German farmers in Virginia--early 1900s

A piece from the Sunday paper of the day, about the excellent German farmers who were buying up land in Virginia in 1903....about the time our Jansons decided to return to Minnesota.  Click each section to enlarge, then read between the lines...

Benedictine Vows

I assume that most orders of nuns require something like this from each postulant: the written-out vows a sister agreed to when she joined an order.  This is the form for Benedictines in St Joseph, Minnesota.  It's a copy of Sr Mamerta's vows, from July 1918.

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.

Pictures from a NEW Janson cousin-YAY!

A quick review:  Two Janson families arrived in Buckman, Minnesota in April 1883.  One couple was Joseph and Franziska Janson, my great grandparents.  The other was Joseph's cousin Johannes and his wife Maria (Sauer) Janson.  Both families had five young kids, and both wives were pregnant.
  
If you want more of a review, we've done quite a few posts on them, partly because they TOOK LOTS OF PICTURES thru the years--hooray!--and partly because the rift between the two families from back then seems to be faded, finally.
Early this week, I heard from a great great grandaughter of Johannes and Maria Janson.  Her name's Sue, and she had even more mystery photos to share.  Let me show you a couple, after a chronology of the pics we already have of Johann & Maria's family.  This is so COOL!

C 1895

 Sue's lineage comes thru Sophia Janson, who married a neighbor boy, (Henry) Nicholas Daniel, in 1907, in Buckman, Minnesota.

In the 1895 photo, I think Sophie is the girl on the left, and she's named in the oval portrait...in 1925, she's on the right, for a change.

A very interesting thing about this batch of sibs is that they seemed to get together often during their long lives, and from the pics, they seemed  to be good buddies, too.  Almost all the informal photos have arms around each other, or they're holding hands...like they were delighted to see each other again.  
Anyway, in the interests of getting to bed early tonight, let's go on to some of the new pics from Sue, ok?

This is Nick and Sophie Daniel in 1907, on their wedding day, and in about 1947, since the portrait was taken for their 40th wedding anniversary according to Dophie's sister Dorothy. (Thanks, Dorothy!☺).  
Maybe you can get a feel for their faces, to see if they're included in this next picture:




We've studied this pic for a couple evenings, trying to figure out who the adults are, and what year it was.  Maria, who died in 1926, is not in this pic, but Johann, who died in 1929, is, so it's reasonable to think the gathering was between those years (also, the ages of their kids in the pic are right for those years).

I think at least eight of the Janson sibs appear in this photo. (Read the comments--Carrie Portlance says fewer, and that the children and young adults are, of course, cousins).

Looks like it may have been same day that this four person pic was taken, too...at first, L to R, I thought they were Catherine, Peter, Regina and John Janson, the four youngest of Johann & Maria's kids, but no--they're Mike's boys and aunts, maybe?

There are more pics from our 'new' cousin Sue, but I have grandkids to see tomorrow, so you'll just need to wait for a day or two.  

Trust me, it'll add excitement and the

an-ti-cip-payayay-shun is GOOD for you ☺

THANKS for these, Sue.  

We're so glad you found us! 

The week mom was born

MINNESOTA REFLECTIONS, our state online history center,  has been digitizing the Pierz Journals, first from 1909 to 1913, and this week adding 3 more years--1914, 1915 and 1916.  Larry and I are thrilled, and we expect if you're here, you think it's cool, too....but really, it was a little town weekly paper with mostly local news and local ads.  Sure, it developed over time, but at first even death notices were hit and miss, depending on when the person died.  Elizabeth Naber's death was written up on the front page, but Joseph Janson's was mentioned only in passing since his funeral was old news by the time the paper was published the next week.  
This link will take you to the July 8, 1915 issue of the Pierz Journal...the week Orlinda Janson, first child of Anton and Margaret (Naber) Janson, was born. 

 Yeah, Math Hesch got the date wrong, but he took advantage of grandpa's expansive mood.  Just look at the mileage he got when he interspersed Janson news into his Buckman Correspondence column that week. Wow! ☺

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?

Why I Love Dried Apricots

I've been thinking lately that grandpa Janson has been mentioned here without much affection, but it's only because I only have 3-4 personal memories of him.  He died when I was 5 years old, but a few scenarios have stayed in my mind all these years.  
One is of grandpa arriving from the nearby train depot one morning while we were eating breakfast.  We jumped up hollering "Grandpa's here! Grandpa's here!"and ran outside to greet him.  Another was the fact that grandpa stayed in the front bedroom upstairs when he visited.  That room had 1940s linoleum on the floor, mostly green, with huge flowers and leaves.  After grandpa left, we learned to go to his room to check for change on the floor, lost in the pattern.  I remember the room smelling like him, and missing him already, but happy for the cash ☺  I asked mom once if she thought he left the change purposely, or if he had holes in his pockets.  She didn't know, but thought it might have been both.
My last image of grandpa was when he was laid out at Virnigs Funeral Home in Pierz, in January 1955. There were venitian blinds over a window behind the casket. I was mortified that relatives wanted me (us) to kiss him.  I don't remember if I did or not.  He didn't look like grandpa.

My most enduring memory, tho, was sitting on his lap in the dining room at 434.  He'd brought something special from California, all the way home for me.  He asked if I liked raisins?  Oh yes, I did.  Did I know they were dried grapes?  I probably didn't know that ☺  Well, he said, there was a fruit called apricots that grew in the sun in California, and he found a bag of dried ones there, so he brought them thinking I'd like them. (Did he actually say that, or...)
Anyway, the texture was different, sorta rubbery, and the outside was different than raisins, but the taste was like sunshine.  He believed in natural and fresh foods.  This was a way to bring perishable apricots home.  Definitely, I still love em, and think of him whenever I buy a bag.