Douglas, the wizard of the family, kept us entertained with tales of daring do in between trips to the salad bar today at our local, very yummy Chinese restaurant.

He met many interesting characters when he was inspecting the concrete pours during the building of the new children's wing of UVA Hospital.  He really appreciated how hard the average American works for their living in this area and how dedicated they are to doing their job well.  One man really stood out to Douglas and he would often regale me with stories about the day's happenings, after he got home from work.  Stan was his name and he was a steel worker who installed the rebars.

It was Stan's job to place the long steel rebars in place and tie them together into a pattern indicated for the reinforcement of the concrete.  He was a big, black man that Douglas often admired for his handsome muscled body.  He often told the guy that he should be in the movies, which he was perfect for except for one missing tooth in the front of his mouth.  After a while they got to know each other because Douglas had to inspect the steel placement.  He once confessed to Douglas that he just got out of prison.

Douglas was pleased with himself because upon their first meeting, Douglas had stumbled into a hole on the job site and Stan laughed at him, "HA--HA--HA'.  Yes, with the pause between HAs.  Douglas walked up to him, though Stan towered above this NY white man, Douglas looked him in the face and said forcefully, "none of us want to be here, but we are all working hard and need to work together.  If you ever laugh at me again..." and he must have threatened the guy with some sort of appropriate mayhem with a shovel.  Stan never laughed at him again and they got along very well after that.  I will never understand men.

Unfortunately, Stan never had his tooth fixed nor made it into the movies because he was convinced by some friends to participate in a robbery at a convenience store as a look out.  As the cops drove past at 3 in the morning, they saw towering, muscular (I hate to say it but his blackness probably played a roll) Stan looking guilty in front of the store.  They arrested him and his two friends for the robbery.  Stan was sentenced to jail again.  The thing was, Douglas probably would have loaned him any money he and his friends could have gotten robbing a country convenience store.  Too bad because good steel workers are hard to come by and I know they must have missed him on the UVA job. Stan also had a daughter and I'm sure she is missing her Dad.


  

Granny Pearl must have felt guilty leaving Daddy with her sisters, so she did spoil him a little. Case in point, this pony, which she bought for him after a successful performance. I guess he wanted to learn how to do tricks with the pony, so they set him up on it for a photo (c. 1925). Good thing the pony was tamed. I guess he saw that in a movie. He wasn't too comfortable doing that. Pearl also tried to teach Daddy the piano, which he never picked up on, but he did learn to play the ukelele. He loved to play and sing "Five Foot Two, Eyes of Blue" which was a pretty good description of his mother, Pearl.

Cameo Performance

You can clearly see the resemblance to Aaron Burr from this photo of Grandmother Pearl D. You can also see the effect of the sinus infection in the puffiness of her face. Eventually she had an operation on her pituitary which changed her appearance, and afterwards she wore dentures which greatly improved her stage career. She played the piano and sang. There is a piece in which she performs. You can order it for yourself on the internet. She wasn't fantastic, but the piano thing did launch her career, that is marrying well twice.

Many writers knew Pearl read manuscripts for her husband, so I have noticed several books that made reference to her. One even did a line portrait of her for the cover. At least that is my presumption because no actual credit is given. It was sort of like sending an anonymous love note or note of appreciation. Whether she caught on or not, I do not know. I do know her husband used to like to put her in shows that made her look like a slut. He never divorced her, so I guess she proved to be a good wife in many ways.

I know Pearl must have been an expert house cleaner, though she eventually had a maid. Her sister, Aunt Faye was so proud of her oven after twenty years of use, it was spotless as was the rest of her house. Often wondered what was in those picnic baskets that were prepared for the sick. She was big on home visits of the sick in her church. She was very active. I know Daddy always wanted us to eat with Faye's brother Jamie.

When Great Granny Ida Jane Burr D. died, she left me some baby blankets that belonged to Daddy and a cameo ring that Pearl wore. The ring was smaller than a size 5, which is the smallest adult woman's size. I wore it to my girlfriend Jane's house and left it on the window sill, when I washed the dishes, and her maid lifted it.

Now Jane's maid was a very spritely young black woman, who used to pick cotton for extra money so she could go to NYC, and she loved to tell us stories about that. She also had rich friends who hired her seasonally in New York City. She was great fun. She wore a cotton bandana around her head and an old cotton dress with hose turned down. Her feet were flat, as were most black people's, who worked the fields in those days in the south. So, for some reason I saw Pearl's ring in a silly movie on the finger of a twelve year old. Isn't that strange. Call me and I will tell you how to find these videos of interest to the family. My cameo performance.

Vice President Aaron Burr

If you're going to be descended from a famous man, might as well be one with no known descendants. Aaron Burr's only daughter died in a ship wreck before she had any children. He did live in Europe for several years and that is where our family originated, unknown to the Americans and considering his bad luck in America, Burr wasn't talking. Burr was known as a lady's man, but Granny did carry his name, so he must have married in Europe. Burr's father was a Presbyterian minister and his portrait clearly shows tightly curled hair, like Granny and Great Granny had. The ethnic origins of that aren't clear. Just a Burr family trait, I guess. Hasn't showed up since Granny.

Ida Jane Burr D., Pearl's mother

We called her Pearl with John Wesley Jr.

In one of my favorite pieces of her's you can see Granny Pearl sitting like this.

John Jr.'s artwork---maybe not a Van Gogh

Daddy, John Wesley Goodsell Jr. did several of these drawing while Grandmother Pearl was doing her performance work. There is one of pretty women, one of the women being larger than the others. They were wearing tutus and something on their heads. He did another one of Pearl in black hose, and I have seen pictures of her in black hose.

He also wrote sweet letters to her, when he was staying with her family in Mississippi, thanking her for things she sent him, including school clothes and a dog. There is a picture of him in a pith helmet on a pony she bought for him, and another in his complete cowboy outfit. Yes, I guess they were spoiling him, but life certainly unspoiled him. He was a good Daddy to me.

I heard Pearl (who had changed her name for the stage) fell apart when her brother accidentally hurt John Jr. and sent him to the hospital around 1930. Someone else had to receive a much publicized award for Pearl. You never know what publicity can do.

Pearl was very upset and so was the rest of the family. The Goodsell family in West Virginia came and got him and took him back for Granddaddy Goodsell to spoil for a while leaving Pearl's family to make money some other way.