Adventures in the Family Tree

The School House Project OR Give Us Your Memories

2012-01-17T16:32:00.000-05:00

The DeKalb County Historical Society (Indiana) is working on school books for the one room county schools. The Committee would like for you to send pictures and personal stories of experiences in the county schools. These can be personal stories, memories from your neighbors or even memories of a teacher or school bus driver.

Stories can be sent to DeKalb County Historical Society, 201 East main Street, Butler, Indiana 46721 or contact chairman, Sharon Zonker.

No story or memory even if it is just one line is insignificant.

Making Connections Mangold - Schmidt - Dearduff

2011-12-18T13:49:00.000-05:00

Recently I met someone who had the same last name of a distant cousin that my father used to visit when I was a very little girl. I remember the house and the farm where this cousin lived in Hartford City, Indiana and had often passed it during my travels for my job. The old farm survived until a few years ago when it was torn down and made way for a mobile home park.

I remarked to this person I met that I had relatives with the same last name as his, but the name was spelled slightly differently. “So where do you ancestors come from?” I asked. “Hartford City,” was his reply. So the conclusion was we were related somehow, or at least our families were connected through marriage. The only problem was I didn’t know how I was related to this family. I only knew that this man my father visited, he called a cousin. So I started searching. First I called an older relative of mine and asked her how we were related to this family. She wasn’t exactly sure, but she guessed at a couple of family names.

Well, it seems that Hartford City is filled with Dearduffs or Deardeuff as spelled by my new friend. I used censuses, death indexes and comparisons as there were several Dearduffs with similar names and I had to deal with spelling mistakes on documents.

It took me a few hours, but I finally made the connection between the Mangold – Schmidt – Dearduff line using the information I remembered and the possibilities my relative presented. That was a satisfying connection and rather fun to research.

Wow - how time flies!

2011-12-13T12:43:00.002-05:00

I apologize that I have not put anything up since July!!! Wow, time flies, and it goes faster as you age. My friend's children were only 5 and 3 yesterday. Today they are 18 and 16. It just can't be. But I'm sure that is how our ancestors thought - "Wow, when did I become old!" - I can hear them saying.
But it happens to everyone unless someone dies young. As genealogists we search out death dates as eagerly as we search out birth dates, but do we ever stop to think that maybe someone someday will be filling in our death date on one of those family group or pedigree sheets. I was watching a movie the other day and there was one scene where a young girl is trapped in a burning house. A young boy makes his way in to save her and she says, "Are we going to die? You can tell me if we are. I'm not afraid." The boy replies, "Yes, we're all going to die. But if it's all the same to you, I prefer it not be today." The boy speaks truth. We are all going to die, but most of us prefer that it not be today. When we do die, what we leave behind us for good or bad is what makes us live after we have left mortality.

This brings up a poem I recently discovered, and I will leave you with it:

How Did You Die?

Did you tackle that trouble that came your way

With a resolute heart and cheerful?

Or hide your face from the light of day

With a craven soul and fearful?

Oh, a trouble's a ton, or a trouble's an ounce,

Or a trouble is what you make it,

And it isn't the fact that you're hurt that counts,

But only how did you take it?

You are beaten to earth? Well, well, what's that?

Come up with a smiling face.

It's nothing against you to fall down flat,

But to lie there -- that's disgrace.

The harder you're thrown, why the higher you bounce;

Be proud of your blackened eye!

It isn't the fact that you're licked that counts,

It's how did you fight -- and why?

And though you be done to the death, what then?

If you battled the best you could,

If you played your part in the world of men,

Why, the Critic will call it good.

Death comes with a crawl, or comes with a pounce,

And whether he's slow or spry,

It isn't the fact that you're dead that counts,

But only how did you die?

-- Edmund Vance Cooke (1866-1932)

The National Archives, Washington DC - Part 2

2011-07-03T15:59:00.001-04:00

I have returned from vacation and my first trip doing research at the National Archives.
What advice can I give?

1. Prepare in advance exactly what it is you want to accomplish at the NA. Go to the NA website and look at what is available. This will let you plan and prepare your visit. Some things are not available at the DC site and archivists will suggest you visit or write to another facility. That can be a great disappointment when you have been anticipating your moment amongst the greatest deposit of federal information in the United States.

2. A free shuttle service is available to College Park, Maryland facility from the DC NA site, but it is about a 1-2 hour ride.one-way.

3. Be prepared to be searched, logged in and enumerated upon entry to the site. Then you will have to apply for a research card. Before being issued a research card you will be required to watch a short power point presentation and fill out a form. You will need this research card every time you enter a different room. You will also need to log in every time you enter a room.

4. The room where you watch the power point presentation and get your research card is a useful spot to get to understand the protocol of the place. Archivist/librarians and aides are there to help. They will generally steer you towards the computers to get all the preliminary information you need to access actual archives. I wanted to see civil war records of an ancestor. Before requesting the records I had to know his company and unit number. I obtained this on their computers which brings me to ....

5. The program on the computer is ancestry.com. But not just your in-home version of it. This is an industrialized version of ancestry.com - like the difference between a jumbo jet and a cessna, a blender and a Vitamix, one rose in a bud vase, and two dozen red roses wrapped in cellophane and tied with a satin ribbon.

My friend who was with me subscribes to ancestry.com at home. She was able to find things on the NA version of ancestry.com that she never found in her home version. It just doesn't sound right to me, but it is so. My experience was similar.

5. All records have to be requested on a form and submitted. There are certain times when archives are pulled (obviously called "pull times"). These are listed on the NA website. You can request a record and if there is a significant wait before the next pull time you can leave the building and return later. You will have to go through the security procedures again.

6. Only certain things are allowed in the archive rooms. These are enumerated on the NA website. Lockers with a refundable 25 cent deposit are available to stow extra gear. No purses or camera cases are allowed. Be sure to not take anything that won't be allowed. You will just have to turn around and return to the lockers which are on the ground floor.
All personal papers will be stamped by employees to distinguish them from archive documents.

7. Upon leaving for the day, you may want to put all your papers into a "green bag". These are obtained in the reception room where you watched the power point presentation. Librarians will put your papers into a green bag and lock it. This prevents security personnel from having to search all of your papers on the way out. You give the green bag to security. They unlock it and return your papers to you.

8. If you don't understand anythiing - ASK! Personnel are more than willing to help and they understand that many people are new every minute.

9. Once your first day is over you will have a better idea of how things work and you won't feel so clumsy the next time. But if you only remember one thing from all this, go back to #1. Use the NA website and PREPARE!

How about getting to the National Archives. The National Archives is within easy walking distance of the train station. My friend an I were staying in Manassas, Virginia and took a Virginia Railway Express commuter train into DC. The round trip was $16.90. She had prepared with a map of downtown DC and found the National Archives was a straight walk of about 5 blocks north from the L'Enfant metro train station.

I had made reservations on recreation.gov for $3 to save us standing in line to see the other side of the National Archives where the founding documents of this country are housed in the rotunda area. We easily made our tour of the Declaration of Independence and other documents while our records were being pulled on the other side of the building.

It was fun and educational to go to the National Archives, but I understand now a little better why it isn't always necessary to go there in person. So many things are available digitally now, that much work can be done from your own home. I plan to go to the NA again, but next time, I will make sure I am much better prepared and with an exact plan of what it is I want to research.

The National Archives, Washington D. C.

2011-04-21T16:38:00.000-04:00

This coming summer ( I hope it comes soon. I'm tired of winter.) I am visiting a friend in Pennsylvania. We are going to make a special trip to D. C. to visit the National Archives and do some genealogy work. I have wanted to visit the National Archives for years. I am very excited, but know that preparation is a must for this trip or I'll be completely discombobulated upon entering the doors of this national treasure.

If you have ever visited or know anything about the National Archives, please leave a comment with any tips/suggestions for visiting this place and doing genealogy work.

Thank you!

Thankful Thursday - February Reflections

2011-03-10T13:23:00.000-05:00

February marks the anniversaries of my parents' deaths. There is not a day that goes by that I do not think of them. I miss them. I am grateful for their life and that they taught me so many things. I look forward to seeing them again someday.

The Indiana State Digital Archives

2011-03-03T12:38:00.000-05:00

I'm always happy when I can find something online rather than having to actually get in my car and go somewhere for a record. In this case, I was able to find online that the State of Indiana had some records of an ancestral relative. Of course, no details were given other than the nature of the record, so I called up the State Archives and talked personally with someone there who was able to pull the record eventually. They say they get hundreds of requests a week and are hard put to stay current with all of them since there are a limited number of people working. Anyway, I have to mail in $14 for a copy of all the records. It would cost me a lot more than that if I had to drive there and search for the record myself. I applaud all efforts to get records online, or even just the indexes to records.

I hope to share this particular ancestor's story in future blogs.

Tombstone Tuesday - Tombstone Trail planning for 2011

2011-01-18T17:11:00.000-05:00

In an earlier post I told you about the Tombstone Trail tours of DeKalb and Noble Counties, Indiana. The tour is being expanded for this year. If you have any suggestions for the trail please see trail organizer John Bry. He is the director of the Noble County Convention & Visitors Bureau and organized the trail in conjunction with the DeKalb County Convention & Visitors Bureau.

Merry Christmas

2010-12-25T19:23:00.000-05:00

Merry Christmas everyone!

Tombstone Tuesday - Tombstone Trail

2010-11-09T06:00:00.000-05:00

"This is the nation's first tour dedicated solely to celebrating lives and stories as told through the historic cemeteries of DeKalb and Noble Counties (Indiana)."

The tours are over for this year, but you can always do the self-guided tour.

Go to their website and download the press kit to read more.

Wordless Wednesday - Julius Beyer 1935

2010-10-06T08:49:00.002-04:00

Julius Beyers

1935

Fruit and Vegetable Delivery Truck

Sentimental Sunday - Rural Retail bread delivery

2010-10-03T01:00:00.001-04:00

Hello Everyone, I apologize to my readers for being so long between posts. I have been occupied with other things and have not been doing much genealogy. However, today I went to the cemetery to make photographs. A bakery truck passed by and I began to reminisce about bread delivery to our house when I was a little girl. When only one car per family was the norm and it was used by the man of the house for getting to and from work, free home delivery of goods was normal. In some places grocery delivery is still available, but usually only under special circumstances and it is now a paid service.

We used to have milk delivery, which a lot of people remember, but we also had besides the "milkman", a "breadman". I used to love when he came to the house, because he always carried a tray full of delightful treats besides bread - pastries and donuts mostly. I loved chocolate donuts. I remember him placing the tray down on the floor at my level and kneeling down to show me all the different goodies. Two incidents that stick out in my mind were:

1. One day after the breadman left, my mom called the company to complain that the breadman had been drunk when he came to the house.

2. My mom bought two packages of chocolate cookies one time that she had never tried before. I think they were a new product. They were horrible. No one would eat them and when a child doesn't eat a chocolate cookie freely given, you know it is bad. It was not that they were just bad tasting, there was something wrong with them. My mother wrote a letter to the company complaining that even the dog wouldn't eat them. To her surprise the company wrote back apologizing saying they think that she might have gotten some that were made right around when they were having problems with a tank of chocolate. They gave her coupons for free cookies.

We had a friendly milkman. I still have fond memories of the man. The milk company would sometimes have special promotions and I remember one time that he brought a puppet for us.

A salesperson's job is to solve problems for a customer and our milkman did just that. My older teenage brother drank copious amounts of milk. My mother kept increasing the number of gallons she ordered, but it never seemed to last until the next delivery. My mom mentioned the enormous amount he drank to the milkman one day and he told my mother that she could buy the milk in 2-3 gallon plastic containers that sat in the refrigerator and had a dispenser on them, so they never had to be poured. From then on we had 2 large containers of milk delivered every week.

We had a German Shepherd dog that had the most acute sense of hearing. We lived 1.2 miles from the intersection where the milkman turned onto our road. We always knew when the milkman made that turn, because our dog would start barking. In about 15-20 minutes after he made his other deliveries we knew to put our dog away because he would be turning into our driveway any second.

Another time I told the milkman about the kittens my cat had just had and I uncovered a box to show him. The momma cat did not like that and hissed at him.

These are just a few recollections that probably mean something only to me. Does anyone else remember bread delivery? Or what other types of deliveries were there to your home? Any reminisces on home delivery?

Sorting Saturday - Scanning Transparencies or Slides

2010-10-02T08:00:00.002-04:00

About two to three years ago I bought a new scanner at Staples, one that had an attachment for doing transparencies or slides and negatives. For those of you too young to remember, transparencies, or commonly called slides, were a type of still picture beamed onto a screen with an overhead projector for viewing. These were very common in the mid-to-late 20th century before digital photography.

My father loved using the slide format because he was able to share his travel photos with a larger audience at once, rather than have them gathered around a scrap book. With an overhead projector he could make a presentation and reminisce about his travels to an interested group. He even converted many photographs to slides that he had taken before switching to the transparency format all together.

When he died, I inherited the family photograph collection including about 2 dozen reels of slides or more. I haven't counted lately. My siblings and I wanted to digitize this collection, but the quoted price was beyond what we wanted to pay. So I dusted off the attachment to my scanner to see what it would do. I had never looked at the attachment when I first bought it, but now I realized that the attachment only did 4 slides at a time. FOUR slides! According to my calculations I had about 3000 slides. Scanning 4 slides a day would take me about 2 years to finish.

So I started in, 4 slides at a time. I have been doing more than 4 a day. I started at the beginning of this year and am already about half way through.

I have learned that the attachment has a limited space in which to scan the slide and some slides are larger than the allotted space. To compensate for that I have had to scan some slides more than once in order to get the full picture. These duplicate scans will then have to be pieced together in a photo editing software to make one large photo. I haven't done that yet. Many times, just turning the slide 90 degrees in the attachment will be sufficient to get a decent scan in one picture.

I scan my slides in TIF format. TIF is a stable format that does not lose detail with each opening of the photo. It takes longer to scan in TIF than it does in jpg, but the stability is worth the few extra seconds.

My scanner is an old one, no longer being made - an Epson V200. I think it cost me about $90 or less. I remember it was on sale. It has served well and has been easy to use. If it continues to serve well up until I just get all my slides scanned it will have been worth the money. The quoted price to us for scanning the slides by a "professional" was, I think, about $1 per slide.

I'm back

2010-07-02T18:15:00.001-04:00

Well, hello everyone. Back from a wonderful vacation. I have had time to reflect on my priorities in life and things in general. One thing I have thought is that I am way on the internet more than I care to be and I have decided to decrease my internet presence. That means less blogging. I am not abandoning my blogs, but be aware that if I don't post often it is because I am taking care of other priorities. Genealogy is still a priority for me, just not blogging.

On Vacation - See You Soon!

2010-06-06T07:00:00.001-04:00

Visit New Hampshire

Madness Monday - In Memoriam

2010-05-31T07:00:00.000-04:00

For Memorial Day I pay homage to all those brave men and women who fought and oftentimes died in the madness of war.

This sheet of soldiers dates from World War 2. My father was an officer and I am not sure, but these may be photos of men under his command.

Tombstone Tuesday - Vidstone

2010-05-25T07:00:00.000-04:00

I thought this would be a great entry for Tombstone Tuesday. I cut this out of a newspaper 5 years ago. You can go to the company's website here.

I remember the first time I was introduced to photographs on headstones. It was years ago in South America. I thought it was not only tasteless, but spooky. I no longer hold that opinion. Chalk it up to youth and ignorance.

But I think these video memorials are the up and coming thing and are a wonderful innovation. What a great way to show the world your loved one's life. I often think that when youth visit graveyards, they look at it as well - a graveyard - people they don't know and don't care about. I don't look at it that way. I look at it like a city - a city of the departed where you can visit those who walked your way before you. In Cairo, Egypt is a famous graveyard called the City of the Dead. This place is huge and probably contains more people than Cairo itself. I remember seeing this City of the Dead while passing by on a bus. I was amazed at the size. "City of the Dead" for that graveyard or any is apropos.

When Vidstone becomes popular enough maybe we should start calling the graveyards - Cities of the living dead - all right, I concede. I'm just getting weird here. It sounds like a horror flick. But all jokes aside, I like vidstones. I hope someday I can share in the joy of someone else's loved one's life by seeing their video tribute on the stone.

Surname Saturday - Breedlove

2010-05-22T07:00:00.001-04:00

I do not have the Breedlove surname in my pedigree, but I bring up the name today, because I just like the name. I was first introduced to it when I made many a trip through Marion, Indiana and saw the name posted on a business sign. I always knew I was in Marion when I saw that sign ahead of me along the road.

I looked up the history of the name and it is different from the modern English connotation. If you have Breedloves in your family history, more likely they were wolf hunters, rather than great lovers.

Go here for Breedlove Family History.

Tombstone Tuesday - Merrit E. and Malinda O. Shaw

2010-05-18T07:00:00.000-04:00

Born Vermont
Died Lee County, Iowa

Follow Friday - RootsMagic

2010-05-14T07:00:00.002-04:00

I have been looking for a new genealogy program for a while. Not actively seeking, but keeping it in mind as I have looked at different ones. I even received some free trial software from some companies, but I have always hesitated buying new because the genealogy program I had been using has a great price - free. I couldn't beat that, but it is no longer being updated and over the years has not kept pace with new innovations in genealogy software out there.

So after RootsMagic started sponsoring Lisa Louise Cooke's Genealogy Gems podcast, she said you could download a full version of it for free with unlimited time use, (just a few things missing from the full version). So I did, plus their 30-day trial of Personal Historian.

It only took me about a day of using both that I realized here was the genealogy software program that I was looking for. So I bought it, plus Personal Historian, plus GenSmarts. I don't have GenSmarts yet. It comes on a cd. There is no online download for it.

So far I am quite pleased with both RootsMagic and Personal Historian. They are not too expensive - $30 each which I thought fairly reasonable.

I haven't tried everything on them yet, but the thing I am enjoying most about RootsMagic is the abiity to document and make notes for everything. I missed that in my other online program.

What I like about Personal Historian is the ability to make timelines from downloaded historical events and to add my own. This helps me flesh out a person and their life. I have been looking for such a program for a long time online. The only one I ever found was Our TimeLines and although it is free, I wasn't too fond of it. You have very little control over what events show and many of their events were not relevant to the life of the individual I was researching. With Personal Historian I can decide what events to show or not. Also the timeline events with Personal Historian come in what are called "LifeCapsules" and are categorized according to the types of events you want to show such as "Industrial Revolution", "British History", "Epidemics", "Inventions", etc.

I read some of the reviews at Amazon.com of RootsMagic and some people complained that the program was not "intuitive", in other words they found it difficult to use without instructions. I don't know what those people had been using before, but I jumped right into it and so far have had very little problem. If I do have a problem I just look up the instructions included in the program.

The only thing I haven't tried to use yet is the RootsMagic Chart. This program allows you to make your own customized genealogy charts. It looks like a drawing program and I haven't tackled it yet.

I am happy with what I have tried so far with the program and recommend it to others.

Treasure Chest Thursday - Christian's teeth

2010-05-13T07:00:00.000-04:00

First of all, I apologize for the lousy photograph. I couldn't get a good picture of this. I'll keep trying and if I succeed I'll post a new photo.

In a previous blog post I wrote about this ancestor's teeth. And here they are. They are in an old morphine bottle tied with a black bow. I am guessing the black bow is a mourning remnant from Christan Mangold's funeral.

You can see the teeth through the bottle, but not very well in this photo. I have never opened the bottle because the cork is probably original and it is pushed below the level of the bottle top. I would have to destroy the cork to open it and I don't want to do that, although I have toyed with the idea of a DNA test with them.

I have upon occasion remarked that on resurrection day when it comes Christian's turn to be resurrected I'm going to say, "Wait, Lord, I got his teeth!"

Wordless Wednesday - 3 children on horseback

2010-05-12T00:01:00.000-04:00

This is a good candidate for Wordless Wednesday because it is unidentified.
The two children to the right are girls and a boy is to the left. The girls are dressed in sailor suits and the boy is wearing what looks like a dress shirt with bibs and a newsboy hat.
The rest is pure conjecture on my part since I don't know a lot about fashions.
I think the photo is late 19th to early 20th century because of their clothing. Sailor suits were popular in the mid-18th century, but newsboy hats became popular later in that century.
They are indeed in their finery and perched upon fine horses in front of a fine-looking house. I think this family must have been at least moderately well-to-do.
My best guess is this a branch of the Nessel family taken somewhere in central Indiana possibly around Arcadia or Noblesville.

Tombstone Tuesday - Charlotte and David Nessel

2010-05-11T13:24:00.005-04:00

Here rests in God David son of Johann and Charlotte Nessel
born July 10, 1871
died May 27, 1901

Here rests in God Charlotte wife of Johann Nessel
born November 3, 1828
died June 4, 1901

Zion Evangelical Lutheran Cemetery

Fairfield Township, DeKalb County, Indiana

On Vacation Soon

2010-05-11T07:48:00.002-04:00

I apologize to all my readers for the lack of posts here. I am going on vacation soon and will be busy this month and next. I'll try to get some posts up between doing other things.

Sentimental Sunday - Happy Mother's Day

2010-05-09T14:49:00.002-04:00

Ruth Workman Nessel
1921-2004

And say to mothers what a holy charge
Is theirs - with what a kingly power their love
Might rule the fountains of the new-born mind.

Follow Friday - Witter's Deutsch Englische Schrieb und Lese Bibel

2010-04-23T09:40:00.003-04:00

For those of you who are interested in old German handwriting I suggest a 95-page publication by the Indiana German Heritage Society titled Witter's Deutsch Englische Schrieb und Lese Bibel.

I bought this at the Fort Wayne Oktoberfest a few years ago for $7, but the Society's website is showing it for $5.

This book is a reprint of Witter's 1881 edition of German - English Primer. The German immigrants who came to the United States made an effort to hold on to their native tongue and culture by providing German education for their children, but in 1919 with the United States just coming out of World War 1 this educational practice was put to a stop when the Indiana General Assembly forbade the teaching of German in school. You will read about this in the introductory notes to this reprint.

I have found this book to be invaluable in reading and deciphering old German handwriting and for learning how to write it myself. The book deals with both written script and printed.

As the title suggests this is a German - English primer so words are both in German and English. I have a knowledge of German and a basic knowledge of German script so I find the book easy to use, but for those who know nothing about German it might be a little more challenging because even though words are in English, you might not understand the German enough to know what the letters are in script. A German dictionary at your side will be helpful in this case, so that you can see the German words in modern print.

This book has helped me to understand and more readily read even the modern handwriting of my German friends which has a distinctive characteristic look different from here in the United States even though the alphabet is the same.

For $5 or even 7 I find it well worth the price and it supports the Indiana German Heritage Society.

Wordless Wednesday - Florinda Friend

2010-04-21T08:53:00.003-04:00

HeadstoneHunter.com

2010-04-20T14:24:00.003-04:00

Does anyone know what happened to the site HeadstoneHunter.com? This site used to be a very handy site of volunteers who took photographs of gravestones at the request of people searching their genealogy. I hadn't been to the site in some time and now that I go there I get redirected to a yellow pages for monument dealers.
Did it die?
Fade away from lack of volunteers or interest?
Move?
Get swallowed up in another website?
If you know, please leave a message.

Things to take to the Genealogy Library

2010-04-20T10:47:00.005-04:00

Getting to the Fort Wayne Library for me is not a long drive, but it does take planning so that when I get there, I don't think "Oh, I forgot to bring _____________. My time is going to be wasted, or I won't be able to do the work I planned." So here is my list of things to remember to bring when making a trip to any genealogy library.

1. Paper and pen or pencil
2. Flash drive, Flash drive, flash drive!
3. Camera - I like to get through as many books as I can when I get to the library and leave the sorting and musing to when I get home. Taking photos of book entries is a lot easier and faster than photocopying or writing out every little sentence. With a digital camera I can make sure the photo is in focus immediately. I also take a picture of the title page of the book so I know where the entries are found.
4. Computer - Although I hate to carry around that laptop, it is a lot easier to look up names, dates and places in my genealogy database than my actual printed pedigree.
5. Printed genealogy information. Sometimes things just go wrong. Maybe all the computer spots are taken, or there is a problem with connection, or your computer has chosen this moment to die. Having your printed genealogy is a great backup for those times.
6. Because I hate to carry things, I'd rather pull them, so a luggage carrier or rolling suitcase with all my things neatly arranged inside. I learned this trick just yesterday when I saw someone else doing it. I have a nice little rolling backpack that I bought at a thrift shop long time ago that is now repurposed for just this.

What do you like to take with you for a trip to the genealogy library?

Madness Monday - The Lowe Family

2010-04-19T21:07:00.004-04:00

I have had a bug in my ear lately to search my Lowe connections in southeastern Ohio - Monroe, Belmont and Washington Counties.

John Lowe and Ellender Booth were married in 1845 in Belmont County, Ohio. They lived in Monroe County, Ohio until about 1854 or 1855 when they moved to Wayne County, Illinois. I have successfully tracked them in censuses back to 1860. But when I get to 1850 I can not find them anywhere. I have information that their first six children were born in Monroe County from 1846 to 1851. But NO WHERE can I find any seven of them (minus the one child born in 1851) in the 1850 census. This is maddening! Were they somehow missed? Did they just decide to take a vacation when the census taker came around? Did they greet him at the door with a shotgun? Was the census taker tired that day and decided to skip the last house? Were the records lost?

I have searched under every possible derivative of Lowe and its misspellings from Blow to Lough to Zow. I know that at least three of the first five children survived into adulthood so they have to be somewhere.

UPDATE - I am writing this about 15 minutes later from what I wrote above. I decided on a whim to look up genealogy videos on youtube and this video caught my eye: Get Original Genealogy and Family History Records with FamilySearch New Record Search Pilot site.

So I went to Familysearch.org and tried the 1850 census one more time. There they were!!!!!
Yesterday and earlier today I had tried ancestry.com, Heritage Quest, and the census books for Ohio at the Fort Wayne Library and could find nothing. But there it is on Familysearch and I was able to download the original document in my own home!

This is maddening!

Daniel Boone was a man . . .

2010-04-18T13:58:00.005-04:00

Yes, a big man, with an eye like an eagle and as tall as a mountain was he.

Who remembers that song and television series? I think probably a great many of you. I love that show. And a cute tow-headed boy named Darby Hinton played Daniel's son Israel.

Darby is all grown up now with a family of his own and is bringing history alive once again with his own reality series called Hinton's Living History.

I don't have satellite or cable television, so I have never seen the show, but its premise is something close to my heart. Check out his website and also his introductory video. It looks great.

Me at the reconstructed Fort Boonesborough in Kentucky (It's up the hill from the original site, which is on the river's edge and possibly under water.)

Sentimental Sunday - Family Travel

2010-04-18T08:09:00.005-04:00

My siblings and I having fun in Lordsburg, New Mexico

My father loved to travel and every year our family had an extended vacation somewhere. It was usually a road trip across some country. My father also loved history so most of our vacations centered around historical places. My siblings and I used to joke that we had been to more battlefields than any soldier ever. Battlefields, mind you, not battles. As a child you don't realize the importance of many of the places and things you experience even though my father tried to emphasize them to us. It wasn't until becoming an adult I realized, "Oh my gosh! I was there. I remember that place. Why didn't I look more carefully? Or experience more deeply?"

I have fond memories of growing up on the road. I loved road trips and still do. I remember my father's enthusiasm and my mother's often lack of. I had a lot of fun on those road trips and always think of them as adventurous, discovering what was over the next hill. My father always liked to take the path less beaten, so we avoided main highways and usually drove over the secondary roads through countryside and villages. He would make a detour to see any historical monument. I loved it all. I had a grand opportunity to see much of this country and others before globalization tended to standardize and homogenize the world, erasing some of its cultural distinctions. Diversity then was a way of life, not a political agenda.

We went looking for the legend, the fairy tale and the distant past and often found it. We saw the Pied Piper in Hamelin, Germany; we found Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in the Black Forest, El Cid in Spain, Billy the Kid in New Mexico, George Washington at Valley Forge, and Juan Ponce de León in Florida; we discovered silver in Mexico, copper in Arizona and gold in Alaska. I sat in the same church in Germany where my ancestors decided to join their neighbors in emigrating to a new land together. I walked the streets of my ancestral home.

I learned at an early age that history is alive and vibrant. I touched the hands of my father, who touched the hands of his father and so on way back into the ages of long ago. Today I say I walk with ghosts, for all those who have touched my life, alive or dead. I remember them and I remember being with them if only in spirit.

Wordless Wednesday - John and Elenor Booth

2010-04-14T16:13:00.005-04:00

This is a chalk drawing done in the days of itinerant artists who went door-to-door before popular photography to make a likeness of your family for a fee.

I took this photograph of the chalk drawing many years ago while visiting a Foraker relative who owned the original chalk drawing and who has since died. I do not know who inherited her genealogy treasures.

At the time, she identified the couple as John and Elenor Booth. The closest match to this name I have in my pedigree is John Lowe and Ellender Booth married 1845 April 10. They lived in both Ohio and Illinois.

If any one knows anything about this couple or the drawing, please send me a message.

Sentimental Sunday - Clara Foraker Workman

2010-04-11T12:44:00.006-04:00

Clara Foraker Workman was an accomplished pie maker. Her kitchen was often seen to be in the midst of making pies. She earned money with her pie making ability. She used to sell them to restaurants in the Fort Madison, Iowa area. Restaurant managers would call her on the phone and request a certain number of pies and what type and she would have them ready on the set day for their customers.

Surname Saturday - Steinmetz

2010-04-10T16:06:00.004-04:00

Whenever I think of the surname Steinmetz, I think of Josephine, one of my ancestors who came to the United States from France via New Orleans. She was my first introduction to this interesting surname.

The furthest I have gotten back on her line was to her grandfather Jean Steinmetz of Gumbrechtshoffen of the Alsace region of France where he was born in 1765.

Steinmetz literally translates as "stone mason", but a stein can also mean a beer mug or a kernel, the core of a fruit.

Some people may at first mistake Steinmetz for a Jewish name, but actually it is a German name. France is traditionally a Catholic nation, however, according to rootweb.com history in 1807 Gumbrechtshoffen was 43% Catholic and 55% Lutheran with the remaining 2% other religions.

Were the Steinmetz's Catholic or Lutheran? I am making an educated guess at Lutheran as they eventually settled in a predominantly Lutheran community and their descendants were Lutheran.

The history of Gumbrechtshoffen is sketchy on the internet. In the twelfth century it was the property of the dukes of Lorraine and the landgraves of Alsace. "Landgraves" is a nobility title.
The heraldic shield is a gold lion on a blue background.

Photographs and some history can be seen at the following:

The Lutheran church of Gumbrechtshoffen

Scenes of Gumbrechtshoffen

Scenes and history

Historically the town was a mixture of German and French roots and still is today.

You can see a list of interesting Steinmetz names here.

I'm My Own Grandpa

2010-04-05T10:24:00.004-04:00

My father always enjoyed silly humor and Ray Stevens' songs were in that category. I still enjoy getting a good laugh from Ray Stevens. I recently learned of a song by him called "I'm My Own Grandpa". I link to one video of it in the title here, but you can go to youtube.com and search for it. A lot of different videos will come up featuring that song.

Give it a listen and try to sort out the relationships. It's silly and fun.

If you do not know who Ray Stevens is and you enjoy silly humor you are in for a treat. There are lots of other videos up of his as well. I enjoy listening to them as well.

How has knowing your genealogy influenced your life?

2010-04-02T21:00:00.007-04:00

Almost all of the persons interviewed in the episodes of Who Do You Think You Are say the same thing after discovering their family history - "This has changed who I thought I was." Really? In what way? Are you not the same person you were before searching your roots? Does an apple tree start producing pears if it suddenly finds itself grafted onto pear tree roots when all along it thought - I'm an apple tree. I have apple roots.

I'm sure that the producers insist that somewhere in their search, the celebrities avouch these very words, thus to tie in to the show's title, but I think better their words should convey how discovering their family history will now have an influence on their life. Will they become a better person because of it? Or are they ashamed of what they found? Not just them, but any of us. Before passing judgement on our ancestors' lives for good or ill, we should look to our own lives. Is my life bringing honor to my ancestors and what they have provided for me? We all walk paths paved with the sweat and blood of all those who have gone before us, ancestor or not. Are we worthy to walk that path? Are we honoring that path?

Which takes me right back to the poem in my very first post on this blog.

If You Could See Your Ancestors

If you could see your ancestors,
All standing in a row,
Would you be proud of them,
Or don't you really know?

Some strange discoveries are made
In climbing family trees;
And some of them, you know,
Do not particularly please.

If you could see your ancestors,
All standing in a row,
There might be some of them, perhaps,
You wouldn't care to know.

But there's another question
Which requires a different view ...
If you could "meet" your ancestors,
Would they be proud of you?

Author Unknown

Finally my question is - How has knowing or discovering your family tree influenced your life?

I would appreciate any comments with your answers to that question.

For myself this is a difficult question to answer, because I have known for most of my life my ancestral pedigree. Of course, in doing research over the years, my knowledge has broadened, but I have always known more or less where my ancestors came from, who they were and what they were. I feel as if I were born for this work. From the age of about twelve I started doing genealogy. My father was always big on family and had some records to start me on my journey. I have expanded these over the years through research. And for my mother's family, I was able to tie into someone else's extensive research at an early age, so I grew up with an awareness of my family tree on both sides.

So to ask how has it influenced my life is difficult to answer, because I don't know what it is like not knowing my tree. Certainly I have a sense of family, probably more so than my siblings, as I know the branches and distant relatives that they don't.

In watching the episode of Who Do You Think You Are with Matthew Broderick I could see a change in him as he came to learn of and gain an appreciation of his grandfathers' selfless military service, but how that influenced his life from then on is something that wasn't or couldn't be shared in such a limited media.

But I think Brooke Shields stated the influence on her life best when she said, "Being able to find yourself in the grand scheme of things, there's something very empowering about it. By going on this journey I feel more complete as a person. It has been very freeing to me . . . I do feel part of something bigger."

Yes, you realize you are not alone in the world. You are part of something bigger - a plan. That is empowering. That knowledge can strengthen us as we go about our day-to-day lives, dealing with the hardships and heartaches of life. We know that our family has dealt with the same things before us. All of our lives are part of something bigger a whole secession of "bigger". We all come to this earth for a reason. And part of that reason is played out in the families to which we come. Don't underestimate your value or your purpose to your family ahead of you and behind you.

Who do you think you are?

2010-03-20T08:16:00.004-04:00

Sounds like a playground taunt to me, but actually it is a new television series on NBC based on a BBC show of the same name. Each show takes a celebrity on a genealogical hunt through their pedigree. So far it does not seem to be causing a genealogical fervor as Roots did so many years ago, but it may yet gain momentum. So far only three episodes have aired and I have watched each one of them. I have mixed feelings about the show. For good or bad, here is my take on it:

1. I am not a celebrity watcher. I border on anathema towards such. I resent anything that presents a celebrity telling me what I should eat, wear, say, do, what to ask my doctor, or who to vote for, however I have hoped to overcome my prejudice and look at this show as about family history, not celebrities. The stories are and can be interesting and I know that the celebrity factor is to draw viewers. I think you could probably take any ordinary citizen and find something interesting in their family history, but there might not be as many viewers for that. For us genealogists we would probably watch no matter who was in the spotlight, but the celebrity factor draws people who otherwise might not watch.

2. The program distorts the actual process of genealogy research. It would be nice if all of us searching our family tree could walk into an archive and immediately talk to a professional genealogist who pulls out the correct book that gives you the information you have been seeking. Or you happen to walk into a store in an old family town and right off find a second cousin thrice removed who tells you where to go next. Or best of all, travel to all those places where your ancestors originated no matter how far away and find distant cousins or old family friends. Yesssirrreee, wouldn't we all love to be able to do that. But usually there is no one that is or even can be so helpful. Even professional genealogists hit brick walls. Oftentimes our time doing research is hours sitting in front of a screen searching barely legible documents and finding nothing and going on to the next film. Or pulling dusty books off of shelves hoping, between sneezes, that each one will give you some little clue to what you are searching. We even spend time learning the basics of a foreign language so that we can read those barely legible documents. And is it really necessary to travel to the places where your ancestors came from? Any genealogist will tell you that with the onset of the internet - NO. It is nice, and sometimes it is helpful, but it is not necessary. Emails and letters can often do what we can't do when we can't physically go to a place.

3. The specific programs:
a. Sarah Jessica Parker - Hers is a story of America, specifically the United States from the Salem Witch Trials to the California Gold Rush.
b. Emmit Smith - Reviews said that his was the most compelling story in the series. I have to disagree. Yes, it is a tragic story, but ultimately it is about a woman who succeeded in bringing a better life to her offspring than what she had and that is the story of all families - parents working for a better life for their children. I am glad that they did show the part in Africa where they told about modern-day slavery. Too often people think of slavery as only part of the American past, but slavery has been a part of every people and every nation of every age and still exists in many forms today.
c. Lisa Kudrow - To me, so far hers is the most compelling story. Whereas Emitt's story was of life, Lisa's story was of death, specifically murder and torture. I nearly cried along with her when she visited the scene of her great-grandmother's unconscionable murder along with a village full of people at the hands of Nazis, and when she found her father's cousin still alive and with his own family I cried yet again.

4. What I like about the program is the history. Finding the stories behind the names of our ancestors personalizes the past. It brings the events that have shaped our lives closer to us and we can connect to who we are and where we came from. It helps us to know our selves a little better because of knowing our past. By watching this process in others, perhaps we and maybe those who may not previously have been interested in genealogy will see the value in it and start researching their own family history. Perhaps they will find something that will help them to cope with their own life.

Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center, Fort Wayne, Indiana

2010-01-24T15:38:00.004-05:00

In a previous entry I wrote about the Allen County Genealogy Library, Fort Wayne, Indiana. Since then I have found the Genealogy Center's own website with the orientation video that I couldn't find earlier.

If you plan on going this video and website will be a good introduction to get yourself ready for the event.

Steeb cousins, New York

2009-06-27T19:32:00.007-04:00

I don't know much about these photos. They were included in Elisabeth Mangold Nessel's photo album. They are related somehow as a cousin and lived in New York. Winford Nessel had a middle name of Steeb. He said he was named after these cousins.

The one on the bottom right (looking right) is named Jacob.

Calling all Richland Township former school students

2009-04-28T10:17:00.003-04:00

Bob Friend with some other former students has organized a reunion for all students who attended Richland Township, Dekalb County, Indiana schools. The reunion will be held in Waterloo in June 2009.
For further information you can join the Richland Township yahoo group at:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Rich_Twp_Schools/

George E. Friend

2009-04-28T10:09:00.004-04:00

George E. Friend passed away Monday, April 13, 2009. He outlived his wife, my Aunt Virginia, by just over two years. His brother Stanley was with him when he died.

George Friend, 1919 - 2009

CORUNNA — George Friend, 89, of Corunna died Monday, April 13, 2009, at his home.

He was a graduate of Waterloo High School with the class of 1937.

Mr. Friend worked for General Electric in Fort Wayne before being drafted to the U.S. Army where he served during World War II. When he returned from the service, he went to work for Warner Gear in Auburn as a machinist for 30 years, retiring in 1975.

He was a member of the Zephyrhills Wesleyan Church in Zephyrhills, Fla., where he spent most of his winters. He was a former member of the Corunna United Brethren Church where he taught a Sunday School class for many years. He also volunteered his time by mowing the church yard for nearly 30 years.

He was a devoted husband, and the best of dads. He loved each of his grandchildren dearly and they brought him much joy. He enjoyed good food and playing cards. He also had a special love for animals.

He was born June 15, 1919, to Emery and Mattie (Knox) Friend.

He married Virginia Woolever on May 25, 1946, in Waterloo. She passed away on April 5, 2007.

He was also preceded in death by his parents; a brother, Jairus Friend; and a sister, Irene Myers.

Surviving are a son and daughter-in-law, Lee and Sharon Friend; a daughter and son-in-law, Bonnie and Jerry Blastick; five grandchildren, Joe Blastick, Kim and Marc Klein, Brian Blastick, Stephanie Friend and her companion, Chris Thornbro, and Andy Friend; a brother, Stanley Friend; and a brother-in-law, Eugene Woolever.

Private family services were held Thursday, April 16, at Feller Funeral Home, 875 S. Wayne St., Waterloo, with the Rev. Richard Pickard officiating. Burial took place in Corunna Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be directed to the Corunna Volunteer Fire Department or the DeKalb Humane Shelter at Butler.

Bob's comments re George 4-16-09

Bob's Comments at Uncle George's Funeral_ 4-16-09 (Word doc.)

Dear Family and Selected Friends--

It was good to see those of you who were able to attend George's funeral yesterday, April 16. Attached is a Word doc. with the comments I made at the funeral (also see text below if you cannot open Word). I would like to express my thanks to Rev. Richard Pickard for his services and heartfelt words at the ceremony and also to those other family members who helped us remember what a fine human being George E. Friend was.

Also please find attached eleven (11) photos I shot at the luncheon afterwards at the Railroad Inn in Garrett -- the same place we all celebrated George and Virginia's 60th wedding anniversary almost three years ago. Thank you, Lee/Sharon and Bonnie/Jerry, for hosting this fine meal. Just too bad ol' George could not have had some of that pie!

--Bob

My Comments at Uncle George's Funeral

- April 16, 2009 -

by Robert E. Friend

NOTE: Other family members also said wonderful things about George at the ceremony. In order to likewise keep my own comments reasonably brief, I concentrated on some experiences shared on one trip to Florida . I think I will forever remember George’s upbeat attitude and sense of humor above anything else. --R.E.F.

It has now been a little over 15 years since Christmas 1993, just after which my son Jon (then 13) and I got into my Hyundai Sonata and headed to Zephyrhills, Florida -- where Uncle George and his beloved wife Virginia spent their winters. Their trailer was not huge or super-fancy, but it suited their needs. Jonathan and I bunked down in the living room for four or five nights.

Now, George was a sensible and mature adult, but I think we all know that, at heart, he was just a big kid -- and we loved him for that. Jon could not be here today, but I spoke with him a few days ago and he told me he still remembers all the little adventures we shared with George and Virginia that week, for example:

They both had clunky bicycles, with extras for guests, so we all biked together to a local Burger King for lunch. (George especially liked those dollar-Whopper days! )

At a local airstrip we watched skydivers. (On a later solo visit I would actually jump out of a plane there myself -- and I presented my aunt and uncle with a little photo album to prove it!)

A nearby orange grove was scheduled for demolition (due to some kind of planned development), so area residents were allowed to pick to their hearts’ content. We gathered plenty of oranges! Cows also roamed that grove, and we all got a kick out of watching them eat -- oranges, small branches, leaves and all -- as foamy citrusy saliva streamed down their chomping jaws.

The four of us had lots of fun on that visit.

George Friend was one of the best uncles (or great-uncles) a kid (or grownup) could ever hope to have. There is so much more I could tell you about him -- and people have said I do tend to “go on” -- but today I just wanted to give you a small glimpse of his humor and playfulness, and his love for his family.

After I’m gone, if I am remembered half as fondly as George Friend -- well, I think I could settle for that. Rest in peace, Uncle George.

William H. Willennar Genealogy Center, Auburn, Indiana

2009-03-15T17:50:00.003-04:00

For local genealogy and historical information try the William H. Willennar Genealogy Center in Auburn, Indiana.

They also take donations of local historical and genealogical interest. I donated my father's copies of the old Corunna newspaper from the late 1800s.

The Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center, Fort Wayne, Indiana

2009-01-07T15:51:00.003-05:00

Some weeks ago I visited the new facility in downtown Fort Wayne of the Allen County Public Library for the first time. You would think that since I live so close that I would have been long before this, but the fact is I had not been there in years, and had only vague memories of the old genealogy department. I was interested to see how new technology and a new building served the genealogy patrons.

In the "old days" a librarian would get your reference materials for you by request. Now everything is self serve. Computers are plentiful and even if you are not an Allen County resident you can still use the computers with a complimentary visitor number. By using the computers you have access to seven online subscription-only databases. The layout of reference materials is according to geographical area for the most part. I especially liked the large bookcases in one area that move on a track at the touch of a fingertip. That allows more inventory. But that also means you have to get the book you want and move so that the next patron can move the cases to access his/her book. And large tables are abundant. That is especially helpful when you are researching several references at once and tend to spread them out before you. The Allen County Public Library has always had a fine reputation for genealogy research and they were careful to keep that reputation in mind during the remodeling.

One thing that always bothered me with the old library was the sore lack of parking areas. Parking was always hit or miss on the street or at one or two nearby small commercial parking lots. Now the library has its own parking garage below the building. A wonderful addition. Nonresidents must pay for them though. Allen County residents have already paid for this building through their taxes.

Before visiting the library I suggest that you plan and research your visit in advance. Otherwise, if you are like me, you can easily get overwhelmed when you walk in. You can search their catalog online, which makes it easy to plan exactly what books and documents you want to research.

You can see a virtual tour of the library here. There used to be a video tour of the Genealogy Center itself on their website, but I can not find it now. Too bad, because it was a great help in orienting me before I ever walked through the doors.

John Christian Mangold 1830-1903

2009-01-07T15:21:00.006-05:00

John Christian Mangold was born 8 September 1830 in Munsingen, Schwabisch, Germany. He was a carpenter by trade in his native Germany. I know this because I have the wooden box that came over with him from the old country that carried his carpentry tools. Sadly, I do not have any of the tools. This box is very heavy, and it must have taken more than one man to lift it when it was filled. The box has written on it "Christian Mangold 1849". Maybe that was the year he immigrated or maybe it was the year he became a carpenter.

One other thing I do have of his is his teeth - not artificial ones, but real ones - in a jar. The jar has written on it "teeth of Christian Mangold 1880". Maybe that is why he does not open his mouth in a smile in the photo above. This is just a weird family heirloom I know. And I don't know the full story behind it. I found the jar one day while sitting at my Father's desk. I asked him what it was and he said, "It is what it says it is - Christian Mangold's teeth". Upon further inquiry he said that he got them from his mother, "because that is the only thing she had left of him when he died!"

By 1857 he had been in the United States long enough to meet and marry Josephine Steinmetz on 11 June 1857 in Noblesville, Hamilton County, Indiana.

The photo above was taken in 1899. He would have been 69 in this photo. Rather a young looking 69 I think.

He died 30 March 1903 in Cicero, Hamilton County, Indiana. The next photo is his death photo only four years later at the age of 73. I do not particularly like death photos, but it is a documentation of history. He still does not look very old even in this.

And here is where his body rests in a graveyard in Hamilton County, Indiana. The woman is one of his daughters. I am not sure which one it is, but I am going to guess that it is Anna Maria.

Brothers Wesley and Edgar Workman

2009-01-04T15:12:00.006-05:00

Here at the Soldier's Circle, Oakland Cemetery, Fort Madison, Iowa lay two brothers. The first served in World War 1, the younger brother served in World War 2.

Edgar George Workman, son of Edgar George Workman and Elizabeth Alida Shaw.

Wesley Wilfred Workman born in Chicago, Illinois, son of Edgar George Workman and Elizabeth Alida Shaw.

Nearby rest the bodies of their parents in the same graveyard.

Why don't they ever smile?

2008-11-20T13:42:00.002-05:00

I cut this comic out of a newspaper years ago. Thought I would share it here for your amusement.

Genealogy and Pod Casting

2008-10-30T19:17:00.003-04:00

My sister came home from visiting friends this summer and said that her friends were all enthusiastic about PodCasts. I had heard of them before, but never looked into them. Lest you think I am talking about alien clones or body snatchers here, let me clarify that a PodCast is a radio or tv show in digital form which can be downloaded from the internet to an IPod or MP3 player or your computer.

After reading an article in one of my genealogy magazines about PodCasts available for free covering the subject of genealogy, I decided to put my unused ITunes software to work and take a look. It is very simple. ITunes software is available for free to download over the internet. Or you may already have it on your computer. Once downloaded, open it up and go to the ITunes store. Once there do a search for "genealogy". It is amazing the wealth of information available, most all for free!

I couldn't begin to listen to all of them, so I started with one of the more popular ones - Genealogy Gems. You can read a short narrative of what each program is about and only download the ones you are interested in, or you can subscribe and your computer will automatically download each new episode as it becomes available.

If you are in need of a little education in certain areas to get past some of those brick walls, I suggest taking a look through all of the genealogy podcasts. You may just find what you need to make the walls come crumbling down.

Election Year 1922

2008-10-24T17:01:00.005-04:00

Since this is election year, I thought this an appropriate entry. Just today, I found this in one of my old scrapbooks. As you can see from the inside of the card on the right, this man is from Corunna.

I like his platform. Sweet, short and to the point. Wish that all candidates these days could be so succinct and to follow such rules.

The Dissolution of a Family Legend

2008-10-19T17:03:00.003-04:00

Way back many years ago I wrote an essay about one of my great grandmothers, Josephine Steinmetz, which I subsequently published on this blog. At the time I wrote that essay it was all I knew about her and what I could surmise. Recently I have had the opportunity with the advent of internet genealogy and the tremendous increase in availability of records, to further research this family legend. And like so many legends there are elements of truth and elements of fiction. It was a sad day to learn that Josephine was not the plucky little 16 year old that stowed aboard a ship and traveled across an ocean to find family, but it was a happy day to finally find the records of her and some of her family as they entered the New World of the United States of America. She was 18 years old accompanied by an older brother, a younger sister and two older relatives, possibly an uncle and aunt, or her father with a third wife. She did land in New Orleans, but with paid passage, no stowing away.

The facts are these: according to records available online Josephine and her family arrived in New Orleans aboard the ship the Henry Grinnell on 19 February 1855 coming from Le Havre, France.

The rest of my information providing background on Germany, France, New Orleans and the Natchez Trace at the time is still valid. Perhaps she did walk the Natchez Trace, but possibly not alone, but in company with her family. And according to later census records she never did speak English. So at least that part is true as well.

The myth is laid to rest. Maybe Josephine is looking down from above, finally knowing that her true story is being told.

The Trailer

2008-10-05T15:37:00.006-04:00

Ruth Workman and Winford Nessel eventually married. For a brief period of time just after marrying they were stationed in Augusta, Georgia. Winford was in the Air Force. Here is Winford pictured beside the trailer that they lived in. A lot of you reading this will recognize this trailer. When Ruth and Winford finally moved back to his farm in Indiana the trailer went with them and his mother lived in this trailer in front of the farm house. When Ruth and Winford moved to Ohio, the trailer went too. When they moved back to the farm in Indiana the trailer went too. Even though they lived in a house with their growing family, Winford still used the trailer as a sort of den. He finally sold it some time in the 1970s. That trailer was classic. I can still picture the interior today with built in furniture made of real wood. The furniture folded away for convenience. There was a small kitchenette, a small restroom with overhead shower and a bedroom in the back. It was perfect for playing in and for hiding Christmas presents. I found my and my siblings' presents one year hidden in the restroom. Winford wasn't too pleased at that.

I would just love to see that trailer one more time. They certainly are not made like that any more.

Ruth as a waitress

2008-10-05T15:30:00.004-04:00

Ruth Workman worked at the Officer's Club at Scott Air Force Base in Illinois as a waitress. Here she is in her waitress uniform as photographed by Major Galley on 21 May 1947.

Ruth and Clara

2008-10-05T15:24:00.003-04:00

This is a photograph of Ruth Workman with her mother Clara Wilmoth. I believe this photograph is dated somewhere around 1947. They are both dressed very nicely and in heels.

Andrew Jackson and Carrie Helena Foraker

2008-10-05T15:15:00.004-04:00

Andrew Jackson Foraker and Carrie Helena Anderson were married 6 March 1892. This photograph was taken on 6 March 1942, their 50th wedding anniversary.

They were married in Morse, Johnson County, Iowa.

On the Foraker Farm

2008-10-05T14:47:00.003-04:00

Here is Andrew Jackson Foraker in his signature hat behind and Paul McCallister on the tractor. Paul is a grandson of AJ through daughter Lola Myrl.

I don't know what type of machine the tractor is pulling, but it looks like some type of harvester, probably for wheat. Look at the neat stacks in the background.

No date is given but probably sometime in the early 1950s.

For you old tractor fans, this is an Allis Chalmer. Look at the hand crank on the front and that long steering rod.

The Foraker clan

2008-10-05T12:40:00.007-04:00

Here is a great family photograph starting with the patriarch and matriarch: Andrew Jackson Foraker and Carrie Helena Anderson Foraker.

Andrew Jackson is standing far left wearing the braces (suspenders) and his hat on the ground.

Standing left to right starting with Andrew is :
Carrie Helena Anderson Foraker
Pete Foraker, AJ and Carrie's son, born 1914, died 1980
Pete's wife, Dorothy Allen Carmack
Lucille Workman, AJ and Carrie's granddaughter by Clara
Arthur Foraker, AJ and Carrie's son, born 1912, died 1962
Lois Weindel, AJ and Carrie's daughter, born 1893 or 1894
Clara Wilmoth Foraker, AJ and Carrie's daughter, born 1895

Bottom row left to right:
Edith Weindel, I believe this is Lois's daughter
Ruth Workman, AJ and Carrie's granddaughter by Clara
Julia Nicholas, AJ and Carrie's granddaughter by Clara
Ray Nicholas (Julia's husband)
Myrl Workman, AJ and Carrie's granddaughter by Clara

The caption on the back of the photo states this was a 4 th of July picnic at AJ's farm near Iowa City, Iowa. I do believe this is the farm that is just outside of West Branch, Iowa as I don't know of any other farm where they lived. During the spring to fall, the family lived on this farm. During the winter they lived in town at West Branch. West Branch is famous for being the birthplace of the US president Herbert Hoover. Today if you go to the Herbert Hoover National Historic site, AJ and Carrie's home in town is now owned by the federal government as part of this Historic site. AJ's and Carrie's home is not open for tours as it is used as a living place for resident employees.
Go to the Herbert Hoover National Historic Site and you will see a photo of Downey Street where AJ and Carrie lived in town.

I am not sure of the year of this photograph, but judging by the age of people photographed I am going to guess around 1938.

I didn't know all of these people, but heard stories, especially of AJ and Carrie. Ruth Workman was very fond of her grandparents, had spent much time on the farm with them and spoke of them often. She remembered Carrie as a "small Quaker woman" who cooked meals at a wood stove enough to feed the farm crew. She put out biscuits every morning.
AJ loved watermelons and ice cream. For the 4th of July he always put watermelons in the bottom of the horse trough to cool them down for eating. He loved his horses and always cared for his team who were essential to the success of the farm. He didn't mind loaning them to someone in need, but he did not want them abused. If they were, you didn't get a second loan.
He also like meadowlarks. If he saw a meadowlark nesting in his field, he always plowed around it.
Just after the noon meal during the summer, he would lay down in the front yard in the shade and take a nap.
His favorite song was "Oh, How I Love Gooseberry Pie, Says I".
Ruth spoke of going to school in the winter while living at her grandparents' and her grandfather coming to pick her up in a sleigh after school and being covered with a big old blanket.

Pete and Dorothy - Ruth also liked her Uncle Pete. He was a fun loving guy. I remember visiting Pete a few times when I was very little. He seemed like a nice and big man.
Dorothy was a sweet tempered woman. She had an interest in Foraker genealogy and in my early searches she helped me a lot. She died about 2 or 3 years ago. Into her old age she always had an open door for family.

Here in the United States, the Foraker clan is an old one with Revolutionary war ties. At various times Forakers have been in Illinois, Iowa, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Ohio. The information I have only goes back to the mid 1700s. The name has had various spellings including Foreaker, and Fouracre.

John H. Schmidt and family

2008-09-30T10:46:00.006-04:00

Here is the John H. Schmidt family as photographed in 1900 in Hartford City, Indiana. This is a beautiful picture with everyone wearing their fine clothing.

John H. Schmidt was the husband of Anna Maria Mangold. Anna Maria was the daughter of Christian Mangold and Josephine Steinmetz. She was also an older sister to Elisabeth Mangold, W. A. Nessel's mother.

Anna and John were married 11 June 1857 in Noblesville, Indiana.

The children are listed on the back of the photograph as Cara, Joie, Millie(?), Rosa and Alice.

Riding a cow

2008-08-05T17:04:00.006-04:00

Here is a photo of Winford Nessel on a cow, circa 1921 or 1922. That would make him about 11 or 12 years of age.

This is, of course, looking south. The road (now 327) is in the upper left corner.

Building the Hen House

2008-08-04T21:30:00.011-04:00

The back of this photo says, "Bud, pop, me and George Shurr building hen house 1926."

"Me" would refer to Winford Nessel and "pop" refers to William C. Nessel. I assume Bud is the dog and that this is the hen house that stood to the south of the Nessel homestead until the 1960s when it was blown down in a wind. The concrete pad for this hen house is still on the ground.

I think William is on the left, Winford in the middle and George to the right.

Elisabeth Nessel, nee Mangold

2008-05-21T21:50:00.005-04:00

Born 18 August 1874 at Cicero, Hamilton County, Indiana to Christian Mangold and Josephine Steinmetz, Elisabeth married William Christian Nessel when she was 29 years of age and went to live in DeKalb County, Indiana.

This photo was taken probably in the early 1950s. Here is Elisabeth feeding the turkeys corn right off the cob. That one gobbler there is particularly eager to take it from her hands.

I don't really understand the turban, but there are other photos of her with a turban around her head. Or maybe it is a kerchief. It was probably just a convenient way to keep her hair from getting messy and dirty.

I'm guessing, because of the tree, that this photo is facing towards the northeast and that is the south side of the house. It is quite hard to tell from this photo, but Winford kept the turkeys to the south and west of the house, not the north. That would have been the orchard and you don't want the turkeys in the orchard killing the fruit trees.

Josephine Steinmetz

2008-03-23T18:48:00.007-04:00

The center photograph is a picture of Josephine Steinmetz. On the left and right sides are postcard views of the native dress from which Josephine came.

Josephine was born in that much debated land area between France and Germany known as Alsace, or as she writes on her family record "Erstein bai Strassbourg im Elsass." From the little that is known about her, she seemed to have a very unique and independent spirit for her time. She was born on the twenty-second day of June 1836. As the traditional family story goes, she was orphaned at an early age and was “adopted”. Her life there was little more than servant's work and becoming dissatisfied she ran away at the age of sixteen and stowed aboard a ship that she thought was going to New York City. It docked in New Orleans. During the voyage a crewman found her on board, brought her food and took care of her. When the ship ported in New Orleans, he also helped her find a job as a maid with a New Orleans family. From that job she saved up her money until she was ready to head north. By joining wagon trains and going alone when she had to, she traveled the Natchez Trail, first to Tennessee, but her final destination was Indiana, because there her brothers had gone before her. In Indiana she married another immigrant from Germany, raised a large family and died in 1902. All of her life Josephine never spoke English. The two languages she knew were French and German. I often wonder what were her thoughts and feelings as she traveled boldly from place to place in a foreign land, but as she wrote no journal I can only surmise to her innermost feelings. But although I may not know her I can learn of the place and time in which she lived and understand the events which might have shaped her life and personality.

First of all, let's look at where she came from and when. Alsace lies in the eastern part of France, bordered by Germany in the north and east, and Switzerland in the south. On its east side runs the Rhine River and on its left the Vosges Mountains. Erstein is a small town a little south of Strassbourg. Its industries include sugar, tobacco and wool. Alsace is an area much accustomed to war and at the time of Josephine's birth it was part of France. At that time though, people of the various regions usually thought of themselves as neither Germans nor French. R. H. Lowie says, "We must insist that the natural condition for Germans is not that of an all-embracing unity, but of an indefinite number of minute groups, all painfully conscious of their regional diversity.”1 Josephine was twelve years old when the Revolution of 1848 broke out. Perhaps her parents were killed in that war. The last recorded birth of a sibling I have of hers is in 1844. I tend to think of her as part of the lower social class because of the rural area from whence she came and because of the type of people with whom she associated later in life--farmers. The area of Alsace was predominantly agricultural and the towns were semirural with farming and gardening as their main way of life. The people depended a great deal upon the forests where they collected berries and allowed their animals to graze on the forests' edge.2 The stigma of social classes dominated. There were the wealthy, the landholders and the peasants. In 1848 unfavorable economic conditions, poor harvests, and radical theories of social and economic reorganization stirred discontent among the urban workers and peasants.3 If her parents did die in this revolution that would have given four years to Josephine to mature, and realize her own discontent with the life around her. Being a maid was considered of low social status in her country and knowing too that she had brothers who already were in the New World may have given her the courage and determination to leave the security of familiar surroundings. As Nau says of newcomers to America, "German immigrants came to find political, religious and economic freedom and opportunity to work and plan for a better future."4

There were few good roads in the area at that time and travel was difficult, but perhaps she made it to Hamburg where the Hamburg-American Steamship line was founded in 1847. 5 Tradition does not tell us from which port she left.

Arriving in New Orleans would have been an exciting but also frightening experience for a country girl --the busy ports and many, many people in this new land, but then not everything was completely foreign. At that time New Orleans was filled with French and German speaking peoples. And the German Society of New Orleans was in full swing. It was a large and busy organization helping immigrants from Germany to find homes, jobs, and transportation to other parts of the United States. It was a clearing house for information and finding relatives. Perhaps it was here that Josephine was able to find a job. John Nau says, "German girls also found work quite readily through the help of the Society, especially as domestic servants. It was standard for a woman to receive $40 a month with board and lodging."6 At that rate it would have been quite easy for Josephine to save her money to continue northward. But what did she do otherwise in her spare time? There were five years between the approximate time she immigrated in 1852 and her marriage in Indiana in 1857. New Orleans had a great number of German cultural and social events. There was a large German settlement on the right bank of the Mississippi approximately 25 miles above New Orleans under Bienville. This settlement was known as the German Gold Coast.

There were German newspapers, German plays and singing clubs, and casual visits of "Kaffee and Kuchen" between friends on Sunday afternoon.7 The German people of New Orleans were known as an industrious and thrifty group. But yet there was also prejudice against them, such as by the "Know Nothing" group in New Orleans. Many German immigrants were not used to the Louisiana climate and many became sick. There was poverty, crime, swindling, and outbreaks of cholera and yellow fever. Josephine could very well have been in New Orleans when the yellow fever epidemic broke out there in 1853.

Slavery had not been abolished yet. I wonder what she thought of this state of human bondage. Did she think it ironic that the Land of Freedom to which she had come did not offer freedom to all its inhabitants? Had she been influenced enough by the peasant battles in Europe to feel that any type of subjugation was wrong?

Whatever her life was in Europe and New Orleans, she left that behind to reach her goal of Indiana. The next time we see her on record is the day of her marriage in Hamilton County, Indiana, 11 June 1857 to Christian Mangold, who himself had come to America a short time earlier by way of New York City. Did she ever long for "the old country?" Perhaps not. Lowie says, "The pettiness of social life is the most obvious feature that impresses a German-American who returns to the fatherland..."8

Josephine was truly an independent spirit. She had a great deal of courage and drive to do what she did, especially in the day when women were not supposed to be so "bold".

FOOTNOTES

1 Lowie, Robert H. The German People--A Social Portrait to 1914.
Farrar and Rinehart, Inc., New York 1945.

2 Ibid.

3 Acomb, Evelyn M. and Marvin L. Brown, Jr. ed. French Society and Culture
Since the Old Regime. Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc., New York 1966.

4 Nau, John Frederick. The German People of New Orleans, 1850-1900.
Leiden, E. J. Brill, Netherlands 1958.

5 Lowie, ibid.

6 Nau, ibid.

7 Nau, ibid.

8 Nau, ibid.

9 Lowie, ibid.

The Writing on the Wall

2008-02-21T19:17:00.003-05:00

My sister broke her leg, so I have had the opportunity to go to her house and take care of the horses. While I was in the barn waiting for the horses to finish their grain I took a look at the mortar on the inside foundation. There are names and dates scratched into it. The names I could read were:
John Shippy
Ray Goodwin
Sam Treesh
Frank Treesh
June 2, 1909.

Wow. voices from the ground. There were some other names, but the only one I could make out was Laura.

Edgar George Workman Junior

2008-02-03T15:17:00.001-05:00

Edgar George Workman, named after his father, was born 18 March 1900 in Milwaukee Wisconsin. The photo to the left was taken in March 1900. Junior's mother is Elizabeth Alida Shaw from Vermont.

The photo to the right was taken of him in his World War I uniform. He served in World War I as a message runner for General Pershing. To read more of Edgar, see this entry.

Edgar died 7 February 1951 in Fort Madison, Iowa and is buried at Soldier's Circle, Oakland Cemetery, Fort Madison, Iowa.

The tombstone inscription reads: Bugler, Iowa 17 Field Artillery, 2 Division, WWI, 18 Mar 1900-7 Feb 1951.

He is listed in the 1900 census as Jr., son, white, male, 3/1900, 2/12 age, single, b. WI.

Clara Nessel Peters

2008-01-27T19:16:00.000-05:00

Clara Emma Maria Nessel is featured in this photograph of June 1926. Perhaps this was a birthday photo as Clara was born 16 June 1888. She would have been 18 years old here. She was born to John William Nessel and Katherine Becker. John had left Dekalb County, Indiana and moved to Humboldt, Allen County, Kansas after his brother Heinrich G. died in 1881. The rumor is that John got in an argument with his brother and hit him on the head with a board which ultimately proved fatal.

John married Katherine on 14 June 1885. Clara was probably named after two of her aunts: Emma and Maria Nessel. Clara had a sister named Virginia and a brother named John Edward.

Clara married Henry H. Peters on 13 June 1944. She died in Humboldt in 1985. It seems that major points of her life occurred in June.

I had the opportunity to visit her several times before she died. She was always a very hospitable and caring host. She helped me several times with my geneology questions in her old age.

Edgar Workman and Clara Foraker

2008-01-12T17:47:00.001-05:00

Click on the photo to see a larger view.

This is the wedding photo of Edgar George Workman Junior and Clara Wilmoth Foraker on 18 October 1920. Edgar George was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin to Edgar George Workman Senior and Elizabeth Alida Shaw. Clara was the daughter of Andrew Jackson Foraker and Carrie Helena Shaw. They were married at 113 Oak Street, Fort Madison, Iowa. His mother was against the marriage, because Clara was divorced and had a child. And wearing a white wedding dress added fuel to the fire.

Edgar served in World War I as a message runner for General Pershing. He had been gassed; and had a silver plate put in his head. It was while in an Iowa City hospital that he met Clara Foraker, who was a nurse's aide.

The marriage eventually ended in divorce due to his drinking which he had taken to, saying it relieved the pain in his head.

Edgar is buried at the Soldier's Circle, Oakland Cemetery, Fort Madison, Iowa. The tombstone inscription reads: Bugler, Iowa 17 Field Artillery, 2 Division, WWI, 18 Mar 1900-7 Feb 1951.

Edgar used to be the drum major in the veteran's parade in Fort Madison.

I love the shoes that both of them are wearing. Edgar is wearing wing-tipped oxfords and Clara is wearing a lovely pair of white wedding shoes that could still be used today. I think Clara's wedding dress is very modern for the day. Clara never changed much in looks through the years. In her old age she still looked very much like in her wedding photo, just older.

The Dinner Bell

2007-12-24T15:42:00.000-05:00

Here is the dinner bell on the Nessel farm dated 1920s. I still have this bell minus the clapper, but I have no idea where it was located as pictured here. If anyone knows please leave a message.

It seems like a long way for the kitty to climb to get away from things, but maybe he's just enjoying the view. But not for long, when the workers get called in from the field with this bell.

Mangold - Nessel Wedding

2007-12-17T19:09:00.000-05:00

Here is a clipping from a newspaper announcing the wedding between William C. Nessel and Elisabeth Mangold. They were married 1903 October 20 in Arcadia, Hamilton County, Indiana. William would have been almost 42 years of age and Elisabeth 29. I had not realized there was a 13 year difference in their age. This would happen with their son who would marry a woman many years his junior.

As always you can click on this small photo and a larger one can be seen.

Garrett High School

2007-12-06T08:38:00.001-05:00

In my previous post is a photo of the Garrett High School Band in 1944. Today I am informed that Garrett High School has made U.S. News & World Report's Best High Schools 2008 Search list. It received a bronze star. Actually if you look at the entire list, you will see that many Indiana schools are on it. I don't know what the criteria is. If I did, maybe I might not think it such an honor, but thought I would mention it for all you GHS alumni out there.

Honor Roll Dedication 1944

2007-12-05T16:17:00.002-05:00

Here are four photos showing the Honor Roll Dedication on the courthouse square in Auburn, Dekalb County, Indiana on 5 March 1944.

The photos show the honor roll being installed around the courthouse itself. The marching band is from the Garrett High School.

You can see that the buildings shown here have not changed. The bank shown in the bottom right photo is still there. And the corner just to the south of it is shown in the top right photo, which is now a sports store. The sign in the photo says it is a drug store.

The reason that these photos are cropped at odd angles is because they are glued onto the album page in a composite layout.

To see a larger view of the photos, just click on any one. A larger view should come up on your browser. If not, let me know.

Stealing Research

2007-12-03T18:21:00.002-05:00

I would like to put in a plea here for all of the researchers who put in so many hours and their own money to meticulously compile records of their ancestors. Please don't steal our research. We have put lots of hard work into what we do and when you steal the research and give no credit it is akin to plagiarizing, which IS illegal. How does one steal research? By taking information from another and then publishing it or part of it in some way without asking permission or giving credit. This includes photographs.

I had read about this type of thievery, but didn't really understand it until it happened to me. Someone researching one of my lines asked me for information, but they were vague about what they wanted. I asked them to be specific in their questions as I couldn't possibly tell them everything I know about a line. They still refused to be specific and kept bugging me with emails over a period of a year or more. Finally I agreed to send them copies of all the pedigree that I had. I only agreed because I thought this person was related to the line and earnest in wanting to complete their genealogy.

As soon as they got the papers, they said they were going to publish them. They didn't tell me where or even give me a chance to object. Some of the people on the pedigree may still be alive and not want their info made public, I told this person. The experience was hurtful and very deceitful. I will never share information in that way again. When a person steals another person's research it shuts the doors to sharing and genealogy research depends a great deal on sharing. But stealing - NO! Please don't steal. Always ask permission, be specific about the information you want, vocalize your gratitude and give credit to others.

If you do get information from another person, take the time and STILL do the research yourself using the information you acquired. Everyone makes mistakes; not everyone looks in every available resource. What you receive may not be entirely correct. You have the opportunity to add to the knowledge base and make corrections.

Submit Your Pioneer's Story

2007-12-03T18:15:00.001-05:00

I have found a wonderful website dealing with the history of Indiana. Each county has its own page and on your county's page you can submit the biography of an ancestor born prior to 1880.

Just go to County History Preservation Society home page and choose the county where your ancestor lived in the top left corner. Once you arrive at your county's home page look at the middle left where it says "Our Stories" and click on the links.

The School Hack, Corunna, Dekalb County, Indiana

2007-12-03T17:39:00.001-05:00

Here is William C. Nessel standing by the school hack. William had the contract for running the hack. I don't know for which school or schools. Probably the Corunna schools and possibly the Richland schools. The hack was used before school buses. Can you imagine sitting in that on your way to school. Oh, how cold! Unless they had a little furnace inside. Some of those types of vehicles did have small furnaces run by oil, kerosene or wood. In Geneva, Indiana just inside the new town offices is an old postal carrier's buggy. If you go there in person you can see the tiny little furnace at the driver's feet.

And actually from this second photo it looks like it may have had a furnace. What is that in the middle other than a chimney. No names are given on the photo. The boy may be Winford Nessel, since it was his father who drove the hack. The girl may be Winford's sister Cordella.

Rachel Bard (nee Becker) once mentioned that one day on their way to school Winford was teasing other students and they got mad and tossed him off the back of the hack. Winford fell in the snow and had to run to catch up with the vehicle. His father laughed and just kept driving. I believe William Nessel was known to have a good sense of humor.

Update: I found a letter that I knew I had, but couldn't find earlier, explaining this school hack. Back in 1991 Winford Nessel wrote the following letter:

26 June 1991

Roy J. Reiman, Editor
Reminisce Magazine
5400 South 60th St.
Greendale, WI 53129

Dear Sir:

The photograph of the school hack on page 45 of the July/August 1991 issue of Reminisce is very much like the one my father used between the years of 1910 and 1925 in DeKalb County, Indiana. The school hack did not belong to my father but was owned by the township and the job of driving it was let out on a contract each year.
My father was the successful bidder for a number of years. The school hack route was about nine to ten miles long one way each morning and evening making a total of 18 to 20 miles a day. The lowest bid that I can recall was $1.75 per day. Many years the bids for a route varied from $2.00 to $3.50 per day. Only one year during my attendance at grade school was pop out-bid by a lower bid.
The stove that heated the school hack was designed for coal which the township furnished, but the fire had to be started with wood kindling which pop provided. As it had no thermostat the fire had to be stoked at least twice during the route. Despite this furnace we still had to dress very warmly during the zero degree weather.
Sometimes on a warm spring day some of us older and larger children would opt to get off the hack and walk a 1/4 to 1/2 mile before reboarding the hack.

Sincerely
W. Nessel

West Richland School 1923

2007-12-02T18:44:00.002-05:00

Here are the students of West Richland School, Dekalb County, Indiana, 1923.
Pictured are:

Row 1 left to right
1. Jarius Friend
2. Lawrence Votrie
3. Harry Hovarter
4. Paul McDonald
5. Lawrence Treesh
6. Woodrow Drerup
7. Paul Schurr
8. Frank Shippy
9. John Friend

Row 2
1. Joyce Harding
2. Rutherford Kirckpatric
3. Lowell Peck
4. Dale Harding
5. Roy Leins
6. Margaret Manrow
7. Ward Sherrick
8. Mae Armstrong
9. Iolene Friend
10. Melissa Ober
11. Arther Drerup

Row 3
1. Estel Shippy, teacher
2. Clyde Dedm
3. Mary Simons
4. Margaret Dawson
5. Thelma Hovarter
6. Wilma Becker
7. Georgie Shippy
8. Rachel Becker
9. Audrey Drerup
10. Tris Foltz
11. Minnie Harter

I have tried to reproduce the names as I read them on the accompanying list to the photograph. I am sure there are errors. If you know of any, please leave a comment.

In the Barnyard with the Cattle

2007-12-02T16:35:00.001-05:00

Winford Nessel's writing at the top of this postcard reads "Sis, Mom and I in our barnyard 1912". That would make Winford 1-2 years old; Cordella 7-8 years old and Elisabeth 37-38. You can see another man in the background. He appears to be William Nessel. They are all dressed in their fine clothes. William is wearing a suit and tie. Why they would be out in the barnyard in their fine clothing on a muddy winter or spring day is a puzzle. Taking a photo with the cattle is similar to taking photos of the horses - they are a valuable possession.

That is State Road 327 you see in the background, although at the time it was not designated as 327. It looks quite muddy and difficult to traverse this day.

Anna Maria Mangold

2007-12-01T19:07:00.001-05:00

This is Anna Maria Schmidt (nee Mangold), sister to Elisabeth Nessel. Mary was born in Noblesville, Indiana 15 April 1859. She married John H. Schmidt on 29 March 1883. They lived in Blackford County, Indiana where they both eventually died.

I have no information on the children of Mary and John. Winford Nessel used to go to Hartford City to visit a "cousin". Please leave a message if you have any information on this family.

This is a postcard photograph. Judging from the stamp placement on the back of the postcard it ranges in date from 1910-1930.

As you can see the back of the photograph says "Sister Marys horses and herself" in pencil. Most likely Elisabeth wrote this. It looks like her other handwriting, as well as the inked name to the side.

There are plenty of photographs in the old family albums that show someone with a beloved pet. Usually it is horses. I suppose the horses were probably some of their most valuable and valued possessions. For the farmers, the horses were their livelihood.

Corunna High School, Dekalb County, Indiana

2007-12-01T18:59:00.001-05:00

Yes, there actually was a Corunna High School. Here is pictured the freshman class of 1925. Can you identify these youngsters? There are no names on this photo. I know at least one, but I won't tell you. You have to guess. Judging from the one I know, these lads and lassies are probably around 15 years old. Leave a comment with your guess and name. Sorry, no prizes, just a hearty "congratulations and thank you". Comments are open to all readers.

George Burkhardt and Lulle Ginntert

2007-12-01T10:00:00.001-05:00

Here is a lovely page from Elisabeth Nessel's (nee Mangold) photo album. This photo is called a cabinet card. It is a photograph pasted on cardboard. I date it somewhere between 1870-1900. When the photo is removed from the page you can see the studio name and address on the bottom. It reads "Roach and Long, Cicero, Indiana". The page you see is part of the photo album. It is a 19th century Bible type photograph album. Elisabeth's photo album is not in good shape. It has been through fire and water, yet the photographs survive. This is page 15 of the photgraph album as near as I can tell. Some of the pages are loose and could have been replaced in the wrong place.

There is pencil writing at the top of some of the pages to identify the photograph. This is probably Elisabeth's own handwriting, except for my own in ink which I wrote many years ago to preserve the names. The man's name is very clear: George Burkhardt. The woman's name is less clear and I can only guess it at Lulle Ginntert. I do not know who these people are. Elisabeth was born and raised in Cicero, so I assume they are friends of hers and not relatives. I can not find their names anywhere in the family pedigree.

I chose this photograph because of the tender expressions on both of their faces. It appears to be a wedding photograph. Both of them look very young, dressed in their finery with flowers on lapel and collar. Their hair is slicked to perfection and their complexion is smooth and shiny. They look ethereal. The man's eyes are diverted to some far off place while the woman contemplates the flower on her beloved's lapel. Her wedding ring is plainly visible in this stance. His is less noticeable, but can still be seen nevertheless.

Here is a scan of just the photo out of the album page. You can see the edges of the cabinet card and the studio name and city.

The Unknown Family

2007-11-30T19:26:00.001-05:00

Who are these people? Most of the photos in the family albums I have are well identified. This is one that is not. It comes from the Nessel side of the family. I am not saying this family is Nessel, only that it comes from the Nessel family albums as opposed to other family albums.

If you can give me clues as to the identity of the people or the time period of the photograph, please leave a comment.

Update: I have been told that judging from the women's fashions, most likely this photograph dates from 1866-1868.

The First Trip to California

2007-11-30T14:30:00.000-05:00

Thirty years after Horatio Nelson Jackson made his transcontinental journey in a Winston touring car, four young men set out from Dekalb County, Indiana in a Ford to tour the western United States. It was 1933 and their destination was California. Here they are either getting stuck in the snow or stopping for a flat tire. The writing on the back of the photo states that this was a main highway! Here is Jerris Friend, John Friend, and Ray Rodd or Rood sitting on the bumper. The young man standing, looking like he is about to pull some shenanigans is none other than Winford Nessel. Maybe he was just checking something on the hood. The location is unidentified. Photograph courtesy of John Friend.

What handsome young men, although Ray looks decidedly unhappy and John looks like he is about to join him in such a mood. And two of them are wearing ties! I love the braces, aka suspenders, Winford is wearing. He was 22 or 23 at the time.

We think so little these days of traveling cross country, but in those days with tires having a short life, money scarce as well as service stations, it was a major undertaking.

Winford said that he did some gold prospecting in Arizona on this trip and soon tired of that.

Questions:

Who took the photograph? I don't know. Maybe there were five on the trip.

What type of vehicle is it? Winford spoke so fondly of Model T's that is why I believe it is one. If you know, please leave a comment.

Tomfoolery

2007-11-30T13:46:00.001-05:00

I love this photo. It shows a side of our ancestors that we don't always get to know personally - their sense of humor. Whoever wrote on the back of this photo captioned it "Tomfoolery". That is an old-fashioned word for just being silly.

This is Minnie May Smith on the left, Elisabeth Nessel on the right and in the middle dressed in turkey feathers and drag is William Nessel.

Elisabeth and William Nessel's grave

2007-11-30T13:34:00.000-05:00

This is William and Elisabeth's grave in the Auburn, Indiana cemetery. Elisabeth died in 1956.

William died right before his son, Winford left to go overseas for the war. As I recall being told, Winford did not know that his father had died until he made an unpermitted phone call right before he was being shipped out. The army did not allow soldiers to make phone calls because they wanted troop movement to be kept quiet.

As Winford recounted the death of his mother, Elisabeth, she awoke one morning saying she did not feel well. Winford called for the neighbor lady to come down and help her, but by the time she arrived, Elisabeth lay down on the bed and died.

Butchering day

2007-11-30T11:35:00.001-05:00

Here is an interesting photo. It is butchering day 1925 on the Nessel farm in Corunna, Indiana. The neighbors are gathered and hogs are being butchered. In other photos the hogs are shown decapitated and strung up for bleeding. What a messy and long day that must have been. But many hands make light work and was also a time for socializing.

Butchering usually took place once the weather turned cold. That way you could preserve the meat in the cold days of winter, although some of the meat could be smoked and preserved that way. Here it doesn't look too cold yet, but the leaves are off the tree. Could be a warm late fall day. This looks like the south side of the house which makes sense since the barn was to the south of the house.

Also notice the siding on the house. It is plain wood clapboard. Later the house was sided with asbestos as so many houses were. In the mid 1990s, the asbestos siding was removed and vinyl siding was put up. The clapboard is still on the house underneath. When the asbestos was removed and a new addition built some of the old wood siding had to be removed. Some of that old wood siding was from crate boxes marked with the Auburn car factory name, where Cordella used to work and met her husband Harry. The Auburn car factory is now the Auburn Cord Duesenburg Museum. Cordella was a secretary and Harry worked in the machine shop I believe. You can still find their names in the employee archives of the museum.

Through her job with the car factory Cordella was able to buy a car at a reasonable price, and also, the company provided cemetery plots. Cordella's parents, William and Elisabeth are buried in those plots located in the Auburn city cemetery.

Those pictured from left to right are:
Joel Treesh
Bill Armstrong
Lizzy Armstrong
William C. Nessel
Elisabeth Nessel
Bill Harter
Lavay Harter
Zenith Peck
Mrs. Peck
Mamie Treesh
Emma Jean Girardot - baby
Cordellla Girardot (nee Nessel)

For a graphic depiction of hog butchering go here. (Forewarning - for some modern day sensibilities, it is not a pretty picture.)

Scratching the Bark - Adventures in the Family Tree

2007-11-24T15:54:00.001-05:00

I have sat at my desk for some time trying to think of a way to introduce and explain this blog. I wanted a place to share my thoughts, research, and anecdotes about genealogy in general and my family's history in particular. Then I found this poem:

This blog will be an attempt to get to know the leaves on the family tree.