Playing Baseball in the 1930’s!

In 1937, my daughter’s great grandfather, Glenn Thomas Shonka Sr., played one season of minor league baseball in the Northeast Arkansas Baseball League (Class D) for the Jonesboro Giants. Class D would be the equivalent of today’s rookie leagues. Glenn was born in Richland, Nebraska in 1916 and passed away in 1978 in Columbus, Nebraska. (Left: photograph of Glenn in 1933)

Glenn was a twenty-three year old third baseman who compiled a career batting average of .160 with 0 home runs and 0 RBI in his 24-game career with the Jonesboro Giants. He played in 8 games, had 81 at-bats with 13 hits including 2 doubles and one triple.

Osceola Loses to Jonesboro, Monday, 7 to 1
11 May 1937

The Jonesboro Giants played in Jonesboro, Arkansas in the American Legion Ball Park. The Giants ended the season (May 6 – Sept. 5) with a record of 56 wins and 53 losses, in third place. The league consisted of the following teams: Blytheville, Arkansas, Jonesboro, Arkansas, Newport, Arkansas, Osceola, Arkansas, Paragould, Arkansas, and West Plains, Missouri.

1936 Omaha Robin Hoods

There is a reference that Glenn was a member of the Omaha Robin Hoods, who existed (under that name) for less than one season in 1936. However, I was unable to find his name listed on a team roster for that year. If he was a player on that team, boy, that season must have been a roller coaster!

In 1936, the Omaha entry in the Western League was the Omaha Robin Hoods. The team established a partnership with the Fontenelle Brewing Company and named the Robin Hoods after the flagship beer made by Fontenelle. The park was spruced up, new uniforms (photo of unidentified player) were acquired and it looked like it would be a great season.

However, the team was beset by troubles, as a windstorm forced the team to play several games in Lincoln, NE. Then the stadium burned down and the team was moved to Rock Island, IL where they became the Rock Island Rocks. Overall the team was 33-29 in the first half and 29-35 in the second half. (Source: Baseball Reference and Nebraska Baseball History)

1936—In August, a three-alarm fire shortly after midnight destroyed Western League/Vinton Street Park and 12 nearby homes. Destroyed were uniforms, bats, balls, and $1,000 worth of beer and hot dogs.

Comments, corrections and and suggestions appreciated.

Pvt. Edward F. Daly Jr. – WW1 Pv Co C 3 BN 20 Eng

My maternal great uncle, Edward Francis Daly Jr., was born 20 October 1899 in Portland, Connecticut. Edward enlisted in the American Expeditionary Forces on August 8, 1917 and joined Company C, 3rd Battalion of the 20th Engineers (Forestry). According to the transit document for his passage home, Edward served in the Medical Detachment for the 3rd Battalion.

Drawing from a unit history of the 20th Engineers, I provide select highlights of the journey Edward took from enlistment to his discharge from the Army. The hint that allowed me to develop this post – Pv Co C 3 BN 20 Eng – was on an index card from the U.S. Veterans Bureau that listed his service record. My appreciation to Michael Daly for the amazing photograph of his grandfather in uniform and his research on the Daly family.

15 August 1917 – General Order Number 108 authorized the formation of the 20th Engineer Regiment (Forestry) at Camp American on the campus of American University in Washington, D.C. Due to overcrowding, the 3rd Battalion moved first to Fort Belvoir, Virginia and then to Fort Myer, Virginia for basic training.

15 December 1917 – Washington, D.C. – The Third and Fourth Battalions paraded Pennsylvania Avenue, led by the Fourth Band, they were reviewed from the portico of the War Department Building by the Secretary Baker. (below – photograph)

2-3 January 1918 – the 3rd Battalion moved to Jersey City, New Jersey to sail for France. They joined the 4th Battalion on the U. S. S. America and sailed, with 44 officers and 1956 enlisted men on board, for France, arriving in Brest, France on January 17^th.

17 January 1918 – (Three hours from France) Lookouts sighted a torpedo wake heading for the America, it narrowly missed the stern of the ship by twenty feet. The submarine was never sighted.

23 January 1918 – Company C was sent to a hardwood operation at Sauvigney les Gray, in the upper valley of the Saone, and under the Dijon administration. The timber harvest required long hauls to the mill by narrow-gauge logging railways.

The forestry troops of the 20th Engineers produced roughly 200 million feet of lumber in France. The current monthly needs of the Army (1918) were 50,000,000 feet of lumber and timbers, 250,000 railroad ties, 6,500 pieces of piling and cribbing, 1,500,000 poles and entanglement stakes, and over 100,000 cords of fuel wood. The the great bulk of the material was produced by the forestry troops. (Forest History Society)

11 Nov 1918 – Following Armistice, Company C, 3^rd Battalion remained in France for six months providing fuel, rebuilding roads and dismantling the mills and camps.

14 May 1919 – Edward boarded the Santa Paula and arrived in Brooklyn, New York on 28 May and was disbanded at Camp Merritt, NJ.

Sources:

3rd Battalion, 20th Engineer Regiment (Forestry) – Unit History

Forest History Society – World War I: 10th and 20th Forestry Engineers

Comments, corrections and and suggestions appreciated.

James C. Daly – Communicating in Battle – WW1

My maternal great-uncle, James Charles Daly, was born February 1892 in Portland, Connecticut. A cigar maker by trade, James enlisted in March 1918 in the American Expeditionary Forces and was assigned to Company C, 103^rd Field Signal Battalion, 28^th Infantry Division. At the time of enlistment he was twenty-six years old and was described as tall, medium build with black hair and brown eyes. After two months of military training at Camp Devens (MA) and Camp Mills (NY), James sailed for France, arriving in La Harve on June 5, 1918.

During World War 1, the 103rd Field Signal Battalion was the main signal support organization for the 28th Infantry Division of the American Expeditionary Forces. The strength of the 103rd Signal Battalion was close to 500 personnel in 1918.

According to his service record, James participated in battles at Marne (2^nd), Thiacourt, Meuse-Argonne, Chateau Thierry (note photograph above – was Charles in the room?), Oise-Aisne, and Saint Michel.

On September 7^th, during the Battle of the Ourcq River, James was gassed and needed to be transported to Hospital No. 5 on the coast near the town of Camiers. He was treated at the hospital from September 10 to October 18 and then returned to his unit for duration of the war.

James was cited for bravery for his service and was honorably discharged from service in May 1919 at Camp Dix, New Jersey. He returned to Portland, Connecticut to live with his parents and work for a cigar manufacturer, Julius Kuntze, in Meriden, CT. James never married and died in October 1926 at the age of 34.

***James C. Daly worked for Mr. Julius Kuntze***
***before and after his service in World War 1.***

Cousin Joe – I wrote a previous post on Charles’ cousin, Sargent Joseph Aloysius Grace (1892-1918) who died on October 11, 1918 during the Meuse-Argonne Operation in World War 1. Anything, Anytime, Anywhere, Bar Nothing (AAA-O)

Hospital No. 5 – At the time the Charles was recovering from being gassed, my paternal grandfather, George B. French was working at this hospital. Pvt. George B. French – World War 1

Comments, corrections and and suggestions appreciated.

Walter and Minnie – 2 Peas in a Pod

How is that to catch your attention? The person making the declaration was my great grandmother Mary “Minnie” MacEachern French who was calling out her husband, Walter A. French, for being a bigamist. The irony in all of this is that Minnie was, just a few years later, involved in a sensational court case against a wealthy Bostonian for breach of promise – to wed! Into the Breach-Promises, Promises. The newspaper articles highlighted in this post can be viewed in their entirety below. They are a great read!

Walter’s Tale

Walter Abram French was born in January 1877 to Horace and Laura Foster French in Medford, Massachusetts.
May 1896, his mother, Laura French, passed away.
April 1897, Walter marries Minnie MacEachern. (Hello Minnie)
January 1898, Walter has a son (my grandfather), George French, in Boston with Mary “Minnie” MacEachern. Minnie, originally from Nova Scotia, was working as a dressmaker in Boston. Walter was employed as a wagon maker.
June 1899 – Birth of Horace French to Walter and Minnie. No additional record of Horace has been discovered, he likely died as an infant.
1899/1900 – Walter abandons Minnie and Walter and moves to New York.
1903 – June – Walter marries Sadie Elizabeth Thayer in New York. They have a son, Walter Cornelius, born in November 1903.
1907 – Walter, Sadie and Walter Jr. move to Hartford, Connecticut. (1907/8 – at some stage they board at home of Dr. Froelich)
1908 – In Hartford, Walter files for bankruptcy with business partner James Tilden (d.b.a. Auto Body and Top Manufacturing Company). Walter claimed that Tilden had assumed all financial responsibilities and he did not respond to additional court inquiries.
1909 – Sadie separates from Walter.
April 1910 – Walter is living in Red Bank, New Jersey with his son, Walter Jr. Walter files a $25,000 lawsuit against Dr. Charles Froelich for “alienation of his wife’s affections.” Walter skips town in dark of night without paying his rent.

May 1910 – After being requested by the court to clarify the date of his “marriage” to Sadie Thayer and if he was legally divorced from Minnie, Walter drops the case.

The last trace of Walter was a September 1918 WW I draft registration card that lists him living in New York City and working as an oil operator.

What about Sadie? By 1915, Sadie had returned to Brooklyn with her son Walter C. and was running a boarding house with 14 tenants. In 1918, she married Michael Schroeder, an immigrant from Luxembourg and they had a daughter (Dorthy) together. Sadie passed away in 1944.

Notes/Questions:

While the article (Declares Red Bank) closes by stating that Sadie and George have a little daughter, all evidence points that it should have stated they had a little son, not a daughter.
Did my grandfather, George, ever know he had a half brother?

Comments, corrections and and suggestions appreciated.