Del's Week: Drink Del's at Home

The Highly Caffeinated Genealogist Presents:

 Del's Week

A Story of Home that Lives On...

Drink Del's at Home

Photo Collage by Midge Frazel, 2016

Normally, I drink my Del's in the car after visiting Rhode Island. That's the large size that I am holding between my legs. 

I recently discovered that you can buy Del's lemonade packets from Amazon. 

But, you can buy Del's online and make your own treats at home. Here's the directions for making ice cubes from Del's and using a blender.

I have found that I can buy a non-slush version of Del's in a bottle locally, but only in the summer. It sells out quickly. I purchase a bottle to give to my primary care physician's wife when we go for our physicals. When I hired him, I discovered his wife went to the same high school that I did. (She is younger.)

I keep some Del's frozen in my freezer year round. It is very good to let defrost and drink when you have a cold. That's when I wish my Mom was here to take care of me. It's time in a bottle.

Del's Week: Fun for Kids

The Highly Caffeinated Genealogist Presents:

 Del's Week

A Story of Home that Lives On...

 Fun for Kids

Del's Toys, 2015

Photo by Midge Frazel, 2016

Remember the baby in the Del's sand pail? Here he is seven years later, on Easter 2016 finding a Del's Lemon toy in his Easter Basket. I am glad I bought the toys as now I can't find them anywhere to buy.

This really made me remember the sign on the front that read, "Had to close before we froze, see you in the Spring when the crocus grows." Easter 2016 was early and cold.

Del's Week: Keeping Del's Memory

The Highly Caffeinated Genealogist Presents:

 Del's Week

A Story of Home that Lives On...

Photo by Midge Frazel, 2015

Keeping Del's Memory

When my daughter turned 40 last December (2015), I bought her this Del's Bracelet. I want her to remember her Rhode Island grandparents. Making the effort to turn past memories into today's news is the job of the genealogist.

I have discovered that in addition to the online store at Del's Headquarters, there is a company called My Little Town that sells Rhode Island novelties. It is so much fun to buy items for our family. It brings my past home to my present day porch via UPS.

This Del's cup ornament hangs on my daughter's Christmas tree and we have one too so that both grandsons will someday inherit one for their tree.

Photo by Midge Frazel, 2015

Del's Week: Dive into Summer

The Highly Caffeinated Genealogist Presents:

 Del's Week

A Story of Home that Lives On...

Photo by Midge Frazel, 2016

Dive into Summer

Rhode Islander is a great place to visit and grow up. It is full of iconic humor. On Rt. 95S, there is a big blue bug which advertises a business and the owners delight in having the bug dressed up for many seasons. In this article, you can see the bug enjoying a VERY big Del's lemonade and learn a bit about places to see in my home state. 

Rhode Island is a small state with big history.

When my daughter, married a man who has Italian ancestry, he was treated to a Del's. He had not had a slush like it before. He's not been the same since.

One Christmas, I bought him a frozen ice cream dessert co-marketed by Friendly's Ice Cream (sadly no longer manufactured) and I became his favorite mother-in-law. Well, that was easy.

When his first son was born, I gave the family a big Del's Sand Pail (with packets of Del's mix inside) and we took the baby's photo with the pail. Making memories is important family history. Angelo DeLucia would be proud.

Del's Week: A Family Business

The Highly Caffeinated Genealogist Presents:

 Del's Week

A Story of Home that Lives On...

Photo by Midge Frazel, 2014

The Family Business

Del's Lemonade is a family business which carries with it a story of immigration, military service, neighborhoods, hard work and summertime fun. 

Franco DeLucia's story of making the Italian ice treat with his own twist of lemon recipe is well known in Rhode Island. Franco made this lemonade in 1840s Naples, Italy and brought it to America at the turn of the century. (Source: Del's Web site: About Us) 

His son Angelo (who I knew), brought it to Cranston, Rhode Island and invented the slush machine to keep Del's a consistent cold lemonade product. That was 1948, the year after I was born.

The first location was a small stand at the bottom of my neighborhood facing Oaklawn Ave. on Rt. 5 The building you see behind the Del's sign used to be a bowling alley and until I read Mr. DeLucia's obituary in The Boston Globe, I did not know he owned that too. Today,  Del's Lemonade is a multi-million dollar company. Not bad for a wounded World War II Veteran, right? 

Angelo worked hard for the money, building this business. But to us kids in the neighborhood, he was just the Dad who gave us the first Del's of the season. When summer was over, a sign went up on the building that read, "Had to close before we froze, see you in the spring when the crocus grows". 

To me, Del's IS summer. His son and granddaughter keep the business going today. I am grateful.

Sentimental Sunday: Del's Week

The Highly Caffeinated Genealogist Presents:

 Del's Week

A Story of Home that Lives On...

Photo by Midge Frazel, 2015

Well, you have heard of Shark Week, haven't you? 

I'm not a fan of sharks at all, especially when they are people. But, when my little neighbor had a shark theme birthday, I took one of the little shark toys that was on the food table and began to think about how it would look with my very smallest Del's cup. 

Be careful what you think about size. Rhode Island is the smallest state in the union but it packs a big punch.

Of course, if you live outside of Rhode Island, you may not know what Del's Lemonade is but that's why we have the Internet now. I believe in self-education.

I miss having a Del's in the summer, so we usually drive to Rhode Island at least once and get a big container to bring home. It is a symbol of home. It comforts and relaxes me. Find your own symbol and focal point because this one is MINE. I am deadly serious about this...

Home and family are important to family historians and genealogists and is at the core of all of our work, even if it is not our family. 

There is no caffeine in Del's. But, it is going to take a lot of energy for me to tell you about it. Hold on to your dorsal fin for this fun series of blog posts with a point.

Sharks, Lemons and Staycation

Photo by Midge Frazel, 2016

Sharks, Lemons and Staycation

New Englanders really enjoy summer as we are often faced with harsh weather for a long part of the year. Some years, it doesn't begin until February and lasts through May. 

We love the term "staycation", because we like to take what my family called day trips. Sometimes, we simple do nothing but relax, read and visit with family. 

Last summer and the summer before hubs and I took a day and went "home" to Rhode Island. We visit a shopping center, drive around old neighborhoods, have lunch and get half dip candies to freeze for the holidays. On our way home, we drink a drink made with lemons and buy a half gallon to bring home.

Photo by Diane, 2014, used with permission

I decided to make a week of fun blog posts that coincide with "Shark Week" as a new tradition. Yes, it is about family history but it is also about the people I knew growing up and how I meet people who have said to me, "It isn't summer without Dels."

When life gets tough, I make lemonade. You will learn why this upcoming Sunday to Saturday.

Sentimental Sunday: Walnuts, Oxford and the Rector William

Sentimental Sunday: Walnuts, Oxford and the Rector William Noyes

Clip of Oxford University Alumni, Vol 3, Ancestry.com. 5 Jun 2016

The Highly Caffeinated Genealogist likes to plan ahead for future blog posts. Sometimes that is easy if you have been using your research journal in a way that works for you. But I didn't always have research journal and a plan. None of us did, unless we had a job that required a "report" be made of our findings.

However I did take notes and put them in surname notebooks. I dated and sourced them when I could. My job now is to do a "go-over" of my previous work and to make sure where it came from. It is going quite well, thank you.

The weakest area was in the first five generations before me so that is where I concentrated my efforts for some months now. I'm not done yet but I have made plans to blog about that in the near future.

Richard A. Wheeler's History of Stonington, Connecticut is a book that I bought many years ago when I was investigating my family that lived just over the Rhode Island border in Connecticut. I am happy to report that it is out of copyright and the digital version is at Google Books.  This is what Wheeler has to say about the family called Noyes that were the ancestors of those who lived in Stonington, Connecticut. (p. 484-501)

I have a phobia about researching beyond the shores of the United States. Wow! There are so many unproved and non sourced claims of who people were and where they came from. I have notes in my surname notebooks that I will never be able to prove. At least this is a learned family of clergy where I can hope to find some sources and evidence. 

• Does Noyes mean "of the Walnut tree?" I hope not. I am allergic to walnut oil. 
• Will I be able to prove that Rev. William Noyes, rector of Cholderton in Wiltshire, England, was the person claimed on this page?

So, imagine my surprise when I discovered a "shaky" leaf  at Ancestry that listed William as a graduate of Oxford University? I cracked out my surname notebook and did a reading "do-over" of what I found. Not one mention of Oxford University. 

The Highly Caffeinated Genealogist loves a good murder mystery so for years I have watched Inspectors Morse and Lewis solve murders in Oxford, never, ever, thinking that I might have an ancestor who earned a degree there!

The date he matriculated, his age and the date earned his degree are listed! Since I have not much evidence of his birth date, I see that they may have calculated it from the dates given in this "alumni directory". 

More work needs to be done on this "pleb" and not "gent" rector but it amuses me that I have a connection to Oxford University. (gent is gentleman, a person of means and status, and pleb is plebian, a common, everyday person). 

Wait. Isn't this place near Stonehenge? Wiltshire. 

Ancestry.com. Oxford University Alumni, 1500-1886 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2007.

Original data: Foster, Joseph. Alumni Oxonienses: The Members of the University of Oxford, 1715-1886 and Alumni Oxonienses: The Members of the University of Oxford, 1500-1714. Oxford: Parker and Co., 1888-1892.