You should collect family stories from your blood relatives who remain….. before they pass. It’s a crime that most can’t even remember back 5 generations of family history. DNA matters. DNA memory is real. Talents, occupations, hobbies, physical injuries and issues….. these all repeat.
The Cullis family were stone masons. The name “Cullis” refers to the keeper of the drawbridge controlling entry to and from the castle.,, the Portcullis. That was the name of the occupation of these men. And they lived in the part of England where stone was mined for various purposes…. Thus the family fascination with rocks and stones. Most all of us have it going on. And as you know, Pa (Frank Cullis) and his brothers (Allen and George) followed their father (John F. Cullis) in the business of sourcing granite and marble (from New England) and creating, engraving, selling and setting grave stones. The business was located on 8th Street in Chester, PA, but the structures (the shop and the next door residence) were torn down a while back, as the city of Chester deteriorated. When Pa died, the business was sold and it moved out of Chester, using the same name. John F. Cullis Sons.
The Framptons’ had musical talent and were artistically inclined. Gank (Ivy Cullis’ father Alfred Charles) left his job as the office person for the English company that produced and commercialized McAdam paving in the 1800s, when he was in his 40’s, and the owner’s kids took over the business, and Gank said, “No thanks” and too a government job as a munitions inspector during WW1. They shipped him across the pond, covering the territory between the duPont’s in Delaware and whatever was going on in Pittsburgh, PA. Brought the wife, Clara Rose, and 4 of the 5 children through Ellis Island after the war. The 5th was in the British military, and followed once he was discharged. Imagine coming home and finding your entire family is GONE, across the pond…. Gank came from working class. I think there were 9 children in his family. His brother James emigrated to Canada. Makes me wonder if Peter Frampton is a blood relative? Gank and Nana (Ivy’s parents) met at the Salvation Army as they were escaping the alcoholic hell of their home life. That’s why Jeanne ALWAYS put something in the Salvation Army bell ringer’s bucket at Christmastime, Nana’s elders died in the Poor House, which was a real thing. Without relatives to care for the aging, they went to the poor house….. kind of like today’s nursing homes.
I have always had visions of Jeanne presiding over the wooden tub of boiling water and lye used to wash the clothes during the days of life in the castle. That woman LOVED to do laundry! And she HATED to do dishes. When she was young, fighting with her sister Jo over who would do the night’s dishes, mama Ivy got so engaged that she came into the kitchen with a hammer and smashed all the dishes to pieces. I always laugh when I wash the small crockpot I got from Betty’s estate…. Jeanne once said to me, “Betty puts the entire crockpot into the sink to wash it! She doesn’t take out just the inside pot!” Well actually Jeanne, the inside pot is not removable…. Shows me how often she did dishes at Betty’s house! And I will never forget hearing YOU say, as you walked away from your kitchen sink, saying “That one’s a soaker”, as you left the pot for someone else to finish. I still laugh about that. You learned that from Jeanne - is it still an issue for you Ethan???
The Reynolds clan were farmers and builders. Grandpop’s (Ellsworth Reynolds, Jim’s father) father (William Reynolds) built a lot of houses in Media, PA that still stand. On Centennial Ave., and between 5th and 6th Streets on Jackson. William passed on this trade to his grandson, David Reynolds. His son, Dick Reynolds, a Media Quaker, — not sure what he did for a living. How quickly we forget. Dick was Ellsworth’s half brother - William’s wife died giving birth to triplets in like 1896 in the barn - one died at birth, the other died at age7, and Ellsworth was the survivor. I think Ellsworth learned a lot of the farming thing from his adoptive family in Springfield, PA. He was given to his aunt, who was married to Seth Pancoast. They raised chicken, asparagus and corn, and sold their goods at the Reading Terminl Market in Philadelphia - the market is till there. Once I took Jim there for breakfast, and as I pulled into a parking spot right by the door, Jim said, “This place didn’t change”. And that’s how I learned about Thursday being chicken killing days, and Friday being “load up the jalopy and haul the goods into the city” day, I suspect that was the Pancoast family’s routine back to the 1700’s.
I don’t know much about Grandmom’s (Merle Brown Reynolds) family. Her parents died during the 1918 flu epidemic in Philadelphia. She was a teenager, and given to spinster aunts to raise. They married her off to the farming family in Springfield…. She had been an urban creature - relegated now to the farm, where she cooked over a wood stove until the 1950’s. She took classes at the Moore College of Art, and was a very talented weaver. She had a HUGE loom, as well as a small one. I still have some of the placemats that she wove, as well as a rug, which is now pretty much in tatters. I know she had brothers who were older than her, who were on their own at the time the parents died. I think the Brown family went back to the days of the American Revolution and before. I think there is a blood relation to Benjamin West https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_West - check out his bio - he was born in Springfield, PA and there are links to the Reynolds clan back in England. I don’t know how the Reynolds and the Pancoast clans were entwined, but I know that they were. And I suspect the fact that Benjamin West succeeded Joshua Reynolds https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joshua_Reynolds as the President of the British Royal Academy of Arts also points to this connection. Is Joshua another blood relative?
Never forget! And ask your father to fill in with what he knows.
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