kuglen.com

September 4 is BomBom’s birthday.

BomBom was truly a one-of-a-kind person.  I have never met anyone who ever came close to her in terms of her stature, her knowledge, her looks, her bearing, her ability to command a room, her ability to tell a story – there’s just no one like her.  From her days on the farm in Glen Easton, and having a beau who flew airplanes in the early days of flight to being held upside down and kissing the Blarney Stone as an 80 year old woman, BomBom made a deep and lasting impression on me.  Look at the pose in front of the poinsettias – quintessential Frances.  Her demure pose as a young woman, standing in front of a plane, wearing an Indian headdress with Grandpap, wearing her Sunday finest in the doorway at Kerwood – that POSE, the “BomBom” pose – they barely skim the surface of the depth of my memory of her.

She was an amazing grandmother.

Here is a picture of BomBom with Grandma and GreatGrandma – I don’t know if they are Kuglens or Riggs’ and Fergusons, but the elderly Grandma lived to be 99.   The baby is Sam Jr.

Great grandpa John J. Fahey is on the bottom right of this photo of the five Fahey brothers.  John is Tess Fahey’s father.  Mom has the name of the five brothers on the back of the photo, but she is not sure if the names are correctly listed – the only name she is sure of is John J. Fahey, bottom right.  I am no expert in these things, but I would say Uncle Jack is John J.’s namesake.  Mom insists that her grandfather looks like Uncle Michael in Kansas City.

Here are pictures of my 2 grandmothers when they were young girls.  Mom has these pictures by her chair to remind her of the strong women who influenced her life (But I need to remind her that she NOT fold the pictures to fit into frames).

Tess Fahey, who married Michael Greene

Frances Riggs, who married Edwards S. Kuglen:

BomBom perfected her “pose” early in life.  She is unmistakable.

Tess looks like Joanie Lou.  Every time I look at Maureen McDonald I see BomBom, and looking at this picture is no different for me.

I wonder if they ever knew each other before they became related when my mom and dad were married.

Rick Rigali has sent me scans of pictures he has of BomBom and Grandpap.  If anyone else has pictures, scan them and send them to me!  I am fascinated by the pictures and would love to publish them for everyone to see.

Here on some bits and pieces that have come in recently -

**Inge Salle passed away last week. She is Uncle Bob Salle’s sister-in-law. She was a wonderful lady. I always liked seeing her at family affairs.

**Irwin F. Woodland also passed away, on August 25. Woody was married to Sally Duffy. The Duffys lived across the street from the Kuglens in Wheeling and Sally was a year behind Joan at the Mount. I have fond memories of the Woodlands from when we lived on Kerwood Ave. in West LA, playing with Connie. Mom is the godmother of Stephen Woodland, who is now a Diocesan priest in Los Angeles. Fr. Steve took some time off to go up to Washington to help take care of Woody. The Woodlands were great friends of ours when we lived in Los Angeles, and I am sure the Rigalis also knew them.

**Nick Salle looked up the listing of Great Aunt Elizabeth’s house in Wheeling and saw that it was selling for $875,000.00 -”a steal” according to Joan. “Not bad for a seven bedroom, five bath house.” Remember, Grandpap was the one who designed and supervised the building of the house.

**Take a look at this link to see what happened to a Carenbauer Distributing Truck in Wheeling.  Carl is quoted!

http://www.wtrf.com/story.cfm?func=viewstory&storyid=84850

**The Carenbauers and Hamms are in China for Gunther’s wedding.

Jackie Kuglen and I almost share a birthday – we are just 1 day and 48 years apart.

Here’s Jackie

Here I am 55 years ago:

Here I am today

From George Carenbauer:

I’ve been doing a lot of press interviews this year, because of changes in election law and because we’ve had a lot of questions surrounding the law on succession for Senator and Governor in the wake of Senator Byrd’s death. The current Governor, Joe Manchin, is now running to take Byrd’s seat, and if he wins in November, he will vacate the Governor’s office, creating a cloud of uncertainty.

The following is a link to a TV interview I did Friday (don’t mind the hair), and the interviewer is Bray Cary, a media mogul who owns 4 TV stations and the state’s leading business paper. He was so effusive, even Beth says she’d hesitate to say such glowing things. The only thing missing is an announcement that next year I’ll celebrate 50 years at the same height and weight and wear the same tux I bought in 1977 — am working on getting coverage for that.

So, if you have 10 minutes and nothing else to do, enjoy. (By the way, this is a shining example of the small pond syndrome — works in West Virginia and perhaps New Hampshire, but as for California, Oregon, Virginia, Georgia and New York — not so much.) Once at the link below, just click under my name:

http://statejournal.com/story.cfm?func=viewstory&storyid=84878&catid=208

Over the summer on her trip, Mom had the opportunity to visit a few of the memorable Greene/Kuglen homes in Wheeling – and one in Vandalia, Ohio, where KK and I were born.  Of course, she visited the Kuglen home in the Historic District of Wheeling.  

Thanks to George Carenbauer, we discovered that the house is listed in the register of possible historic neighborhoods in Wheeling.  In my mind, it will always be “The Historic Kuglen home.”

She also visited the house she grew up in – the Greene House, later the Carenbauer house on 8 Birch Avenue, a brick lined street in Wheeling that the is as important to the Carenbauers as it is to the Greenes of Wheeling – They bought the house from the Greenes and lived in it until they moved into their Carmel Road house.

Then sje visited Aunt Elizabeth’s house – great Aunt Elizabeth Kuglen hess, who was Grandpap’s  aunt, my great great aunt.  Grandpap designed and supervised the construction of this house and it is a showplace in Wheeling.  When mom visited the house, she saw that the house is currently up for sale.  Anyone interested in going halfsies??

Grandpap knew how to design a house, huh?  Now I know where Gray got the chops to redo his apartment building in San Francisco.

Finally, she managed to visit the first apartment building she lived in with Dad in Vandalia, Ohio, where KK and I were born.  It probably doesn’t mean much to anyone else, but I’ve never been there, never seen the building and have no memory of it, so it was cool for me to see the building.

There ya go, folks – a little architectural history for the summer.

Among the amazing pictures Mom and I found while going through boxes of old pictures are these two of Grandpap in World War I as a member of Gen.  Pershing’s staff.  The first picture is from a postcard from WWI – a real postcard!

Grandpap in uniform

This second one might take a little longer to load, but give it time – it is really an amazing photo and I didn’t want to adjust the size of the photo so you can see what I saw.  The original picture is 2 1/2 x 4 inches and the faces are hard to distinguish.  I looked at the photo with a magnifying glass and thought Grandpap was the man in the lower right.  Mom suggested that he was the man in the front row, third from the left (in the middle).  I brought the photo home and scanned it, which allowed me to see the faces at a bigger size and as soon as I looked at it Grandpap’s face jumped out at me as the last face on the left in the back row, with a cigar in his mouth. I am giving everyone a chance to see what I saw – to me there is no mistake.  The man with the cigar in his mouth is Grandpap.  Look at the expression on his face!  He’s got some swagger.

Grandpap rear left with cigar in his mouth

The original photo is ancient – nearly 100 years old and on the back, written in Grandpap’s cursive is “The ‘Gang’ at GHQ Dec. 1918.” This is an thrilling part of Grandpap, because he never spoke of it and I never saw these pictures before this summer.

Check out Elsa Carenbauer’s blog/website at

http://nobonesleft.com

Elsa is Michael Carenbauer’s daughter and this is her digital sketchbook.  Almost every day there is a new drawing – visual, witty puns and observations.

Add the link to your Google reader subscription bar like I did!

I received this from Julie Kuglen in Austin:

You ask in the [previous]posting if the Sam Kuglen of steamboat legend is the same Samuel Kuglen as the one who built the house on Market Street. Based on records I’ve found on the Internet, I suspect he was. A Wheeling directory listing for 1890-91 lists him and Captain William Prince as proprietors of the Belle Prince Towboat Company with an office on Water Street.  An interesting point: The 1880, 1900, and 1910 census records*  show him living at (and owning) 23 7th Street, which is also listed in the historical registry [and he, his wife, his son Frank, daughter-in-law, and 5 grandchildren (the kids in the photo) are listed as living there in 1900], so I’m wondering if he ever lived in the house on Market Street.  He is also described as a landlord in some of the records–perhaps he built the Market Street property to rent it to others.  I’m wondering if the photograph was taken at the house on 7th Street. (*Most of the 1890 census records were destroyed by fire.)   Other info about him:

–the paternal grandfather of the children listed in the photograph you posted

–of the first generation of Kuglens born in the United States

–born Nov. 1841 in Ohio, married Elizabeth Elbert in 1866, died Feb. 1917 in Wheeling

–some of his occupations, as cited in the U. S. Census records and Wheeling directory include “works in rolling mill” (1870 census), “tinsmith” (1880 census), “sheet ironworker” (1888 directory), “landlord” (1900)

Here is the way the National register of Historic Places describes 23 7th Street:

23 7^th Street, circa 1880’s – The date of this building is not firm but based on similar structures in the district.  The house is three-stories tall, the third story being behind a Mansard roof, thus the architecture is called Mansard, sometimes referred to as Second Empire.  The building is brick with stone foundation and slate roof.  Window hoods are segmental arches.  A handsome two-story bay window appears at the west side.

Nice work Julie! The Kuglens are all over Historic Wheeling.

Here are my questions – is the man you are talking about the grandfather of the five Kuglen children in the photograph or is he the father?  Is Frank Kuglen our great-grandfather and partner in Duffield & Kuglen or is there someone else?  Is the first-generation-born-in-America Samuel Kuglen our great-great-grandfather?

1900 Kuglens

Here are the young Kuglens – for most of us, our Grandparents – out side the house in North Wheeling.  I can’t tell if they are in the front of the house or the back of the house, but I am sure someone will look at it and be able to tell.

While Mom was in Wheeling last week, George Carenbauer took her to Historic North Wheeling and the visited the house.  For those of you who don’t know, George is my mom’s nephew, an attorney in Charleston W VA, and the man who keeps unearthing information about the Kuglens in Wheeling.  He discovered that the house is part of the Historic North Wheeling, and that “…629 ½ Market Street, circa 1885 – Samuel Kuglen, who built 629 ½ , was a noted businessman in Wheeling.He was a builder of boilers for steamboats among other products manufactured by the firm of Duffield & Kuglen. The house is Greek Revival in style, with much of the original fabric remaining. There is a wide frieze at the cornice with sodillions and dentils, a gable dormer with closed pediment, and fluted columns at the windows. The pediment is filled with a sunburst design. Lintels and sills are stone and the building is brick with a stone foundation. All windows have operable shutters.”  While he was with mom,  ”We were at an antique store yesterday, where the shopkeeper is a steamboat buff and has written 2 books on steamboat manufacturing in Wheeling.  He said he believes Kuglen & Duffield was a subcontractor to Phillips (sic) the major manufacturer, which had its shipyard at 6th street on the Ohio Rive, only 2 blocks down from the house.”   I remember hearing when I was little the legend of Sam Kuglen, who shuttled the capital of West Virginia on a steamboat back and forth on the river (I am guessing the Allegheny)  during the Civil War.  Is this the man or is he one more generation removed?

Here are some up close photos of the house taken last week:

Kuglen House backyard

Steps leading to the back door of the Kuglen house

The door to nowhere

A view of the street

629 1/2 !!

Joan and Dick in front of the Kuglen house

I couldn’t think of enough superlatives to thank George for doing this – taking the photos, taking Mom and Dick down to the house and showing it to them, and gathering the information.  I went to the dictionary and looked under

AWESOME

and this is what I found :

Thanks George – we think you are the best!