Ep 23 - Carl Laing - The Man, The Myth, The Keeper of Correspondence

Join us this week as we begin a look at Carl Laing, our great uncle and brother to Hazel.  Without him, we wouldn't have all this great history.  He made it easy to know our ancestors and we want to share them with you.  I bet you have someone in your family tree that is the keeper as well!!

Transcript

Kim: 0:00

Hello and welcome back to Chasing Hazel's Tales, a family history podcast presented to you by two registered nurses all around family historians, and we're sisters. If you've got family history, we want to talk about it. I'm Kim McLaughlin. And we are back. I'm sorry. We are back after one week of technical difficulties. Evidently I'm still having technical difficulties. And then I was hit by a, a human virus of some kind the next week. So we had a couple weeks off, but all's well now. So I even tested for Covid and it wasn't Covid. So, and I've never tested positive for Covid and I can't even figure out how that's happened because as a nurse we tested every other day for it seems like forever. So we, we apologize for that interruption. And David, I'm pretty sure will be happy that we're back this week. word has it. He was a little, he, he didn't know what to do on Wednesdays.

Laura: 0:54

And I'm the other half of the duo. I'm Laura Ireland. And just I think quickly, Kim, maybe we wanna talk. Just for a minute about the big event for this week. Across the pond.

Kim: 1:07

Across the pond. Yeah. I'm, I'm a little bit of an anglophile. I don't know if you are as much as I think maybe you are.

Laura: 1:13

Just I, yeah, I probably

Kim: 1:16

am. Yeah. I'm just gonna admit it. I'm an Anglophile, so of course this week was the coronation for King Charles the third, and so it was, it all went off without a hitch. It, you know, it. It seemed a little different. No, no. Queen Elizabeth anywhere. But nonetheless, they got the job done. what I was kind of impressed with was it went on in the pouring rain. Right. Right. It was pretty nasty.

Laura: 1:42

Yeah. And I do have to admit, it's a little weird seeing things about the royals and not seeing Queen Elizabeth. Right.

Kim: 1:49

It is weird, you know? Yeah. The one thing, the one thing, I, I only wanted to touch on this, was because. All I wanted to talk about was the, is, is the monarchy, even relevant anymore, that kind of thing. Mm-hmm. And I guess back when Queen Elizabeth was coronated, there were hundreds of monarchies in the world. Mm-hmm. They, there are 25. Yeah. So, yeah. And, and the, the one that has the most relevance I guess they say is England is the United Kingdom, so, right. I just, so they, they still are relevant, but my thought was what would England be if it wasn't for the monarchy? In your opinion? What do you think? I mean, you know it, what would happen? I know everybody wants to abolish it and save a buck, but what would happen?

Laura: 2:38

You know, I guess I, I. I don't really know. You know, not, not living there. I don't think I have a great understanding of all of their functions. Of course, I see the works that they do with charities and all of that, but I. You know, I, I don't, I guess I don't really understand their function, but if it wasn't for the monarchy, w would we ever talk about England?

Kim: 3:02

Right. And that there was, my thought was like how much of their you know tourism is based on the history of the monarchy. Right. Yep.

Laura: 3:15

And people wanting to go to Buckingham Palace and see the guards and try and get a glimpse of someone in the royal family and stuff, you know, I guess, and,

Kim: 3:23

and go to all the historical castles mm-hmm. And all these historical places. And to me it's like I, I wonder if they'd be shooting themselves in the foot if they got rid of the, the monarchy possible. It would just be taking a really important spoke out of that wheel and I don't know. That's just, here we are on this side of the pond, so what do I know? Yeah. It's like I was thinking, I don't know what would happen, but anyway. Yeah. As I

Laura: 3:48

always like to say, that's a, that decision's above my pay grade. Yeah,

Kim: 3:52

me too. The

Laura: 3:54

people of England can figure that out. I think the United States has enough issues to

Kim: 3:57

deal with. Oh, that's true.

Laura: 4:00

I don't even wanna talk about any of those, so. No, no. Not a political podcast.

Kim: 4:07

No, do not help. I can't do that. Yeah.

Laura: 4:11

I guess just wanted to kind of get a few thoughts out for just a second as we get started, right?

Kim: 4:17

We're gonna start a new story. Yep. We're gonna

Laura: 4:20

talk about a different, we could call it a different branch, I guess it's not really, yeah. Different twig on the same branch. I don't know. But, you know, I just thinking about, you know, I was reading through some letters yesterday, some of those old letters and just realizing, you know, I never, when I was younger, never would've thought I would be so interested in this family history and all of the things that we've. Learned over the last few years, but you know, realized that I'm deep into it and for a few reasons. And I think first of all, the DNA aspect, I have to talk about that because that's what, that's what got me hooked and looking at my results, comparing it with others, trying to figure out what I've inherited from who and where, and I can entertain myself for hours looking at it. And I guess that's just how my brain works. But you know, in looking at all those results, I'm, my brain is thinking about, oh yeah, you know, this, all of these things came from previous generations. And I've inherited little bits and pieces from all of them. And you, I

Kim: 5:25

don't know, it's, my opinion is with a DNA n for nerds like us, DNA's only gonna get more interesting. But I think it might get easier too, cuz I think the tools they come out with are so. Are, are quickly advancing and being able to determine where certain segments come from your d n A and how, and, you know, you can connect'em to the matches in your tree. Mm-hmm. I think a lot of it, you know, is, is just getting easier for ordinary people, you know, to, to be able to do. But and so I was thinking, you know, I'm sitting on a ton of matches and I'll never be able to discover. How we connect to everyone. But the truth is each one of those is a clue as to where we come from. And, you know, it's, it's. Any one of them can be interesting for their own reasons. But anyway, I digress. And there,

Laura: 6:12

there are stories to go along with each one of those little pieces. You know, I have to say, when you said you're sitting on a ton of matches, I thought to myself, well you better not light one.

Kim: 6:25

Oh,

Laura: 6:27

I guess early morning. The brain wants to do all lots weird things. Anyway, so, so, you know, first off, for me, looking at the DNA aspect and second, every time I look through and read those letters, I'm, I'm just in awe of the things we've discovered and the way we've been able to learn about our family. I agree really. Mm-hmm. Have such a deep appreciation that Uncle Carl saved everything because of it. I can hold in my hands letters written by my grandmother, the woman who was just a mystery to us, the woman, you know, who died long before we were born, right? I, I can hold that letter and think, you know, I'm thinking of the fact that I'm holding something that she created. She took the time, she wrote out that letter folded it up neatly, addressed the envelope, and sent it off to her brother and. Those letters contain the details, the ordinary and extraordinary details of everyday life in Enfield. It was,

Kim: 7:30

and it could be actually everyday life in the United States too, probably. Yes. Many. I think it's just a really a, a good snapshot of life in that time.

Laura: 7:40

Right, right. You know, and the letters. I mostly have read the letters from his mother and his sister, our grandmother, Hazel, and they really do give you an understanding of what the family lived through, right? And, you know, not to just the, you know, of course our grandmother was ill and there were those things, but World War II was hard. It was not easy on the men and women who fought it, but neither was it easy for the ones who were left behind. Right. Exactly in a, in a nice little letter from Aunt Georgie who was a teenager at the time. She said, the only men you see are young boys and men with Santa Claus beards. So, you know, our, our family lived through hardship, illness, rationing of food and supplies. There's a lot of mention of, you know, we can't get anything to sell in the store, or, you know, you can't buy anything, you can't sell it. You know, and there was death and. The letters that they wrote showed how much they cared for their fellow townspeople. They were filled with information about everyone's lives. You know, this person got home, this person was injured, but they're doing okay. They're gonna be home. You know, the whole bit talked stuff about their gardens and the weather. Of course the weather was in there and you know, It's just a, it's a really fascinating look into what they were going through and not, you know, mentions of how hard it was to heat the house. You know, whether they were gonna burn coal or burn wood and who was gonna get the wood in because, you know, the able young men were not there. And, you know, talk, I think dad did a lot of that. Well, he did. There was at a very young age, there's mention of him plowing so much snow, you know I think 19 44, 45 was a really hard winter. And there they got lots of snow and there's mention of him you know, stacking wood and shoveling snow and he was nine years old, right? Yep. So,

Kim: 9:35

yeah, he, he took care of, he, he took care of them.

Laura: 9:38

Right. And Georgie did the cooking apparently. Yep. And pat was

Kim: 9:42

unreliable, but they did, she was the middle child. Yeah. And

Laura: 9:47

they did say that, you know, she, she helped more than usual, so, yeah.

Kim: 9:51

Yeah. She just, she had a, a spirit, you know, that, Right. That, that didn't take well to all of this, but, but she did help.

Laura: 9:58

Yeah. Yeah. But anyway, it's, I just have a, A new understanding and appreciation for our family history because of all of this.

Kim: 10:08

Right. Yeah. So because he left all of this to us, we were able to tell you about Hazel and I think at this point, you know, we all know Hazel pretty well, although stuff always pops up. That is true. That's true. Just last week it popped up. But nonetheless you know, Hazel. We have a pretty good handle on. But what about the guy that, that allowed us into their world by saving everything who we just said? Carl Laing. He was born July 31st, 1912, and it says in Enfield, but yeah. That doesn't sound right. That's not right. No, because he wasn't born there. Yeah. Yeah. You know, he was adopted, so everybody wrote Enfield, Maine, but that's not, I don't think, where he was born. So he was adopted as well. So had Hazel and Carl were brother and sister, but they were both adopted. By the Laing family and they're

Laura: 11:00

from different families, Carl. Right, right. Not related

Kim: 11:04

by blood that we know of. Right? Well, yeah. There you go. So but the thing is Carl had, Carl and Hattie had no children. So there's no way to test any d n a cuz he's gone. Mm-hmm. So it's not really, it's, we, we just don't know. So we know who his mother is. And we're gonna get to that next week, but we're gonna start shedding some light on Carl's life because he was amazing and he saved all this stuff. And so we kind of know who his mother is. We don't know the father, but not yet. Anyway, we're still looking. I not gonna find something to test for D n a, I guess. I don't know. Ooh. Letters. Letters, right, right. So anyway, Hattie would never let us allow any discussion of family history. At all. Mm. Because Hattie, that's the way Hattie was, right? Just, yep. All we have to do is say, because Hattie anyway, but he was an amazing man. That's where that, that's where we're heading. Yeah.

Laura: 12:01

Y you know, there was, I don't think I've ever heard anyone say a bad word about Carl. No. No. No, I think he's almost everyone mentions that he should be elevated to the level of Saint for living with her for Right. 70 plus

Kim: 12:16

years. So we'll call him Saint Carl.

Laura: 12:20

Yeah. So, and just, you know, briefly, I did see some of the letters that I read through and I came across, I didn't understand what I was reading about from 1929. So he would've been, it was the summer he turned 17. And he went to downstate somewhere. I, I don't know where it was, but it was near the ocean. He went to a summer citizen military training, and

Kim: 12:48

I think he was ambitious. I think he wanted to do things, you know. Mm-hmm. You know, he wanted to be in the military. I think he wanted to be, you know, be a good citizen, I think is maybe what he wanted to do.

Laura: 12:58

Right. And he was getting himself prepared, right? Yeah. And so there's a letter from his mother that mentions that he is doing what he always wanted to do. So, you know, even on these short little trips to this camp for the summer there were many letters written. And she just, she always comes through as a very caring and loving mother. You know? Hopefully, hopefully you know, the kind that tells him to make sure he is getting enough rest. Yeah. Hopes they're serving food that he likes and that he's eating enough and hopes he's not losing any weight. Cuz he was a thin, very thin and he never

Kim: 13:33

probably weighed that much, ever. I don't think he ever had any fat on him.

Laura: 13:37

Yeah. Yeah. And you know, she always just asks him about his general wellbeing is her concern comes through in those letters so well, and she gives him all the scoop from home.

Kim: 13:50

That's what they do.

Laura: 13:51

Yeah. And I. There were some of his own letters as well that are in there. I haven't read that many of them, but he, he comes through like, like Uncle Carl, a very caring and loving son, brother, uncle, and of course boyfriend slash husband. Yeah. I, and I picked up a letter from Hattie, who, it was written to him that summer and I think they were just becoming boyfriend and girlfriend, and she said she was turning 16, said Sweet 16, and never been kissed. And she hoped that would change soon. And I'm not sure anybody called her Sweet 16, but I, I, I won't keep pounding on that, that same point. But and her, her letters were, were not kind and caring really from, from my point of view, I should say. This is, you know, my take on'em. But she's admonishing him for not writing to her. Said this was the second time she's written. She hasn't gotten a reply and wants him to write to her right away and tell her that he got her letters and all this stuff,

Kim: 14:48

and. And that we all, and, and again, because Hattie. Right, right.

Laura: 14:55

But yeah,

Kim: 14:55

so they're pretty mother's. Interesting. Caring and loving him. And, and Hattie is mm-hmm. You haven't even written me, I've written you twice and, oh, oh God.

Laura: 15:02

Mm-hmm. Yeah. You've gotta write me and let me know when you get this letter. So,

Kim: 15:07

and he did, because Hattie. Yep.

Laura: 15:13

Don't wanna poke the bear.

Kim: 15:15

Yeah. So we are just you know, getting back into the swing of things and we have a, you know, and I've told you in the past, we have a ton of information that Carl saved, stories galore. And so we're gonna get back in and we're gonna tell you about Carl and what his life was like. But the one thing I do wanna share, I have a tidbit for this week. So, usually we have a little bit of something to, to tell you a thing. A thing happened this past week for me, a, a week or two ago. People sometimes will discuss online about whether or not you should have your family tree public. And so if, if, like I said, my, my native. A family tree is on ancestry and anybody who's alive is not public. So for me, it's, I have a, a public tree of course, which shields all living people. So I, and I like that cuz then I get to connect with people and take, take advantage of all the resources that an ancestry has. But a lot of people say, Nope, people are gonna copy it. And they, they won't give me any credit. They'll steal my pictures. And there's lots of, you know, there's lots to do with that. I mean, so basically what Ancestry says now is if you put a picture up there of Great Aunt Ethel and someone saves it to their tree, it was meant to be, if you put it on, if you put it on ancestry, it's meant to share. So Right.

16:37

That

Laura: 16:37

was what I was thinking is why, why would you worry about that? I

Kim: 16:42

don't. Right. And people are worried about. Well, and, and I think it is because people do a lot of work as you can. You can, you know, we, we do a lot of work Yes. Trying to figure out facts and things, and they just don't want it stolen without any recognition. So, hey, if you take, if you and I even suffer from this, I try to remember who gave me what, and I've never been very good at it. So As I've, as I've gotten better in genealogy, I've learned if you, you know, if you have have to give credit for something, please put it on there. You know, this, this picture came from wherever I got this data from. Wherever that way you can, Give credit where credit is due. Right? Right. So that's sometimes just a bone of contention with Ancestry. But I'm gonna tell you about the good thing that happened. So and it's happened many times. I've connected with a lot of people on Ancestry who've given me information and able for me just to grow the tree and to learn things. But there was a lady who contacted me on Ancestry from a local history society here in Maine, and she had looked up a family member and saw that they were in my tree. And wanted to let me know that they had just received a new genealogy in their family history library with our family, with the Gilpatricks in it. Andy's family, his grandmother was a Gilpatrick. And for me, it's such a large family, I've never been able to really spend a lot of time. You know, tracking them down. Mm-hmm. They are a very large family. So for her to tell me that there's now a local, you know, the, the local History Society now has a new book about them or you know, it's probably someone's ancestry that they had just turned in to share. Right. And I thought, oh my God, this must be Christmas. You know, because, so, you know, now I know that this, this volume of information is available in here, you know, where I can get at it and look at it. And she was nice enough to reach out and say, Hey, you know, hey, I found, I found these people are in your tree too. You should come and see this. And so we're gonna connect sometime soon and I'm gonna go see that book. But I wouldn't have known that. That's, that's really the essence of ancestry is people saying, Hey, I, I know something that you might know might need or you just share information. Right? Yeah. So I'm gonna give kudos to Ancestry just for that platform. Mm-hmm. Which allows people to connect in that way. And there were some people historically, so Carl has always had a boatload of pictures in his. Collection and I found some that were like high school senior pictures and they had names on'em. So I went to Ancestry, looked them up, and on one particular photo I was able to return it to the family because I had known for it. I didn't even know who they were and mm-hmm. Another one I had found was sad, sadly had died by suicide, so that photo had nowhere to go, so, mm-hmm. You know, there's stories everywhere, right? Mm-hmm. And for sure, and people can share this way, so for as much as people don't, you know, they, they all have their own reasons for being cautious on Ancestry. I just put my family history out there and hope somebody wants to connect with me and we can talk about it. So I'm happy. I, I

Laura: 19:51

can't wait to go see the tree. Yeah. And then you can tell them if they have a different opinion, you can tell'em why they're wrong. That's

Kim: 19:56

right. Yeah, and also like for the Burgoyne line, there was a couple of things, you know, with General Johnny that we discussed. You know, we just can't seem to, to get there to, to have a, have proof that were related to him. So on ancestry.com I do have it listed that these are just theories. You know, so people can not take it for gospel, I hope, you know? Mm-hmm. And they can see that it's a work in progress. But we'll see how that, you know. Yeah. That's still another lifelong project that I hope someday I finish. But anyway, so next week we have loads to share with you about, we're gonna call it the life of Carl Laing and about life, you know, in a village in Enfield. But we have loads, you know, you know we do, because we've talked about it before, but it's all good.

Laura: 20:39

So until next week, please rate review and follow us on your favorite podcast platform. We also invite you to reach out to us by email at chasing hazels tales gmail.com. Tell us your tales or share what you have learned or found interesting about your family and. Of course, let us know if you've shaken your family tree and had a few nuts fall out, or if you're the nut either way. And you can follow us or contact us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok. So until next time,

Kim: 21:08

so long see ya. Goodbye.