Lola grew up on Chincoteague Island, Accomack County, Virginia. Her father, William Risley Jeffries, was a boatman all his life.Chincoteague is famous for the hundreds of wild ponies that live on adjacent Assateague Island, a protected national park. The ponies are said to be descended from ponies carried aboard Spanish Galleons that were wrecked on the Virginia coast during the time early settlers came to this continent. The famous children's fictionwork, "Misty", was written about a Chincoteague pony.
Chincoteague is also located along a major north-south flyway for migrating birds, being very low lying, and surrounded by marshes on the inland side of the island. When Lola was a girl there was no bridge connecting the island to the mainland. It was a very small community where most of the men were boatman and involved in fishing, crabbing, or oystering. Chincoteague oysters were famous all along the Eastern seaboard, and during her girlhood many boatloads of oysters were exported to New York restaurants, and many other major cities. Unfortunately, they were so good, and demand so great, that eventually the island was overfished and the oyster beds depleted. During the Depression the prices of everything declined, including oysters, and many of the boatman could not make a living sufficient to support their families.
So Lola's father decided to move his family to the New England coast, first settling in Norwalk, Connecticut, taking his boat, the "Laura V" (named after his wife, Laura Virginia). Together with her mother, Laura Virginia Jeffries, and her brothers, Charles William Jeffries and Elva Daniel Jeffries, and her sister Emma Rebecca Jeffries, all moved to Connecticut.
Eventually Lola met and married Philip Maury Merriam, born in Norwalk, Connecticut. For a time they remained in Norwalk, later moving to a neat and charming house in Rowayton, Connecticut, also in Fairfield County surrounded by flowers. Lola was a meticulous housekeeper, an excellent cook, and an extremely talented seamstress (very accomplished in cut work, needlepoint and quilting). Lola and Phil tried for years to have children, but it was not meant to be. When I was a young child, and visited their home in Rowayton, Lola very proudly introduced me to her cherished blue parakeet named "Petie".
Lola's brother Charles, frequently called "Willie", also remained in Norwalk, and eventually married my grandmother, Christine Jacobsen. In the 1970's both families moved to Boynton Beach, Palm Beach County, Florida. Lola and Phil's home was on a canal, where Phil tied up his large fishing motorboat. He and my grandfather loved to fish together just off the coast of Florida, often bringing home bluefish and others, for Lola to prepare. They each followed very traditional roles, with him doing the fishing and cleaning of the fish and Lola doing the cooking. Phil excelled at keeping the physical parts of the home in tip top condition. I remember as a child, that Lola's wooden kitchen cabinets, which Phil had painted with many layers of turquoise lacquer paint, sanding carefully between the layers, so that the cabinets gleamed in the bright lights of the kitchen!
To be continued....
Chincoteague is also located along a major north-south flyway for migrating birds, being very low lying, and surrounded by marshes on the inland side of the island. When Lola was a girl there was no bridge connecting the island to the mainland. It was a very small community where most of the men were boatman and involved in fishing, crabbing, or oystering. Chincoteague oysters were famous all along the Eastern seaboard, and during her girlhood many boatloads of oysters were exported to New York restaurants, and many other major cities. Unfortunately, they were so good, and demand so great, that eventually the island was overfished and the oyster beds depleted. During the Depression the prices of everything declined, including oysters, and many of the boatman could not make a living sufficient to support their families.
So Lola's father decided to move his family to the New England coast, first settling in Norwalk, Connecticut, taking his boat, the "Laura V" (named after his wife, Laura Virginia). Together with her mother, Laura Virginia Jeffries, and her brothers, Charles William Jeffries and Elva Daniel Jeffries, and her sister Emma Rebecca Jeffries, all moved to Connecticut.
Eventually Lola met and married Philip Maury Merriam, born in Norwalk, Connecticut. For a time they remained in Norwalk, later moving to a neat and charming house in Rowayton, Connecticut, also in Fairfield County surrounded by flowers. Lola was a meticulous housekeeper, an excellent cook, and an extremely talented seamstress (very accomplished in cut work, needlepoint and quilting). Lola and Phil tried for years to have children, but it was not meant to be. When I was a young child, and visited their home in Rowayton, Lola very proudly introduced me to her cherished blue parakeet named "Petie".
Lola's brother Charles, frequently called "Willie", also remained in Norwalk, and eventually married my grandmother, Christine Jacobsen. In the 1970's both families moved to Boynton Beach, Palm Beach County, Florida. Lola and Phil's home was on a canal, where Phil tied up his large fishing motorboat. He and my grandfather loved to fish together just off the coast of Florida, often bringing home bluefish and others, for Lola to prepare. They each followed very traditional roles, with him doing the fishing and cleaning of the fish and Lola doing the cooking. Phil excelled at keeping the physical parts of the home in tip top condition. I remember as a child, that Lola's wooden kitchen cabinets, which Phil had painted with many layers of turquoise lacquer paint, sanding carefully between the layers, so that the cabinets gleamed in the bright lights of the kitchen!
To be continued....
Lola grew up on Chincoteague Island, Accomack County, Virginia. Her father, William Risley Jeffries, was a boatman all his life.Chincoteague is famous for the hundreds of wild ponies that live on adjacent Assateague Island, a protected national park. The ponies are said to be descended from ponies carried aboard Spanish Galleons that were wrecked on the Virginia coast during the time early settlers came to this continent. The famous children's fictionwork, "Misty", was written about a Chincoteague pony.
Chincoteague is also located along a major north-south flyway for migrating birds, being very low lying, and surrounded by marshes on the inland side of the island. When Lola was a girl there was no bridge connecting the island to the mainland. It was a very small community where most of the men were boatman and involved in fishing, crabbing, or oystering. Chincoteague oysters were famous all along the Eastern seaboard, and during her girlhood many boatloads of oysters were exported to New York restaurants, and many other major cities. Unfortunately, they were so good, and demand so great, that eventually the island was overfished and the oyster beds depleted. During the Depression the prices of everything declined, including oysters, and many of the boatman could not make a living sufficient to support their families.
So Lola's father decided to move his family to the New England coast, first settling in Norwalk, Connecticut, taking his boat, the "Laura V" (named after his wife, Laura Virginia). Together with her mother, Laura Virginia Jeffries, and her brothers, Charles William Jeffries and Elva Daniel Jeffries, and her sister Emma Rebecca Jeffries, all moved to Connecticut.
Eventually Lola met and married Philip Maury Merriam, born in Norwalk, Connecticut. For a time they remained in Norwalk, later moving to a neat and charming house in Rowayton, Connecticut, also in Fairfield County surrounded by flowers. Lola was a meticulous housekeeper, an excellent cook, and an extremely talented seamstress (very accomplished in cut work, needlepoint and quilting). Lola and Phil tried for years to have children, but it was not meant to be. When I was a young child, and visited their home in Rowayton, Lola very proudly introduced me to her cherished blue parakeet named "Petie".
Lola's brother Charles, frequently called "Willie", also remained in Norwalk, and eventually married my grandmother, Christine Jacobsen. In the 1970's both families moved to Boynton Beach, Palm Beach County, Florida. Lola and Phil's home was on a canal, where Phil tied up his large fishing motorboat. He and my grandfather loved to fish together just off the coast of Florida, often bringing home bluefish and others, for Lola to prepare. They each followed very traditional roles, with him doing the fishing and cleaning of the fish and Lola doing the cooking. Phil excelled at keeping the physical parts of the home in tip top condition. I remember as a child, that Lola's wooden kitchen cabinets, which Phil had painted with many layers of turquoise lacquer paint, sanding carefully between the layers, so that the cabinets gleamed in the bright lights of the kitchen!
To be continued....
Chincoteague is also located along a major north-south flyway for migrating birds, being very low lying, and surrounded by marshes on the inland side of the island. When Lola was a girl there was no bridge connecting the island to the mainland. It was a very small community where most of the men were boatman and involved in fishing, crabbing, or oystering. Chincoteague oysters were famous all along the Eastern seaboard, and during her girlhood many boatloads of oysters were exported to New York restaurants, and many other major cities. Unfortunately, they were so good, and demand so great, that eventually the island was overfished and the oyster beds depleted. During the Depression the prices of everything declined, including oysters, and many of the boatman could not make a living sufficient to support their families.
So Lola's father decided to move his family to the New England coast, first settling in Norwalk, Connecticut, taking his boat, the "Laura V" (named after his wife, Laura Virginia). Together with her mother, Laura Virginia Jeffries, and her brothers, Charles William Jeffries and Elva Daniel Jeffries, and her sister Emma Rebecca Jeffries, all moved to Connecticut.
Eventually Lola met and married Philip Maury Merriam, born in Norwalk, Connecticut. For a time they remained in Norwalk, later moving to a neat and charming house in Rowayton, Connecticut, also in Fairfield County surrounded by flowers. Lola was a meticulous housekeeper, an excellent cook, and an extremely talented seamstress (very accomplished in cut work, needlepoint and quilting). Lola and Phil tried for years to have children, but it was not meant to be. When I was a young child, and visited their home in Rowayton, Lola very proudly introduced me to her cherished blue parakeet named "Petie".
Lola's brother Charles, frequently called "Willie", also remained in Norwalk, and eventually married my grandmother, Christine Jacobsen. In the 1970's both families moved to Boynton Beach, Palm Beach County, Florida. Lola and Phil's home was on a canal, where Phil tied up his large fishing motorboat. He and my grandfather loved to fish together just off the coast of Florida, often bringing home bluefish and others, for Lola to prepare. They each followed very traditional roles, with him doing the fishing and cleaning of the fish and Lola doing the cooking. Phil excelled at keeping the physical parts of the home in tip top condition. I remember as a child, that Lola's wooden kitchen cabinets, which Phil had painted with many layers of turquoise lacquer paint, sanding carefully between the layers, so that the cabinets gleamed in the bright lights of the kitchen!
To be continued....
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