Throwback Thursday: Baby on a Blanket Outside

Ahh! Learning to sunbathe at a young age.

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Memory Monday: Pictures of Family Connected by History

My Great-Grandfather

PICTURES OF FAMILY CONNECTED BY HISTORY

Sometimes as I go through the old family pictures, I tend to lose touch with the people in the pictures. I know who they are, after all, their names are written (sometimes) on the back of the pictures. But after a while of going through them all, they just become photos. I lose the connection to the family unless I have personally known them.

One of the things that has helped me is to try to connect these people with events in history or in the lives of the family members I have known. The man pictured above is my mother’s grandfather on her father’s side of the family. While he was born in Russia in 1872, he came to America in 1892, then settled and married in 1895 while living in Kansas. Now I don’t know what Russia was like in 1872, but I have done enough historical research to know what life was like in Kansas at that time. I can imagine him, his wife (who also migrated from Russia), and their children living and farming on the flat plains of Kansas. I now can get a sense of my great-grandparents, and maybe a little of what my maternal grandmother’s life was like as a small child.

This great-grandfather passed away in 1944—toward the end of the Second World War (and well before I was born). My father and father-in-law both served in that war. I have heard stories from both of these men about growing up in Texas and what life was like at that time. That also helps me to “see” my great-grandfather and the way he might have lived.

While I will never have the connections to people before my grandparents’ generation that I have with the people I have known, talked to, and loved, I can still get a sense of those who came before and maybe, just maybe, be able to pass that on to the generations that come after me.

Throwback Thursday: Woman and Teen Hanging about a Car

     LADY IN CAR—Silly, how many times do I have to tell you that you can’t ride on the running board?

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Memory Monday: Our Ancestors, Us, and a Poem

My husband and I shortly after our honeymoon

OUR ANCESTORS, US, AND A POEM

The other day, I was talking to a clerk at the store where we were shopping. Something came up about marriage. I said we had been married a little over 44 years. The clerk said her parents had been married just over 19 years.

This got me thinking about how many years my parents, grandparents, great-grandparents had been married—which for many of them was a long, long time. These thoughts, in turn, caused me to remember a favorite poem of mine, even though my husband’s name is not John Anderson (see how my mind works).

I’d like to share the poem with you, but first I need to define a few words: jo is sweetheart, brent is smooth or unwrinkled, beld is bald, pow (Scottish, N. England) means head, snaw is snow and canty means cheerful. The poem was written by Robert Burns. He died in 1796, which was years before my grandfather’s great-grandfather was born.

John Anderson my jo, John
John Anderson my jo, John, 

      When we were first acquent,
    Your locks were like the raven, 

      Your bonie brow was brent; 

     But now your brow is beld, John, 

      Your locks are like the snaw, 

     But blessings on your frosty pow, 

      John Anderson, my jo! 

    John Anderson my jo, John, 

      We clamb the hill thegither, 

    And monie a cantie day, John, 

      We've had wi' ane anither; 

    Now we maun totter down, John, 

      And hand in hand we'll go, 

     And sleep thegither at the foot, 

      John Anderson, my jo! 

     I love you, my husband. May God grant us many more years tottering down together.

Throwback Thursday: Little Girl in an Old Walker

Little girl—What do you mean “I have to push it?”

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Memory Monday: Things May Not Always Be What They Seem

Picture Found in My Grandparents' Photobox

THINGS MAY NOT ALWAYS BE WHAT THEY SEEM

Ever since my mother passed away and I came across a box of my grandparents’ pictures, I have wanted to discover who came before me. I tried to remember things that my mother and her sisters had told me. That, along with Ancestry.com, I have been able to trace back both sides of her family. Of course, I was really helped by the fact that my mother’s side was Mennonites from way back, and a lot of the extended family had already researched and posted about them.

My dad’s side of the family was not so easy. Now his mother’s side of the family wasn’t hard to track down, especially since a lot of that family’s history had previously be recorded (before Ancestry). The problem has always been my paternal grandfather’s side of the family. From my grandfather’s (delayed) birth certificate, I learn my great-grandfather’s name was John. Using that info, I researched the 1880 census and found him, his wife and his children. But I wanted more. I wanted to discover John’s parents and siblings. Looking again through the pictures, I thought I had found a clue when I came across the children in the picture above with the names “John, Opal, and Emmitt” written on the back. Could this be “my” John?

I searched and searched but couldn’t find anyone with my family’s last name and children with the names listed on the picture that fit in with what I knew about my great-grandfather. Later, I was able to find my great-grandfather in the 1860 census, so I now know the names of his parents. But I still didn’t know who the people in the picture were. Who was this “John” and why had my grandfather kept his picture?

For my birthday this year, my husband gave me an Ancestry DNA test. With that, I keep checking on people to whom I might be related. One day, I came across something. When I researched it a bit more, I discovered that my grandfather’s brother had three children named (have you guessed it already) John, Opal, and Emmitt. That mystery is solved, but I’m still trying to track down my great, great-grandfather—John’s father. 

Throwback Thursday: Two Children in the Sunshine

Little boy—“Mommy, make her stop moving her fingers and making things crawl on me!!!"

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Memory Monday: Modern Conveniences 100 Years Ago

WHO KNEW THEY HAD THESE “MODERN CONVENIENCES” A HUNDRED YEARS AGO?

All four of my maternal great-grandparents were born into Mennonite families in Russia before migrating back through Europe and finally settling in America. My grandmother’s parents are pictured above. I’m not sure when my great-grandmother came to America, but my great-grandfather was only two year old when he came. I know they married in 1889 in Kansas (Ancestry.com is such a wonderful resource).

All that was said to show what changes they lived through—from peasants to immigrants to farmers in the America. They would have been married for 27 years when the book, 1000 Shorter Ways Around the House, was published 100 years ago. I wonder what they thought about the modern conveniences they saw about them—either in the mercantile stores or in the catalogues. Below are a few of those modern conveniences from the book listed above:

An electric sewing machine motor is not expensive in comparison to its service for one who has much sewing to do. One is made which needs no adjustments requiring mechanical ability. The motor is placed on the machine next to the wheel and the plug attached to any electric light socket. With the pedal placed on the floor and a slight pressure of the toe the wheel starts. For rapid work the pressure should be a bit harder. The motor costs one half cent per hour to operate on high speed when the current rate is ten cents per kilowatt hour.

An electric hot-pad for warming the bed on cold nights. These are absolutely safe and sanitary as they are covered with a pad that can be washed.

A vacuum cleaner, which sucks up the dust and prevents it from flying all over the room, comes in many makes and care should be used in selecting one to see that it fits the needs of the owner, and that it is a good strong cleaner.

An ordinary electric hot-plate on which can be placed pots in cooking, an ordinary flatiron for heating, and to be used for any purpose requiring a flat hot surface.

An electric toaster is a most handy little device, and if the kind selected permits the toast to be held at any desired distance from the heat—by the use of hinged toast-holders—toast can be made hard or soft, brown or tan, with no trouble what­ever. Also, if the top of the toaster is a level top instead of having a handle attached, a coffeepot can be set on it and kept warm. There are many makes and they can be purchased from two dollars upward.

An electric coffee percolator permits coffee always to taste the same. It is an easy way and a wholesome way to make coffee. The percolator is valuable for other purposes than making coffee, as soup can be heated in it, water boiled, or it can be used for any other purpose for which any pot would be used.

A tubular flashlight as a substitute for the lamp light, and for use in traveling. It can be placed under the pillow at night and used at a second's notice.

An electric tungsten lamp of two candle-power which can be burned all night at a very low cost. It is very useful for sick-rooms, nurseries, and for the bathroom when a light is desired throughout the night. It can be adjusted to any electric light bulb.

While we still use the items from 100 years ago—nightlight, flashlight, coffee percolator (although I have Keurig now), toaster (for Pop Tarts), and vacuum cleaner (so my husband can keep the rugs clean), I have no use whatsoever for this last item.

A knife for curling ostrich feathers can be pur­chased for a small sum and one can be one's own milliner as far as this art is concerned.

Which of the modern conveniences from 100 years ago are you happiest about having today?

Throwback Thursday: Little Girl on a Porch

Little girl: “See, Mommy, I can count—1…

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