Dec 28

Family Photo Game at Christmas

Goldie Helen, Louise & Fred Roesner.

Goldie Helen, Louise & Fred Roesner.

Another Christmas has come and gone. Most families, large or small, get together this time of year and our families are no exception. We hosted a Christmas dinner for my immediate Miller family, a small group. We also hosted the annual Christmas gathering for the Bennetts, Joe’s siblings and their children and grandchildren. This is a larger group, between 17-24 depending on who can attend.

I racked my brain this year to come up with something different to do during the time between eating and opening presents at the Bennett gathering. They like to play games so I wanted to have something that involved thinking, guessing and some good old family competition.

I came up with an idea that involved old and not so old family photos shown in a slide show. I hoped the younger ones would enjoy looking at photos of past holidays as well as photos of grandparents and relatives that they never knew. Some of the photos were over 100 years old and showed the great-great-great-grandparents of the youngest children here. Who knows what could spark an interest in genealogy. Photos are also good prompts for sharing memories and learning new things about family history.

This is how we played the game: We divided the younger generations into two groups. Our generation, the “older” generation, would recognize most of the photos, so we not actively involved in the competition. But we were there to add details and memories.

The photos were in a slide show on my netbook, which we connected to the TV for ease of viewing. For the baby photos the contestants were to guess the person. For group photos they were to guess the date and place the photo was taken. For the oldest photos, those from the early 1900s, I identified the people and explained their relationship to the family.

Family members learned that some of their Bennett ancestors were named after U.S. states and territories:

The Henry Brandenburg Bennett family: Vermont, Goldsby Alaska, Dakota, Arizona, Delaware. Seated: Nevada, Henry Brandenburg Bennett, Sarah (Milligan), Minnesota.

The Henry Brandenburg Bennett family: Vermont, Goldsby Alaska, Dakota, Arizona, Delaware. Seated: Nevada, Henry Brandenburg Bennett, Sarah (Milligan), Minnesota.

Happily, the slide show was a success. Everyone enjoyed seeing the oldest photos as well as photos of themselves and their parents as little children. It was fun (sometimes funny) to look at past holiday photos and see how everyone had changed over the years.

The children saw photos of grandparents they never knew. It was a time to reminisce and comment on past family events. It was also very interesting to notice family resemblances, passed on from earlier generations.

The photo game turned out to be a lot of fun. Perhaps it even created an interest in genealogy for some family members.

 

 

 

Dec 24

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from Karen’s Chatt!

Currier & Ives

Dec 21

Advent–The Nativity Sets

Nativity display at St. Charles Senior Living Community

Nativity display at St. Charles Senior Living Community

If you are reading this blog post it must mean that the world has not ended by some catastrophic disaster. Yes, we are all still here. It can be said that the reports of the end of the world have been greatly exaggerated. Life goes on and, ready or not, we are about to embark on another Christmas Season with family and friends.

The last quarter of this year has been exceptionally busy for us. Our son got married and we hosted several family gatherings, all the while dealing with daily life and the usual seasonal preparations. Add to that some unexpected happenings such as my PC crashing and a minor car accident. To put it mildly we have been stressed out around here.

In an effort to try and relax and regain the feeling of the true meaning of Christmas, last Saturday Joe and I went to the St. Charles Senior Living Community, formerly St. Charles Seminary, in Carthagena, Mercer County, Ohio, to view a display of over 50 Nativity sets from around the world. The Nativities were on loan from the University of Dayton Marion Library.

St. Charles Senior Living Community, Carthagena, Ohio.

St. Charles Senior Living Community, Carthagena, Ohio.

The grounds and buildings at the former seminary site are beautiful. I was there years ago on a field trip with my high school Latin class. While touring the chapel back then someone mentioned that I was our church organist and the tour guide allowed me to play the chapel pipe organ. I was honored and thrilled to play the first song that came to my mind, Silent Night. Last Saturday I hoped to view the chapel once again and see how my memories of the chapel and the organ compared to the way they actually look today. Things were not quite as I remembered, but there is a good possibility that some remodeling had been done in the past forty-plus years. The organ pipes were still visible and the console was where I remembered.

Organ pipes in the Chapel

Organ pipes in the Chapel

Below are a few photos of some of the Nativities that we viewed last week.

Nativity from Peru.

Nativity from Peru.

Wood with gold Nativity from the Philippines.

Wood with gold Nativity from the Philippines.

 

I liked the Nesting Doll Nativity set from Poland, shown below. When I see nesting dolls I think of Russia or Eastern Europe. To me they symbolize folk-art of that region. However, not everyone likes this type of art. We talked with a resident of the Senior Community who was a native of Poland and had lived in the United States for forty years. She did not like the Nesting Nativity at all. She said that it did not look like Poland. That Poland was beautiful and ornate. She thought the Nesting Nativity must have been made by Communists. She was appalled that I liked it at all. She showed us the Nativity that she liked, one with more life-like figures and trimmed in glimmering gold. She said that it was more representative of Poland. To each his own… I still like the nesting dolls.

Nesting Doll Nativity from Poland.

Nesting Doll Nativity from Poland.

Straw Nativity from Honduras

Straw Nativity from Honduras

Gourd Nativity from Ecuador.

Gourd Nativity from Ecuador.

Mahogany Nativity from Haiti

Mahogany Nativity from Haiti

Clay Nativity

Clay Nativity

 

I really do like Nativity sets and enjoyed seeing so many types and styles made from many different kinds of materials. Thank You to Sister Martha Bertke, manager of the St. Charles Senior Living Community, for arranging the display. It was wonderful.

 

 

Dec 18

Tombstone Tuesday–Anna M. Schumm

Anna Schumm w of HG

Anna M. Schumm, Zion Lutheran Cemetery, Schumm, Van Wert County, Ohio.

This is the tombstone of Anna M. Schumm, located in row 7 of Zion Lutheran Cemetery, Schumm, Van Wert County, Ohio. The marker is inscribed:

Anna M.
Ehefrau Von
H. G. Schumm
Geboren
24 Mai 1857
Gestorben
23 Sep 1901
Text
1 Petri, Chp 5, Vers 6

Translation: Anna M., Wife of H.G. Schumm, Born 24 May 1857, Died 23 Sep 1901, Text 1 Peter 5:6.

According to the church records of Zion Lutheran, Schumm, Mrs. Anna M. Schumm, born Roehm, the legal wife of Mr. H.G. Schumm, was born 24 May 1857 in Tully Township, Van Wert County, Ohio. She died 23 September 1901 of typhoid, at the age of 44 years, 3 months and 20 days. She was buried 25 September in the church cemetery. Her funeral text was 1 Peter 5:6.

Anna Roehm married Henry George “H.G.” Schumm on 1 April 1879 at the home of her parents. They had the following children: Maria Amalia (1880-1946; m. John Henry “Hugo” Schumm), Anna Wilhemina (1883-1901), Henrietta Clara (1885-1901), Walter Emanuel (1888-1967; m. Erna Theresa Schumm) and Esther Emilie (1893-1983; m. Amos C. Schumm).

Dec 14

Advent–The Christmas Trees

For centuries, at Christmas time, one of the main objects in homes has been the Christmas tree. As I look through family photos I see that our family is no exception to this tradition. Christmas trees are bright and pretty and photos often focused on them. Here are some pictures of family trees in various styles and sizes.

Carl Miller family Christmas tree (1951)

Carl Miller family Christmas tree (1951)

According to Wikipedia the custom of the Christmas tree originated in Germany. Christmas trees were originally decorated with foods such as apples, nuts or dates and were lighted with candles.

Grandma Miller and Uncle Vernie by the same Christmas tree. (1951)

Grandma Miller and Uncle Vernie by the same Christmas tree. (1951)

This past summer I found the photo shown below in a box stowed away in the Miller barn. The items hanging from the tree were dish cloths that look like they were made into slippers, probably made by my aunts. Each pair was labeled for their recipient:  Kate, Mom, Florence, Martha and Em.

Miller dish cloth gifts. (c1951)

Miller dish cloth gifts. (c1951)

When I was a young child we had a live Christmas tree. It was exciting to get the box of beautiful old-fashioned glass ornaments down from the attic and decorate the tree. I don’t know what happened to all those old ornaments. They probably broke over the years but I would love to have a few of them for keepsakes. We also used lots of tinsel and the large colored Christmas lights to adorn the tree. The tinsel was messy but the cats loved it.

A few years later artificial trees became popular and we got one to replace the annual live tree. The first artificial tree we had was green and resembled a real tree. The next artificial tree we purchased was a shiny silver aluminum tree. Those were quite popular in the late 50s and I loved watching the multi-colored light wheel rotate and change the color of the tree. Each of those aluminum trees came with the light wheel because we were cautioned not to string electrical lights on the metal tree.

The photo below was taken at a Farm Bureau Council meeting at my parents’ home. Some of you may recognize Donna and Vernon Caffee, Fred Miller and Bob Humbert holding his daughter Rita Kay. Note the aluminum tree in the corner.

Aluminum tree. (c1959)

Aluminum tree. (c1959)

We now use a mid-size artificial tree in the basement. Upstairs I have become very lazy with my trees. I group four skinny, folk-art-style trees of various sizes together and I decorate each differently. Here is the lazy part: I leave the lights on the trees, take them to the basement and cover each with a bag for storage. Each of these trees is one piece so there is nothing to take apart. The next Christmas all I have to do is take the trees upstairs, plug them in and hang a few decorations on them. How simple! And I have my own little pine forest.

Karen's trees

Grouping of my 4 trees.

Last year we visited the Fort Wayne Botanical Conservatory on Black Friday. It was decorated beautifully for Christmas and it was peaceful walking through the plants and flowers. There was no shopping and fighting the crowds for us. They had a poinsettia tree there.

100_9480

We have a beautiful 12 foot tree at Zion, Chatt, decorated by a group of ladies at the church.

Zion, Chatt's, 12 foot tree.

Zion, Chatt’s 12 foot tree.

O Tannenbaum, O Tannenbaum,
Wie treu sind deine Blatter!

[O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree,
Your branches green delight us!]