Author: Michelle Page 20 of 34

Georgie’s Memories – Part 12: Some interesting characters

On July 22, 2022

In Family History

As our family went through my mother’s personal effects, we discovered these essays, handwritten in a spiral notebook. Immediately, we knew we had found a very special look into the early life of someone we loved and admired. We’re sharing them here in the hope that others may enjoy them as well.

November 23, 1986

These essays are being written because I have often thought how nice it would be if, say, my great-grandmother had written about what life was like when she was growing up. It would have been so interesting to know how people’s daily life and experiences fitted in with the history that was being made at that time.

Traveling salesmen and gypsies

North of the house, down in a draw, an old man, Marian Reif, had built a one room cabin. Some of the walls were sides of the draw. He had come to my Grandpa’s. I can’t remember if he was selling something or just a vagrant. He lived there a year or two anyway – had some chickens. I suppose Grandpa gave him milk and meat. I think he had a garden. I know my mother gave him food sometimes. He got sick finally and couldn’t stay alone anymore and the went to the county home where we went to see him once. When he died he was buried in the Summitville Church Cemetery.

As our family went through my mother’s personal effects, we discovered these essays, handwritten in a spiral notebook. Immediately, we knew we had found a very special look into the early life of someone we loved and admired. We’re sharing them here in the hope that others may enjoy them as well.

November 23, 1986

These essays are being written because I have often thought how nice it would be if, say, my great-grandmother had written about what life was like when she was growing up. It would have been so interesting to know how people’s daily life and experiences fitted in with the history that was being made at that time.

Traveling salesmen and gypsies

North of the house, down in a draw, an old man, Marian Reif, had built a one room cabin. Some of the walls were sides of the draw. He had come to my Grandpa’s. I can’t remember if he was selling something or just a vagrant. He lived there a year or two anyway – had some chickens. I suppose Grandpa gave him milk and meat. I think he had a garden. I know my mother gave him food sometimes. He got sick finally and couldn’t stay alone anymore and the went to the county home where we went to see him once. When he died he was buried in the Summitville Church Cemetery.

Creative crafting as gift wrap

On July 19, 2022

I try to find gifts for people that work well for their interests. Walt and I also do some creative gift wrapping. Several years ago, I made boxes of fabric to “wrap” gifts for my sister and mom.

Image shows two boxes made of fabric, one triangular in shape, the other is diamond shaped. — The smaller box went to mom, filled with quilting fabric. The taller box is a yarn holder for my sister who crochets.

Georgie’s Memories – Part 11: Family

On July 15, 2022

In Family History

As our family went through my mother’s personal effects, we discovered these essays, handwritten in a spiral notebook. Immediately, we knew we had found a very special look into the early life of someone we loved and admired. We’re sharing them here in the hope that others may enjoy them as well.

November 23, 1986

These essays are being written because I have often thought how nice it would be if, say, my great-grandmother had written about what life was like when she was growing up. It would have been so interesting to know how people’s daily life and experiences fitted in with the history that was being made at that time.

Company and Cousins

We enjoyed having company overnight. Sometimes they would stay a few days in bad weather, when there was some school activity in the evening and the time when Uncle Ben broke his leg getting up wood and when their little brother, Donald, was sick with pneumonia. He died (March 24, 1929), was buried on a Sunday, which saddened us all. On March 11, 1932, our little brother, Arthur, died of pneumonia which was also heartbreaking. (Read more about Arthur here.)

As our family went through my mother’s personal effects, we discovered these essays, handwritten in a spiral notebook. Immediately, we knew we had found a very special look into the early life of someone we loved and admired. We’re sharing them here in the hope that others may enjoy them as well.

November 23, 1986

These essays are being written because I have often thought how nice it would be if, say, my great-grandmother had written about what life was like when she was growing up. It would have been so interesting to know how people’s daily life and experiences fitted in with the history that was being made at that time.

Company and Cousins

We enjoyed having company overnight. Sometimes they would stay a few days in bad weather, when there was some school activity in the evening and the time when Uncle Ben broke his leg getting up wood and when their little brother, Donald, was sick with pneumonia. He died (March 24, 1929), was buried on a Sunday, which saddened us all. On March 11, 1932, our little brother, Arthur, died of pneumonia which was also heartbreaking. (Read more about Arthur here.)

Critters on the home front

On July 12, 2022

We love to spend time in the woods and see all the amazing things but we are very fortunate to live in an area where there is a fairly good population of wildlife. Here are some of the animals we see at home. Check out our post about backpacking critters here.

One of our water burglars!

Georgie’s Memories – Part 10: Grandparents, Aunts and Uncles

On July 8, 2022

In Family History

As our family went through my mother’s personal effects, we discovered these essays, handwritten in a spiral notebook. Immediately, we knew we had found a very special look into the early life of someone we loved and admired. We’re sharing them here in the hope that others may enjoy them as well.

November 23, 1986

These essays are being written because I have often thought how nice it would be if, say, my great-grandmother had written about what life was like when she was growing up. It would have been so interesting to know how people’s daily life and experiences fitted in with the history that was being made at that time.

Grandpa Wellman

My mother often spoke of her parents’ early days in the United States and I hardly listened to my regret. I think my Grandfather Wellman came to New Orleans and then up the Mississippi. I don’t know if he came by train from St. Louis or how that was. He came to Fort Madison and went to work up in Green Bay (near Wever) for a family named Lange. He learned English after he came to this country, spoke with a German accent and was much more comfortable in German of course. My Grandmother Catherine Krumpelman Wellman came later and went to stay with some cousins named Rhinehardt in Nauvoo, Ill. When my grandparents married, they rented a farm west of West Point where their first child, Uncle Ben, was born. When the second child, Uncle George, was born in August 1888, Grandpa had gone to the mill when Grandma went into labor. She took Uncle Ben and walked to the Kaltefleiter place (now Gary Fedler’s) and had Uncle George there. Shortly after that they moved to what we called the Schumaker place (now Albert Neuweg’s) where my mother was born April 2, 1890. They lived there until 1915 or 1916 – about the time my folks were married. My grandmother died while they lived there, 1904, also my Uncle Frank, in 1896, a child of 4.

As our family went through my mother’s personal effects, we discovered these essays, handwritten in a spiral notebook. Immediately, we knew we had found a very special look into the early life of someone we loved and admired. We’re sharing them here in the hope that others may enjoy them as well.

November 23, 1986

These essays are being written because I have often thought how nice it would be if, say, my great-grandmother had written about what life was like when she was growing up. It would have been so interesting to know how people’s daily life and experiences fitted in with the history that was being made at that time.

Grandpa Wellman

My mother often spoke of her parents’ early days in the United States and I hardly listened to my regret. I think my Grandfather Wellman came to New Orleans and then up the Mississippi. I don’t know if he came by train from St. Louis or how that was. He came to Fort Madison and went to work up in Green Bay (near Wever) for a family named Lange. He learned English after he came to this country, spoke with a German accent and was much more comfortable in German of course. My Grandmother Catherine Krumpelman Wellman came later and went to stay with some cousins named Rhinehardt in Nauvoo, Ill. When my grandparents married, they rented a farm west of West Point where their first child, Uncle Ben, was born. When the second child, Uncle George, was born in August 1888, Grandpa had gone to the mill when Grandma went into labor. She took Uncle Ben and walked to the Kaltefleiter place (now Gary Fedler’s) and had Uncle George there. Shortly after that they moved to what we called the Schumaker place (now Albert Neuweg’s) where my mother was born April 2, 1890. They lived there until 1915 or 1916 – about the time my folks were married. My grandmother died while they lived there, 1904, also my Uncle Frank, in 1896, a child of 4.

Georgie’s Memories – Part 9: Washing day and Butchering

On July 1, 2022

In Family History

As our family went through my mother’s personal effects, we discovered these essays, handwritten in a spiral notebook. Immediately, we knew we had found a very special look into the early life of someone we loved and admired. We’re sharing them here in the hope that others may enjoy them as well.

November 23, 1986

These essays are being written because I have often thought how nice it would be if, say, my great-grandmother had written about what life was like when she was growing up. It would have been so interesting to know how people’s daily life and experiences fitted in with the history that was being made at that time.

Wash Day

Wash day was a big affair. They washed outside – had a hand powered machine converted to use a gasoline motor – I remember the belt as being quite long. Water was heated in a boiler. Everyone made their own soap then. They saved grease and tallow and combined it with lye. Some cooked it in a butchering kettle outside but my mother made cold soap. It was whiter.

As our family went through my mother’s personal effects, we discovered these essays, handwritten in a spiral notebook. Immediately, we knew we had found a very special look into the early life of someone we loved and admired. We’re sharing them here in the hope that others may enjoy them as well.

November 23, 1986

These essays are being written because I have often thought how nice it would be if, say, my great-grandmother had written about what life was like when she was growing up. It would have been so interesting to know how people’s daily life and experiences fitted in with the history that was being made at that time.

Wash Day

Wash day was a big affair. They washed outside – had a hand powered machine converted to use a gasoline motor – I remember the belt as being quite long. Water was heated in a boiler. Everyone made their own soap then. They saved grease and tallow and combined it with lye. Some cooked it in a butchering kettle outside but my mother made cold soap. It was whiter.

Easy method for prepping fruit to dehydrate

On June 28, 2022

We’ve been posting Georgina’s memories on our Friday posts and the last few have been about food preparation. (You can read them here and here.) It made me think about some of the times I have had a bunch of fruit to prepare to preserve. This post is about getting a lot of pears ready to dehydrate.

Georgie’s Memories – Part 8: Seasons of food

On June 24, 2022

In Family History

As our family went through my mother’s personal effects, we discovered these essays, handwritten in a spiral notebook. Immediately, we knew we had found a very special look into the early life of someone we loved and admired. We’re sharing them here in the hope that others may enjoy them as well.

November 23, 1986

These essays are being written because I have often thought how nice it would be if, say, my great-grandmother had written about what life was like when she was growing up. It would have been so interesting to know how people’s daily life and experiences fitted in with the history that was being made at that time.

Each season, each month

Each season, in fact, each month there was lots of time spent in food preparation and food preservation. January and February were the main months for butchering, sausage making, salting and smoking, making head cheese, making pickled pigs feet, and canning beef. In February, when it froze at night and warmed in the daytime, we collected maple water in buckets and cooked it down for maple syrup. Farmers who had an ice house usually cut ice on a pond in the winter. This was covered with sawdust. One of our favorite visiting places was the Umthum home near Sugar Creek. They put up ice and made ice cream on summer Sundays.

As our family went through my mother’s personal effects, we discovered these essays, handwritten in a spiral notebook. Immediately, we knew we had found a very special look into the early life of someone we loved and admired. We’re sharing them here in the hope that others may enjoy them as well.

November 23, 1986

These essays are being written because I have often thought how nice it would be if, say, my great-grandmother had written about what life was like when she was growing up. It would have been so interesting to know how people’s daily life and experiences fitted in with the history that was being made at that time.

Each season, each month

Each season, in fact, each month there was lots of time spent in food preparation and food preservation. January and February were the main months for butchering, sausage making, salting and smoking, making head cheese, making pickled pigs feet, and canning beef. In February, when it froze at night and warmed in the daytime, we collected maple water in buckets and cooked it down for maple syrup. Farmers who had an ice house usually cut ice on a pond in the winter. This was covered with sawdust. One of our favorite visiting places was the Umthum home near Sugar Creek. They put up ice and made ice cream on summer Sundays.

Leftovers again? Making candles from scraps

On June 21, 2022

In Outdoors, Shop Projects

We have some of those giant citronella candles to use in the back yard. They work very well to reduce the mosquitos, but they produce a lot of scraps. So, of course, I wanted to use them up. I’ve talked about using leftover fabric and food, but here’s another type of leftover.

After a couple of evenings, we had all these chunks of wax left from the candles.

Happy birthday Aunt Louise!

On June 17, 2022

In Family History

Louise and Georgina in 1923

Louise Josephine Link Nelson was born on June 17, 1921 in West Point, Iowa, to William John and Elizabeth Wellman Link.

Her family lived on the Bruegenhempke place west of West Point when she was born.

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