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My great-grandparents Ryan & Munro, Lock Haven PA . . .
DANIEL RYAN & FRANCES MUNRO RYAN 1888
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| 108 JESSAMINE STREET, LOCK HAVEN, PA |
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| Maude Ryan, John "Mick" Ryan & Ginger |
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Above left is my Father's maternal grandmother, Frances Munro, and grandfather, Daniel Ryan. They lived at
108 Jessamine Street in Lock Haven, Clinton County, Pennsylvania. I called her "Little Gram" when I was young. My
great-grandfather Dan Ryan died before I was born. After
GG Dan died, Great Little Gram Ryan married Jim Quay. Her tombstone in St. Mary's Cemetery in Lock Haven lists her as
Frances M. Quay 1870-1952.
GG Dan and Frances had 5 children:
- Maude Ryan (my grandmother, "Big Gram") married John Sylvester Poorman
- John "Mick" Ryan (Lived with his mother until he died, drinking & fighting all the way) never married, thank
God.
- Hazel E. Ryan (Owned the Town Tavern in Lock Haven) married William P. Stoddart of Philadelphia.
- Charles Ryan (Bartender, lived in Harrisburg, PA) never married-didn't like girls.
- Mary Ryan (40 E. Church St, Lock Haven, PA) married Earl McNerney of Lock Haven.
I remember all of them, but mostly Gram (Maude), Aunt Hazel and Aunt Mary. Big Gram married John Sylvester
Poorman and they lived on Walnut Street while John built them a house at 15
East Brown Street in Castanea, PA.
They lived there until John died, then Gram moved back to Jessamine Street
to be closer to her mother. Big Gram had 3 children, Kenneth John (my father), Frances and Katharine. Grandfather
John used to go up to the Lucas Brewery on Nittany Road (everyone called it "Brewery Road") and got beer for his friends from the paper
mill who helped him build the house on Brown Street. When
he died and Gram moved back to Jessamine Street, she rented
a house from Jennie Litz, across the street and up a few doors from her Mother's at 108. They all worked at the
Paper Mill after my Grandfather John died. When Dad got married, he and Mom lived in an apartment at Main & Mill
Streets for a while, then moved into the house his Dad built on Brown Street,
and he rented-to-buy from Big Gram for years. He put the finishing touches on the Brown Street house, and then he completely rebuilt the house at 108 Jessamine.
He was good at woodworking, and all crafts really. . . Ken Poorman
Above right is a photo of Big Gram, Uncle Mick and Ginger.
Below
is Big Gram, Dad, Little Gram, and me, baby Kenneth Richard Poorman,
a/k/a Kenny Dick!
| FOUR GENERATIONS |
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| Maud Ryan Poorman, Kenneth John Poorman, Frances Munro Ryan & "Kenny Dick" Poorman |
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Oh you know why they named me Kenny Dick!
Now about my great uncle WILLIAM P. STODDART:
Here's something I found interesting recently regarding Uncle Bill . . .
| William "Red" Stoddart - 1922 |
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| Uncle Bill (right) 1922 |
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| & Aunt Hazel E. Ryan Stoddart c1940 |
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I just found the photo of Uncle Bill
(left), i.e. William P. Stoddart, on the internet from his marble shooting tournament in 1922! So here’s the story: When I was a young teenager, taking care of Uncle Bill’s
furnace every day at his house on East Main Street, he was very sick/dying. I used to
sit with him in his living room and play his accordion, and he played his harmonica. I walked to his house every morning
before school and put coal on his furnace. After school I stopped at the Town Tavern (Bellefonte Ave) and stocked the beer coolers, then went back to his house and shook down
the ashes and took them out back to the alley can. Sometimes I made him a sandwich and juice for dinner. He often
told me about how he was the Marble Champion in Philadelphia
when he was a kid, and at some point he gave me his Marble Championship Medal. Unfortunately, I no longer have it, but
I remember it distinctly. So I just found this photo of him from 1922. (Uncle Bill never had red hair when we
knew him, but his brother Al & Tess’s kids had really red/orange hair when they were young.) Here's a
photo of Uncle Bill & Aunt Hazel (right).
Now about visiting the GRAFF's in Fairmount:
We visited the Graffs, i.e. Fred Graff, Mary Stoddard Graff and Anna Graff every year when I was a kid.
I loved coming to Philadelphia. It was the highlight of my life, and it made me want to live here - and
I have been for 27 years now. Sometimes Aunt Hazel and Uncle Bill brought me, and sometiimes Mom & Dad. Mary
Graff was Great Uncle Bill Stoddard's sister. The Graff's lived across from the Art Museum on Olive Street, right behind 2601 (2601 Pennsylvania Avenue) on the corner, and behind
and adjacent to 2501 (Fidelity Insurance
Building). Their block of row houses is no longer there.
The entrance to the street was through the Arch on the left hand side of the Fidelity Mutual Insurance Building. The
street was removed, up to Pigs Alley, and it is now part of the insurance building property. The insurance building
is now owned by the Art Museum and serves as an annex. Mary moved up toward Girard College after Fred died. It was
always great fun visiting them. Anna introduced me to Pizza for the first time. And I remember her taking me with
her girlfriends to the Hungry Pig in Willow Grove once for a Pig's Dinner, a wooden
trough of ice cream. She got a '56 Chevy Bel Aire for graduation from Hallihan. Anna also took me to Mass
at SFX (St. Francis Xavier), and I used to like that too. She calls it "Frannies."
She went to Elementery school at SFX. Graff's also used to take us up to see Frank & Nellie, Fred's
brother. They were really nice folks too. I think Frank's son, Booty, owned a little grocery store in the
neighborhood, and worked for the highway department. Anna lives in New
Jersey now. Fred took me to see all the sites in Fairmount, like . . . Eastern State Penitentiary . . . Girard College . . . (where two of my dad's cousins attended) . . . Boat House Row was a short
walk . . . Lemon Hill Mansion . . . (where you can look out over the river & boathouses) . . . we also
went to the Water Works, which was an Aquarium at that time. He also used to take me to the bakery with him in the mornings
for goodies when we stayed there. He took us deep sea fishing out of Pearl Harbor, and lots of cool stuff. I'll
never forget him. I remember playing stick ball / half ball with the kids in the neighborhood - and the first time I
rode down the Parkway on a bus - BY MYSELF!
| The Philadelphia Museum of Art |
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| Philadelphia Museum of Art Perelman Building |
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| Formerly Fidelity Mutual Insurance Building |
Some Stoddard/Stoddart Sites:
| Email Ken |
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| TURN UP VOLUME |
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| Lotsa sounds on this website |
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