THE FAMILY TREE

Early this year Dawn asked for any information I could give her so that she could begin building the Family Tree.  She was curious, and the internet makes searching for historical information easier and easier.  However, she lacked the time to sit for hours combing through records.  So, with her permission, I took over the task.

My mother's family has always been a mystery to me.  Questions that were asked weren't answered.  And for some reason, I never learned about my father's family either.  I don't recall hearing any stories from either side about "the good old days."  In the months that have followed my initial search, there have been some unexpected results, but all have been interesting.

A good part of the success I have had in building our family tree is attributable to my cousin Ideal’s help.  Our family visited with his often when we were children.  The last time I saw him we were in college.  As I recall, on my 21st birthday I went to a bar to celebrate being “legal”, and Ideal was there.  Not only did he buy me a beer, he bought several, contributing to a memorable hangover.  Then the college year ended, I graduated and my family moved away.  At the same time, our mothers had a falling out and contact between the families ceased.  When I began the ancestry search, my lack of knowledge and the possibility he (and his sister, Jeannie) would have information to share that could shed light on so many questions was the impetus to reach out to him.  

Thanks to Google, I’d located him years before.  But now I wrote to him, hoping that our mothers’ disagreement hadn’t affected our relationship.  I mailed the letter, eager to reestablish our family ties and hoping he could supply helpful information.

A week after mailing the letter, he called!  He had tried to find me and my brothers but been unsuccessful.  He didn't know my married name and neither brother is on Facebook or can be found with a Google search.  We talked for an hour, each of us telling the other about our lives over the past 49 years.

Iva, Bert and Grandma

Fortunately his mother had collected many photographs of family members during her life.  Before contacting Ideal, I had found birth records on Ancestry.com that indicated our grandmother was not an only child as I'd thought.  She had a brother.  Confirmation came in a 1900 photograph Ideal has -- three young people:  Grandma, her brother, and, apparently, a sister, as well.  Their names were written on the photograph.   Now, even after several months, while there are later photos of the sister (with her husband and their daughter), I have been unable to find the date or place of her birth.  On the other hand, I learned that she was married a second time.

Great-grandfather Jonas

The search for information on Grandma's father, Jonas, has been slow and the rewards, scant.  There is a record of his marriage.  He and wife, Jennie, left the area in Ohio where they’d been raised and moved to Michigan where he was a logger.  Years later, the 1880 census shows they were in Iowa, where he was a plasterer.  And then there is no census data on the family for 30 years.  Apparently in that time, Great-grandmother Jennie passed away, for once Grandpa Jonas is “found” again, his marital status is shown as “widower.”

Great-grandmother Jennie

Jennie was one of ten children and apparently she remained in touch with a brother and sister whose photographs remain.  In fact it was through identifying who those people were that we realized their sister “Nancy J.“ was, in fact,  our great-grandmother, Jennie.

 

Mom's four older siblings

Mom had five siblings, four sisters and a brother who died when he was 10 and Mom, 3.  I have always thought his name was Orlie.  The Ancestry web site yielded the name Orla, which was also the name of a paternal uncle.  

Mom's Dad

Grandpa's brothers, Fred and Orla

What? My grandfather had brothers? AND sisters?  Why did I never know that?  Perhaps because Grandpa and Grand- ma divorced before I was born and my contact with him was infrequent.  I don’t recall ever hearing references to his extended family.  But now there are pictures of two brothers and two sisters.

Maternal Grandparents

Aunt Stella, Aunt Janette and Mom

Uncle Fred, Dad, Aunt Clara

Dad was the oldest of three children.  Although Clara died in her late teens or early twenties, I have been unable to find a record of her date of death.  

Grandpa was a grocer

Mom and Dad

As a young man, Dad played softball

Mom modeled early in their marriage

Tracing the family tree is made more difficult by the various spellings of surnames and even the given names.  I found Jonas’s surname spelled four ways and his given name, two.  He’s also confused with a brother, John, who died in infancy a year before Jonas was born.

I have enjoyed putting together our family puzzle, looking for the links that confirm relationships.  The ability to copy information of many ancestors that others have gathered in creating their family trees has obviously been helpful and  welcome.  I have verified that the children listed to any couple were born before the mother died (occasionally a researcher slips up!) and born after either parent was of an age to beget offspring.

Both of the branches on my mother’s side have been traced back by others to the 1500’s in Europe.  Unfortunately such data hasn't been collected on Dad's family.  His maternal grandfather came to the United States from Germany.  Until someone adds information gained from German records, that branch stops with his birth in 1854.  Similarly, there doesn't appear to be any work done on the paternal side of Dad's family prior to the birth in 1803 of Dad's great-grandfather.

Four branches down, four to go.  Next I'll work on Roy's family tree.  I already know from hearing Park family stories that there is a Cherokee Indian in our Tree.  A cousin of Roy's has put considerable effort into gathering records and I will ask for her help when I get back to gathering data.

Although we have corresponded frequently since this project was begun a few months ago, Ideal and his wife, Judith Ann, stopped here to spend the night last weekend on their way to Indiana to visit his family and their friends.  Being with Ideal, seeing the smile I remember and hearing his laugh again have brought back memories of our childhood.  As important as finding ancestors has been for me, becoming reacquainted with my cousins Ideal and Jeannie is a equally significant reward. 

Me with cousin Ideal who has shared information and photos and his wife, Judith Ann.

 

SURPRISE, SURPRISE!!

For as long as I can remember, I have chosen to keep my birth date closely held.  It's not that I don't want anyone to know my age, because even my grandchildren know how old I am.  (If they can't remember exactly, they just say I am "older than dirt"!)  It's simply the fact that everyone has a birth date, so to me, celebrating really isn't that special.

I expected my birthday this year to be celebrated as it has been the past several years:  Brett would send a card and perhaps flowers as well.  Dawn would call, sing Happy Birthday, invite me to dinner and give me a little gift.  And that's what happened this year, with the exception that she said we could go do dinner that evening, or we could have a cookout at their house Saturday.  I opted for the cookout.

Dawn called Saturday morning to say she had to run an errand over this way and would pick me up.  I told her I didn't mind driving since it's easier for me to leave when I'm ready without interfering in their routine.  But she insisted and I didn't argue.  After all, this was my 70th birthday, a milestone in decades.

 When we arrived at their house, the grill was in the driveway and Bob and Brandon were tossing the football back and forth.  They followed me inside as I told Dawn about the Jibjab e-card that Jeff and Mimi had sent.  Then as we walked into the living room, my eyes fell on one of my neighbors just as I heard the word "SURPRISE!"

Sitting there were friends from the condos where I live; a friend/coworker from the hospital gift shop; Brett; my brother Jason and his wife, Evie; brother Jeff, his fiance, Mimi, and his daughter, Brittany.  And next to them, two women who, along with me, belong to an internet group one of the progeny once described to an outsider as "The Ax Murderers and Internet Dating Club."  Seeing them, and knowing how far they had traveled to be there for me made me cry.  As I shed tears on Brett's shoulder, I said to the assembly how glad I was that I'd actually showered that morning and put on clean clothes!

What a celebration it was!  Several weeks ago, Pam, one of the day's guests, and I were discussing birthdays, and I said something about not wanting to know my 70th was approaching.  That was the party's theme.  Dawn had e-mailed invitations to the entire Ax Murderer family and several had sent birthday cards.  There were funny gifts and sensible ones.  Jason and Evie gave me a T-shirt with Three Rules of Getting Older.  There were gift cards for restaurants and merchandise.  Useful gifts included a battery-powered candle (perhaps so that if I leave the condo I don't absentmindedly leave a candle burning!)  Pam, one of the internet group, bakes as a hobby and she's good.  She brought cheesecake pops as a gift for me, plus enough for everyone else to share.

My T-Shirt with the Party's Theme

Pam's Cheesecake Pops  YUM!!

The "Haul"

I didn't get my cookout.  Wisely, Dawn had ordered food prepared for the crowd. We helped ourselves to chicken, pasta, sausage with peppers and onions and salad.  And of course  cake, red velvet with cream cheese frosting that I'd requested, and ice cream followed.

It was humbling to realize that I am someone special to many people.  Some drove from Georgia, North Carolina and Indiana to share those few hours.  Brett flew in from Los Angeles for the day.  Others, although they live closer, also took the time from their day to share the celebration -- a celebration for someone who doesn't "do" birthdays.

Thank you, Dawn.  You managed, with the cooperation of the invitees, to carry off the surprise of my life!  Although you are my daughter, you are also my best friend and I will never forget the effort you made to make this my most memorable birthday ever.  

A SPECTACULAR START TO 2012

With the holiday season behind us, I find relief in being able to return to my boring, boring life.  But that's the way I like it!  There's nothing wrong with a change of pace, I just like to know it's coming!  For example, I like to go shopping.  I don't like to go when I didn't plan to.  (And as I typed that I realized I forgot to get milk when I went out earlier this morning -- on a trip I planned.)  I thoroughly enjoy traveling, but I also like to do it after several days to plan my agenda:  when to pack, what to pack, when to leave for the airport.  Time to stop newspaper and mail delivery.  But once on the road, my heart's in 100%. But as I was saying, my daily agenda at the present time is boring.

The year started off routinely.  Dawn, Bob and the kids came over New Year's Day for our traditional meal: pork roast, sauerkraut, molded pear salad (referred to as green Jell-O salad) replacing the healthier but not eaten greens, black-eyed peas and cornbread.  We also took pictures that will be included in the calendar for 2013 -- the cover photo with Dawn, Bob, Brandon and Sophia and one, for January, of Sophia and Brandon only.

The kids were back in school on January 3, just in time for a day off the end of the week. Without snow to play in, the Wii has filled many leisurely hours and the family has instituted a "family night" at home.  When homework is done, they play games.  The other day I was introduced to Golf when there was no school in observance of MLK Day.  I'll just say I didn't do very well and the kids had a ball witnessing my failure to grasp the concept.



Sophia's dental work is under way.  The back story - one day when she was 4, she was jumping on her bed, fell and hit her right incisor on the bedside table.  It was certain Sophia would lose the tooth, but miraculously, it reseated itself.  It did so so well that when it was time, and then past the time it should be pushed out by the permanent tooth, it wasn't. X-rays showed that the permanent tooth was there, but had failed to drop down.  And the baby tooth was becoming longer, as though it wanted to come out ... maybe.  The dentist pulled it over a year ago and the reason it had remained in place was probably due to the fact that it had grown longer.  But even without the tooth, the permanent incisor failed to come down.


Eventually she was taken to visit a pediatric dentist who determined that the permanent tooth bud had been damaged in the accident.  The tooth had developed but was upside down with the back of the tooth facing forward.  As a result, Sophia has spent the last couple months having the lateral incisor moved to its proper position to make room for the central incisor.  The surgeon has since operated to expose the bottom (and back) of the tooth and attached a "chain" which will be gradually tightened, pulling the top of the tooth down like a drawbridge.  At a certain point the chain will be moved to the front of the tooth to complete the repositioning. 

Dawn and Bob are doing fine.  Last winter Brandon began stripping bathroom wallpaper in anticipation of Dawn's redoing the room.  That's finally happened and the 70's-style decor has been moved into the current century with ice-blue paint on rough-plastered walls.  Bob, every woman's dream of an all-around handyman, installed a new combination ceiling fan and light fixture and moved the wall switch to just inside the bathroom door rather than its former site half way into the room.

Early in January Brett mentioned that their jobs might make it necessary that he and Michelle would move to Los Angeles.  Brett indicated that they could use my help during the transition since they both would need to be elsewhere than at home several days a week and the dogs would need a sitter.  The follow-up call came the end of January.  Brett was taking a position in the corporate office in Los Angeles and Michelle  had accepted an offer from a company in Burbank. Three days later I was in San Francisco.

I spent February helping pack and keeping the dogs company while Brett and Michelle devoted their time to finding housing in LA when not in their offices.  Plans fell into place and even the hiccups that are inevitable were overcome.   The moving company was selected after bids were received and the date for the move was set.  Packing was finished on Monday, February 20, the van loaded on Tuesday, the drive down  done on Wednesday and goods were off-loaded on Thursday.  Michelle's parents arrived Thursday afternoon to help with unpacking and I flew back to Ohio on Friday.

The "bar" to the right is about the height of the fridge's freezer

The house Brett and Michelle are renting is in Venice, a beach community west of Los Angeles.  The house is quaint, a one-of-a-kind structure.  Kitchen counters are cement.   The "bar" that the homebuilder installed is nearly five feet above the floor. The owner/ resident was single at the time and didn't sit down for meals, but stood at the counter to eat.






The guest (or hall) bath is plain-jane.  The master  bath, however, is not.  There's a large in-floor tub that two people can sit in comfortably, but access requires one to sit on the floor in order to get into it.  The hand rail on the wall isn't to assist the handicapped, but to enable the occupant to pull himself up and out (if she or he doesn't  simply crawl out onto the floor!). Sliding barn doors separate the third bedroom/office from the dining area and the master bath from the hallway.


This winter has been the winter that wasn't.  Forecasters warned as 2012 approached that  January would be very cold and February, warmer but very snowy.  Wrong.  On both issues.  I believe the overnight temperature dropped into the teens only two or three times in the entire season.  What could have been snow came down as rain because it was too warm for snow.  Daily temperatures in January fell between the mid thirties and low forties.  I was in California in February, but daily temperatures in San Rafael and Ohio paralleled each other.  Sunny skies were common in both areas.  Typical for northern California, but certainly not for northeast Ohio.

March continued the warm trend.  Record highs were set from March 17 to the 24th, ranging from 77 to 82.  By Easter, April 8, ranges were more seasonal, and therefore, cooler.

I enjoyed the time away, relaxing in California while keeping an eye on the dogs. But when I returned home, I vowed to clear the list of tasks I'd left behind.  In November, my brothers, Jason and Jeff, and I had spent a day together, a rare event since Jason and Evie live in Georgia.  I'd brought photo albums of our parents.  Dad's had been put together by our mom.  After she died, I made a similar one of her life.  But neither Jason nor Jeff had any of the pictures and asked that I make copies.  So I spent a weekend copying them and posting on Picasa.  From there they can get prints or just enjoy scrolling through the on-line albums.

About 1944

About 1944

Me - About 1944

About 1964

Parents' 40th Anniversary - 1978

Coincidentally, Dawn has asked questions about our family history, questions I couldn't answer because I hadn't asked similar questions when my parents were alive, or the questions I did ask went unanswered.  We looked at Ancestry.com, but without a subscription, many records were unavailable.  So I enrolled.  There is so much information there, much of the family data already gathered by others and available to the "public"!  And still, there are holes to be filled.  Every few days I go on a search for information , hoping to fill in the blank spaces.

Now that I've shared early 2012 happenings around Park Place, we can move on to spring!  

BRANDON AND SOPHIA - 2011

January

Brandon was 11 in early January.  Sophia was 8 in November 2010.

Just the three of us

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

A CHRISTMAS TO REMEMBER

As Christmases go, I rank this one in 2011 as one of the best.

It has been our practice since Brandon was old enough to understand the words "Santa" and "presents" that on Christmas Eve I take my pillow, toothbrush, etc. and spent the night at the kids' house.  Otherwise, when the call comes Christmas morning at oh dark thirty that Brandon and Sophia are up and anxious to open their gifts, I would have to quickly get dressed and drive over in freezing temperatures.  Not my favorite way to start the day, let alone Christmas Day.

Early in the evening Brandon began negotiating what time we'd get up in the morning.  He started with 5:00 AM and got an emphatic NO.  Then he moved to 5:30 and Bob compromised with 7:30.  Brandon, 6:00; and Bob told him if he didn't stop, it'd be 9:00.  So Brandon went to 6:30 and Bob, 9:30 with the added question, "You still want to do this?"  I don't think the precise time was ever agreed on.

The kids were in bed at 9:30 and Bob's and Dawn's gifts went under the tree around 10:00.  Santa's followed some time later.  While Dawn prepared for bed, she found Brandon's watch with the alarm set for 6:00 under the armoire in her bedroom.  She disarmed it and hung the watch on the tree.

I heard Brandon get up at least three times during the night, supposedly to use the bathroom.  He wasn't particularly quiet, but he didn't overtly try to wake anyone.  Sophia was restless, but even though she's now nine, she is afraid of Santa in the flesh and wouldn't venture from the bedroom alone.  I know it was difficult for Brandon to go back to bed, because he could easily see two new bikes sitting beside the tree on trips between his room and the bathroom.

Sometime close to 6:30, Brandon couldn't stand the anticipation any longer and he knocked on Dawn's bedroom door.  Sophia, who had slept on a pallet on her floor so I could have her bed,  jumped up to be ready for the rush to the living room.

There were so many special gifts.  Bob had wrapped his gifts for Dawn and Sophia set them on the couch beside him.  The kids distributed presents to the adults while also unwrapping theirs.  Occasionally Bob would give Dawn one he'd gotten for her.  I knew what one of them was and I waited with the camera.

 Midway through the unwrapping, Sophia, to my left, was busy opening a gift and chattering away while wearing an Angry Bird hat that Brandon had given her.  On my right were Dawn and Bob, sitting on the couch.  As Sophia jumped up to show Dawn a gift she'd received from Santa, Bob handed Dawn the littlest package, and as she opened it, he slid from the couch to one knee on the floor.  I couldn't hear what he said because Sophia was jabbering.  

Brandon looked at Sophia and asked, "You don't know what's going on, do you?" and with a puzzled look on her face, she replied, "No, not really."  To whatever Bob had said, Dawn responded, "Yes!"  And thus, they are now engaged! 

 

 

 

Bob is a musician and he once made a comment to Dawn that he used to have a guitar and missed it.  He now has one, a gift from Dawn. 

There were special presents for Brandon and Sophia as well.  In addition to the bikes Bob gave them, there was a Wii for the family and an iPod for Sophia.  Nana and Pap had made a chest for each for their treasures.  Sophia's even has a music box.  And I got what I most wanted:  a storage cabinet for the garage!

 

 

We spent the rest of the day enjoying our gifts.  The Wii controls were passed around as each took a turn.  Brandon, Sophia and I played word games with each other on our Apple iPods and iPad.  And Dawn and Bob smiled a lot.