52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy and History - Week 9 - Sounds

This week's challenge: Describe any sounds that take you back to your childhood. These could be familiar songs, jingles, children playing, or something entirely different.


My initial thought about this week's challenge in 52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy and History would have been to write about my lifelong love affair with the music of The Beatles. However, I opted for something that is a bit more closely related to the heritage of my family - the sound of the whistle of the railroad train.

Harry Bellinger and his locomotive
my great uncle

For the majority of my life, I've known the comforting sound of the whistle of the railroad train, noticed mostly at night, and in the distance. The sound of the whistle was never loud enough to wake me from my sleep, but as I lay awake during the night, I could hear the faint sound of the trains.


Growing up in Greenwood, Nebraska, our home was adjacent to the railroad tracks. There was a deep ditch that separated my life from that of the trains that clacked their way along the tracks.


The sound of the whistle always began in the distance, warning people on foot and in cars that it was approaching the crossing. There were no crossing arms, just the familiar white X indicating the crossing. As the train neared the crossing, the sound became louder, then as it traveled down the tracks, the sound again faded in the distance.


There was a different sound of the whistle, depending upon whether it was the Zephyr passenger train or one of the trains carrying coal. It became easy to distinguish the difference between the two.


Even after my family moved to Lincoln, we were in proximity to railroad tracks. The sounds became as natural to me as the chirping of the birds or the tinkling of a wind chime. The sound was just always there, in the background.


Many members of my family were contractors who built the first railroad lines through Nebraska and neighboring states. Mom's uncle, Harry Bellinger, was an engineer. So maybe my affinity for the sound of the train has something to do with my ancestry.

About 52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy and History: Amy Coffin of We Tree Genealogy has created a third year of blogging prompts for genealogy bloggers.

Railroad Reminiscences - John Fitzgerald breaks ground in Plattsmouth

John Fitzgerald
Railroad Contractor, Banker, Millionaire

Since the railroad figures prominently in the lives of several of my ancestors, I've decided to add a new blogging theme, Railroad Reminiscences, to share some of the stories of ancestors and relatives who worked on the railroad.

John Fitzgerald was a railroad contractor responsible for laying many of the primary railroad tracks throughout the Midwest. Fitzgerald was the husband of my great grand aunt, Mary Kelly. Mary was the sister of my great grandfather, Daniel Kelly.

Even as a youngster, this photograph grabbed my attention. Fitzgerald epitomized the Irish Catholic immigrant who created a better life in his new country.

He was born in Limerick county, Ireland in 1829.

The following is from Johnson's History of Nebraska by Harrison Johnson, 1880, page 242.


Groundbreaking in Plattsmouth, Nebraska

At a special election held in Plattsmouth on April 24, 1869, $50,000 in bonds were voted by the city, and donations made by individual citizens of a large number of city lots to the B. & M. Railway Company, on condition that the Company should erect there, and maintain depot, shops, and general fixtures, making and continuing Plattsmouth the headquarters of the Company in Nebraska; putting the road through to the west end of the County, all in good running order and actual operation, within sixteen months after June 3, 1869. These conditions were accepted by the company, and the contract closed by W. Thielson, the authorized agent of the Company, and the City Council, June 15, 1869. Early in July, in the presence of a large crowd of spectators, John Fitzgerald, at the foot of Main street, in Plattsmouth, displayed his strength and skill in "breaking ground" for the railroad track. In September, 1869, in a still larger and more excited crowd, the first locomotive, the "American Eagle," was landed and gave her first scream on Nebraska soil. The long wished, and long listened for whistle was now a matter of unquestionable fact upon the streets of Plattsmouth.