On The Road Again

I haven't given up on my blog, no, it's just that sometimes life interferes.  The past year has been a difficult one for reasons I don't feel comfortable going into right now.  There have been changes, the loss of a grandchild, the addition of a new daughter in law.  God gives but He just as easily takes away.  My husband, Allen and I just watched the movie, "The Life of Pi" in which Pi said that is in times of tremendous stress that your faith is strengthened.  I would agree.  A fine movie if you haven't seen it.  

Well, here it is, 2013 and having done a lot more work on my paternal ancestral roots, Emily and I are preparing to travel to the town of Wilkes Barre, Pa.   I have made some wonderful contacts there - thanks to Facebook, the Northeast Pennsylvania Genealogical Society, the Luzerne Historical Society, the Good Shepherd Church and Find a Grave.  Now we are ready to visit the home of Jacob Stoebener, my GGGrandfather, the home of his daughter, Elisabeth Stoebener Lentz, and her daughter, Mary Lentz Protz....my fathers mother.  Wilkes Barre was the town to which my fathers father  immigrated from Bremen, Germany in 1905.  He met and married Mary there at St. Paul's German Evangelical Church where Rev. Louis Lindenstruth preached his sermons in German and Mary and several of her siblings sang in the choir.   The old church still stands at the corner of North and Main only it has been re-named Good Shepherd Lutheran.  The archivist there, Adrienne French, preserves the old records.  The records are also at the NEPGS where Roseann Kebles keeps watch and Joan Cavanaugh armed with her new camera hovers angelically over the Hollenback Cemetery taking headstone photographs for Find a Grave.  I can hardly wait to meet these wonderful women who have contributed so much to the discovery and preservation of my families history.

How does one prepare for a genealogical journey?  Well, having taken one already, I can say that we learned some things to help us with this next one.  First, my research documents are in a binder and I have a list of documents that are missing.  Documents most likely to be uncovered on our trip are highlighted along with notes on the places most likely to give us access.  Next, a good street map of the town.....it wasn't easy locating such a map.  The Internet maps had only small sections and Triple A sent a driving map but it was not detailed enough.  It was the Chamber of Commerce that sent me a decent street map of the area and I immediately highlighted the streets and roads we would be looking for.   Unfortunately, there seems to be more than one of every street so I'm not sure how we will figure out which of the streets apply to us.  The next item on my agenda was to write everyone there that has helped me to tell them when I would be arriving and to set up luncheon dates, etc.  I particularly want to thank, in person, people who have gotten documents for me or taken photos.  I also asked for recommendations on a hotel as not knowing the area, I want to make sure we stay in a reasonably safe location that is still close in proximity to areas we want to tour.  All that done, I ordered a few books about the town and have been reading to gain knowledge of the towns historical significance.  I have sketched out a rough schedule that covers our trip from arrival in Philadelphia on the 25th to our departure from the same airport on the 30th.
Before leaving South Carolina, I will message people I've connected with living in the W/B area and ask them to give me some idea of the weather they are expecting that week.  That will help me decide what to pack besides an umbrella and some good walking shoes.  My camera, my IPAD, my sunglasses and the re-charger cords I will need will be put into my carry-on bag so they are readily available.
The rooms are booked, the car is rented, the maps are marked.....let's go to Wilkes Barre!

A Driving Force

Like most new drivers, I volunteered to do any and all errands that involved driving.  One of my favorite drives was to the Miracle Mile in Manhasset.   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miracle_Mile_(Manhasset)   Every Christmas Eve, my parents hosted a buffet dinner at which one of the dishes served was "beef tartar".  This was raw filet mignon ground like hamburger and served with crackers.  It was delicious.  Available only in Manhasset at a deli I no longer remember, I would drive the twenty miles or so, pick up the beef which had been ordered well in advance and was tenderly wrapped in brown butcher paper, and head home.  I could never resist sampling it as I drove back.

I loved the drive to Manhasset and made it frequently.  Garden City girls shopped at Altmans, Peck and Peck, Lord and Taylor, Bonwit Teller and A&S...all solid retailers on the mile.  Lord and Taylor sold the most beautiful leather wallets imported from France.  They came in gorgeous colors like; turquoise, daffodil, navy or scarlet.  Each wallet was embossed with a gold fleur de lis and sold for $5.00.  I bought a new one every year.

Another favorite destination was on the south side of the island.  The Pappagallo shoe outlet was in a downstairs "hole in the wall" that I went to frequently with my round the block friend, Gail.  Pappagallo made the most beautiful leather flats in a rainbow of colors and styles.  Marked down to $5 or $8 a pair because of some tiny and usually invisible flaw, by the time I went to college, I had over 24 pairs of these beauties, each in their distinctive black box with "Pappagallos" written in turquoise across the box top.  Some had lattice tops, others had floppy blossoms, some had shiny reptile-like vamps.  Pappagallo flats, pearls and Bermuda Bags were the uniform of the day in the 60's to be accompanied by Revlon's Naked Pink or Barely Beige lipstick.  Another popular lipstick was the fragrant Tangee - orange in the tube, it turned a different shade on your lips.

The Bermuda Bag was nothing more than a muslin bag with a wooden handle and several small buttons on each side.  We would collect "covers" in colors and prints to match our outfits and usually received the monogrammed covers as gifts on special occasions.  One bag - many bags....it was all in the Bermuda Bag!

 

 



We wore our flats with tan hose and I can clearly remember making the transition from the old garter belt and seamed stocking of the 40's and 50's to the first pantyhose sold in white plastic eggs appropriately named "L'eggs".  We girls were moving into a modern age!

 

Mustang Sally? NOT!

By the time I was sixteen, I was driving.  Since daddy worked in Manhatten (the city) he and thousands of other men like him commuted in on the Long Island Railroad.  As the car didn't need to sit in a parking lot all day, I often took him to the train station in the morning and then drove on to school.  The first car I drove was a little white Pontiac LeMans convertible.  It was a sweet car but didn't touch how I felt about the next one, an absolutely gorgeous rusty orange Firebird Convertible the color of autumn leaves.  It had a black top.  It has always been, by far, my favorite ride.

I took it to college after graduation and depended on it to ferry me back and forth from Hackettstown, NJ to the North Fork of Long Island.  I got two tickets in that car...one for driving faster than was posted on a four lane out of Jersey and the other for "drifting" thru a stop sign on Shelter Island.  It was the car I drove from the island, across the ferry and over to Westhampton for classes in the summer of 68.  It even became the sanctuary for some illegal stuff when a friend I had offered a ride to hid his "pot" in the glove compartment.  I very rarely, if ever, drove that car without the top down and a wide brimmed white hat on my head.  While I didn't even resemble "Twiggy", the hat became my "signature look". 

Unfortunately, driving that car from New York to Dallas and back again a couple of times, wore out the transmission and my father wanted to replace it.   Knowing how much I hated to give it up,  he told me that I could pick out whatever I wanted.  Hmmm....well, I asked for and got a royal blue GTO with a baby blue racing stripe.

My, my!  That car was the envy of a lot of guys.  While not a snappy convertible, that car could move but it never did replace my beloved Firebird.  My dad and my brother, Steve, drove it down to Dallas for me in the summer of 1970.  It took me on to Atlanta where I went to graduate school in 1971 but I don't remember it lasting too long either because I ended up with my mothers yellow Buick with the brown vinyl top which my husband Allen and I drove until we wore a hole in the floor board and could see the lines in the roads beneath us.

Downton Abbey - A Genealogical Comparison

I don't know what year you'll be reading this but I'm writing it in 2012.  Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) has recently shown its' most popular television series ever.  Downton Abbey is a fictional account of the Grantham family who are the owners of a large estate in Britain during the late 1800's.  Filmed at the real Highclere Castle, the story is loosely based on the Carnarvon family who continue to inhabit and care for Highclere.  Now you might ask; "What does this have to do with a genealogy blog?"  Well, watching Downton Abbey transported me back to a time when my great grandparents were alive and while not British, and certainly not occupants of Highclere Castle, I can draw a number of parallels.

King Edward VII reigned over Britain and was said to be a dignified and charming emperor.  The Edwardian era became famous for its high glamour and easy elegance and fast became the new reality.   Wilhelm II reigned over Germany.  Woodrow Wilson was President of the United States.  Queen Victoria, Edwards' mother, left a lasting impression on England, if not the world and with her death in 1901, the Victorian Era came to a close but it did not happen overnight.*  Even in Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania, birthplace of Mary Elizabeth Lentz and also temporary home to the three Protz brothers, the houses of the era were decorated with "gingerbread" trim, turrets and etched glass windows.  Feather dusters and feather beds remained popular.  Chandeliers were made of crystal, food was served in silver service pieces to families who dressed for dinner, gas lamps and/or candles were slowly being replaced with electricity and the telephone was replacing handwritten notes and telegraphs.  (Note: pieces of my great-grandmothers chandelier (pendalogues)were re-cycled for use as Christmas tree ornaments and distributed to her great great grandchildren at Christmas 2011).

Did we have any relatives that would have been living "upstairs" at Highclere?  I don't know but I do know that we had a few living "downstairs".  Grandma Auer (maiden name Maria A. Boehm) was said to have been a cook in the kitchen of Kaiser Wilhelm.  As such, she would have lived comparably to Mrs. Patmore, the cook to Downton Abbey.  Amazingly, her personal recipe book, handwritten in German, is in the family chest whose possession at the time of this writing remains unclear.  Maria's sister, Elizabeth, is listed as a servant in both the 1900 and the 1910 census.

Although already in America, Grandma Elsie (maiden name Elsa Spatz Haegeman Kerner) became a registered nurse and worked at a hospital.  Her pillbox and two of the thermometers from her nurses bag are preserved in the family box.  She is listed as nursing in the 1930 and the 1940 census.
 
When Lord Alfred de Rothschild died, his bequeth to his illegitimate but beloved daughter, Almina was a tax-free 50,000 pounds.  Lord Carnarvon, Porchy and Lady Evelyn received bequests of 25,000 pounds.  This was "wealth on a staggering scale given that a gardener at Highclere was paid 24 pounds a year in 1918 and the top salary, for the chef, was 150 pounds." *  This mentioned in an effort to demonstrate some price differential between the castle owners and the workers.  Today, an English pound is worth 1.57  American dollars.   Fifty thousand pound sterling in todays numbers equates to about $78,424.87.  Hardly enough to keep an estate such as Highclere going today.  The cook's salary of 150 pounds a year equates to about $235.27 for a years work.*  Of course, housing and meals were included gratis as part of their living and working on the castle grounds. 

As war approached in 1914, men across Europe, of both up and downstairs life, registered for the draft that saw the loss of some 6.8 million potential husbands, fathers and grandfathers.  The United States was not to become involved until early 1918, a few months short of the end of the war on November 11, 1918 at 11:00 am. 

In the meantime, Mary Elizabeth Lentz,  married in January of 1917, departed for a New York City honeymoon in a "motor car" most likely built in Detroit by the Ford Motor Company and driven by her new husband, the successful business man, William C. Protz.  After a brief honeymoon, the two set out to build their lives in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.  W.C registered for the draft in June of 1917.

Earlier in 1900, some 1.7 million women were employed as domestic servants but when war came the need for women to be pressed into other types of servitude like nursing (Downtons' youngest daughter, Sybil) or farm work ( middle daughter, Edith) emerged.  Young women who once considered domestic servitude to be an honor and often followed their own mothers into positions in the same homes, now fancied secretarial and office work.  Our Mary was known to have worked in a Lace Mill where she became a "forewoman".  Her older brother, William Frederick Lentz, worked in sales at S.S.Kresge which was a forerunner and later competitor to the Woolworth chain.  Most likely, it was William Frederick who introduced his sister, Mary to W. C. as he also worked in sales and as a buyer for the Kresge chain. 

It was not until 1918, that women over 30 who met certain restrictions were allowed to vote.  By 1928, the right to vote for women was expanded to include all women over the age of 21.  Our Mary didn't need "the vote" however to exercise her personal independence.  She filed for divorce from W. C. a few short years after their marriage.  The divorce was granted in January of 1921, leaving Mary with two small children and $19,000 in settlement funds.  The divorce was scandalous enough to make the front page news of the Manitowoc Herald.  Mary, who by now was living in Detroit, Michigan, bought a home and moved in making room for her own mother, Elizabeth and much younger brother, Walter. 

*Lady Fiona Carnarvon:  Lady Almina and the Real Downton Abbey;  The Lost Legacy of Highclere Castle,   Broadway Paperbacks 2011

*http://coinmill.com/GBP_USD.html#GBP=150

Faith - Have Some

Religion is nothing more to me than a means to organizing my faith.  What faith?  I have faith.  I've always had faith.  Faith is probably the most important life line I have.  In times of trouble, I have faith.  In times of need, I have faith.  Lately, I've become increasingly aware of my faith in times of joy, prosperity, health.

Faith enables me to pray.  Prayer enables me to release concerns.  Prayer enables me to offer thanks.

Prayer enables me to remain faithful. 

I attend a church.  An Anglican Episcopal church.  A "high" church.  One with candles, incense upon occasion, blessings, holy water.  I cross myself.  I started doing that one day when I felt particularly blessed by a benediction.  Since that time, crossing myself is a way I focus on the Trinity.  Father, Son, Holy Ghost.

Three in One.  I pray to all.  Sometimes I pray to Saints.  God is pretty busy.  I know He hears me but having my prayers held and repeated by a trusted Saint can't be a bad thing.  I've prayed to St. Anthony.

Tony and I have a close relationship.  Particularly as I've aged, my memory is not as good as it used to be and Tony has helped out more than once.  Anthony is the patron saint of lost things.  I lose things all the time.
Most everyone knows of St. Francis.  He watches over animals, children and those that are helpless.

My church provides blessings for all of God's creatures on St. Francis' Feast day.  I've never felt that taking my pets for a blessing has been a mistake.  I have faith that St. Francis will watch over them just as the medallion I am offered to put on their collars says he will do. 

Anne is another friend.  Saint Anne is the patron saint of grandmothers.  I'm not one yet but I hope to be someday.  Anne is looking after that for me.  Anne is said to have been the grandmother of Christ.  I like to believe that Anne is watching over and helping to protect, comfort and preserve my own grandmothers; Rose, Elsie, Anna Marie, Mary and Elizabeth.  And that she'll do the same for me some day.

Gerard.  He's a new one.  I didn't know about St. Gerard until my daughter in law told me about him.

We've talked, Gerard and I.  A lot.  Gerard looks after those who hope for a pregnancy.  His job on earth was to provide comfort and solace to those women who were seemingly infertile.  He's been working hard lately and for that I'm grateful. 

There's a country song by Lee Ann Womack that is popular today.  It has to do with last words that a mother gives to her child.  One of her wishes is that the child promise to give faith a fighting chance. 
It can't be said better than that.  And not just because one would want the child to become religious. 
No, more because with age does come wisdom - some at least.  I've learned that without faith, you can become lost.  When I have nowhere else to turn, no one to turn to, I can lean on my faith.  I can lean on my belief that there is a plan.  I am comforted by my belief that things will work according to that plan.  It helps me to accept what comes and believe me, sometimes that acceptance is hard. 

I can pray anywhere.  I drive down the road and pray.  I talk to God all the time.  We have little conversations in which He doesn't say much, but He listens well.  I wish I were more like Him....talking less, listening more.  I'm trying to thank Him more.  I have so many things to be thankful for.  I try to remember to thank Him whenever I notice something He's done.....especially when it concerns a prayer being answered.
I don't always get what I pray for but I always get an answer to my prayer.  Sometimes my prayers don't get the answers I am praying for.  That's where faith comes in again.  Faith that the answer is just that....The Answer.  That even when it's not what I expected, it's what I need to have for the plan to unfold. 

So, it's not religion that is the focus.  It's faith.  There are many religions.  I'm not sure it matters which one you might ascribe yourself to.  Faith is what is important.  Faith that there is a plan.  Faith that you are not alone.  Faith that you are loved.  A religious belief might further your faith, deepen it, foster it.  Or it may not.

Identifying with a religion and attending a place of worship might assist you in keeping your faith, in exercising it, in sharing it with others.  Or it may not.  

Faith.....have some.

Diary of an Expedition - Genealogy Style - Part Five - Journey to Roseland Park

It took some time to find this gem, not that this resting place for souls is hidden, it's not - it is on a "main drag" in Northwest Detroit.  What took the time is the research, the letters and phone calls to what seemed like every church and cemetery in Wayne County.  At last, about three weeks before we were to leave on our excursion, a phone call from a kind gentleman at the Hamilton Funeral Home directed me to Roseland Park. .

My grandmothers death certificate listed the Hamilton brothers as providing services to the family after her death.  Hidden deep in some old filing cabinets in the cellar of their main office were records that included the "place of interment".  Mr. Hamilton, Sr. himself called to share this information with me.   Located in the small suburb of Berkely, Michigan, Roseland is actually located in Oakley County but still a short drive from Detroit

So now, three weeks later, with Emily at my side, I'm driving through the imposing gates of Roseland.  A quick stop to register in the office, some questions and yes, Mary is indeed entombed here....in a mausoleum some few 100 yards away.  "Are there any others?" we asked.  Some hesitation on her part but "Wait a minute and I'll check".  Yes, not only Mary, but also her mother, Elizabeth and two of her brothers, Albert and possibly George.  And with this news, a letter from Walter, Mary's youngest brother who in 1950 was paying for maintenance at the site and asking that fresh geraniums be planted each spring.  Walter, was by that time, president of a bank in Holly, Michigan.  The youngest child, once a bank clerk, now president of a bank and manager of his familys final resting place. 

Why was Mary entombed while the rest of her family were elsewhere on the grounds?  Presumably, her burial was provided and paid for by W.C., her ex-spouse who had left her and the boys on their own in Detroit several years before her death.  He had tried to provide for their housing but according to letters, Mary refused his help.  Possibly Mary's family were willing to accept an offer to provide for the final resting place of his ex-wife and mother of his two sons, William and Robert.  Located on the last column and next to the window, her vault is in the top row, its door void of all information save for her name, year of birth and year of death.  Em and I left a bouquet of babies breath in the only place we could - the floor in the corner below the niche which has probably not seen a visitor since 1950.

Outside, a short distance away, we found what one might call a "family plot".  One headstone with one word - Lentz near which were two markers again with simple engraving;  Elizabeth 1857-1942  and Albert 1895-1921.

No words of remembrance or solace, just a name and a date.  Was this for lack of funds or for humility?  We'll most likely never know.  The large headstone seemed newer - perhaps erected by Walter years after when he had become successful.  Emily cleaned the weeds and dirt away from the markers and placed a butterfly on Elizabeths marker.....Emily - Elizabeth's great, great grand-child.

Elizabeth died in 1942.  Mary died in 1934.  They were my great grandmother and grandmother and I never knew them.  What is it that causes families to fall apart?  What is the secret that enables some to endure turmoil and others to shatter?  How is it that one generation has so much impact over generations yet to come?

What are the precedents set by such actions?  How can it be so easy to turn away from those we once loved?  Why did W.C. leave Mary and his boys?  Mary who must have struggled to raise her two sons while battling tuberculosis.  Did he take her "in sickness and in health"?  Or was infidelity to blame?  Why was Mary in Detroit while W.C. worked in Wisconsin?  Did she want to be closer to her mother, did she not like the icy landscape of Wisconsin, did she need more help with her young boys than W.C. could provide?  So many unanswered questions.

Diary of an Expedition - Genealogy Style - Part Four

Emily and I were up early to get to the exciting tasks ahead.  Today we were going to try to find ancestral homes.  We had three addresses.  Mary moved a number of times, most likely as her financial situation changed, her need for space changed, or perhaps her desire to locate in a better school district entered into her decisions.   There are new census records available at Www.archives.com/census .   The census records of 1930 enabled me to locate the very home my father/Emily's grandfather, lived in as the address of the person being interviewed is written on the border of the left side of the census form.  Mary is listed as living at 16747 Shaftsbury St. with her two young sons; William and Robert, her mother Elizabeth, and her youngest brother, Walter.

What a nice neighborhood!  We were truly surprised to find the tree lined street and well built homes.
Amazingly enough, 16747 was being renovated!  The contractor in charge was on site and invited us to tour the empty home.  We were able to walk around the interior and imagine what life may have been like in this mid-sized home.  There was even a tree in the backyard that the boys may have helped to plant in the early '30's.  This was most likely the last home Mary ever lived in as she died in 1934. 
The living area was astounding in that it resembled the home my brother and I grew up in so much!
The fireplace, flanked by bookcases, even had a large mirror centered over it.  Just like the one we remember on Wickham Road in Garden City. 

There was a "breezeway"...a tiny area that prevented the warmth from flying out of the house when the front door was opened.....There were three small bedrooms upstairs.  The boys most likely shared their room, Walter stayed in one and Mary and her mother in another.  There was one bathroom that they all shared.   Outside by the side entrance was a small door that led to a tiny compartment that led to another door that could be opened from the inside by the occupants of the home.  This had to be the "ice box" or the compartment into which the delivery person would place the block of ice used to cool their refrigerator or "ice box".  When electricity became available, it would be the "milk man" who utilized this compartment, placing the ordered glass bottles of milk or cream inside.  It would be a long time before wax milk cartons and even I remember having a "milk man" deliver milk to us in Garden City in the early 1950's.  Empty milk bottles were always left for the milk man to pick up and re-use.  Bottle tops were made of heavy paper that would be peeled off.
We didn't know about re-cycling then, but we were doing it anyway.