Monday, June 28, 2010

Family Crest

I went online and found a place that does family crests.  I ordered it based on the last name, spelled the same way we do ours.  I didn't see it before-hand, I just blind ordered it.  Imagine my shock when I opened it up and it looked NOTHING like the old coffee table.  No rattlesnakes, no "L", my whole childhood means nothing now.  LOL.

This is the information I was given:

Originally from Limburg in the Netherlands, also Nicolaus Gottlieb Lutjens, a City Councillor of Hamburg, Germany, 1771.

Then, of course, I had to do research on what the heck the rest of it meant.  There is a whole language dealing with Coats of Arms, or Crests, or whatever they may be.  Based on what I learned, who knows if this is even OUR personal line of family arms - but I've decided I don't care, I'm going to claim it.


So:

Arms: Argent on a mount vert a palm tree proper = The shield in the center is silver (argent) with a green mountain and top of it a Palm tree, also green.  The Palm Tree Proper means that even though the mountain is green, the Palm Tree is to be represented in it's original, natural color - or proper.  The Rules of Tincture dictate that you usually do not want to put color on color or the same color on the same color, unless the term "Proper" is used.

Crest: a demi lion gules = A red half lion.  'Gules' means red in heraldic terms. 

Pretty Freakin' sweet, eh?  I wonder if I can find out WHY these symbols were chosen.  Hmmm, I sense more research.


Saturday, June 26, 2010

Still Plugging Away

I just finished re-reading Uncle Herbert's biography - or whatever you might call it - about growing up in South Dakota.  I pick up more details each time I read it and get a better understanding & picture in my head of what it must have been like.  I am able to get past all of his "good, moral, Christian, loving, never questioning anything commentary and get a good feel for the layout.  I was also able to find a land map for the period he is writing about - after losing the farm in 1906 (the Pellar place) and moving to the homestead on Turgeon Hill.

I was able to look at the map when he wrote about walking through the Sabin winter Pasture land to go to the Turgeon school right next to the timberland on the Missouri River (bottom of the map).  In between the 35 & 36 there is a little square next to the plot that says School Land - that is where the school was. 

I also posted Uncle August's biography (the first one, not the one in conjunction with Herbert's) to his page on ancestry.  It's in a PDF file and I can email a copy if you are interested in it.

I'm making a trip to Wharton & El Campo to see Mary and dig around the local museum the weekend after the 4th.  I'm looking forward to it - both to see Mary and to see what I can dig up.  I'm taking Abby with me, poor thing.  She'll either love it or be totally confused and bored, probably both.  I tried to explain to her what a cemetery is, not sure she quite got it.

Monday, June 21, 2010

Family Trees

Not much new to report today, just working on Dad's copy of the Family Tree.  I keep having to remind myself to look at the Lutjens/Sthanke side of things, not the Lutjens/George side.  It's really kind of fun.

More Grandparents

Well sibs, I'd like you to meet your Great-Great-Great Grandparents:  Rufus Redolfhus & Emma Minvera (nee Carroll) Field.

Rufus and Emma are the parents of Lucy Field Comstock:

Lucy and her husband Ralph are the parents of Carl Edwin (or Edward depending on which form you are reading) Comstock, aka Paw Paw:

Paw Paw and his wife Abby (Reba Jackson) were the parents of Hazel Adele Comstock:

Hazel and her husband Tony (Jessie Green George) had our very beautiful mother Daphine:


But back to Rufus and Emma:
Rufus Field, the son of Ebenezer Wilkinson Field and Adah Trobridge Davis, was born in Bakersfield, VT, 29 Jan 1835.
He lived in Bakersfield until 1849 when he and his father moved to Cambridge, VT where he lived and went to school until the fall of 1854, when he was injured and was advised to go west.
He came to York Township, Carroll, Illinois on 4 Nov 1854, where his health improved. On 14 March 1861 he married Emma Minerva Carroll, the daughter of William Carroll and Ann Louisa Christian of Mt. Carroll, Illinois. He and Emma raised 11 children of their own, plus their orphaned niece. Our Great-Great Grandmother Lucy was born in York, Carroll, Illinois on 24 Jan 1876.
Rufus’ occupations included veterinary surgeon and water witch (aka dowsing- click me to learn more), as well as farming. He cast his first vote for Abraham Lincoln.
In 1892 he and part of his family moved to Cheney, Kansas.
Later they moved to LaMoure, North Dakota, to live closer to their oldest son Ebenezer Field and his wife Ada Mary Sheldon.

I know, that goes back pretty far, doesn't it?  I am amazed as to what is out there just waiting to be discoverd.  Kind of like this:
 
Doesn't this worn Gravemarker look a little sad?  Well Sibs, I tell you what.  This is the Gravemarker of our Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Grandfather Zechariah Field.  Yes, that is our 10th Great Grandfather.  To borrow from the Bible:
Zechariah begat Samuel who begat Samuel who begat David who begat Oliver who begat Rufus who begat Ebenezer who begat Rufus who begat Lucy who begat Carl, who begat Hazel who begat Lola (sorry mom) who begat me (us).

I promise to write more as I get it all straightened out and find more photos. 

Zechariah Field b 1595 York, England d 1666 Massechusetts
Samuel Field b 1651 d 1697 (no gravemarker pic found yet)

Samuel Field b 1678 d 1762
 
  David Field 1712-1792

Oliver Field 1751-1821 (no gravemarker pic found yet)
Rufus Field 1774-1849(no gravemarker pic found yet)

Ebenezer Wilkinson Field 1804-1879

And then back to Rufus Field at the top of the page!

I have a digital copy of the Field Geneology I am trying to piece it all together in a way that makes sense as it is a bit confusing in it's original layout. 

So much more to post!

Sunday, June 13, 2010

Files, ugh.

Today I didn't hit much on the research side of things, but instead, spent most of the day sorting the many computer files of pictures.  Based on what I saw today many of the scanned pictures have duplicates and even triplicates.  It's hard to tell if that is because I've scanned the same one several times or if several copies of the same snapshot have been scanned once.
I'm amazed each time I dig in to all this how SLOW the process can be.  I am astonished by how few documents I actually scanned today, I need to stop processing and looking and just get going!  Yeah right.  That's not going to happen.  I'm trying to add as I go to the Ancestry site.  I also was able to get my hands on some really good templates to build a manual tree, family groups, information on each group and a contacts sheet.  We'll see if I can keep it up.

Saturday, June 12, 2010

Gravestone Photos

Every time I find something new, I get frustrated that there isn't more.  I need to be happy with what I do find, but the dead ends are so frustrating for me.

Searching around online I found the Grave Markers for a few people on the George side of the family.

Our Great-Grandfather Big Tony. 

I didn't know that he served in WWI, I do have a copy of his Draft card though.  His occupations was listed as oil field firing station and he claimed exemption due to a dependent father.

Speaking of whom:  His father, another Jessie:
I don't know much about him, he married Rachael Fannie Rhodes, but she died when Big Tony was just a few years old.  His father's name was Riley George. 

And there you have it, not I'm stuck again.  It's like that line, George, and the Younts, just disappear and I can't seem to track them down without going all kinds of crazy.  I can't believe how hard this is at times and other times things come to you like it's a floodgate.

Thursday, June 10, 2010

What I've already learned.

So here it is, Thursday night, the kids are in bed and D is studying.  I don't necessarily have new information to share so I thought I'd share some 'old' information that I have discovered throughout this process.


The above picture is John & Ichabod Comstock.  Okay Susie,  so we all know the name Comstock, but who are they and what does it mean to me, right?

John Comstock is our Great-Great-Great-Great Grandfather on Mom's side.  It goes:

Me (Us), Mom, Grandma Hazel, Paw Paw, Grandfather Comstock (Ralph), Henry Comstock, John Comstock.

John Comstock was born 21 Feb 1802 in Rhode Island and died in Wabash, Indiana in 1879.  In 1826 he married Salena Newhouse in Wayne, Ohio.   They had 7 children, all but the youngest lived to old age; John, the youngest died at age 7 in 1847.

He was born into a Quaker family and his father (also John Comstock) had a had a 400 acre farm in Rhode Island, most of which he had inherited from HIS father Thomas Comstock (our Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Grandfather).  John Comstock Senior was a member of the Senate of Rhode Island for one term.  John Comstock, Sr. was married to Hope Fiske and they had 6 children.

Hope died in 1810 when their son Ichabod (on the right in the pic above) was 8 days old.  A daughter, Anne, was 9 and with the help of a Nurse/Nanny kept the kids together for about 2 years.  When this became too much of a burden the daughters Anne and Mercy were sent to live with a cousin, Matthew Comstock.

Apparently Anne (with Jet Black eyes FYI) was placed in the kitchen and Mercy with her blue eyes and curly hair was placed in the parlor.  (Nice....)

Ann was able to save up the whopping sum of $400 and married an Englishman named Ephraim Morris and was able to start her own housekeeping.  They were Christians in the Baptist Church and died in 1979 only a few months before her brother John (in the picture on the left).

Ann married Dr. Hatfield Halsten and moved near Seneca Lake in New York.  The rest is a quoting what I have found:

Thomas Comstock lived near Lockport, New York. Had also a country residence. He was a man of industry and intelligence a Deacon in the Presbyterian Church. Had four children Artemas, Almon, William and a daughter Miranda Comstock. Miranda Comstock married a man named Colt. To this union there was one daughter named Anna Colt . Then she went to Chicago and was much interested in Christian Science. She was of good appearance and find abilities. She visited with her two cousins, daughters of Artemas Comstock, in the summer of 1879, her uncle John Comstock at Liberty Mills, Indiana.


Hon. John Comstock born in Feb. 21, 1802 moved with his father from the state of R. I. when he was six months of age in 1802. But little is known of his early youth save that he was a he was a rugged and square of form with more flesh then convenient to carry betimes. At about the age fourteen years he ascertained that he was a bound boy (according to the customs of those times) and although the family were if excellent character and kind to him he could not submit to that trying ordeal – so in the afternoon of that same day the family went away leaving John in charge of the house. After putting things in order he tied his few belongings in a handkerchief and going into the cellar he put a couple of apples into his pocket and then added to his little bundle a few of the excellent doughnuts saying to himself these will answer for my supper. Then with a stick through the bundle he made quick time to place the longest possible distance between himself and his, as he constructed it, officials over him. I think he went to his brother Thomas getting work when and where he could. He said he was a large of his age and so strong he was in pretty steady employment. His father and mother had implanted good principles in their boy and especially obedience which made it easier to succeed. At sixteen or seventeen years of age he contracted to cut down a certain number of acres of heavy timber a clear the land. He worked two weeks at this taking his dinner with him and burying it in the snow to keep it from freezing. After working faithfully at chopping from early morn till night he would chop what he could on moon light nights or evenings. He soon broke down however and with pain in chest so severely could do nothing.

John after a time of rest concluded he could go to school and acquire an education accordingly he engages board at Deacon Whitings where he could feed horses, milk and do errands to pay for board. He worked at his books with the same energy exhibited in chopping. He committed the parts be memorized in Kirkhams Grammer and studied his arithmetic in proportion, in two or three weeks that his nervous system gave way leaving him a seeming wreck. But the kind Deacon did not thrust him out through unable to wait upon himself. He nursed him giving him medical attention. Five months passed by and John was able to be about again. John was furnished with a horse and wagon and started out on the road to peddle brooms which was not work to his liking but it afforded him a living.

In the year about 1821 John landed in Wayne Co., Ohio with poor health and three shillings in pocket. He had been in early life provided with good books if the number was limited, but in this he had the foundation of solid manhood as an example to imitate. At one time the Bible was taken away from him because he read too much in it and might soil it.

He taught school in the same neighborhood near Bristol, Wayne Co., six years at which time his head so improved that he could enlarge his work while teaching – at 50¢ a scholar and boarding around among the pupils he had bought a tract of school land 80 acres perhaps on which he worked at spare times. He was termed the Yankee and while the canal was being built through that section of County he planted twelve acres in potatoes which afforded considerable merriment to neighbors who wanted to know what that Yankee would do with his crop. In the fall he satisfied their curiosity by taking fifty cents per bush for an abundant crop of potatoes from the canal grocer and taverns (as called them) while the farmers were taking three shillings 3½ cents a bus for their wheat. He invested part of this money in buying Cattle cows mostly driving them through in droves and selling to farmers. I think he bought a drove of hogs. He was married to Miss Salena Newhouse in 1826 Jan 1 st . They lived at his farm in a hewed log house with stairs going up outside to upper room. With economy they gathered a good property around them and in 1835 John Comstock came to Indiana and took up land which he occupied the next summer.

Mrs. Salena Comstock wife of John Comstock was born the year of 1801. He father John and Mother Nancy Newhouse (her parents name was Cox) were Methodists of strictest sect as in those days. The children were some of them find singers. There were seven daughters Katy, Mary, Salena, Betsy, and Letty, one who died young and three sons Henry, John, and Thomas Newhouse.

Mary Newhouse married Robert Watkins
Katy Newhouse
Salena Newhouse married John Comstock
Betsy Comstock married Stephen Fisher
Lettie Newhouse
John Newhouse
Henry Newhouse
Thomas Newhouse
John Comstock died Sept 30, 1879.

And This:
Death Notice of John Comstock


03 Oct 1879 , Wabash County, Indiana

This well-known citizen of Wabash county, one of its earliest settlers and almost a lifetime resident of Liberty Mills, died suddenly at his home last Tuesday after noon, about 4 o'clock. He was setting in his chair in apparently his usual health, his daughter sitting near him, when suddenly she noticed him gasping for breath. He was immediately placed upon the bed, but nothing could be done for him, and in a few minutes he breathed his last. He is supposed to have suffered a stroke of apoplexy. his funeral occurs this (Friday) forenoon.

Judge Comstock's friends will, we trust, furnish us with an extended notice of his eventful life. He was a man of more than ordinary note, as once an Associate Judge of the county, and we believe a member of the Legislature. A native of Rhode Island, but had resided in Wabash county nearly 45 years. His fame was general throughout the state as a breeder of short-horn cattle, he being one of the first men in Northern Indiana to give that subject his attention


That is all for tonight my darlings.  There is more on Great-Great-Great-Great Grandfather Comstock but I don't want to overwhelm you.



Tuesday, June 8, 2010

This calls for a Bacon Celebration!

Sometimes it feels like you've struck gold.  That's exactly how I felt tonight in my quest for our family geneology.  I have been filling out our extended (very extended it seems at times) family on the Brammer side. 

I guess I should start out by saying that after reading Uncle Herbert & Uncle August's writings on life growing up I left with the impression that our Great-Great Grandparents Han Heinrich & Anna Maria Brammer (Alice's Mom's Parents) had 4 children and I lost track if they had left Germany with all 4 or if 2 died before they came to America.  The bottom line is, I took from it that only 2 of their children had survived: our (Great) Grandma Stahnke and our (Great-Great) Uncle George. 

The other night I was looking over some of the documents that Uncle August had gathered from Churches in (what was then East) Germany and translating them (I never thought my one semester of college German would come to any use - boy was I wrong.  Mom and Dad - every cent you paid to my college education paid off in my ability to translate.  Damn, I'm funny.)  and I read the names of the 4 children of Hans and Anna: Wilhemine, Otto, George and Dora.  (kay, so each of them had extremely long names, but you know what I mean.  So these names ring a bell for me, both the German Passenger list and the New York entry passenger lists show Wilhelm and Maria coming to America in 1884 with Minna, Otto, George and Dora.  Now I'm doing the big "Huh". 

THEN I find the name Wilhelmina Lessman on the website that has the Gravestones for the Evang  Evangelical Lutheran Immanuel Church in Nebraska for a Wilhemina Lessman with a note that says her maiden name is Brammer and I'm like: HOLY SHIT!!  I can't beleive this is happening: not only is there a sibling that I didn't know ever survived, but they lived and married and had about a billion children.  Okay, so I'm super sarcastic.

So I'm following Minna's family on ancestry.com and decide to pursue one of her Children named Mary Martha Lessman.  Well, Mary married a gentleman named James Kophamer (a name I've seen before) and there is this Picture:



Holy Crap! That's Aunt Bertha on the far right, and that sure looks like Uncle Anson on the far left.  Wait a minute!  I've been looking at snapshots from this wedding for over a year!  This is the wedding of Grandma Alice's Cousin Mary to John Kophamer.  Finally I know who is in these pictures:



These are the Wedding snapshots of Grandma Alice's Cousin Mary Lessman to John Kophamer, or our 1st Cousin twice removed.  These were posted on Ancestry.com by our 3rd cousin.  I need to reach out.  I have read the name Kophamer so many times on pictures and eslewhere that I am so thrilled to make the connection to how they relate to us.

Man do I just LOVE doing this!

Scanning Documents

Last night I scanned Uncle August's Biography that was written for his retirement? his 50th year as a pastor?  I think it was written around 1977, so someone will have to job my memory.  I was able to scan it as a PDF file and I'm also putting it into a Word format so that... well I'm not sure why I'm doing both.  It must be a "Just Because" moment.

I know if dad reads this next part, he will have a flipping fit, but I struggled last night to throw out an old picture.  No not the picture above!  The baby on the right is Albert John and I've made the assumption that the baby on the left is Jerome Ommen, Albert John's cousin (Gladys Stahnke's son) because it appears that Gladys and Alice would have had a close relationship at this time, and both Jerry and Albert John were born a few months apart in 1929.  The picture I threw out last night was from this same series of photos but both boys had turned so that it was a shot of the backs of their heads.  Typical babies, right?  Yet I stood over the trash can holding a picture of no value (to us) that Grandma Alice obviously kept for the rest of her life and I wondered if I was doing the right thing; I have the hoarding gene!  Help me!

Monday, June 7, 2010

Gravestone Photos

I have been exploring online looking for Gravestone photos for my family on both sides.  There are a few websites where people post photos of cemeteries in their area "Just Because" that are accessible for anyone who is looking for them.  I found pictures for the headstones of our Brammer Grandparents and family in Nebraska and their extended family in the Evangelical Lutheran Immanuel Cemetery in Dixon County Nebraska.  Many of them have are in a smaller photo format and are a bit hard to read. 
Today I contacted the guy who took the photos to see if he would send me a copy of them sent to me on a disc for to get the best quality possible.  I'm happy to say that he contacted me back (already) to let me know that he'd be happy to send me a disc or even email me if there were only a few that I was looking for.  I asked him for a disc because I'm finding more and more and more relatives buried there that I'd hate to ask for a few and then a few more later, then more.  Needless to say, I'm pretty excited!

Another Phone Call

I received a message from a lady named Evelyn just before I left for South Dakota.  I wasn't able to respond until I was home so a new flood of information came my way on the George side.

Evelyn is the Granddaughter of Annie Peterson - the sister of Charles Peterson known as Paw Pete (pictured) in our family.  That would make Evelyn our 2nd cousin twice removed.  She contacted me while doing research on the Peterson line of her family.  She was born in 1931 and lives in Sweeny and remembers visiting Paw Pete and Grandmas Susie when she was a young girl - Ira and Winnie were her mother's cousins - but she says that she mostly saw Ira's family. 




Paw Pete's Dad, Niels Peterson, was born in Viborg, Denmark in 1851 and died in 1930 and his Mother, Gertrude Rasmussen was born in Denmark in 1849 and died in 1905.  Both are buried in Pleasant Hill Cemetery - but I need to locate where that is.  They had several children and I need to explore their histories as I have time. 

A few emails and a phone call later I learned a lot - well more than I knew last week - about Big Tony.  Big Tony was married (probably common-law) to Evelyn's dad's sister.  Which was a bit confusing for me since Big Tony married Winnie a cousin of her mom, and then was with Frances, the sister of her Dad.  She referred to Big Tony as her Uncle, which was weird for me only ever hearing him referred to as Big Tony.  She knew Grandpa Tony since he would spend time with Big Tony and Frances when they all lived in Bay City, TX.    She isn't sure when Big Tony and Frances split up, but she (Frances) ended up moving to Houston to live with her daughter, Irene.  She spoke with Janelle (Ira's daughter) a few years back and said that her Brother Charles (Bubba) (pictured with the gloves) was still alive too.  This was a bit of a shock for Mom because she's spent 60 years thinking that he had died in a car accident.  Evelyn said that Bubba used to come and visit her parents in Bay City after he was grown but she hasn't seen him since her teen years.

I asked her if she knew if Irene and Grandpa Tony (Little) had ever had a relationship.  I was curious since the story had always come down that way.  Evelyn said that she hadn't ever heard that, but that Irene was apparently crazy about Tony and they were only a few years apart in age.  Everything lines up to make it plausible, but it can't really be confirmed or denied.

Frances (and Irene in the picture on bottom) was apparently the family wild woman and hung around in beer halls which is where she probably met Big Tony.  They ran a Beer Hall themselves until they were separated.
Irene ended up becoming a full blown alcoholic and died in Danevang, TX and is buried in El Campo in the same cemetery (I think) as Grams. 

I couldn't keep it straight, but apparently someone else in Evelyn's family married Big Tony's cousin because she kept saying that Tony would say, "so-and-so's mother was my cousin and she was crazy".

I felt like I was reading the history of Medieval Royal Marriages trying to keep track of who belonged to who.


Let's Get Started

I'm sure the first question you may be asking yourself is: What harebrained idea does Susie have now? It's not like it's going to last more than 3 weeks anyway.

You're probably right, but I plan on giving it a try. My idea to keep a running conversation going on the Family History and who is what and who is who and why. I hit another burst of energy after our trip to South Dakota and have found new people and new information and new facts and new contacts. Everytime I call one of you and tell you about it the response is: I hope you're writing this down, if something happens to you no one will know any of this. So this is going to be my attempt to write it down.

So much has happened already that it feels odd to just jump in and start writing in the middle of it, but I need to start somewhere. I hope to present it in some kind of logical way that make sense, but my brain and way of thinking is much more "Brain Cloud" than linear thought. PLEASE post any questions you have in the comments field and I will respond to them and clarify and answer them as best as I can.

Also, I'm sending this site out to all members of my family since I am pursuing both the Lutjens and the George side of the family history. After much thought and careful consideration I chose to call this site "Lutjens" not to exclude anyone but because:
1) It is my name
2) I will be writing about this from my perspective. Hazel & Alice will be called Grandma Hazel and Grandma Alice.
3) This is my love letter to my brothers and my sister and all of our children and their children, but I also want to share with my extended family what I know so that they can also read what I have learned.