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.