In mom's honor

My mom (Linda Janson Hesch) was a language nut.  She was disgusted by poor usage and she appreciated puns (altho I don't remember her ever deliberately punning).  If we wanted to bug her, we only needed to twist a sentence...lol


So, when I saw this vocabulary test online I had to take it.  "Most Native English adult speakers who have taken the test fall in the range 20,000–35,000 words" and my score was 34,500, so hooray!  Mission accomplished.
(Thanks, Mom)

Bobby pins

See at the bottom of the card there--"Protects teeth and nails"--?  Whew, I hadn't thought of it in years!
  Bobby pins were made to hold hair, either in pin curls or just in place.  The open end had droplets of rubber on each tip so it wouldn't scratch your delicate head (awww).  Plus, if you opened the pin with your fingers, the rubber should cushion the pin if it slipped against your fingernail.  Makes sense so far, right?  Yeah, it helps to be a female of a certain vintage to understand.
  
But what did rubber tips have to do with teeth?  Ack, the easiest way to open a bobby pin was to pull the longer end outward with your front teeth.  It often slipped, and snapped against that tooth, rubber tip or not.


Dr. 'Subtle', my dentist, looked in my mouth one day and called to his hygienist, "Mary, come in here, I wanna show you something".
When she arrived, he said, "Look, look--these are CLASSIC bobby pin chips!", and damn it, he was right!


(BTW, I always thought the two girls on the card there were Kathy and me AFTER a hair set...lol)


VIA

Where else would this stuff fit?

My picture files are chuck fulla quirky small items that I intend to share, but which don't merit a whole post by themselves.  Here are a few of them--a batch of

 These four little faces should be recognized by all good Catholic school kids in the forties and fifties.  Take a few minutes to ponder, but naming two of them is good, three of them is remarkable, and if you know all four, you probably googled it.

For extra credit, tell us your most memorable episode from their books.

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M'k--remember the post where we speculated about where Margaret Naber got her wedding flowers?  At the time (1913), there was a milliner in Buckman, but like brides everywhere, the tendency to upgrade might have kicked in.  The next nearest hat shop was in Little Falls and was owned by the Sand sisters.  We'll probably never know for sure which shop provided those flowers.  However, we only have a newspaper ad from ONE of them.===== Speaking of newspapers, here's a snarky bit from the St Cloud Times in June of 1909.  I wonder if the use of the word "journal" here had anything to do with the eventual name of the Pierz paper?

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This photo hangs in the new Buckman Hall (sorry about the glass glare).  The priest in front on the left is Fr Ray Donnay, who shared the title of town constable with Math Hesch.  His name was in the Buckman News column pretty often in those years.

With just a quick skim of this wonderful photo, I see Sr Joyce, Sr Teresita, Sr. Severine, Fr Leo and at least one of the older Mischke priests.  See the sister in the fourth row up, on the right?  I think that's Sr Laura, and Sr Mamerta was most likely there too.  

  They all look so proud to be home that day!

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OK, these two will help answer the first question up there.  I remember being fascinated by how careful you had to be pronouncing "are our" so people didn't think you were saying "are are"...honest!

Naming Johannes' sons and daughters, I think

Two Janson families arrived in Buckman, Minnesota in 1883.  One couple was Joseph and Franziska Janson, my great grandparents.  The other was Joseph's cousin Johannes and his wife Mary Janson. 
Michael Janson, Johannes' eldest, married Antonia Hurdt in 1906.  This photo was taken 50 years later, in 1956, at their Golden Wedding Anniversary celebration, when all the sibs were home.  I'm pretty sure about most of the IDs, but then I was comparing faces with the oval family portrait, and considering Carrie's opinions, too.  See what you think:

From 43 years earlier:

(Damn, I love stuff like this! ☺)

A partial answer

Remember the question that puzzled Larry and me (and, no doubt, YOU) regarding what sort of punishment Wendelin Janson received for deserting, back in 1899? 


 We haven't found the answer yet, but the question simmers in the back of both our brains, just waiting for more info.


This week, Larry found an article in a 1908 Los Angeles newspaper when he searched "Janson" on some newly added online newspapers.  Luckily a corporal Janson was in charge the day a prisoner tried to escape.  NO, the punishment wasn't firing squad, but the soldier was shot and killed because he didn't "Halt!" when told to do so...


Anyway, the operative line here is the very last one: "The penalty for desertion is from one to three years in one of the federal penitentiaries".


So, wow, it's possible that Wendelin spent time in jail, or, perhaps the punishment was lighter because he'd already put in three years of service honorably?  The next time he showed up in was the 1905 Minnesota census, in downtown St Paul.  


So, the Wendelin question remains, and on top of that, I wonder who this Corporal Janson was?

Brothers?

This was a Johannes Janson family gathering in 1925.  (I posted it a few days ago, too).  It was in honor of John and Mary's 50th wedding anniversary so a group photo was taken.  You can see them in front of Sr Mamerta, right?  But look at the other end of the crowd--a man with white hair and beard...was that John's brother Stephan?  It would have been the perfect occasion for a visit from the Michigan relatives, after all.  

I suppose we'll find out once Steve sends pics.  

Oh, man, waiting is so DIFFICULT!

Sr Mamerta, OSB

Some cool connections are being made by emailing back and forth with our new-found cousin Stephan Janson!  He said  his uncle Carl remembered a nun from Minnesota coming by train to visit during the summers when he was a kid.  Carl is 79 now, so if he was, say, 10, it would have been 1942.    

I assume the nun was Johannes' daughter Anna, or Sr Mamerta.  (I emailed St Bens to get more info about her, but in the end it was faster to go over to the nuns cemetery 6 blocks from here and find her grave ☺ )

So, she professed her vows in 1915, when she was 25...and died 65 years later, in 1980. 

Wow, she died at 90 years old.

(Thanks for the pic, Carrie!)

This next photo is Johannes Janson's kids in 1956, on the occasion of Mike's 50th wedding anniversary.  (Mike is sitting, second from right).  I know so little about these people, but I'm posting them so Carl can see them, and maybe ID the nun from Minnesota.  She would have been 60 here.

Another pic from that same day, of 'just the girls'.....

....and another of 'just the boys'.

Carrie, if you see this, would you tell me who's who?  

I imagine we'll goof if we try to guess ☺

Does anyone grow raspberries?

I found this in a Good Housekeeping recipe book from 1920.  I think it'd be interesting to try, 
if only to see what was considered "good" back then.

You wouldn't have to make a lot of it, just enough to taste 

and report back to us, ok?  

I'd pay ya twice what dad paid us to help trim trees, promise.

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

Two days later--I mentioned this recipe to a client and her husband yesterday just thinking they might remember a tart raspberry drink from when they were young.  They didn't, but thought the vinegar would be too much, since raspberries are already fairly tart.  

Ten minutes later, he went outside, and came back with half a pail of raspberries that "needed picking", and gave me about a quart of em!

YES, I'm sacrificing a cup of them in the interests of 

science, and genealogy.

I'll let ya know...

 OK!  Well, it's a whole lot better than I expected.  When I first strained it and added sugar to the liquid, it was definitely a vinegar-y raspberry flavor (duh)--not terrible, but I was pretty sure I'd wasted a cup of raspberries.  


I actually did exactly as the recipe said: equal parts liquid and sugar, boiled for 10 minutes.  (This is my 1 quart pot, so about 6" across.  I love close-ups).  
The taste when it's done is only slightly vinegar, and it's as beautiful as you'd expect it to be.  I tried maybe a quarter cup in a glass, and added that much water. 

Nope, the flavor was way too concentrated (but definitely a pleasant no-vinegar raspberry), so I added about a half cup more water.  If I'd had ice cubes on hand, that would have been good, too.
  

WOW--now its a nice fruity "pink" flavor.  It's not really raspberry tasting, but the fragrance is there, and I probably should've waited till it was nice and cold. 

   The syrup would probably make a good addition to iced tea, or a topping for vanilla ice cream, or mixed with 7-up...or booze.


   LOL...no, I probably won't make it again, but it was worth trying.  For sure, it'd be one more way to use those delicious raspberries in the 20s, when there were no freezers available.


  And even THAT should have been a hint.  I put the syrup in the fridge (which they couldn't have done).  When it's cold, it doesn't pour, and it dissolves reluctantly.  If you were making this for use later, it would have been sealed and left on the fruit cellar shelf.  Duh.  (I learn, but s-l-o-w-l-y).

Musta been SOME tires...

"Look out! There's a huge tire about to squash ya..."

"The truck pictured below is owned by Mr. John Janson of Grand Rapids, Mich.  It is shown at the bottom of a gravel pit forty feet deep.  The road out of this pit is very steep and, of course, is soft and sandy.  To pull out with a 2 1/2 yard load this truck needs all the traction it can get; and it gets all the traction it needs with Caterpillars.
The broad surfaces of Caterpillars have a snow-shoe effect.  They pack the loose sand down, thus building a more solid footing for themselves.  At the same time, the notches in the sides act as a lock, getting a firmer grip on the road than ordinary tires could get even with chains.
Many truck operators have been under the impression that pneumatics were the only tires that would give them the traction needed for this kind of work.  As a matter of fact (and Mr Janson's experience proves it), Caterpillars not only give plenty of traction but they also give far greater mileage than pneumatics without the danger of punctures and blowouts..."


 It's amazing that relatively obscure trade magazines are online these days.  Even for those of us who were around and reading by 1922, the chances of seeing Highway Engineer and Contractor Magazine would have been nil.  But, look--a web search found John Janson from Grand Rapids, Michigan, endorsing the tires he used on his trucks.  Isn't that COOL?

( No fair--Larry finds all the GOOD stuff! ☺)

NEW COUSINS--The Michigan Jansons

Dielheim

Our folks came from a few small towns south of Mannheim--Baiertal, Balzfeld, Dielheim, Horrenburg--all in a string within 5-10 miles of each other.  They left for Amerika in the 1880s, particularly JOHANNES, DANIEL, JOSEF...and STEPHAN. 

We know Johannes, Daniel and Josef settled in Minnesota in 1883, and our just-revealed Stephan arrived in Michigan 1889 or so.  How did these men connect to each other?


Well, the ancestor-couple we have in common was Georg Valentin Janson (b 1773) and his wife Eva Katherina Reissfelder (b 1781).  They had a son, Johannes (1803), who married Maria Juliana Bayer (1801), and their youngest son was Josef (1844), our great grandfather, who settled in Buckman, Mn.


Ok so far?


Now, Georg Valentin and Eva Katherina Janson had another son, Daniel, (1816), who was married twice and so had two families. The first wife was Regina Schweigert (1820), and their firstborn was Johannes (b 1845) who came here with his cousin, GG Josef.


When Regina died in 1847, Daniel married Maria Anna Helfinger (1822).  THEIR son Daniel (1850) was the Janson who settled in Rice, Minnesota, and, their son STEPHAN (1857) was the Janson who settled in Michigan, and whose great grandson contacted Kenny and me this week.  


Now, I hope I got that all straight, and that YOU understood even half of it.  Remember, the test at the end will constitute 75% of your grade.

YAY! Welcome (back) to Stephan's descendants--we've been waiting for you! ☺

Relative greetings

Talked to Kenny tonight--he said he'd heard from a JANSON in Michigan who's related somehow to the immigrant Johannes (John).  Since our great grandfather Joseph was John's cousin, the Michigan contingent is probably related that way too--the descendants of one of John's brothers or  Daniels brothers, or cousins... 
hope we find out, huh?
☺
YAY! 

Off Topic

Something not genealogy related at ALL:



A client has a spray bottle of auto windshield washer solution for her mirrors and windows in the house.  It works great and doesn't streak.  Works way better than vinegar and water, and it's cheap.


You're welcome.


(Yes, I HAVE been waiting to use this illustration for months...YAY!)

For the women of the family

Ever since watching Miss Kitty on Gunsmoke when we were kids, I've wondered what women wore under those voluminous skirts and tight looking bodices.  I knew only "Miss Kitty's type of woman" would let others see her ankles/legs, and that it had to be terribly uncomfortable for 'regular' women to wear all that fabric while living in a sod house or helping harvest crops, let alone crossing the prairies in a wagon.


So last week when Larry found Eaton's catalogs online, I thought I'd see what was sold for foundation garments in 1913 at least.


Evidently all females wore corsets of one kind or another--even little girls wore them, supposedly as "posture training", and to hold up their stockings.

Now, even if the word Brassiere is used in that ad above, there seems to be nothing specific to address boobs larger than tea cups.  But remember?  Miss Kitty had a grand canyon cleavage...what would that...I mean, how could that effect be achieved with these under garments?


But look: "Bust forms" >  I assume they were tucked into the top of the corset right under your 'tea cups', but why they were lined with rubberized fabric is still a mystery. Maybe so they stayed where you put em?  
Quote from 74-227 below:
"...Will give rounded effect to the undeveloped figure.  Removable bust pads of rubber sheeting filled with down; boning is removable also.  Sizes 32 to 40 inches". Oh, UNcomfortable!

 And for heaven's sake, LOOK where the stocking clips were placed.  They were never comfortable (front and back, on girdles), but all of them in the front would have felt so odd.  Evidently too, corsets served the same purpose as the bustiere Em wore when she worked at the Renaissance Fest--a snug, lace-up vest with a low squarish edge that fit right under the girls and....supported and compressed, you might say.  Looks like the same principal here.

From other pages in the catalog, I think you wore a hip-length shift sort of thing under the corset (the brassiere), and a petticoat layer over it, under the dress or skirt and "waist".  

I think what we wear now is a bit more reasonable, huh?

After forty-two years in America

Evidently, there were lots of pictures taken in 1925 on the occasion of John and Mary's 50th.  This photo, below, was labeled 'Janson and Sauer families' in 1925.  Five sons and six daughters provided quite a nice crop of kids, even if one sib was a nun.  I count 55 people including John and Mary, tho certainly some were their brothers, sisters and spouses.

BTW, the son on the left in the top pic was Joseph, who was the blacksmith in Buckman.  He married Mary Poster in 1901, and they had three kids: Irene, Robert and Otto.

Many years later, Irene and Robert would help out pretty often in the store after we bought it from Zenners.  They were 23 and 20 when this pic was taken.  I wonder which ones they were...