Ep 27 - Say it fast and keep on rolling.....

In this episode of "Chasing Hazel's Tales," join Kim and Laura as they uncover the remarkable family history of their grandmother, Thelma Persis Haskell, and her adventures in the Millinocket area of Maine. Discover the challenges and triumphs of a family deeply ingrained in the outdoor lifestyle, working in sporting camps, and cherishing the natural beauty of the region.

Listeners will gain insight into the resilience and spirit of Millinocket families as they navigated the rugged landscapes of Maine, building a legacy that continues to be cherished today.

Tune in to explore the rich history, hard work, and enduring love that shaped the lives of Thelma Persis Haskell and Manley Smith in this heartwarming family history podcast.
https://italianroots.beehiiv.com/p/italian-lineage-legacy-nicolai-family-story

https://www.buzzsprout.com/1018771/13555800-italian-lineage-and-legacy-the-nicolai-family-story.js?container_id=buzzsprout-player-13555800&player=smallhttps://www.buzzsprout.com/1018771/13555800

https://www.italiangenealogy.blog/farmers-and-nobles/
http://norcrossheritagetrust.org/

Transcript

Kim: 0:38

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 sisters. If you've got family history, we want to talk about it. I'm Kim McLaughlin.

Laura: 0:54

And I'm

Kim: 0:54

Laura Ireland. And before we dive in, because we do want to dive in, one thing I wanted to mention today is that I was a guest on a podcast this past week. And it was called Italian Roots and Genealogy with Bob Sorrentino. And that was released last Friday. It was a really great conversation where we got to highlight the Nicolai story that Laura and I featured here last year. So if you can get an opportunity, go listen to his podcast. There's lots of Italian stories. He's very knowledgeable. And he also just published a book, and we will attach the link in our show notes. The book is called, Farmers and nobles, the genealogy history of two Italian American families. And so a quick quote from a review, it said, even if you're not into genealogy, this book is a treat and a worthwhile read since author. Sorrentino traces his noble line back to numerous famous ruling houses of Italy. He provides us with historical sketches, refreshing our knowledge of Italy's long and complex history. And I got to thinking about that, that little review, and I thought, you know, a lot of us could say that we're all from farmers and nobles in our genealogy because Sooner or later, number one, we have a lot of farmers in our family. But I think if you go back far enough, everybody finds a little noble here and there, and perhaps royalty, that kind of thing. They say that it's, it's very likely that a lot of people have descended from them. So if everybody just goes ahead and give his podcast a listen, consider his book. And I'll put the links in the show notes.

Laura: 2:35

And if anyone does listen to it, it was a little comical that he didn't think that there was anything about Italians in Maine. Right. Like,

Kim: 2:46

yeah, we talked about the Italian Heritage Center, and it's like, I don't think people realize that there's an Italian community up here in Portland, Maine. He's from New York, and who would have thunk? He didn't really know, north of Boston, that there may have been some Italians. And really what we should do is take him to Millinocket and say, well, they built the... The Italians helped to build the mill up there. That's right. So that's another part of Italian history. But anyway. It was good to talk to him. He was very kind and just a really great conversation.

Laura: 3:19

Yeah, it was very entertaining. I liked it. Yeah, I liked it a lot. He was very nice. Yeah. All right. And if you, if everyone doesn't realize that today, well, the day we're recording actually is today's grandparents day. And that fits right in with what we're doing. We're going to discuss our other grandparents, our maternal line, and what cool connections we've made there. And we were lucky enough to know three of our grandparents, and only to find out, you know, we'd like to have, we had another one we'd love to have met, but we didn't, but that's where, right, that's where genealogy can help. Yep. And as we've stated before, you know, when you start looking, and that's what we did, we learned a lot about our grandmother that we never knew. And we also found that bonus grandfather. That's been a very, very interesting, interesting adventure, I guess I would call it. Yes.

Kim: 4:19

And so, we are happy to be starting a new family line this week. We are heading back, yes, you guessed it, to Penobscot County. Our old stomping grounds, that's where we're from. But it's a little further north than that. And to tell you the truth, I never, You know, we grew up in Enfield and I never gave it any thought about Millinocket, other than the fact that it was our basketball rivals, right? We would go there and play sports. East, yep. Yeah. So we never really, I never gave it much of a thought. But really that

Laura: 4:50

is weird. Other than that we really wanted to beat them pretty badly.

Kim: 4:53

That's right. Like, can't we just once, let's just once beat them. Yeah. And so that's where our grandmother's story story started. My grandmother, I, you know, and I just gave it some thought this morning, but she's kind of a pioneer type, you know, she, she got stuff done. She worked in the wilderness, so to speak, you know, with very little amenities and her family lived in the Millinocket region, and color us impressed. We like the story.

Laura: 5:18

Right. And I think, just as a quick note, in her roots, go back to probably some of the first settlers in the area. I would agree. But

Kim: 5:32

yeah, okay, that's another day. Yeah. Yeah.

Laura: 5:36

So anyway Millinocket, also known as the magic city. And I did, I had to look that one up because I wasn't quite sure why they call it the magic city. And it's because the city was built so quickly. Right. It did boom around the paper industry. And you

5:51

know,

Kim: 5:52

Schenck High School, right? They named Skank High School after the gentleman who got all the Italian immigrants in to build that mill. Oh, and they were conscripted, meaning they had a debt to pay because it got them here. I was just reading that too about Milanoket. You mean,

Laura: 6:14

you mean from Italy? Right. So,

Kim: 6:17

okay. So they were offered, you know, passage or voyage and in exchange for labor. when they got here. So I don't know how long it took them to work that off, you know. So they were giving them, hey, well, hey, we're going to offer you a trip to Maine. You can build this here mill and, you know, an area

Laura: 6:36

that's more woods than people.

Kim: 6:38

That's right. That's right. But the air is really fresh. It's really great. And they have beautiful lakes. So

Laura: 6:44

yeah, I believe that most of them lived in Millinocket and not East Millinocket though, where the Schenck High School is. That's

Kim: 6:50

true. But it was, anyway, they did mention Schenck, the gentleman, and I don't have it up right now, I don't have it in front of me, but he was one of the, and perhaps, you know, that got him a name on a mill, but, or, I mean, a high school, but but that family was prominent.

Laura: 7:04

Okay, so Millinocket, the magic city, also known as the city that paper built, and Maine's biggest small town, but like many names in The many areas of Maine Millinocket is an Abenaki word that means the land of many islands. There, and that also looks that one up. I've learned so much today, Kim.

Kim: 7:29

And I also, I look at the maps, I'm just thinking, how did these people... You know, I love maps. I love to look at them. How did these people say, you know, our ancestors know, I mean, there are so many lakes and islands and portages and places to go from this lake to that lake, here to there and everywhere. And it would just have been, I mean, you know, it's, it was amazing, the mappage

Laura: 7:51

that they had. I think people were very clever back in the day. Yep, I believe, I know how they did it all. Yep. But and as I mentioned, first European, first settlers of European descent came to Millinocket in 1829. I'm not sure if that's true of Medway, that's where Grammy's relatives were in, but I think it's, it must be pretty close. Right. Anyway, but so, always known for the hunting in sportsman's paradise. The whole Millinocket area and also logging and papermaking hub throughout the heyday of the paper industry in the northeast. It was a big town with great schools, lots of stores and entertainment. Anything you can imagine to support a large working community of the day. And, you know, over the last few decades, and I'm not sure exactly, you know, when you can pinpoint that, with the decline of the paper industry in general, the area has now become refocused on outdoor recreation and As a, you know, a supporting fact, I guess I would call it, the population in Millinocket now hovers around 4, 100. In the booming paper days, say around 1970, the population was almost double that at 7, 700. So, yeah,

Kim: 9:11

there were a lot of people that lived in Milano.

Laura: 9:13

Yeah, it was huge, and do you remember, Kim, like in our little school in, in Howland, you know, where we struggled to have a hundred kids in a class, and, you know, we didn't have a lot in our school, our school was pretty poor, and I can remember going, thinking to ourselves, oh my gosh, Stearns High School, they had, they had a pool, they had all these teams, their schools appeared to have so much money and so much, right, opportunity, opportunity, so many students, they were class A, they, they just, Anyway, they had so much. Anyway, and it's not the case anymore. They struggle just like every other school to have even 35 students, I think. I don't even know what the number is. But, anyway. One other fun fact about Millinocket, at least it's fun for me. Because I like weather and all things like that.

Kim: 10:04

We haven't discussed the weather yet today.

Laura: 10:06

Yeah, we haven't discussed the weather. Millinocket is going to be in the path of the solar eclipse that's coming, going to be taking place in the northern hemisphere, April of 2024. And it's going to be a millenocalypse, if you will. I've seen that. Yeah, you've seen the path of the solar eclipse.

Kim: 10:25

And I always said, I should go up and buy a house now and rent it out to all the people who want to come and see, you know. Yeah,

Laura: 10:31

and I think I noticed this, like, four or five years ago, they've been tracking this, you know, saying it was going to happen, and I thought, oh, that's so cool, but. And now it's on our

Kim: 10:40

doorstep next year.

Laura: 10:40

Now it's six months away or something like that.

Kim: 10:44

Yeah, so anyway, Millinocket, the place to be during

Laura: 10:48

the solar eclipse. And just the background of where our family comes from. Right, and

Kim: 10:52

things that, when Laura and I were growing up, we were in our little school in Howland, and we just didn't really give much thought to Millinocket as, as our roots. Yeah.

Laura: 11:01

Right, and it was only 45 miles. Right. 45 minutes away.

Kim: 11:07

There's no reason why. I remember once, growing up, you and I, well, we have a picture of it, so I remember, but we went to Millinocket and we, we visited with one of mom's cousins that was a Boyington. He was a. Her uncle. Uncle, her uncle. All right. So he was a. Grammy's brother. Yep. Right. Was he a main, main guide? He was at the forest. He worked for the park, I believe. Yep. Yep. So he, anyway, they're, they solidly in the Millinocket

Laura: 11:35

area. And when I say the park, I mean Baxter State Park. Right. Baxter State Park, which is,

Kim: 11:40

Amazing. Check it out. But what we want to tell you about is the one grandmother that we did know, Persis. And Persis is spelled P E R S I S, and that's Haskell. Thelma Persis Haskell. So that's an unusual name. You don't, you don't come across that every day. So, it also, Persis was her grandmother's name. So that was a family name. Anyway, Grammy, Thelma, was born, we called her Grammy. Was born in 1909 in Medway, Maine, according to her obituary. But her birth certificate said Norcross. And I didn't even really know that Norcross was a place for the longest time, but Norcross is a small village located in central Maine on the edge of the North Twin Lake and West Branch of the Penobscot River, and Norcross was founded in 1893. Now it's just a quiet little settlement of homes and summer camps but it was once the destination for sportsmen, river guides, lumbermen, via the Bangor and the Rustic Railroad, and supported a railway station, a steamboat. I'm sorry, a Steamboat Wharf, a post office, a hotel. A hotel. They have a hotel, store and school. And the years after 1930 saw a gradual decline of activities in Norcross because of the depression and the automobile had arrived, which allowed people to drive themselves to where they needed to be. And so fewer people relied on guides and things like that. So anyway, we found that from the NorcrossHeritageTrust. org. So there's even a webpage for that, which is excellent. Now, here we are. later in our years, and now we're just figuring it out. Right,

Laura: 13:26

right. And I can remember our mother with her siblings mentioning Norcross and talking about it, but I don't remember details other than that they mentioned it. Right, and I don't

Kim: 13:40

remember at the time thinking, I don't even know where that is on a map. Where is it?

Laura: 13:45

I only had a general idea.

Kim: 13:47

So,

Laura: 13:48

anyway. Yep. And, you know, we were, Kim and I were on the younger end of the grandchildren for Grammy Smith, as we referred to her a lot. And there were 18 grandchildren, so you can imagine things were kind of chaotic at times when all of us were together. So we didn't get to spend as much time with our grandmother, even as adults didn't really get a lot of quality time with her. And I think we both wish, I'm sure most of those... Grandkids would love to be able to go back and talk to her now. But, you know, we were young and on the go and her encyclopedia of knowledge of that era is gone. So, but we do have a source who knew enough to chat with her about life in those days. And he grew up, I think, not too far from there. So he had a good, a good knowledge of that. And that would be our cousin's husband, Dick. And we'll get to more of that in a bit. So, yeah, but. You know, our grandmother, she had, you know, worked very hard in those camps and she developed a lot of skills and one of those favorite skills that I can remember her, she could make bread

Kim: 15:09

yeast rolls. Let's just talk yeast rolls. Yeast

Laura: 15:11

rolls. Oh my gosh. Butter. Give meye I butter.

Kim: 15:13

I look forward to those every Thanksgiving. I don't care if I'm at the ch the, the kids' table, the big table outdoor, just gimme a roll and I'm happy. Yeah, they were the. Silkiest yeast rolls on the planet.

Laura: 15:27

And in the days, we were growing up in the days of margarine, and Grammy never put margarine on the table, it was butter. Yeah, I remember that. Yeah, it was good. Anyway. Yeah,

Kim: 15:37

we just want to say those were good. Those were the days when you could get Have you ever made her recipe? We have the recipe,

Laura: 15:43

right? I have not made her recipe,

Kim: 15:46

no. Well, that's a wintertime project for us. Okay, so we're going to go on. You know, so Thelma, or Grammy, was, you know, was our grandmother. She and her sister, Rebecca, were raised by her mom and stepdad the mom, Edna. She was Edna McDougal, and her dad was Frank Haskell. So Edna and Frank, they were married in 1908 and divorced in 1913, and there's not much known about that. And it doesn't even play into the story, but just so you know that, that Thelma and Rebecca were stepchildren to the Boyingtons, but nonetheless, it didn't matter. So Edna remarried, she remarried to Ralph Boyington, and they went on to have three more children. So, all in all, Edna had five children, and they made their life in the Millinocket area. And I'm sure that area has changed a lot since they were there 100 years ago, 100 plus years ago.

Laura: 16:38

That's been a long time. And, you know, we knew that they lived the sporting camp type of life for many years, and we just didn't really know what that meant. And Thelma's grandparents, Robert and Persis McDougall, became proprietors of a sporting camp they called Nair McCanna Lake Camps.

Kim: 16:57

Nair McCanna. Nair McCanna. It's a,

Laura: 17:02

well, I'm going with my friend Rita's pronunciation, Nair McKenna. Nair

Kim: 17:08

McKenna? Alright, Nair McKenna.

Laura: 17:11

There's no R in there, but

Kim: 17:13

But she puts one in. If you're from Maine, you do what you want, and

Laura: 17:17

You just say it fast and just keep on going. Nair McKenna. Narmacana. Narmacana.

Kim: 17:22

Though when, when Dick would pronounce it, I almost thought he was saying Nanamacana. I think

Laura: 17:28

that there are a few different ways to pronounce it.

Kim: 17:31

According to the way that we have seen it in books, it is spelled N A H. M A K A N T A, Namakana, but everybody has their own little spin, which is fine.

Laura: 17:43

Yep. We could just call it, Where There Are Plenty

Kim: 17:47

of Fish. That's right. Which is the translation. Yep.

Laura: 17:52

Yep. So, you know, the families were all heavily into the guiding and operating of sporting camps, and they were also caretakers of a camp at Kidney Pond that belonged to Samuel P. Colt and his brother, LeBaron.

Kim: 18:05

Like Samuel and LeBaron, that's too, I mean, like, that's unusual to have LeBaron, that's just,

Laura: 18:11

it threw me, but that's, yeah, that's a strange name. Anyway, that's fine. These two were founders of United States Rubber Company, and the Un, and a U. S. Senator from Rhode Island and a federal court judge?

Kim: 18:24

Right. So Samuel was the founder of United States River, and LeBaron was the U. S. Senator from Rhode Island, and he was also a federal court judge.

Laura: 18:34

Okay. So, there's just another example. It's a very long history of people from away. Coming into the area and loving the outdoors, right? I think

Kim: 18:48

hunting and fishing was prime real estate up there. So yeah. So anyway. So for ease of discussion, just so that, because it can get really crazy going back and forth, because, and even for us, some of the grandparents were called Big Grammy and Little Grammy, and this and that, and it was really hard to keep track of, so for easy, ease of discussion, let's just say that this was a family affair for many years, running these camps, and everyone participated, and the family names were Boyington, McDougal, York, and Scott, and Scott just happened to be the married name of Of one of the sisters of Persis. So, but all those names play into the ownership and the running of these camps and the names that were well known. But I do have 1 story that I'm going to relay here that Dick had told me about. And we're talking about the Rainbow Lake fire in Maine. And it was a big deal at that time, and my grandmother, Thelma, would have been 15 years old and working at these camps when this happened. So the, the Rainbow Lake Fire was a fire that was just above Namacana Lake. And it where it burned and there were lots of firefighters there. And he goes on to tell the story when the firefighters would get hurt. They use the camps at Nana McKenna as a hospital. And when the fire got away from them, the camps were going to burn. I mean, it was obvious they could see it coming and they couldn't get the hurt firefighters out. So they brought the firefighters back, gave them wet burlap bags, put them on the roofs of the camp and 1 pump in a hose and kept spraying. And they used the wet bags to beat the sparks off and the fire burned down. Both sides of the camp went all the way down the other side of the lake and never touched the camps because of what their efforts that they had put in with those burlap sacks and with the water. And it, that had to have been one scary event. I just can't imagine. But yeah, when, so, and to think that Grammy was only.

Laura: 20:52

15. Yeah, they had nothing really to fight with. What would you do? They're so far, they're so

Kim: 20:59

remote. Right, it is very remote, right. And then, you know, so Dick was, I really appreciate Dick sitting with me that one time and telling me these stories because they're colorful. So I think Laura might have another one. Yeah,

Laura: 21:14

I like this one. Because Kim and I both recall our grandmother, one of the things we remember is, If she, if anybody ever caught some fresh trout, she loved to, they would, she would take any trout that anyone caught and she'd love to eat them. So she was quite the, she was probably a quite a good fisherman, fisherwoman, whenever, however you want to say it. Back in the day when she lived in this area, she probably knew a lot of the tricks anyway. So, one day fishing with a younger brother, Ben, she, Grammy had a big fish on the line. and it was too big. They were, she was in the canoe and it was too big to land the fish in the canoe. So he planned to get her to the shore so she could get out and he was going to back away and not get tangled in her line. And all of a sudden he's laughing and I guess laughing really loudly. And she was standing on the beach and saying, why are you laughing? Why are you laughing at me, Ben? And he said to her, look up at the beach, look. And she turned and looked, and there was a skunk headed right for her. And she started yelling at him, You get in here! You get in here right now and get me! So he did come in and pick her up. So I'm sure, I'm sure she appreciated that. Don't

Kim: 22:38

you think that's something that Our brother would do to us, Kevin would do to us.

Laura: 22:42

Yes, although I'm not sure he would

Kim: 22:44

have picked us up. No, he would have left us there. Oh, I can't paddle. Something's wrong. I don't know. Oh, my arm's broken. I didn't see no skunk. Yeah. Anyway, that was, that was, you know, as hard as they worked, they had a good, you know, they had a good relationship and they enjoyed themselves. Yeah.

Laura: 23:08

And there were, it's important to note that, you know, some of the men, they died way too early. So the deaths that were noted Robert MacDougall, husband of Persis, so that would have been our grandmother's grandmother. Right. Right? Yes. So he died on the 30th of January 1924 in Grindstone, another area near Millinocket, and it is said it was a logging accident. And we don't really have any more information on that. And then just one year later, her daughter Edna lost her husband. Ralph Boynton died on 22 February 1925, also in Grindstone. And the obituary read and It was provided, the obituary was provided online through Great Northern Paper Company and stated that Ralph was caught between a tractor and a train of sleds that he was about to couple together and he was instantly killed. They went on to say, working on the drives for the Great Northern Paper Company under A. V. McNeil or George McGuire for the last 15 or 16 years, he had won the name of being the most clever canoeman on Penobscot waters. He was alert. active and particularly good at handling a canoe in quick water, fearless and daring in canoe work and river driving. He earned a reputation not soon to be forgotten. He was well known to be a sportsman's guide. He was filling in the slack season by working as a helper to a tractor driver. He was popular in the camps where he worked because of his willingness to help anyone and his cheerful disposition. His loss was keenly felt and cast a gloom over the entire operation. So those are some glowing words for a hard working man. And we can glean from this that the camping operations were run with great spirit, and we really could say that our grandmother possessed that same spirit. I would agree, don't you think? She was quite, I don't know, I remember her so fondly, I don't know, she was a very nice lady.

Kim: 25:20

Yep. So now, by 1925, Persis and Edna were both widows, and they were in charge of these camps. Imagine that, 1925. You know, so from the book that I bought at the Millinocket Historical Society, which I talked about last week, it was reported in that book that Persis continued to work the camps, and her widowed daughter, Edna Boyington, and her four children, Rebecca, Thelma, Benny, and Gertrude, who normally lived in Norcross, they moved in to help her run the camps. So, they all continued to run the camps until Persis and Edna sold Nanomeccana Lake Camps in 1945. That is a long run to be running it without neither of their husbands. They probably had help, but, you know, those were their, they were their partners, you know, so we have pictures of our mother and her siblings at the camps in Millinocket. I don't know if I think they might have been right from the same area, but. It's at least

Laura: 26:25

close, I don't know if it's right there, but yeah. So I think

Kim: 26:28

Grammy Thelma continued to take the kids back up to Millinocket and enjoy their time there. But you know, our grandmother worked really, really hard, so did her mother, and so did her mother, if you think about it. I mean they, and without a lot of resources. I mean they had resources, but they had to work hard. Right,

Laura: 26:50

right. They had to, they had to create their own success. Right, right.

Kim: 26:57

And cook good yeast rolls.

Laura: 27:02

Oh, so, but now we want to mention that As our grandmother was working along, there was a young gentleman that was headed north to get some fresh air and spend some time with his uncle. And that young man was our grandfather, Manly Smith, who was born on the 3rd of May in 1908 in Old Town, Maine. And he was sent to stay with his uncle Hartsmith in Millinocket, Maine. And I believe he was sent because his family, his whole family had been rather sickly. He lost a lot of siblings. His parents had lost many children. And I'm sure they wanted to make sure that he did well. So they sent him up to the woods to strengthen him up and make him nice and strong. He was sent to stay with his Uncle Hart Smith in Millinocket, Maine. Uncle Hart was listed in 1910 census as a guide. It is important to note that Manly Smith was sent north as he was an asthmatic. His parents had lost four of their eight children in infancy to disease. So we get an idea that his parents do what they have to do to keep their kids healthy. And so we don't have any details of how they met, but I think as they say, the rest is history. Yes. Yep, they were married and then raised their family in Old Town, Maine, where our mother's story began.

Kim: 28:30

Right. And I just can't imagine. So we're not really talking about Grampy Smith today, but he came from one of eight children, four of whom died in infancy. And I think we've talked about this before, Laura, most of it was like things that are preventable now. Right. I don't know if tuberculosis and some other things. It wasn't, I don't know, I don't think it was TB either, but

Laura: 28:56

anyway. I can't really remember, but it, childhood illnesses that took a lot of children back in the day that don't. That doesn't happen now. Yep.

Kim: 29:06

You know, and so our grandparents you know, Grampy Smith's parents, gravestone has the, li has the list of the four children that didn't survive through childhood. They have it right on the back of their stone. So they, they, they keep a nice memorial there of the children who didn't survive, but that's just sad. So Grampy Smith went to Norcross and that's where Grammy was. And we've even got pictures of them together fishing. Which is cute. Right. Right.'cause that's what they like to

Laura: 29:36

do. And in that picture, you can see all the large mosquitoes or bugs in the air as well. Yeah. Even in that, 1930 camera. Yeah. It was you can see the

Kim: 29:48

bugs in the air, right. It was like, but we, we know that we we know exactly what they're sitting in the buzz around your head. Yeah.

Laura: 29:55

But doesn't Grammy look cute sitting? Yep. Nice and sassy. They're holding her fish and pole. I like that picture. Yeah. Good one. Yeah. So I do have a really fun memory of a story of Grammy Smith in her older years, sitting around the kitchen in their house in Old Town. I remember her, somebody, I think that my girls were there with me that day and somebody spilled something in her kitchen and we wiped it up off the floor. And she came out with the comment that. She remembered her mother or her grandmother. I don't know which one. I think it was her mother saying that Her mother used to call that Irish mopping Just wiping this the spill off the floor and now in looking at all this ancestry stuff I think I get it a lot better than I did back then because I think her Grammy's family was all Scottish Yep. And maybe that was just a ethnic insult, I guess. I don't know what else to call it. But, you know, the Scottish insulting the Irish cleaning, or I don't know. I'm sure there were a lot of insults back and forth in the day, but, and Grampy was Irish. And Grampy's family was Irish, so that just makes it more fun, more, it just makes it funnier, so.

Kim: 31:15

But she was

Laura: 31:16

laughing, I remember her laughing about it and calling it Irish mopping, and that was, that was a good

Kim: 31:20

one. Oh, so anyway, we just want to do a big shout out, thumbs up, do whatever you want to do to all the Maine guides, the hunting camp operators, the outdoor enthusiasts, the way, you know, how they head to northern Maine, like like religion. I mean, it's almost like religion. They're so happy to be there. And it's, it's really, we call it God's country, you know here in Maine, you just go north, you go to God's country. But, you know, so there's many places in Maine to scratch that itch for God's country, but Millinocket has been well known for many years. It's worth checking out and dang, I wish I had, you know, talked to Grammy about it. That's all, but. I didn't. Well, thank God we have Dick who took notes.

Laura: 32:07

Yeah, and knows a lot more about it for sure. Yeah.

Kim: 32:11

And here we go about Nana McKenna. Nana McKenna. I don't want to insult anybody, but I don't know how to say it. So I'm going to just say, just say it fast. Yeah. Nana McKenna. It's like ripping a bandaid off, but you know, many fish, which Grammy liked. And she she fished a lot.

Laura: 32:31

Right. Right. Yep, 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 chasinghazeltales at gmail. com. Tell us your tales or share what you've learned or found interesting about your family. Let us know if you've shaken your family tree and had a few nuts fall out. But if you haven't seen any nuts fall out of the tree, you might just be the nut in your family.

Kim: 32:59

I think, I think it's me.

Laura: 33:03

I wasn't going to say

Kim: 33:04

anything. No, I wasn't going to say anything. I think it's me.

33:09

I just wanted to pop in and say that i made an error in my terminology earlier when i said that the italians were conscripted what i meant to say was that they were bonded labor which is much different meaning that they owed a bond for their passage and they worked it off with labor sorry about that

Laura: 33:30

You can also follow us or contact us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, also known as X, or TikTok. I'm,

Kim: 33:37

Tired with Twitter X. Although that's where all my friends are, my genealogy friends. There's a lot of them on there, but oh, it just exhausts me. But anyway. All right. So until next week, we'll see you later. We'll see you. Bye bye.

33:53

Bye.