What's Cookin'?

Baking is something I enjoy doing. Though I'm not one to strike out on my own, and develop my own cookie, cake or pie recipe, I'm pretty good at determining which new recipes are going to be really yummy.

 

Growing up sadly I don't remember my mother doing much baking. She was however, a great cook! One of my favorites was her Chicken and Rice with gravy. Sounds simple I know, but I have yet to duplicate it exactly. Oh I've gotten close but it's not quite right. Then there was her Ham and Bean Soup. This soup was thick and totally satisfying on a cold winter night. It was especially good with warm cornbread!  It wasn't until I said something to my Dad when I was visiting him (Mom died in 2000), that he said he thought Mom had written that recipe down. Sure enough, after searching through all her cookbooks, there on a small scrape of paper was the recipe. Now, when I make this soup it really does taste just like hers! But it was also her stuffing/dressing she made for the turkey on Thanksgiving and Christmas that probably is my all time favorite. It isn't complicated it's simply celery, onion, poultry seasoning and pork sausage. But whether it's hot or cold it really is the best. In fact, my eldest son's ex-wife loved it so much she now makes it too. But, it was my Dad who gave me the recipe for Lamb Chops! These chops are melt in your mouth goodness that makes me salivate just thinking about them.
 

Both my boys have their favorite foods that only I can make. For both of the boys it's the Lamb Chops, of course and Turkey and Dressing. One time while visiting Patrick in Tulsa for Christmas, I made for the full turkey dinner. The apartment smelled wonderful and when we finally sat down he said to me, "Now, it really feels like Christmas!" This was music to my ears. Though this happened years ago, to this day, it still warms my heart whenever I think of that moment. Both of the boys have their favorite dinners as well as desserts. Among them are Grasshopper Pie, Oatmeal cookies, Chocolate Chip cookies and Apple Pie and when they come to visit, they expect these goodies to be made. Baking and cooking for them is a joy. I just wish they were closer so it could be done more often.

 

But this got me thinking, shouldn't we be passing down recipes and baking secrets? Shouldn't family favorite recipes be preserved and cherished as much as our pictures and documents? I think there's a new project looming in my life. What are your family favorites?

 

 

The GRIP Experience

Last week I attended the Genealogy Research Institute of Pittsburgh, commonly know as GRIP. This was my second time to attend GRIP. Last summer I took the Intermediate Genealogy: Tools for Digging Deeper coordinated by Paula Stuart-Warren. Paula exposed the class to often obscure and overlooked resources using her own experiences as examples. This summer, I decided to jump into the deep end and take the class, Advanced Research Methods coordinated by Tom Jones. Let me be perfectly frank, by no means do I consider myself an advanced genealogist. But I felt that to increase my knowledge it was important to  challenge myself. And boy did I ever!

Tom is a professor, researcher, editor and writer for the NGS Quarterly, and a much sought after educator. His latest publication is Mastering Genealogical Proof, (Arlington, VA National Genealogy Society, 2013). Despite all these credentials, he is quite personable and a great speaker. He wants his students to learn and understand the who, what, where, when and why for analyzing information found in different records. He constantly amazed me how one could determine various generations just by using tax records. Or even better who was a step-child. Tom strongly suggests to his students to make charts whether it be an Excel type or time-line to analyze information. I ashamedly admit that I don't often do this, keeping everything in my head. Which of course leads to going over things multiple times because I failed to write down what I found or even what I didn't find; and where I looked. This is my biggest sin! How many times have I looked at the same record over and over again is simply too embarrassing to even think about. Between the class projects we did and the assigned nightly homework by Friday my brain was ready to explode from information overload! I was exhausted.

Despite the exhaustion, the week was stimulating, challenging and overwhelming and I loved every minute! It was a week to get reacquainted with friends I met last year and to make new ones. But mostly I came away with renewed energy and confidence that I could move forward with my research. Everyone should have the GRIP experience. And yes, I would do it again in a heart beat.

Friends and Neighbors

I love the website Fultonhistory.com. If you are not familiar with it, it is a wonderful site containing thousands of New York newspapers you can browse and it's FREE!. This site has been a goldmine for me as my mother's side of the family all came from western New York. So naturally when I wanted to learn more about my cousin Jessie this is the site I turned too.

But first things first, from her death certificate I know that Jessie was born in 1894 and she was the daughter of John Lynch and Mary Kelly.

Jessie Lynch Mulvihill Gruber my personal picture

Now I turn to Fultonhistory.com and I find the following:

• 1910 Jessie's brother James drowns trying to save a friend

  

  James and Jessie Lynch 1898 my personal picture

• 1914 Jessie opens her first hairdressing salon; 
• 1915 She marries Edward Mulvihill. Bertha Habberfield is her bridesmaid.

  

  Bertha Habberfield my personal picture

• 1916 Jessie travels to Philadelphia to attend a hairdressers fashion show
• 1919 Jessie attends Martha Harper Hairdressing School in Rochester, NY
• 1920 Jessie and her husband Edward are both sick, he does not recover and dies
• 1922 Jessie marries Charles Gruber; she also participates in a Knights of Columbus production of "Under Cover", Donald Grady is one of the participants.
• 1926 Jessie buys another hairdressing salon
• 1929 Jessie advertises her salon will exclusively offer Martha Harper's hair products and techniques.
• 1930's Jessie and her husband Charles buy and sell houses; take and extended trip out West and also take a trip to Niagara Falls.
• 1933 The Gruber house has a small house fire causing $50 worth of damage.
• 1942 Jessie's parents celebrate their 62nd Wedding Anniversary
• 1950 Jessie's father dies
• 1953/1954 tragically Jessie's husband dies suddenly in Dec. 31 1953 while she is in Penn Yan caring for her ill mother who also dies. A double funeral was held on Jan. 4, 1954.
• 1977 Jessie dies she was 83 years old

But the most interesting thing is, Bertha Habberfield was a dear friend of my grandmother Marie Catherine Sauerborn. There was a significant age difference between them but Nonnie as we called her, remained friends with Bertha all her life.

Marie Sauerborn and Bertha Habberfield my personal picture

Then there's Donald Grady. Donald marries Marie Catherine Sauerborn in 1922.  Donald had a love for the theatre, and preformed in several plays during High School and thereafter. My mother, Mary Charlotte Grady inherited this love of theatre and preformed in many productions in Salt Lake City, UT and with the Dramateurs in Contra Costa CO, CA where I grew up. It really is a small world.

Though I had inherited all these wonderful pictures, I did not know how all these people were connected. Now to try and figure out how the Sauerborn's of Geneva, NY knew the Habberfield's of Penn Yan, NY.

What's For Dinner?

Going through the box that came from the house of my 2nd cousins in Penn Yan, NY, I found an old recipe book called the "DAILEY BREAD". The book was complied by Mrs. Flora Jillett, with Revisions and Additions by the Guild of the Presbyterian Church. It was published in 1878 with additional printings in 1881, 1915 and 1927. The book actually belonged to another cousin, Jessie (Lynch Mulvihill) Gruber. The inside page indicates it was a gift to Jessie Gruber from Louise Kipp.

Jessie was married twice. Her first husband was Edward Mulvihill and they were married in June 1915. In 1917 Edward, aka Ned, is taken seriously ill.


Penn Yan Democrat, Friday, February 23, 1917

Edward Mulvihill and Jessie appear together in the 1920 U.S. Census. Edward dies however sometime after the census of 1920 and before 1925.  After his death, Jessie marries Charles Gruber, the date of their marriage is unknown. But Jessie appears in the Penn Yan Democart, April 17, 1925 as Mrs. Jessie Gruber.

In the preface of the book Mrs. Jillett writes: "...Many a wife in blissful ignorance of the first principles of physiological science, knows full well that the time to prefer requests to he lord is after she has regaled him upon his favorite dishes...Let no the food offered to any modern Adam be made an apology for his shortcomings. If fall he must, let him not be able to say, "It was the food she gave, of which I did eat."."

Was Louise trying to tell Jessie something or did she just have a great sense of humor? Charles survives Jessie's cooking and lives to be 60 years old. He dies suddenly of a heart attack on Dec. 31, 1953.

What Have I Gotten Myself Into?

Last summer I attended the Genealogy Research Institute of Pittsburgh (GRIP). It was an amazing week full of great people and wonderful presentations by professional genealogists. The class I took was headed by Paula Stuart-Warren (Intermediate Genealogy). It was four fast paced days full of information and group discussions. By Friday my brain was fried! 

Because my experience was so positive I decided to sign up again. This time I chose the class being presented by Tom Jones (Advanced Methods). In the course description he said that he would have some "homework" for us to do prior to class. He also stated that there would be optional "homework" during the week as well. I thought, OK, how bad could it be.

WELL! This past week I received an email from Tom that had two attachments for us to read. He also strongly suggested we make a chart that lays out all the data. Again I thought that's not too bad I can do that...then yesterday ANOTHER email came with two more attachments. This time the attachments are from Rick Sayre who will also be presenting for the class. One of his attachments is 43 pages long! 

 I'm officially terrified! Thank goodness I have two weeks before I take off for Pittsburgh.

Genealogy Is More Than Dates

Recently, well actually it was back at the end of May, I was wanting to find out more about my southern family that came from Greenville, South Carolina. I have all their dates for birth, marriage and death but it seemed so stark. What was the rest of their story? 

I decided to take a stab at some records that I had previously overlooked, the record of the Freedmen's Bureau. But first I need to understand what was the purpose of the bureau. On www.Civilwarhome.com I found an article,"Freedman, The Freed Slaves of the Civil War". The article gives a brief history and explanation of this short lived bureau. The bureau was first conceived in 1863 and finally acted on by Congress in 1865. The war department in response to the Confiscation Act of 1862 felt there was a need to help the newly freed slaves become self-reliant. It's main purpose was to provide an education and provisions such as food, clothing and fuel. The funding for all this was to come from the Department of War. But it was also required to resolve disputes between the white employers and the newly freed men demanding fair wages. Surprisingly it was to last only one year.

While browsing the records on Familysearch.org for Freedmen's Bureau, I came across a letter to the local agent for the Abbeville District in South Carolina. It clearly denotes the exact portions of what the provisions are to be for adults and children and how often.

Portion of letter to Capt. C. R. Becker from William Stone, Bvt. Maj; FamilySearch.org; SC Freedman's Bureau Field Office Records 1865-1872, Abbeville Courthouse (agent) Roll 32, Letters received Mar 1866-Nov 1866; image 13 of 206

Reading on, the next letter had the term Vagrant Act.

Portion of letter from Capt. C.R.Becker to Bvt. Maj. William Stone; SC Freedman's Bureau Field Office Records 1865-1872, Abbeville Courthouse (agent) Roll 32, Letters received Mar 1866-Nov 1866; image 14 of 206

What? Never heard of that before. Even my friend Sandra Rumble was not familiar with that term. So I turned to Judy Russell, The Legal Genealogist.(www.legalgenealogist.com) Judy not only sent me an article to read, she then used my question for her blog that explained the who, what, where and why. ( See her blog post for May 26, 2015.)

In a nutshell, it appears if newly freed slaves were found not to be providing for his or her family, or were found to be gambling, peddling without a license or if their behavior could be considered disorderly they could be arrested, tried and sentenced to hard labor. Remember, the jury would have been the free white males, the very plantation owners they had just left. Can you imagine the resentment these men would have toward their former slaves or any other person of color?

I started out looking for anything that might tell me more about my family from South Carolina and ended up learning more about the prevailing attitudes and unfairness that existed after the Civil War. To understand who our ancestors were, how they may have thought and the issues they dealt with every, family historian/genealogist must understand the laws and records of the past. Genealogy is more than dates and names. Genealogy is a search for the joys, the grief, the triumphs, the struggles, the disappointments, the fairness and yes the unfairness that comes with every day life.

Thank you Judy for your help and insight.

Greenmount Cemetry

While in Quincy, something else that was also important for me to do, was to visit Greenmount Cemetery. This cemetery which was established 1875 is the resting place for the majority of my ancestors. It was my goal to get pictures of all their headstones. It was Kennedy's job to read the cemetery map and successfully navigate us to all the grave locations. Not only did she get me from one section to the next she managed to figure out exactly where I should stop and park. Her accuracy was outstanding! We always found the plots in a matter of minutes.

Kennedy with the cemetery map in hand, meeting her 3x Great-Grandparents
Henry and Pauline Schralla. Notice how close the car is!

 I was also hoping to "uncover" where my Great-Great Grandparents are buried. Sadly the church records only shows their burial date not the location. Then to add to the frustration, according to the cemetery manager, Kay Ginther, back in the late 1800's the cemetery only needed to know who owned the plot not who was buried there! The cemetery records have many unknowns but alas they have no dates! Kay was so nice, she checked other cemeteries and even looked at coroner inquest files to see if there was any record. Again, we hit a dead end.

One headstone we did find though was that of my Great-Grand Aunt, Hanna. She was only 11 months old when she and her parents arrived in the U.S. When she was 21 yrs. old, she marries August Wolf. Their marriage lasted only four short years when he dies suddenly. Hanna, who often went by Anna, was left with two small children ages 3 yrs and 6 months. Thankfully, though she found love again and marries Frank Schell in 1900.

Hanna Schralla Wolf Schell
On the top of her headstone her name is Anna

Finding the headstones of my relatives was bitter-sweet. I have many questions. So many questions that shall remain unanswered. But sharing the experience with my granddaughter was priceless.