Once again I come to the PM where one can usually find all kinds of knowledge. I am working on a restoration project for a museum of a little house, now trust me on this, THIS is not just any little house, this is one of the most incredible pieces of work I have EVER seen. It is a three story Boston Beacon Hill house in 1/48th scale. It IS fully furnished... 10 rooms..... all the drawers and doors of the furniture open, the tall case clock keeps time, the oil painting are real, the rugs are hand knotted, etc, etc, etc....... and even the silver tea is an amazing piece of work..... see the photo below... a little over an 1/8" long.... that is NOT my thumb. It has engraved fluted sides, a hollow spout, a hinged lid and is soldered up from parts- NOT cast. And on more thing, this was all made in the 1950's!!!!!! And the house is only 10 by 13 by 13 inches!!!!

What I would like to know is what might be on ancestry.com and other sites about the people involved with this project.... I would like to see when they were born, died, etc...... I have some 300 letters between these three of these folks about this project but very little about them before and after...... who were they?, where might have they learned to do this kind of work? etc....... so below is some of what I know.... please help me fill in the blanks....... Thanks and I will post more pictures of this later on....

Frank L. Matter, in the 1950s he lived in Seaside, OR..... his mother was in Portland so he may be from there. His wives' name was Jessie. He may be listed as a commercial artist... would love to know where he worked??? He is the builder of this little gem and most of what is in it.

Mrs. Frederick Dent Hammons, first name Claire, from Seattle. Granddaughter of Daniel Bagley. She is the woman who commissioned this project. She gave a much larger miniature house to the Seattle Museum of Art in the 50's (I would like to know about it too.......) This little house cost more than a new full sized house at the time... it was quite a project.

Mr. Anchor Jensen, a jeweler possibly from Seattle..... he made the tea pot below and some other stuff.

Mr. Joseph H Gray, of Chicago...... he the dealer who brokered this deal

Mr. R. V Fisher, also maybe from Chicago, he is the dealer Gray learned about Matter's work from and if Gray is to be believed he helped Fisher get a job as a guard at Miggs Field and was killed in a radiation accident there..... Gray then took over his business and named it "Atoms of Art"...... this sounds a little much to me.... if a Fisher was killed during Fermi's experiments there must be a record of it somewhere!

Mrs. Ethel Forbes Harding, maybe of Seattle..... she did the textile work in the house.

Paul Revere style tea pot by Jensen.


Thanks Again

1930 census:

Frank L Matter born MN father born France mother born MN Occ. commercial artist in advertising veteran of WW [1]

Name:Frank L Matter
Home in 1930:Portland, Multnomah, Oregon
Age:38 Estimated Birth Year:abt 1892
Relation to Head of House:Son-in-law
Spouse's Name:Jessie Lee H
Race:White
Household Members:Name Age
Annie B Royal 75 Head, owns house worth $4500 and a radio
Barbara Royal 50 daughter
Edna B Royal 47 daughter
Jessie Lee H Matter 40 daughter
Frank L Matter 38

1930 is the newest census that the public can see.

Larry

1930 census:

Clair B Hammons born WA father and mother born IL
Frederick D Hammons owns $30000 house with a radio occ. sec. & treas. publishing

Name:Claire B Hammons
Home in 1930:Seattle, King, Washington
Age:50 Estimated Birth Year:abt 1880
Relation to Head of House:Wife
Spouse's Name:Frederick D
Race:White
Occupation:
Age at first marriage:23
Household Members:Name Age
Frederick D Hammons 57
Claire B Hammons 50


Larry

Anchor Jensen seems to be a slightly common Danish name

1920 census:
Anchor Jensen residing in Seatle, WA age 28 born in Denmark occ. jeweler
Helen Jensen wife age 24
Harry Anchor Jensen son age 10 months [born 17Feb1919]


1943 Seatle, WA city directory
Jensen & Nielsen, manufacturing jewelers: Anchor O. Jensen & Fred J Nielsen 504 Ranke Bldg.
Anchor O Jensen Wife Helen res. 5135 Laurelcrest Lane
Anchor Jensen Asst. Mgr. Jensen Motor Boat Co. (Antonius M G Jensen) 1417 E Northlake St. [Maybe this Anchor is the son of Antonius]

1949 Walla Walla, WA newspaper says Anchor Jensen owns Jensen Motor Boat Co. and built a hydro racing boat for a Seatle, WA car dealer who wants to set a new world speed record. There was a boat racing craze in Seatle during that time.

This would be the jeweler, from his birth year:
Name:Anchor Jensen SSN:534-34-4118 Last Residence:98102 Seattle, King, Washington, United States of America Born:8 Dec 1891 Died:May 1983 State (Year) SSN issued:Washington (1953-1954)

This is another man in Seatle, maybe the boat builder?:
Name:Anchor H. Jensen SSN:539-12-8390 Last Residence:98105 Seattle, King, Washington, United States of America Born:25 Jul 1918 Died:13 Aug 2000 State (Year) SSN issued:Washington (Before 1951)

Larry

1930 census:
Name:Ethel Harding
Home in 1930:Seattle, King, Washington
Age:40 Estimated Birth Year:abt 1890
Relation to Head of House:Wife
Spouse's Name:Louis L
Race:White
Occupation: none

Education:

Military service:

Rent/home value:

Age at first marriage:

Parents' birthplace:


Household Members: Name Age
Louis L Harding 50
Ethel Harding 40


Name: Ethel Harding Date of Death:14 Nov 1971 Place of Death:SeattleR esidence:Seattle Gender:Female Certificate:025731

Larry

rivett out of curiosity can we see pictures of this model? Did they replicate the blue glass windows that were ordered accidentally from Germany that are now famous in that area?

Adam

THANK YOU Larry........ great start, I wonder if there are other sources other than the 1930 census?

Adam Yes I will post some later, I only have the as unpacked ones now and after I dig into the house and clean it up a bunch I will take some good ones. There are no blue windows in it but the 50+ double hung sash windows DO raise and lower!!!!

Rivett,

I don't know if this will help you at all, but I'm pretty sure Daniel Bagley was an uncle of mine. I would have to look it up to be completely sure, but there are only so many Bagleys, and one of the places were they grew up was Seattle. I lack alot of data from that side of the family, but I might be able to find some more info for you.


Cat

Alice Claire (Bagley) Hammons, born Nov. 1879, was the grand daughter of Daniel Bagley (1818-1905), so he probably is not the uncle of a living person. The two Daniel Bagleys could still be related, of course. But it is unlikely, because Daniel Bagley turns out to be a slightly common name. In 1860, when Claire's grandfather was alive, there were 25 Daniel Bagleys scattered around the USA. In 1880, there were 26; in 1900, 41; in 1910, 33.

Since Claire was born in WA, she is likely the grand daughter of Rev. Daniel Bagley, a Methodist, who built the second church in Seattle, in 1864. Bagley was born in PA Sept. 7, 1818, lived in IL [where Claire's father was born], moved to OR in 1852 and then to Seattle, WA in 1860. He was a driving force in establishing the University of Washington in Seattle. Here is a clue to his personality:

"Bagley Hall is home to the Department of Chemistry. In 1937, it was dedicated to the Reverend Daniel Bagley, a farsighted pioneer Methodist minister with a flair for wheeling and dealing. He was literally "egged" out of Peoria, Illinois, for preaching unpopular antislavery sentiments in the 1850s.

After he settled with his family in Seattle, he and several cohorts persuaded the state legislature to include Seattle as one possible site for the proposed Territorial University. Then he convinced the city fathers that a university in the then insignificant village of Seattle would be a commercial plum far sweeter than having the state capitol, mental hospital, or penitentiary.

When Arthur Denny donated 8 2/3 acres of choice land, Bagley prevailed upon Charles and Mary Terry and Edward Lander to contribute an adjacent 1 1/3 acres. This 10-acre site, still owned by the university, is now known as the Metropolitan Tract.

The original university building stood where today you find the Four Seasons-Olympic Hotel. Although in later years Bagley was referred to as "the father of the university," he preferred to call himself "the man who stole the university for Seattle." http://www.washington.edu/newsroom/tour/bagley.html

Here is a long account of Daniel Bagley and his only child, Clarence Bagley, who was Claire's father.
http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm...m&file_id=3470

So now we know why Claire was proud of her grandfather. Bagley's descendants would have an edge in Seattle society. I love the "egged out of Peoria" part of his story.

Claire had one brother, Cecil Clarence Bagley, a civil Engineer for the city of Seattle in 1930. He had one son, Park Bagley age 16 in 1930, who could still be alive. Claire also had three sisters, but I don't know if they had children.

Larry

Wow Larry, you know more about it than I did, that's for sure. You are correct, he couldn't have been my uncle. He could have been my great uncle, but he wasn't.

I do have (or did, he's passed) and uncle Daniel, but he wasn't this guy.

Sorry for the confusion.


Cat

Rivett,
I hope you are getting close to being able to supply more pictures of the house and furnishings. My wife is getting very impatient.

Stu Miller

Funny you say that..... I am just now setting up for a photo shoot tomorrow! They won't be of the house yet, just the details of the furnishing.... this is taking a lot of work to clean and fix.

The name Anchor Jensen caught my eye. (Anker is the danish word for anchor- Anker was a very common name in Denmark)

Could this be the remains of his shop?
http://www.porterjensen.com/aboutporterjensen.htm

Best regards
Søren

Yes, that is the remains of Anchor Jensen's Seattle jewelry store. I wonder if the photo is Anchor at work, and if the other photo is one of the chess pieces mentioned.

Jewelry stores often stay in the same location, often with the same name, through several changes of ownership over a period of many years. My great grandfather had a brother-in-law who was a jeweler in Missouri after the Civil War. He moved into a new store in Marshall, MO in 1878, but sold the business after his wife died in 1882. I was able to trace the store, which is still standing and was still in business as a jewelers until very recently.

Larry

Thank You Søren....... and YES Larry that is the Mr. Jensen I was looking for in the photo. I have been in contact with them and it seems if they have the drawing for another piece of his work that we have.

Now I'm hunting for information on Ethel Forbes Harding....... and what I really want is a photo of her!!!!

I am putting together a program on this that I will be presenting later this year......

I want to Thank you all for your help and I will post some good photos later.....

Bill

I would try looking for a Seattle high school yearbook from 1906-1909 or so. And I found the death date (above) so you could try for an obituary notice in a Seattle paper.

Larry

Here's something on Ethel.

Page two, below the picture, is an article about her skills..
http://fultonhistory.com/newspaper%2...20-%200231.PDF
It says that she has lived in Alaske too. Now (1933) lives in Alki Beach,Seattle. Born in Monticello, Illinois

Hope it can be to some use?
Pretty rough quality article though..

Best regards
Søren

Frank L. Matter : http://www.askart.com/askart/m/frank..._l_matter.aspx

Birth of date fits..


Best regards
Søren

Man... you are GOOD....... I have looked all over for Mrs. Harding and found nothing.... and you find it from 7,000 miles away!!!!!! Thanks....

I had seen the site with Matter's painting on it.......... to me they don't look good enough to be making a living selling them.... so maybe that is why he got into miniatures?

Thanks again!!!!

You make me blush..

Glad to be of help.

I love these challenges, it's so fun to combine different search methods.

Apperantly Frank L. Matter worked for "Popular Science + Popular Mechanics". He is mentioned a lot in these magazines.
http://books.google.com/books?q=%22f...+b%F8ger&hl=en

At the end of the search results, there is some books about dolls' houses, where Frank L. Matter is mentioned. Sadly none of these are public. And on my side of the pond, I have no chance of getting my hands on them. But maybe you do?

Again, glad to help. Puzzle solwing is a hobby of mine.


Best regards

Søren