I may have found the fields where our Boyce ancestors grazed cattle in the late 1700s, and it wasn’t easy. First, the land in question used to be in the great state of Virginia; now it’s part of West Virginia, near Romney, about two hours from D.C. Cattle still graze the plot that I suspect was […]
Archives for November 2023
My Great-Great Grandparents Must Have Been Bootleggers
There’s no use mincing words. During prohibition, perhaps even afterward, my great-great grandparents Fred Pickering and Marie Gingras distilled their own whiskey. How do I know this? Well, my cousin and I discovered a strange contraption in the basement of their home in San Francisco when the current owner was kind enough to take us […]
Hot News Flash: Rare Picket Post Interior Photos Rediscovered
For years, I’ve been wondering where they might have gone. You know, the pictures that I covertly took of the interiors of Picket Post, William Boyce Thompson’s Castle on the Rocks, when it was opened to visitors for a heartbeat in 2011. Curators of course that no pictures be taken of the interiors, but I […]
BT Arboretum History Re-Writes J.E. Thompson, Jr.’s Legacy as Director
The Board of Directors of the Boyce Thompson Arboretum called a special meeting after long-time director Franklin Crider died on August 24, 1953. Shortly after, Joe E. Thompson, Jr., nephew of the Arboretum’s founder, William Boyce Thompson, telephoned acting director Bernard “Bill” Benson from Boston to say he wanted to attend the meeting. Thompson told […]
Magma Mine, Following in Thompson Tradition, Built Homes for Miners in Superior
The mining business was so good for the Thompson Family’s Magma Mining Company in the early 1920s that there weren’t enough homes to go around in Superior, Arizona. So, the company took matters into its own hands. “Due to the increased size of our operations and the construction of the smelter, it has been necessary […]
Ginormous Morenci Mine Absorbed Important Family History Markers
Freeport McMoRan’s 80-square mile Morenci mine, the largest copper mine in North America, has laid waste to two important family historical markets: the Shannon Mine in Metcalf that made William Boyce Thompson a millionaire and the family home where Julius Kruttschnitt entertained family guests after the birth of his first daughter, Meanie. The recent discovery, […]