Maritime Monday ~ Lawrence Olsen, Merchant Marine Navigation Student

Pasted to the front cover of a scrapbook once belonging to my grandmother, Mattie Leighton Seavey (1906-1987) was this undated clipping from the Portland (Me.) newspaper, depicting a navigation class for would-be officers in the Merchant Marines.

According to the U.S. Merchant Marine website, this World War I training program began in June 1917, with headquarters in Boston. Within months, there were 43 schools in seaports from Portland, Maine to Portland, Oregon.

A 6-week program trained 1,500 deck officers during the first 10 months. However, as depicted in this newspaper item, a land-based, 4 -week course was offered to train engineering officers.  A total of 14,000 men received officer training between June 1917 and October 1920. 

Among the students pictured in this photo is Lawrence Olsen (spelled Oleson in the caption), in the foreground on the left, my great grandmother and Mattie's mother, Alice Lovell Olsen's second husband.

I haven't found any evidence that Lawrence ever served in the Merchant Marine. The 1910, 1920, and 1930 censuses all list his occupation as "house painter."

From left to right, the men pictured are:

Augustus A. Scofier

John A. Peterson

Morris Kent

Frank W. Johnson

William H. Mason

Charles A. Gilmore

Capt. Frank A. Wilson, Instructor

Lawrence Oleson (sp?)

William A. McLean

Horace D. Griffin

Tombstone Tuesday - The Lovell-Olsen Lot

I grew up always knowing this as Aunt Polly's grave. Dad and Mom were sometimes the only ones who tended to it, putting red geraniums in the urn. The urn has cracked now, and is quite pitiful looking. This is Dad, last summer on one of our last cemetery visits. On that day I was able to find out from the cemetery office that there are eight people buried on this lot in Forest City Cemetery, South Portland, Maine:

1. Mattie (aka Martha and Matilda) Packard Brackley Crilley, Pauline and Alice's grandmother (born a Packard - hence my father's middle name - he was not named for the car!)
2. Louisa L. Brackley Lovell Spalding Washburn, Pauline and Alice's mother
3. Pauline M. Lovell, who never married, as far as I can tell
4. Wallace Olsen, son of Lawrence and Alice
5. Lawrence B. Olsen, Alice's second husband
6. Alice N. Lovell, her sister, and my great-grandmother
7. Fred Olsen, son of Lawrence and Alice
8. Lawrence Olsen, Jr., son of Lawrence and Alice