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Welcome!
This page is a collection
of the home record recordings by my father Frank
Dawson Bliley during the 1940s. They include birthday parties,
family celebrations, radio plays, reunions (formal and informal), and oral
family histories--some of which are presented in the first person.
In 1996, my brother John Hall
Bliley, transferred 14 record recordings to audiotape and distributed
them to our family as a Christmas present. John did an excellent
job. What a delightful present!
My objective was to migrate these
valuable family assets into the digital world, to do a bit of
minor editing to minimize noise, and to correct playback speed
variations which usually resulted in voices of a higher-than-normal
pitch. Tests of my alterations have been verified as reasonable
by people who knew the speaker, and those who did not. The content
has not been edited in any other way. Higher-quality versions
area available upon request on CD-ROM as the file sizes are about
ten-times larger and that is impractical for placement on this
Web site.
A group photo taken in 1947 shows
the living room in which most of the recordings were made. The
recorder/player console can be seen in the background behind
my father, Frank Dawson Bliley, against the wall. The recorder was a Wilcox-Gay, A-114, combination record player/recorder with an FM radio. I used it for several years in the early 1960s to make recordings of my ham radio activities and my brother, Dave, singing a rock-n-roll songs. (I am sorry but the latter are not available.)
Ultimately, I hope to provide
text transcriptions of the oral histories that will expand the
value of the records. But, there is nothing better than listening
to our ancestors speaking in their own voice.
This is portion of my family
history site continues to be a work in progress. I hope to add recordings will be in
the future.
I hope your visit is a pleasant
one.
Chuck
Web Site Creator & Audio Editor
CONTENTS
- FAMILY HISTORY & GENEALOGY
- FAMILY GATHERINGS AND FUN TIMES
- OTHER THINGS OF INTEREST
FAMILY HISTORY &
GENEALOGY
|
1886 ASPEN LETTER -- BY FRANK ANDERSON BLILEY  |
This recording is of a letter
written in 1886 by my grandfather, Frank Anderson Bliley at the
age of 20 years. He reads his own letter, but now at the age
of 75, on February 22, 1941 in the home of his son, Frank Dawson
Bliley. The letter relates the his life and observations of the
silver mining town of Aspen, Colorado for his sister (unidentified/one
of four). It is believed that his time in Colorado was the equivalent
of a "summer job". He was enrolled in college the preceding
year, and returned to Erie to graduate in the Fall of 1886. Biographical
information is available elsewhere
on this site. Recorded February 22, 1941.
|
DAWSON FAMILY GENEALOGY--
LULA EDNA DAWSON BLILEY |
Lula Dawson reads an undated
letter written by her grandfather, John Gunby Dawson, about their
family genealogy. Dated: December 22, 1887. This reading is followed
by her personal recollections of her grandfather. Recorded: February
1, 1941.
Voice of:
Lula E. Dawson Bliley, Age 66 |
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|
BLILEY GENEALOGY --- BY FRANK ANDERSON BLILEY |
Frank Anderson Bliley provides an extemporaneous review of
his genealogy in answer to a request by his son, Frank Dawson
Bliley. His extensive work on the family genealogy over the years
made it possible. However, his recollection is frequently punctuated
with apologies for his lack of notes or recollection. Even so,
it is amazing what he does remember and it is great to hear it
in his own voice. Played at the 1947
Bliley Family Reunion. Recorded November 11, 1941.
|
Voice of:
Frank Anderson Bliley
Age 74
|
|
MEMORIES OF ROSS A. BLILEY --- AN INTERVIEW BY FRANK ANDERSON BLILEY  |
Ross was Frank's younger brother, Ross A. Bliley (70). In this recording they discuss Ross' life and adventure with gamblers on the train east. Ross appears not to be much interested in the recording and at one point says, "That is enough.", but Frank (75) pleasantly continues to ask questions and ignore Ross’ protest. The recording was made just a seven months before Ross' death on October 12, 1941. Recorded: February 25, 1941.
Voices of:
Ross A. Bliley
|
Frank Anderson Bliley
Interviewer |
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LIFE OF SAMUEL CLARE WAGNER --- AN INTERVIEW BY FRANK ANDERSON BLILEY |
Here is a most-interesting interview of a major contributor to our family history, Sam Wagner (60), by his uncle Frank Anderson Bliley (79). Sam in conjunction with his older sister, Inez, created a large body of photographic work and distributed them to the family. Unfortunately, his photographic work was not discussed in this interview. Recorded: July 29, 1945.
Voices of:
Samuel C. Wagner
Interviewee
|
Frank Anderson Bliley
Interviewer |
|
|
|
JOHN E. ROSENBERG REMINISCENCES
OF HIS LIFE |
John E. Rosenberg reminisces
about his life in Sweden and America. He changed his name from Norberg
to Rosenberg after his arrival in the United States. He felt
there were too many "Norbergs" in America and wanted to differentiate
himself from the Swedes here. He is the father or John Axel Rosenberg,
and grandfather of Isabelle Marie Rosenberg Bliley Kaiser.
Recorded: May 23, 1945.
Voice of:
John E. (Norberg) Rosenberg
1938 |
|
|
INTERVIEW WITH JOHN E.
ROSENBERG AND JOHN AXEL ROSENBERG REMINISCENCES OF THEIR LIVES |
John E. Rosenberg and his son,
John Axel Rosenberg are interviewed by Frank Anderson Bliley,
John A's brother-in-law. Recorded: May 23, 1945.
Voices of:
John E. (Norberg)
Rosenberg
1938 |
John Axel Rosenberg
Circa 1928 |
Frank Anderson Bliley
Interviewer |
|
|
MEAD FAMILY MEMORIAL DEDICATION SPEECH, YOUNGSVILLE, PENNSYLVANIA, JULY 25, 1940 BY FRANK ANDERSON BLILEY |
Apparently, there was a Mead family reunion in Warren County, Pennsylvania for many years in the early part of the 20th Century. Frank Anderson Bliley’s mother, Mary Jane, was a Mead descendent who was born and raised in Brokenstraw Township, Pennsylvania, near Youngsville. From artifacts found in the Bliley archives in Bolder in 2010, Frank was instrumental in the creation, construction and dedication of a memorial to the early founders of Youngsville Township on July 25, 1940.
In these two recordings, Frank first reads his dedication speech, and then in the second recording, reflects on that day six months earlier and extemporaneously relates his research on the Mead genealogy. Recorded: February 2, 1941.
Voice of:
Frank Anderson Bliley |
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|
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To view photos of the memorial and dedication activities, click here.
MEMORIES OF WORLD WAR
II --- RICHARD W. DAWSON |
Malcolm Oldham interviews Richard
Weeks Dawson about his service in the Pacific Theater of Operations
during World War II. Recorded: February 14, 1946.
Voices of:
Richard W. Dawson
& Malcolm Oldham |
|
FAMILY
AND NEIGHBORHOOD GATHERINGS AND FUN TIMES
WILBUR LAMBING'S GREETINGS
TO THE 1947 BLILEY FAMILY REUNION |
Wilbur Lambing was not able to
attend the 1947 Bliley Family
Reunion held in Erie, Pennsylvania at the home of his cousin,
Frank Dawson Bliley. This recording was made at a local recording
studio in Wilbur's hometown of San Diego, California. It was
played to the assembled group at the reunion. Wilbur is the son of John S. Lambing and Barbara
Bliley Lambing. Recorded:
June 19, 1947.
|
WORLD WAR TWO EXPERIENCES --- STOCKING
& BATHING SUIT SHORTAGES AND ABSENT HUSBANDS |
Samuel Wagner interviews family
members trying to find out how the women dealt with wartime shortages
of stockings, bathing suits, and the absence of husbands. Sam
does a fine job getting everyone to say something as he "works
the room". Recorded: February 17, 1947; the same date as
the photo below.
|
Voices of:
Samuel Wagner, Malcolm & Joanie Oldham, Dick & Martha
Dawson,
Frank & Isabelle Bliley, and Elizabeth Bliley |
|
Names Mentioned: Samuel Wagner, Malcolm Oldham,
Josephine Oldham, Richard Dawson, Martha Dawson, Frank Dawson
Bliley, Isabelle Bliley, and Elizabeth Bliley.
|
CHESTNUT HILLS NEIGHBORHOOD PLAYS AT THE BLILEY HOUSE |
Apparently, friends of Dawson and Isabelle in the neighborhood got together to put on short plays and record them just for fun. Four plays in all are presented. Recorded: 1944.
Voices of:
Isabelle Marie Bliley (35)
and others.
Don and Kay Hester, Josephine Lindsay, Norbert “Nobby”
and DeGraces Allmendinger, and Kenny Mink |
|
CHESTNUT HILLS KIDS' MOVIE THEATER AT THE BLILEY HOUSE |
Frank and Isabelle Bliley hosted dozens of kids at their house for Friday night movies for almost a decade. Here is an audio recording from a very special night, the night after the death of President Franklin Roosevelt. Recorded: April 4, 1945.
Voices of:
Isabelle Marie Bliley (35)
And 25 neighborhood kids. |
|
|
|
1945 CHRISTMAS EVE ACTIVITIES |
The Bliley family records their pleasures on Christmas Eve. Kids are interviewed and so are several of the adults. Recorded: December 24, 1945.
Voices of:
Frank Dawson Bliley,
Isabelle Bliley, John Rosenberg, Robert McGrorey,
Jean Bliley, David Bliley and Richard
Bliley. |
|
MARY "MEME"
DAWSON WOOSTER REPORT ON TRIP TO ERIE |
Isabelle Bliley interviews Mary
"Meme" Dawson Wooster, her sister-in-law, about her
travels from California to Erie, Pennsylvania by way of Florida.
Recorded: June 11, 1941.
Voices of:
Mary "Meme" Wooster
& Isabelle Bliley |
|
OTHER THINGS OF INTEREST
JOHN BLILEY'S 1996 RECORD AUDIOTAPES LETTER |
CHRISTMAS 1996
Dear Brothers and Sister,
Christmas greetings to you and yours from Colorful Colorado! As you know, I have the privilege of having the many records that Dad made from approximately 1941 until 1947 As a special, at least I hope it's special, gift to you I created the enclosed tapes from what I think are the best of the family records. As most items of our family history, they were all made before John and most before Chuck; but they are treasures none the less.
I must apologize for the quality of the sound. Time has definitely taken a toll on the records and I was using some rather make-shift equipment. Besides the equipment and the condition of the records, I wasn't quite sure what I was doing either! Apologies aside, I hope you enjoy them.
The first tape deals primarily with oral family histories. I believe the "gem" to be the first recording on side B. What a thrill to hear our two grandfathers and one of our great grandfathers conversing after 51 years! I, for one, will recognize Gramps’ voice anywhere, anytime for as long as I live.
The second tape is a little more personal. Side A is mostly immediate family and friends. I believe that is Nanny singing “Let Me Call You Sweetheart” and certainly Mom singing “Auld Lang Syne”. How poignant it is to hear them. And don't you all sound so sweet!
Side B of the second tape is a conglomeration of various recordings. I wanted to include those who had not appeared earlier, especially Mal, Joanie and Meme. So, there is not necessarily a point to the subject matter other than for you to hear their voices. Is n't Uncle Mal's voice unforgettable?
For me, it is very moving to once again hear the voices of those that I loved and respected. We are all so fortunate to have had a father who cared about history, legacy and family and had the ability to record it. We are all in his debt in so many ways and these recording are just one more gift from him. I hope you enjoy listening to the tapes as much as I did while putting them together.
Love from your youngest,
John
Click on the photo above for an enlargement.
TECHNICAL NOTES &
TROUBLESHOOTING SOUND
RESOURCES |
Audio Characteristics
The recordings are available
on CD-ROM by request. The quality of audio files on this site
are a compromise between file size and audio quality. The sampling
frequency is 8 kHz and with 8-bit encoding. This makes them a
bit baser than the original but produces a sampler file that
is much quicker to download, even on a high-speed connection.
I apologize for the slight degradation in audio quality.
Troubleshooting
It is possible that you
may have some problems with various audio resources on this site.
Here are a few of the problems that I have encountered so far.
- The computer system uses
a different audio player resource than I had during development
of the site. Your system offers to download compatible resources
from the Internet or presents a control panel that is visually
distorted.
- Blocks of text are moved
to unassigned and illogical positions on the page.
This site may not be fully compatible with all system software
configurations and audio processing resources. Try listening
to the recordings on another computer system or with a different
application to see if the files/resources are really damaged.
Most likely there is nothing wrong with the CD. If there is,
please send me an e-mail with the details of your problem.
The sound recording can be listened through the use of several
multimedia tools from Microsoft, RealAudio and Apple Computer.
Apple's QuickTime audio/visual resources are available
free on the Apple
Internet site. This will provide resources to listen to various
sound and to view video clips. The software is free and available
for the Macintosh and Windows operating systems.
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Updated: October 21, 2014
