog is an attempt to document those journeys and honor the work begun by my Auntie Claire to research and archive our family history. This is dedicated to her, as well as my family and my children and grandchild. 

Each ancestor's  journey has culminated in our unique sense of place.