A very special day remembered for so many years with a "party."
June 13 1895 was a special day so many years ago. She celebrated 87 birthdays!
I cannot think of a better Grandma...she was well loved.
Far Side
This photo was taken at my parents home at the farm in 1971.
Far Guy holding Snuffer our dog. The lady laughing is Far Guy’s Aunt Beryl…she was widowed in January of 1971 (Uncle Ron was just 52 years old when he died.) My Dad with a big grin on his face is handing Beryl a snow shovel with a poinsettia on it. My other baby brother ( age 11) and my sister (age 5) look on. I believe that Aunt Beryl had complained about an old beat up snow shovel.
Far Guy is holding Snuffers muzzle to keep her from barking…she was a great watch dog! She was just a few months old. She was a $5 mutt part Scottie that Far Guy bought at a garage sale for my birthday. ( Snuffer lived a good long time and helped raise our girls to like animals.)
I believe that this photo was taken on Christmas Eve 1971. Far Guy had a lot more hair back then…we were both college students at Moorhead State College now Minnesota State University Moorhead.
Everyone has a Great Grandmother…but how much do they really know about them…until it is too late to ask..or you were too little to ask the questions? Perhaps they have a photo or two…
This is Far Guy’s Grandmother Tracie and our niece Bethany in the summer of 1982. Grandma would die the following April at the age of 87..she almost made it to 88 years of age before she got liver cancer and died shortly after the diagnosis in the hospital but before she made it to the “home.” That in itself was worthy of a celebration.
Bethany our niece in the photo would have been about 18 months old if my math is correct. The photo was taken in the summer at Grandma’s apartment in Park Rapids. They are sitting in the big chair in the corner by the window. The latch hookrug/wall hanging might have been a gift from someone( Far Guy’s Dad Marvin I think…and I think it covered the air conditioner) and the throw on the back of the chair looks like it came from Arizona where Grandma used to visit her youngest son in the wintertime. You can see the corner of an oak end table…which has been in our home since about 1983. I can see something that I had not thought about for a long time…an ice cream bucket with a crochet cover…I still have mine upstairs I keep crochet hooks and other odds and ends in it…Grandma must have made the cover for the buckets! It was a useful gift especially since I still have mine.
Cousins once removed or is twice or three times. How confusing can this cousin “stuff” be?
I have been reading about it. I finally had to print out a chart.
Take this photo for instance.
It is marked on the back…To Mama and Papa from Laura. Now the Mama and Papa was Far Guy’s Great Grandparents Stuve and Laura would have been Far Guy’s Great Aunt (His Grandmother’s sister). So if I have done my chart correctly the children in this photo are Third Cousins…I think.
I sent this photo to a relative who might confirm the identity of these people.
I believe it is:
Front row left Great Aunt Laura, Ermin, Fern and Lula
Back Row left Curtis, Uncle Clarence? and Roy ( Lauras first husband Clarence died in 1920 at the age of 41 .) Sometime later she remarried a widower named Ben. She ran a boarding house in Battle Creek Iowa to support her children.
Sometimes examples help me learn.
In Far Guy’s family
First Cousins share a Grandparent (Like Bonnie, Jay, Jack, Tom etc..)
Second Cousins share a Great Grandparent ( Like Orville, Earl etc…)
Third Cousins Share a Great Great Grandparent ..is that like your First Cousin’s Children too?
How about you can you shed any light on cousins ? How about the removal part? Is it the number of generations that separate you?
Far Guy’s God Mother Marge ( He calls her Aunt Marge) has been on our minds all Spring and now Summer.
She is fighting esophageal cancer and going through radiation. Her kids who live many States away are taking turns caring for her. They fly in for a couple of weeks and then another flies in to take their turn. They drive two hours to the radiation treatments and two hours back. Marge says the treatment after she is inside the helmet and locked down takes just seconds.
We visited recently. We all laughed and cried. She wonders when it will all come to an end. Far Guy said “We never know… God is in charge and when it is your time it is your time.” Marge wonders what she could possibly do on this earth that would make a difference. She is a Minister’s kid and her 92 year old brother is still doing vacancy preaching. Marge has a strong faith, she knows she is saved by Grace alone…she is ready.
Many years ago, Marge and her husband Orville gave us a couple of pots of a tall grass. They said it will spread and it is impossible to kill so put it someplace where you don’t care if it takes over. Since then we have called it Marge Grass. ( It is really a Miscanthus of some sort…not sure which one. )
All Spring the Marge Grass was struggling…as was Marge. One day I told Far Guy “ I am worried about the Marge Grass and Marge I think it is a bad sign.” He replied “I know…me too.”
Finally now in late June, the Marge Grass is coming along. Marge completes four of her six week radiation regimen today.
Here is The Marge Grass at it’s best in the Fall.
Marge never forgets our anniversary or Far Guy’s birthday, the phone rings and it is Marge. She has graciously shared some of her husband’s family history with us. Orville’s Mother (Aunt Emma) was Far Guy’s Grandma Tracie’s sister. As a side note Orville had Trigeminal Neuralgia also and breathing problems which may or may not have been Alpha One Antitrypsin Deficiency. Orville died back in 2005.
Marge will be 85 on her birthday in August.
A long long time ago there was a Railroad Celebration in Park Rapids. The first train from Wadena came through that day. It was a big deal. There was a parade and people came from miles around to celebrate.
Three young fellows; Willie Fox, Will Zimbrick and John Grandy were in charge of the cannon and inbetween volleys apparently they didn’t get it swabbed out clean enough…there must have been a spark left, enough to cause an explosion that day. Willie and Will lost their hands and parts of their arms in that explosion on August 1 1891. After recovering from their injuries they either got jobs at the Courthouse or resumed jobs there, both served as County Treasurers and lived a normal life even with their handicaps. I recall that one article said that they signed papers with a pen in their teeth.
Sometime in the town history a park with a fountain was built across from the High School. That park had a huge fountain…and the cannon…make that cannons…it seems there were two took up residence there until they were sold for scrap during WWII.
Great Aunt Frances leaning against the outer edge of the fountain about 1920-1922. The cannons are in the background. I was excited to see them and the fountain as there are only a few photos that exist.
Friends of Aunt Frances inside the fountain.
In this photo you can see the railroad cars in the background. The fountain was on the same block as the old Roller Skating/ Ford Garage… now Hugos…formerly J and B Foods.
I discovered this photo in Skinnies album.
Skinnie (Aunt Frances) was one of the teachers.
That is Aunt Frances on the far left.
The upper mark is Far Guy’s Dad Marvin. The lower mark is Uncle Jimmy because he looks just like his son Jay.
Far Guy and I looked over the photo for Uncle Ron with no clear answer. Perhaps he is in the back row the second boy from Aunt Francis. OR maybe he was sick that day.
I believe this photo was taken in the spring of 1928. Marvin would have been 13, Ron 10 and Jimmy 6. It was taken at the school in Osage….which later became the Community Center…which was later torn down to make room for the new Baptist Church later named Community Church.
I can still see how wonderful the building looked when Osage celebrated the Centennial…it was painted and served the community well, its real wood floors were warped with age and the out house was out back.
48 students and two teachers
I have been struggling with corrections to Find a Grave. Some people are very nice…others not so much. One local gal is all messed up. I finally asked that the grave be transfered to me and I will straighten it all out. Whether or not she transfers it to me remains to be seen.
I flit here and there adding obituaries. I suppose I should have some rhyme or reason to my madness but I don’t.
One of Far Guy’s Maternal Great Uncles was missing from the local cemetery. He was either missed or entered under another name. I finally gave up searching and added him myself along with a photo of his gravestone. This is a photo of him with his siblings.
That is Bernard or “Bundt” on the far left, Frank and Ernest or “Ern”.
Ethel, Amy and Meade (Far Guy’s Maternal Grandmother)
This photo was taken in October of 1967 in Detroit Lakes Minnesota.
Their brother Loren died in 1949 and Robert “Dave” in 1955.
This family still has one person missing. Ethel, I think she is buried in town at the Catholic Cemetery, I am 98 % possitive it is her…but I will make a trip to the Library to see if I can find an obit…or maybe I have one in my stacks of obits upstairs.
I urge you to check on your deceased relatives, to make sure the info is correct and complete if they are listed at Find a Grave.
When you are doing family research sometimes you run across info that has been repeated for generations. How much do you believe and how much is the stuff of legends?
Far Guy’s Paternal Grandmother Theresa or “Tracie” had four brothers. They all came North from Logan Iowa in 1914. Fitting bits and pieces of information together in later years Grandpa Stuve sold part of a very successful farm and helped his sons with farms of their own. Then there was the Depression in 1929. One night the boys all took off. No one knew where they were for years. The farms went back to the banks. Grandpa Stuve was left penniless.
One of them is known as a “Horsethief” perhaps he stole horses for the getaway.
Ferdinand Theodore Stuve July 22, 1888 to December 15, 1941. He was a twin.
Here is picture of him. He remains elusive for me. I found him linked on Find A Grave to his parents. Family history has it that he died in Montana and was buried in Kelso Washington. Then why did I find him buried in Detroit Michigan? He was married at least once to Effie Edwards but has no children. If he is really buried in Michigan he had another wife who had three previous husbands.
Was he really a horsethief? He looks like a kind man, but you never know during the depression men were pushed to their limits.
This is the only known photo I have thanks to Aunt Frances and CousinTerry.
For now, I have my notes. My OCD wants to fill in all the blanks…make sure it is really him in that cemetery in Michigan…something tells me that it is not him…but I may never know for sure.
The old photos that I scanned were returned this week to cousin Terry. Frances was his mother.
This is cousin Terry when he was one year old. He was an only child and I heard he was the apple of his mother’s eye (very spoiled).
This is Great Aunt Frances in High School. I am pretty sure she has a huge bow in her hair.
Chet and Frances
They owned a shoe store up in Grand Rapids Minnesota. You could get the “family” price if you came up to the store on a Sunday and probably Sunday dinner too. I recall Far Guy’s mother wanting a perfect pair of shoes and insisting that she go shopping there. It was only 85 miles.
Chicken. When I talked to Cousin Terry on the phone he said, “When we visted on a Sunday, the first stop was Aunt Emmas for chicken dinner and then it was on to Aunt Tracies where guess what was on the stove? Chicken.”
Along with the photos that were returned, I sent a few copies of photos that he may not have and a copy of the part of the family tree that he and Far Guy share. I was only able to push that generation back to 1814 in Germany and Alsace-Lorraine which was German held but some French lived there. There are not enough hours in the day to do the proper research…maybe someday.
The granddogs had appointments for the full treatment at the groomers. They look and feel beautiful/handsome! Chance was very depressed when they were gone for part of the day, he sulked and slept. Chance will have his day at the groomers too just not quite yet…we will wait for some of the mud to go away.
I called Uncle Archie and he came over and looked through the old photos that Cousin Terry shared with me. We got a few more old family stories. Uncle Archie will be 87 this year, he is doing great!
I worked on beading a bracelet, scanning some photos and on some volunteer work amongst the normal cooking and cleaning. Usually I have begun some spring house cleaning by now, not so much this year. April might be a good month to do that…or not.
Miss Miney
We have lots of twigs and leaves and birdseed in the yard, that will have to be dealt with sooner or later.
Little Elvis the 6:30 dog, he wants me to get up and fix him a dish of food and put him out at 6:30 every morning…he will lick what ever part of you that his little legs will reach; hands, feet or face. He almost got a stupid squirrel…not so sure what he would do with it if he caught it. I say stupid squirrel because the squirrel came right out of the tree in front of Little Elvis and the chase was on!
Chance ever watchful doing what a Border Collie does best…waiting for the ball to be thrown.
