tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-54717240660132837622023-11-16T10:30:51.745-08:00Happekotte HappeningsA blog about my maternal family historyStevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08324079002071103528noreply@blogger.comBlogger27125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5471724066013283762.post-47858492056094931712015-11-14T01:00:00.000-08:002015-11-14T01:00:04.112-08:00Charles N Percy<div class="p1" style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: large;">Charles N Percy was my 3rd great grandfather on my maternal side of the family. My information about him is pretty sketchy at this point; it has been difficult finding a lot of information on him. The search continues!</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>What I know about Charles is that he was born about 1840 and, perhaps, Scott County, Virginia. He married Margaret W Weaver in September, 1859 in Monroe County, Kentucky. The Monroe County courthouse was damaged during the Civil War along with many records. When Margaret applied for Charles’ pension after he died, she had to prove that she had been married to Charles. Since the courthouse records had been destroyed, she had to get sworn affidavits from the minister and family members, but there was no day given, only the month and year. </span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>Charles was a member of Company C, 5th Kentucky Cavalry, Union side. He had enrolled on October 14, 1861 and mustered into service on September 16, 1862 in Nashville, Tennessee. Charles was present at<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7mQy8PmTABulorqlfu8dcgiCyLEiL-E0bW-d8kRwAt7f6YZNxC55MHc2o0qhx74txvHpHkszv0K6M8S6bzAo6rnMuSIcHxWseM95baBk33cNSRjdsT1wihhbxz6iZd-XMq6xPs9oe8Xd0/s1600/275px-Sherman_railroad_destroy_noborder.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7mQy8PmTABulorqlfu8dcgiCyLEiL-E0bW-d8kRwAt7f6YZNxC55MHc2o0qhx74txvHpHkszv0K6M8S6bzAo6rnMuSIcHxWseM95baBk33cNSRjdsT1wihhbxz6iZd-XMq6xPs9oe8Xd0/s400/275px-Sherman_railroad_destroy_noborder.jpg" width="357" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Union soldiers destroying a bridge in Atlanta</td></tr>
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the attack on Atlanta, the March to the Sea, and the Carolinas campaign. His service record indicates he was a wagoner much of the time. On February 21, 1865 near Monticello, South Carolina, he was taken prisoner. On affidavit in Margaret’s pension file from Co. C’s captain states that the enemy returned him to his company and he was furloughed to go to his home about March 21, 1865. Charles died in Rockcastle County, Kentucky on March 28, 1865 according to Margaret’s affidavit. She also states that he died of typhoid fever. My guess is that he may have contracted the disease while being a prisoner and that could be the reason for his release as a Southern prisoner, but that is purely a guess at this stage of the research. </span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc96QhoZQQsKmR0sfyBTBdn25b-_QaVRdZw1YU7_iOARkFARHbQ6qKC3Yhw0Orodc-b3moMFdU4KISioobZ6tD5wGcYSwMa58BIPAARGK2HNoRa7E1BRJUjNlSfg0XQBBfciVJjjIvQYmD/s1600/-Sherman%2527s_March_to_the_Sea_-_Project_Gutenberg_eText_21566.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc96QhoZQQsKmR0sfyBTBdn25b-_QaVRdZw1YU7_iOARkFARHbQ6qKC3Yhw0Orodc-b3moMFdU4KISioobZ6tD5wGcYSwMa58BIPAARGK2HNoRa7E1BRJUjNlSfg0XQBBfciVJjjIvQYmD/s640/-Sherman%2527s_March_to_the_Sea_-_Project_Gutenberg_eText_21566.jpg" width="473" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 15.463px; line-height: 21.6482px; text-align: left;">Sherman's March to the Sea was celebrated in music in 1865 with words by S.H.M. Byers and music by J.O. Rockwell.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Sherman's March to the Sea devastated Georgia. But as I understand, the Union forces really took it out on South Carolina as they marched north from Savannah, Georgia. Remember, South Carolina is the site of Ft. Sumter and that's the site of the first attack on Union forces thus starting the Civil War. This is also where Charles had been captured just outside of Columbia. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The link below is a good, short description of the March to the Sea</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/history-archaeology/shermans-march-sea">Sherman's March to the Sea</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">This concludes the series of maternal ancestors who served this country in the military. I'm certain there are others; they will come to light as the research proceeds. Hopefully, next Veterans Day there will be more to add to the list. Hope you have enjoyed reading about our martial forebearers! </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I have a blog about the paternal side of the family at <a href="http://schellseekers.blogspot.com/">schellseekers.blogspot.com</a></span></div>
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Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08324079002071103528noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5471724066013283762.post-47279654147715727752015-11-13T01:00:00.000-08:002015-11-13T01:00:00.539-08:00William H Shepherd of Lewis County, Missouri<div class="p1" style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: large;"> William is my 2nd great grandfather on my maternal side of the family. He was born in Hunnewell, Shelby county, Missouri on October 19, 1845. He married Nancy Ann Jenkins in LaGrange, Lewis County, Missouri on April 16, 1866. His date of death is probably December 17, 1925. I have one other source that indicates he died on October 3, but I trust the December date more as it was given by his son, Robert, on an application for a military headstone. </span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span"></span> William served as a private in Company B, 69th Regiment, Enrolled Missouri Militia. They were not federal troops; they were under the control of the governor. It was formed in summer or early fall of 1862. They were mainly formed to deal with clashed between Union and secessionists forces in the county. Lewis County was somewhat divided between the two sides. There was not a lot of actual fighting according to a history of Lewis County, just off and on skirmishes here and there. I could not find William’s name in the list of Company B soldiers from Lewis County, but that application for a headstone by his son (Robert Shepherd) in 1925 has his company and regiment number along with the dates of his service. He served from April 30, 1864 until his discharge on December 1, 1864. Also the list in that county history book looks to be only officers- captains and lieutenants. William was a private. I am hoping to find that information in a book at the Family History Library this October (2015).</span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRJQcBGSrONHvYjUD61umANj67YcdmEQO-x56mhEiFWh8iPADYhaenejmVLqpjrsuGOk0T7s3wyNPO0pZ_5cQWZZZX33yyxxgAGcxko8PHYCNl2-QW0tzQmZNcfGbQED1GVS7ODR5nki7h/s1600/Guerillas+take+horses.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="296" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRJQcBGSrONHvYjUD61umANj67YcdmEQO-x56mhEiFWh8iPADYhaenejmVLqpjrsuGOk0T7s3wyNPO0pZ_5cQWZZZX33yyxxgAGcxko8PHYCNl2-QW0tzQmZNcfGbQED1GVS7ODR5nki7h/s400/Guerillas+take+horses.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Guerrillas stealing horses</td></tr>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: large;">The above picture depicts an example of the disturbances the militia might have to deal with, especially since there were divided loyalties in Lewis County. The threatening poster below was not from Lewis County but it shows how serious some people were about the two sides in the Civil War. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH_CsF3hEsi8HZUbwQuVX4HTI2KGNlP4de-qhgVniqKJrxMjkXWBBO8Xw329feWyc1xzE3kBlNf5DYaiJmlXuKvMU10Lm67UV-Y1BHcPFP0b2m2gfeMdEWbYr1co48Or-AlkWi_yOy0QO5/s1600/Poster-+threat.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH_CsF3hEsi8HZUbwQuVX4HTI2KGNlP4de-qhgVniqKJrxMjkXWBBO8Xw329feWyc1xzE3kBlNf5DYaiJmlXuKvMU10Lm67UV-Y1BHcPFP0b2m2gfeMdEWbYr1co48Or-AlkWi_yOy0QO5/s640/Poster-+threat.jpg" width="532" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">The two images above are from the State Historical Society of Missouri</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><u>Next</u>: Charles N Percy of Kentucky</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="text-align: justify;">I have a blog about the paternal side of the family at </span><a href="http://schellseekers.blogspot.com/" style="text-align: justify;">schellseekers.blogspot.com</a></span>Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08324079002071103528noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5471724066013283762.post-55830217278167440632015-11-12T05:40:00.000-08:002015-11-12T05:40:09.044-08:00The Davis Brothers of DeKalb County, Tennessee<div class="p1" style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><u>Albert G Davis</u></b></span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: large;">As far as I can tell at this point in my research, I believe Albert was my third great grand uncle. I believe he is the older brother of Henry Lee Davis. I have not proven that relationship; but there is strong evidence that points to that relationship. The information on Albert is pretty sketchy at this stage, but he appears to have been born around 1818 in what would have been White County, Tennessee at that point. He married Mary Robinson on August 14, 1838 in DeKalb County, Tennessee. </span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: large;">Albert enlisted for service in the Civil War on August 23, 1862 at Nashville. He was a member of Company A of the 5th Tennessee Cavalry. Like his brother, he joined the Union army. Albert would only serve from August-October, 1862 as he died in Nashville on October 28, 1862 of jaundice.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK8oQG86IfJ_wy2rKdwdkq9_8fPZCn8nHKxCOZRREPTh8oStLWM7_Z7JXUODl3gqH2bK1rs-NhsgwMX8IsD0z7j9Vgg8woT3DrLeZq-KboVlTfKG_nVFy-YkCTKgqp26DFUS502iPUgVnc/s1600/Union+vs+Confed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="310" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK8oQG86IfJ_wy2rKdwdkq9_8fPZCn8nHKxCOZRREPTh8oStLWM7_Z7JXUODl3gqH2bK1rs-NhsgwMX8IsD0z7j9Vgg8woT3DrLeZq-KboVlTfKG_nVFy-YkCTKgqp26DFUS502iPUgVnc/s320/Union+vs+Confed.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><u>Henry Lee Davis</u></b></span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: large;">Henry was my third great grandfather born on March 30, 1829 in Tennessee. At this point, I believe he was born in what is now DeKalb County but in 1829 it would have been part of White County. Henry married Nancy E Likins on April 13, 1852 in White County. Henry moved to Monroe County, Kentucky sometime between 1870 and 1880. He later married Belle (Cassie) Moles in Monroe county on November 6, 1906. Henry would have been 81 and his new bride was 32! Henry died on October 20, 1920 at the age of 91.</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: large;">Although living in a state that seceded from the Union (Tennessee), Henry was a Union volunteer. He mustered in to the service on January 22, 1864 at Carthage, Tennessee. Henry was a member of Company B, 1st Regiment, Tennessee Mounted Infantry. He served until April 14, 1865.</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: large;">It appears from the records of his unit that they were mostly serving in the area around Carthage and Granville, Tennessee, not far from his home county. They are listed as doing picket duty which involves being stationed ahead of the troops to detect and enemy advances. They were also involved in scouting duties in Jackson, White, Overton, and Putnam Counties. The Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad was in this military district; so I am assuming it was their duty to protect it. </span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: large;"><u>Next</u>: William H Shepherd of Lewis County, Missouri</span></span><br />
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: large;">I have a blog about the paternal side of the family at <a href="http://schellseekers.blogspot.com/">schellseekers.blogspot.com</a></span></span></div>
Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08324079002071103528noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5471724066013283762.post-14752575926287120222015-11-11T12:47:00.001-08:002015-11-11T12:47:24.318-08:00John F Jasper
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuT6fPlFJqWxDP7bZpcHCjYcHvFuBdMvEmaftnqrRKFCJjxMxxlT4x1-P9JiItcEDVvGsn-UWe1ZTRV6r_ivNYLSwgwYO_zXzPafMkky4sI4BwExie6EyPb7t-KoA1i6UkCeg-w7BWWP3g/s1600/Jasper-JohnF.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuT6fPlFJqWxDP7bZpcHCjYcHvFuBdMvEmaftnqrRKFCJjxMxxlT4x1-P9JiItcEDVvGsn-UWe1ZTRV6r_ivNYLSwgwYO_zXzPafMkky4sI4BwExie6EyPb7t-KoA1i6UkCeg-w7BWWP3g/s320/Jasper-JohnF.jpg" width="247" /></a></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: large;">John F Jasper was the nephew of our second great grandparents, Bernard “Barney” and Elizabeth Jasper Happekotte. He was born in Quincy on February 28 in either 1892 or 1894</span><span style="font-size: large;">; there is conflicting evidence here that has not been resolved yet. John left Quincy on August 30, 1918 for training before being sent abroad to fight in World War I in France. The training took place at Camp Wadsworth, (Spartansburg) South Carolina and he must have impressed his superiors. Shortly after arriving, he was promoted from private to corporal. He served in the Fifth Artillery Corps on the French front. His brother received a letter from John from Camp Upton, New York where he was sent before </span><span style="font-size: large;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRywAUivCKMz1gHtPxSclwe4VrzpNLMx51e4P0UVMkteXnyXoNxSpkDsdwcL-AM4AmfMSs-IdHEPyDB3VAo34ZDCKBdLfBU-AUv9k54555gus0imEikEaeSGLw-pnZC-CkfZFtH_5sdynk/s1600/CampUpton.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="280" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRywAUivCKMz1gHtPxSclwe4VrzpNLMx51e4P0UVMkteXnyXoNxSpkDsdwcL-AM4AmfMSs-IdHEPyDB3VAo34ZDCKBdLfBU-AUv9k54555gus0imEikEaeSGLw-pnZC-CkfZFtH_5sdynk/s400/CampUpton.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Soldiers practicing at Camp Upton</td></tr>
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shipping out to Europe. John said he was “liking the life of a soldier of the republic and hopes soon to be sent overseas to take part in the finishing up of the Huns”! I do not have any information about his actual service yet as I have only recently discovered this ancestor. But he was back home by April, 1919. He had been working for American Express in Detroit, Michigan before the war. He returned to that job after his return. But he would eventually come back to Quincy where he joined the police force as a detective. John died on May 16, 1948 probably in Quincy. This death information is not confirmed yet, but it seems to be likely true since he appears on the 1940 US Census in Quincy. He would have been about age 54 in 1948. </span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: large;">Coming next will be the maternal ancestors who fought in the Civil War. I have not found any other maternal ancestors from World War I or II. </span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: large;">Camp Upton Photo from the following archive:</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.gwpda.org/photos">Great War Primary Document Archive</a></span></span></div>
Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08324079002071103528noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5471724066013283762.post-83410247558586060942015-11-10T14:17:00.000-08:002015-11-10T14:17:54.496-08:00Veterans Day Project<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="font-size: small;">Tomorrow I am going to start posting short stories of maternal ancestors who have served in the US military in some capacity. I know I have not found all but I will continue the search! The bricks pictured above are in the Veterans Park in Cedar Falls, Iowa. It was just a coincidence that the brick for Roger Heald was placed so close to dad's brick! Roger Heald is the father of Mike's wife. </span><span style="font-size: small;">The next</span></b><span style="font-size: small;"><b> series of pictures shows the just-completed Freedom Rock also located in Veterans Park. The artist is Ray Sorensen and he is endeavoring to paint a Freedom Rock in all of Iowa's 99 counties. </b> </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirZiPDA304zHH1fzD7xIeq54CaVthCMKV89qIYcf5FnA1gffyLNJzszmonubl8MgWcVj-jxcz1FXKWMpsW4tnIdr0xJSvmCmfwJE6yR0BLz5Ov8NFotqhnvZCKUm0Jw009VaxOwG-xTU8/s1600/FreedomRock1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirZiPDA304zHH1fzD7xIeq54CaVthCMKV89qIYcf5FnA1gffyLNJzszmonubl8MgWcVj-jxcz1FXKWMpsW4tnIdr0xJSvmCmfwJE6yR0BLz5Ov8NFotqhnvZCKUm0Jw009VaxOwG-xTU8/s320/FreedomRock1.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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<b>The side pictured to the left is of Cedar Falls' own Taylor Morris. He lost all or parts of four limbs while serving in Afghanistan.</b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPHtOMO6cYxRK_GXq3X826zFSysqup8jG8TQPQlDVKY5NsIE4nOsCQO2prNeKGgbqCmWfkn4P5Ce4qO_qQYmHPIDY6d-pgSH9Vwo5s45lXdfs_bUROOpE8zP6Uvvk-7Ri8HdR0jRnuVqI/s1600/FreedomRock2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPHtOMO6cYxRK_GXq3X826zFSysqup8jG8TQPQlDVKY5NsIE4nOsCQO2prNeKGgbqCmWfkn4P5Ce4qO_qQYmHPIDY6d-pgSH9Vwo5s45lXdfs_bUROOpE8zP6Uvvk-7Ri8HdR0jRnuVqI/s320/FreedomRock2.jpg" width="240" /></a><br />
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<b>The next side depicts Waterloo's own Sullivan brothers who all were serving aboard the USS Juneau went it was attacked in the Pacific during WWII.</b><br />
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<a href="http://homeofheroes.com/brotherhood/sullivans.html">Sullivan brothers' story</a><br />
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<b>The next side honors the those who served in the Korean War. </b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoRWleGbJA54yHi5FGMQMS5LMPyqyj4XBIXPNYBZ7cxJzJpRp50LccX9AVEXy9IaMHAQ7nlNCRD3JRFxMOAwLKSCL-wqYrS2N-8XSPYBeU8VhTEjMQc1j2jRZ_lVxYDZGBFsH4N-DSF9Y/s1600/FreedomRock4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoRWleGbJA54yHi5FGMQMS5LMPyqyj4XBIXPNYBZ7cxJzJpRp50LccX9AVEXy9IaMHAQ7nlNCRD3JRFxMOAwLKSCL-wqYrS2N-8XSPYBeU8VhTEjMQc1j2jRZ_lVxYDZGBFsH4N-DSF9Y/s320/FreedomRock4.jpg" width="240" /></a><br />
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<b>The last side honors Robert Hibbs who lost his life serving in Vietnam. The Main Street Bridge here in Cedar Falls is named after him.</b><br />
<a href="http://www.virtualwall.org/dh/HibbsRJ01a.htm">Robert Hibbs' story</a></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">I will also be posting veterans from the paternal side of the family at</span> </b> <a href="http://www.schellseekers.blogspot.com/"><span style="font-size: large;">Schellseekers</span></a><br />
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Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08324079002071103528noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5471724066013283762.post-26853015084449768272015-05-30T10:58:00.000-07:002015-05-30T10:58:55.363-07:00Charles N Percy- Prisoner of the Confederacy<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Charles N Percy was my three times great grandfather and was born about 1840. The place of birth is still a mystery as is the exact birth date. On his daughter’s [Sarah Jane Percy Davis] death certificate, the place of birth for her father is stated as Lee County, Kentucky. Sarah’s husband, Charles P Davis was the informant. But on a death register from Monroe County, Kentucky, Charles Percy was listed as being born in Scott County, Virginia! I am more inclined to trust the Scott County birth place since the information for that register was probably given by Charles himself. But, alas, no proof yet. </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKISLpxTp-8G_kuQR8Cjyfo_TJ5hbvutk2G6nlBYtPZfIjhvsODOxd0l4BsBEnkoCzcF3cQgFc4rDLwd5cJYYCelVU5ASgYmA0PGPP3aOK_N5iraBu-U7mjyShWBQxNOUHje_HAaeGjsiv/s1600/PERCY-Margaret+Weaver.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKISLpxTp-8G_kuQR8Cjyfo_TJ5hbvutk2G6nlBYtPZfIjhvsODOxd0l4BsBEnkoCzcF3cQgFc4rDLwd5cJYYCelVU5ASgYmA0PGPP3aOK_N5iraBu-U7mjyShWBQxNOUHje_HAaeGjsiv/s200/PERCY-Margaret+Weaver.jpg" width="190" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Margaret Weaver Percy</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">In 1859, Charles married Margaret W Weaver. There is no record of an exact marriage date in the Monroe County, Kentucky courthouse. Monroe County is on the border with Tennessee and Confederate raiders burned the courthouse in Monroe County on April 22, 1863. This is when their marriage record was probably destroyed. The minister who married them gave a sworn statement when Margaret was seeking a pension for Charles’ Civil War service. He stated he had married them in either 1859 or 1860. Margaret states it was in 1859. Her brothers gave a statement declaring 1859 as the marriage year. <br /><br />Before his Civil War service, Charles and Margaret had two daughters- Mary Elizabeth born on July 1, 1860 and Sarah Jane born on January 22, 1862. Sarah would eventually marry Charles P Davis, my two-times great grandfather. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghtTNgjUKOaIgFE8VJCzKKF8bKOu0PNdw19S5speATXY2kDgBKFB54DGBRVwP5pbqgHdMf9JL_ac17UPQ-TcZCNMOlxrYVdjBz1uL06J-SkWioLHQxoVx3-C79Cv2okU4u1g8H3EqfV9am/s1600/CivilWar_SouthEast_1863_map.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a> </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Charles enlisted for Civil War service on October 14, 1861 for a term of three years. From a statement in his pension file, Charles mustered into service on September 16, 1862 as a private in Co. C of the 5th Regiment- Kentucky Cavalry. From his service records, it appears that he was a wagoner and an ambulance driver in 1863 and 1864. He showed up on hospital muster rolls in May-June 1863 in Nashville and again in January-February 1864 and March-April 1864 in Memphis. He is listed as a patient in the first two hospital stays but nothing is listed for the third stay. It appears he was involved in Sherman’s siege of Atlanta, Georgia and was on Sherman’s famous March to the Sea when they took Savannah, </span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghtTNgjUKOaIgFE8VJCzKKF8bKOu0PNdw19S5speATXY2kDgBKFB54DGBRVwP5pbqgHdMf9JL_ac17UPQ-TcZCNMOlxrYVdjBz1uL06J-SkWioLHQxoVx3-C79Cv2okU4u1g8H3EqfV9am/s1600/CivilWar_SouthEast_1863_map.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="322" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghtTNgjUKOaIgFE8VJCzKKF8bKOu0PNdw19S5speATXY2kDgBKFB54DGBRVwP5pbqgHdMf9JL_ac17UPQ-TcZCNMOlxrYVdjBz1uL06J-SkWioLHQxoVx3-C79Cv2okU4u1g8H3EqfV9am/s400/CivilWar_SouthEast_1863_map.jpg" width="400" /></a></span>Georgia. On February 21, 1865, Charles was captured by the Confederates in Monticello, South Carolina, just north of Columbia. He must have been quickly released because his pension records state he was given a furlough from Camp Chase near Columbus, Ohio from March 21, 1865-April 21, 1865. He apparently died of typhoid fever, which he may have contracted while a prisoner. This may also have been the reason for the furlough. He died at home in Rockcastle County, Kentucky on March 28, 1865. Just this past March was the 150th anniversary of his death. I had attempted to find his gravesite in Rockcastle County online, but have had no luck. A person from Rockcastle County’s Facebook page said unfortunately that long ago many were buried with only a fieldstone marker which are next to impossible to locate today. I had hoped to check to see if Charles had received any recognition for his service at his gravesite, but that appears unlikely. As I have said before, these ancestors deserve to be remembered; sometimes, this is the only way.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiebSLEqbdqGpvDV-k2Yv2Lv0Calu-ym4eI2lSMFS46HuaEbDxwpPvVnriCPxyfTE71fmCWDOFUWxgLltFKB82QkOdnhIJWLQpLTwLVEegucm8AqsXe2uPlcyY3bQFr6WEGvYUUshyJp-_y/s1600/Happekotte-Edna-3generations+back.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="362" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiebSLEqbdqGpvDV-k2Yv2Lv0Calu-ym4eI2lSMFS46HuaEbDxwpPvVnriCPxyfTE71fmCWDOFUWxgLltFKB82QkOdnhIJWLQpLTwLVEegucm8AqsXe2uPlcyY3bQFr6WEGvYUUshyJp-_y/s640/Happekotte-Edna-3generations+back.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pedigree Chart for Edna Happekotte- my grandmother</td></tr>
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Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08324079002071103528noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5471724066013283762.post-68445076774187485592014-12-09T21:56:00.002-08:002014-12-09T21:56:57.060-08:00The Davises of Tompkinsville, Kentucky<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">First, obviously, I took some time off from writing this blog, but I didn’t realize it had been 6 months! I never intended for it to be that long, but this summer was just to nice to be indoors working on anything. Then, my sister, Cindy, and I made a genealogy trip back out to the Family History Library in Salt Lake City in October. And now, here we are and it’s almost 2015! Procrastination may have played a part in this delay, too. So, now it’s time to get back to work on this blog. </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Charles P Davis</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyrbe_VfdoiBvtn5-Q1vqqHZmm8QHGKqJXAxREx2b-QvvwT6-3kv4Mq9gjG1UeM-Rw11TM_shm-MPfXOCng73zROnXGNzeeeNhU0OANaSO2zfTjXX7NnVkab4e9fVMnwTD-yxX3V-HibC4/s1600/Davis-sarah.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyrbe_VfdoiBvtn5-Q1vqqHZmm8QHGKqJXAxREx2b-QvvwT6-3kv4Mq9gjG1UeM-Rw11TM_shm-MPfXOCng73zROnXGNzeeeNhU0OANaSO2zfTjXX7NnVkab4e9fVMnwTD-yxX3V-HibC4/s1600/Davis-sarah.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sarah Percy Davis</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The Davis family is one that I really never heard much about while growing up. I
remember my grandma, Edna Shepherd Happekotte mentioning “Grandpa Davis”
[pictured on the left] occasionally, but not much more than just
mentioning…. or maybe I just wasn’t listening very carefully. Grandpa
Davis was Charles P Davis who was born in Tennessee probably DeKalb
County and later lived in Tompkinsville, Kentucky and for a long time
in LaGrange, Missouri. Monroe County, Kentucky is located in south
central Kentucky and is situated on the Kentucky-Tennessee line.
Tompkinsville is the county seat and that was the home of our Davis
branch of the family. My mother’s notes mentioned Pumpkinville and we
found my great grandma Mary Davis Shepherd’s obituary that said she was
born in Pumpkinville! That’s close enough sounding to Tompkinsville that
I believe they are one in the same. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Charles married Sarah Jane
Percy [pictured on the right above] in Clay Co., Tennessee on October
27, 1878. They moved to Tompkinsville by December of 1881 because that
is when and where their first child, Daniel, was born. They didn’t have
to move far because Clay County, Tennessee borders Monroe County,
Kentucky on the south. Their second child, Mary Elizabeth [my great grandmother], was born in
Tompkinsville on October 7, 1882. By 1886, the family had moved to
Linneus, Linn Co., Missouri because their third child, George William
was born there on January 11, 1886. A fourth child, Charles Lee, was
born on February 22, 1888 in Gregory, Clark Co., Missouri. I have no
primary source confirmation of that as of yet. Charles Lee was a little
more than two years old when he died on October 12, 1890. Their last
child, Lillie Belle, was born in LaGrange, Lewis Co., Missouri on
February 15, 1899. Her grandson, Keith Jones, has been a treasure trove
of information and stories about her, about her husband Cornell (Jack)
Allen, and about Charles Davis. I have so enjoyed listening to his
stories. We are sharing information about the Davis family. We know that
Charles’ father was Henry Lee Davis [more about him in a future blog],
but tracing back to Henry Lee’s father is proving to be a challenge. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Sarah
Jane Percy Davis died on January 16, 1923 in LaGrange. She was just six
days shy of her sixty-first birthday when she passed. Charles survived
about thirteen more years. He was still in LaGrange according to the
1930 US Federal Census, but sometime after that he moved in with
relatives in Quincy, Illinois which is just a few miles south of
LaGrange. I suspect the relatives he was living with would have been his
daughter, Mary Davis Shepherd, who was living in Quincy. Charles died
at the state hospital in Jacksonville, Illinois on August 24, 1936. He
had been there for eight months. I have yet to find out why he was
there. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Charles had worked for the railroad most of his life.
Keith Jones told me that is probably why they moved from Kentucky to
Missouri. It would also explain why they moved often. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Oh, and if
you look on the map of Monroe County above, you will find a town called
Bugtussle! For those of you who remember the show “The Beverly
Hillbillies”, you may recognize the name. It was the hometown of the
Clampetts! Well, so far, I haven’t found any Clampetts in our
background, but if I do, you may never find out! </span></div>
Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08324079002071103528noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5471724066013283762.post-70989945717727244682014-06-19T15:15:00.002-07:002014-06-19T15:15:36.121-07:00William Henry Shepherd<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">First, I must return briefly to the “brick wall” named James Lewis Jenkins. In the March 11 post about him, I had mentioned the belief that James Lewis Jenkins could be the brother of George W Jenkins. They had been born in 1806 and 1809,respectively. If they were brothers then their parents would have been William Norris and Priscilla Hoskins Jenkins. As I mentioned, this is purely conjecture on my part. Since then, I have developed another scenario. William Norris Jenkins had a brother, George W Jenkins (born-1780). It is very possible that this could be the father of James Lewis Jenkins. This “brick wall” is becoming thicker! <br /><br />I have made a contact with a woman in Quincy whose ancestors were George W Jenkins and Martha Cravens. She also has a friend who lives in Lewis County and knows quite a bit about the Jenkins/Cravens lines. Perhaps, I can meet her the next time we are in Quincy to do some genealogy. Also, we need to get back to the Lewis County Historical Society and see if there is something there we missed the first time. Another possibility is the library at Culver-Stockton College in Canton, Missouri; they may have old newspapers from the area or other sources to check. James Lewis Jenkins died in 1861; it would be great to find an obituary that could possibly list his place of birth and/or parents! <br /><br />So, I continue to search for a way over, around, or through this brick wall! I’ll keep you posted.<br /><br /><u><b>William H Shepherd</b></u><br /><br />What I know about my second great grandfather is pretty sketchy so far. Much of what I have on William is unconfirmed so should not be used on other genealogies, except as clues. William was born in Hunnewell (Honeywell), Shelby County, Missouri on October 19, 1845. His parents were John S and Mary J Tompkins Sheppard. All of this in unconfirmed as it was on the online tree of his granddaughter but it was not cited. I had a phone conversation with her, but did not get any confirmation of the information. She had been ill and I think was suffering from some early dementia. She also indicated that she would be moving to a nursing home in the near future. Attempts to contact her son on Facebook and by mail went unanswered. That was very disappointing as I’m willing to bet his mother did have some sources that could have been shared. <br /><br />William married Nancy “Nannie” A Jenkins on April 16, 1866. This was after he had served in the Civil War as a private in Co. B of the 69th Regiment of the Missouri Militia. William and Nancy had six children: Edward, Jennie Irene, Robert Elmer (my great grandfather), Pearl, Mary E., and William P. I believe the last two children died very young. On one census, William was listed as a blacksmith; in a Lewis County Journal article about his wife, he was listed as a cooper. William died on Dec 17, 1925 and is buried at Riverview Cemetery in LaGrange, Missouri along side of his wife. </span></div>
<br />Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08324079002071103528noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5471724066013283762.post-83870350218036576132014-04-24T08:19:00.001-07:002015-03-22T21:24:30.848-07:00Nancy "Nannie" Jenkins Shepherd<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Nancy was my second great grandmother and the mother of Robert E Shepherd, my maternal great grandfather. She was born June 21, 1846 in La Grange, Lewis County, Missouri and lived there her entire life. Her parents were James L Jenkins and Nancy Ann Tuley. James had been one of the early pioneers of LaGrange and, as I mentioned in the last post, he had been on the first town council there back in 1854. Nancy married William H Shepherd on April 16, 1866 in LaGrange. They had been married for 59 years when he passed away in 1925. Nancy had been a member of the First Baptist Church in LaGrange for 64 years. <br /><br />Nancy and William’s family included William P, Edward, Jennie Irene, Mary Elizabeth, Robert Elmore (my great grandfather), Charles H., and Pearl Mabel. <br /><br />Because Nancy was one of LaGrange’s oldest residents, she was honored at the planting of a centennial tree in LaGrange on Friday, April 4, 1930. She placed the first shovel of dirt around the tree. On Saturday, her children came and got her for a visit to Quincy with family for a few days. She was staying at the home of her son, Robert. Sadly, on Wednesday, April 9, 1930, Nannie died at her son’s home. <br /><br />There were family stories that she was part Cherokee, but I have never been able to determine that. I just don’t know much about her life in LaGrange. However, from reading one article published about her in a local newspaper and from her obituary, she was a loyal member of her church having been a member for so long and she seemed to be very devoted to her family and they to her. <br /><br />I can’t help but wonder what she must have thought about all of the changes in the world that she would have witnessed such as the inventions of electricity, automobiles, trains, and airplanes to name but a few. She would have been 16 years old when the Civil War began; so she probably had some remembrances of it. She would have remembered the Spanish-American War and World War I. It would have been amazing to have been able to talk to her about all of this! </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBoAHScjZHKWoANTT2zYTWN51P4tC9h135vAbMsxOL75E1UG_VLLpabDJ_0JdVf7NJMVUs3_ECQh5JU7jVEUu8R_TJI5aN-CDu3_MK57bMnWE0SD-PP24Qb9Yu2ko9xTLFmg5sRLH2hQIj/s1600/Shepherd-nannie%3F%3F%3F+copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVDPw9l43YCTLuumAAOokQMf-fTz201derO7B1XFpct1nQX4xE08pKEnjgkuq6sm7WddO1hx0uhdMDlV1u7OpHLrp6SDk9PypsHSS698deqYXN2Mp4CdLvaDzyI9h1kpHv-d6fLgz3il-T/s1600/Shepherd-4-generation+copy.JPG" height="425" width="640" /> </a><span style="font-size: x-small;">The photo above is a four-generation photo. Standing are my grandmother, Edna Shepherd Happekotte and my great grandfather, Robert E Shepherd. The child is my mother, Patricia Happekotte Schell and holding her is my second great grandmother, Nancy Jenkins Shepherd. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">The photo below, I believe, is Nancy. The back of the photo says South Park [in Quincy, IL] and the date is May 1, 1927</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBoAHScjZHKWoANTT2zYTWN51P4tC9h135vAbMsxOL75E1UG_VLLpabDJ_0JdVf7NJMVUs3_ECQh5JU7jVEUu8R_TJI5aN-CDu3_MK57bMnWE0SD-PP24Qb9Yu2ko9xTLFmg5sRLH2hQIj/s1600/Shepherd-nannie%3F%3F%3F+copy.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBoAHScjZHKWoANTT2zYTWN51P4tC9h135vAbMsxOL75E1UG_VLLpabDJ_0JdVf7NJMVUs3_ECQh5JU7jVEUu8R_TJI5aN-CDu3_MK57bMnWE0SD-PP24Qb9Yu2ko9xTLFmg5sRLH2hQIj/s1600/Shepherd-nannie%3F%3F%3F+copy.jpg" height="440" width="640" /></a></div>
Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08324079002071103528noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5471724066013283762.post-3993519226781868902014-03-11T08:17:00.001-07:002014-03-11T08:17:09.463-07:00James Lewis Jenkins- LaGrange Pioneer<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTrEmGszStfgvOpSNje4qGQ25xkc_VC6cBVb6CpMqBTQeq1xix088X4UvB6RpsrITb70JKdi6rihB7CvdfUdi9u5uDs9YLotyAWi7K8QoIQmA2h_nvj4opRB7LPXfM2TMUweDwlxZHbLMF/s1600/northeast+kentucky-county-map.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTrEmGszStfgvOpSNje4qGQ25xkc_VC6cBVb6CpMqBTQeq1xix088X4UvB6RpsrITb70JKdi6rihB7CvdfUdi9u5uDs9YLotyAWi7K8QoIQmA2h_nvj4opRB7LPXfM2TMUweDwlxZHbLMF/s1600/northeast+kentucky-county-map.gif" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><span style="font-size: small;">This ancestors has proven to be one of the most elusive. I’m sure it is not because he chose to be secretive but rather that back in his days, there were few official records kept. I have never been able to find an actual birth date. The only data I have for his birth is that which was reported on censuses and that can be, at times, untrustworthy. Back in the 1800s when censuses were taken, the census taker was not required to get the information from the people who actually lived in the household. Imagine a census taker on horseback out in the countryside coming to a house and no one being available to give information. He could have gotten it from nearby neighbors who probably didn’t know an actual birth year or where their neighbors were actually born. Or the census taker may may gotten the information from an older child who happened to be at home and may not have been accurate. By getting the information in these ways, the census taker would not have to make another trip back to get the information…. no telephones remember! There were all kinds of problems with those earlier censuses, so genealogists do not generally use them as proof but as good clues. When that is all you have to go on, then that is what you must use until you can locate more substantial proof. So that is where I am with James. According to census information, he was born in about 1806 in Kentucky. I have more than one census that agrees with that, so I feel somewhat comfortable that its accuracy is pretty close. <br /> I have also not been able to determine just where in Kentucky he was born. At this point, I strongly feel it was Bullitt County. On the map of Kentucky, you can see Bullitt County just south of Louisville. I found a history of Lewis County that had some biographies. There were three short biographies of William N, James, and George W Jenkins. This was not the James who is the subject of this writing because this James had been born in 1849. All three of these men had been born in Nelson County, Kentucky. Nelson County, as you can see on the map, is right next to Bullitt County. All three of these men are the sons of George W Jenkins, Sr. who I believe was born in Bullitt County in 1809. This is purely conjecture at this point, but I am thinking that James Lewis Jenkins and George W Jenkins, Sr. were brothers. Their birth years of 1806 and 1809 strongly suggest that possibility. That would make the three Jenkins men who were in the Lewis County history book nephews of the subject of this writing. And it might explain why all three men came to Lewis County with their widowed mother, Martha Cravens Jenkins. As I mentioned, this is all supposition at this point until I can find some proof of the possible relationship between James L and George W Jenkins, Sr. And, I might add, this is the real fun in genealogy…….. trying to find this proof! It is especially challenging when you are dealing with a time in which few birth, death, and marriage records were kept by counties. Hopefully, I will be able to report some progress in this quest in the future. </span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTrEmGszStfgvOpSNje4qGQ25xkc_VC6cBVb6CpMqBTQeq1xix088X4UvB6RpsrITb70JKdi6rihB7CvdfUdi9u5uDs9YLotyAWi7K8QoIQmA2h_nvj4opRB7LPXfM2TMUweDwlxZHbLMF/s1600/northeast+kentucky-county-map.gif" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTrEmGszStfgvOpSNje4qGQ25xkc_VC6cBVb6CpMqBTQeq1xix088X4UvB6RpsrITb70JKdi6rihB7CvdfUdi9u5uDs9YLotyAWi7K8QoIQmA2h_nvj4opRB7LPXfM2TMUweDwlxZHbLMF/s1600/northeast+kentucky-county-map.gif" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTrEmGszStfgvOpSNje4qGQ25xkc_VC6cBVb6CpMqBTQeq1xix088X4UvB6RpsrITb70JKdi6rihB7CvdfUdi9u5uDs9YLotyAWi7K8QoIQmA2h_nvj4opRB7LPXfM2TMUweDwlxZHbLMF/s1600/northeast+kentucky-county-map.gif" height="318" width="640" /></a><br /><span style="font-size: small;">Back to James and his life, at least, what I do know. I have a land patent for some land he bought in Marion County, Missouri, which is just south of Lewis County. This happened in 1833, so I know he is in Missouri by that time. He married Nancy A Tuley on 2 July 1835 in Lewis County. Their children were daughters Mary J, Francis P, and Nancy A. They had two sons, John W and James L. The daughter named Nancy A would become known as “Nannie” Jenkins and would eventually marry William Shepherd, the parents of my great grandfather, Robert E Shepherd. In an article in a newspaper after Nannie Jenkins Shepherd died, she said her father, James L Jenkins was a tanner by trade in LaGrange. He also operated a cooper shop and owned the only undertaking business in town. That’s quite a collections of trades! He built the first brick house in LaGrange at the corner of Third and Jackson Streets. The</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"> town of LaGrange was officially organized in 1854 and James served on the first town council. <br /><br />Another interesting sidelight about James was his “disappearance” in 1850. James was on the 1840 and 1860 census in LaGrange. However, he is not listed with his family on the 1850 census there. At first, I thought the obvious…that he had died, but this was before I had located the 1860 census and found him in LaGrange. So, where was he in 1850? I did some more searching and found a James S Jenkins in Grass Valley, California. What’s going on in California in 1850? …… think Gold Rush! James is living in a household with two other miners and he is listed as a miner. Just because it says James S and not James L on this census, I strongly believe this is our James because he is the right age and it lists Kentucky as the birth place. And this would explain his absence on the 1850 census in LaGrange. I have searched for proof of James being there and have come up empty so far. I wrote to a library out in that area but they could find nothing. I also have found nothing in Quincy newspapers about people who may have gone out West at this time, but I’ll keep looking. <br /><br />The 1860 census would be the last census in which James appears. He died in 1861 and, ironically, on the 1860 census, his profession is listed as undertaker! </span>Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08324079002071103528noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5471724066013283762.post-13191388756116882552014-02-09T17:27:00.000-08:002014-02-09T17:27:23.342-08:00Mary Davis of "Pumpkinville"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikuDj00UJQ5NmU5cN0jn1dm52WSpXKqB2XFE3EDm3DQBWXwoXNSYtJrzSAKTnQrbVHb0_mdYVS0uHZwrDcHCju3bnb5oDsOmi9feXegC83uBAH91iMlhN6_nlztve5vjqhJDe_sFNnnDGw/s1600/DavisMaryE.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikuDj00UJQ5NmU5cN0jn1dm52WSpXKqB2XFE3EDm3DQBWXwoXNSYtJrzSAKTnQrbVHb0_mdYVS0uHZwrDcHCju3bnb5oDsOmi9feXegC83uBAH91iMlhN6_nlztve5vjqhJDe_sFNnnDGw/s1600/DavisMaryE.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">I must admit that I know very little of my maternal great</span><span style="font-size: small;"> grandmother Mary E Davis Shepherd except from what I have been </span><span style="font-size: small;">told. I was only about 4 years old when she died; so, unfortunately, I have no personal memories of her. Mary was born on October 7, 1882 in Tompkinsville, Monroe County, Kentucky to parents Charles Perry Davis and Sarah Jane Percy. At one time we had been told that she was born in Pumpkinville, Kentucky. This always sounded somewhat suspicious to me. When I started digging into her genealogy, I found that she was from Tompkinsville, which to someone, may have sounded like Pumpkinville! Her obituary in the Quincy newspapers actually did say Pumpkinville! </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Her family moved to Linneus, Linn County, Missouri sometime</span><span style="font-size: small;"> between 1882 and 1886. I was told by Mary’s great nephew, Keith Jones, that they had moved from Kentucky to Missouri due to Charles
getting a job with the railroad. They were in Gregory, Clark County,
Missouri by 1888 where Mary’s brother Charles Lee was born. By 1899, the
family was located in LaGrange, Lewis County, Missouri; this is where
Mary’s sister, Lillie Belle, was born. </span><span style="font-size: small;"></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><br />Mary’s siblings were Dan L. born December 11, 1880 in Tompkinsville; George William born January 11, 1886 in Linneus, Missouri; Charles Lee born February 22, 1888 in Gregory, Missouri; and Lillie Belle born February 15, 1899 in LaGrange, Missouri. Charles Lee only lived to age 2. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;">Mary and Robert E Shepherd were married on August 27, 1902 in</span><span style="font-size: small;"> LaGrange, Missouri. They had a total of seven children. This came as a big surprise to my sister, Cindy, and me when we visited Marks Cemetery in LaGrange, Missouri. We were looking for the tombstones of Mary’s parents and her grandmother, Margaret Percy. We successfully found them, but we also found a tombstone nearby with four children’s names. They turned out to be children of Mary and Robert Shepherd who had all died very young. They were Norma Estelle (1909-1913), Mildred (1908), Robert Russell (1919), and Mary Elma (1920). I remember my grandma talking about Norma, but I had never heard of the other four. So, this was quite a find for us. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><br />In the picture below, from left to right, Mabel, Edna, Mary, Robert, and Charles</span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ3rfhQinl0j1HBacA3fhqLKApy0JoXv7N5q1eDlm_hUNEEQojMx7OtwVopRkyQgF38ALhyHjMYbcqQS9QHDzVPE7gnkjBXL95PbRjCDNR-e1hehfgI8xX9rXfpQyHfpnzZpaG8sOdQwp5/s1600/Shepherd-family+copy.JPG" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ3rfhQinl0j1HBacA3fhqLKApy0JoXv7N5q1eDlm_hUNEEQojMx7OtwVopRkyQgF38ALhyHjMYbcqQS9QHDzVPE7gnkjBXL95PbRjCDNR-e1hehfgI8xX9rXfpQyHfpnzZpaG8sOdQwp5/s1600/Shepherd-family+copy.JPG" height="426" width="640" /></a></span><br />Mom had written down many remembrances of her Grandma Mary. Keith Jones also told me that he knew her as Aunt Molly which I had never heard before. She was a great cook; mom remembered her making noodles and they would be hanging all over the place to dry. She had a small pig when they lived on 22nd Street in Quincy; it would follow grandma around the yard like a pet. Grandma also had a pig collection that was handed down to my grandma and then mom. Unfortunately, it was lost in mom’s house fire in 1985. Grandma always had a big garden and she raised turkeys when they lived on Oak Street in Quincy. She had a grape arbor in the back yard and always made grape jelly. From the garden, she would sell some of the produce, but anything left over was canned. Mary and husband, Robert, had worked in a button factory in Muscatine, Iowa but I am not sure when that occurred. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"> In the picture below, from left to right, is Mary and children Mabel, Charles, and Edna</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdqyxxB4AFOigeTXCP9gD4Q2ZUhhxqYt7mShhpAwWAJ3Dy-FFXrTzfvPJjrw03YczEX2xFfuZ_iXLvHJ4tUCMxCAr-Qw53WgCCsGGJbcJQeFpLtkmnhQkB4o1DMacai88D0RTZByeWqn0F/s1600/shepherd-family-1918+copy.JPG" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdqyxxB4AFOigeTXCP9gD4Q2ZUhhxqYt7mShhpAwWAJ3Dy-FFXrTzfvPJjrw03YczEX2xFfuZ_iXLvHJ4tUCMxCAr-Qw53WgCCsGGJbcJQeFpLtkmnhQkB4o1DMacai88D0RTZByeWqn0F/s1600/shepherd-family-1918+copy.JPG" height="425" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">In LaGrange around 1920</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><br />My great grandparents were extremely kind and generous. They took in a foster child named Russell Mansperger during the time of the Great Depression. I am not certain when they took him in or why, but he was with them in the 1930 census at the age of 10. He continued to live with them until tragedy struck when Russell drowned in the municipal pool when he was 20. <br /><br />One funny story I learned about great grandma was she always called her husband, Robert, “Dad”. When asked why, she said she wasn’t sleeping with a grandpa! From the sounds of it, great grandma was quite the kidder! Mom said in her notes that great grandma “had a little bit of the devil dancing in those beautiful eyes”. One time when the grandkids were out playing, she called out to them and asked if they wanted some hot chocolate. Of course, they all said yes. When they came inside and finished the hot chocolate, grandma asked everyone if they liked it. “YES!” was the reply. Then she started laughing and told them she had made it with goat’s milk! I’m glad I wasn’t around! <br /><br />After the tragedy of losing four children very young and losing their foster child, she seems to have been a very strong person. It’s amazing to me that she was able to maintain such a wonderful sense of humor. I only wish I had been able to know her. </span></div>
Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08324079002071103528noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5471724066013283762.post-40571152400508380852013-12-16T08:34:00.002-08:002013-12-16T08:34:57.376-08:00European Adventure- Part 4<div style="text-align: justify;">
Here is the final installment of my
European adventure. We arrived back in Amsterdam on Sept. 16 for our
flight home on Sept. 19. Therefore, we had some time to do some more
exploring. The weather was kind of chilly and damp but that did not
deter us. At the left is the Anne Frank home. You cannot truly
appreciate the cramped conditions in which they lived unless you
actually go through that upper floor. It was a very sobering
experience. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjEZiuRcTAr2L_-k-dkPwbueOFrCi_ZZB1eskNliW38pbQXNqO-rw2f_pe6o-k5cN4yzVvF1XKXMrYiv1gxWoW-5dAwCv41PeRscUUhCqH00ksJrhdax2n7t4UIF1Hhr6XTvlZHwmG82Q/s1600/Canal-flowers.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjEZiuRcTAr2L_-k-dkPwbueOFrCi_ZZB1eskNliW38pbQXNqO-rw2f_pe6o-k5cN4yzVvF1XKXMrYiv1gxWoW-5dAwCv41PeRscUUhCqH00ksJrhdax2n7t4UIF1Hhr6XTvlZHwmG82Q/s1600/Canal-flowers.jpg" height="320" width="239" /></a> </div>
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My favorite pastime in Amsterdam was strolling along the canals. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJI6qMU2SjzXCQhG1Ko3sDtnAB5e64eY-fJJjbUvNav7TVJDGBtmTNAPqgADInAx3hlfqXTfDIjbNmkP07XMu4IOtU9IqwIOWpW4XwNXIfov4XfprxxOqQkTn2dHeKVyeq_Y6wWqq6KIs/s1600/IMG_0395.JPG" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJI6qMU2SjzXCQhG1Ko3sDtnAB5e64eY-fJJjbUvNav7TVJDGBtmTNAPqgADInAx3hlfqXTfDIjbNmkP07XMu4IOtU9IqwIOWpW4XwNXIfov4XfprxxOqQkTn2dHeKVyeq_Y6wWqq6KIs/s1600/IMG_0395.JPG" height="239" width="320" /></a>There
are so many neat little shops and cafes along the way. I can't help but
wonder how many cars they have to fish out of these canals! There isn't
always a guard rail to stop you. There are flowers everywhere- on the
bridges and in window boxes. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgblbN3UPUIFIlhRGee3t0y2FMVut6f9xCzpyadyVT92UkjcE7fpKNPWpW9M9Wd_lW7souYbGwEFrfwkUy4Z9vCX9Yyn_43qhZPFEbzvS-mnE91N4TJkl4QZbsuzjxFNeYg5aYFh8tnni0/s1600/lean.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgblbN3UPUIFIlhRGee3t0y2FMVut6f9xCzpyadyVT92UkjcE7fpKNPWpW9M9Wd_lW7souYbGwEFrfwkUy4Z9vCX9Yyn_43qhZPFEbzvS-mnE91N4TJkl4QZbsuzjxFNeYg5aYFh8tnni0/s1600/lean.jpg" height="400" width="298" /></a></div>
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I took this picture to show how some buildings are settling. You can
see where one of the buildings is leaning forward. There were many
places where either the left side or the right side is higher than its
opposite. That probably makes opening a window alittle difficult! </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinPXpZstQpuCnueqqR7dDH6rLnKJTdaYm4YeSz5Fj-Ax1MtURfJHHLSoqcngcwCDcmPPx046fu5JpMOMtx0oYktreHTGyv5NMjbjuXRKz3FFwb_3VPEfXaUdJdQ6wgbYhz9bOoFGiO3KQ/s1600/Rijks.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinPXpZstQpuCnueqqR7dDH6rLnKJTdaYm4YeSz5Fj-Ax1MtURfJHHLSoqcngcwCDcmPPx046fu5JpMOMtx0oYktreHTGyv5NMjbjuXRKz3FFwb_3VPEfXaUdJdQ6wgbYhz9bOoFGiO3KQ/s1600/Rijks.jpg" height="400" width="298" /></a> </div>
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The
above picture is the Rijksmuseum which is the Netherlands' national
museum. You could easily spend a day going through the exhibits. The
highlight is the painting "Night Watch" by Rembrandt. I'm not a real
artsy person, but you cannot help but be impressed by seeing the
actual works of art that previously you had seen only in pictures,
videos, and history books. One interesting sidelight of the museum is
that entrance you can see in the picture. The two middle entrances are
actually bike lanes that pass through the building. Apparently, the
museum director attempted to have those lanes closed to bikes, but the
bike "lobby" is so powerful in Amsterdam, it was kept open to bikes. If
you could only see how many bikes there are, you could readily
understand the power of the bike lobby! The city has a population of
800,000 people and there are 880,000 bikes! Yikes! </div>
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This
last picture below was an amusing "find" for us. If you cannot read
what is inscribed at the top of this structure, I repeated it in the
picture's caption. The Latin phrase means "Wise men do not pee into the
wind". Why does it say that, you may ask? This was a commercial building
project in Amsterdam. The developer was having a lot of difficulties
with the permit process. So, he submitted this phrase to the city
fathers, who apparently, didn't pay much attention to what it meant and
approved it! This was a way for the developer to get back at the city
for making the process so difficult! </div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0Ip31FsskvOYH8rLe5AmFdz9EiqdicDspuVnNiDZtXMZ4Lr3bL8WOr-8qYHW-_IKEJGq9lYxGGX77DfZAYNxFJ_yFX9RlQEJa9W538sVXRGIRNs0RzaS1ZjjKocWdgIXGFG1f-G2qKx8/s1600/Latin.JPG" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0Ip31FsskvOYH8rLe5AmFdz9EiqdicDspuVnNiDZtXMZ4Lr3bL8WOr-8qYHW-_IKEJGq9lYxGGX77DfZAYNxFJ_yFX9RlQEJa9W538sVXRGIRNs0RzaS1ZjjKocWdgIXGFG1f-G2qKx8/s1600/Latin.JPG" height="476" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Homo Sapiens Non Urinat in Ventum</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Well,
the 19th came about and it was time to leave. We took a taxi out to
Schiphol International Airport and it was soon off to Chicago on a nine
hour flight. We arrived in Chicago around 1 PM and were to have a couple
of hours before the connecting flight to Iowa. We got coffee and a
newspaper to catch up on the news. I happened to look at the display of
flights and noticed that our flight had been canceled along with many
others. I will not get into the nitty, gritty of what transpired after
that, but I was not a happy camper! My travel partner got to see an
irritated side of me that he didn't know existed! We spent from about 2
PM until 8 PM that evening trying to figure out connecting flights and
getting accomodations for the night. The next morning, we were on a
shuttle from our hotel in Schaumburg, IL back to the airport at 6:30 AM.
Got to got through security again.....fun! Finally after a short delay
because the flight crew was late in arriving, we were off to the Cedar
Rapids airport and the end of a truly amazing trip. </div>
Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08324079002071103528noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5471724066013283762.post-89839538012723441982013-11-24T12:09:00.001-08:002013-11-30T11:37:50.315-08:00European Adventure- Part 3<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6OSWrtmC1lB6sNd5ZgC0B13Z05-JlTErZaoyKyZEjHeQC4Dt0p3UIOw1Ye1yXQdY6QMpksdGHQklm_UeUz8pw9FmctovaL-UNR3GgEHeDV0KIrtnXbwYdW2jzbI3b_9tbaU-mh7D1aqI/s1600/ErfRegion+copy.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6OSWrtmC1lB6sNd5ZgC0B13Z05-JlTErZaoyKyZEjHeQC4Dt0p3UIOw1Ye1yXQdY6QMpksdGHQklm_UeUz8pw9FmctovaL-UNR3GgEHeDV0KIrtnXbwYdW2jzbI3b_9tbaU-mh7D1aqI/s1600/ErfRegion+copy.jpg" height="498" width="640" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3UMjee5mXmqvqK6TpG2BeRW5Hk7l0P482Wsv2gQgT11MIAVhxPH4TBKLazNT3dIdQtHIqApXfa8WA9e3oCanP0PkBOUa4v_Q4u0seJ0mne0fLiF-DJkqIaauJKHfKnUNLs7PvmLutxRY/s1600/germany_map_regions_sm.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3UMjee5mXmqvqK6TpG2BeRW5Hk7l0P482Wsv2gQgT11MIAVhxPH4TBKLazNT3dIdQtHIqApXfa8WA9e3oCanP0PkBOUa4v_Q4u0seJ0mne0fLiF-DJkqIaauJKHfKnUNLs7PvmLutxRY/s1600/germany_map_regions_sm.jpg" height="387" width="400" /></a> </span></div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;">In
the map to the left, the green colored area is the state in which
Erfweiler is located. In the map above, you can see where Erfweiler is
in relation to Frankfurt and Stuttgart. </span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLjnt3qiUIUwatwPvGqT3tmutV41mHsKkov2yoD4ADVBkxXVyZwVcXXXn4eD4XJ4oaveyZasnaQqeHl4IjIdF5GnVKhV_5kqWVSYVt-I_pi1_bTuwiiXBLjO472M5FTFvgv1EVJMxd_LY/s1600/Warplaque.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">In</span><span style="font-size: small;">my last post, we were in </span><span style="font-size: small;">the
Schell ancestral village of Erfweiler in Germany. We had enjoyed a
great meal at a local eatery called the Jägerhof. The next morning, we
were invited to Gerhard and Bärbel Zwick’s home for a typical German
breakfast consisting of a variety of cheeses, thin-sliced meats, rolls,
and coffee. After breakfast, Gerhard and Friedbert took us on a walking
tour of Erfweiler. They pointed out some of the buildings and homes that
would have been around when our ancestors plied the streets of
Erfweiler back in the 18th and 19th centuries. They showed us the old
school that Johann Schehl would have attended and the site of the old
Catholic church that the family would have attended. We also got a
little insight into Erfweiler during WWII. Since the town is very close
to the French border, the Nazis ordered all villagers to evacuate for
seven months after the war began in September of 1939. Near the end of
the war when the Americans occupied the area, all the villagers in the
upper old town had to evacuate so the Americans could set up camp there.
Gerhard had a relative in Erfweiler who was killed after the villagers
moved back in. He, unfortunately, came into contact with a grenade that
had been left behind. Gerhard also had a relative who was killed during
the D-Day invasion and another who was killed when German paratroopers
tried to invade the island of Crete. We visited a town</span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLjnt3qiUIUwatwPvGqT3tmutV41mHsKkov2yoD4ADVBkxXVyZwVcXXXn4eD4XJ4oaveyZasnaQqeHl4IjIdF5GnVKhV_5kqWVSYVt-I_pi1_bTuwiiXBLjO472M5FTFvgv1EVJMxd_LY/s1600/Warplaque.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLjnt3qiUIUwatwPvGqT3tmutV41mHsKkov2yoD4ADVBkxXVyZwVcXXXn4eD4XJ4oaveyZasnaQqeHl4IjIdF5GnVKhV_5kqWVSYVt-I_pi1_bTuwiiXBLjO472M5FTFvgv1EVJMxd_LY/s1600/Warplaque.jpg" height="640" width="476" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Honoring town's war dead- there were two more plaques</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;">cemetery with little hope of finding any tombstones of my</span> <span style="font-size: small;">ancestors.
They do it a “little” differently in Germany. You lease a plot for
between 15-25 years. After the lease is up and if no family member
renews the lease, the plot can be re-used! What happens to the remains
that were there, you say? Well, there are not many remains as they do
not place coffins inside a liner. But if there are remains, they are
just buried deeper! The headstone is removed and a new one is put in
place. They even recycle the headstones. So, there are no headstones
remaining for the dearly departed from long ago! We did find a Schehl
gravesite but it was from a different line. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">After
the tour, it was time to return to Gerhard’s home for lunch. They had
said the night before that we were going to have a “special” lunch on
Sunday and then they started chuckling. That was of some concern to me;
why the chuckling without explanation? Well, we got to the lunch after
our tour. There was a large platter of sausages and brats, bread and
rolls, a large bowl of sauerkraut (which was of special concern to me),
and then a large sausage-like piece of meat on a large plate. It was
probably about 4-5 inches round and maybe about a foot long. They said
it was somewhat unique to this Pfälz region of Germany and it was called
saumagen, which didn’t mean much to me. So, they sliced it and gave
each of us a piece. I dug in and it was quite delicious. It was only
after that that they explained that saumagen meant “sow’s stomach”! It
seems that they stuff a sow’s stomach with a mixture of pork, potatoes,
and seasonings; it resembles a meatloaf. The sow’s stomach is merely the
casing for this large sausage. It really was quite good, but I don’t
think that’s one thing I will soon try to make at home for (what should
be) obvious reasons. After lunch, Gerhard and Bärbel took</span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRLoGCaGOWoa4chv36JKGXnrWAP5I4ASdCRN5pxxXNQgGW7JivqrS5kC9rMFenxIiORbiy2E58eOp2bdIwXMwQ_gnCTI8WLvHllrOjiRevtCKvK5UHUfD8-ORD-wF7aEDi9YKbDMYFuAs/s1600/AltDahn1.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRLoGCaGOWoa4chv36JKGXnrWAP5I4ASdCRN5pxxXNQgGW7JivqrS5kC9rMFenxIiORbiy2E58eOp2bdIwXMwQ_gnCTI8WLvHllrOjiRevtCKvK5UHUfD8-ORD-wF7aEDi9YKbDMYFuAs/s1600/AltDahn1.jpg" height="400" width="298" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Climbing around Alt Dahn ruins</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheKZ4MHl5BNVX9WGMzS0cKh_ZD9wpCXlLcuJXsWwHx5Tg1yl5HrjY-khDztYuuTlx0pe2Q3gjtAlY4yFxzGWTNdleAHmQLeczAYlYv0tEnhFxwP58EcAnwzn0HP8FaWZjLyZDmIbYuceU/s1600/AltDahn-tower.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheKZ4MHl5BNVX9WGMzS0cKh_ZD9wpCXlLcuJXsWwHx5Tg1yl5HrjY-khDztYuuTlx0pe2Q3gjtAlY4yFxzGWTNdleAHmQLeczAYlYv0tEnhFxwP58EcAnwzn0HP8FaWZjLyZDmIbYuceU/s1600/AltDahn-tower.jpg" height="400" width="298" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">From highest tower of Alt Dahn</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"> </span><span style="font-size: small;">to
us to the neighboring town of Dahn. High on a hill overlooking the
entire valley is an old castle called Alt Dahn. It is now a state park.
It’s a pretty good hike up to the remains of the old castle from the
parking lot. It was kind of misty that afternoon but you could see for a
long way up there. After returning to Erfweiler, it was time to head
back to Stuttgart with Friedbert and Gudrun. They dropped us off at our
hotel and said they would come by in the morning and take us to the main
train station downtown. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">The
next morning, we said our goodbyes and left for Amsterdam for our last
German rail experience. Everything went well, except we had not made
reservations so we wound up standing (with others) for part of the trip
until many disembarked along the way. In Köln (Cologne) I had another
encounter with German culture that I’m not used to. We had a little time
to wait in Köln while waiting for our connection. I went downstairs to
use the restroom. I was not expecting a couple of older women to be in
there cleaning urinals while the area was being used! So, I just
pretended to be German and went about my business “seemingly”
unperplexed! Our connection to Amsterdam soon arrived and we were off to
our final European destination before heading home. The next post will
cover our last couple of days in Amsterdam and our unexpected confusion
at Chicago’s O”Hare! </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Have a Wonderful Thanksgiving! </span></div>
Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08324079002071103528noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5471724066013283762.post-58249932590446602842013-11-04T20:10:00.000-08:002013-11-04T20:17:40.501-08:00European Adventure- Part 2<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi67uyUpHzP6dqWjCsO2ms97DExdL7-03Spf-mXaD57htfGHW0JRUPpRT1o3ghaoKf1aVD7i-rGk4qhBZJZHGfAccwQX1c0agr4E2MUUY284EnFqyz8VmEy14WEUj7jgkJRfW6brmTufzsU/s1600/Friedbert's+Fam.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi67uyUpHzP6dqWjCsO2ms97DExdL7-03Spf-mXaD57htfGHW0JRUPpRT1o3ghaoKf1aVD7i-rGk4qhBZJZHGfAccwQX1c0agr4E2MUUY284EnFqyz8VmEy14WEUj7jgkJRfW6brmTufzsU/s1600/Friedbert's+Fam.JPG" height="239" width="320" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Fabian, Gudrun, & Friedbert Schehl</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;">When I left off last time, we were enroute by Eurail from Nürnberg back to Stuttgart. Upon arrival in Stuttgart, we headed back to the Hansa Hotel which is the same place we had stayed at the first time in Stuttgart. It’s not far from the train station, it’s in a quiet neighborhood, and it’s inexpensive! I called our cousin, Friedbert Schehl, who lives only eight blocks from our hotel. I had found Friedbert in my genealogy search and this would be our first face-to-face meeting. By the way, he is our seventh cousin. Our common ancestor is a sixth great grandfather. We were to go to Friedbert’s apartment for dinner that evening. He came and picked us up and I have to say, his English was not bad! At least, we were able to pretty much understand him. His English is a lot better than any German I knew. He had invited his son, Fabian, over to join us and act as translator, if needed. His wife, Gudrun, was preparing kasespätzle for dinner. It’s like a cheese and noodle casserole and was very good. Friedbert and my travel partner hit it off very good; both are big Bob Dylan fans! After a lot of talk and filling in details of our lives, it was time to head back to the Hansa. Tomorrow would be VERY exciting. Friedbert and Gudrun were going to drive us two hours to the west to Erfweiler, the Schell/Schehl ancestral village. </span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxtT6BACNQi-f13f1z9cFlr-f5CDPWPwXOln7yBkcMWrERIX956vLP-tyIH2pIsve8ZUuEHQFo1sPsHoZhuwRoGQWz_DC-iVEZpxAl8wU4v9E_dX0BwxLrAzMhqy9rkZ4j5TQ8E3nWlolm/s1600/SchlossSolitude.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxtT6BACNQi-f13f1z9cFlr-f5CDPWPwXOln7yBkcMWrERIX956vLP-tyIH2pIsve8ZUuEHQFo1sPsHoZhuwRoGQWz_DC-iVEZpxAl8wU4v9E_dX0BwxLrAzMhqy9rkZ4j5TQ8E3nWlolm/s1600/SchlossSolitude.jpg" height="239" width="320" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Schloss Solitude</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;">We left midday for Erfweiler. Just outside of Stuttgart is a place called Schloss Solitude; it was a palace built by a noble as his hunting lodge. Some lodge, huh? Next it was on to one of those famous autobahns. We were traveling along at about 85 mph and cars were zipping by us. After crossing the Rhine, we entered an area that had many vineyards. We actually took a little side trip and crossed the French border to the town of Wissembourg. It’s another very charming medieval-style village. Gudrun went into a bakery and got a loaf of French bread and we just walked around town looking at the sites while tearing off pieces of bread! After spending about an hour, it was time to head off to Erfweiler, a mere fifteen minutes away. </span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJxx-JN3LnXPlpMEAMYGt0cPEDnKSGQVDIQRP5HIhUrVxs_-XSHi3VXVkgBABVTNrlF-VR0XMY-fszCMKeTM5I_ZS3Gkg4UP3UoC6WK1fhoOxVQTela79kPwXSHDGT7lIoy-Ua3Fl7tx03/s1600/WissembourgHouse.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJxx-JN3LnXPlpMEAMYGt0cPEDnKSGQVDIQRP5HIhUrVxs_-XSHi3VXVkgBABVTNrlF-VR0XMY-fszCMKeTM5I_ZS3Gkg4UP3UoC6WK1fhoOxVQTela79kPwXSHDGT7lIoy-Ua3Fl7tx03/s1600/WissembourgHouse.JPG" height="239" width="320" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">House in Wissembourg</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh90o5B_5gKSCL7v_PHeMXO9Ypqz2lqlC6Ew80P1ulux7p1nCkjbHPYJuPkYw8wu-iIggeInyqevGLnR1AluXivtQf0kPPA5Tw5jOqhfMXUP_jTKbnKNFNZJ_s-OGuimgAAEksp7X6nmOpb/s1600/WissembourgSt.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh90o5B_5gKSCL7v_PHeMXO9Ypqz2lqlC6Ew80P1ulux7p1nCkjbHPYJuPkYw8wu-iIggeInyqevGLnR1AluXivtQf0kPPA5Tw5jOqhfMXUP_jTKbnKNFNZJ_s-OGuimgAAEksp7X6nmOpb/s1600/WissembourgSt.jpg" height="320" width="239" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Wissembourg</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Erfweiler is a very small village of about 1,200 people. I would call it a bedroom community as most people work outside of town. There are only small businesses in town. We went directly to the home of Gerhard and Bärbel Zwick. Gerhard is the first person I was able to contact in Erfweiler over the internet. And it so happens that he was a boyhood friend of Friedbert’s. They had grown up together in Erfweiler. It was Gerhard who put me in contact with Friedbert. </span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig_TcSjZy34ph89S2-khYWb84sHLRsMWQ6tIE4lcu2CX7_OxwkLmEPPGh1fEM_eZA2D05r1AktTTydvV_lm-rqbZZAi7BUoB5rm0EJBJBICflg_S02igl9ZyiARxEhVZt2uPNk9mx0VH4T/s1600/Gerhard&Barbel.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig_TcSjZy34ph89S2-khYWb84sHLRsMWQ6tIE4lcu2CX7_OxwkLmEPPGh1fEM_eZA2D05r1AktTTydvV_lm-rqbZZAi7BUoB5rm0EJBJBICflg_S02igl9ZyiARxEhVZt2uPNk9mx0VH4T/s1600/Gerhard&Barbel.jpg" height="320" width="239" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Gerhard & Bärbel Zwick</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Gerhard has a doctorate in chemistry and actually works in Karlsruhe,
about an hour away. They live there during the week and are in Erfweiler
for weekends. Gerhard speaks very good English because his job takes
him all over the world and English is a common language for businessmen
in Europe. We weren’t at the house very long before Friedbert and
Gerhard took me on a hike through forests and up to the top of some rock
formations that overlook Erfweiler. These forests had been their
playground in childhood. The next day when we took a walking tour of
Erfweiler and, today, on the forest hike, it was an indescribable
feeling walking the same streets, hiking the same roads, and seeing some
of the same buildings that my ancestors had seen. This would definitely
be the highlight of my trip. Once we got back to Gerhard’s house, we had a little rest...a glass of beer and </span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHoHVI2_EyH0mW7oyAcy9SpVIGa91uz_ISx3GLttLnF0dT9qcOkdIztFt9g5obmAfjGCHUole-alYr5NHpulrurV65EyASwkWOnheJV86VJgZnSYaWsfjotwPpe8_euXTCFDPL61QXLaBx/s1600/Above+Erfweiler.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHoHVI2_EyH0mW7oyAcy9SpVIGa91uz_ISx3GLttLnF0dT9qcOkdIztFt9g5obmAfjGCHUole-alYr5NHpulrurV65EyASwkWOnheJV86VJgZnSYaWsfjotwPpe8_euXTCFDPL61QXLaBx/s1600/Above+Erfweiler.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Friedbert & Me above Erfweiler</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi214kuTgJSnewj5hkQLuj4W_jNSJu6xmDCUUc0hVXJKgpq6nr4BchA_JuwsVaJEHGzspOx7Dj5NeYqs_KnstBTvNtuqsGhYzbrjRbAF-LyLjbdZc9B1KOjHlzM-dBH_l_b3Q2SUUVqItPU/s1600/Forest.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi214kuTgJSnewj5hkQLuj4W_jNSJu6xmDCUUc0hVXJKgpq6nr4BchA_JuwsVaJEHGzspOx7Dj5NeYqs_KnstBTvNtuqsGhYzbrjRbAF-LyLjbdZc9B1KOjHlzM-dBH_l_b3Q2SUUVqItPU/s1600/Forest.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Forest going to overlook</span></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Gerhard showed me some of the photos of the town that he had on his computer. After about an hour, it was getting to be dinner time. Steve M had gone to our guest room located down on the main street in town. We all walked down town to get him and then go the a wonderful little German restaurant in town called the Jägerhof. I decided to get adventurous again and have something I had only heard of but had never had....sauerbraten. I was not disappointed! I decided this is something I would attempt to make back home (and I did!) That evening was so much fun. It was fun sitting back and </span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhowi4xHF70b2Dt4T8ZtzC_9Cz3pjudX4V0-t8bIELgmF9HNzVIHfV4cd5oTRn4DjkBt_Jw1mWXiVY59CxHX2zP7p2_iGgAOR6QP5QbH2BKGDj1ZC2IBKA-xwOezljRSW9vtL3Ceh4-Pu41/s1600/Jagerhof.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhowi4xHF70b2Dt4T8ZtzC_9Cz3pjudX4V0-t8bIELgmF9HNzVIHfV4cd5oTRn4DjkBt_Jw1mWXiVY59CxHX2zP7p2_iGgAOR6QP5QbH2BKGDj1ZC2IBKA-xwOezljRSW9vtL3Ceh4-Pu41/s1600/Jagerhof.JPG" height="298" width="400" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Jägerhof Restaurant</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;">listening to the two families chat back and forth in German. I had no idea what they were saying but it was so much fun just listening. And they were so kind as to stop ever so often and include us in some English conversation. We wound up being there very late.....actually the waitress had left for the night and the proprietor (a friend of Gerhard’s) allowed us to stick around. There were more drinks to be had and I had the chance to experience something else for the first time.....I had never had schnapps! Finally, it was time to head back to the guest room and get some much needed sleep. Tomorrow would be Sunday and time to head back to Stuttgart before making our final train trip back to Amsterdam and our flight home. That will be in my next post. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08324079002071103528noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5471724066013283762.post-63757256874677327732013-10-24T19:52:00.000-07:002013-10-24T19:53:30.145-07:00European Adventure- Part 1<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivgJG6JUBXBi06GjhHVjwYtVcIQbogaYMFttypgjpHqL-xpyXQMhoulPhw1d5D2-R6Vs0cUUWlqzP4_csrUhnwdOQ1AwhO3mrbYOB-uQweYJLVIM_vp4Cv9W36MFgd1YbGrwZKMOH4_ec/s1600/Moravec&me.JPG" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivgJG6JUBXBi06GjhHVjwYtVcIQbogaYMFttypgjpHqL-xpyXQMhoulPhw1d5D2-R6Vs0cUUWlqzP4_csrUhnwdOQ1AwhO3mrbYOB-uQweYJLVIM_vp4Cv9W36MFgd1YbGrwZKMOH4_ec/s1600/Moravec&me.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">At my house just before leaving</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;">As I
mentioned in my last post, I had made a trip to the Netherlands and
Germany. I traveled with a friend with whom I had taught at East High in
Waterloo. Steve Moravec was also in the history department there and is
an experienced traveler to Europe. He is working on his family’s
genealogy and had always been after me to make the journey and visit
some of my ancestral “homes”. He finally convinced me to go when he
offered to be a “travel guide”. That sold me on the</span><span style="font-size: small;"> idea! </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">We left from Chicago's O'Hare International Airport on September 3 and arrived in Amsterdam about 9 hours later. </span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6pCitkXVH6wcvQkfB_4n6Z99rDWbTxjdkpPWMB2qAykZoveBNTnJBJszJgbY5XGX-wPjMBFlNuT1J9C2EkwogtHNoR6T-vjGDH9GmtNwpdWLcAT_E6EoIfa4mZKwqPqYfljufI19hzj4/s1600/bikes.JPG" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6pCitkXVH6wcvQkfB_4n6Z99rDWbTxjdkpPWMB2qAykZoveBNTnJBJszJgbY5XGX-wPjMBFlNuT1J9C2EkwogtHNoR6T-vjGDH9GmtNwpdWLcAT_E6EoIfa4mZKwqPqYfljufI19hzj4/s1600/bikes.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bikes, bikes, bikes and more bikes!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;">We
stayed in Amsterdam for three days. What a city it is! I simply could
not believe the number of bicycles! They are everywhere and at all
hours. The picture above is a three-level parking area for bikes. My
favorite pastime was walking along the canals. I did not realize how
many they have. You can find so many quaint little shops and cafes along
them. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEih63i05ry-tq5CWat98li-RnGyzNsm5vJKTeu1yQYdQ7_gJVbEDYZ5g_oTzq9p-sYTB9RUij2y0O-OUvAVtNREpUo9fY7KROho2hgJU_EY1lnSWQchoUGNwzExlFZpnrRuhMrmK6axBjQ/s1600/canal.JPG" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEih63i05ry-tq5CWat98li-RnGyzNsm5vJKTeu1yQYdQ7_gJVbEDYZ5g_oTzq9p-sYTB9RUij2y0O-OUvAVtNREpUo9fY7KROho2hgJU_EY1lnSWQchoUGNwzExlFZpnrRuhMrmK6axBjQ/s1600/canal.JPG" height="239" width="320" /></a></span></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br />On
Saturday, September 7 it was time to use our first Eurail pass trip to
go to Stuttgart. Our Eurail pass was good for five trips and we used
every one of them. What a system! On all five of our trips, we got to
our destination on the minute we were supposed to have arrived! I got my
first introduction to German food at an outdoor restaurant in
Stuttgart. It was time to experiment, so I chose an entree called
schweinebraten and it was simply delicious. It was so good that I looked
for a recipe and made it when I returned home! It was terrific again if
I may say so! </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">On Monday, September 9, we
headed out to an old medieval town called Rothenburg ob der Tauber. For a
couple of old history teachers, this was quite the place. As you can
see in these pictures, </span><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkVvK-0ORFr4HoPMTnWtXiNuNPDBMhcGr-Cvgc78XRJAS9Ptkr7uL9L_eDpi5e8VJ2aIHWGQlmpDTOvcW-4EBG47yP_klLBAxlw2zmOnj9KVSO2XfiPUlN3ZjTmFo8IruN_4Un0RK5Lcc/s1600/Rothenburg-street.JPG" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkVvK-0ORFr4HoPMTnWtXiNuNPDBMhcGr-Cvgc78XRJAS9Ptkr7uL9L_eDpi5e8VJ2aIHWGQlmpDTOvcW-4EBG47yP_klLBAxlw2zmOnj9KVSO2XfiPUlN3ZjTmFo8IruN_4Un0RK5Lcc/s1600/Rothenburg-street.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></span><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3FPqgKbMc_6GNDrMtPJDsA8u81XBeCxZW6noPQ7DA8IcYAZmm86O_u6ISkDSrWONd6hmNo7N2AN8nO-F-6uDepJmjSqPL8pr6NiJ7daxnqL4BOhSiGGPOGj2EMdT6kLmVF8K3bOn_7fg/s1600/Rothenburg+platz.JPG" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3FPqgKbMc_6GNDrMtPJDsA8u81XBeCxZW6noPQ7DA8IcYAZmm86O_u6ISkDSrWONd6hmNo7N2AN8nO-F-6uDepJmjSqPL8pr6NiJ7daxnqL4BOhSiGGPOGj2EMdT6kLmVF8K3bOn_7fg/s1600/Rothenburg+platz.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a>it
has maintained its medieval charm quite well. Being medieval, the town
was surrounded by a high protective wall. You can walk atop it nearly
the entire length around the town- it’s about a </span><span style="font-size: small;">2-mile walk and this picture below shows the covered walkway on</span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfEAHFFs59Lf7VYDCR1BYqbGDmpGY5ACOfN174Q9INmu47w2hsM8C-vUNPkFm-JgvkGP7-5EUBT0e2OV_9b1S5-_pU99UwvxxQlEyxCFKAuHFFgOJSnsmidnyqPjgJ6WmPqTV9ud3mok0/s1600/Rothenburg+wall.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfEAHFFs59Lf7VYDCR1BYqbGDmpGY5ACOfN174Q9INmu47w2hsM8C-vUNPkFm-JgvkGP7-5EUBT0e2OV_9b1S5-_pU99UwvxxQlEyxCFKAuHFFgOJSnsmidnyqPjgJ6WmPqTV9ud3mok0/s1600/Rothenburg+wall.jpg" height="320" width="237" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Atop the wall</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"> top of the wall. More good food here-- I chose some schnitzel </span><span style="font-size: small;">this time! </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: small;">When
Wednesday rolled around, it was time to board the train to Nürnberg, or
Nuremberg as we know it. After finding a hotel, we took a stroll around
the old part of town and came upon a Pizza Hut. That really sounded
good so we ducked in and had some Italian for a change. The next day we
toured the Nazi </span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMQYoSYArCOr8U_fztQL0i-Stv-smny6E-9xSLOUr8s1m5zSpKEUm-BMWV66D54AUGTSSIaDUlE0oPahvVWMGAmyDNsXCo50x0bu4RYVCSBVZ5t58h6Bd6Rk-q2VrutKL6hNW_lK_oWSg/s1600/Nurnberg+sign.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMQYoSYArCOr8U_fztQL0i-Stv-smny6E-9xSLOUr8s1m5zSpKEUm-BMWV66D54AUGTSSIaDUlE0oPahvVWMGAmyDNsXCo50x0bu4RYVCSBVZ5t58h6Bd6Rk-q2VrutKL6hNW_lK_oWSg/s1600/Nurnberg+sign.jpg" height="320" width="238" /></a></span></span></span></span>Documentation Center; they </span><span style="font-size: small;">have
done an excellent job in telling the story of the rise of the Nazi
Party without pushing any agenda. The stories and displays pretty much
lead you to the obvious conclusions. It’s good to have this kind of
place lest we forget; as a matter of fact, there were several German
army personnel taking the tour at the time we were there. I wonder if it
is a requirement? We were able to walk </span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrgTDXL9pdeGHjR8smttGJ4xlMbl2PUdbbkT6pSkuyWdhWtdQybRMfOGTetRaHfC4penkxMtkFD432fjOPyCT38Up36OqzExHdzKX3H-jtf7MDt9GR4Caeam7M3MwTSLZPwAfSZHbGg00/s1600/Hitler+review+stand.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrgTDXL9pdeGHjR8smttGJ4xlMbl2PUdbbkT6pSkuyWdhWtdQybRMfOGTetRaHfC4penkxMtkFD432fjOPyCT38Up36OqzExHdzKX3H-jtf7MDt9GR4Caeam7M3MwTSLZPwAfSZHbGg00/s1600/Hitler+review+stand.jpg" height="238" width="320" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Zeppelin Field</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;">over
to Zeppelin Field where the large Nazi rallies were held and you can
actually walk up to the reviewing platform that Hitler would have stood
upon while reviewing the thousands of troops lined up before him. It was
really a somewhat eerie feeling to be there. Again, a couple of old
history teachers just really ate it up! We also visited the Albrecht
Dürer museum which happens to be the home in which he </span><span style="font-size: small;">lived in Nürnberg. He was a famous artist. </span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYgdOMnEeFqm3EQwRAuYV-VkVMpay7pokFK88fQUHokPp4nQystz_hvz-9Sj9FhBnustglFNj0peyYFCv0t0I_6EW_S7JlxoqPbaekswNDAlUM51jjNfdVsZa6Qa4GiBIOTHaZzdsxq2U/s1600/Durer+museum.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYgdOMnEeFqm3EQwRAuYV-VkVMpay7pokFK88fQUHokPp4nQystz_hvz-9Sj9FhBnustglFNj0peyYFCv0t0I_6EW_S7JlxoqPbaekswNDAlUM51jjNfdVsZa6Qa4GiBIOTHaZzdsxq2U/s1600/Durer+museum.jpg" height="320" width="238" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Dürer home</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br />On
Friday, September 13, we left for Stuttgart on our third Eurail trip--
two to go! I’ll continue the trip in the next post. If you happen to
follow my other blog “Schell Seekers”, you will find this exact
same posting there. <br /><br /></span></div>
Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08324079002071103528noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5471724066013283762.post-34996019068003626802013-10-08T09:17:00.002-07:002013-10-15T19:54:59.285-07:00Frederick Happekotte- Adventurer<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Before I get to Frederick’s story, I just wanted to mention that I took a little “sabbatical” from posting in September. I was on a trip to the Netherlands and Germany where I got to meet an eighth cousin on the Schell side in Stuttgart, Germany. He and his wife then took us to visit the Schell ancestral home of Erfweiler, Germany. I will have a post about that trip later. <br /><br />I am skipping the generation with Bernard “Barney” Happekotte and will return to him in the near future. Some new information has recently come to light about Frederick Happekotte, who was Bernard’s father. And this is very exciting news in deed! Frederick Happekotte is my third great grandfather. He was born in Germany on 12 Aug 1821. There may be some question at this point as to where in Germany he was born, but it seems to have been in the Essen area. On May 17/18, 1847, Frederick left Germany and was a part of a German colony in Guatemala. The colony was started in the early 1840s. I do know exactly when Frederick entered the United States. That happened on June 4, 1850 when he, wife Christina, nee Kreitz, and their infant son, John Frederick, entered the port of New Orleans on the ship John Bell. From there, they made their way up the Mississippi to Quincy, IL. Their infant son died in Quincy on 28 Jun 1850. So, this Happekotte family arrived in Quincy sometime between the 4th and 28th of June. Another son, Mathias, was born about 14 Aug 1850 but only survived until the August 31, 1850. <br /><br />Here is the exciting development. I was contacted by Jóse Francisco Monterroso back in early August of this year. He had come across this blog and saw the Kreitz connection. He is a direct descendant of Petrus (Pedro) Kreitz who was the brother of Christina Kreitz and was also in Guatemala. It seems as though Christina was previously married to a Carl Stütggen. This was new information for me. He drowned in Guatemala trying to cross a swollen river on horseback. Then, Christina married my third great grandfather, Frederick Happekotte in Guatemala on May 2, 1848. This was another really exciting piece of the puzzle to obtain. I am indebted to Mr. Monterroso who supplied me with a marriage document for Christina and Frederick. Christina and Frederick went on to have four other children in Quincy: Fidel in 1852, Isabel in 1853, Bernard Frederick in 1854, and Maria Catherine Isabella in 1856. Only Bernard Frederick, my second great grandfather survived. None of the other children seemed to have survived past one year of age. Maria Catherine Isabella is a question because I have no death date for her. I can only imagine the pain that Christina felt in her life. She lost her first husband and, at least, four of her six children in infancy. <br /><br />I am also very indebted to Christine Cano who wrote a book about the Kreitz family. Most of the information on the Kreitz family in Guatemala came from her source. She has also painstakingly reconstructed a timeline for the Kreitz family and their Guatemalan experience based upon the new information provided by Mr. Monterroso. This is an ongoing research project as we search for more corroborating evidence. Somethings may never be proven, but Ms. Cano has put together a very convincing and likely story for the Kreitz family in Guatemala which includes our Frederick and Christina Happekotte. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">I am also indebted to Mike Happekotte for providing much of the early Happekotte history. He had obtained information from Frank Habekotte who lives in the Netherlands. Some of that early history now must be substantiated with some documentation. That will be an ongoing quest. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzy52cOyDmFHgKTvbrqaHhYXoJFL90e6wMXPOaHvf_jtxOCGEsP00CfF9m1vM26C1ehdCHQHgRSdwE8kmx_3K9f_AvMtFHSlKLMYzkBrsFupdDXTt1zpnuzxgZ0m-nNbiOT_b5FzCXR40s/s1600/KreitzFam.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzy52cOyDmFHgKTvbrqaHhYXoJFL90e6wMXPOaHvf_jtxOCGEsP00CfF9m1vM26C1ehdCHQHgRSdwE8kmx_3K9f_AvMtFHSlKLMYzkBrsFupdDXTt1zpnuzxgZ0m-nNbiOT_b5FzCXR40s/s1600/KreitzFam.jpg" height="400" width="327" /> </a></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Pictured: Frederick and Christina Kreitz Happekotte (seated), standing are Miss Bergsneider (family friend) and Bernard (son)</span> </span></div>
Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08324079002071103528noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5471724066013283762.post-64836501549554957582013-08-15T21:30:00.002-07:002013-08-15T21:31:31.720-07:00Robert E Shepherd<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga4NhmRades9tM3knNc8QCHFTBqzEFIsx58GbtTUP7tn-8uPa1hk6WrUdnlJGc5fgKOXIHJaQkqBmRLLt5qrhNbMMSo9ffCH-4qyEzVhTaQCF6ODMzi_4UKP7KlX9iPt1tj-PeqzeFI0iQ/s1600/RobtShepherd001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnzw6CfAUKEp2j-EGiba8nJWjgGJ1wx2mJ-6eABKgOPGi28ZF0M7Jh1u3SDvpBw2I3a70vQqGS6ps15axQgWWyfB0UhBbWuJDqtcjsgPLqHUas72ZeHpxda4AQn42bfpgH73GIjMWr5bTA/s1600/RobtShepherd002_edited-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnzw6CfAUKEp2j-EGiba8nJWjgGJ1wx2mJ-6eABKgOPGi28ZF0M7Jh1u3SDvpBw2I3a70vQqGS6ps15axQgWWyfB0UhBbWuJDqtcjsgPLqHUas72ZeHpxda4AQn42bfpgH73GIjMWr5bTA/s1600/RobtShepherd002_edited-1.jpg" height="320" width="218" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-FSt2QOM6T1VHzWww1E65O-nl5to7MBd-sT8cwobgQ8h_OSMkhgbb01q6Ts-KVWO_-NeG7F1Jz-kluEegCTOOXWiZun60mn8aiIqdUOU6hivZ0xyw5QXuHABvVveTo63jA0gr0SHv-gJT/s1600/Shepherd-children.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><span style="font-size: small;">Sad to say, but what I remember most about great grandpa Shepherd was that he was a quiet man. I only saw him whenever we made the trip to Quincy and that was not that often. So, I never really got to know him. My grandma, Edna (his daughter) never really said much and how I wish I had been inquisitive enough to have asked questions back then. I find this is often the genealogist’s lament! <br /><br />Robert Elmore Shepherd was born in La Grange, Missouri on November 28 , 1880 to parents, William H Shepherd and Nancy A Jenkins. Robert and Mary E Davis were married on August 27, 1902 in La Grange, Missouri. They would eventually have seven children, four of which we had never heard of before I began doing this digging! Charles Henry was born in 1903, Edna Louise (my grandmother) was born in 1904, and Mabel Amelia was born in 1906. The other four children all died very </span></h3>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-FSt2QOM6T1VHzWww1E65O-nl5to7MBd-sT8cwobgQ8h_OSMkhgbb01q6Ts-KVWO_-NeG7F1Jz-kluEegCTOOXWiZun60mn8aiIqdUOU6hivZ0xyw5QXuHABvVveTo63jA0gr0SHv-gJT/s1600/Shepherd-children.JPG" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-FSt2QOM6T1VHzWww1E65O-nl5to7MBd-sT8cwobgQ8h_OSMkhgbb01q6Ts-KVWO_-NeG7F1Jz-kluEegCTOOXWiZun60mn8aiIqdUOU6hivZ0xyw5QXuHABvVveTo63jA0gr0SHv-gJT/s1600/Shepherd-children.JPG" height="166" width="200" /></a></h3>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga4NhmRades9tM3knNc8QCHFTBqzEFIsx58GbtTUP7tn-8uPa1hk6WrUdnlJGc5fgKOXIHJaQkqBmRLLt5qrhNbMMSo9ffCH-4qyEzVhTaQCF6ODMzi_4UKP7KlX9iPt1tj-PeqzeFI0iQ/s1600/RobtShepherd001.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><span style="font-size: small;">young. Mildred was born and died in 1908. Norma Estelle was born in 1909 and died at the age of four. Robert Russell was born and died in 1919 and Mary Elma lived for five days in 1920. I didn’t know of these other siblings until Cindy and I discovered their common tombstone in Marks Cemetery in La Grange. That was quite a shock as I don’t remember of Grandma ever speaking of other siblings. <br /><br />Grandpa and Grandma Shepherd had taken in a young child named Russell Mansperger and raised him from a young age until he died of drowning in a Quincy swimming pool. That is something I remember Grandma definitely spoke of....especially when she was telling us kids to stay away from the river when we lived by it in Sherwood Park! <br /><br />According to Mom’s notes, he and grandma had worked at a button factory in Muscatine, Iowa. If that is true, I am thinking that may have been before they were married as traveling to Muscatine from La Grange after they had a family would have been difficult in the early 1900s. It would have to have been the very late 1890s when they were in their late teens. <br /><br />Grandpa Shepherd seemed to have been very handy. Mom said</span></h3>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga4NhmRades9tM3knNc8QCHFTBqzEFIsx58GbtTUP7tn-8uPa1hk6WrUdnlJGc5fgKOXIHJaQkqBmRLLt5qrhNbMMSo9ffCH-4qyEzVhTaQCF6ODMzi_4UKP7KlX9iPt1tj-PeqzeFI0iQ/s1600/RobtShepherd001.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga4NhmRades9tM3knNc8QCHFTBqzEFIsx58GbtTUP7tn-8uPa1hk6WrUdnlJGc5fgKOXIHJaQkqBmRLLt5qrhNbMMSo9ffCH-4qyEzVhTaQCF6ODMzi_4UKP7KlX9iPt1tj-PeqzeFI0iQ/s1600/RobtShepherd001.jpg" height="320" width="195" /></a></h3>
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<span style="font-size: small;"> he was an excellent furniture maker. But mostly he seems to have been a painter. This photo to the right shows him painting</span><span style="font-size: small;"> the grape arbor at their home in 1929. He retired in 1952 from the Quincy school system as a maintenance man; the family had moved to Quincy, Illinois about 1918. He had been a member of the painters’ union. <br /><br />Robert passed away in Quincy at the age of 86 on November 11, 1967. I wish I had gotten to know more about him. I cannot imagine the pain of losing four children in addition to Russell, who was just the same as a son to them. And great grandma died fifteen years before him. Mom had written a story in her notes about the time that great grandma, grandma (Edna), and her sister, Aunt Belle went to visit relatives in Kentucky. They were gone about two weeks and after they returned, great grandpa got down on his knees and begged her, “Don’t ever leave me alone that long again!” I can only imagine that when she was gone for good, that had to be devastating to him. Maybe that’s why I remember him most as a very quiet man. </span></h3>
<br />Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08324079002071103528noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5471724066013283762.post-39660275185402739962013-07-01T20:34:00.002-07:002013-07-01T20:35:15.793-07:00John F Happekotte- Patriarch of a Wonderful Family<h3 style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-weight: normal;">John Frank Happekotte was my maternal great grandfather. He was born in Quincy, Illinois on January 27, 1879 to Bernard Happekotte and Elizabeth Jasper. John married Mary (Mae) Walford on April 12, 1899. He died in Quincy on April 8, 1950 at the age of 71. John and Mary had eleven children. One child, Charles Bernard, lived only 21 days in 1916. The surviving children were Irene Margaret, Bernadine Mary, Ralph Herman, Henrietta Florentine, Mary Virginia, Lillian Elizabeth, Clarence Jerome, Edward Frank, Edgar Earl, and Kathleen Helen. I was always amazed at how this large family lived in such a small house at 620 N. 18th Street! </span></h3>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqgIiCFFKvGG0vxMEIKMxybmDOGbX1SfCM-TQT9JGGrievpIHr2PTD3hqGPOpv5XxFb_NUOcganZJQL25Wg6thGLnm4h8KNRjXdcaODY_G9YcEWIhEUzrWezYdPzAZ5_WPHixQ1E5frPTh/s1600/Happekotte-john+copy.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqgIiCFFKvGG0vxMEIKMxybmDOGbX1SfCM-TQT9JGGrievpIHr2PTD3hqGPOpv5XxFb_NUOcganZJQL25Wg6thGLnm4h8KNRjXdcaODY_G9YcEWIhEUzrWezYdPzAZ5_WPHixQ1E5frPTh/s1600/Happekotte-john+copy.JPG" height="320" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">John F Happekotte</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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<span style="font-weight: normal;"></span></h3>
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<span style="font-weight: normal;">On their marriage certificate, John is listed as a bookkeeper. He must have had several other occupations at times. According to this picture at the right, he looks as if he were a fireman. I also found a 1904 article in the Quincy Daily Whig that states John was a minute man at the No.2 fire station. In 1909, john had an ad in the Quincy Daily Whig for repairing bicycles, lawn mowers, gasoline stoves, etc. The business was located at 1207 Broadway. The 1920 US Census lists him as a millwright at an elevator works. In 1930, he is listed on the census as a foreman at the Otis Elevator Co. In 1940, I am assuming John is retired. On the 1940 census, his income is listed as “0” and there is a column where he indicates he is unable to work; he is 62 at this point. <br /><br />I have a feeling that John could be a ruffian at times. I came across a court case where he had been arrested (but later acquitted) of an altercation in a saloon at 17th and Broadway. The article indicates that the problem stemmed from the defendant putting a cat on the back of John’s dog! I got the strong impression that this had something to do with unions. The defendant was a non-union man and John was a strong union man. The trial was also attended by many union and non-union members. In another altercation, possibly at the same saloon, John and Mary were out for a drive when they stopped at the saloon
for refreshments. He went in to get them while Mary waited outside for
him. There were some men outside who were making fun of Mary and John
got into it with them. I do not have the outcome of this incident as of
yet.</span></h3>
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<span style="font-weight: normal;"> </span></h3>
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<span style="font-weight: normal;">In
another matter of record, both John and Mary’s obituaries state they
were married April 12, 1898. I have their marriage license that
contradicts that; it states the marriage was on April 12, 1899! I will
point out that their oldest child, Irene, was born on August 3, 1899.
Those are the facts, but I’ll let you draw your own conclusions! Such
are the mysteries of genealogy!</span></h3>
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<span style="font-weight: normal;"> </span></h3>
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<span style="font-weight: normal;">John
and Mary raised a large family. Their children would grow up to be
exceptional people and parents. I didn’t know Edward, Lillian, or
Kathleen; so I cannot attest to their characters. I have no reason to believe they were any different. Perhaps, someone else
who knew them better can add a few words about them. But I do know that
ALL the rest were wonderful, kind, and caring people. That has to say
something about John and Mary.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEice2QQed_sLcgv3pRkV_W7u-Y_W5ibpa5Wd4iw9xK2jThAUSSbAFqc-DZ9WPDMZEu5GXQYBa6bSDu2_Ge4vQhQhqt1asmrB7TFYF6tFeEXtxNQBcgKoR8W5MqnE_shIRoJDANT9oblelbO/s1600/Happekotte+sibs2+copy.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEice2QQed_sLcgv3pRkV_W7u-Y_W5ibpa5Wd4iw9xK2jThAUSSbAFqc-DZ9WPDMZEu5GXQYBa6bSDu2_Ge4vQhQhqt1asmrB7TFYF6tFeEXtxNQBcgKoR8W5MqnE_shIRoJDANT9oblelbO/s1600/Happekotte+sibs2+copy.JPG" height="640" width="468" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-weight: normal;"> <span style="font-size: small;">In the above picture, seated are Mary and John (parents). From left to right are Irene, Kate, Edward, Bernadine, Clarence, Henrietta, Ralph, Lillian, Edgar. Not pictured is Mary. </span></span></h3>
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Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08324079002071103528noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5471724066013283762.post-66631559099015667792013-05-28T20:34:00.002-07:002013-05-28T20:34:46.619-07:00Time to Change Gears!<div style="text-align: justify;">
Up to now, I have dealt with mostly parents and grandparents who I knew more about. Now, it’s time to start delving into the lesser-known ancestors who were farther back in time. Even though this blog is called “Happekotte Happenings”, I will be telling you about other families in the maternal line including Shepherd, Davis, Jenkins, Percy, Weaver, and maybe a few others as I find more about them. All of these other families are important “pieces” to the genealogical puzzle. There are some great stories here including a Civil War soldier, a ‘49er (not the football kind!), an early settler in Kentucky, and a Union sympathizer who lived in Tennessee, and a German colonist in Guatemala. This maternal line has definitely been more problematic genealogically speaking. The records of some of these ancestors seem to be few; so it is really a challenge to locate them. But I have found some interesting stories and information about them. Enjoy the upcoming blogs about these people from our past; they deserve to be remembered! </div>
Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08324079002071103528noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5471724066013283762.post-89179696226330620492013-05-02T19:57:00.000-07:002013-05-04T13:52:09.355-07:00Edna Shepherd Happekotte<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4kTlcI2hDPCP3ocpTA9hVFKmF8nx9FIUJj4tdtIRMBE0F6DPj-_cphizOsQCMowXDXaFaubpiOPJmFfP_XyVQa9KxlEKFfdO_zR2d_N4pykv-duPyzDvCSoVjW8mdZ9TE6ysh22BT48Wh/s1600/Happekotte_Edna+copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Edna Louise Shepherd Happekotte was my maternal grandmother<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4kTlcI2hDPCP3ocpTA9hVFKmF8nx9FIUJj4tdtIRMBE0F6DPj-_cphizOsQCMowXDXaFaubpiOPJmFfP_XyVQa9KxlEKFfdO_zR2d_N4pykv-duPyzDvCSoVjW8mdZ9TE6ysh22BT48Wh/s1600/Happekotte_Edna+copy.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4kTlcI2hDPCP3ocpTA9hVFKmF8nx9FIUJj4tdtIRMBE0F6DPj-_cphizOsQCMowXDXaFaubpiOPJmFfP_XyVQa9KxlEKFfdO_zR2d_N4pykv-duPyzDvCSoVjW8mdZ9TE6ysh22BT48Wh/s1600/Happekotte_Edna+copy.jpg" height="200" width="166" /></a> who was born in La Grange, Lewis Co., Missouri on December 23, 1904 to Robert E Shepherd and Mary E Davis. We had always thought that she was one of three Shepherd children; how wrong we were! It was not until Cindy and I were searching for some grave sites in Marks Cemetery in La Grange that we came upon a headstone with four names. Grandma, it turns out, was one of seven children. The siblings that we grew up knowing were Charles and Mabel. Those four children whose names were on that headstone had all died very young. The<span style="font-size: small;">ir</span> names were Norma, Mildred, Robert Russell, and Mary Elma. Only Norma survived past the age of one; she was about four when she died.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />I had always heard about a child named Russell, but it wasn’t the brother, Robert Russell, to which Grandma was referring. Her parents had taken in a child named Russell Mansperger and essentially raised him. All that I ever knew about him was that he had drowned in a Quincy municipal pool when he was about twenty. I had never known why he had been raised by my great grandparents; this still remains a mystery. </span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNSrNsIcNZyqhyphenhyphenDZBEcGEIPXdqrAlA6rqwgAX3ebD8jNrVdJ1p60GzALiLrbFpokPrN8NvAztSeiKsbbNW9-TfS5eJPBPPOo_w7S0LLa-fBgxzRmfI37cvcxO4cUhhZizfs61gaa3MTuHt/s1600/Happekotte_Ralph-Edna001+copy.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNSrNsIcNZyqhyphenhyphenDZBEcGEIPXdqrAlA6rqwgAX3ebD8jNrVdJ1p60GzALiLrbFpokPrN8NvAztSeiKsbbNW9-TfS5eJPBPPOo_w7S0LLa-fBgxzRmfI37cvcxO4cUhhZizfs61gaa3MTuHt/s1600/Happekotte_Ralph-Edna001+copy.jpg" height="200" width="103" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ralph & Edna</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Edna married Ralph Happekotte in Quincy on November 14, 1925 which happened to be <span style="font-size: small;">G</span>randpa’s 21st birthday. Maybe <span style="font-size: small;">G</span>randma insisted on that date so <span style="font-size: small;">G</span>randpa wouldn’t ever forget their anniversary! The story goes that they eloped; they were married by a justice of the peace. I don’t know why they chose to elope, but I wonder if it had something to do with religion? Grandpa was a Catholic and grandma was a Baptist. Grandma could be kind of headstrong at times and I can definitely see her insisting on not marrying in a Catholic church......just a guess! <br /><br />In her youth, she and <span style="font-size: small;">G</span>randpa both rowed racing shells for the Southside Boat Club in Quincy. They actually got to row for Quincy in the 1933 World’s Fair in Chicago. She met <span style="font-size: small;">G</span>randpa when they were both working for Otis Elevator Co. She always told us the story that in order to work there, you had to be sixteen. She wasn’t; so she taped a piece of paper with the number “16” to the bottom of her shoe. That way, she could tell the employer that she was “over sixteen”. I have no reason to believe she didn’t do that; grandma was not one for making up a lot of stories! </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br />Artistically, <span style="font-size: small;">G</span>randma was quite talented. She was very good at tinting black and white photos to make them appear as though they were color photos. I have one and am amazed at the workmanship that it took. She also had quite a business doing women’s hair in their homes....she said she gave them finger waves. Many of her
customers were from Quincy’s East End which was the swanky part of town.
She didn’t have a state license to do this and when someone turned her
in, she had to stop. After that she went to work as an apprentice in a
beauty shop owned by a Mrs. Wade. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Ralph and Edna lived for a while in a duplex at 624 N. 18th St. Grandpa’s sister, Irene, and her husband, Elmer, lived in the other half. From there, they moved to S. 8th St. until the Depression made it necessary for them to move in with her parents at 615 Oak St. Eventually, as times improved, they moved to 1118 1/2 Ohio St. That turned out to be the last place they lived in Quincy. In January, 1936, the family made t<span style="font-size: small;">he</span> move to Waterloo, Iowa. They lived in a</span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8hNLa0WNk9em3TwwHGeJjczdF1VP-mAu-vBdqNp6LMK7ZkyDMT0sNkc3gPKwWnZ0HWkr-Zq7W2_tuGHN6jwIRMoqssBmUfdsVdcFkxS6tYUqiRp6sRoPIDzddJ52oQ5Hv_ocsXkpV0p5b/s1600/Happekotte_family001+copy+2.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8hNLa0WNk9em3TwwHGeJjczdF1VP-mAu-vBdqNp6LMK7ZkyDMT0sNkc3gPKwWnZ0HWkr-Zq7W2_tuGHN6jwIRMoqssBmUfdsVdcFkxS6tYUqiRp6sRoPIDzddJ52oQ5Hv_ocsXkpV0p5b/s1600/Happekotte_family001+copy+2.jpg" height="235" width="320" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Ralph, Patricia, Edna</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;"> couple of different places near downtown Waterloo, including the Elmer Hotel. It was there that they became friends with Fritz and Edna Maeder; their daughter, Jeanne, would become one of my mom's best friends. For most of their li<span style="font-size: small;">v</span>es, the Happekottes spent in the Sherwood Park area of Waterloo. They lived for a short time in one of Art Stitz’s many rentals. They moved to 150 Greenwood, but most of their years were at 204 Greenwood. I can still see <span style="font-size: small;">G</span>randma sitting at that kitchen table which took up nearly half the space in that small kitchen. The table was always loaded with pencils, crossword books, or items needed for the beadwork she did or the plastic flowers she made. I can remember playing Scrabble and 500 Rummy with her at that table. It was a great place to be.... and there was always Costello’s ice cream in the freezer! </span></div>
<br />Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08324079002071103528noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5471724066013283762.post-90960397362683156232013-03-24T20:04:00.005-07:002013-04-15T22:12:33.837-07:00Ralph Happekotte- the Iowa Years<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXzbXDf86BYsEFgCMPkFJ8A4AKiQ5dSffiKJCrHgQmV8ofrmY6Sq7EMhiUWnv7KMAL_NPR385T9XUHSiE1n6MdCMlE8UX0zpzME4NTSJiuQ5mcQ4GMPo3CljAFD_bT6qn6SiYh0QgsJrsM/s1600/Happek-Ralph%252CIrene%252CClarence.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXzbXDf86BYsEFgCMPkFJ8A4AKiQ5dSffiKJCrHgQmV8ofrmY6Sq7EMhiUWnv7KMAL_NPR385T9XUHSiE1n6MdCMlE8UX0zpzME4NTSJiuQ5mcQ4GMPo3CljAFD_bT6qn6SiYh0QgsJrsM/s1600/Happek-Ralph%252CIrene%252CClarence.JPG" height="220" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ralph, Irene, Clarence</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;">In 1935, the country was in the midst of the Great Depression.</span><span style="font-size: small;"> </span><span style="font-size: small;">Grandpa moved to Waterloo, IA in 1935. This picture, to the right, is probably close to <span style="font-size: small;">that time. In the picture are siblings Ralph and Clarence Happekot<span style="font-size: small;">te and th<span style="font-size: small;">eir sister, Irene Schutte. </span></span></span>Grandma and mom followed him in January, 1936. He had worked for the Illinois Tire & Battery in Quincy, but a job in Waterloo was better. He worked for Bennett Tire & Battery at the corner of Park Ave. and Jefferson. They lived in a couple of places near downtown, including the Elmer Hotel before moving to Sherwood Park. Art Stitz owned several “cottages” in the Park and the Happekottes moved into #4. No running water, hand pump in the kitchen, kerosene stove, and an outhouse- not quite luxury living! This has to be where Grandpa got into the pump side business because it wasn’t too long before he had installed a shallow well pump for running water, he put a toilet and crude shower in the basement. I would be willing to bet that Grandma had a lot to do with that decision! What did they do for a shower before that? They took the bus downtown and went to the YWCA where they could take a bath for 25 cents. So, I guess running water, indoor toilet, and a shower were really luxuries to them. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">Ralph started an emigration from Quincy. His brother Clarence </span><span style="font-size: small;">lived with them for a time while he was working at Chamberlain’s before he moved to California. His sister, Mary, who had married Bob Foust in Quincy moved to Waterloo in 1952. Bob also worked at Chamberlain’s. Mary and Bob actually had lived in the Sherwood Park home that became our longest Sherwood Park residence at 109 Greenview Dr. </span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEn_BtePscM_oh5XclwqpHmJrlGSEuRKZ8LcRdq08jcyQkpL5IcaSg9mgbgNDDrCwOD_UjMU0J8ivM1Gxq88wA5SOcpC6gTRAD15dHnHZtzi9jyJO33E-kN8HM_lEFB7jhiRch2vYIMklg/s1600/Happek-ralph-headshot+copy.JPG" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEn_BtePscM_oh5XclwqpHmJrlGSEuRKZ8LcRdq08jcyQkpL5IcaSg9mgbgNDDrCwOD_UjMU0J8ivM1Gxq88wA5SOcpC6gTRAD15dHnHZtzi9jyJO33E-kN8HM_lEFB7jhiRch2vYIMklg/s1600/Happek-ralph-headshot+copy.JPG" height="200" width="180" /></a><span style="font-size: small;">While working for Bennett Tire & Battery, Grandpa was working on a car owned by Earl Manning. Earl owned Manning Pattern Co. This led to a new job for Grandpa; one that lasted from 1936 to his retirement in 1962. He had a long and good retirement. Working on the pumps and wells down in Sherwood Park kept him busy. They always enjoyed making trips to visit the many relatives in Quincy and I was fortunate enough to get to go along on several. I had not grown up in Quincy even though I was born there, but I always enjoyed the visits. There were so many relatives back in the 1960s and 1970s on both mom and dad’s sides of the family; so there wasn’t a shortage of people to see. <br /><br />Grandpa and Grandma had a good life in Waterloo, but Grandpa’s heart was always in Quincy. We can remember that he always referred to Quincy as “God’s Country”. Grandma passed away on June 1, 1981; that was the only time I had ever seen Grandpa cry. Even if they were like the Bickersons, we knew how they felt about each other. So, when we lost Grandma, he took her back to Quincy to be buried. We lost Grandpa on August 25, 1983. Now, they are both back there in the Happekotte family plot in Calvary Cemetery in “God’s Country”. </span></div>
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<u>Note</u>: We really don't have a lot of pictures of Grandpa from the Iowa years. We lost most of any pictures we had of him in the house fire that I told about in the March 3rd post. </div>
Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08324079002071103528noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5471724066013283762.post-18470841556513512362013-03-19T13:07:00.000-07:002013-03-28T10:03:08.307-07:00Ralph Herman Happekotte- the Quincy Years <div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;">First, let me say there was never a kinder, more gentler soul than he was. I never ever heard him raise his voice for anything, even when Grandma was on his case about this or that! And we all believe he knew which strings to pull to get Grandma going! It could have been about that limburger cheese that he liked and Grandma hated- mostly because of the smell. They were kind of like that old radio show named the Bickersons. It was all pretty harmless but always present! Grandpa did a lot of pump work and sinking sandpoints in the houses down in Sherwood Park. He didn’t charge people very much because he knew many down there didn’t have much. But Grandma was his bookkeeper and she would get after him if he dragged his feet about collecting the small fee he charged. I truly believe he would have been perfectly happy doing much of the work for free. That was just his nature. I really believe he came by that disposition naturally-- his brothers and sisters were all the same way. They would do anything for you. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmBT1CLVhhAiv5W-Um5tnT2HijzYwl1LS6bWmr33xMVv4Qb9_7hCgS4Wf_MIKT7CGvKTfIMH23yU16Fxhn1TtpSitmaB2n1rTAEmrasUOpkTPGTJCmp8zM1AU-zFkD2HT4EJZs6CGz6EFx/s1600/flood-angel.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMHA4IZfIhjCldPmvyWwOnpGnz0rEyVdnjenQGnGeGXlkrpAg_WWz4pJq8L_3JtKY9cRVg4gavE7LtyNRUrm38eeg1U1dVjaV-8YGoqMRJQWRas_2q0FayDYSpn7osPnZAdrWJ1CUVA_JO/s1600/Happekotte-family001+copy+copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">This little momento was indicative of how others thought of him. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmBT1CLVhhAiv5W-Um5tnT2HijzYwl1LS6bWmr33xMVv4Qb9_7hCgS4Wf_MIKT7CGvKTfIMH23yU16Fxhn1TtpSitmaB2n1rTAEmrasUOpkTPGTJCmp8zM1AU-zFkD2HT4EJZs6CGz6EFx/s1600/flood-angel.JPG" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmBT1CLVhhAiv5W-Um5tnT2HijzYwl1LS6bWmr33xMVv4Qb9_7hCgS4Wf_MIKT7CGvKTfIMH23yU16Fxhn1TtpSitmaB2n1rTAEmrasUOpkTPGTJCmp8zM1AU-zFkD2HT4EJZs6CGz6EFx/s1600/flood-angel.JPG" height="150" width="200" /></a>The wording says “Hap the Flood Angel- March 16, 1945 Flood”. On the back it says, “Presented to Ralph Happekotte by the Residents of Sherwood Park”. The spring floods, which were a usual spring happening back then, was when Grandpa really shined. He became the Sherwood Park ferry service when the water came up. Many residents did not have a boat, so he would ferry them to the water’s edge so they could either go stay with others or get groceries and wait it out. Most people, by the way, waited it out. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTSw8Ql_pzgyF0tv-IVTDKjfEoaqIURkdBzgYxoPrH0IZL2dFE34goRgbJwEAkLyH_UtyGR_IXkNd6twGs4CfhyxvEL6I3R12SAuPRtYRUGsW4XCcy3WKPafmpxNu0Eg6EMxxrYkZXDNFN/s1600/ralph-baby.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTSw8Ql_pzgyF0tv-IVTDKjfEoaqIURkdBzgYxoPrH0IZL2dFE34goRgbJwEAkLyH_UtyGR_IXkNd6twGs4CfhyxvEL6I3R12SAuPRtYRUGsW4XCcy3WKPafmpxNu0Eg6EMxxrYkZXDNFN/s1600/ralph-baby.jpg" height="200" width="148" /></a></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Grandpa was born on November 14, 1904 in Quincy, Illinois. In September of 1905, he won a baby contest at a Labor Day celebration in Quincy. The picture here was taken at that time and all I can say is he definitely had the Happekotte feet! We don’t know much about his growing up years, but I was always amazed at how his parents raised such a large family (10 kids) in such a very small house at 620 N. 18th! There was one sibling born in 1916 and died the same year. His name was Charles Bernard; I don’t know at this time if he was stillborn or died as an infant. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMHA4IZfIhjCldPmvyWwOnpGnz0rEyVdnjenQGnGeGXlkrpAg_WWz4pJq8L_3JtKY9cRVg4gavE7LtyNRUrm38eeg1U1dVjaV-8YGoqMRJQWRas_2q0FayDYSpn7osPnZAdrWJ1CUVA_JO/s1600/Happekotte-family001+copy+copy.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMHA4IZfIhjCldPmvyWwOnpGnz0rEyVdnjenQGnGeGXlkrpAg_WWz4pJq8L_3JtKY9cRVg4gavE7LtyNRUrm38eeg1U1dVjaV-8YGoqMRJQWRas_2q0FayDYSpn7osPnZAdrWJ1CUVA_JO/s1600/Happekotte-family001+copy+copy.jpg" height="136" width="200" /></a></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">According to notes mom had written, Grandpa met Edna Louise Shepherd when they were working for Otis Elevator Co. The Shepherd family had moved to Quincy from nearby LaGrange, Mo by 1920 when she was about 15. Ralph had worked as a lifeguard at the Casino Pool in Quincy and both of them rowed racing shells for the Southside Boat Club. The highlight of their rowing career had to be rowing at the 1933 World’s Fair in Chicago. Mom always told us that they eloped and honeymooned in Hannibal, MO. They were married by a justice of the peace in Quincy on November 14, 1925. I didn’t realize it until now, but Grandpa got hitched on his 21st birthday! They became parents for the first and only time on November 12, 1926.</span></div>
<br />Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08324079002071103528noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5471724066013283762.post-6462341190746479992013-03-03T19:29:00.000-08:002013-03-28T10:03:25.265-07:00Pat- the Years at “Walton’s Mountain” on Greenview<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6NF_tn4TkKkHwLBs_oF9xuL4A-dmMHpslfQUW0cPYBP7J97iElUDbJIMU8svobpCsi8VSvgchnHayHk7ew5POI6VOhi1y97EoKXWW4nP4EjUfpm5JHp29PexoixqamMUXUSLuuEe65b8Q/s1600/Dale,gwen,mom+copy.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPceBY_Kt8VOxPiRa_oAC7tWeRufWnFsBCbqeUnKXo-faBKJqIwIQGV8TOkqhFp4hVQMgH9Jx3U7Mrs7GJKiCjhCYMjKe37OoWYNxBlcFGwd0YTOXzU0yjmRZ4UuxamUnMTDEG-GQ5QpM0/s1600/Airplane+Family.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPceBY_Kt8VOxPiRa_oAC7tWeRufWnFsBCbqeUnKXo-faBKJqIwIQGV8TOkqhFp4hVQMgH9Jx3U7Mrs7GJKiCjhCYMjKe37OoWYNxBlcFGwd0YTOXzU0yjmRZ4UuxamUnMTDEG-GQ5QpM0/s1600/Airplane+Family.jpg" height="216" width="320" /></a>In 1957, we were on the move again; this time to 109 Greenview Dr., the house that Aunt Mary and Uncle Bob (Foust) had lived in for a short while. This house was “home” to most of us. It’s where we really grew up. It wasn’t directly on the river, although at imes it was IN the river! It was more or less in the woods. Lots and lots of great times in those woods! I’m sure this topic will come up on Staci’s blog “My Funny Family” at www.myfunfam.blogspot.com. While there, mom was always active in the Cub Scout chili suppers at Castle Hill School for many years. She would make up little “chili kits” so all that the other mothers had to do was dump everything in the hamburger and cook it! The system worked great. Dad, meanwhile, was always active in the PTA’s Dad’s Night. The PTA dads always put on these hilarious skits that were always a hit. The one that I remember them talking about was a take-off on the “Jack Paar Show” which they called “The Jack Poor Show”. I wish we could get a hold of those films that were taken; they are probably long gone. Mom also did a stint making pizzas at Joe’s 218 Tap (now the east end of Casey’s on University. She must have done a really great job with the pizzas because it became a draw for the bar- a lot of repeat customers. That was back when pizzas, or pizza pies as they were called then, were just getting popular. <br />
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And, of course, one thing that mom was really known for was her chauffeur services. I think everyone thought she lived in that car or van. At one point, dad put a big racing stripe right down the middle of the van. By 1967, there were eight of us kids; so somebody was always going somewhere. And she and dad both truly loved to drive- we were known for going to the Old Mill in Independence, </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6NF_tn4TkKkHwLBs_oF9xuL4A-dmMHpslfQUW0cPYBP7J97iElUDbJIMU8svobpCsi8VSvgchnHayHk7ew5POI6VOhi1y97EoKXWW4nP4EjUfpm5JHp29PexoixqamMUXUSLuuEe65b8Q/s1600/Dale,gwen,mom+copy.JPG" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6NF_tn4TkKkHwLBs_oF9xuL4A-dmMHpslfQUW0cPYBP7J97iElUDbJIMU8svobpCsi8VSvgchnHayHk7ew5POI6VOhi1y97EoKXWW4nP4EjUfpm5JHp29PexoixqamMUXUSLuuEe65b8Q/s1600/Dale,gwen,mom+copy.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dale & Gwen Brooks with Mom</td></tr>
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Ia for ice cream cones. In the summer we often went to Backbone State Park with our dear friends, the Brooks. If we weren’t going to Backbone, we were picnicking with them at Exchange Park. I can even remember going to Des Moines many times for Poppin’ Fresh pies. We would actually take orders and bring pies back! Obviously, the price of gas was not a deterrence then! And when hockey started in Waterloo about 1962, all of us boys were involved and my sisters were always down at public skating. We practically lived at the rink in the winter months. I don’t know how they ever managed... we all had skates, hockey sticks, clothes on our backs, and food on the table.... and there were eight of us! But they always managed. </div>
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Sadly, we lost that house to a fire on December 5, 1985. It was a total loss. It was the same night that the Goodwill burned in downtown Waterloo. They couldn’t spare the pump trucks to save our house. And there aren’t water mains in Sherwood Park. There would have been records and pictures that would have really been great in this genealogical pursuit, but other family have generously shared pictures and information. At the time of the fire, only Jacki and her daughter Kristin where living at home. It was Jacki who woke up and smelled the smoke. The fire had started in the kitchen and that was one of the exits. The only other exit was the main door that went past the kitchen. So, they were very fortunate to have escaped when they did or they could have been trapped. After the fire, mom lived out in Hudson for many years and really liked it out there. When her health started to slip, she moved into a house next to Jacki’s in Cedar Falls. My sister, Cindy, and her husband, Jim, purchased the house and Jacki’s husband, Brian, did a lot of work making repairs and remodeling it. She had a series of small strokes in 2004 that left her incapacitated. We had her in the Windsor Nursing Home in Cedar Falls for about a year and a half. One of us was always with her from the first thing in the morning until she went to bed. There was no way that we were going to trust a facility to meet all of her needs, especially when she could not communicate them. Finally, we decided to take her back to her home since we were doing most of the work anyway. We got great help from the visiting nurses and Area Agency on Aging. That system worked well until we lost her on December 17, 2007. We all were with her..... sons, daughters, spouses, grandkids.. everyone when she passed. It was hard to lose her, but everyone understood it was for the best by that point. We all miss her very much. <br />
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And that, after all, is one of the reasons for this blog. All of these ancestors that I will present to you, deserve to be remembered. They all were more than just a name and a picture on a family tree. They all had real lives and had real contributions. And, of course, these ancestors helped make us who we are today. So, they really do deserve to be remembered. </div>
<br />Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08324079002071103528noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5471724066013283762.post-77811271234308927632013-02-15T15:13:00.002-08:002013-03-28T10:03:44.935-07:00Pat: The Married Years to 1957<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;">When dad got home from his naval service in 1946, with the GI Bill he attended Quincy College. After graduating, they moved to Waterloo. We lived with my grandparents (Ralph and Edna Happekotte) in a house in Sherwood Park owned by Art Stitz. When he found out there were more people living in the house, he decided to up the rent. Grandpa and Grandma decided they would move- no leases back then! So, they moved to 150 Greenwood Ave. For those who know the Park back then, that is where the Don Davis family lived later on. Mom, dad, and I moved in with her best friend, Gloria and Bill Duschen, who lived up by Edison School. Gloria had been mom’s best friend in junior and senior high school and served as mom’s maid of honor. We were actually there only a couple of months before moving to another house in Sherwood Park; it was owned by Vic and Nell Morrice. It was on the river and the house in front of it on road is where my grandparents lived. Mom said in her notes that dad swore he would never live in the Park. But after a couple of floods, he became a true “river rat”. He would sit on the front porch and shoot at bottles and cans as they floated by. Probably the most vivid memory I have of that house was the day when mom was away shopping and dad had just finished icing a chocolate cake. It was sitting on the kitchen table. A storm came up rather suddenly and I remember standing at the door looking out at the storm. Suddenly, a large tree near our driveway came crashing through the kitchen roof ruining the cake.... and of course, the roof! </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Mom had worked at Black’s Department Store in downtown Waterloo. She started out in Black’s post office wrapping packages and selling stamps. She eventually was promoted to run the record department- that is, record albums. That department was located on the mezzanine. She worked there until becoming pregnant with Tom. Tom was born in December of 1952; so she probably worked there until early in 1951. Dad had worked as an assistant manager at the Paramount Theater and then went to work for Sears when it was downtown on 4th Street about across from where the YMCA building is. An opening came up at Waterloo Corrugated Box Co. This is where his Quincy roots helped. The owners of the box company were John Ewers and Jim McLaughlin, both from Keokuk, Ia. When they found out dad was from Quincy, they took a liking to him and eventually made him a sampler maker. He worked there from 1952 until his death in 1978. The box company had been sold to Mead Corporation along the way, but he endeared himself to the company bigwigs who came in to Waterloo ever so often. I’m sure they loved his sense of humor and practical jokes of which they were the victims at times. One of the funniest jokes I remember him playing on the bigwigs was the time he went out to pick them up at the Waterloo Airport. You have to understand that our airport is probably five minutes at most away from the box factory. Instead of driving them straight to the box factory, he took them out through Cedar Falls, out past Crossroads Mall, and back through downtown Waterloo, then on to the box factory. These out-of-towners, who had never been to Waterloo before were quite impressed at how large Waterloo was; they had no idea they were being driven in a quite round about manner. The next day when it came time to leave the box factory for the airport, it was getting to be close to the time of departure. The bigwigs were getting a little worried about making their flight. I can only imagine the look on their faces when they got in the car and dad zipped out to the airport in five minutes! </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">After Tim was born in 1954, the family moved to 164 Greenwood Ave.; again for those who know the Park, that was the house that Ruth and Jim Trimble later lived in. It was definitely larger, and that was needed because the family was expanding. There were four kids at that time: Tom, Cindy, Tim, and me. That house was just two down from Aunt Mary and Uncle Bob’s, grandpa’s sister and brother-in-law. Probably the most vivid memory of our time there was the day dad took us kids out to the sandbar in front of our house. Generally, playing in the river was a big no-no. A lot of that had to do with grandma. Her family back in Quincy had taken in a boy and essentially raised him; I’m sure he was considered a brother to them. He drowned in a city pool in Quincy. So, the name “Russell” was invoked many a time as we lived on the river. But I diverse; what happened next is now funny to recall, but not so back then. After coming in from the sandbar, later on we noticed Tom wasn’t around. We scoured the house and every place outside. The neighbors got involved in the search. We started to conclude that he may have had so much fun on the sandbar that maybe he went back out. The thought was frightening I imagine especially to grandma. But, alas, someone found him sleeping under a bed! </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">The next blog will conclude mom’s part of the story and our family background. Then it will be on to some of the genealogical findings. </span></div>
<br />Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08324079002071103528noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5471724066013283762.post-26778269939484851332013-01-30T17:50:00.000-08:002013-03-28T10:04:16.134-07:00<h2 style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;">Patsy- the Early Years</span></span></h2>
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<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;">Before I get into my story, I have noticed that if you get email notifications of new postings that the actual post is in the email. I find it much easier to read the post if you click on the blue title in the email. That will take you directly to the post in an easier-to-read format.<br /> </span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;">My mother was Patricia Marilyn Happekotte. All of the Quincy-born relatives on the Happekotte side always called her Patsy. She was born in Quincy, Illinois on November 12, 1926 to Ralph and Edna Shepherd Happekotte. She passed away on December 17, 2007 at her home in Cedar Falls, Iowa. This picture of her has always reminded us of our great Aunt Irene (Schutte) from Quincy; we </span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;">always thought there was a strong resemblance. And when it came to a kind and loving attitude about life, both mom and Aunt Irene definitely shared that. As with dad, we don’t know a lot about her growing-up years in Quincy. She was an only child and she always told us that it was her intention to have thirteen children! Well, she only fell short by five! We do know that she attended Irving and Jackson Elementary schools in Quincy before the family moved to Waterloo, Iowa in 1935. She attended Emerson and Castle Hill Elementary schools. And that would be the old Castle Hill up on Rainbow Dr., the same one that I attended for my first two years of school. She attended Edison Jr. High, which is the same one that all of my siblings and I attended. I actually wound up teaching junior high there for about eighteen years. In 1944, she graduated from West High as did her four oldest children. <br /><br />In Waterloo, mom always talked about roller skating as being one of her favorite activities. The first outdoor rink was located on the Cattle Congress grounds. One of her best friends was Jeanne Maeder whom she spent a lot of time with at the rink. From her notes it looks like the rink moved downtown on Jefferson St. and was called the Felix Rollerdrome .They went every weekend and whenever they could. The roller skating tradition continued as many of us skated at the Black Hawk Rollerdrome in Cedar Falls. My brother, Tim, was actually married on skates at the Black Hawk! <br /><br />One thing we have always tried to find out was how mom and dad met. This may be a story lost to history. So, if anyone out there knows, we’d love to have the story. But mom went back to Quincy during the summers when she was in high school. While there, she lived with her mom’s sister, Aunt Mabel and Uncle Everett Windsor and their family. Our family has been blessed by having a multitude of kind and generous aunts and uncles, and Aunt Mabel was definitely one of those. Mom had moved back to Quincy after graduating to be there when dad got home from naval service in 1946. (His naval service will be a future topic in my Schellseekers blog). When her best friend, Gloria Duschen, moved to Quincy, they got their own place at 22nd and Chestnut. They both worked at S.S. Kresge’s. Gloria would eventually serve as mom’s maid of honor in Quincy. <br /><br />They were married at St. Francis Catholic Church on May 30, 1947</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"> and celebrated with a big reception in Aunt Irene’s backyard which was very near the church. There used to be a film of that reception, but I fear that is, too, lost to history. Although mom spent most of her adult life in Waterloo, Quincy always remained near and dear in her heart. </span> </span></span></span></div>
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Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08324079002071103528noreply@blogger.com0