Mystery Ship, Aground Somewhere in the Outer Banks, North Carolina :: But WHERE? WHEN? SOLVED!

Copyright 2016, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

(Less than ONE hour after publishing this post and sharing it on FB, two Facebook friends had found the answer.  One happens to be a distant Lashbrook cousin of Mans.  The other is just a great virtual friend.  I have said it frequently, it takes a village.  And, the village rocked it this time.  Thank you both.  For the rest of my great readers:

NavSource Online: Amphibious Photo Archive, USS LST-292

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Cleaning, reviewing, sorting, scanning, questioning, researching, start again and again. Such is my life as a family researcher.  I learn something each time, I find new hints, I find stuff in files and in piles that I remember, but, never fully dealt with.  Yes, it is fun.  For me.

Recent find/review/question/research/frustration:

This little book of photos, from my grandmother Florence.  It measures about 4 inches by 4 inches.  (A quick Uncle Google search failed to present information on this name, or at least information that made sense to me at the time of the search.)

Inside the photos are of what appears to be a ship wreck.  Now, anyone who knows anything about the Outer Banks is well aware that there have been shipwrecks.  LOTS of shipwrecks.

Some of these photos scanned and cleaned up better than others.  I have no idea who this gentleman is.

I have no idea who this lady is either.

This one is horribly out of focus:

I find this photo interesting, as they captured a plane passing nearby:

This one, is very out of focus as well.

In this photo, my grandmother is wearing the peddle pushers.  Her clothing is darker in color than what the other 3 ladies are wearing. You can see numbers on the hull, 292. Note the open bay doors and the ramp.  I presume (??GULP??) this is some kind of a transport ship?

This is the last photo in the group, appears to be the last taken, it is the  last in the "book". As far as I know, that is the Cape Hatteras lighthouse.  My grandmother, Florence is the person in the middle of the back seat.

If you can help me figure out what the name of this ship is, and when it ran aground, please give me a yell.

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They Worked Hard for the Family, Bowen style

If you read yesterday's blog you will know I wrote about the Trumbo Foundry and the copyright situation surrounding the photo of it. What with that little problem, I had decided I would pass on this Carnival, but then, I remembered my grandmother Bowen and the store! I wrote this blog and stored it for a few days, then received permission to use the Trumbo Foundry photos. I could not wait to write and publish the Trumbo Foundry Blog. However, since I had already prepared this blog, I am going to publish it.

So, as a reminder, here is the assignment, in part:

"The professions of our ancestors are almost as interesting as the people themselves. Some of our ancestors worked very hard; they took in laundry, worked the land, raised many children, or went to school and became professionals. Photographs of them working are called occupational photographs and are rather hard to find."

Florence Bowen was the owner of Nags Head Sportswear, Nags Head, Dare County, North Carolina. Florence had worked in women's clothing for years, starting before her marriage in 1923. She worked for Rice's in Norfolk, Virginia, where she was a buyer. She and Hayden, her husband, had owned Bowens Sportswear in Great Bridge, Virginia.

Here is Florence inside Nags Head Sportswear.

If you live along the Atlantic, and on the Outer Banks specifically, you live with the threat of hurricanes. Florence lived and worked there before and after the Ash Wednesday Storm. This storm hit March 7, 1962. David Stick wrote and published the work, "The Ash Wednesday Storm", 1987. The book is filled with photos and stories of this storm which caused more than $234 million dollars of damage. On page 42 of this work, David wrote about Florence and her store:

"Florence Bowen sat by a window, looking out at her Sportswear Shop, engulfed by a flood. Then, suddenly, she saw smoke coming out of the shop, and for something like three hours all they could do was sit there and watch as the Nags Head Sportswear Shop, looking like an oasis in a salt-water sea, slowly burned down to the water's edge."

She worked at the Galleon in Nags Head for many years after the loss of Nags Head Sportswear. Customers would drive from Norfolk to Nags Head (about 80 miles one way) to have Florence assist them in their wardrobe picks each year. Many said, no one could "dress" them the way Florence did.

Florence worked hard, and lost much. She never rebuilt or opened another store.

*I have photos of the Great Bridge store with Hayden and Florence standing out in front, several more photos of the Nags Head Sportwear Shop (inside and out), a business advertisement for the Nags Head Store, and an advertisement for the Rice Department Store in Norfolk.
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