Page 71 - Family History

Family Stories

Books and Autographs

My grandmother Elizabeth Stanley (Pontine) was a voracious book reader. In a
family history about growing up in Pysht, Washington George Fernandez

(my mother’s cousin) writes about books and how he and his Pontine relatives
loved it when they could get their hands on one. Here is an excerpt from his
“Pysht Valley Story” (more of which appears elsewhere in this history) …

"I remember that I was shocking hay out here in front of the house. I would
make a few shocks, and then lay down behind a shock and read a chapter. It
was Lizzie Pontine who got me into buying books. My first two books were
from Sears, priced at 68 cents a copy. One was "Tarzan of the Apes," and
the other, "The Wolf Hunters," by James Oliver Curwood. From then on, I
was hooked. I bought book after book as I could afford them." …

One summer, when I visited my grandmother at her home in Cloverdale,

California, I remember that her garage was filled with boxes and boxes of books. I
must have spent hours looking though them. Most of the books were slim
paperbacks from the 1950’s. Her favorite genre must have been mystery and
crime. There were a lot of books by Agatha Christie, Earl Stanley Gardner and
Ellery Queen.

Over the years I have inherited and fondly treasure some very special books. One

of my favorites is the book "Wild Beasts Birds and Reptiles of the World, Story
of their Capture" by P.T. Barnum. Yes, that guy - the famous circus pitchman
P.T. Barnum! The book is copyrighted 1896! It is a beautiful book and still in
great condition. It is loaded with hundreds of beautiful line drawings. There are

no photographs in this book. Instead you have artist’s depictions: men capturing
wild beasts, unique locations, exotic animals and birds. One can almost sense
how important a book was to its owner back in those days by how carefully they
wrote their names inside the covers. The Barnum book belonged to James Victor
Pontine, an older brother of my grandmother Elizabeth. Sadly, he only lived
into his early twenties.

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