Buckman in the Summertime

Selling sweet corn across from St Michael's Church--a Janson kid summer tradition since Kenny was old enough to make change.  I remember going to the bazaar and wondering where the boys got the money to buy stuff for Aunt Jeanette.  They laughed and said "Selling sweet corn, over there--" and they'd point to the parking lot.
It was surprising to me cuz when we visited the farm in the summer, we were always sent home with a gunny sack of corn, but we never saw the stand they pulled up to town.  Not until I found it on Google Streetview in 2010:

I love that the tradition continues...☺

Another Janson Wedding

The Minnesota Official Marriage System,  with the silly miss-leading acronym MOMS, is an online index of marriages recorded in the state from each counties' earliest almost to the present ("excludes this month").  When Sue sent these photos, I didn't connect them to each other, but look closer.  It must be the wedding of Elizabeth Janson to Alois Brucher, on June 23, 1928, in Hennepin county.  Looks to me like Sophie was her sisters' bridesmaid.  The groomsman looks familiar too, but ?

The wedding party of Elizabeth Janson and Al Brucher--
Attendants were Catherine Janson and Larry Daniel.

I like Elizabeth because she obviously didn't worry about 1920s wedding 'traditions' like big bouquets or fussy veils.  Theirs was a thoroughly lovely small wedding with only the required photos.  I bet she was like that all her life.

Anton Janson marries Margaret Naber

The May 22, 1913 issue of the Pierz Journal carried this wedding announcement.  Probably written by Math Hesch, it seems to be worded delicately, since everyone knew Anton Janson was just a little prickly....  


"We have the pleasant opportunity this week of relating to the marriage, which took place in out village last Monday at 9 a.m., when Miss Margareth Naber and Anton Janson were united in marriage by Rev. J. B. Brander at the St Michael's church, in the presence of relatives of the couple and a large number of invited guests.  The bridesmaid was Rose Janson, sister to the groom, and John Naber was best man.  Music was furnished by the choir.  After the ceremony, the couple were showered with hearty congratulations.  The happy newweds were the recipients of many presents.  They will make their home on the grooms farm in Buckman".


Cool, huh?

Who was Otto Janson?

Here's another possible connection we'd never be aware of if it wasn't for digitized newspapers online, their searchability, and Larry..  
In Sausalito, California, in 1918, a local businessman was overheard questioning America's involvement in the war in Europe.  He happened to speak German as well as English, and people assumed he was sympathetic to the German cause.  He also made the mistake of succeeding in business here in America, so:
  
                                           
5 YEARS IN PRISON FOR OTTO JANSON
Head of Oakland Iron Works is Sentenced on Disloyalty Charges
San Francisco--Otto Janson, head of the Janson Iron Works of Oakland, and the first German-American to appear in the local federal courts on charges of disloyalty, was sentenced to five years' imprisonment at McNeil Island May 10th by Federal Judge M. T. Dooling.
In sentencing Janson, who suffered a change of heart and sought permission to join the United States Navy since being indicted, Judge Dooling took occasion to condemn organizations of citizens taking it upon themselves to punish pro-Germans.
Judge Dooling scored Janson, for his sentiments expressed to several witnesses.
"It is a matter of public notoriety", said Judge Dooling, "that throughout the country at this time there are misguided citizens organizing themselves into so-called Knights of Liberty and Ku Klux Klan and other organizations for the purpose of dealing with these people in the country presumably on the theory that the courts are not able to do it, or will not.  It seems to be difficult to make some realize that this country is really at war and in earnest about it, and that all the energies of this country must be bent to the winning of the war."
Judge Dooling asserted that he imposed a substantial sentence upon Janson for the purpose of checking others.
"Why a young man, born in this country," said Judge Dooling, "should entertain views of this kind--I have no doubt that he entertains them, because these declarations were not made to single individuals or at one time--I cannot understand.  I have an idea that if he were in Germany, which he so much loves, and should make declarations of that kind against the German government he would be dealt with much more harshly than he could be in this country."

These photos of Otto Janson, with a summation of his "crimes", were found on Ancestry.com.   MCNEIL ISLAND, WASHINGTON, U.S. PENITENTIARY, PHOTOS AND RECORDS OF PRISONERS RECEIVED, 1875-1939


His physical description says he was 27 years old, 5 feet 4 1/2 inches, 152 pounds, with brown hair and hazel-grey eyes.  (Oddly, more than half of the description was a list of his teeth?).  
Now, almost a hundred years later, I'm still horrified by the travesty of "justice" that Otto was subjected to.  From other articles we found in California papers, Otto took over the business from his father, Anton (Charles in the census) who founded Janson Iron Works.  The Jansons weren't poor immigrants-- they certainly worked hard to get where they were by 1918.  In my mind, Otto's actual "crime" was being successful and speaking his mind with a German accent.
Sigh.  
When Larry investigated further, he found that Otto at one point said his family was from Denmark, rather than Germany.  I assume he meant his grandfather, since Otto's father claimed Germany on the 1910 census.  

Grandpa and Minnesota Power and Light

In the desk downstairs that belonged to Grandpa Janson (the one we were not supposed to touch),  I found this photo of some sort of harvest-related activity--theres a hopper, and a belt, and two large taped-together tubes like stove pipes going left and right.  Were they shooting out those piles of straw?  And, was that an electric generator (lower right)?
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
When I asked mom about it years later, she said it was the Janson farm, and grandpa was trying to prove that farms could definitely be electrified--not only lights in the house and barn, but also this kind of thing--silo filling, shredding,  feed distribution, milking and milk handling, barn cleaning-- there were endless possibilities.  She said Grandpa worked with the power company to get an electric line strung to his farm, and proved that electricity was not dangerous.

Stearns REA history

Minnesota Power & Light history

Hm.  It only takes a little research to discover this was almost certainly a crock.  Once towns and cities had it, farmers were begging for electricity.  What other  occupation but a farm took quite so much back-breaking labor every day?  Check this article from Popular Mechanics called "Electricity to end Farm Drudgery".  WHAT farmer wouldn't want less labor?  And even without electricity, farmers had used steam power for bigger tasks like threshing for years.  Besides, grandpa's farm was 17 miles from Little Falls.  If they'd wanted or needed a demo farm, there were plenty within a mile or two of the dam.  So, what was this a photo of?
Probably it was grandpa proving that he didn't NEED to go buy a big fancy piece of equipment like this one Larry found:

(I'd love to be proved wrong about our conclusions re: this cool family story, but.....)

Mary ROOS Janson 1881-1947

Grandpa's brother Sebastian was 10 when the family arrived here from Germany in March, 1883.  He was old enough to help with chores and farm work, and probably goofed around with his brothers there, too.  In about 1892, some new neighbors moved to Buckman by the name of ROOS (the Dutch and Swiss German word for 'rose'....(also de Roos): habitational name for someone living at a house distinguished by the sign of a rose. OR  metonymic occupational name for someone who grew roses, from roos ‘rose’...OR perhaps, someone with a ruddy complexion).
 
The 1895 Minnesota census shows Henry & Louisa Roos and a daughter named Mary, 13, the oldest of six kids.

Sebastian was 8 years older than Mary.  They were married in Buckman  October 10th, 1898.
They farmed all their lives--first in Buckman, then Farmville, Virginia, and then in Leaf River, Wadena County, Mn, before moving to New Munich, Stearns County in about 1918. 

Mary (Roos) Janson died on Christmas day, 1947 in Stearns county, and we really NEED a picture of her and Sebastian!

Three Janson Families Arrive in the USA

Evidently, cousins John and Joseph JANSON traveled here on the same ship, the SS Zeeland.  They arrived in Phillidelphia in March 1883:

John was the last entry on the page before this one:

And here's the third JANSON family (Daniel) to leave Deilheim, Horrenburg, Germany in 1883, but they arrived on the SS Vaderland in October that year.

One of the coolest services offered by Google is being able to search all the old books they've digitized.  The words "Morrison County, Minnesota" will get you this one, among others.  Who knew there were catalogs for church and clergy?  Hoffmann Brothers included just about everything--from where to get pews, organs, candllabras, wine, bells for the tower, and (if you had no convent around), vestments and altar linens. The ad for cassocks was in English, then  repeated in German. There's a liturgical calendar, a hierarchical list, and an account of all the churches and clergy in the country.  Here's Morrison County, in 1886: 

 

Oh, and we might have another connection featured in the Directory--Greulichs were from Horrenburg, and are definitely a branch of our Janson tree.  Whether THIS August Greulich is connected, I don't know, but it's surely possible.

Another Janson heard from

Remember the post last week about Joe Janson?  I e-mailed him, he answered, and forwarded the e-mail to his brother, Tom....who (duh) lives within 10 miles of my house.  Tom said he's collected lots of Janson history over the last few years.  In fact, "Some years ago, Glenn and I stayed with relatives in Horrenburg, and visited the church in which our grandfathers were baptized and our great grandparents were married. We also ate at the restaurant our great, great, great grandfather, Georg, owned and sold to pay legal fees. He sold it to a fellow named, Knopf. Knopf's great, great, great grandson, Walter Knopf, still owns the restaurant (Der Wildenman--The Wild Man)".  (Glenn is Tom's cousin, son of Sebastian's son Joeseph).

"The Janson cousins (Kai and Lars) gave me a family book of Horrenburg/Deilheim, with a fantastic family tree of all the town families, including the Jansons and the Fuchs (Franziska). The house is still called the Fuchs house and we met the lady who now lives in it. The fellow who wrote the book is a guy named Ronellenfitch"...Cool!  There are Ronellenfitchs in our tree (as well as in Buckman).  With any luck, Tom, Glenn and I'll get together soon to compare notes.  Hooray!

Was this really a 'hired girl'?

The first time I saw this photo, I asked mom who it was, and she said the little girls were "Loretta and me". Ok....then, who was the big girl?  She glanced at it again and said it was probably one of the 'hired girls' they had in those years. :::::  Now, all these years later, I think mom was wrong.  I recognize the barn with white trim as being in Nabers yard, in Bancroft.  I think the Jansons were there, visiting Henry, Ida and Walburga.  (Mom looks about 8 here, and Loretta, 6.  That would make the year 1923).

So, if the "big girl" was either Ida or Walburg, then we need to compare pictures:

Hmm! Between them, Ida was always the camera nut, so I think she took this picture of the kids with her sister Walburga--who was--wow--quite lovely, at 25!

Joe Janson, from New Munich

Wow, does this man look familiar, huh?  Here's his website: JOE JANSON. I'm tickled that he looks so much like my brother, Allan. He even sits like Allan... Joe has to be Dick and Pauline Janson's son.  Wanna guess who found Joe's webpage?

Allan

Thanks again, Larry...lol

The IGI (International Genealogical Index)

Jansons and Fuchs came from a town called Balzfeld, in the municipality of Deilheim, district of Rhein-Nekkar in Karlsrhue County, in the state of Baden-Wurttemburg, Germany...., and, they were Roman Catholic (RK).
HERE'S the LINK to the beginning of theGerman IGI; since I posted this, they've updated  and streamlined it.  If you use Chrome, it'll translate automatically (if you've set it that way).  If not, type Balzfeld in the "suchen" box.  You'll get a page with Balzfeld listed 4 times for different eras.  Click the blue links in the second last column for the lists of names.

These are church records from a Catholic town, so the lists includes pretty much every family who had a wedding or kids in those years.  It's fun to scroll thru them and see all the names you recognize from Buckman and central Minnesota, as well as from the Janson family tree--Epp, Ronellenfitch, Janson, Brentzinger, Froehlich, Greulich, Fuchs, Knopf-- families who lived there for generations, but who finally decided to leave for America, so we could have a better life, not to mention more choice of whom to marry.

A trip to Bancroft, Iowa

This was a negative I found in moms' stuff.  The poor quality is because I scanned it and then reversed the black & white.  It wasn't the best pic to begin with, but I recognize all of 'em, even mom's shadow there on the right, as she took the photo...lol
It's Reinhard Janson, Walburga and Ida Naber, Helen and Lawrence Cable, with Naber's chicken coop in the background.
I'm trying to figure out what year it probably was: it's cold enough to wear coats, but Ida and Walburg just dashed outside for the photo-op.  There are no leaves on the tree to the left and no leaves on the ground, so it's probably spring....Uncle Reinhard looks like he did in his U of M pics....I don't have a date when Helen Gertrude Bahns married Lawrence Anthony Cable, but this trip was probably to introduce Lawrence to the Naber sisters.  My best guess is April, 1942.  If I'm right, Helen was expecting little Lawrence, who was born in November that year.  She does look a little urppy....lol

Helen's mother was Katherine (Naber) Bahns, and Reinhard and Linda (mom)'s mother was Margaret (Naber) Janson. Katherine and Margaret's dad was Gerhard Naber, whose oldest  half-brother was Henry, the father of Ida and Walburga Naber...got it?

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.

On the Move...

We were looking online for the answers to a fairly complicated set of genealogical questions about the Janson family, and Larry found answers that we could ONLY have found online. I'm still stunned, in awe of how his mind works, and delighted....I feel like Dr Watson to his Sherlock Holmes.

What we knew:

1. The Janson family moved to Hampden, Virginia in 1900 after spending 18 years in Minnesota improving their acreage, clearing fields, planting crops, and building a house and out-buildings on the farm west of Buckman.

2. Their eldest son, Wendelin, had enlisted in the military, served a 3 year stint, and was honorably discharged (1898). That summer, he took a trip to Europe.

3. The next spring, he re-enlisted, stayed 3 months, and deserted (1899).

4. In 1903 when Buckman incorporated, Joseph Janson was back there as one of the petitioners.

5. Altho the whole Joseph Janson family is listed in Hampden in the 1900 census, we believe that only Anton, plus 'one brother and three sisters*' accompanied Joseph and Franziska there, and that Anton stayed in Virginia for 3 more years after they went back to Minnesota, according to his WPA bio, right.
(* Anna, Rose, and Frances, plus Sebastian and his wife Mary Roos, who lived in Meherrin, Va).

6. The first two of Sebastian & Mary's kids were born in Virginia.

This all produced quite a few questions for Larry and me--like, what made them decide on Virginia, and why, right then? What kind of farms were available there? How did they find out about Hampden and Prince Edward County? Were there other German families in the area? Was the climate there really similar to southern Germany? (We were suspicious that they moved to hide Wendelin, but no, we don't think he was there at all).

The Library of Congress Chronicling America website: It's digitized historic newspapers from 15 states so far, and they include some from Minnesota and Virginia.

Larry found this article in the St Paul, Minnesota GLOBE Newspaper. A young scholar (W.E.B.DuBois!) uses Farmville, Prince Edward County, Virginia as a "typical" Southern town 30 years after the Civil War. Farmville happens to be about 5 miles from Hampden, and we think the Jansons may have read it, not with a view to the "Race Problem", but instead, imagining how they might fit there.
Click the article to read it.
Another internet WOW was information found in Google Books: this short rundown of Prince Edward County mentions German farmers moving there about 1900, and another book said it was about 12 families...

Amazingly, this FOR SALE ad appeared in the GLOBE, February 14, 1904--it could certainly have been placed by Grandpa Anton....

A photo of a West Virginia farm about the same time.

Jansons & Fuchs from Balzfeld and Dielheim, Germany

#1 below is a map of Germany as it is today. The arrow points to the "state" of Baden-Wurttemberg, which is larger in #2...and #3 is the part where our folks came from in 1883: Rhine-Neckar Kreis.
If you've looked for Jansons online, the "where" part is often confusing. Some webpages connect Balzfeld/Horrenberg with Heidelberg, some with Neckar Kreis, some just with Baden, or Baden-Baden.

According to My German City, the town of Heidelberg is a separate governmental unit, tho it may not have been back then. Balzfeld is just down the road from Horrenberg and Dielheim.

SO, I'd say the 1882 place-of-origin would be Balzfeld, Heidelberg, Germany, but the current place of origin would read:

Balzfeld, Rhine-Neckar Kreis, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany, Europe, the earth, the solar system, the mind of God...

Janson & Brandl kids

The photo (top right) was probably taken about 1920, in the front yard of the Joe Brandl house in Buckman, Minnesota. It was the house that's kitty corner from the church, but now, the porch is gone (removed when the road in front was widened for the highway). Mom pointed it out as the house where her grandma Janson died, in the main floor corner bedroom.


In trying to determine who the kids in this picture are, we needed to look at the family tree and see who was born between Adella Brandl and Leo Brandl. (Two of Anton Janson's sisters--Frances and Rose--married Brandls--John and Joe). Judging by moms' apparent age here, and by Leo, the baby, it had to be Spring, 1921.

My best guess: Standing are Adella, 13--Ed, 11--Ervin, 6--Charlie, 8--Franziska (Fuchs) Janson--then mom, 6--Leona, 5--and Loretta, 4.
The baby had to be Leo Brandl (born Jan, 1920). The only other kids in those familys who were around 4 years old were Marion and Alfred. (However, I'm pretty positive about MOST of the names).

(If you happen to know I've mistaken someone here, please, let me know in the comments).