The Pacific Squab and Poultry Farm

Ivy Harnett

Description

Likened to Jane Austen's "Little Women,” this family tale explores not only a history of a family, but the city they grew up with.
In 1889, during the Great Depression of British Agriculture, the Harnett farm in Kent, England, was suffering financially. With Britain’s refusal to tax grain imports their farm could no longer support a family of eleven children. Ernest and Julia Harnett had a hard decision to make — either leave their beloved England or give up six of their youngest children. It was something they would not do. A letter from a friend who had moved to Southern California wrote of an alcohol free, religious community, with good farm land. They made up their minds. They would move to the American Colony — created a few years earlier by a fellow Englishman, William Willmore. There they would create a new life on the Pacific Squab and Poultry Farm.

Follow their journey across the Atlantic and explore their new home — an area called Burnett, close to Signal Hill, which would eventually become part of Long Beach, California. Get to know each of the members of the Harnett family through the eyes of Ivy Harnett, the first of three children to be born in America. There is Jane (Bessie), a teacher, who left an indelible mark on California history; Norah and Josie who found love and marriage in faraway Alaska; Anne, the artist; Kathleen, the top student graduate at UC Berkley; Ethel; Helen; Jack, the engineer; Tom and his milling company; Edward and Frank, Long Beach civil servants who contributed much to the growth of the city. Learn of the tragic deaths of Geoffrey, Caroline, and the patriarch of the family, Ernest Harnett, struck by a hit and run driver a few weeks after his daughter Jane’s death.
This true story, is sure to entertain, taking readers to a past that once was, and a family who refused to leave any child behind.

Sujets

• Vie de famille
• Relations familiales
• Histoire
• Chronicles
• History

Informations

• Publié par: AuthorHouse
• Date de parution: 09 juillet 2023
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9798823010993
• Langue: English

Extrait

The Pacific Squab and Poultry Farm
Chronicles of the Harnett Family of Long Beach, CA
Ivy Harnett
Edited by:
Polly Harnett Johnson and Claudine Burnett
 

AuthorHouse™
1663 Liberty Drive
Bloomington, IN 47403
www.authorhouse.com
Phone: [phone]
 
 
 
 
 
 
© 2023 Ivy Harnett. All rights reserved.
 
No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.
 
Published by AuthorHouse 06/30/2023
 
ISBN: 979-8-8230-1100-6 (sc)
ISBN: 979-8-8230-1099-3 (e)
 
Library of Congress Control Number: 2023911946
 
 
 
 
Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.
 
 
 
Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.
CONTENTS
FOREWOR D – Claudine Burnett
INTRODUCTIO N – Polly Harnett Johnson
HARNETT FAMILY CHRONOLOGY
WHY AMERICA? WHY LONG BEACH?
Leaving England
Atlantic Crossing
A Train Ride to Long Beach
Settling in Burnett
SCHOOL
Burnett School
The High School
HORSE AND BUGGY DAYS
Willmore City
Downtown and the Seashore
The Countryside
AT HOME
The Pacific Squab and Poultry Farm
Canning
Our “Modern” Conveniences
Sharing Germs
Visitors
Ivy’s Scars
Getting Around
HOLIDAYS
Fourth of July
Halloween
Christmas
Empire Day
MY FAMILY
Mother
Father
Geoffrey and Caroline
Bessie
Tom and His Mill
The Lure of Alaska
Romance in Eureka
Marrying a Cowboy
Our Youngest Brothers
 
EPILOGUE
IVY’S POEM
EIGHTH GRADE EXAM INATION FOR GRAMMAR S CHOOLS, NOVEMBER, 1912
AFTERWORD
ABOUT THE AUTHOR

 
Other books by Claudine Bu rnett:
African Americans in Long Beach and Southern California: A History.
Animal Tales (Some a little fishy)
Died in Long Beach: Cemetery tales.
Fighting Fear: Long Beach in the 1940s.
From Barley Fields to Oil Town: A Tour of Huntington Beach, 1901-1922.
Haunted Long Beach.
Haunted Long Beach 2.
Murderous Intent? Long Beach, CA. 1880’s-1920.
Prohibition Madness.
The Red Scare, UFOs & Elvis: Long Beach Enters the Atomic Age.
Soaring Skyward: A History of Aviation in and around Long Beach, CA.
Strange Sea Tales Along the Southern California Coast.
Jointly with other authors:
Surfing Newport Beach: The Glory Days of Corona del Mar. With Paul Burnett.
The Heritage of African Americans in Long Beach. In association with the African American Heritage Society of Long Beach, Aaron L. Day and Indira Hale Tucker.
Balboa Films: a history and filmography of the silent film studio. With Jean-Jacques Jura and Rodney Norman Bardin II.
www.claudineburnettbooks.com

 
 
 
 
 
 
Dedicated to the early settlers of Signal Hill and Burnett and the memories they left behind.
FOREWORD
by Claudine Burn ett
Polly Johnson was deeply involved in the history of Long Beach and the role her family played. In 1889 the Harnetts left England and arrived in Long Beach in October of that year. Long Beach was a small village then, with a population of just 500. In the farmland outside the city, the Harnetts started the Pacific Squab and Poultry Farm. The family of 14 children grew up in the city and as teachers, ranchers, civil servants, and businessmen contributed much to the evolution of our town.
Polly passed away in 2020, before her work on the family was completed. She was the last child, of the last child of the original family, the daughter of Frank Harnett. In 2016 we had discussed my helping her compile a book from the material she had gathered, but Polly’s ill health prevented us from doing anything except talk about the project. I felt Polly would want me to finish what she and her Aunt Ivy had started so long ago. I had read some of the stories Ivy wrote and knew it had a much larger audience than just the family. It was a chronicle of the city, as well as the Harnett family.
Thanks to Polly’s daughter, Martha Lenocker, who cleaned out a house full of memories, I have had access to what Polly accomplished, and I have worked on finishing the narrative. I have updated the language, corrected dates, added more historic detail, and incorporated the collection of letters and writings of other Harnett descendants into this story. It seems most of the memories shared here were talked about often in the family and the community. Sometimes their “recollections” conflicted and I have tried to trace down the facts by using newspaper, census and other records. I have also kept the names of her siblings as Ivy wrote them. It was confusing since most went by their middle name or nicknames. I’ve included all as an addition to the book.
I’d like to thank the Long Beach Public Library and the Historical Society of Long Beach for helping secure photos for the book, with special thanks to Jeff Whalen, Roxanne Patmore, and Jen Malone for their efforts. And great appreciation to Dr. Kaye Briegel for photo research and editing, and to Martha Lenocker for allowing me access to family records and photos.
By the way, if you are curious about my surname and the area of Long Beach known as Burnett, there is no connection.
INTRODUCTION
by Polly Harnett Johns on
Many years ago, during a Harnett family gathering which followed a funeral service for one of the Harnett sisters, I asked the cousins sitting across from me about their family — how they were, where they were living and what they were doing now. It was a lovely conversation, but soon the gathering was over and we went our separate ways. I don’t remember seeing them or talking to them again, since this family did not live in southern California, nor do I remember their name or the information we shared. However, someone else did.
Years later, our family was visiting the family of another cousin, Stan Harnett, in Calabasas. We had a wonderful afternoon and as we were about to pack up and leave, Stan left the room for a few minutes. When he returned, he was carrying a box. He said something like, “Polly, now that you have expressed an interest in the family history, you should have these.” He handed me the box and told me that it held the stories or “Chronicles” that Aunt Ivy (Harnett) had written about the Harnett family in Long Beach. Included were also some stories written by Josephine (Josie) Simmons another Harnett sister.
Over the years I have retrieved the box and worked on the stories, setting up a filing system and typing up some that were hand written. After my husband George and I retired, I knew this was one project I needed to take on and that it would mean serious work. The typed pages had faded. I found that many of the stories had not been completed. Some stories had notes like “insert Norah’s typed story here,” or “this is the same story as in section one,” or that’s all of this story for now,” and I really didn’t know where to find the connections, so let me just have Ivy describe her project in her own words:
“There are those who might question my right as a chronicler. There are those who find the tales I told so glibly in my teens just repetitions of stories I heard others tell. My oldest sister, Bessie, with her eyes twinkling often said, ‘Why Ivy, you weren’t even born or thought of then.’ This has been a serious handicap all the years since, but I hope you enjoy the tales of the Harnett family growing up in Long Beach, even if I borrowed some of my memories from others in the family.”
I have decided to continue what Ivy started. “The Pacific Squab and Poultry Farm: Chronicles of the Harnett Family of Long Beach, CA.” Are You Ready . . . Get Set . . . Go . . .
HARNETT FAMILY CH RONOLOGY
Ernest Harnett (10/7/1840-2/20/1918) – FATHER
Julia Sarah Berrell Harnett (11/24/1848-9/13/1928) – MOTHER
Jane Elizabeth Harnett (1/17/1873-2/16/1918) – BESSIE
Ernest Thomas Harnett (10/9/1874-7/27/1954) – TOM
John Abraham Harnett (7/9/1877-5/20/1944) – JACK
Margaret Ethel Harnett Kersting (4/14/1879-2/3/1962) – ETHEL
Geoffrey Berrell Harnett (5/30/1881-2/3/1884) – GEOFFREY
Josephine Harnett Simmons (4/9/1883-4/23/1978) – JOSIE
Helen Mary Harnett Morris (8/9/1884-5/27/1966) – HELEN
Norah Berrell Harnett Selfridge (11/8/1885-9/11/1963) – NORAH
Anne Hutchinson Harnett Kimball (2/16/1887-11/7/1975) NANNY/ANNE
Edward Hutchinson Harnett (2/23/1888-1/20/1935) – EDWARD
Julia Caroline Harnett (4/15/1889-5/23/1907) – CAROLINE
Ivy Dodd Harnett (1/26/1891-3/13/1983) – IVY
Kathleen Harnett (12-5/1894-9/30/1991) – KATHLEEN
Frank Berrell Harnett (6/26/1897-12/29/1979) – FRANK
WHY AMERICA? WHY LONG BEACH?
Leaving England
Two wars, the Crimean War of 1853-1856, and the American Civil War (1861-1865), affected many, including my family. It is sad to say we prospered during these times of anguish and death, but we did. During these wars, gentlemen farmers in England — or the “landed gentry” as they were called — became rich.
Both wars prevented the export of grain from Russia and the United States, shielding Britain from the effects of free trade. Having 610 acres, Grandfather Thomas Harnett prospered. With lack of competition, and a ser