The Moose, Toots, Skin, and Boots Mystery

Harry and I called are sisters Moose, Toots, Skin, and Boots, and we knew just who was who. But we've been gone these many years, and there may not be anyone left to tell our grandsons now just who was who, and why we called those girls such intriguing names.

"Boots" and "Toots" may not sound so bad to you; but you might just be thinking, "They must have had good reasons for 'Moose' and 'Skin'. I ask you, "Do brothers need 'good reasons' for names for sisters?" Like I mentioned in an earlier post, "Everyone has a story," and each of these girls has one too. Remembered stories are at the very center of family life, for that's how we remember those we loved.

The photo above is thought to be one of our sisters and the fellow she married -- Fanny Ethel Campbell and Alonzo Studebaker. I never told the grandsons if it was or not, and I didn't leave any names on the back of the picture to help 'em out either, but there's something to suggest they may be correct in going with their "gut feelings", and post it. I hear they have ideas of their own how to go about getting confirmation one way or another. Was it Lon and Fanny's 50th Anniversary picture or not? We'll see! Sometimes "gut feelings" are nothing more than indigestion.

Carleton Island, NY

My family was not anywhere near as large as Bessie's. Where she had thirteen siblings, I only had five -- but five's enough when four of 'em are girls. "Moose, Toots, Skin, and Boots" -- that's what we called them. My half-brother, Harry, and I -- even though we were both older -- were definitely out-numbered.

Harry was born in Canada, June 25, 1882, and immigrated to Michigan in 1887, along with our mom and her Chapman family from Frontenac Co, Ontario, Canada. The Chapmans had lived for many years on Wolfe Island, the largest of the beautiful Thousand Islands in the St. Lawrence River.

One of my grandsons and his wife visited the area in 2006, and even though not realizing at first, they'd rented a cabin on the banks of the St. Lawrence directly across the channel from an island they thought might be Wolfe. When they asked the owner of the cabin if it was Wolfe, she said, "Oh no, that's Carleton Island." "Carleton Island? That's where my great-grandmother was born", my grandson replied. "I'll have to snap a picture!" (Pictured above)

My mom, Effie Rebecca Chapman, had been born June 11, 1864 on that island. It lies just a little south of Wolfe Island. Much later, after having moved further north to Oso Twp, Frontenac Co, Ontario, she and Harry, along with the rest of her parents family, had traveled to a new home along the Tobacco River in Gladwin Co, Michigan. It was there she met and married my dad, James Bird Campbell.