Two Joes, Thanks to the USO

    The 1940 Census Community Project recently blogged about the USO and their role in World War II. Some of their activities involved celebrities boosting troop moral with performances. 
    My aunt has the original of this photo, which belonged to my Great-Uncle (by marriage on my paternal side), Joe Funston. Here he is posing with Joe E Brown, a popular comedian from that time.
    I'm not sure the date or exact location of the photo, except that it would have been after Nov 1941 when Joe Funston enlisted.
    And I believe that my Great-Aunt Ree (maternal side) mentioned that the women in her family volunteered with their local USO during the war. I'll have to ask her more questions about that.

Wordless Wednesday

City Directories + Google Maps = Happy Dance

My Great-Aunt Ollie (Britt) Funston is unique when compared to the rest of the women in my family. Unlike her ancestors and contemporaries, Ollie left home. All other women in my tree married and settled down. A few followed their families to the next town or county, across the state or to the one next door. None left the south east. But Ollie traveled. She married a man from Pennsylvania named Joe Funston, who's family seems to have been a bit wealthy. Joe was in the army and he and Ollie criss-crossed the country together. They had no children to hold them back.

But all of this movement makes them hard to track. On top of that, Ollie and Joe died relatively young, leaving only a few clues behind - and those few clues make me even more curious about their lives! There are photos and postcards from the many places they visited, newspaper clippings from Joe's time in the army and golf tournaments he played in, and Ollie's Aircraft Assembly Certification Certificate. Along with these documents, as well as obituaries and the scant facts remembered by family, I know that the couple spent quite a lot of time in California, so I've been concentrating my searches there. Today, I had some success (and this is where the title of my post comes in).

I've searched city directories for this couple before, but today I had success. I found Joe and Ollie living in San Diego in the 1947-48 City Directory. Yay!

Armed with an address, I headed to Google Maps to see if the house was still there. Google Maps is a toss-up for finding good results. Sometimes you can locate a house and sometimes you can't. There are a number of factors: the building might no long exist, the address might have changed, etc. Even if these factors are still true, the location that Google gives is not always accurate. For example, if I were to search for my home, Google would put me two houses down the street.

Because of these challenges I have a strategy: go into street view and look for house numbers. Sometimes you luck out and the house you're looking for has a prominently displayed address, but often not. I've often "walked" half-way down a street to find a house number, but it was worth it. You'll confirm what side of the street is odd or even, and can find a numbering pattern. In my search today, however, I was lucky and the building I was looking for had a prominently displayed house number.

You can see at the bottom right of the building, just above a plant, a sign that reads "2463 In Rear." It's not often that I can find a sign pointing the way to an ancestor's home. Happy Dance!

Although it it likely that the couple lived here only a short time, it is still exciting to be able to see even such a small part of their lives. It also gives me hope that I will continue to find more.

Tombstone Tuesday - Funston

Joseph "Joe" Funston Jr. was my Great-Uncle and is buried in the Marietta National Cemetery in Marietta, Cobb, Georgia. He married my Great-Aunt Ollie Britt (1924-1966). Joe was born in Pennsylvania, but the couple traveled a lot, living in California for a time. Joe was in the army and served in World War II. He died on 3 Mar 1958 in Dodge County, GA

Tombstone Tuesday - Britt

Ollie (Britt) Funston is buried next to her father at Melwood Cemetery in Stone Mountain, Gwinnett, GA. The daughter of Nathan and Ledora (Barfield) Britt, she was born in Emanuel County, GA on 8 Jan 1924.

She was married in the 1940s to an unknown first husband, possibly McGee or Borowski. They had a child together, who died as an infant.

She later married Joe Funston Jr. of Pennsylvania, who died 3 Mar 1958. He's buried at Marietta National Cemetery in Cobb County, Georgia.

Ollie graduated from the San Diego Vocational school in 1952 and was certified in Aircraft Construction and Assembly.

Anyone researching Funston ?

My Great-Aunt Ollie Britt married Joseph "Joe" John Funston Jr. They had no children (except perhaps a child who died in infancy). In my late Grandmother's (Ollie's sister's) photos is a box of Ollie's photos. They are comprised of shots of Ollie and Joe, as well as other folks that I don't know and who don't seem to be part of the Britt family. They're too well dressed for one thing!

I've been trying to find anyone who might also be researching this family, thinking they might want to see the photos. Here's what I know about Joe:

• born: 24 July 1917, Pennsylvania ¹
• died: 3 Mar 1958, Dodge County, Georgia ¹
• buried: Marietta National Cemetery, Marietta, Cobb, Georgia ²
• wife: Ollie Britt ^{1, 2}
• father: Joseph John Funston, Sr., born est. 1889, PA ^{3, 4}
• mother: Catherine T. Unknown, born est. 1897, PA ^{3, 4}
• siblings: Winifred Helen, George E., Claire E., Francis ^{2, 3, 4}

Here are some photos of a larger collection. If anyone is interested, I've returned the photos to my Aunt, but can get them back again.

Ollie (Britt) and Joe Funston

Unknown couple, Ollie (Britt) and Joe Funston

Unknown woman, Philladelphia

William Haug, photographer

____________________

1. Certificate of Death: J J Funston Jr. State of Georgia, Dept. of Health, Dept. of Vital Records. Certificate No. 6489.
2. Funston, obituary, Atlanta, Georgia, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 4 March 1980, p28.
3. 1920 United States Census, District 190, Pennsauken, Camden, New Jersey; Sheet 23A.
4. 1930 United States Census, Willow Grove District, Upper Moreland, Montgomery, PA; Sheet 6 A.

My Great-Aunt Ollie

My Aunt Ollie was the adventurer in the family. Most of our family, having been born in Georgia and the Carolinas, stayed put. At most, they would move from one state to another - but never leaving the southeast. My Aunt Ollie was a different matter.

Ollie was my paternal grandmother's sister. She was born in 1924 in Swainsboro, GA. She married Joe Funston, from Philadelphia. He was in the army and traveled a great deal - taking Ollie with him. But she didn't just travel with him, she also worked - also something that the women in my family didn't do much (outside of the mill workers).

In April of 1952, Ollie graduated from the San Diego Vocational School, certified in Aircraft Construction and Assembly. From August '52 to September '54, Ollie worked for Convair as a riveter. Our family's very own Rosie the Riveter!

more photos

Dad brought home more photos from Granny's. These photos are much like the last set: old & contemporary photos as well as some newspaper clippings. I'll have to go through and organize these with the others.

Many of the photos seem to be from Great-Aunt Ollie's & her husband (Joseph John Funston Jr. of PA). I've posted on message boards and mailing lists to try and make a connection on these. So far, no one has contacted me.

finding obits

I'm lucky enough to live near a library that has the Atlanta Journal Constitution on microfilm. The AJC, in it's many forms, goes back to 1868 and the entire publication is available on microfilm, while only sections are available online (for a fee). Every now and them I'm able to go down to the library and find obituaries. Today's findings:

Mary Harding Waters Whitlock

Ollie Britt Funston

Margaret "Margie" Lee Price