The Red Star Lines' S/S ZEELAND

From an article in Popular Mechanics Magazine in 1931, a comparison of ships. The one most like the "Zeeland" is the "Great Republic", shown on the right, behind the two largest ships:

"The Evolution of the Transatlantic Liner from Christopher Columbus' Tiny "Santa Maria" to the New Cunarder Which is to Span the Ocean in Four Days, Compared With the Five Days Required by the "Leviathan"; the Larger the Boat, the Narrower the Ocean, When Computed on the Basis of Time Rather Than Distance".

The S/S Zeeland, of course, was the ship our Janson families came to America on.  Cousin Bob (see the next post for where he fits ☺) sent a provenance of the ship, which tells us how often it changed hands (and names) in its' 30 years on the Atlantic...and also, how small it was.  In trying to think of something we all could identify size-wise, I tried school buses (each about 35 feet long).  You'd have to imagine nine and a half of em for the length. Not usable.  The Foshay tower is 110 feet taller, and it's upright.  Ok, back to the standard Football Field, sorry. According to Bob's info, the Zeeland was only 337 feet long, by 42 feet wide, and carried over 800 passengers, plus freight.

For more information, here are the previous Zeeland posts ☺ .

                                                          THANKS, Bob!                        

The Nick & Sophie Daniel Family

 Woohoo! We heard from another descendant of Johnnes Janson  (one of two Janson immigrants cousins who came to Buckman in 1883).  We have lots of info here already about the Nick Daniel family, but this pic is new, and was sent by Bob, who is the son of the beautiful young couple (front row, left).
That's Nick and Sophie (Janson Daniel), there in the middle.

Bob sent a list of names, but I'll re-type it so it's searchable:

CHILDREN AND SPOUSES OF 

HENRY NICHOLAS "NICK" DANIEL & SOPHIA HELENA (JANSON) DANIEL

40th Wedding Anniversary,

May 21, 1947

Lawrence & Lillian (Wierer) Daniel, Harold & Mamerta (Daniel) Pollnow, Celestine & Virginia (Schuster) Daniel, Jerome & Rosemary (Dwyer) Daniel, Reinhold & Elizabeth (Valerius) Daniel, Norman & Lois (Klug) Daniel;

Henry & Ruth (Metzelfeld) Daniel, Nick and Sophie, Hilda (Daniel) & Al Braden.

Rodney & Elizabeth (Daniel) Garms, Dorothy Daniel, 

and Margaret (Luzenski) & Claude Daniel.

THANKS to Bob for sending this, and to Sophie & Nick for taking so many pictures over the years! ☺

Cataracts and Cousins

I went to the eye doc last week because I'd been noticing some blurring in my right eye, plus dryness at night after a lot of computer viewing.  She did a series of tests (such cool equipment they have!) and said it's definitely a cataract.  Ok, so I have an appointment for cataract surgery in a couple weeks, but one thing I'm supposed to do in the meantime is, 3 or 4 times a day, wet a wash cloth with hot water and lay it over my eyes for 5 minutes, and then use a rice sock warmed in the microwave for 40 seconds.  Mein Gott, it feels WONDERFUL.  Just the wash cloth puts me to sleep ☺ so of course the last treatment is when I crawl into bed.  Ahhhh...
  
So there I was yesterday, in my computer chair soothing my eyes, when a "new" Janson relative named Ed popped up via Facebook.  Turns out he's a descendant of John Janson, the cousin who arrived in Minnesota in 1883 with our GGrandpa Joe.  Ed's grandpa was Dan, as in this blurry photo from 1956.
Because Ed's wife Sue provided their phone number, he and I talked for a couple hours last night, checking family stories with each other and talking about photos and farms and relatives.  BTW, we're 4th cousins and our common ancestor was George Valentin Janson.  You'll need this info for the quiz.

Ed and Sue sent these pics yesterday and today.  It's such a miracle that there are STILL unseen pics out there, and that we're able to connect with each other.

Mary Anna Sauer Janson

Elizabeth; Theresa; Sr. Mamurta; Regina; Catherine
 Seated left to right:  John; Dan; Pete

Dan Janson’s 80th birthday. He took Ed’s bike for a spin
and was quite pleased with himself.

Dan’s 90th birthday party.
The three women are his daughters.
Left to right: Clare Janson McHale,
 Agnes Janson Vaughn, Laura Janson Claessen.

THANKS ED & SUE-I'M GLAD YOU FOUND US!

Nabers in Dairyland

 ...Naber and Sons, Muscatine, Iowa

I remember mom mentioning relatives in Muscatine, Iowa, but I doubt we ever went there to visit.  Ida and Walburg probably visited there, and kept mom in the loop with family news about them.  

Larry found this bottle cap for sale on line.  COOL, huh?  Wonder what year it was from.  This sort of cover fit in the tall, slope-sided bottles (from earlier times), not the ones below...but why do I know that?  The squarish bottles were what we bought at the Dairy Bar on 3rd Street in St Cloud, but they had foil caps that fit down over the lip, remember?  The phone number is just four digits--1791--so it was before the national system was fancied-up with letters.

I'm guessing the Naber and Sons Dairy existed in the 1920s to 40s?

We can change this info if we find out different! 

(Next day--Larry found these ads in the Muscatine Journal in the 1940s)

THANKS, LARRY X2 ☺

Visiting Balzfeld in the 1950s

Here's something I've had in "My Pictures" file for about a month, since I met Diana on Facebook.  She lives in Balzfeld/Horrenburg, Germany--the villages that our Jansons left in 1883.  She found "Janson" online then connected on FB--isn't the world amazing these days?  Diana posted about it  on "Heimatdorf BALZFELD"and a friend of hers names Ute posted this stunning photo.  She said too that younger woman in the pic has a daughter, Irene, who still lives in Balzfeld.

Anyway, if the man on the steps was a Janson from America...he might have been one of John's sons, or Stefan's (who settled in Michigan) or Daniel who settled in Rice, Minnesota, because he's not Wendelin,  Sebastian, Eugene or Grandpa Anton.  Still, I'm thrilled someone went back to Balzfeld. 

Do you recognize the gentleman? The woman on the right reminds me of Grandpa Jansons' sisters Rose and Frances (both of whom were born in Minnesota). 

THANK YOU to Diana and Ute!

The births of Loretta and Reinhard Janson

Here's the announcement of mom's beloved sister, Loretta,  born and baptized in September 1917. (I'm sure it was also posted in the PJ, but these three clips happened to be in the LF Herald's "Buckman" news).

  We don't know if Anton & Maggie were thrilled to have another daughter. We do know that Loretta's big sister was pleased.  It would have been fun to have a playmate and confidant.

Interesting, tho, how different Reinhard's birth announcement was.  Grandpa was feeling expansive, for sure.  His remarks were so unusual for the father of a new baby to make that they were published.  Even now, it's weird.
Something else I found from that year surprised me--why was the house vacant on the Janson farm?

Wow, because Grandpa Janson had an auction shortly after Reinhard was born! "Quit active farming"?