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Captain John Brown and Janet Bell Balfour: c. 1864

Submitted by Mudhooks on Mon, 02/07/2011 - 1:48pm.
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Janet Bell Balfour was my Great-Great-Grandmother's sister. Captain John Bell was a sea captain and his wife traveled with him on his sea voyages in the South Seas. Family lore gave me two stories about the Captain and his wife. According to one story, his ship was the last, or one of the last, ships to leave Java just before the eruption of Krakatoa. The ship's cargo included a shipment of pianos and they were forced to jettison them to lighten the load in order to get away. Much to her dismay, Janet's personal piano was also tossed overboard. The other story comes from after the Captain retired from sailing. He had a parrot and one day the parrot escaped. The Captain went out in the rain to find the parrot. When he did, in order to punish it, he held it out from under his umbrella, in the rain. The parrot is said to have said, in perfect imitation of Janet's voice, "Oh John! It's cold out here!" John's father was also a John Brown, ship's master. View full size.

Janet Bell Balfour was my Great-Great-Grandmother's sister. Captain John Bell was a sea captain and his wife traveled with him on his sea voyages in the South Seas. Family lore gave me two stories about the Captain and his wife.

According to one story, his ship was the last, or one of the last, ships to leave Java just before the eruption of Krakatoa. The ship's cargo included a shipment of pianos and they were forced to jettison them to lighten the load in order to get away. Much to her dismay, Janet's personal piano was also tossed overboard.

The other story comes from after the Captain retired from sailing. He had a parrot and one day the parrot escaped. The Captain went out in the rain to find the parrot. When he did, in order to punish it, he held it out from under his umbrella, in the rain. The parrot is said to have said, in perfect imitation of Janet's voice, "Oh John! It's cold out here!"

John's father was also a John Brown, ship's master. View full size.

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Yikes!

Submitted by Mudhooks on Sun, 02/13/2011 - 7:50am.

What a terrible thing! Poor Will!

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LOL

Submitted by PinkandCharcoal on Fri, 02/11/2011 - 11:01am.

Great stories!

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Damned parrot!

Submitted by Mudhooks on Thu, 02/10/2011 - 5:46pm.

Poor man! I probably would have been driven to have the parrot "accidentally" disappear.

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Watch those parrots

Submitted by Olde Buck on Wed, 02/09/2011 - 9:18pm.

When my mother was a young girl (late 20s?), she had a neighbor several doors up. He had a LaSalle auto, and spent much time making it shine. Sooner or later, his wife would be heard all through the neighborhood hollering, "Will! Will? Come in here, Will!"

They had no kids, but did have a parrot, who would imitate the lady of the house to a T. Even if the wife was out, and where ever Will was, you could still hear the parrot hollering "Will! Will? Come in here, Will!"

In the end poor old Will couldn't deal with it anymore, and shot himself in the cellar.

I think I'd a dispatched the durned parrot instead.

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