Sunday, December 20, 2009

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'?

Thursday, December 17, 2009

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

Sunday, December 13, 2009

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


Tuesday, December 8, 2009

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?

Saturday, December 5, 2009

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.

Thursday, December 3, 2009

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?