QUITE A GUY

Thinking of my granpa, Guy Mackey, brings forth memories of the smells in his upholstery shop full of hanging chairs, springs,  and bolts of canvas and other materials dangling from the ceiling. Guy worked as an upholsterer all of his life starting at age 16 until his retirement in Miami, Florida. At first he was called a trimmer in the wagon shop in Galion, Ohio where canvas wagon tops were made. In his twenties, he was the foreman in the upholstery shop in the rail road yards. He and his fellow workers upholstered the seats for the passenger cars. In New York City and Newburgh, NY,, he and a partner were the proprietors of the Mackey-Wilson Auto Top Shop. At the peak of this successful business, they had 90 employees! Here they made canvas tops for the popular Ford cars of the early 1900s. During the Deep Depression, Guy and my dad repaired furniture in the shop behind Guy's house in Akron, Ohio. These were the years that folks had to make do with what they already had. They depended on Guy to keep their chairs and sofas in good condition.

Guy's grand kids loved to climb into the rumble seat of his little coupe. Then Guy would take us on a fun joy ride around town, loving the air blowing our hair around and the sense of freedom that it gave. My favorite memory of Grandpa though was the day that he took me to his backyard flower garden full of pansies along the stone-walled raised bed that encircled the yard. He made sure that I noticed how each flower had a unique smiling face...and I smiled back, dreaming of how I would someday have a garden just like Grandpa's.

Sources: Federal census for 1880, 1900, 1910, 1920, 1930, 1940; City directorie from New York City and Galion, Ohio, several years, my own memories, interviews with my father, obituary from a Miami, Florida newspaper ( unidentified paper), correspondence from my Mackey cousins.
Guy Athol Mackey
born 22 Apr 1875 Galion, Crawford, OH
married 23 Apr 1902 Galion, Crawford, OH
died 24 May 1963 Coral Gables, Dade, FL
Military: Age 23, private in 10 Ohio Infantry, Co. 1, in U.S. Spanish American War, a member of John J. Pershing Camp

SHE WAS A KICK!

Kathryn "Kick"  Phillips was born in June 1908 in Cleveland, Ohio where her dad was the manager of a branch office of the Burton, Beidler and Phillips Coal Company. The Phillips part of the company name was her dad's eldest brother who died the previous fall 1907. So, the coal company was falling apart. Therefore, the Phillips family was getting ready to make the move to Akron because rubber companies were hiring new workers.

In Akron, c. 1912, the Phillips family bought a large house on Buchtel Ave., a short walk from Buchtel College. They fixed it up into a boarding house for college students and night shift rubber workers. In other words, the students slept at the house at night; the workers used the beds during the day. (Lots of sheet changing had to happen.) Each of the Phillips family members had a specific job to do. My mom's job was to keep the bathroom clean and well stocked (when she was old enough to do this, of course). Mom and her sisters had the entire third floor for their sleeping quarters. They enjoyed that!

The evenings at the boarding  house were usually music time: Grandma or Mom's sister, Martha, at the piano while all other attendees sang Welsh or Stephen Foster tunes. Sometimes Grandma would accompany the songs with her harmonica, too. The three sisters often made treats for guests and family, such as, popcorn, ice cream, home made fudge, or cookies. Mom's diary is full of details about these pleasant events.

The diary also explains the kinds of activities that Mom participated in at school and during vacations. It seems as though she especially liked to go to the circus and movie theaters. As I mentioned in my dad's story, she and Bob also had fun at Summit Lake and the amusement park. Another plus, it was  an easy walk to Main Street, where all the department stores and movie theaters were, from their house.

This central location was really ideal for a number of years. But the rubber factories were causing a lot of pollution which in turn caused some health problems in the area. So, the Phillips family found cleaner air in the Ellet district where they bought a house behind the high school. Mom attended that school, her senior year, and met her very best girlfriend, Marjorie Snyder, there. I believe that this last year of school, in 1926, was Mom's favorite year, mostly because of Marjorie, my namesake.

Yes, Mom got involved with the rubber industry, too, just like most Akronites. She was a comptroller at the Goodrich Tire and Rubber Company for a few years.  She seemed to be proud of this job.
My first story, of my dad,  tells details of how they met, dated, and waited until age 21 to marry in 1929, the year of the stock market crash...not a great beginning! But, these two loved one another all their years together, from the first day they met until Dad died in 1991. Mom quit the Goodrich job to start her family. She devoted her time, efforts, and talents to keeping a good home for us five. She made many of our clothes, including my gorgeous recital and wedding dresses. We all loved her cooking which she learned from her mom. After her three kids were able to fend for themselves, she took a job at a florist's shop for a few years, learning how to create lovely arrangements and corsages. This was fun for her.. not interested in making money, just wanted to learn. Another job she liked, outside of the home, was working at the voting booths at election times.

Many people enjoyed my mom's silly sense of humor, which usually was poking fun at herself. Her life mostly centered around her husband and family and she lived an active and alert life to age 97! 

Kathryn Lewis Phillips

Born 1 Jun 1908 Cleveland, Cuyahoga, OH
Died 25 Jun 2005 Akron, Summit, OH

Sources: Birth, Death, and Marriage Records. Censuses 1910, 1920, 1930, 1940. Interviews with my mother, my own memories, and Kick's 1924 diary, scrapbooks, photo albums, and my baby book.

A WACKEY MACKEY

To poke fun at ourselves, we Mackeys liked to call ourselves the "Wackey Mackeys". Fun was the focus of Dad's life. He was an easy-going, happy man full of love for his family and friends. He enjoyed playing all kinds of games such as badminton, volley ball, even golf occasionally with some buddies from work. After we three kids finished our homework, Dad would go to the end of the dining room table and spread out the board game of the night.  "All right, everyone, time to play Monopoly! Come on, Mom. Put down your sewing. Clear your books off the table, Phill!" More than anything else, I think those games kept us five together, playing together...us Wackey Mackeys.

Dad was born in Manhattan in 1908 , where his dad had a business making canvas auto tops for the new Fords appearing in this most populous city of the United States. His family's apartment, on West 90th Ave., was close to Central Park where Guy bagged up a huge bunch of fall leaves when his three kids were little. He emptied the leaves onto their big front porch to let Helen, Tom and Bobby romp around in them to their hearts' content.

When Guy's business started to fail because of Ford's newer models sporting glass windows and enclosed bodies, not needing canvas tops any more, the family made a move to Newburgh, NY in 1915. This community was a bit less noisy with fewer people and Guy's business necessarily catered to the Newburgh folks who still needed auto tops and repairs for their older model T's.

Meanwhile, Tom needed to get his college education and made the move to Akron, Ohio to attend Buchtel College's fine chemistry classes, in preparation for his goal to be a pharmacist. In 1920, the rest of the Mackeys joined Tom there.  This is where Dad and Mom met! They said it was love at first sight at the youth dance at the Congregational Church. Sure, they were awfully young to fall in love, but they did. They had some very fun times together canoeing on Summit Lake, attending movies at the many movie theaters on Main Street, sledding, skating, tobogganning, and participating in the Central High School activities. You can bet they played board games, too!

 Mom's family moved to Ellet in 1926, to get away from the soot in Central Akron (rubber factory pollution), Dad felt completely lost. He rode the streetcar to Ellet as often as he could, only to find Mom with other guys. Naturally he was jealous and upset. He quit school and took off for Kansas City, Kansas to make some money. Before he left, he gave Mom a parrot, saying, "Take care of our baby (the parrot). I'll be back as soon as I have enough money for us to get married."

Well, Kansas City didn't do it for Dad. So, he came back and helped his dad at his upholstery business in a building behind the Mackey house. Dad eventually got a job at Goodyear in the pit, as they called it...a dirty, physically strenuous job for all the young, new employees to start at. When Kick and Bob turned 21 by September 1929 and didn't need parental signatures to marry, they got their marriage license. Their quiet marriage ceremony took place at the Phillips' residence.

Immediately they found a lot in Ellet to build their house on and started digging their basement. But 1929 was the year of the stock market crash that caused the Deep Depression!! The crash affected everyone's lives. Folks learned how to help one another, even though no one had money to spend on anything but essentials.  Bob and Kick stayed at the Phillips house occasionally, then the Mackey house, or other relatives' or friends' places until their house was all finished in late 1931. I was born in 1932 and lived in that sweet house for a month or two. Then, the house was taken over by the bank just like so many other houses of that decade.

By 1940, Dad was hired at General Tire and Rubber Co. and worked himself up to an office job as a tube and valve designer. In 1942, Dad could then afford to buy the Phillips house where we Mackeys lived until 1958.
 Dad made a big move up the ladder when, in 1947, Bridgeport Brass Co. hired him to be their Sales Engineer at their branch office in Akron, OH. He loved this position and travelled to many places in the U. S., selling his valves and helping companies use the valves efficiently. He especially liked having Mom along on those trips and the two of them had fun entertaining Dad's customers at dinner parties.

Dad retired in Fall 1973 and spent some time travelling to foreign countries with Mom and sometimes some of their Pinochle Club friends joined them. Yes, card games and board games were still a very important part of Dad's life. Perquackey became a favorite. He and Mom would have a special daily afternoon appointment  to play their game over a Manhattan or two...becoming "The Perquackey Mackeys".

Robert Lincoln Mackey .....Sources: Robert's birth, death and marriage certificates. Newspaper and city directory ads about Guy's businesses and Federal censuses: 1940, 1930, 1920, 1910, 1900. Also, many interviews with family members and family letters, photos, and a 1924 diary by Kathryn Phillips. 
Born: 5 Sep 1908 in New York, New York, NY
Married: 12 Sep 1929 to Kathryn Lewis Phillips ("Kick") in Akron, Summit, OH
Died: 14 Aug 1991 in Akron, Summit, OH
Children:
Marjorie, living 
Linda, living
Phillip, living

Introduction to Me and My Stories

My forebears have been traced back to a handful of northern European countries, including Germany, Holland, France and Britain. Many of my ancestors were pioneers, among the first to settle in New Amsterdam (now known as Manhattan, New York) and Germantown, Pennsylvania in the early 1600s.

This blog will feature stories that I write about my foreparents, beginning with my father and mother. Naturally, at first, these stories will appeal to my immediate family. But, I can imagine that as my family tree expands to hundreds of surnames and places, my audience may also grow. My goal is to share what I have learned and to gain this storage place for my gathered information. I will do my best to cite my sources though I am not a professional genealogist. I intend to focus my attention on the storytelling, though I am not a professional writer, either.

At this point, I should say that I am a retired music educator who became interested in my family history a few years before my retirement in June 1994. I had no idea how long it would take for me to learn how to discover my roots, let alone how involving it would be. It has been a revelation and a joy to keep on finding my heritage. Yes, I know now that the joy and the finding will continue forever.