Wilson Family Genealogy
Stories about Charles William Lynn
- Stories from Fern Eleanor (Cook) Lynn
- Stories from Living Lynn
- Stories from Charles William Lynn
- Story from a Neighbor
Stories from Fern Eleanor (Cook) Lynn:
"One time when the Hills [the family of Homer Allin and Lois Viola (Ayers) Hill] were visiting, Kenny [Kenneth Martin Hill] asked me to have a milkshake. I told him I'd never had one. He asked why, and I said because I didn't like milk - a great thing for the daughter of a dairy farmer! He said I should try one, and took me to the soda fountain in Wilson. I really liked the milkshake, but I had a date with Charles that night, and I told Kenny I had to get home. He said fine, but then pulled into every driveway along the way and asked is this where you live? He was laughing, but I was worried that Charles might not wait. We were over 1/2 hour late getting home, but Charles was there waiting."
"After Charles and I were married, we lived in an apartment in Lockport [Niagara, NY, USA] for about 6 years. When Charles got his WW II draft papers, my grandfather [Benjamin Ernest Wilson] visited and asked me what I was going to do. I told him get a job, like all the other women whose husbands were in the service. He asked if I would consider coming home, because my mother [Florence May (Wilson) Cook] needed me. We moved back to the farm, then Charles got an occupational deferment. Although we didn't know it at the time, Mr Neal, the owner of Norton Labs [Lockport, Niagara, NY, USA], had told Charles' draft board that Charles was the only person who could run Nortons if anything happened to him [Mr Neal]. Nortons had a lot of contracts with the military. We continued to live at home. My younger brother, Wilfred [Dennis "Wilfred" Cook], was also living at home. When my mother died, the farm went to Dad [William Harley Cook]. Quite a while before Dad died, he deeded the farm to us."
"Charles' nickname when he was younger was 'Gus.' I think they called him that because his brother's [Boyd James Lynn] nickname was 'Bus.' I never liked that nickname because every 'Gus' I ever knew was a bartender. But after we had Charles Jr, I didn't want him called 'Junior,' because I never knew a Junior who didn't have some kind of problem. After the tried and true tradition of the Cook family, we called Charles Jr 'Billy,' from his middle name. However, when he went to school, he informed his teacher, and then us, that his name was 'Charles.' So Charles Sr remained 'Gus.' But when Charles Jr went to college, I started calling Charles Sr by his real name. We always knew 'old' friends, because they would still call him 'Gus.'"
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Stories from Living Lynn:
"When I was young, my grandfather [William Harley Cook] was still farming with horses - Dolly and Babe. I don't know what breed they were, but they sure looked big to a little kid! One day I was up in the haymow when the men were putting hay in. My father told me to be careful and not fall through the hole in the floor where they threw the hay down into the horses' manager. However, being a little kid, and having fun playing, I lost my sense of direction and fell through. My first thought was what big teeth the horses had! My second was 'How did Dad get here so quick?' It really is amazing how fast a person can move when there's a sense of urgency."
"I only remember my father getting really mad at me once. I don't remember what the subject was, but I was having trouble understanding something he was trying to explain to me. In my frustration, I said 'oh, I'm so stupid!' My father got very angry and said 'You are not stupid. You are ignorant. And ignorance is curable.'"
"I remember both of my parents telling me that I could be whatever I wanted to be. Telling is one thing, and doesn't always mean that much. However, whenever my brother [Charles William Lynn Jr] or I showed interest in something, both of my parents were right there being supportive. When we expressed interest in something, my father would go to the encyclopedia or library or whatever it took, and read up on that subject, so that he would be able to help us. I remember one time expressing interest in a spelling bee. There was a book of words you had to be able to spell, but the school had only one copy. This was long before the days of easy photocopying. My parents spent the entire night sitting up copying the words for me. As I recall, I didn't do very well in the spelling bee, but it certainly wasn't for want of having the words to study!"
"When I was young, my father kept honey bees, which he would take to various local farmers who 'rented' the bees for the summer to ensure that their crops were pollinated. He generally had around 100 hives. I didn't know it at the time, but he had bought the bees from my great-grandfather, Benjamin Ernest Wilson. Dad was a member of a honey cooperative - he and other beekeepers supplied the raw honey, and the cooperative did the processing and sales. In cleaning out the shop at the house, we found a letter from the cooperative telling him that they indeed needed wildflower honey and to please get his ton of honey to them as quickly as possible. A TON of honey?! Can you even imagine how much honey that would be?"
"Dad always had something to give to people, sometimes for helping him or his family, sometimes because they stopped by, and sometimes for no real reason whatever - just because. When he had the bees, it would be a quart of honey. When he was no longer working with bees, it would be a bread bag full of shelled black walnuts."
"Dad loved baseball. After he got out of high school, he played ball in the old industrial leagues. He played center field, and generally batted clean up. We have pictures of him as late as 1946 in his uniform. He also loved the Yankees. One year, before my brother [Charles William Lynn Jr] was born, he and Mom spent the summer following the Yankees around. We also have pictures he took at the different ball parks. When I got to be a little older, he taught me the old method of keeping score. During the World Series, I would watch the game after I got home from school, and keep score for him. When he got home, he would look over the record and know exactly what had happened. It gave me a great deal of satisfaction to be able to do that for him."
"Dad had wanted to be an accountant, but made the mistake of graduating from high school in 1932, when there was no money to beg, borrow, or steal for college. He took some night courses in accounting at the University of Buffalo, but he needed a full-time job to continue to help support his family and, after 1936, his wife. When Mr. Neal, the owner of Norton Labs [Lockport, Niagara, NY, USA], where Dad worked, encouraged the employees to form a federal credit union, Dad was very interested in the position of Treasurer. Although there were some years when he wasn't Treasurer, he held that position for a good many years. He was Treasurer before there were computers. Even the adding machine he initially used was mechanical, not electrical. There were rows of numbers, 0 through 9, on it, the same number all the way across. The columns indicated the decimal places in the figure. The last two columns on the right were to the right of a decimal point, and so represented cents. If you wanted to enter $450.10, you had to hit the four in the third column to the left of the decimal point, the 5 in the second column to the left, the 0 in the first column to the left, the 1 in the first column to the right of the decimal point, and the 0 in the second column to the right. Then to add or subtract you had to hit the addition or subtraction key and again enter the entire figure. I couldn't even keep the columns straight! Every night after he came home from work and had supper, he would set up shop on the diningroom table and 'do the books,' sometimes late into the night. Whenever he was off by even a penny, he stayed up until he found the mistake. The records for each credit union member were done by hand. However, the Norton credit union always paid the highest interest of any of the credit unions in the area. Dad had money invested all over the country, depending on where he could get the highest interest. Without the internet, I don't even know how he found out about the rates in other places! He was always amused when it was time for the quarterly review of his books, because the folks doing the reviews generally didn't have a clue about accounting, and he had to explain accounting to them before they could review his work. The last couple years he was Treasurer, he was paid $2,000 a year for this work. Soon after he left, both Norton and the credit union folded. Norton credit union members were transferred to the credit union at Harrison Radiator (now Delphi)."
"Dad started giving blood after he received an occupational deferment during World War II. He considered this to be his contribution to the war effort. He gave two gallons during the war, when records were not kept of donations. He was still donating blood in his 90's, and was working on his 43rd recorded gallon (45th, counting the two during the war) when he died. The Buffalo District of the Red Cross said that they were not able to get him gallon pins for gallons 37 and above, because the National Red Cross did not have pins that high. I tend to think that isn't completely correct, but in any event, he never did get them."
"The day my father finished his 22nd gallon of blood, he and some other folks were sitting at the table, having a drink and something to eat, while the volunteers watched them in case anyone had a post-donation problem. One of the volunteers came over with the box of gallon pins and asked if anyone was due to receive a pin that day. One gentleman said he was due his 4th gallon pin, and another said it was his 1st gallon. My father said nothing. I asked him later why he didn't speak up. He said 'because every pint of blood is important, and those two men were very justifiably proud of their achievements. I didn't want to, in any way, over-shadow what they had done.' Two months later, when he donated again, he brought home his 22nd gallon pin."
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These are stories that Charles told about his early life.
"My father [Willie Lynn] was injured in an on-the-job accident at the Lockport Felt Mill in USA, NY, Niagara, Newfane, and was no longer able to do much work. I started working to help out. One of my jobs was delivering milk in Newfane and Olcott [Niagara, NY, USA]. At Christmas time, many of the customers would ask us in for some eggnog or something stronger. I wasn't much of a drinker, so I just said thanks anyway, and continued on my route. But there was one other guy who would always partake of the libations. Needless to say, by the time he was well into his route, he was not very competent. Fortunately, however, the horse knew where he stopped everyday, and would take his inebriated 'master' through the route and safely back to the dairy. After a while, I was also responsible for pasteurizing the milk. Occasionally, I would let the milk get too hot and would homogenize it. But this was before the days of homogenization, and the dairy would get irate calls from its customers saying that someone had stolen the cream off their milk! Then there was one woman who left a quarter with the empty bottles to pay her 20-cent bill. She called the dairy to tell them that she had paid, but 'that delivery boy' put her quarter in his pocket before leaving her a nickel change. 'Well, where was I supposed to put it?'"
"I only knew one major league baseball player personally, and that was Sal Magli, who was from Niagara Falls [Niagara, NY, USA]. He played on another team against us a lot. We taught him to throw his inside curve ball [that, in the majors, earned him the nickname of 'Sal the Barber,' for his 'close shaves'], because before he learned that pitch, we were hitting everything he threw out of the park!"
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Story from a Neighbor:
"I used to use your father. I knew that he would be going to Olcott [USA, NY, Niagara County] to play baseball every weekend, and I would come over and ask him to take me with him so that I could go roller-skating. I knew I'd be able to get a ride home with one or another friend, but I always had the same ride there!"