Me and Mine

A few years ago, in my blog post “Life in the 80s,” I wrote about my goals for the next decade of my life, my 80s. In a section titled “Do Less Programming,” I talked about reducing my coding activity to leave time for other activities. I planned to leave the NUnit project, my largest time commitment, at the end of 2022.

In fact, I did leave NUnit at that point but after a year or two, for a variety of reasons, I went back to working on the project, focusing on the NUnit engine. At this point, I have been part of the NUnit organization since 2004, with the exception of two relatively brief absences, the 2022 break being the second. Now, in 2026, I’m feeling that it’s time for another change.

No, not the 1980s, my 80s!

I just had my eightieth birthday so I’m thinking about what I want my 80s to be like in general. How I’ll live, how I’ll spend my time. This is pretty high level but I’ll add a few specific projects I may want to undertake as examples.

As I write this, I am contrasting the life I want from the life I’ve had most recently. That life, under the influence of the COVID pandemic, has been more isolated and sedentary than it was in the past. Time now for some change!

Post Updated 13 Mar 2022

In my post, The Two Minnies, I wrote about finding two girls in the Charles Head family named "Minnie", either of whom might be my grandmother, Mary Head. As described in that post, I found enough evidence to conclude that it was the younger of the two, born around 1875, who married William Poole. But that left unresolved the more fundamental question of why there were two girls in the family with the same name and where that second girl came from.

Let's review the problem. In the 1880 census, Charles and Bridget Head have a single daughter, Mary. She is 16 years old. Twelve years later, in the 1892 New York State census, there are two Minnies (a common nickname for Mary) living with them. One is 25 years old now, consistent with the girl from the earlier census. The other girl is 16. Who is the that younger Minnie? Where did she come from? The 1892 census does not list family relations and at the time I had found no earlier source of information about my grandmother.

But now we do have more information!

As children, my sister and I had always been told that there were fourteen children in my father's family, but we only knew the names of thirteen of them. We both remember being told that there was another child who had died, but that was the limit of our knowledge.

Until now!

I was having difficulty visualizing the many places the Poole family lived from the time my grandfather William arrived from Ireland till they ended up on 115th Street in Richmond Hill. It occurred to me that I'd like to walk around those neighborhoods if I could. I may be able to do that some time, but for now only a virtual walk is possible.

For me, "the Pooles" will always mean my father's family. Their quirks dominated much of my childhood and things about them still come back to haunt me today. My dad, Charles Thomas Poole, was one of 14 brothers and sisters, all shown in the picture.

In this photo they are lined up in the back yard of the family home at 8782 115th Street in Richmond Hill, Queens, New York, a location I recognize very well from my childhood. From front to back, we have Tom, Margaret, Theresa, Loretta, Catherine, Monica, Agnes, Mary, Jim, Charlie, Jack, Joe and Bill.

These are all the children of William M. and Mary E. Poole, my grandparents. It includes Agnes, who died in 1932. The picture shows Jack, James and Catherine in their religious dress, while Theresa and Margaret are still "civilians." Catherine took her vows on the feast of St. Joseph, March 19, in 1928. Teresa took hers on August 2, 1931, which narrows down the window of possible dates for the photo.

My paternal grandmother, Mary Head Poole died in 1944. I was born in 1942 so I don't actually remember her, but photos show that we did indeed meet. For a long time, I knew nothing very little about her. Thanks to US Census records, I learned about her life after marrying my grandfather in 1896, but I still knew nothing about her parents.

Then, while collecting information about my grandfather, I examined the 1892 New York State Census. It one told me that William Poole, my grandfather, was then living in Brooklyn at 73 Schenectady Avenue. On the same page, immediately above William's entry, is a listing for the family of Charles Head, living in the same tenement! He was listed as a 60 year-old painter from England. His wife Elizabeth is the same age and was born in Ireland. They had two daughters aged 25 and 16. Oddly, both daughters are listed with the same name, “Minnie” - a common nickname for Mary. It appears that that William and one of the two neighbor girls fell in love. They married a few years later.

Photos of Izabel Poole shortly after she was born.

Here we are all together for Christmas eve at John and Kim's house. From left to right, we have Michael, Phyllis, Marie, John, Kyle, Kim and Beverly. Charlie is behind the camera, so you just have to imagine him.

Charlie and Phyllis had been in Florida until the 22nd and were in no shape to be hosts this year. John and Kim volunteered to have us all over and did a really great job. We had a wonderful roast beef dinner and enjoyed opening presents around the tree.