Somewhere (I thought it was in the introduction to Dandelion Wine but it's not) Ray spoke or wrote about his great-grandmother who would shingle the roof every spring and who died when he was three. Does anyone know her name and dates of birth and death or where I might obtain them? Thanks.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by dandelion:
Somewhere (I thought it was in the introduction to Dandelion Wine but it's not) Ray spoke or wrote about his great-grandmother who would shingle the roof every spring and who died when he was three. Does anyone know her name...?[QUOTE]

It's in the essay 'Drunk And In Charge Of A Bicycle'. Sam Weller's THE BRADBURY CHRONICLES has Mr. Bradbury's paternal great-grandmother's name as Mary Spaulding, if she is the one that inspired the story "The Leave-Taking", aka "Good-Bye Means God Be With You".

Oh, thanks, that helps. It was Mary Spaulding Bradbury. Looked here http://www.ilsos.gov/isavital/idphDeathSearch.do and found Ray's grandfather and sister, but not his great-grandmother.

Either the date of death here is wrong or Ray was being very imaginative! http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-...Rid=67649055&df=all&

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I have (my own version of) Ray's family tree on my blog here:

http://bradburymedia.blogspot....009/08/ancestry.html

...and a little bit about the fictionalised grandma here:

http://bradburymedia.blogspot....3/death-maidens.html

Dandelion--

You have illuminated something quite intriguing here and it's a testament to the depth of your research. I have Mary Spaulding's death certificate in my files, but it is snowing pretty heavily here in Chicago today so I wont be heading in to my office. As soon as I do, I will report her death date. I just cant recall it off the top of my head. I do have a sneaking suspicion that she did die before Ray was born and this would make his "Good-bye Grandma" memory fiction, despite his insistence that it happened. I will have answers very soon!

Mary Spaulding was of course, married to Samuel I. Bradbury, Mayor of Waukegan in 1882. The Spaulding family, from which the fictional family in DANDELION WINE got their surname, founded Union Cemetery, where much of the family is, today, buried -- including Ray's beloved grandfather Samuel Hinkston Bradbury, son of Samuel I. and Mary.

On a related note, also in my files, are the many love letters between Samuel I. Bradbury and Mary Spaulding during their courtship. Pretty cool stuff.

More soon....

Wow, Sam, you're the best!

Considering that a person would have two parents, four grandparents, and eight great-grandparents, is it possible that Ray, or we, got the wrong one and this really did happen with another great-grandma?

(Actually we can narrow it down to two as she was definitely on his father's side.)

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...and here's a photo on one of the Spaulding sections of Union Cemetery, which I took in 2009 (click on the link at the bottom of this post).

I found and photographed quite a few Spauldings (and Spaldings), some of whom would have been contemporaries of Mary, but I didn't find Mary herself. I did, however, photograph some unreadable Spaulding headstones.

spauldings.jpg (253 Kb, 4 downloads) Spaulding graves

I find it amazing how many of Ray's immediate family graves remain unmarked.

Well, I wonder who marked Samuel and Minnie's graves and when! http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-...&GRid=34889477&df=p&

When I visited in 1984, I had the impression Samuel's grave was unmarked--maybe that's because I didn't have the date where I could find it immediately--and Ray's poem "Their Names in Dust, Their Dates in Grass" gave the impression the graves were unmarked.

What we need to do is find out the name of the mother of Minnie Alice Davis and when she died, for purposes of elimination.

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Dandelion--

A quick look at my files this morning:

Indeed, Mary Adele Spaulding, Ray's great grandmother, died on July 1, 1911. If Ray's recollection of his great-grandmother (as portrayed in "Good-bye Grandma") are true, then it would have to be a different great grandmother.

Samuel I. Bradbury married Mary A. Spaulding on November 25, 1851.

At the time of Mary's death, the family did reside at 619 W. Washington (the fictional inspiration of the grandparents' home in DANDELION WINE). She was buried at Oakwood Cemetery on July 3. She is buried in Block 2, Lot 6.

Mary's parents were Luther Spaulding and Charlott Hinkston (now we know the origin of Ray's grandfather's middle name).

If Ray's memory is correct, the great grandmother you are looking for is possibly the mother of Minnie Alice Davis. I will have to go back to my files yet again! This will take awhile as I am presenting a paper at a conference in Boston this weekend.

Best,

Sam Weller

Thanks for your diligent work, Sam!