My 3rd cousin, Barbara, found this picture of my Grandmother, Ella (Duryee) Guion and her daughter, Elsie May Guion. There is no date but it appears as though they are travelling, perhaps by ship, to some unknown place.
Elsie May Guion and Ella (Duryee) Guion (Mrs. Alfred Beck Guion)
Tomorrow, I will begin posting letters written in 1940 when Lad is in Venezuela and Dan and Ced have been in Alaska for a couple of months.
Judy Guion
Here are some of the pictures taken by Alfred Duryee Guion (Grandpa) during his young adulthood..
This is a picture of the Dell Avenue house he moved to with his sister, mother and Aunts, after the death of his father, Alfred Beck Guion, in 1899. I visited the house in 2004 and took pictures then.
Front view of the Dell Avenue house.
He trained his dog, Spot, to perform numerous tricks.
front: Ella Duryee Guion, Elsie Guion; back: Alfred Duryee Guion, Aunt Mary or Aunt Lillian) and Aunt Elsie.
Grandpa’s sister, Elsie May Guion, with Spot.
Alfred Duryee Guion as a young man.
Alfred Duryee Guion, dressed for work at sixteen or seventeen.
Elsie May Guion and her bike.
Tomorrow, I will post letters written in 1944. All five of Grandpa’s sons are in the service of Uncle Sam.
Judy Guion
It appears that Marian was not the only adventurous traveler. Lad (Alfred Peabody Guion) travelled to Daytona Beach, Florida, at the age of 21, with three friends from Trumbull.
I don’t know for sure when this picture was taken but my guess would be during his trip to Florida with Arnold Gibson, Carl Wayne and Art Mantle.
Alfred Peabody Guion
Trip to Daytona Beach, Florida in 1935. (My Mom labeled this picture)
Left to Right: Art Mantle, Carl Wayne, Arnold Gibson, Lad Guion
Lad resting on his mattress in Daytona Beach, Florida
Tomorrow I will start posting letters written in 1943. Lad has arrived in Santa Anita, California, to begin training vehicle mechanics for the Army. He also re-joins three friends who came here directly from Aberdeen Proving Grounds, Maryland, while Lad took a detour for additional training at the Wolverine Diesel Plant in Flint, Michigan.
Judy Guion
Our Family Island Retreat was purchased in 1945 from Rusty Heurlin’s family because they no longer used it and Grandpa’s family was growing. Grandpa and his children thoroughly enjoyed any time they spent there.
From now until the end of the summer, and perhaps into the fall, I will be posting pictures of places on the Island and sharing stories and memories of these unique places. I hope you can enjoy a few peaceful moments while I share these memories with you.
1. Dock
2. The Point
3. Bathtub Rock
4. Big Rock
5. Sunset Rock
6. Sandy Beach, Big Flat Rock (to the left, Baby Beach)
7. Toothpaste Landing
8. & 9. – Screen Porch and Cook Cabin
10. Sleeping Cabin
11. Fire Pit and Sheba
I would like to share Special Pictures and the memories that go along with them but are not directly linked to a specific place on the Island.
Our Family Island Retreat was purchased in 1945 from Rusty Heurlin’s family because they no longer used it and Grandpa’s family was growing. Grandpa and his children thoroughly enjoyed any time they spent there.
From now until the end of the summer, and perhaps into the fall, I will be posting pictures of places on the Island and sharing stories and memories of these unique places. I hope you can enjoy a few peaceful moments while I share these memories with you.
This ring is embedded in a rock on the path down to Bathtub Rock. At one point in the past, one person owned quite a bit of property from his home site to the lake. He was wealthy and decided to build a large stone residence near the top of a hill. It is believed that he used slave labor to construct the residence and that these slaves were brought to the Island at night and attached to this ring. Since they did not know how to swim, it was believed that they could not run away.
I have never looked into the history of this story but I have great difficulty coming up with a more plausible reason for this ring.
This large rock, behind the Sleeping Cabin, has a split in it.
This is a close-up of the same rock. When I was a child going up to the Island, this split was only about 2 inches wide. Water and freezing snow have been at work for over 75 years.
We were always on the Island for the last two weeks of August. Two of the fourteen children had a birthday while we were there so we always had a Birthday Party. My Mom, Marian, and another mother were kindergarten teachers (and was the parent of one of the Birthday Children). (They established a town-wide kindergarten held at our church. They started with about 20 children in one class. When the town established the public kindergartens in the grammar schools, the Church Kindergarten had 4 classrooms of children and eight teachers.)
Each summer they created a Scavenger Hunt that all the children could participate in. This split rock was quite often a hiding place for a clue.
This is a naturally flat area behind the Cook Cabin which was used by one of the families (only the adults) who joined us each summer on the Island. It was an ideal tent site.
A very calm morning looking out to the channel from the dock.
The same calm morning (2020) with the view in the opposite direction.
I will leave you with a picture taken the first time I went up to the Island. My twin brother and I were four, my younger brother was three and my little sister was two. This was the first time because my Mom, Marian, refused to go to the Island with a child in diapers.
From the left to the right: me, my younger brother, my twin brother and my sister. That picture was taken so long ago but I have several vivid memories from that trip. We arrived late in the afternoon and Grandpa came with us. The dock on the Island at the time was not located where the dock is now. It was at the end of the Island farthest from Bathtub Rock. It was a long (about 20 feet), narrow (about three feet) dock.
I think my father was between jobs because we stayed there into October. My Dad got a job with a local dairy and drove a delivery truck. Late in the afternoon, Grandpa would put the three older children in the row boat and he would row us across to the public beach. Then we would start walking along the one mile dirt road until we saw my Dad’s car coming home. We would all pile in and he would drive us back to the beach and the boat.
There had been a fire a few years before and I could see the charred stumps of so many trees but I also saw new growth sprouting up.
I hope you have enjoyed this journey down Memory Lane with me as I shared Special Pictures and Memories of “Liquid Heaven”, our Family Island Retreat.
Judy Guion
Our Family Island Retreat was purchased in 1945 from Rusty Heurlin’s family because they no longer used it and Grandpa’s family was growing. Grandpa and his children thoroughly enjoyed any time they spent there.
From now until the end of the summer, and perhaps into the fall, I will be posting pictures of places on the Island and sharing stories and memories of these unique places. I hope you can enjoy a few peaceful moments while I share these memories with you.
1. Dock
2. The Point
3. Bathtub Rock
4. Big Rock
5. Sunset Rock
6. Sandy Beach, Big Flat Rock (to the left, Baby Beach)
7. Toothpaste Landing
8. & 9. – Screen Porch and Cook Cabin
10. Sleeping Cabin
11. Fire Pit and Sheba
I would like to share Special Pictures and the memories that go along with them but are not directly linked to a specific place on the Island.
The “older girls” are all dressed up to go into town. My younger brother is taking us to the public beach so we can get to the car. I am sitting in the front of the boat. It was quite an occasion to get to go into town. We always had to stop at the post office and check General Delivery. Believe it or not, mail was rather efficient and many of us wrote to and heard back from our friends while we were there during only two weeks. We usually had to stop at the store to pick up some groceries and then we would go to the Olde Country Store and buy some jewelry, or a dill pickle from a barrel but always some “penny-candy”. It really cost a penny back then and the selection was amazing. My favorites were: cocoanut bacon strips. cocoanut watermelon, Charleston Chews, Dots, Root Beer Barrels and red licorice (sticks or string).
These are the children who were usually on the Island with my family each summer during the last two weeks of August. They are from my family and four others. All of the parents were my father’s childhood friends. I am the tallest one in the back row, although there are two others who were older than me. This was the first (and last) time I ever had a permanent. I was twelve at the time.
This summer, the older girls planned and directed a Talent Show for the adults. I do not remember any of the acts except the finale when the little princess (front and center) performed a dance to music from a cassette player. The curtain behind us helped keep the mosquitoes out of the Cook Cabin.
Tomorrow, the final post for this series called “Liquid Heaven” – Special Pictures and Memories – 1945 – 2022.
Judy Guion
Our Family Island Retreat was purchased in 1945 from Rusty Heurlin’s family because they no longer used it and Grandpa’s family was growing. Grandpa and his children thoroughly enjoyed any time they spent there.
From now until the end of the summer, and perhaps into the fall, I will be posting pictures of places on the Island and sharing stories and memories of these unique places. I hope you can enjoy a few peaceful moments while I share these memories with you.
1. Dock
2. The Point
3. Bathtub Rock
4. Big Rock
5. Sunset Rock
6. Sandy Beach, Big Flat Rock (to the left, Baby Beach)
7. Toothpaste Landing
8. & 9. – Screen Porch and Cook Cabin
10. Sleeping Cabin
11. Fire Pit and Sheba
When I was young, there was no electricity on the Island. We used flashlights and kerosene lanterns. Only the older children and adults could carry or use the lanterns. We were taught at a very early age to be careful and we never had a fire, even when four families were sleeping in the 20′ x 20′ Army Tent. Electricity arrived at the Island via an underwater line from the mainland in the early 1960’s.
The cooking area of the Cook Cabin. The door is the back door where we children picked up our meals. Just outside, there was a drop-down shelf where the wash and rinse dishpans were. We were expected to wash and dry our own dishes.
Marian, my Mom, was the General of Organization. Aside from our meal duties, we were also responsible for getting water and gathering firewood and dead branches. Getting water was only done by the older children and it was a privilege. We gathered the containers, 10 gallon Army containers painted Army Green, loaded them into the row boat, rowed over to the mainland, carried the containers uphill to the Spring House, pumped the water and filled the containers and then had to carry them back to the rowboat. Once we were back at the Island, we had to carry them uphill to the back door of the Cook Cabin. A lot of work but we were proud to do it.
This is the eating area which is also used for smaller groups playing cards or doing puzzles. Sheba is outside the right side window and the Fire Pit is outside the two left side windows. The table legs are pieces of the tent poles used to hold up the 20′ x 20′ Army Tent we slept in prior to 1956.
The barrel stools originally contained the nails used to construct the Sleeping Cabin. My Dad designed and constructed the tops and Mom added padding and covered them with vinyl.
The bench seat on the right is as wide as a single bed. It has a large storage area beneath the seat. It has been used many times, especially if someone comes up in the winter. One night, I was up later than my children and grandchildren, and when I went out to the Sleeping Cabin, the door was locked. One of my daughters thought I was already inside and locked the door. I used the bench to sleep on that night. Needless to say, she was shocked, quite dismayed and apologetic when she found me in the morning.
Sunset Harbor, the 1000 piece puzzle completed on this table while we were up on the Island in August, 2022
The finished Cook Cabin Porch. The picnic table is 8′ long and can accommodate at least a dozen people, more if there are small children. On the bench closest to the outside, there are two outlines of BIG fish that have been caught by someone. They are not identified and there are no names or dates of the fisherman.
Here we are playing “Dump on your Neighbor” in 2011
This is what the porch looked like after a strong wind and rain storm in 2012.
Next weekend I will be sharing pictures and memories of the Sleeping Cabin.
Tomorrow I will begin posting a week of letters written in July and August of 1942. Dan was inducted into the Army in January and is in Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina for further training. Lad went in May and in currently at the Aberdeen Proving Grounds in Maryland to continue his training.
Judy Guion
Our Family Island Retreat was purchased in 1945 from Rusty Heurlin’s family because they no longer used it and Grandpa’s family was growing. Grandpa and his children thoroughly enjoyed any time they spent there.
From now until the end of the summer, and perhaps into the fall, I will be posting pictures of places on the Island and sharing stories and memories of these unique places. I hope you can enjoy a few peaceful moments while I share these memories with you.
1. Dock
2. The Point
3. Bathtub Rock
4. Big Rock
5. Sunset Rock
6. Sandy Beach, Big Flat Rock (to the left, Baby Beach)
7. Toothpaste Landing
8. & 9. – Screen Porch and Cook Cabin
10. Sleeping Cabin
11. Fire Pit and Sheba
Fishing Rock (located to the left of Toothpaste Landing – # 7 above)
Depending on the water level, it is only 3 to 5 feet deep around Fishing Rock. It was a perfect place to catch “Sunnies” also known as Sun Fish. My girls would have competitions to see who could catch the most, sometimes on a day or even for our entire stay. The preferred bait was a kernel of corn.
This is Fishing Rock at an extremely low water level. My guess would be the water is only about 1 to 2 feet deep.
These are the blueberries at Fishing Rock. The side of the Island got the morning sun and the blueberries flourished along the path to Fishing Rock.
Tomorrow, more Special Pictures and Memories of our Island Family Retreat know to some as “Liquid Heaven”.
Judy Guion
Our Family Island Retreat was purchased in 1945 from Rusty Heurlin’s family because they no longer used it and Grandpa’s family was growing. Grandpa and his children thoroughly enjoyed any time they spent there.
I am on the Island spending time with my daughters and their families – and even a few days by myself – a very special time to restore my soul.
From now until the end of summer or even into the fall, on the weekends, I will be posting pictures of locations on the Island and sharing stories and memories of these unique places. I hope you can enjoy a few peaceful moments while I share these memories with you.
1. Dock and Boat Landing
2. The Point
3. Bathtub Rock
4. Big Rock
5. Sunset Rock
6. Sandy Beach, Big Flat Rock (to the left, Baby Beach)
7. Toothpaste Landing
8. & 9. – Screen Porch and Cook Cabin
10. Sleeping Cabin
11. Fire Pit and Sheba
This dock was a replacement dock constructed after about 20 years of use. It followed the same construction principles of the first dock and was in the same place, on the lee side of the Island, between the Island and the mainland, only about 75 feet away.
When I was very young and my family went to the Island, there was an old dock at the end of the Island closest to States Landing, the Town Beach. It was about 3 feet wide and 20 feet long. It was destroyed by a winter storm or hurricane. The Following spring, my Father (Lad) and his buddies designed a new dock, 16 feet by 16 feet, made of wood and designed to float on 55-gallon plastic barrels. It was anchored to the Island by chains imbedded in the rocks.
The dock is out of view to the left of the Boat tie-ups. This way, the children could swim off the dock without having to move the boats every time. The water was about 15 feet deep and was a perfect place to jump or dive off. When we had a 25 foot speed boat, water skiers would take off from a sitting position to one ide of the dock, make two large circles around Little Ganzy Island, then my Dad would drive the boat into the entrance to the small pass between the Island and the mainland, the skier would make a big circle outside the wake and turn so that they could sit down on the dock and their bathing suits would remain dry the entire time.
One afternoon, the younger children were swimming off the dock and it was quite wet and slippery. I took off from the side and after my turn, made a big circle to come in and sit down on the dock. The problem was that the dock was so slippery that I sat down at one end and slid on the wet wood all the way to the other end and landed in the water. I was upset that I actually had to get wet…
Next weekend I will post some more Special Pictures and Memories of “Liquid Heaven”, our special Island Retreat.
Judy Guion
The following postcard is from Helen Burnham. The Burnham’s were neighbors of Grandma and Grandpa Guion in Larchmont Gardens, at the Lincoln Avenue House. Helen’s father, Rufus, remained a lifelong friend of Grandpa’s.
Tues., August 7, 1934
Dear Ced,
The family have asked me to write this for us all to thank you for your many cards. We do appreciate your little notes ever so much and I hope you will continue to send them.
Hope you’re having a nice time meeting all your relatives. Star Prairie is such a pretty name, is it as pretty a place as it sounds?
Dad is teaching me to drive. Tonight after supper, while it is still light, we took the car out to some unfrequented stretch of road and then I took the wheel. Tonight I drove all the way home.
Yesterday Ellie and I went swimming at Playland with a friend. I got a terrible sunburn and in suffering agonies. Next time I will be more careful.
The writing on the rest of the card is so small that I can’t read what she has written,
*********************************************************************************************************
This is a list of the brothers and sisters of Kemper Peabody, Arla’s father, in birth order, to help you figure out relationships. (U’m still having trouble figuring out who all these people are, myself !):
********************************************************************************************************
This next postcard is from Ced to Grandpa:
Wednesday, Star Prairie
Dear Dad,
Since writing you last I have worked on a thresher when I met Uncle Rex. I have also written of Douglas’s children, Mercedes, and last Sunday we went down to John Dale’s where we met John, his wife and their five children. Next Sunday Uncle Fred and his wife are coming up from St. Paul to get Barbara and I am going back with them. In St. Paul I will also meet Uncle Lloyd. We play ten kettles almost every night while Uncle Kenneth milks and we have some good times. Last week I went with Uncle Kenneth to a farm meeting where donations were made for the truck strikers. More later.
Lots of love to all,
Ced
Tomorrow and for the rest of the week, I will post A Christmas Report From Trumbull, Connecticut, December 30, 1945.
Judy Guion
The following pictures are of Uncle Kenneth’s farm (Arla’s Uncle, her father’s brother, Ced’s Great-uncle) in Star Prairie, Wisconsin. Ced traveled to the farm after his four days at the Chicago World’s Fair. I believe these pictures were taken when Ced and his older brother, Dan, were on their way to Alaska in 1940. The last one, showing Muriel as a young girl, was definitely taken at that time because she was only 7 months old when Ced made his first stop there in 1934. I don’t think things have changed much in the years since Ced’s first visit.
MB Peabody’s Cottage
Paul, Uncle Kenneth Peabody’s Bull
Stanley’s Team (son of Douglas Peabody)
(Douglas is another of Arla’s Uncles)
Allan, Uncle Kenneth, Joyce, Aunt Nora,
Muriel in front
Tomorrow I will post another piece of Ced’s Amazing Adventure.
Judy Guion
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