TREASURE CHEST THURSDAY

 

This is a real treasure and quite a serendipitous find.   I was going through a box of my fathers collections of family type papers. 

What caught my attention was Geburtstag at the top of the paper.   My limited knowledge of German told me it was a list of birthdays.   Vater und Mutter written in the Old German Script.  

What I had found, and never knew of its existence was a hand written note circa late 1920’s.

My theory was that it was written by my great grandmother Anna Meta Margarita Hackmann.   My theory was that it is usually a woman who knows such things as birthdays.

The latest date that I can see is 1929.   My grandfather and grandmother (Willi Schridde and Anna Bartels) had emigrated in 1926 and it has listed the names of his sisters, their spouses and children, as well as their birthdays.   

The writing on the lower half of the second page is that of my grandmother, which I had recognized as hers.

From this, with a little help of my friends I was able to find Anna’s parents (Ernst Freiderich  Wilhelm Hackman and Elsie Marie Johanna Rettle, and Elsie’s mother Anna Meta Margarita Lurssen my my great great great grandmother.

My hope is some descendents of the sisters of Willi will find my posts and get in contact with me.

TOMBSTONE TUESDAY

I tried to write the explanation with the picture but somehow it would not permit me to do that... Katharina RAUSCH Sperl Nosseck was born in Bohemia, which is located at the far western area of the Czech Republic. As you can see from the stone, her language was German. At the time she had emigrated Bohemia was a part of the Austro Hungarian Empire.

She emigrated sometime circa 1882 and married Anton Sperl circa 1884. I have yet to find their marriage record. Anton died from Typhoid Fever in August of 1899, just a few months after his youngest son, John Christ Sperl was born. John was my husbands grandfather.

In 1904 Katharine married Jospeh Nosseck and they had two daughters, Caroline and Josephing. Joseph was previsously married two times. The first is unknown to me and the second was Katie Stross who died sometime between 1900 and 1904, have yet to find her records.

TOMBSTONE TUESDAY

FAMILY HAPPENINGS

In my family there are eleven offspring of six siblings. This Christmas two of the nephews have become engaged. That leaves nine to go. It is funny to me that the guys all have steady girls friends and the gals do not.......The breakdown is seven females and four males.

The daughter said it was because all the girls were busy going to school, this could possible be correct because they are in post bachelor education.

I told the one bride to be that I would have to add her to the family tree..

ADVENT CALENDAR DECEMBER 24

When I was a child Christmas Eve was pretty uneventful. What I remember was my mother preparing for Christmas Day. We really did not go anywhere, at least not that I remember.

When I met Chuck I was delighted that his family celebrated Christmas Eve. We always got there early and waited for his chronically late brother to arrive. We would eat cold cuts with cheese in sandwiches. Perhaps a side dish or two. I would make cookies to take alone and possibly a cake.

After we ate and it was then close to midnight we would open the gifts and then drive home in the wee hours, it was only a half hour drive. The roads we quite still and we would go to bed and wake up to go to my moms for dinner.

I miss the Christmas Eve get together, and wish we had a celebration and tradition like the Italian traditions of the Seven Fishes. I went to my sisters one Christmas and enjoyed the fish tradition.

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

 

Circa 1952

ADVENT CALENDAR DECEMBER 22

Did I decorate the graves. Yes, and it was quite a project. First I had to buy the flowers, no problem there. Then after a consultation with my sister, she fed the metal wires through the stems and told me I had to feed the wire and stems into the vase, then wind them around the bottom stem of the vase. Sounded easy enough.

She also said I had to find the tiny holes to slip the wire through. This proved to be not a job for anyone who wears bifocals. I was able to do that on my fathers vase, but on my mothers vase I could not SEE the hole to thread the wire. So, what I had to do was bring the wire up from the stems and try to wind it around the outside of the vase.

By now my knew were wet and dirty and I said "Sorry Mom" I have a suspicion that those flowers will get blown away. I do not know how to solve this problem, but I need a warm, dry day, which is not happening anytime soon. BAH HUMBUG.