We met another Janson ☺

Early in April, a bunch of Jansons sat down together and talked family ☺.  It was great fun, and I'm sorry it's taken me this long to post about it, but I knew I'd need to do a little research first.
Part of the fun was the WHO part of it: Tom, Glenn, Bev, Gary, Bob and me.   Bob is a descendant of Johannes Janson, the cousin and traveling companion of Josef Janson on their trip to America in 1883.  He first emailed about the ship our two families arrived on, the Zeeland.  That was December 2014.  So, how does he connect specifically?  His mom was Bette, the daughter of Sophie (Janson) and Nick Daniel.  Sophie, of course, was Johannes & Marie's daughter.
(The rest of us at the meeting were descendants of Joseph's via Sebastian and Anton, but you knew that, right?)

Bob's been doing research into his family that connects to Joseph and Franziska, too, so he's read this blog to see if we have any family stories in common.  One, of course, is How They Left Germany .  Bob questioned it!
Now, Larry and I've found a few dubious stories over the years we've been researching the family, but usually there's something true in a story, even if it's not the WHOLE truth.  However, it sounds like mom's story of 4 adults and 10 kids leaving by night in a rowboat was only true in that they did leave Germany together.
According to Bob's research, they left by...train.
Still, I think I heard the story once, not over and over.  I don't know how old I was, but I recall being thrilled imagining the romance and danger of the river, with dark woods and towering castled promontories along the way and towns that needed avoiding.  Of course it stuck in my head.  In reality, they had to leave because 9 of those 10 kids were boys, and subject to the draft in a few short years.  I imagine tales of America's opportunities were pretty irresistible, too.

Another fascinating question we discovered is this strange photo.  Bob couldn't figure out how it fit with other pics of the John Janson house--it's configured totally wrong to be that house, and yet, the people in the photo are definitely John and Maria and four of their adult kids.  Gary picked it up and recognized the house he grew up in, before the porch was added.  The windows and door configuration, the lean-to on the back (right side, which was gone by the time we knew it; only the cement slab was left, remember?)  So, if the two families were at odds after John moved 4 miles south, why were they sitting here?  Certainly, the original cabin on this spot was long gone, so it couldn't have been nostalgia. (By the look of John & Marie, it was around the time of their 50th wedding anniversary).
It's another cool mystery for us to ponder ☺ **

** Hmm, going thru Pierz Journal clippings today (May 1), I found this puzzling auction bill, from 1921: it was published just days after Reinhard was born.  There was a follow-up note in the paper saying that Anton Janson got good prices for his stuff at the auction (they said that about all the auctions, but it means that the event was actually held).  Since Reinhard, Mom and Loretta grew up in that house, and Reinhard's family after them, what was grandpa doing having an auction?? Still, it might have been an opportunity for John's family to walk around in the yard, then.  OR...did they stop at the farm when they knew Joe and Franziska were not home?  Wow, that's possible, too.

We may never know.....

Here's Bob, by the way--5th adult from the left--white hair and glasses. 

 ☺

THANKS for traveling to Minnesota, Bob.

Meeting you was interesting & fun!

Peter Janson 1893-1981

What a marvelous thing online family genealogy is.  Since we began researching the Jansons (mom's family), the Heschs (dad's family),and writing about them here, I've met amazing relatives that I wasn't aware of.  Each one has stories that compliment or enhance, or conflict, with what I heard as a kid ☺.  I love it!

Case in point:  Last summer, I heard from Ed and his wife Sue.  Ed is descended from John, our great grandfather Joe's cousin (the two Jansons who settled in Buckman in 1883).  Ed's grandpa was Dan Janson, whose daughter Laura was Ed's mom.
Zu Verstehen so far?

Yesterday, Sue emailed this cool newspaper article found among Laura's effects, about Peter Adrian Janson, her uncle.  It's from Janesville, Minnesota, February 1, 1978.  Pete is the guy on the right in this picture, when he still lived in Oklahoma.
The article's about his life, of course, but the part that most interests me is in the second column, where he talks about how his parents arrived in Buckman in 1883.

Pete's account is interesting to me because my great grandpa Joe was that cousin, and of course I heard a different version of the story ☺.  I always thought John was the stronger character, and that once they arrived in Mn, they simply couldn't get along because there were four adults, eight kids under 12, plus two new babies...all in a tiny cabin on the land a mile west of Buckman. Sounds insufferable to me ☺.

THANKS, Sue & Ed!

A couple days later:  I found a copy of the WPA bio of Joseph A. Janson, who was Peter's brother.  He became the blacksmith in Buckman and was a council member and clerk of the village.  Part of the biographies were a little about a persons' roots.  Here's what Joe said about his parents:

"John Janson was a cabinet maker by trade in Germany. In the spring of 1883 he immigrated to America with his family, settling in Buckman twp., where he purchased 80 acres of land in section 29. The land was improved brush land.  Ten acres were under cultivation. There was a log house and a log barn on the place.
Mr Janson bought a team of oxen which he used for about six years.  Then he sold them and bought a team of horses. He began to clear more land and hired team and men during the first years to help him.  In 1897 he built a brick veneer house and the same year he purchased 80 acres more wild land which they also improved..."

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!

Alternate IDs for some of those kids

Scroll down and re-look at the porch photo from January 8th--turns out Carrie and her mom checked it out this week and they think a couple of the people named might be miss-identified. (Carrie's great-grandparents were  Mike and Toni, #13 and #11, and her grandparents were Alfred & Eva)  Such good genes!  Here's what Carrie wrote: 

 " ....my mom & I both believe that #12 is her uncle Leo (Toni & Mike's son). Leo & Butch (besides their parents) were the ones I knew for sure. I tried to find some pictures of him & am attaching one. My mom also thinks that #10 is her uncle Walter, not a Daniel".

I really wish I'd known these people--they look like fun ☺

Oh, and THANKS to Carrie & her mom!

The Johannes Janson by-the-porch photo, named!

 Woohoo!! Around Christmas, we heard from a descendant of Johannes and Maria (Sauer) Janson who found the porch photo online...and showed it to her mom, who knew most of the people pictured! 
 Her name's Geralyn, and here's how she connects:

Johannes' daughter Sophia
had a daughter, Dorothy, 
whose daughter is Geralyn. 

Dorothy is the littlest kid in the photo below (18).
See?
☺

This photo, too, was a mystery, but by now we recognized faces. Still, all we could do was  speculate it was taken on the same day as the porch pic. Now, according to Geralyn and Dorothy, the two boys were Sophie and Nick's kids Rheinhold (Ray) and Lawrence (Larry) Daniel.  They're pictured with their mom Sophie (left) and their aunt Regina.  

HUGE THANKS to Geralyn and Dorothy!

Speaking of the Nick Daniel family, Sue sent a few more photos of that clan.  Sue's descended from Sophie and Nick, but so is Geralyn.

(Geralyn says " Sue is my 1st cousin once removed, but with 55 first cousins on my Mom's side...." ☺  it's hard to link them all).

A side note: I like this take on ancestors and our relationship to them:  

 Sasha and Zamani are two aspects of time as expressed in some Eastern and Central African cultures. Sasha are spirits known by someone still alive, while Zamani are spirits not known by anyone currently alive. Sasha are concerned with, and are expressed as, the present time, the recent past, and the near future; while Zamani is the limitless past. Potential time is the third part of the space-time continuum in African Thought. People must learn from the past to act wisely in the present to create a good future.

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! 

John Brandl Family photo

Wow, this week I happened to borrow copies of The Pictorial Atlas of Morrison County, Minnesota from years 1970, 1978 and 1988.  Many families submitted old photos as well as current ones, so now we have this wonderful resource!  

Adela, Edward, Leona, Roman (Charlie)
Florence, Frances (Janson), John and Alfred Brandl.

I'm guessing about the year this photo was taken...but Florence (bottom left) was born in 1920, and she looks 25 or so?  Then this was 1945.

 Francie was mom's aunt, Anton Janson's younger sister.

I'll be posting more of the pics from those books on the Hesch History blog since this seems to be the only old Janson photo submitted--dang!

John William Janson 1891-1979

This morning, Larry asked if I recognized these folks: I didn't.  But it turns out they're related ('course they are, or I wouldn't post em! ☺)

Remember the two Janson families who arrived in Minnesota in the spring of 1883?  One was Joseph Janson, his wife Franziska, and their first five kids.  They were our great grands.
The other was Johannes Janson, his wife Maria Anna Sauer with their first five kids.  Joe and John were cousins, so the relationship is a generation farther removed, but they're still "our" Jansons, from Horrenburg, Rhine Nekkar Kreis, Baden, Germany.


John and Maria had 14 kids in all, but 3 of them died from a flu epidemic in November 1883.  The surviving 11 grew up just fine.  Some had families, some didn't, and one became a nun.  Yup, the man in the pic up there was one of the 11, also named John.  The photo was taken in 1955--John with his wife Anna Weires, and two of their daughters, Hildegard and Roseanna.  Pretty cool, huh?

That's John William Janson  as a kid (left)--maybe his First Communion or Confirmation?--and as a World War I soldier (right). He would have been 27 in 1918.  He married Anna Weires in April 1920.

The photo below was taken in May, 1956.  By December that year, both Mike and Joe had died, so it was a pretty precious get together for them.  

OK!  I think we have this photo properly identified now, thanks to Monica the great granddaughter of Theresa, lower left, and to Bob, Sophie's grandson.   THANKS, MONICA ☺ and THANKS, BOB!

 These two pics are pretty faded, but it looks like John and Anna enjoyed their lives and their family.
Working up from the youngest kid shown, we have Albert, Roseanna, Edward, Hildegard, and possibly Bernard in back, next to John.  We figure this was about 1944, since Roseanna looks about 10.  We don't know who the grandma or grandpa is in the back there.  Anyone know?

Ok, what else do we know about John and Anna?  This is their eldest son, John Herbert Janson.  I remember meeting him when I was a kid, at weddings and funerals, I suppose.  He was born in 1924, so he was 9 years younger than mom.  I remember him only as "old" and "nice".

And look--here they are on the cover of a reunion booklet from 2004.  Anna died in 1969, and John in 1979.  Looks like they had a huge wonderful family, huh?



Thanks to Carrie Stave, Bev Janson, Larry and Ancestry.com--! 
☺

How do these people connect?

Yup, a good way to find family stuff online is to periodically search for the names, even if you just did it a month ago.  Between Larry and me, the one who remembers to do this isn't me ☺.


These two obits were found in the Brainerd Dispatch, Nick Meyer's on October 23, 1969 and Marguerite Faust in the July 20th, 1971 edition.  So, why are they here?


Well, they were brother and sister, children of Math Meyer and Catherine Brausen.  Two of their sisters married Jansons--Leonard and Alfred--sons of John Janson who arrived in America with our Great grand, Joseph Janson.   See?

The aforementioned Alfred was the grandfather of Carrie, who's contributed facts and photos to the blog.


It's just cool to make these connections, I think.

Leaving Antwerp in February, 1883

Here's the family story about how Josef and Johannes Janson and their families left Europe:
Mom said they packed up and left by night, secretly loading their stuff and kids into rowboats on the river.  I always assumed "the river" was the Rhine, like we'd mean the Mississippi, but looking at the map of that area, there's a tributary to the Rhine right from Dielheim.  Wow--was that river really deep and wide enough to float get-away boats?
Anyway, the Rhine seems to meander all over, but eventually leads to the ports in Rotterdam and Antwerp in a whole different country, Holland.  Mom said they were "safe from pursuit" there, and could leave on the next ship out.  That ship turned out to be the Zeeland, a Red Star Line ship (last post, right!)

So this week, Larry found a pdf containing places in Belgium, the US, and Holland where you can write to find info about ancestors who left on Red Star ships. However, what really interested us were the photos sprinkled thru the brochure: 

The Red Star Line building, evidently at the port in Antwerp.

Waiting to go.
Judging by the women's clothing, this was a good 40 years
after  the Jansons left, but possibly from the same building?

 "Everything for passengers is done free of charge in this building"
says the sign (in 5 languages).  These were luggage disinfecting machines...
but I think they were not even thought of when our folks left.
These pics seem to be from well after 1900.

The most interesting photo, I think, is this pic showing passengers filing on board.
The words under the pic are the only explanation given, 
but the walkway in the foreground vs. the line of people farther down the quay 
speaks volumes.
 
And, damn, that's one SMALL ship.

The other Janson family in Buckman

If you're from Buckman and remember when my ex-husband and I owned Zenner's Store, you'll recall that Irene and Robert Janson helped out there quite a bit.  Their dad was "the other" Joseph Janson, the blacksmith, and their mom was Mary Poster.  Irene and Robert had a brother, Otto, a cashier at the bank in town, who married Philomine Theis.  (That's all I know about Otto, except that he and Philomine lived in Minneapolis in 1965, according to her sister's obituary).

Anyway, back to Zenner's store.  I left the marriage, the store and Buckman in June of 1974, but Andre' stayed on with even more help from Robert and Irene.  

Robert died in 1978, and when Andre finally closed the store, he was the nearest thing to family Irene had.  As she got older, Andre' and his wife Sue graciously provided a home for her with them.

When she died in October 1993 she was buried next to Robert in St Michaels Cemetery in Buckman.  Her box of photos and mementos has been sitting in a closet of Andre's house ever since, waiting for someone who wanted them. 

Now, 18 years later, I realized they could be here, on the blog.  Andre' brought them along on a trip to St Cloud, and here they are--too many for one post, but let's start with her family of origin, ok?

If you know this part, just skip it... ☺

Two cousins came to America with their families in 1883.  They were Joseph Janson and Johannes Janson.  (Joseph was my great grandfather).

Johannes was Irene's grandfather.  His son Joseph was Irene's dad, or "Joe Janson, the blacksmith" in Buckman.  Here he is on the left, back row.

The Johannes and Mary (Sauer) Janson family in about 1895 before their family was complete.

Joseph Janson and Mary Poster

August, 1901

Below, the family on a summer day in about 1917:  Robert, Irene and Otto with their mom Mary and dad Joe.  The kneeling woman might have been Gramma Janson. or Gramma Poster?