Going to Disney World

Well, what caught my eye when I was leaving my 4-great grandparents grave site, was a large monument.

Please pardon the names and relationships - they are mostly for myself, trying to keep all the old folks straight.


Driving towards the exit, I went by the Torresdale Lawn section of Lawnview Cemetery, because I knew my great-great-grandfather, Harry Lincoln Mousley's brother Thomas Charles Mousley was buried there.

Somewhat upset and tired of "not finding" my forefathers' graves, Lawnview was the 5th different cemetery I have visited over the course of nearly a year, I wasn't about to park the car and go walking up and down the rows of gravestones looking for him. I had gotten tired of dealing with the somewhat unhelpful person representing the cemetery and hadn't asked them "exactly" where Thomas was buried.

Just as I reached the end of the section, driving slowly in my car, I saw this monument.


Oh my goodness! What is this? Was this Thomas' grave? Am I related to Walt Disney? And what is that object resting on the monument under the "M"?

Feeling suddenly rejuvenated and thinking, "Yes! I finally found 'somebody'!" I parked and jumped out of the car. Well, it turned out it was Elmer Mousley and his wife's and her parents' grave.


Who then, was Elmer? And what was the Disney connection? I had to do some more research.

"Cousin" Elmer was the middle one of three sons of Thomas Charles.

He was an electrician in the Navy during WWI, and he served in Brest, France, and on the US Navy Repair Ship Bridgeport. He later worked at the Alexanderson Alternator Transmission Station, Tuckerton, NJ (located very near and visible from the fish factory I saw each summer as a boy when down the shore). This radio station was one of the earliest in the efforts to transmit a radio signal across the Atlantic Ocean. More on Alexanderson Alternator here. Later, Elmer worked for Western Electric installing the very first automatic phone switching station in Philadelphia.

He married Helen Disney on December 20, 1924 in Philadelphia, PA. Helen Marguerite was born July, 1899 to Charles Albert and Ella Virginia Disney of Baltimore, Maryland. I've spent about two hours tracing back this family tree all the way back to William & Sara Disney who had Margritt, born 28 Dec. 1686, & William, born 11 Aug. 1693 all and still in Baltimore, Maryland...

As for Walt Disney... The family name, originally d'Isigny ("from Isigny"), is of Norman French derivation, coming from the canton of Isigny-sur-Mer. The Disneys, among others, descended from Normans who settled in Normandy around the 11th century.

Well, you can search for yourself, I'll give you a start. Click on the 1st through 4th generation links. The answer is, no, there is no direct link going back about 10 generations.

Does knowing this qualify me for a 10% discount at my favorite place?

I doubt it. :)

Oh.. and I walked up and down the rows looking for Thomas Charles for nearly an hour and didn't find "him". Maybe next time.


The object on the monument was a photo of a young woman in a heart-shaped picture frame. I thought she is (was?) a very pretty woman... Who might she be? I might try tracking her down sometime. I might get lucky and find her... :)


This is what remains of my 4-great grandfather's home and all the buildings he owned on this block. The entire block is now a parking lot. Add to that the fact that the cemetery he was originally buried in is now a parking lot. I... was a bit emotionally stunned when I saw this. A day later, I am at least thankful the parking lot is a clean one - and the bumpers are straight and freshly painted. Irrational of me - but that is the best I can make of this.

Across the street, the view my forefather would have had out his bedroom window - is this...


...the boarded up, vandalized, graffiti covered, litter strewn ruin of a block of buildings that was once the Reiger & Gretz brewery. Founded in 1881 as Reiger & Gretz, this lager brewery re-open as William Gretz Brewing Company after the 1933 repeal of Prohibition. Most of the nearly one hundred Philadelphia breweries never recovered from the Prohibition; by 1950, there were only eight left. Gretz Brewing Company closed its doors in 1961.

I suspect my 4-great grandfather saw this building being built - and my 3-greatfather may have enjoyed a sip of their brew, owning a brewery himself only a couple blocks down this street...

My 3-great grandfather is ... the one I view as the most interesting of "the lot". More on Charles later and I promise I won't be as ... morose. But before that, I've a lot of your entries to catch up on.