Harriett Rasmussen (2010)
Harriett Abrams Rasmussen was born in 1925 to Estella Griffin and Charles Leslie Abrams on Main Street, Cairo, at home, which at the time was the Cairo Garage, later the A&P. She graduated from Cairo Central School with the Class of 1942 and then attended Albany State Teachers College until 1946.
She married Cas Rasmussen in 1951, moved to Greenville in 1954, and raised two sons, Brian and Barry. Greenville has been the beneficiary of her efforts ever since.
One of our local treasures, Harriett will modestly decline such an appellation, claiming she is one of those quiet laborers, helping out in the background. She is a member of the United Methodist Church of Greenville and Norton Hill, has taught Sunday School, is a member of the local historical societies, DAR, etc.
It is, however, her genealogical and historical interests, and the melding of those efforts with the Greenville Local History Group, that inspires this calendar’s recognition.
A major “labor of love” undertaken from 1992 through 1997 was the transcription of Richard E. Taylor’s diaries of 1858-1902. Harriett would transcribe each year’s diary (each year was usually written in a 3” x 6” booklet, as shown in photo) in longhand each year, and then summarize, in classic story-telling style, the major points for one of the GLHG’s monthly meetings. Making connections between the people mentioned in the diary, she came to know who were family, neighbors, and community members. Day to day life details, as well as regional events, interweave in this life story.
In addition, Harriett has transcribed parts of the Eleanor Ingalls diary (1912-1950), as well as a year or two of a few other diaries. Those diaries with years in common, including the Carrie Ingalls diaries of 1878-1951 transcribed by Don Teator, can be compared.
Another effort of Harriett’s was to explore local cemeteries and transcribe the stones’ information onto cards and paper, waiting for more connections to be made.
A particularly useful document was the written account of a day’s riding of Greenville’s and West Greenville’s roads with Uncle Burdette Griffin in 1996. He recalled who lived where in earlier years and some attending stories along the way.
Other local history sources – magazine articles, newspaper clippings, scrapbooks (especially the Hannay albums of newspaper clippings that spanned the start of the 20th century), church records, etc. – combined with the stories of her youth, as well as the stories gathered over the years, have been the framework for Harriett’s stories and connections.
And, in that soft, gentle voice that others lean forward to catch every last word, Harriett tells the stories of her life and the stories that other people requesting information have asked for. A few years after the Taylor transcription, a request came in from Arkansas for information about a Howard Taylor, who, according to the Taylor diary, had left home at age 19, rarely to be heard from again. The inquirer had information about Howard’s family and was thrilled to learn about the diaries and rest of the family.
And Harriett will record the “stuff” the rest of us have dismissed as “just life.” Whether it be waitressing at a local resort (see August), living through WW2 years in Greenville, memories of Balsam Shade, the demolition of the Sherrill House, school activities, or the memories of family, the Historian’s files are fuller and better for the printed accounts.
Although Harriett was not born in Greenville, she has many local connections. She has documented details about a variety of families and relatives: Griffin, Evans (see December), Utter, Purinton, Abrams, Rundell, Elliott, Ellis, Tripp, Wright, and others. Harriett will also find in her files pieces of information that may help someone else in their family puzzle. For those trying to find answers to local history and family history, Harriett truly is a treasure.
So, it is in fondness, we remember, somewhat in amused awe, when Harriett tells a story that might tell, in a fictional but typical example, about my neighbor whose grandmother lived in Freehold, the grandmother’s neighbor’s father fought in the Civil War, came back and married the mother of John Smith, whose children now live in the Jones house in Norton Hill, where Susie Brown lived in the 1940s, and… the stories and connections flow on.
It is with the pleasure of hearing a good story and knowing a good person that the Greenville Local History Group dedicates the 2010 calendar to Harriett Rasmussen.
- by Don Teator, Greenville Town Historian