Memories and Musings

 When I was in 4th grade, probably 10 years old, I was fascinated by a picture in my geography book. It was of a city with a plane in the sky. In 1949 a plane flying overhead in my little town was an "event". To think of flying over cities seemed like magic to me. Maybe that is when my desire to travel and see all 50 states was born. I didn't actually fly until I was 31 when I went with Jim to a chemical engineering conference in Denver, CO. It was a great adventure for us as we left the kids at home with Grandma Weise and saw the great Rocky Mountains for the first time. At that conference I took a very scary trip on a tour bus with other spouses. A big tour bus making the mountain S-curve turns is enough to make you swear off of buses!  I loved flying. People dressed up for travel, enjoyed decent meals and were treated like special people by the stewardesses. Watching the land pass by below was an experience I will never forget. I thought that one flight was a semester ...

My favorite group is my immediate family - 3 kids, 6 grandkids, 5 great grands and all their spouses. I'll be spending the next several days with this group so I'll hold off writing about that adventure. We're having a family reunion in Myrtle Creek, Oregon where Grandson Zachary lives. I'm excited to be with everyone to catch up and fill by emotional memory bank. Most of all I want to meet Baby Theo and hold my Great grandkids! How lucky am I?! Over the years I've been part of many groups - classmates, cousins, business partners, sororities, choirs, and church groups. I've moved in and out of many groups but the one consistent is THE GIRLS. Linda and I played together as toddlers so I've known her for 80 plus years. Next would be Maryann. Her Mom, along with Linda's and my Mom, formed the first kindergarten in our little town. Lynn and Carla joined us in the middle school years along with Pat C. and by High School we had Pat P. and Peggy. That's 8 o...

This seems like a good time to collect some early memories about my husband, James Edward Weise, father to our three children,  grandfather to 6 and great-grandfather to 5. Jim died at age 78 after a long battle with cancer. He was born in 1935 in Chicago, Illinois to Alice Isabelle Leckie Weise and Otto Edward Weise.  Alice and Otto were a May-December marriage when they married in 1933. She was 26 and he was 47. He was a department head in an insurance company and Alice was a bookkeeper in an insurance company....probably the same place. Otto was a widower with a 12 year old son, Robert. They lived in a nice brick bungalow on Warwick Ave. on the northwest side of Chicago. In 1937 Alice gave birth to a second son, Richard.  Jim and Rich were really handsome little boys and were probably a handful for Alice. The  1940 census shows her as not working with 3 boys at home with Otto listed as office manager at the insurance company, Associated Agencies,  making an a...

 I've always been fascinated with bridges and have many pictures of famous and spectacular ones that we crossed in our travels. So when BRIDGE came up as the Generations challenge word my mind's eye immediately went to a few bridges associated with memorable times in my life.  Mackinac Bridge, MI In 1963 we had two babies and I needed a break. We left the kiddos with my Grandma Quist in Wisconsin for a couple of days while we went to Mackinac Island in Michigan and, along the way, cross the Mackinac Bridge. I was pretty much a country girl in 1963. I'd only been in 3 Midwest states, never on a plane. So I didn't know that I would panic at the thought of crossing this 5 mile bridge over the Straits of Mackinac. It was foggy and the bridge looked like it disappeared in midair. I simply could not do it.  Fortunately, my Jim respected my feelings and we went on to explore the island ( on a bicycle built for two that didn't go well either! ) This is as close as I got to ...

 This last weekend in May brings Memorial Day in honor of all those who served in the Military to defend our freedom and our right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. In my research of ancestors I've found many draft registration cards and listings of military assignments. I have found relatives who served in the War for Independence, the Civil War, WW1 and WW11, and Korea, Viet Nam and Desert Storm. I think all of these men, and one woman, survived the wars but were damaged in many ways for life. I think of my uncle Lester who enlisted in the Army at 17 and went off to fight in the bloody battles of Korea. The sights and sounds of battle never left him. He and my uncle Tom, who landed on the bloody beach of Normandy, probably had PTSD although we had no name for it then.  Grandpa Carl Quist enlisted in his early 40's with several children still at home. He was too old for active service so was assigned to ship repair in San Diego. It probably meant a steady paychec...

 Week 21 of the Generations Cafe challenge is At The Cemetery. I've never been a regular visitor to cemeteries or gravesites of family members. I imagine it stems from the death of my Dad when I was 15. His death, funeral and burial in a local cemetery were devastating. As we left the cemetery a violent Midwest thunderstorm erupted drenching everyone and ripping off rooftops.  I did not return to my Dad's grave until decades later after I had moved to California. On a visit to my hometown I asked a girlfriend to go with me to the cemetery where my Dad is buried along with a few other family members who died too young.  For some reason I had an aching in my heart to see his headstone. I got teary eyed and realized I had never really dealt with the emotion of my Dad passing. My Mom had been so distraught that I stood strong and sort of boxed up my feelings. When I looked at the headstone I thought...Yes, he really died.   My Mom and her second husband are buried i...

 When I read up on this challenge from Generations Cafe, Cousin Bait, I realized that I'd recently done this...throw something out on the family tree and see how many cousins you can catch. In the past I have mostly pursued info on the direct line of parents to grandparents to great grandparents and on.  I paid little attention to siblings and children, just listing them. My goal has always been to see how far back in time I could go in recording ancestors. I really hoped I would find that I'm a Daughter of the American Revolution. (I think I am!) Recently I posted some old family photos on my paternal great grandmother's page and voila....a second cousin connected with me. We exchanged a few notes and I'm sure will continue to share pictures. This success has prompted me to research in greater depth, that is, siblings and spouses of my direct line of grandparents. I love to find pictures of relatives on other family trees or census info that tells the occupations of fa...

Three generations: Clockwise from  lower middle Amanda Caroline Mullins Lovell,  Myrtle May Lovell Lane and  Iva May Lane Quist This picture has always fascinated me. I wonder if it was Mother's Day in Iowa and someone collected these ladies for a formal picture.  Amanda Caroline Mullins Lovell , my 2nd Great Grandma,  was born in Terre Haute, IN in 1839. By 1859 she had moved to Hamilton where she married George Washington Lovell at age 16. George was a farmer and it appears their travels took them to Illinois, then Iowa with George working as a farm laborer. By 1860 they had 6 children.  In 1880 there are 6 teenage and adult children living at home on the farm. It's not clear if they owned the farm. Myrtle May was her 11th child.  No wonder Amanda looks crochety in this picture. Her husband had died in 1885.  The 1900 census shows her the head of household at age 63. She is a widow with one son, James, age 17 living at home. He was born when she...

 Today I got  hooked on researching my great Grandfather James Gardner McDearmid who fought for the Union in the Civil War. He was born in 1839 in Woodstock NH ...Live Free or Die...so of course he was on the Union side. He lived in New Hampshire and Massachusetts for most of his life but somewhere along the line he moved to Chicago. (more research)  When he was 21 he enlisted and served in the heavy artillery unit of the Mass. Soldiers. He was wounded and in ill health but reenlisted and fought at Yorktown VA. He was mustered out in 1865.  He married in 1866 and had seven children with Mary Abbie Brown. He lived to be 75 and died in Chicago. I imagine he moved there with one of his children. (more research) It is so mesmerizing to find pictures of actual records like the one I found of his stay in the wounded soldiers home detailing his service and injuries. Thank you to all who scan these records!! Wish I could find a picture of you Grandpa James.

 The Generations Cafe challenge for this week is CRIME AND PUNISHMENT. I thought long and hard on this one and was hard pressed to find a criminal in the family tree. From my personal knowledge and from my research on census records including locations and occupations I did not find any prison records. I do know, first hand, that my ancestors were not perfect! We had our share of alcoholics, gamblers, cheaters and those who made inappropriate sexual advances. But seems that no one ever got caught and prosecuted. Well, no one except Henry Loveall, aka Desolate Baker, my sixth great-grandfather who was born in 1694 in Cambridge, England. He emigrated to America, then settling in Rhode Island, New Jersey, Maryland and Virginia. He used his status as a religious leader to engage in bigamy, sexual liaisons, disorderly, licentious and eccentric behavior. He was relieved of his duties several times. It is rumored that he was convicted of some crime and escaped from prison to continue his ...

Snow Apple Tree  As I thought about this week's challenge from Generations Cafe my mind wandered to the many beautiful sights I've seen in my 82 years. I've traveled in 47 states and a handful of foreign countries. I've seen the Grand Canyon, the Eiffel Tower, Stonehenge, Lake Louise, the North Woods of Wisconsin and the Sonoran Desert, oceans, rivers, bridges.... I could go on. However, in flipping through photos my eyes landed on this picture and my brain was flooded with memories. I grew up on a 5 acre farmette on Orchard Avenue in Northern Illinois. There were a couple of old apple orchards nearby but on our property there was only this one apple tree...the Snow Apple tree. It's fruit was snowy white inside and deep pink on the outside. It made great applesauce but that's not why I loved it. Look at the tree! So great for climbing.  My friends and I spent many hours in this tree. This is my Mom and me and the shadow of my Dad.  I always think of the song, Oh...

 This week the Generations Cafe 52 week challenge was BRICK WALL. Well I have so many brick walls in my ancestry search that I didn't know what to write about. Then Serendipity happened. I received a message on Ancestry from a distant cousin, Douglas, on my Dad's side wondering how I was related to his family, the Juhrends...one of my Brick Walls. Turns out Douglas and I are connected through my Great Grandma Amelia Juhrend, his Great-great Grandma. Amelia came from Germany in 1882 and I have not been able to uncover anything before her arrival in America. I run into this Brick Wall when someone comes from Germany. I have the same problem on my husbands paternal line.  Douglas thanked me for the pictures I shared and as I looked at the pictures from Amelia's 80th birthday I realized that I had a crack in the wall. Amelia had 10 children with 2 husbands. I have the names of all the children but I've never researched each of them although I actually knew most of them as m...

 The Generations Cafe challenge for the week was GREAT and my mind kept going back to Grandma Great aka Amelia Phelps, my paternal  Great Grandmother because she was the original owner of the Grandma Great table. I figure she bought the table around 1885 in Highwood, Illinois when she married Mr. Henricks. That makes the table 136 years old! The solid oak table with several leaves that get inserted in the middle when it's pulled apart seats 12 people easily. It is the table that my family gathers around at Thanksgiving.  Over the years there have been attempts at refinishing. The picture shows that a couple of the leaves got lost and didn't make the refinishing job! There's some fancy woodwork at each end and the legs are on little wheels.  When Grandma Great went to a nursing home and her household was broken up, my Dad got the table. All through my childhood this was the dining room table where my family celebrated birthdays and holidays. Many of my Mom's siblings ...

 When I saw the challenge word for this week,  MUSIC,   I thought, wow, I could write 52 posts on music in my life. I'm not a professional musician but music is the thread that runs through my entire life.  One of my earliest music memories takes me to a hospital bed when I was four and had pneumonia. I had a roommate named Cathy and as we recovered we broke into song as we jumped on our beds.  Mairzy doats and dozy doats and liddle lamzy divey A kiddley divey too, wouldn't you? LOL..You can google the first two words and find it is a popular song by the MERRY MACS in 1944. Cathy and and I recovered (penicillin saved us) and I went on to enjoy a life filled with music. I lived north of Chicago, Illinois where WLS was the popular country radio station. No TV in my early years so the radio music was our main entertainment including, yes, The Grand Ole Opry! But music was my life in so many other ways. I started taking piano lessons and dance lessons around ag...

 The 1920 census records show my paternal Grandma, Louise Kathryn Juhrend McDearmid, living with her mother, Amelia,  and two brothers, August and Herman, in Highwood, Illinois. Amelia who was twice widowed, owned the house. August owned a jewelry story and Herman was a laborer. Amelia and daughter Louise took in laundry.  But here's the thing the census doesn't say. Louise had two children, Arlene and James (my Dad), and her husband, Gardner Clark McDearmid, was in the State Hospital (for the destitute, insane, tuberculosis) on the Northwest side of Chicago. Where were the children? In Dorcas Home, an orphanage in nearby Deerfield. Arlene was 9 and James was 5.  Here's what I think happened based on various records and family lore. Gardner was a motorman for the Chicago Surface Lines - a streetcar conductor. Legend has it that he was injured in a motorcar accident. He was known to have many abdominal/bowel issues so apparently he did not recover. He is listed as an ...

 This week's topic from the Generations Cafe challenge is FORTUNE. I've decided to search each of my ancestry lines and find more information on when and where my ancestors came to America to seek their FORTUNEs. I'll start by going backward in time and finding the first person in each line who was born outside the USA and died in the the USA. I'll be tracing the ancestry of my Mom's parents and my Dad's parents:          Anne Louise Quist                                                       James Gardner McDearmid Carl Quist   /  Iva Mae Lane                                  Gardner Clark McDearmid   /  Louise Kathryn Juhrend Starting with Carl Quist, my grandfather, it's easy. I...

 Where did it begin?  My paternal Great-grandfather was James Gardner McDearmid, born in Woodstock, NH in 1839. His son was Gardner Clark McDearmid, and his son, my father, was another James Gardner McDearmid. Everyone loved my Dad, Jim. He passed away in 1954 when I was 15. It was very traumatic for my family, especially for my Mom who lost her true love. She was in deep mourning for several months and I know that I boxed up my emotions. As I look back I doubt I ever really grieved for my Dad. So as I've moved through life I've collected Jims! In fourth grade when love starts to blossom I had a crush on Jimmy Keifner. It didn't last long because he moved back to Mississippi and I had to wait a few years to find another Jim. In 8th grade my class took a trip to Springfield, Illinois and I recall being serenaded on the bus ride by my then favorite boy, Jimmy Caldwell. He had a great voice and was a great dancer. Too bad he was a head shorter than me (most boys were) but my h...

 1+1=12 Back in the day families were generally large or I'd say huge by today's standards. My Mom, Anne, was third in a family of 12 siblings. I'd call this MULTIPLES. Between 1920 and 1935 Iva Mae Quist gave birth to this amazing line up of 7 girls and 5 boys. This picture looks like it was taken about 1939. I knew all of these Aunts and Uncles pretty well...some were more like siblings to me. In looking at my Family Tree on Ancestry I thought this would be a good challenge and learning process for me...to flesh out the info on this group.  Emma Lucille was the eldest, born in 1918, and the tallest. I remember her as being about 5'11".  Emma was very pretty and outgoing.  She had a husky ballad singing voice and was known to show up at local venues to sing some of the popular songs of the day like I'll Be Seeing You. I think Emma was a bit of a wild child. She married Charlie Huffhines in her mid twe nties, divorced him, had some serious boyfriends, then joi...