Still a mystery?

Tonight, Larry and I were talking again about this picture.  Sue sent it last spring, and while the men look familiar, we haven't been able to positively identify them.  Part of the mystery is that Sue's copy is a Polaroid, but I think it's because someone took a pic of the original photo.

Larry'd found a 'new' old book online from Google Books--it's a 1903 dealers directory of wagonmakers in the United States, and it's cool to look thru just for that. (No, there's no dealer listed in Buckman or Pierz). Then, we got to talking about what business the Brandls were in prior to selling Fords?

The census page is 1920, and Both Joe and John Brandl are listed as "proprietor" of the garage.  We know  this pic (below) was 1925, and most likely the top photo was taken sometime later, once phones came to Buckman (on the left, see?)  I think it's John and Joe Brandl in their 40s, so it would have to be 1934 or so, probably right in the garage.

Whatdya think--'mystery solved'?

Bowling at the church

I found this in the St Paul Pioneer Press column called Bulletin Board this week:

Writes Grandpa Dave: "Subject: Since when is bowling a church sport? "Last weekend, our family celebrated my oldest son's 50th birthday by piling into the basement of St. Francis [de Sales] Catholic Church in St. Paul's West Seventh neighborhood. We spend the next several hours enjoying a delightful time at bowling: grandma, grandpa, sons and daughters and seven delightful grandkids. The facility was small, modern and moderately priced. Check it out!

"Then I started to wonder about the idea of bowling alleys in church facilities — especially in older Catholic churches. I remember, growing up, that there were bowling alleys at Nativity, St. James, St. Francis, St. Bernard's and I believe St. Agnes. I assume I am forgetting some.

"But why? What was the motivation that made these lanes such an integral part of Catholic communities? Anyone have an answer — and the names of any other churches that had bowling lanes?

And this today....

Used To Curl of Rice Lake, Wis.: "Reading about bowling alleys in church basements brought back memories of the bowling alley in the basement of the Catholic school in Waite Park. My grandma lived right across the street from the school. My mom bowled there, and on very special nights — about once during the bowling season — my sister and I were allowed to go with her while she bowled. I was expected to be on my best behavior and was sure to get a special treat or two.

"When I was older — a freshman in high school, 1958 — I bowled in an after-school league in St. Cloud at the Granite Bowl. They still had human pin-setters at that time. I hit it off with one of the young men who had this job. He would send me notes back down the return ramp — in my bowling ball......"

LOL...we know of another Catholic Church with a bowling alley, right?  It's no longer there, in the Hall in Buckman, but it was when I was a kid.
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St Michaels Catholic Church in Buckman was built in our grandparents' generation.  I've seen 1902 and 1910 for when it was built, replacing the little white church that was there earlier.  The Hall, on the other hand, was built later (I think the cornerstone says 1920, but I could easily be wrong).  Most of our folks were here by the 1870-80s, and they were certainly involved; in fact, the family story about it says that Grandpa Janson hauled rocks and helped build those buildings, but that Great grandpa Michael Sand won the honor of naming the parish.

Anyway, I've often wondered myself, WHY Bowling?  Many immigrants who came to Minnesota were members or followers of the Turnverein Movement, "to work for the unity of the German people and to uplift the brotherhood and the physical and spiritual power of the people".

Did they cast about for some physical activity that'd draw people without building an entire gymnasium? 

Planning and building the Hall would have been shortly after the German-baiting in the U.S., when people who spoke German were accused of being spys (or worse) during WWI.  Maybe bowling seemed more "American"?

BTW, Mary at the Morrison County Historical Society is researching the subject, too, so we'll see what she comes up with!

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Later:  Heres an answer about WHY...BLUE LAWS & BOWLING !

Remember these?

I think it was about this time that  mom finally retired the Brownie box camera and got a Brownie Hawkeye--whew, what innovation.  I thought we'd finally arrived in the '60s...lol

Dorothy Janson Welle 1916-2008

The name Dorothy Welle was familiar throughout my childhood.  If you'd asked, I'd have said I thought she was mom's cousin, but I wouldn't have associated her with grandpa's brother Sebastian.

This morning, Larry showed me with this page, because of the SAND name.  (Anna Sand was connected on my dad's side, but the second connection here was mom's cousin Dorothy):

Sebastian Janson was born in Germany.  He married Mary Roos in 1898 in Buckman, and they moved with his parents to Virginia, where 2 of their children were born.  When the Va experiment fell through, Sebastian and Mary moved home and eventually settled in New Munich, Minnesota.

Dorothy was their 8th child, and she married Hubert John Welle in September 1941.  You'll see their names in the center of that newspaper page.

According to the above article, Hubert Sr had a threshing business around Spring Hill in Stearns county.  Larry found this photo of their wedding online, and wondered if Mr Welle hired out as far away as Buckman.  I thought not, because it'd be over 40 miles away...a long way to take a threshing machine even today. 

The thing is, Larry noticed Anna's face and stature--could she have gone to help feed the men on her cousin's threshing crew?  Sure!  Anna died in 1930, but we have a pic of wives, sisters and neighbors in about 1919...it's certainly possible that the second woman from the left, back row, is Anna Sand Welle.  What do you think?

Report to the Govenor after the 1886 cyclone

 A few excerpts from the report by the relief committee assembled to distribute a total of $90, 154. 47 in donations (from individuals and 52 Minnesota villages and towns) for survivors of the tornado that devastated Sauk Rapids, St Cloud and Rices Station in April, 1886.  They had a tough time making it equitable, but they accomplished a lot:

If you'd like to read the whole thing, check this page on MINNESOTA REFLECTIONS.

"Cyclone!"

On April 14, 1886, a really terrible tornado ripped thru St Cloud, Sauk Rapids, Rice and Buckman, Minnesota.  Grandpa Anton claimed his eye-sight was never the same after he was caught outside during the storm.  He was 6 years old.

The storm devastated Sauk Rapids, but did great damage in St Cloud, too:

 I wonder--where in the city was this taken?  There are RR tracks (lower left), and the land rises to the horizon.  The tracks might have been the east-west route thru St Cloud, so this view would be looking north-west?

Amazing that some concerns benifitted from the storm, as this quote from St Johns/St Bens VIVARUIM explains--

Despite the fact that the new St. Benedict's Hospital boasted of a modern heating system, an operating room, two private rooms, wards, and a kitchen, only ten patients were received during the first two months. The sisters began to worry about their hospital project until a cyclone swept over St. Cloud and the neighboring towns killing 58 and injuring hundreds. It wrecked all in its wake but the hospital which became the center for rescue work. The sisters toiled for 48 hours before relief came from the Twin Cities and neighboring towns. The catastrophe broke down the prejudice against hospitals and, thereafter, St. Benedict's Hospital did not lack patients; at the close of the second year of service, the number of patients received reached 400. When over-crowded conditions forced the sisters to build a new hospital, St. Benedict's Hospital (we knew it as St Raphaels) was converted to an academy of art and music.

Oh!  If you'd like to view a map of St Cloud 10 years after the cyclone,  CLICK HERE and use the zoom button, top left.  Looks like the city re-built pretty fast.

THEN & NOW

I think I'll start a series of photos of Janson family cousins--the earliest pic I have of them, and an adult pic.  You'll figure out who they are, right?

More forgotten pics

Cleaning out a drawer yesterday, I found a stash of photos--some you've seen already, but here are a few I haven't posted.  This one, if the 3rd kid is Loretta Janson, had to be about 1919.  I think the boys are brothers Ed and Charlie Brandl...who were sons of Frances Janson and John Brandl.  Theres a machine shed in the background, so I expect this was a day on the farm with one family visiting another.

Fast foreward 60 years, and we have these:

I think this was Adella & Killian Zenner's dining room--it had to be before 1983--that's when Fr Leo died, and both these women died in 1985.  (I'm not positive the near one is Frances, but it probably is).

(Ok, I'm not positive it's Zenners dining room either!)  Rose was Leo's mother, and she was his housekeeper for the last years of their lives, after Joe Brandl died in 1950.

Ah, it's nice to see those faces again, the way I knew them.

The Janson home farm in the '40s

Once again, searching newspapers gives us a part of the story: Larry found this in the Brainerd newspaper in

August, 1946...

At the time, grandpa Anton Janson was 66. His wife Margaret Naber Janson had died 15 months earlier, in April 1945.

Their daughter, Linda, was about to be married on September 28th, and their son, Reinhard, enlisted in the Army on 15 October 1946. 

......................................

The Brainerd Dispatch carried news from a large area, and still does.  I'm not sure what "accepted" meant in this article from October 1946...were these men already AT Ft. Snelling?
...............
We're trying to put together a timeline regarding who owned what, when.  I was born on that farm in 1949, so my parents were living there...but didn't Reinhard own the farm?  Well no....

Here's what we've figured out:

1946--Anton decides to retire because Linda is getting married, and Reinhard isn't ready to settle down yet.  Was the auction a ruse?  Or, was everything sold--animals, machinery and household items?  By the end of 1946, Anton had a new son-in-law who intended to farm and a son who was off in the service...
1947--Anton writes a pamphlet about his experiences as a pioneer, and Linda has a baby girl. 
1948--Reinhard is home from Japan, and marries on June 26.  They set up housekeeping on a farm in Mayhew Lake, Mn, and live there for more than a year.
1949--Linda has another daughter--ahem--ME.
1950 or so--the two couples exchange farms, and Linda takes Anton's desk with all of the family pictures.  (Reinhards kids grew up thinking their dad was never photographed as a kid).
1951--Linda has a third daughter, on the Mayhew Lake farm.  The farm there is poor, mostly sand, and a bad investment.  They move to St Cloud, where Mike takes advantage of the GI Bill, and starts working for the VA.
1952--Reinhard's first son is born, on the family farm in Buckman.  Life isn't easy for them either.  Anton travels between the farm, St Cloud, and Los Angeles, California...making the circuit continuously.
1953--Linda has a fourth daughter and Reinhard has a second son...lol
1955--Anton has a heart attack in LA and dies.  He's buried in Buckman, Minnesota.
1956--Linda has a son, and so does Reinhard.
1958--Another son for Reinhard...
1966--and another!  Yay!

My grandma's glasses

A photo of  mom's mom in her garden on the farm, most likely in the 40's.  I have 5-6 pictures of her, none of them smiling.  Too bad, cuz I suspect that's where mom got her beautiful teeth.

 

Looking thru mom's "Janson Memorabilia" box, I found an envelope marked "My mothers' glasses".

It's sad we know so little about her, but holding her glasses in my hand makes her a bit more real.  I put them on, and found that my face is wider than hers was, and the ear pieces are tough to hook over my ears. I suppose if I had to wear them, I wouldn't smile, either.

It's interesting that the lenses attach to the frame only at the nose, and theres a tiny bit of 'grandma schmutz' still on the glass right there, 64 years later.

Pictures of Anton Janson

Grandpa Janson died when I was 5 years old. I was very fond of him, partly because he brought me dried apricots "straight from California" and let me try them while I perched on his lap, and partly because he would just show up at our house while we were eating breakfast.  I vividly remember looking up from my cheerios and shouting, "Grandpa's here!"

Most of my 'memories' of him, tho, are through pictures I looked at as a kid.  Mom inherited his desk, and the bottom right-hand drawer was full of photos he kept over the years.  We were told to "leave them alone", but that only made me more interested. 

Now that I have many of those pictures on the computer, it's easy to share them with you. 

Grandpa and mom...in the 40s?

Mom and dad's wedding reception at the farm...with my Hesch grandparents, too.

Holding his first grandchild, on the farm in Buckman.

Ida and Walburg came for a visit...c 1948

A return visit when I was a year old...lol

Naber photos

Looking thru my computer picture files, I realized I DO have some ancestor photos, tho I have no idea where I got them.  Were they with the hand-drawn Naber tree I posted a few days ago?  Or, from something I found at the history museum?  ('Course, if I forgot  I HAD 'em, how likely am I to remember where they came from?)  The gentleman on the left is marked John Naber, from Oldenberg.

This one says "Bernard Naber Wedding", but there were at least 4 Bernards, all born in the 1860s, with different Naber fathers.  Evidently, they loved that name.  Still, I assume this is the son of Gerhard Naber and Elizabeth Rupipper.  Does anyone know what his wife's name was?  Our Bernard was born in 1864.

On the left, we have Henry Naber and Marion (Guck) Naber, possibly  on their wedding day?  They look a little long in the tooth to be newly-weds, but you never know.  Larry mentioned Marion Guck last night, and the name seemed new to both of us, which made me go look thru my files.  Thing is, when we find something related, we simply save it so it's there if we eventually figure out WHO it is.  Bingo!

This was Henry Naber as a young man...it certainly looks like the man above, huh? 








Oh, and did you know that Gerhard Naber had a son named Gerhard?  Here's his wedding photo:

Gerhard and Julia (Grittner) Naber, married c 1909 in Buckman, Minnesota.  They eventually moved to St Cloud, where he worked in the granite quarries.  They had 4 children: Pauline, John, Albin and Donald.

Herman & Anna Naber, c 1900

Bonnie sent this photo of Gerhard's son Herman and wife.  Cool, huh?

The kids are Katie and Lena, she said.  Larry thinks Herman looked like Hugh Jackman.

THANKS, Bonnie! :^)

** How Bonnie's connected

A bit of genealogical serendipity this morning:  just as I was puzzling over what Bonnie's relationship to me was, I opened this months' PasTimes, the newsletter from the St Cloud Area Genealogists.  There, thanks to Gretchen Leisen, was this relationship chart.   OK, since I'm Gerhard Naber's great grandaughter, I'd be the 4th block, top row.  Bonnie is his great grand niece, I think.  Then...hmmm....are we second half-cousins once removed?  Her grandma was a sister to Gerhard's son Herman's wife..... 

Oh well, we're in there somewhere!

 John Anton Brandl married Frances Janson c. 1906. John died in 1945 when he was 62.  Mom's Aunt Francie died at 99.  One of their children, Edward Joseph, married Mercedes Hiemenz, better known as Sadie.  They were married in 1936, and I believe this photo was taken in honor of their 50th Anniversary, in 1986.  Ed and Sadie Brandl had five children, one of whom inherited that JOHN name again.  To overcome this, he got into politics, and eventually became Representative John Brandl.

Here he is in 1978.  The picture is from a newsletter he sent to constituents in his district (61A), and mom had a copy somehow.  He was also teaching at the University of Minnesota..."courses in budgeting, tax policy and evaluating government programs". 

This article from 2007 mentions his date of death as the 18th of August.  On the 19th, he would have celebrated his 70th birthday.

More News of the NABER-hood

Yesterday, I heard from a relative named Bonnie**(see post on Nov 10), who has Gerhard Naber in common with us:  if you recall, Gerhard was married twice to women named Elizabeth.  Bonnie's descended from the first Elizabeth's family, and we're descended from the second.
The first batch was Herman, Bernard, Henry, and Mary Anna.  Henry was Ida & Walburga's dad....but Herman was Bonnie's connection, quote:

--Herman Naber was born Mar 6, 1861 New Vienna, Delaware Co, Iowa, and died Feb. 15, 1928 in Randolph, Cedar Co., Nebraska.  Herman Naber married Anna Trapp Feb 10, 1897 in St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Granville, Sioux Co, Iowa. They lived at or near Bancroft, Iowa, for about 7 years, then moved to Randolph, Nebraska.  Herman died from burns due to a house fire.  They lost their home and everything in the fire.  He's buried at St. Frances de Chantal Cemetery in Randolph.

--Herman's sister Mary Anna Naber was born Jan. 25, 1868 in Petersburg, Delaware Co, Iowa. She died April 7, 1945 in Granville, Sioux Co, Iowa, and is buried at St. Joseph Cemetery in Granville. She married John Schlichte May 26, 1891 in Petersburg, Iowa. They had 5 children: Katherine, Anna, Edward, Joseph, & Clara.

(Note--Mary Anna Naber Schlichte died on the 7th of April, and her half-sister Margaret Naber Janson died on the 11th of April, 1945--did Grandma know?)


 Anna Trapp, daughter of Mathias & Katherine (Thelen) Trapp, was born July 10, 1874 SW of Columbus, Polk Co, Nebraska. The Trapp family moved to Granville, Iowa about 1882. Anna died June 30, 1956 at Coleridge, Cedar Co, Nebraska and is buried at St. Frances de Chantal Cemetery in Randolph, Nebraska.

Herman and Anna had 6 children: Katherine, Helen (aka Lena), Henry, Leo, Clara, & Joseph. Only Lena & Clara married and each had 2 girls.

Bonnie's grandmother was a Trapp. She married and had 13 children, one of whom was Bonnie's mother....so THAT'S how she fits.
Thanks, Bonnie!

The problem of Johns and Josephs

Looking at Rootsweb, "an Ancestry.com Community", for JOSEPH BRANDL, I realized that some family researchers are confused by two Brandl men with similar given names who married Janson sisters.  Both couples lived in Buckman, at least for awhile...

John A Brandl (b 1883) married Frances Janson.  Their kids were Adella, Ed, Roman (or Charlie), Leona, Alfred and Florence.  ( Adella married Killian Zenner, Ed and his wife Sadie are familiar, and Charlie had the Ford garage in Buckman when I lived there.  Mom mentioned the others, but I don't have "faces" for them).

Here's John's WWI draft card, signed by his brother, the town clerk:

++++++++++++++++++

Joseph E Brandl (b 1891) married Rose Janson.  Their kids were Ervin, Marion, Leo, Armella, Bernard and Doris. (Ervin was postmaster in Buckman when I lived there, Leo became a priest, and Armella became Sr Mary Joyce, OSF).
Joe was the town clerk in 1917-1918 when all men of a certain age had to sign up for the draft (WWI).  Here's his own draft card, signed by himself:

Let's not even get into the confusion over cousins John and Joseph JANSON, the immigrants....

BRANDLs

Yesterday, Larry found this online:

No, this is not the John Brandl who married Frances Janson.  This John lived in St Paul, Minnesota, but look:  he was applying for a passport to go visit the village where he was born , Hagenfurth, Bohemia.  Larry found that John went back to Bohemia several times, and came home with people from there.

But wait!  Can an ethnic German be a 'Bohemian'?  Sure...

A little background:  The country of Bohemia was located mostly within the current boarders of the Czech Republic.  Sometime around 1500, Germans began moving to Bohemia, and German became the second official language there in 1627.  There was animosity between the native Czechs and the German settlers tho, so most of the separate German villages were around the edges of the country. Some of my Hesch relatives were among those settlers.  Many of them settled around Buckman, Minnesota.  The Czech government is currently digitizing the church books from all those tiny villages, starting with southern Bohemia, exactly where the Heschs and Brandls lived pre-1850, see?  (BTW, when we looked for the Hesch name near Neuhaus (Jindrichuv Hradec on the map), we saw the name BRANDL ocassionally too, so it wasn't only in Hagenfurth).

AND, this gives us a reason to look in the online church books provided HERE.  Click the "Littera Scripta manet" button, then "Parish Registers", then "Roman Catholic Church".  If you just want to see what the books look like, try any letter there, then any parish.  Try a B (births) book in the mid-1800s as they're a little more legible to us.
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Oh darn! we'll need to wait till they get to the "V" villages...they're doing the "R"s now.  Check back in...six months?

"Indulgence claimed"

If you scroll down to the post about Grandpa Anton's rosary and the medal that hangs where the crucifix usually is, you'll see that my sister and niece sort of translated the German inscriptions:  one side actually says

"Michael Erzengel , bitte für uns"  (Michael archangel, pray for us), and they came...close.

The other side of the medal , below, says a little more, which Larry and I figured out last night.

O Maria ohne Sünde empfangen, bitte für uns die wir zu Dir unsere Zuflucht nehmen

Translated, it says:

"Oh Mary conceived without sin, pray for us that we take to you our refuge"

It'd be re-worded on a medal in English, but we understand.  Now, WHO can claim the indulgence?

By the way, did you realize there are people who collect unusual rosaries?
Thanks, Larry!

Linda & Loretta Janson

When mom's cousin Ida Naber died at 93 (in 1995),  I inherited her photo album.  99% of the photos in it are un-marked--some, I recognize, most, I don't.  Argh. 

But these two, I definitely recognize.  I'm not sure I've ever seen mom's Solemn Communion picture before, but I've seen Loretta's and wasn't sure who she was...lol  It has to be her, tho, since mom always said my sister Kathy looked like Loretta.  I can see it, in her eyes, and the shape of her face.

That's Linda Janson (c. 1927) on the left, and Loretta Janson (c. 1929) on the right, daughters of Anton and Margaret (Naber) Janson.