52 Ancestors No. 39: The Coughlin's 1940s Sing-Along! Part 1

I was so excited to receive a CD in the mail from Michigan from my cousin Gail Kinsel. The recordings are from the 1940s and feature my Coughlin ancestors singing and carrying on.

I converted the CD tracks from .cda files to .mpg files so that I could upload them to my SoundCloud.

The Coughlin clan, including my great-great grandmother Elizabeth (Annal) Coughlin (1884-1953) and great-great grandfather William Henry Coughlin (1872-1952) (seated in photograph below) are waiting for their euchre game to start and decide to sing a few songs first.

They sing:

• Song 1: "We Won't Be Home Until Morning" 
• Song 2: "The Old Grey Mare She Ain't What She Used To Be"

Then the Coughlin clan signs off with: "This is the first Sunday that Uncle Danny (Coughlin) has been here. It won't be the last"

What a delight! My intention is to create a blog page featuring details on all seven tracks, but for now, here is Track 6 for your listening pleasure:

The Coughlin clan featured in the recordings

Uncle Danny - who is featured in the clip

Film: "Glas" - Bert Haanstra‘s 1959 Oscar winning documentary short

My great grandfather William Henry Coughlin (1872-1952) came to Canada from Poughkeepsie, New York to work as a glassblower at the Wallaceburg Ontario glass factory.

As the years passed, Dominion Glass began to move steadily away from glassblower-craftsmen. The Coughlin family eventually moved to Windsor (1918) because glass making had been automated and the need for skilled glassblowers was officially over.

That is why I love this short documentary (10 minutes) by Bert Haanstra about Dutch glass production in the 1950's. It demonstrates glass being made by hand and mass production using jazz and techno music.  "Glas" is often acclaimed to be the perfect short documentary.

Watch the amazing glass artisans at Royal Leerdam Glass Factory back-to-back with machines used in automated bottle making.