This blog is a work in progress. I want to eventually add some pictures of some of the houses.
DAVID and SADIE with their 3 girls (Elsie Lou, Elizabeth or Buffy, and Abbie) lived in many houses.....So many that this list may not even be totally accurate. Mom swears they lived in a country house outside Zelienople where they had a cow. But we can't figure out when that would have been. She doesn't remember living there, but says they lived there at one point. We don't know whether she was a baby or maybe it was before some of the girls were born. We can't really figure it out. Other than that question, here's the list of what we know along with a little history.
MUM (Sadie) was born in 1894 in the Mt. Troy house on 2768 Mt. Troy Rd. Her mother was ELIZABETH and she had FLORA and SADIE Hartfeld. Then LOUISE (Aunt Lou) and ELMA Walder. I think Aunt Lou talked about 2 babies who died like maybe they were brothers. In any case, they were born at the house, probably with her mom Elizabeth taking care of them. My mother doesn't think there was a doctor there, but we don't really know.
This house was built in the late 1800s, Mom thinks it might have been Elizabeth's father and his brothers. The original house had gas lighting instead of electricity.
DADDY (David William Mudie) was born in SCOTLAND in 1896 and he came over to America on a ship I think when he was 19. He rented a room on Mt. Troy Rd. from a lady named GETE -- short for Margareete and her mother. (Not sure about spelling but GETE is pronounced geet (rhymes with feet).
MUM and DADDY got married in Oct. of 1926. Reverend Ittel married them possibly at a Methodist church or MOM says it might have been a "weird church" like a "Congregational" Church or something. Eight months later ELSIE LOU was born on June 22, 1927. As for the time frame, I remember figuring out that Elsie Lou was born after 8 months instead of 9. Could Sadie have been pregnant when they got married? Many years ago I was SHAMED for even QUESTIONING that! TODAY, MOM says she remembers Buffy figured that out. I said I remember figuring that out too. MOM SAYS THERE'S JUST NO WAY. She says, "THAT'S SICK!" At age 87 she will never admit that there's even a remote chance.
HOUSES the 3 Mudie girls lived in
1. Daddy built the Beechview house, 1121 Tropical Ave. Beechview, PA, I think in 1925. Elsie and Buffy were born in that house in 1927 and 1929. Daddy ordered the house from a Sear's Catalogue. The materials were delivered and he built a gorgeous house! The house is still there and I recommend everyone to visit it! The present owners are very nice and they graciously welcomed us into their home and we spent a wonderful evening with them. If you are interested, call me.
2. Then they moved to a house that used to serve as a SCHOOLHOUSE on Mt. Troy Rd, just down the street from Aunt Lou's and then Buff's Mt Troy house (2768). That's where MY MOM (Abbie) was born.
3. Moved to Saybrook Apartments in Oakland. (set of 3 or 4 red brick buildings) close to Craft Ave. MOM was 1 and Buffy was 2. Buffy would always climb the fire escape and the neighbor would yell, "Mrs., your baby is climbing up the fire escape again!"(Jan and I have heard Buffy and MOM quoting that neighbor many times over the years!)
4. They moved to ROCHESTER where DADDY worked for DUQUESNE LIGHT as an electrician. Daddy walked a few miles to and from work at all hours of the night for 8-hour shifts. Mum packed him a lunch and wrapped it in newspaper, tying it with a string. (I'm seeing some irony that Buffy collected lunch boxes later in life.) Anyway they lived in 3 different houses in Rochester. The first house was a Clay Street Apartment near someone named Donna Shaner whom they became friends with.
5. 204 Deer Lane in Rochester.
6. 514 Connecticut Ave. Rochester -- a cream-colored house that is still there. When Mom took Jan and I on an Abbie's houses tour recently she pointed out that Margaret Giles lived over in that house. As soon as she said that a "Giles" truck went by. Margaret Giles was "our best friend." Then she corrected herself. "Well, she wasn't our best friend. She was a year younger than I. So we made fun of her." NEVER A DULL MOMENT WITH GRAMS!!! Ha Ha Ha! I googled Giles Co. and they are a plumbing supply store located at 512 Connecticut Ave. Wondering if Margaret is still around.
7. Moved to another house on Mt. Troy and we have heard this story endless times. The house had a high porch off the back of it and for some reason the girls were highly amused because they used to "pee off the porch!" Mom was 9 (4th grade) and she still laughs EVERY time I mention peeing off the porch. In fact if she's upset about things in the present, I try to take her back to her past and if we talk about peeing off the porch, she always end up laughing. Why the urination fascination??????? Don't ask me!
8. Beechview for 5th, 6th and 7th grades. They lived in the house that Daddy built. MOM, JAN and I visited the house with the present-day owners Bill and Jody Weaver. She showed us the bedroom which Buffy and MOM shared. Jan looked in the room and said, "OH! Can you even imagine????" This new quote gets many laughs! I have to say that 98% of Mom's laughter has to do with the past. So it's quite refreshing to laugh at this newer quote.
9. EVERYONE HATED New Brighton for Mom's 8th grade. Mom still talks about how snobby the people in the town were. They thought they were so much better than everyone else. She still talks about her schooling. Instead of just having a year of 6th grade, Beechview had two semesters. She was smart so she skipped the first half of 6th grade, known as 6B. So she went on to 6A. When they moved to New Brighton, the school didn't have semesters, so MOM's half year that she skipped meant nothing. She was forced to take the entire 8th grade over again. That experience left her VERY BITTER toward New Brighton and both Buffy and Mom talked all their lives of despising that town. That was traumatic for Mom. She was so young. She had earned that skipped semester and for them to just take it away from her, that was devastating.
10. Beaver Falls for 9th - 12th grades. These were mostly good years. They liked living in "the house in the country" and there was an old blacksmith shop. There are pictures of the house with little Jackie, the foster child who tragically died at age 4. Obviously the death of that adorable little boy was awful awful awful. More about that in a later post. MOM talks about Jackie and almost always ends up in tears. Years and years have not eased that pain. I have tried to find his obituary with no luck.
When the family moved from New Brighton to Beaver Falls, Elsie Lou was given the choice of where she wanted to go to school. She chose to take her senior year at New Brighton rather than switching schools yet again. So she graduated from New Brighton High School in 1945. Buffy and MOM graduated from Beaver Falls High School in 1947 and 1948 respectively.
I think it's safe to say that all this moving affected the girls in some negative ways. I think it affected Buffy especially because she was so shy. (Which came first the chicken or the egg?) MOM says they usually or always moved in the middle of the school year instead of in the summer. I am sure it wasn't easy on anybody!
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