Stories of family, creativity, and diverse distractions.

Month: September 2023

Happy birthday Margaret Barnes Kellogg

Margaret Barnes was born to Sylvester and Cornelia Parker Barnes on September 29, 1863. She was born in Whitewater, Wisconsin. Margaret is Michelle’s great, great-grandmother.

Hoel Notes! Going Down a Musical Rabbit Hole

It all started so innocently. A simple conversation with a coworker about music. His son had recently gotten a new electric guitar. I mentioned that Walt had been thinking about getting a guitar. The next thing you know, our home is starting to look like a music studio.

Happy birthday Dorothy Menke Steffensmeier

Dorothy Menke was born on September 22, 1908 to William J. and Elizabeth Mertens Menke in Salem, Iowa. Dorothy is the cousin of Cletus Fritag who married Walt’s 1st cousin once removed Delores Wellman.

Arrrr Mateys! It’s International Talk Like a Pirate Day

September 19th is International Talk Like a Pirate Day. We have enjoyed celebrating this for several years now and thought we should invite our readers along for the fun!

Happy anniversary Alphonse and Gertrude Pollpeter

Alphonse Pollpeter and Gertrude Boeding were married on September 15, 1936 at St. Mary’s Church in West Point, Iowa. Gertrude is Walt’s second cousin once removed.

Making a Better Banana Bread

I have always liked the flavor of my banana bread recipe, but it was somewhat dense. Also nuts or chocolate chips fell to the bottom of the loaf. So I decided to try to use kitchen chemistry to see if I could fix those issues.

Happy birthday Martha Clemens Fullenkamp

Martha Clemens was born on Septenber 8, 1916 to Frank and Josephine Krueger Clemens. She was born in West Point, Iowa. Two of her sisters married into Walt’s family. Her sister Marie married Albert Link, Walt’s great uncle. Martha’s sister Gertrude married Aloysius Brune, Walt’s second cousin once removed.

Look Out! Danger Noodles Ahead! A Hike With Baby Snakes

We recently hiked with a friend at Strawtown Koteewi Park. It’s a nice, nearby place to get a quick nature fix. We saw a bunch of lovely sights which I utterly failed to capture for posterity. But I did whip out the phone when we saw the baby snakes!

What do degrees have to do with family research?

While I was working on the post about cousins, Walt and I were discussing other means of expressing relationships between related individuals. We were looking at some charts and they had a notation for Civil Degree and Canon Degree. What does that actually mean?

Powered by WordPress & Theme by Anders Norén