Now that I have returned from Ohio with new information regarding my ancestors, I am anxous to fill in as many blank spaces in the family tree as possible. I have gathered much information on my Brennan ancestors, beginning with Ned Brennan and Mary Fahey (my great, great grandparents) who immigrated to the United States, settling in Lima, Ohio, in 1861.
Ned and Mary had six children: Mary Ann; Michael; Bridget; Sarah; Edward; and John. All of the children except Mary Ann remained in Lima, so their records have been fairly easy to find.
The only family that remains something of a mystery to me is the family of Mary Ann Brennan, who married Thomas Ryan and moved to Jersey City, New Jersey. They had, as best as I can figure, 9 children: Edward; Patrick; Thomas; Mary (Mae); Raymond; Sarah; Anne, Joseph and Rita.
Thomas died before 1920 and Mary Ann died in 1938 and is buried in Holy Name Cemetery.,
I have only been able to locate the married names of two of the daughters, largely via census records. Mary or Mae (born in 1890) married Samuel Pierce and they had two sons. Sarah (born in 1897) married a man named Thomas Nolley, or Molley, or Molloy. This information was taken from a 1920 census record and the handwriting makes the actual name unclear.
As the name Ryan is very common, and there are numerous Ryan families in Jersey City, it has been almost impossible to trace the children and grandchildren of Mary Ann Brennan Ryan.
If anyone comes upon this blog and is descended from this branch of the Brennan family, I would appreciate hearing from you. Just leave a comment and I will receive an email notifying me. I would love to hear about your branch of the family.
Friday, June 7, 2013
Sunday, June 2, 2013
RETURN TO OHIO PART III
On Friday, we drove around Lima a bit more and discovered the Lippincott Bird Sanctuary. This interested us for two reasons. I have Lippincotts in my ancestry, and Tony is a bird watcher. So we spent a bit of time looking around. It was quite peaceful and lovely.
Then after lunch, my aunt Sheila and I spent a few hours looking through old family photographs. A few brought back memories. Others were of family members I never really knew. We spent the next day visiting with my uncle Tom, who is Sheila's brother, and part of his family, as well as Sheila and my cousin Jennifer. The visit was very moving. I hadn't seen my uncle since I was about 20, and I know he was thinking about his two brothers (one of them my father) who are gone. We had a good time, though, joking and laughing and getting re-aquainted. It was tough to say "good-bye."
After our visit, though, Tony and I cheered ourselves up by stopping for dinner at the Kewpee, a hamburger joint that was founded in Lima in 1926, the year my parents were born. It's still in its original location, with the same linoleum on the floor and the same vinyl countertops. It has a drive-through, and at the end of the drive-through lane is evidence of an old turntable which used to turn your car around in the cramped space so you could drive out.
It was odd to think that this same restaurant is where my mom and dad ate hamburgers as teenagers - long before the days of McDonald's.
On our final day in Lima, Tony and I drove around trying to locate the place where my great great grandparents had lived. They named the area "Vinegar Hill" after a famous battle in Ireland's tortured fight for independence. The location of the battle was a hill called (in Gaelic) "Fiodh na gCaor," which if you say it fast, sounds like "Vinegar." Hence, the name. We couldn't locate the exact area, so we went over to Sheila's house to visit some more and meet a few more relatives. Sheila, Jennifer, Brenna and I took a picture together.
A little later, Sheila took us to the exact location of Vinegar Hill, though we could find no house that might have been the Brennan homestead. Instead, there were several "newer" homes on the property. We drove Sheila back to her house and said another sad "good-bye" as the next day we would be flying home.
It's hard to put into words my feelings about this trip. I loved seeing my relatives, catching up on the past 37 years, laughing and talking about family members no longer here, and also doing some genealogical research. But nothing stays the same, and Lima is not the town I remember - at least, the old area where my grandparents once lived. The homes are in need of repair and I wonder how much longer they will stand. On the one hand, there was evidence of some construction and refurbishing about town, on the other, the industry that had made Lima a thriving city is gone. Lima was once a railroad town, and employed many people. It also had some oil wealth, but all of that seems to have disappeared, except for the occasional sound of a train whistle, as the few remaining trains work their way through town.
It was also bittersweet to be in the town of my parents' birth, childhood and adolescence, knowing they, as well as my grandparents, are no longer with us. There was a definite sense that much had changed and that, as a result of this trip, my memories were also going to be changed. I had a strong desire to find the money to renovate both of my grandparents' homes, and preserve them for another century, but that is simply impossible. You can't go backwards, no matter how hard you wish you could - for just a little while. And so I leave my reminiscing with one more photo - of the house where my parents lived when I was born.
This is my first home, the place where I joined the Mueller and Brennan families for the first time. It is a duplex that my parents shared with my aunt Kay, uncle Pete and their three oldest boys. Jim and I both lived there, as his mother was my aunt Kay, my mother's sister. I don't know which side of the house was ours. The house may be as worn as the other homes, but stories I have heard about it always make me smile. Like the time my 3 and 4 year old cousins got into their father's car, released the emergency brake and rolled the car out of the driveway. Apparently, they wanted to go to the store to buy bubble gum. And the time my mom and her sister let a cement truck dump a huge load of cement in front of the garage, so their husbands could use it to build a fence. It was much more cement than was needed, and it dried before the fence could be finished. The huge mound blocked access to the garage for the next year, until a tornado moved the garage. And the story my aunt Sheila (who was 6 years old when I was born) told me on this trip - that she and my grandmother used to walk to the house to see us, and they brought along Sheila's imaginary cat. Halfway there, she told my grandmother to pick up the cat and carry it, as it was tired.
So when I think of Lima, I will think of all the people I love, living and no longer with us, and I will smile when I remember the train whistle, and when I think of mischeivous kids in search of bubble gum, two young mothers and a pile of cement, and an imaginary cat that used to come to visit.
Then after lunch, my aunt Sheila and I spent a few hours looking through old family photographs. A few brought back memories. Others were of family members I never really knew. We spent the next day visiting with my uncle Tom, who is Sheila's brother, and part of his family, as well as Sheila and my cousin Jennifer. The visit was very moving. I hadn't seen my uncle since I was about 20, and I know he was thinking about his two brothers (one of them my father) who are gone. We had a good time, though, joking and laughing and getting re-aquainted. It was tough to say "good-bye."
After our visit, though, Tony and I cheered ourselves up by stopping for dinner at the Kewpee, a hamburger joint that was founded in Lima in 1926, the year my parents were born. It's still in its original location, with the same linoleum on the floor and the same vinyl countertops. It has a drive-through, and at the end of the drive-through lane is evidence of an old turntable which used to turn your car around in the cramped space so you could drive out.
It was odd to think that this same restaurant is where my mom and dad ate hamburgers as teenagers - long before the days of McDonald's.
On our final day in Lima, Tony and I drove around trying to locate the place where my great great grandparents had lived. They named the area "Vinegar Hill" after a famous battle in Ireland's tortured fight for independence. The location of the battle was a hill called (in Gaelic) "Fiodh na gCaor," which if you say it fast, sounds like "Vinegar." Hence, the name. We couldn't locate the exact area, so we went over to Sheila's house to visit some more and meet a few more relatives. Sheila, Jennifer, Brenna and I took a picture together.
A little later, Sheila took us to the exact location of Vinegar Hill, though we could find no house that might have been the Brennan homestead. Instead, there were several "newer" homes on the property. We drove Sheila back to her house and said another sad "good-bye" as the next day we would be flying home.
It's hard to put into words my feelings about this trip. I loved seeing my relatives, catching up on the past 37 years, laughing and talking about family members no longer here, and also doing some genealogical research. But nothing stays the same, and Lima is not the town I remember - at least, the old area where my grandparents once lived. The homes are in need of repair and I wonder how much longer they will stand. On the one hand, there was evidence of some construction and refurbishing about town, on the other, the industry that had made Lima a thriving city is gone. Lima was once a railroad town, and employed many people. It also had some oil wealth, but all of that seems to have disappeared, except for the occasional sound of a train whistle, as the few remaining trains work their way through town.
It was also bittersweet to be in the town of my parents' birth, childhood and adolescence, knowing they, as well as my grandparents, are no longer with us. There was a definite sense that much had changed and that, as a result of this trip, my memories were also going to be changed. I had a strong desire to find the money to renovate both of my grandparents' homes, and preserve them for another century, but that is simply impossible. You can't go backwards, no matter how hard you wish you could - for just a little while. And so I leave my reminiscing with one more photo - of the house where my parents lived when I was born.
This is my first home, the place where I joined the Mueller and Brennan families for the first time. It is a duplex that my parents shared with my aunt Kay, uncle Pete and their three oldest boys. Jim and I both lived there, as his mother was my aunt Kay, my mother's sister. I don't know which side of the house was ours. The house may be as worn as the other homes, but stories I have heard about it always make me smile. Like the time my 3 and 4 year old cousins got into their father's car, released the emergency brake and rolled the car out of the driveway. Apparently, they wanted to go to the store to buy bubble gum. And the time my mom and her sister let a cement truck dump a huge load of cement in front of the garage, so their husbands could use it to build a fence. It was much more cement than was needed, and it dried before the fence could be finished. The huge mound blocked access to the garage for the next year, until a tornado moved the garage. And the story my aunt Sheila (who was 6 years old when I was born) told me on this trip - that she and my grandmother used to walk to the house to see us, and they brought along Sheila's imaginary cat. Halfway there, she told my grandmother to pick up the cat and carry it, as it was tired.
So when I think of Lima, I will think of all the people I love, living and no longer with us, and I will smile when I remember the train whistle, and when I think of mischeivous kids in search of bubble gum, two young mothers and a pile of cement, and an imaginary cat that used to come to visit.
Friday, May 31, 2013
RETURN TO OHIO PART II
Wednesday morning we met my cousin Jim at his hotel and spent a little time looking over pictures and catching up on the past 40 years or so before heading out to visit a few cemeteries to look for the burial sites of our ancestors. We visited two cemeteries: St. John the Baptist in Landeck and St. John the Evangelist in Delphos. We found three couples who were our 2nd great grandparents: Johann Wagner (1821-1895) and his second wife Sophie; Nicholas (1832-1910) and Margaretha Mueller (1831-1892); and Hermann Frecker and his wife Bernadina Wrocklage:
We also found our great grandparents Charles and Susanna Mueller.
Their names (Ned and Mary) are not inscribed - only the Brennan surname and the dates of their deaths. But these are the correct dates and so I am certain this is the correct headstone.
After a very successful, albeit sad walk through the cemetery, we went to the Allen County Historical Society Museum and I copied some records from a Brennan file they have there. We also took pictures of exhibits in the museum and this one brought back memories:
When I was a little girl visiting my grandmother, I used to hear the horse-drawn milk cart coming down the street early in the morning. I don't know when they switched to actual milk trucks, but this type of vehicle was still being used when I was a small girl.
We met up with my cousin Tim in the museum and all piled in one car to drive around town and see the houses we remembered. Many of them needed paint and were not in good condition, but it brought back many memories.
Here's my Brennan grandparents' old house:
And my Grandma Bernie Mueller's house:
At Grandma Bernie's house, Jim and I rang the bell and Jim asked if we could come in and look around. Though the owner of the house looked suspicious, she graciously granted our request. It wasn't the same, of course, and the current owners had not done much to the inside or the outside to keep it in good condition, but nonetheless, it was quite an experience to be back in the house after nearly 50 years. (My grandmother died in that house a little over 50 years ago, in 1963.)
Here's a picture of our mothers when they were little girls, sitting on the front porch with their uncle Rod:
And here are Jim and me, sitting on that same porch a few days ago:
Only the railing has changed.
We also drove past my Schulien great grandparents' house, as well as a brick mansion once owned by wealthy friends of the family.
This house was in great shape, and Jim and I reminisced about the tunnel between the house and the four car garage. The tunnel was put in so that the couple who helped maintain the house, and who lived in an apartment above the garage, would not have to walk in the snow to reach the main house. I suppose it was also handy for the two bachelor owners of the house when they parked their cars in the garage in the winter.
We made a short visit to the house of my mother's cousin, Paul, who is 80 years old, and he told us some wonderful stories about the family, including the fact that my great grandmother, Mary Schulien, used to cook Sunday dinner for German prisoners of war who were living not far from Lima during WW II. Apparently the prisoners worked in her son's foundry during the week, and she was asked to cook them a German meal on the weekend.
Then it was time to say good-bye to both Jim and Tim, and spend a quiet evening trying to absorb all that we saw over the past two days. The days of visiting with my mother's family, and gathering information about her ancestors had come to an end and the next days would be spent with my father's family, visiting and catching up with the Brennans on the years we've been apart.
In the afternoon, we spent time in the Delphos Public Library, looking for any information on our families that had once lived there. Jim had been in the library the previous day, and was anxious to show me a binder full of information on the Wrocklage, Esch, Frecker and other families. He recognized some of his father's letters and his handwriting on other documents, and realized that this binder contained much information that we thought had been lost in the flood at the Ottawa Library. Somehow this small piece of the 6 binders his father had donated to the Ottawa library had been either transferred or copied and sent to Delphos. We were both thrilled and Jim convinced the librarian to copy the entire binder and send it to him for a fee. (Jim also offered a generous donation to the library.) After he receives the binder, he will make a second copy and send it to me. So this first day of research was quite successful.
On the second day of research, we spent time at Gethsamani Cemetery in Lima. Here we found the graves of all of our Schulien and Mueller relatives, including our grandparents, great grandparents, aunts and uncles, great aunts and great uncles. Here are our Mueller grandparents' headstones:
We also found the resting places of our great grandparents, Joseph and Mary Schulien, and our aunt Marcie and Uncle Charlie, as well as Jim's mother and three brothers.
Then I found the headstones of my Brennan grandparents and great grandparents, as well as my Brennan 2nd great grandparents, the immigrant couple, Ned and Mary Brennan, which I did not expect to find.
Their names (Ned and Mary) are not inscribed - only the Brennan surname and the dates of their deaths. But these are the correct dates and so I am certain this is the correct headstone.
After a very successful, albeit sad walk through the cemetery, we went to the Allen County Historical Society Museum and I copied some records from a Brennan file they have there. We also took pictures of exhibits in the museum and this one brought back memories:
When I was a little girl visiting my grandmother, I used to hear the horse-drawn milk cart coming down the street early in the morning. I don't know when they switched to actual milk trucks, but this type of vehicle was still being used when I was a small girl.
We met up with my cousin Tim in the museum and all piled in one car to drive around town and see the houses we remembered. Many of them needed paint and were not in good condition, but it brought back many memories.
Here's my Brennan grandparents' old house:
And my Grandma Bernie Mueller's house:
At Grandma Bernie's house, Jim and I rang the bell and Jim asked if we could come in and look around. Though the owner of the house looked suspicious, she graciously granted our request. It wasn't the same, of course, and the current owners had not done much to the inside or the outside to keep it in good condition, but nonetheless, it was quite an experience to be back in the house after nearly 50 years. (My grandmother died in that house a little over 50 years ago, in 1963.)
Here's a picture of our mothers when they were little girls, sitting on the front porch with their uncle Rod:
Only the railing has changed.
We also drove past my Schulien great grandparents' house, as well as a brick mansion once owned by wealthy friends of the family.
This house was in great shape, and Jim and I reminisced about the tunnel between the house and the four car garage. The tunnel was put in so that the couple who helped maintain the house, and who lived in an apartment above the garage, would not have to walk in the snow to reach the main house. I suppose it was also handy for the two bachelor owners of the house when they parked their cars in the garage in the winter.
We made a short visit to the house of my mother's cousin, Paul, who is 80 years old, and he told us some wonderful stories about the family, including the fact that my great grandmother, Mary Schulien, used to cook Sunday dinner for German prisoners of war who were living not far from Lima during WW II. Apparently the prisoners worked in her son's foundry during the week, and she was asked to cook them a German meal on the weekend.
Then it was time to say good-bye to both Jim and Tim, and spend a quiet evening trying to absorb all that we saw over the past two days. The days of visiting with my mother's family, and gathering information about her ancestors had come to an end and the next days would be spent with my father's family, visiting and catching up with the Brennans on the years we've been apart.
Thursday, May 30, 2013
RETURN TO OHIO
It had been 37 years since I was last in lima, Ohio, the place of my parents' birth as well as mine. All of my ancestors from the last several generations lived in Ohio, and many immigrated directly there from either Ireland or Germany or Belgium. The last time I was in Lima, my aunts Marcie and Kay were still alive and well, and my Brennan grandparents were thriving. Now, they are all gone, along with my uncles Al and Bill, and my cousins Mark, Steve, and Greg. So it was a different Lima to which I returned. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
My trip actually began on Saturday, May 18, in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where I visited my 3rd cousin on my dad's side of the family, Kathy Brennan. I've only known Kathy for a few years, having heard about her from my parents who met her several years before they died. I had never actually met her, however, but as we share many interests, are both Brennans, and love Ireland, I was anxious to spend some time with her. We only had one day together, but it was a great one - sharing stories and pictures, dreaming about returning to Ireland, and having a wonderful tour of Ann Arbor. We ate at Zingerman's famous deli, and walked around the Arboretum, where a large peony garden (800 plants) was just getting ready to bloom. How I wished we could have seen it just two weeks later.
I was also thrilled to see all the lilacs in bloom, and when I looked down, I saw carpets of Lilies of the Valley.
Here's a picture of me and Kathy and my husband, Tony in front of the peony garden.
It was a wonderful visit, but a short one, because the next day we were headed to Toledo for a reunion with my Mueller cousins at the home of my Schulien cousin, Tim (all on my mom's side of the family). Tim had prepared a wonderful German meal for us and showed us around his beautiful home, full of antiques and family memorabilia. We shared stories and pictures while we waited for Pat and Fran to arrive and when they did, we had more catching up to do.
Tim is my second cousin, and he shares my interest in genealogy, as does my first cousin, Jim, who will appear in a later blog. (Tim is also a great cook and musician.) Pat, on the left, and Fran, standing behind me, are sisters, the two daughters of my uncle Al Mueller. Fran is named after my mother. It was great to see all of them. And just behind Tim is the wedding portrait of our great grandparents, Joseph and Mary Schulien, or as everyone called them, "Mawmaw" and "Pawpaw."
We stayed at a 125 year old Victorian inn in Toledo, thanks to my cousin Tim who works there.
The next day, Tim, Tony and I headed for Bowling Green University to do some genealogy research. BGU has the records from the Catholic Churches at Delphos, Landeck, and Lima, where most of my relatives lived at one time. We hunched over the microfilm reader for hours, and found many interesting records, including all the baptismal records of the children of Ned and Mary Brennan, my immigrant great great grandparents. Dinner that evening was at a Lebanese restaurant - yum!
The next morning, after breakfast with Tim, we were off to our final destination: Lima. We arrived around noon at my aunt Sheila's house, visited for a time, and then left to check in at our hotel. Later that evening Sheila, her husband Joe, Tony and I went to dinner at Milano's, a favorite of my parents whenever they visited Lima.
The next two days would be spent with my cousin Jim, doing genealogy research, then the final three days with my Brennan relatives. I'll write about that, and offer some final thoughts about the trip, in the coming days.
My trip actually began on Saturday, May 18, in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where I visited my 3rd cousin on my dad's side of the family, Kathy Brennan. I've only known Kathy for a few years, having heard about her from my parents who met her several years before they died. I had never actually met her, however, but as we share many interests, are both Brennans, and love Ireland, I was anxious to spend some time with her. We only had one day together, but it was a great one - sharing stories and pictures, dreaming about returning to Ireland, and having a wonderful tour of Ann Arbor. We ate at Zingerman's famous deli, and walked around the Arboretum, where a large peony garden (800 plants) was just getting ready to bloom. How I wished we could have seen it just two weeks later.
I was also thrilled to see all the lilacs in bloom, and when I looked down, I saw carpets of Lilies of the Valley.
Here's a picture of me and Kathy and my husband, Tony in front of the peony garden.
It was a wonderful visit, but a short one, because the next day we were headed to Toledo for a reunion with my Mueller cousins at the home of my Schulien cousin, Tim (all on my mom's side of the family). Tim had prepared a wonderful German meal for us and showed us around his beautiful home, full of antiques and family memorabilia. We shared stories and pictures while we waited for Pat and Fran to arrive and when they did, we had more catching up to do.
Tim is my second cousin, and he shares my interest in genealogy, as does my first cousin, Jim, who will appear in a later blog. (Tim is also a great cook and musician.) Pat, on the left, and Fran, standing behind me, are sisters, the two daughters of my uncle Al Mueller. Fran is named after my mother. It was great to see all of them. And just behind Tim is the wedding portrait of our great grandparents, Joseph and Mary Schulien, or as everyone called them, "Mawmaw" and "Pawpaw."
We stayed at a 125 year old Victorian inn in Toledo, thanks to my cousin Tim who works there.
The next day, Tim, Tony and I headed for Bowling Green University to do some genealogy research. BGU has the records from the Catholic Churches at Delphos, Landeck, and Lima, where most of my relatives lived at one time. We hunched over the microfilm reader for hours, and found many interesting records, including all the baptismal records of the children of Ned and Mary Brennan, my immigrant great great grandparents. Dinner that evening was at a Lebanese restaurant - yum!
The next morning, after breakfast with Tim, we were off to our final destination: Lima. We arrived around noon at my aunt Sheila's house, visited for a time, and then left to check in at our hotel. Later that evening Sheila, her husband Joe, Tony and I went to dinner at Milano's, a favorite of my parents whenever they visited Lima.
The next two days would be spent with my cousin Jim, doing genealogy research, then the final three days with my Brennan relatives. I'll write about that, and offer some final thoughts about the trip, in the coming days.
Sunday, May 5, 2013
SUCCESS!
Well, the Croatian family reunion was yesterday and it was a phenomenal success. We had close to 120 people there, enough to fill two rooms of the San Antonio Winery in Los Angeles. A few of us who planned the event got there early:
First, everyone had to check in and get their name tag:
Then it was on to the buffet line to choose a meal from one of 2 dozen selections. While everyone was eating, we were entertained by Tamburitza musicians, many of whom are members of the family:
Over their heads, you can see a screen where we had an ongoing slide show of pictures of family members, living and deceased. It was one of the big hits of the day.
Then the family introductions began. At 90 years of age, here's the oldest family member present - Kuzma Domancich:
Here's one of several lively octogenarians: Annie, one of my favorite people. In a number of ways, she reminds me of my mother.
There was a family comedian who gave us an amusing lesson in Croatian, then told many stories from his "Croatian" childhood. It was hard to hear him, though, as everyone wanted to talk with everyone else. So while he continued, people watched, some listened, but many just wanted to visit.
Here's my husband, Tony, with his sister, Stephany, his mother, Phyllis (88 years old) and his nephew Jay.
Here's my nephew Ben and my son Jeff (with the beard):
Here are the Silmans:
And the Sherers:
Here's my granddaughters standing in front of some of the family posters:
And my son-in-law and grandson, who is preparing to take pictures:
After the introductions and presentations, the band returned and the Kolo dancing began:
And it continued:
Two grandnieces of ours, Savannah and Stephany, tried to entice their cousin Mason to join in the dancing, but he was having none of it:
Finally, after door prizes and a final good-bye, a group stayed for a winery tour and we packed up to leave.
It was a wonderful, exhausting day, one I'm sure everyone will remember for a long time.
First, everyone had to check in and get their name tag:
Then it was on to the buffet line to choose a meal from one of 2 dozen selections. While everyone was eating, we were entertained by Tamburitza musicians, many of whom are members of the family:
Over their heads, you can see a screen where we had an ongoing slide show of pictures of family members, living and deceased. It was one of the big hits of the day.
Then the family introductions began. At 90 years of age, here's the oldest family member present - Kuzma Domancich:
Here's one of several lively octogenarians: Annie, one of my favorite people. In a number of ways, she reminds me of my mother.
There was a family comedian who gave us an amusing lesson in Croatian, then told many stories from his "Croatian" childhood. It was hard to hear him, though, as everyone wanted to talk with everyone else. So while he continued, people watched, some listened, but many just wanted to visit.
Here's my husband, Tony, with his sister, Stephany, his mother, Phyllis (88 years old) and his nephew Jay.
Here's my nephew Ben and my son Jeff (with the beard):
Here are the Silmans:
And the Sherers:
Here's my granddaughters standing in front of some of the family posters:
After the introductions and presentations, the band returned and the Kolo dancing began:
And it continued:
Two grandnieces of ours, Savannah and Stephany, tried to entice their cousin Mason to join in the dancing, but he was having none of it:
Finally, after door prizes and a final good-bye, a group stayed for a winery tour and we packed up to leave.
It was a wonderful, exhausting day, one I'm sure everyone will remember for a long time.
Sunday, April 28, 2013
KEEPING IT ALL STRAIGHT
It's a bit of organized chaos around my house these days - organized because that's how I try to be - and chaos because there's too much to keep organized.
Two big reunions are coming up, as I've mentioned before, but now they're just one week and three weeks away and the biggest source of chaos is trying to organize all the family pictures and keep them straight.
The first reunion is with my husband's Croatian family, and there will be six main families represented, all related to each other by birth or marriage. The names of the six families are: Gavran, Domancich, Bezmalinovich, Ozurovic, Eterovich and Yeseta. Keeping the spelling of the names right is difficult enough. Try figuring out how to pronounce them! I've been putting together a slide show of as many family members as I can, and creating the program. We'll be having Tamburitza music, Kolo dancing lessons, a Croatian language lesson, a great meal at a winery, and plenty of time to socialize and become acquainted or re-aquainted with other family members. We'll have 135 people there - ranging in age from a few months to 90 years old. Here's a few pictures from those I've gathered. The first is my husband's great grandmother, Antonia, who remained in Croatia. The second is of the wedding of a distant cousin.
In addition to getting all of those pictures together, however, I've been gathering pictures to share with my relatives in Ohio, where we'll be visiting in just 3 weeks. These are folks I haven't seen in over 30 years. We have a lot of catching up to do, and I have been organizing pictures of 4 different families: Brennan, Shaw, Mueller and Schulien. Here's a few:
The first picture is of my Brennan grandparents's generation - with my dad as a child in front to the right. His twin brothers Tom and Bill are next to him. The second picture is also my dad's family. His father is on the left and he is sitting above to his father's right. My grandmother is next to him and my mother is behind her. I am third from the left in the front, the kid with the bangs. My uncles Tom and Bill are to the right. Sadly, my uncle Bill (on the top right) died last week, but I hope to visit my uncle Tom.
Here are a few pictures of my Mueller Schulien family:
The first picture shows my Grandparents, Alfred and Mary Bernadine (Schulien) Mueller with their oldest three children (before my mother was born). The second shows my Great Grandmother (on the right, holding a baby) and my Grandmother Mary Bernadine Schulien to her left.
I love these pictures. Some bring back memories and some just pique my imagination. Maybe on my trip to Lima, I can gather even more pictures, to put in a future family history book.
Stay tuned!
Two big reunions are coming up, as I've mentioned before, but now they're just one week and three weeks away and the biggest source of chaos is trying to organize all the family pictures and keep them straight.
The first reunion is with my husband's Croatian family, and there will be six main families represented, all related to each other by birth or marriage. The names of the six families are: Gavran, Domancich, Bezmalinovich, Ozurovic, Eterovich and Yeseta. Keeping the spelling of the names right is difficult enough. Try figuring out how to pronounce them! I've been putting together a slide show of as many family members as I can, and creating the program. We'll be having Tamburitza music, Kolo dancing lessons, a Croatian language lesson, a great meal at a winery, and plenty of time to socialize and become acquainted or re-aquainted with other family members. We'll have 135 people there - ranging in age from a few months to 90 years old. Here's a few pictures from those I've gathered. The first is my husband's great grandmother, Antonia, who remained in Croatia. The second is of the wedding of a distant cousin.
In addition to getting all of those pictures together, however, I've been gathering pictures to share with my relatives in Ohio, where we'll be visiting in just 3 weeks. These are folks I haven't seen in over 30 years. We have a lot of catching up to do, and I have been organizing pictures of 4 different families: Brennan, Shaw, Mueller and Schulien. Here's a few:
The first picture is of my Brennan grandparents's generation - with my dad as a child in front to the right. His twin brothers Tom and Bill are next to him. The second picture is also my dad's family. His father is on the left and he is sitting above to his father's right. My grandmother is next to him and my mother is behind her. I am third from the left in the front, the kid with the bangs. My uncles Tom and Bill are to the right. Sadly, my uncle Bill (on the top right) died last week, but I hope to visit my uncle Tom.
Here are a few pictures of my Mueller Schulien family:
The first picture shows my Grandparents, Alfred and Mary Bernadine (Schulien) Mueller with their oldest three children (before my mother was born). The second shows my Great Grandmother (on the right, holding a baby) and my Grandmother Mary Bernadine Schulien to her left.
I love these pictures. Some bring back memories and some just pique my imagination. Maybe on my trip to Lima, I can gather even more pictures, to put in a future family history book.
Stay tuned!
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
REUNION
My husband and I are getting ready for our May trip to Ohio.
This will be my first trip back to the state of my birth in about 35 years. I'm really looking forward to it, but I'm not sure how I'm going to fit in everything I want to do and everyone I want to see.
Since all of my ancestors settled in Ohio at one time or another, Ohio is the hub of all my genealogical work. But more importantly, Ohio is where many of my relatives live. Most important are my aunt Sheila and Uncle Tom, and my cousins from Ohio and Michigan. I am really looking forward to seeing them and as many members of their families as I can. I have so many fond memories of being with them when I was a child, and I can't wait to see them again. We have so many things to catch up on.
But as long as I'm going to be there, I want to do a little genealogy work. There's a library in Lima that may have some records, as well as a library in Delphos. There's Bowling Green University which contains some church records I'm interested in. There are cemeteries to visit, and a drive around Lima to see old landmarks, like the homes of my two grandparents, the home I lived in as a small child, and the Kewpie, a hamburger restaurant that pre-dates McDonald's.
There are also photographs to gather, stories to record, and hopefully a few meetings with extended family members I've never met.
I can't wait!
This will be my first trip back to the state of my birth in about 35 years. I'm really looking forward to it, but I'm not sure how I'm going to fit in everything I want to do and everyone I want to see.
Since all of my ancestors settled in Ohio at one time or another, Ohio is the hub of all my genealogical work. But more importantly, Ohio is where many of my relatives live. Most important are my aunt Sheila and Uncle Tom, and my cousins from Ohio and Michigan. I am really looking forward to seeing them and as many members of their families as I can. I have so many fond memories of being with them when I was a child, and I can't wait to see them again. We have so many things to catch up on.
But as long as I'm going to be there, I want to do a little genealogy work. There's a library in Lima that may have some records, as well as a library in Delphos. There's Bowling Green University which contains some church records I'm interested in. There are cemeteries to visit, and a drive around Lima to see old landmarks, like the homes of my two grandparents, the home I lived in as a small child, and the Kewpie, a hamburger restaurant that pre-dates McDonald's.
There are also photographs to gather, stories to record, and hopefully a few meetings with extended family members I've never met.
I can't wait!
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