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On The Road Again

I just love old photos with cars in them. Maybe it’s because our cars are more plastic and computer than they are car, but I find myself missing all the things that these cars had. The seats in these cars were so much more comfortable then the seats in cars today. And while many didn’t have front wheel drive or the best mirrors what they did have got us to our destinations.

While I wish there was a date on the photo, I’ve got nothing but the car, the house in the background and the photo itself to determine a possible year. The columns on the house are not like the ones on the Clifton house so I think this is the house Dick, Sherigay and the boys lived in on Estelle. The photos tone, and paper border were common in prints from the mid to late 1960’s.

And so we come to the car. I asked my trusty co-pilot friend to assess the phote and give me an estimate on the car. It said that the car was a Ford. It’s not it’s a Dodge. But it estimated that the year was 1965. Cris told me he thought that his dad always had Dodge wagons so I looked for 1965 Dodge wagons and found the Dodge Coronet. Window, body shape and quarter panel shape all were similar. So I think that this photo was taken somewhere around 1967. There also appears to be a child next to Kirk in the back seat and while I’d like to assume it is Cris, Todd does not look the same in photos with Cris. So we are going with the Summer of 1967 or 1968 for this photo.

Todd and Kirk are definitely ready to go on an adventure. Todd’s got a flashlight in hand and is ready to show you to and from the car with ease. Waiting for you is our ever-energetic Kirk, who can’t wait to talk to you throughout the trip. While I have never traveled with any Anderson except Cris and my kids, I’m sure Todd & Kirk made trips fun! Here’s hoping all our summer trips can be as fun as this photo.

Posted on by Michelle Anderson

Porchside Promises

I don’t know why I never asked to see this photo until now. For me, Kermit and Eunice’s marriage was what was important. Eunice never spoke to me about their wedding day, just that it was also Kermit’s birthday. But she always spoke of their marriage and how she missed him.

Brenton, Kermit’s brother, was the minister at the Brethren Church Eunice attended. Brenton had a son named Walter, who kept asking Eunice if she wanted to meet his Uncle Kermit.  He was just convinced that she would like him.  I can just see Eunice politely thanking Walter for the thought, but also saying she didn’t need to meet his Uncle.

But fate and destiny have a way of working things, and when two people are destined to meet, then they meet.  Kermit’s friend Bob Fager asked Kermit if he would drive him to see a girl that he had met who he was sweet on.  Her name was Oma Kramer, and Bob didn’t have a dependable car to get to Streator, but Kermit did.  Maybe Kermit thought that once he got to Streator, he could see his brother, but once the men arrived, off went Oma and Bob to do something by themselves.  This left Kermit by himself at the Kramer farm.  Eunice said it was a Sunday night when they met.  Once Kermit and Eunice met, their fates were intertwined for the rest of their lives.  Even after Kermit left this earthly home for his heavenly one,  Eunice talked of no other.  For them, they were soul mates, destined to be together and fated to love.

On Sunday June 4, 1939 Kermit and Eunice were united in marriage by the Reverend V. Stroll at the United Brethren parsonage. Kermit wore his best suit and Eunice was in a sweet simple white dress, hat, gloves and shoes. An article ran in the paper proclaiming their union. In error, it reports that Eunice’s parents were from German Valley, however the Kramers resided in Streator. Like their simple wedding, the photo too is a simple reminder of their day where they celebrated not only Kermits birthday but their wedding.

While Kermit and Eunice had just 30 years together, those years produced three children, 9 grandchildren, 22 great grandchildren, and if I’ve counted correctly 5 great great grandchildren so far. So join me in a toast celebrating the Bride and Groom, to Kermit and Eunice! Happy Anniversary!

Posted on by Michelle Anderson

Journeys Home: Reunion, Romance, and the Road Ahead

Today we are going to a family reunion, a wedding and hopefully a road trip. Hope you have been well. I have missed bringing you photos every week and so I’ve been working on a schedule and photos that I’m hoping to get through the year with. I have missed writing and have lots of goals and hopes for the coming year. Thanks for reading and supporting my small genealogy family pages.

Posted on by Michelle Anderson

Spring Duos

I hope that you all had a wonderful Easter. It was very cold and rainy where we are. After the family got together I just wasn’t in the mood to write and sat down and read my book club book while the rain came down. I just knew that the writing would come later and today it did.

I have for your reading consideration three groups of spring duos. They were fun to write about, and I hope that you have fun reading about them. Thank you for reading and supporting my small genealogy family pages.

Posted on by Michelle Anderson

Hazel and June

What a lovely spring photo of June and her mother, Hazel Katz. To me, June will always be the stylish, put-together woman I met. And this photograph does not disappoint. Just the tilt of her head shows all her confidence and sass that only a young person can pull off. Hazel seems to be exuding the air of one who taught her child to be confident and sassy.

Hazel Mae Lundberg was born May 17, 1897, in Riley, Kansas, to William and Emma (Peterson) Lundberg. Riley is located 20 milies northwest of Manhattan, Kansas. Hazel was the 6th child of 7 born to William and Emma. 

Hazel married Ross McDonald in December 1915 and divorced him three years later in December 1918. Our June was born on June 18, 1916. After divorcing Ross, Hazel married August “Audie” Katz in October 1919. Our June told me that in her mother’s photo album, there were old photos that looked like someone or many others had been cut out of the images. We assume that someone was Ross. Hazel had three more children with Audie, Robert, Donald, and William. 

While June grew up in Manhattan, Kansas, she led her siblings, who at times she felt so different from, but didn’t know why. I would imagine that in this photograph, June is between the ages of 9 and 12, which would place the year about 1926. Their style of dress is also that of the late 1920s. I would love to know what colors their dresses were and what materials they were made of. June’s appears to be cotton, but Hazel’s looks like it could be a silk-like fabric.

From top to bottom they are the picture of a lovely spring duo and I hope they bring some sun to your world today.

Posted on by Michelle Anderson

Double Exposure

I don’t think you could get this result on our modern digital cameras if we tried. But back when the only way to get a picture was to use a camera with film it was easy to do. Double exposure was achieved when the same file was exposed multiple times without advancing the film. This resulted in multiple images being superimposed within a single film frame.

This photo is a super cute posing of twins Wayne and Wava on the front yard at the Miller farm. They look to be about 2 years old. Which would place this photo about 1948. I love the contrast of their hair. Wava with her curls and Wayne with his straight bright blonde hair. We have a photo of my dad with the same hairstyle with the cutest curls. Her dress has the cutest cap sleeves, but in the normal photo seem to have either contrasting cap sleeves or she’s wearing a short sleeved sweater. But in the double exposure you can clearly see that’s they are made out of the same fabric as the rest of the dress. Wayne’s just rocking the overall shorts. They seem to be posing so nicely, but you just know they are ready to move on from posing to playing.

I think I was 8 when I got a hand me down camera. It was hard to remember if I’d taken a photo or advanced the film. The first several batches of film that I had developed, had MANY double exposure photographs. But over the years those have become my favorite photos. Lately life is happening so quickly that it seems I have a bunch of double exposures.

Posted on by Michelle Anderson

Out of focus

Do you remember what it was like? When you didn’t have the perfect camera on your phone to capture all life’s memories. Many times getting a photograph took planning and patience. Sometimes you’d run out of film and if you weren’t prepared, you might not get the shot you really wanted. And if you didn’t advance the film, you might get stuck with a double exposure. Not to mention developing and printing the photos. It took a lot of time to get them back and for you to see how they developed. Sometimes the results were like this photo of Jean, a little out of focus.

In the 1930s, owning a camera was a significant step toward documenting life. There were various camera types that catered to a photographers needs. The selection was endless from the easy to use Kodak Brownie, to 35mm cameras like the Leica and professional cameras that enabled photos to have a depth that was missing from the earlier camera models. However, image quality was limited by lens technology and film speeds, especially in low-light conditions.

Here we have a photo taken from Cousin Jean Bourscheidt’s scrapbook of our Jean and a friend. While the photo itself is fuzzy it’s not so out of focus that we can’t tell it’s Jean. I just love how she’s sitting with her legs tucked under her. You can just see where her socks are. The collar of her dress is so cute, it looks like there might be something embroidered on it, but unfortunately we can’t tell. She looks so cute holding a little paper parasol. There’s nothing on the photograph stating who the other person is with Jean. But they look like they’ve been having a good time.

This photo reminds me that even though things may sometimes get a little out of focus that’s when we need to slow down to ensure that all our photos are in focus and our prints are sharp and clear.

Posted on by Michelle Anderson

Classic Fran

Confuscious has been quoted as saying “Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.” I feel that is a good quote for our Fran. I was missing her today and had pulled this photo to use this spring and felt that today was a good day for that.

There are those people who for whatever reason have the ability to appear timeless and classic. I have never felt that way. There are times I feel awkward and the least put-together version of myself. Those are the times when I tend to look at my possessions and question if I really need them. This photo of Fran to me is just that timeless and classic. I feel that one could dress in that skirt and shirt today and it would not be out of style.

Leo Babauta, a writer, former journalist and former editor of the Pacific Daily News gives us this bit of advice for simplistic living. “Simplicity boils down to two steps. Identify the essential. Eliminate the rest.”

Fran was good at living simply and showing us all that something didn’t have to be new to be valued and that we can all learn to be timeless and classic.

Posted on by Michelle Anderson

A Picket Fence Kind of Life

Picket fences symbolize the American lifestyle, the perfect house and way of life that many people still want today. On the farm, though, a fence was important. It separated the house from the rest of the farm buildings and added security. Fences protected the house from any livestock and, I’m sure, added an aesthetic appeal.

Here, a young Kermit Miller stands patiently to get his photo taken. It looks to be a lovely spring day. I would imagine that he was between the ages of 10 and 13. Kermit was born in 1909, so that would place this photo in the early 1920s. I really like his overalls. Overalls were invented by the Levi Strauss Co. in the 1890s. Workers would wear them because they were cheap, durable, and comfortable.

There appears to be an electrical or telephone pole to the left of Kermit. While phones began appearing in stores or communities in the 1880s, it wasn’t until party lines became popular that individuals had phones. And while we like to think that electricity has always been around, it might not have made its way to the Miller farm when this photo was taken.

We know that the Miller family has had far from a white picket fence existence. Each generation has had it’s struggles, but what we have always been able to count on is each other. May we each have our own fences to help us when needed, to keep us secure and safe or just a pretty thing to look at.

Posted on by Michelle Anderson

Four Schneppers

For once my title is exactly what the photo subjects are. We have Mr and Mrs (Anna) Fred Schnepper, John Schnepper holding his daughter Velma Schnepper. There are no photography studio markings on the photo, but I’m going to assume that it was taken by a traveling photographer, probably in Beardstown, as the set seems similar to other family photographs we have. Velma was born in 1911, so I will assume this photograph was taken about 1913. Elmer Schnepper was born in September of 1913, so I’m thinking that either Aunt Molly was pregnant, which is why she wasn’t in the photo, or had just had Elmer.

Anna was from Hanover, Prussia, Germany. She immigrated to the United States in 1882. Frederich was from Baden, Germany and immigrated to the United States in 1881. They were married on March 6, 1886 in Evansville, Indiana and John was born on March 16, 1887. Somehow the Schneppers made their way to Bluff Springs, Illinois and I’m sure were neighbors and fellow congregation members of the same church that the Jorden’s attended.

John married Amalie “Molly” Jorden on November 2, 1910. She was 17, and he was 23. They were married for 30 years until his death on July 13, 1940, when he was 53. I have not been able to find out how he died. I am sure it was heartbreaking for Molly to be a widow at 47.

I love this photograph. My eye is immediately drawn to little Velma. She is so cute in her dress with stockings to match. The band in her hair with what looks like bows is so cute. I don’t believe this was a fashion accessory of the time, but everyone will know that Velma is a girl.

From Velma, my attention focuses on Anna. I had to make the photo quite large to determine if that was her hair or a hate on her head. It is a hat! It is quite an intricate hat with what appears to be some sort of lace or stiff tatting with flowers behind it. I’m sure she was in her Sunday best, but I wish we could know what color her dress is. I don’t want to assume that it was black as it appears. Anna appears to be a very petite woman. While I look at her, she gives the appearance of someone who is missing teeth. But I don’t know this for sure. I love how her hands are folded and placed on her lap.

While Anna seems to be petite, Frederich appears to be a large man. He was wearing his Sunday suit with his hair combed nicely and his mustache shaped. I do not know if the Schneppers were farmers, but imagine that may be so.

From Frederich, I look at John again. Both men seem to have lighter eye color, and their hands seem similar. While Velma’s are pale, both men’s hands give the appearance of being tanned from working outdoors. John wears his Sunday best for this photo and gives just a hint of a smile to his face.

We are so lucky to have this photo in our family. We can now put faces to the Schneppers’ names, and they will never be Four Schneppers again.

Thanks to Wilma Ogden for sharing this photo and many others with me.