LAST SURVIVING WW 1 VET DIES

 

LAST SURVIVING WORLD WAR 1 VETERAN DIES.  This headline caught my interest this morning.   Frank Buckles was 110 and he had lied about his age to enlist.   

The article was interesting and I thought how the Great War is now flowing into ancient history.    It also tells that there are no Canadian, French or German WW1 vets still living.  It did not mention if any are still alive from the UK. 

Guess I will have to search that topic.

My grandfather, Willi Schridde, was a wounded vet of WW1, serving in the German Army.   I had asked a German man who I occasionally correspond with about the availability of German records at that time and he said that they were all classified.

BEAUTIFUL HAMBURG PART 2

Technorati Tags: Helmut Clausen,German Watercolor artist

Here are the remaining prints by Helmut Clausen.   This has produced a genealogical mystery.   My cousin in Germany told me that Helmut was not the son of Fritz Claassen and Lily Schridde Claassen.    She has talked to her mother, Gerda who is 84 years of age.  

My cousin also said that Fritz and Lily name was spelled Claassen as opposed to Clausen.    Mystery number one and mystery number two is who was Helmut and why did my grandmother have his prints?   Mystery number three and four  is Helmut the son of a brother of Fritz Claassen and why did my mother say he was a cousin?

The last mystery is why I do not get any information when I do a Google search for his name.   I even did a search on Google.de.  

Helmut does a good job with the painting of water and the reflections.  That is difficult to do in water colors.  The reflections of light are good too.

CHANGES IN BLOG

Sometimes I just feel like I need a change, or I get bored with how the blog looks and I change the appearance.  I feel like the green is to encourage springtime.

I called my sister to wish her a Happy Birthday.   She wants to go to Ireland, and wanted to know if her other sisters wanted to go.   I HATE flying, never liked it since my first flight and I have logged many miles. 

I said I was interested and since she had 2012 in mind it will take me a long time to get used to the idea, and get a script for Valium. 

I have to looked into this potential trip.   What I want to do is find more information on  my O'Rourke side.   I have the Dowd side researched down to their town.   Even my sister thought it would be good to go to the town where our ancestors came from.  The research places are in Dublin and I would like to spend a day or two perusing the records there.    Guess I should start a list, which is what I love to do.

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

 

BEAUTIFUL HAMBURG.........

 

 

 

 

I found these prints among my parents papers.   I remember seeing them when I was younger and I asked my mother about them.    She said they were her mothers (Anna Bartels) and I inquired who was the painter.   She said it was "a cousin"  The pictures are scenes in Hamburg, Germany

The man was Helmut Clausen.  With my research I found that Helmut was a first cousin of my mother.    Helmut's father was married to my grandfather's sister, Lily Schridde.   Helmut's fathers name was Fritz Clausen. 

I did a Google search for his name AND artist but did not find anything on the Internet.  I have the prints matted and  will find somewhere to hang them in my house.

They are all shades of blue and gray.   I wondered if those were the colors he  liked or if Hamburg is gray most of the time.    The interesting part is I also do watercolor painting as a hobby.   I plan to start painting again after retirement.

Will post more in this series later.

LAST SATURDAYS CLASS

 

Last Saturday I went to the Western Pennsylvania Genealogical Society monthly lecture.   IT is free and what you have to do is pay $5 for the parking.  The $5 parking in Pittsburgh is really cheap.

The lecture was on using the New Family Search web site.   I have ALWAYS had trouble searching on this site, which admittedly I thought was operator error.   My theory was proven correct.

She talked for two hours and I learned a lot.  I was searching for too detailed of information.   I should look under generalities and the lecturer said that if it does not come up by the search it doesn't mean it is not there.

For example I was searching for Armstrong County, PA and it would not come up.   So I did as she suggested, I put in Pennsylvania, Armstrong and a lot of things magically appeared.   Each section has subsections and I have found church records and I now have to make a list and order then from the local LDS Family History Center.  

This searching should keep me busy for a long time.   Now, hopefully I can break some of self imposed brick walls.

WEEK 7, FAVORITE TOY

What was my favorite toy???   My favorite was one I never received....  When I was grade school my neighbor had a TERRI LEE DOLL  I thought this was the most special doll ever created.

In the fall my grandmother asked what I wanted for Christmas and I said the Terri Lee Doll.   I was so excited, and when Christmas arrived what did I get but a MADAME ALEXANDER DOLL   For me at age nine that was a great disappointment and I now realize that the Madame Alexander was probably more expensive than the Terri Lee but  I felt really let down.   I did not let her know how I felt.   I find it odd that fifty years later that I remember it still.

Another item I enjoyed were JACKS  We would play for hours on end it our fingers were raw and bloody.  Not really, but we did have a good time, perfected fine motor skills I suppose.

One Christmas I got a bicycle and it was a cobalt blue color and I really did love that bicycle.