Books & Their Owners, Part 2

Burton Howard Peake's parents were John Howard & Ella L. Peake.  John's employment was listed on the 1910 and 1920 census as Motorman on a trolley car.  

Being also a bit drawn to trains, I wanted to see what I could find out about trolley cars in Cleveland in the early 1900's.  This site, Cleveland Transit System Through The Years, has some great images that date from 1904 forward. The ones from the time period 1910 to 1920's are in the first row.  The Motorman on the trolley car was the driver.  There was likely a conductor on the car as well, handling the flow of human traffic, etc.  Lots out there on the internet on strikes during the early 1900's involving the employees of the Railway systems. 

 More history on Cleveland transportation at case.edu.  Streetcar lines in Cleveland in 1910 (according to a Wikipedia article) were operated by the Cleveland Railway, but date back as far as 1834 - when the first wood rail lines were created in the city - see LakeshoreRailMaps.com for some more wonderful images, maps and information from the time period.  

John Howard Peake was born in 1868 (approx) in Louisville, Kentucky. His and Ella's Marriage Record gives us a lot of additional information.   What a wonderful record! I now know Ella's maiden name and that she was previously married.  But we'll get to her later.  According to this document,

John Howard or J. Howard, as he signs his name, was a Conductor in 1901 when they applied for marriage.  He was born in Louisville, Kentucky to George J. Peake and Lucretia Cotton.  This was his first marriage.  The document is certified by the Rev. Harris R. Cooley that the couple were married on the 23rd day of February 1901. 

Aren't old documents a wonderful thing?  What new levels of this family's history this opens up to me. Maiden names, parents and their information.  It opens up the past.   Thanks to the hands who maintained them, microfilmed them and made them online accessible.

More to read, more to compile. 

An Obsession with Old Books and Their Owners

Many years ago when I lived outside of Akron and was going to the University of Akron I would stop on my way home at the old book stores.  One was located in an old school turned into shops, mostly full of various genre of old books.  I found a book there (in the 80's) that I still have.  Through every move, I've obsessively held on to it.

I am not a particularly religious person, so it was odd for me to even pick up a Bible, but it was a very small "S.S. Scholars Edition" of The Holy Bible Containing The Old And New Testaments: Translated out of the Original Tongues; and with the former translations diligently compared and revised by His Majesty's Special Command (as reads the title page).  "Appointed to be read in churches" it went on, published by Oxford University Press, American Branch, New York, printed by Eaton & Mains, New York, U.S.A.  In the back of the book is a Table of Contents that indicates the Copyright was 1904.

On the first blank page inside below the penciled-in price of 9.95, reduced to the $6.00 I paid, it says "Burton Howard Peake Dec. 25, 1910" in beautiful cursive writing (for you young folks that the connected lettering you might use for a signature if you write a check...) clearly done with a quill and ink.  It's fading and I worry someday I won't be able to see it.

Just on the other side of that inscription were these words:

"Remember Dear who gave thee this
When other days shall come
When she who had thine earliest kiss
Sleeps in her narrow home.
Remember t'was a mother gave
The gift to one she'd die to save."

It was the same handwriting with a beautiful flourish to the capital letters at the beginning of each row.  My mind immediately began to picture this woman in 1910 giving this to her son and how special a Christmas present it was to her.  The odd thing is I wasn't nearly as sentimental in the 80's as I am  now and yet, I had to have it.  I had to own it. I could not put it down.  Who was Burton Howard Peake.  Who was his mother?

I know over the years I would pick it up and hold it, flip through it carefully.  The cloth binding is just holding on to the inside.  I would pause over the glossy paged images here and there - they seemed out of place to me.  At the back was a Sunday School Primer section and maps of the holy lands in the Middle East.

I actually had it for years before I discovered more writing inside the back cover on a blank page.  And it made me think even more about Burton Howard Peake's mother and what had become of him.
In very small print but the same handwriting and quill pen it reads:

Howard -
"Do you know that your soul
Is of my soul, such a part
That you seem to be fiber
and core of my heart.
None other can pain me
As you Son can do.
None other can please me
or praise me as you.
Remember the world will be
Quick with its blame
Should shadow or stain
Ever darken your name.
"Like Mother Like Son"
is a saying so true
That the world will judge
Mother, largely by you.
Be this then your task
If task it shall be
To face this proud world
To do homage to me.
Be sure it will say
When its verdict you've won
She reaps as she sowed,
This man is her Son!"
              Mamma.


So I did a little looking on Ancestry.com today.  Why had I not done that earlier?  Burton Howard Peak was born in Ohio Dec. 16, 1901 to John H. & Ella L Peake (that's Mamma!).  Just turned nine years old when bestowed with this Bible. In 1910 (according to the 1910 United States Census) he was living with his parents and his younger sister Esther in Middleburg, Cuyahoga County, Ohio.  His father, originally from Kentucky, was a Motorman on a Streetcar.  They lived in a rented home on Seminary Street (if I am reading the handwritten census correctly).

In 1920, they were living on 3rd Avenue in Middleburg, Cuyahoga County, Ohio.  His father was still a Motorman on a streetcar, but at this time, his mother was now working as a Public School Teacher.  By 1930, Burton was married to his wife Doris and living in Akron at 131 Brown Street.  His profession:  Public School Teacher!  By 1940, Burton and his wife and growing family (two daughters - Patricia, age 5, and Janet, age 1) had moved back to the Cleveland area (Euclid, Ohio) where he continued to work as a Teacher in the Public Schools.

At what point did this little book return to Akron?  Or while a teacher in Akron, had he given it to a student there? How appropriate that it ended up in a shop in an old school!

To Be Continued...