ABT UNK

Valentine's Day - 30 Years Ago Today

2012-02-14T00:01:00.014-06:00

Mark sent me roses, pictured above. We've known each other for almost 33 years now.

© Amanda Pape - 2012 - click here to e-mail me.

Two Degrees of Separation

2012-02-11T23:59:00.003-06:00

This week's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun by Randy Seaver is:
Using your ancestral lines, how far back in time can you go with two degrees of separation? That means “you knew an ancestor, who knew another ancestor.” When was that second ancestor born?

I can go back to great-great-grandfathers on both sides, born in 1845 and 1847, via my grandmothers, AND I have the photos to prove my grandmothers actually knew (and remember) their grandfathers (and weren't just held by them as babies, or born while they were still alive):

Above left is me with my dad, Fred Pape, and his mother, my Nana, Elizabeth Massmann Pape (1903-2000), taken in August 1983. Above right are Elizabeth (seated right) and my grandfather Paul Robert Pape (1896-1970, standing second from left) on their wedding day, September 3, 1924. My great-grandmother Elizabeth Dienes Massmann (1876-1946) is also seated, and the other gentlemen standing are my great-grandfathers John Pape (1851-1945) and Frederick Massmann (1876-1948), and my great-great-grandfather, Nana's grandfather, Carl Massmann (1847-1929).

Above left are my maternal grandmother, "Nani," Sara Wolfe Guokas Archibald (1907-1997), me and my son Eric, and my mother, Geraldine Guokas Pape, in December 1987. In the photo above right, which was probably taken in 1916, Sara is seated at the lower left. Her paternal grandfather, Joseph William Wolfe (1845-1918), is seated above and to the right. His son, my great-grandfather and Sara's father, Louis Henry Wolfe (1872-1929), is seated just above Sara. The boy seated between the two men is Sara's older brother Lloyd (1906-1993) - I have no idea who the boy in the background is! Seated next to Sara are her sisters Neva Marie (1912-1995) and Edith (1910-2006).

My great-grandmother Addilee Shelton Wolfe (1890-1977), "Big Nani," died when I was 20, and was at a number of family gatherings, most evidenced in home movies, although the only photograph I have of the two of us is the one at left, taken in 1958, where she is holding me. My mother is to the left and Nani is to the right. Big Nani surely knew her grandmother, the elusive Leah Lucy Pickering (or Pickens) Barton Spikes (1835-1903), as they both lived in Winn Parish in 1900, but I have no proof.

© Amanda Pape - 2012 - click here to e-mail me.

Wordless Wednesday: Hotel Galvez Urn, 1926 and 2012

2012-02-08T21:09:00.001-06:00

The photo above is of a planter urn outside the north entrance of the Hotel Galvez in Galveston, Texas, taken on January 8, 2012. It's the same as the urn in the photos below of my grandparents, Sara Melzina Wolfe and Charles Peter Guokas Jr., on their honeymoon in Galveston in late July, 1926.
(close-up above right)
© Amanda Pape - 2012 - click here to e-mail me.

ALA RUSA "Genealogy is Bigger in Texas" Preconference - part 5

2012-02-07T22:18:00.002-06:00

The fifth and final presentation at the American Library Association (ALA) Reference and User Services Association (RUSA) History Section's genealogy preconference at the Midwinter Meeting in Dallas on January 20 was by Sue Kaufman, Manager of the Clayton Library Center for Genealogical Research of the Houston Public Library. Her presentation about the Clayton Center, the "Gem of the Gulf Coast," was what I was most looking forward to when I attended this conference, since my mother's family has long (late 1890s) Houston roots.

I was happy to hear from Sue that anyone with a Texas drivers license can get a Houston Public Library card. I will be in Houston in mid-April for part of the Texas Library Association conference, and I plan to spend some time after the conference ends on Friday and before I head home on Saturday doing research there.

Sue noted that their collection is physically organized by geography, but that Dewey Decimal numbers are in their online catalog. She also said they now have at least one thing from every county in 30 states. She also stated they have about 20 five-drawer cabinets of unindexed family files. Fun! I'll have to see if any of my kin are in those!

Here are a few other things Sue talked about that I'll be checking on my upcoming trip:

Index to Texas naturalizations 1846-1939 on microfilm (looking for my immigrant great-grandparents and their siblings)
Harris County marriages (lots of my relatives married there)
Confederate pension applications (looking for a couple great-great-grandfathers in Louisiana here)
New Orleans and other Gulf port passenger lists (those immigrant great-grandparents again)

Sue mentioned that the Clayton Library Center has a very active Friends group. They gave the Center more money than it got from the city budget! They also manage the original Clayton house (pictured in Sue's slide to the left) 40 hours a week.

The Clayton Center is now a partner with FamilySearch in a number of activities. They particpate with other genealogical libraries in a program to digitize genealogy and family history publications in their archives. They are now a microfilm affiliate site, meaning you can have microfilm from the Family History Library sent here. They will also be assisting with indexing the 1940 census that will be released on April 2. Other projects include digitizing Houston-area funeral home records and vaccination records.

© Amanda Pape - 2012 - click here to e-mail me.

ALA RUSA "Genealogy is Bigger in Texas" Preconference - part 4

2012-02-05T16:56:00.002-06:00

The fourth presentation at the American Library Association (ALA) Reference and User Services Association (RUSA) History Section's genealogy preconference at the Midwinter Meeting in Dallas on January 20 was by Aaron Holt, an Archives Technician with the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) Southwest Region in Fort Worth. Aaron, a 19-year veteran of NARA, spoke on "Native American Holdings at NARA Ft. Worth, with Specific Emphasis on the Five Civilized Tribes - Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek, Seminole, and Cherokee."

Aaron's presentation was quite detailed, and he provided four handouts, including a list of the microfilm available at NARA Southwest. Here are some interesting points from the presentation:

Most Native Americans have a minimum of three names, and those names can change.
NARA can't translate a Native American name.
NARA can't add to or take away from the information in their files.
"Indian Territory" varied over the years - most recently it is Oklahoma, earlier it was Indiana.
99.9% of Oklahoma Native American records, plus those of Texas' Alabama-Coushatta tribe, are at NARA Fort Worth.
When doing Native American research at NARA, one of the first questions one is asked is the family's tribal affiliation.
An "Old Settler" is a Native American who voluntarily went west in the 1820s rather than being forced to go later.
The first Cherokees to move west settled in western Arkansas, then later in Oklahoma.
The Choctaw and Chickasaw tribes are closely related, and members of those tribes may be found on each other's rolls.
Some Native Americans practiced polygamy, so a female head of household on a census might be an additional wife of a man listed earlier.

Happy 83rd Birthday, Dad!

2012-02-04T00:01:00.010-06:00

My dad, Frederick Henry Pape, was born on February 4, 1929, in Evanston, Illinois.

These photos was taken at least 82 years ago, in 1929, when Dad was a baby, probably in the yard of the house at 2093 West Lunt Avenue, Rogers Park, Chicago, Illinois.

© Amanda Pape - 2012 - click here to e-mail me.

Wordless Wednesday: Hotel Galvez, Galveston, Texas - built 1911

2012-02-01T20:17:00.000-06:00

View of the Hotel Galvez from the seawall in Galveston, Texas, January 8, 2012. My maternal grandparents spent their honeymoon here in July 1926. Stay tuned for a future post on how I figured that out.

© Amanda Pape - 2012 - click here to e-mail me.

2012-01-30T16:14:00.000-06:00

Today I was honored to be featured in Gini Webb's (of Ginisology) “May I Introduce To You . . .” series at Geneabloggers.

In the section about "How Amanda Follows the Rest of Us," I forgot to include that I'll also often read posts that appear in the "roll-up" widgets for daily and weekly blog prompts on Geneabloggers. I've discovered some new blogs to follow that way. I also find new blogs to follow with people who comment on my blog posts.

So - please comment! And thank you for stopping by my blog!

[The photo is of me at age 10 and is the inspiration for my username in most places.]

© Amanda Pape - 2012 - click here to e-mail me.

ALA RUSA "Genealogy is Bigger in Texas" Preconference - part 3

2012-01-29T14:31:00.008-06:00

The third presentation at the American Library Association (ALA) Reference and User Services Association (RUSA) History Section's genealogy preconference at the Midwinter Meeting in Dallas on January 20 was by William Forsyth of Proquest on their genealogy/history database products for libraries. Proquest sponsored this free preconference and provided yummy breakfast goodies and a delicious lunch.

Thanks to the TexShare Database Program, over 700 libraries in Texas have access to Proquest's Heritage Quest Online database, and to Texas maps in the Digital Sanborn Maps collection. A number of larger public library systems have access to all the maps in the latter collection (as do some universities), as well as to the Ancestry Library Edition (NOT the same as Ancestry.com).

Heritage Quest has some unique content that's not in either Ancestry. Its Genealogy and Local History Book Collection has over 24,000 family histories, local histories, and primary sources. Because the database will mark "hits" in the book of your search terms, you can quickly scan though your results.

Many academic libraries (and some larger public libraries) subscribe to at least one title in Proquest Historical Newspapers. My university subscribes only to The New York Times, 1851-2007, but I have used it often in genealogical research. I was pleased to see that ProQuest has a clean new user interface, AND a new way to search obituaries and death notices directly.

It was interesting to hear about a couple genealogy products I was not aware of. ProQuest Sanborn Maps Geo Edition has geocoded Sanborn maps (1867-1970) that are searchable by address and GPS coordinates. You can also overlay Sanborn maps with current maps (street, satellite, and hybrid layers) to see how an area has changed. Currently, though, this is only available for certain cities in certain states, and Texas is not one of them.

Another new product to me was Historic Maps Works Library Edition, which is an exclusive distribution and development partnership between ProQuest and Historic Map Works. The latter is a company that scans and uploads old maps and geocodes them to modern maps. This allows users to search by modern day address or GPS coordinates (currently only available for 12 states, mostly in the northeast, via ProQuest). Users can also search by keywords, town names, map publishers, or year; or browse by geographic location through a point-and-click world map.

Below is an example (from the Historic Map Works site) of an Abilene 1885 Sanborn map (in color) overlayed onto a Google Map from today (on the left), and an enlargement of one city block overlayed onto a Google Hybrid (satellite and map, on the right):

Forsyth demonstrated the use of some of these products with an interesting case study of his own: his great-grandfather, Ellend Erickson, a Norwegian immigrant who served in the Union Army during the Civil War and was later elected to the Minnesota State Legislature. The handout we got on Proquest is here.

© Amanda Pape - 2012 - click here to e-mail me.

ALA RUSA "Genealogy is Bigger in Texas" Preconference - part 2

2012-01-28T23:59:00.005-06:00

The second presentation at the American Library Association (ALA) Reference and User Services Association (RUSA) History Section's genealogy preconference at the Midwinter Meeting in Dallas on January 20 was by Ari Wilkins, a staff member at the Dallas Public Library and a principal with Black Genesis. It was entitled "The Story Behind the Fountain Hughes Case Study - Cross Country Research."
Fountain Hughes was a former slave who was interviewed about his life by Hermond Norwood, a Library of Congress engineer at the time, in Baltimore, Maryland, in June 1949, when Fountain claimed to be 101 years old. The recording is one of only 26 in the Library of Congress' American Folklife Center's Archive of Folk Culture and is currently part of the Voices from the Days of Slavery collection. Ari began her presentation by playing portions of the interview.
Ari decided to follow his life, documenting the places where he lived, and she used a variety of resources. In the recorded interview, Hughes said he, his mother, and his father "belonged to Burnley" and that he was "born in Charlottesville, Virginia." Working backward through census and other records, she verifed that he was owned by the Burnley family in Albemarle County, Virginia, which is the same county where Charlottesville is located. Using a tax record of the slave owner that documented his age, she determined that he was probably born around 1860, and thus he was about 89 when he was interviewed, not 101.

In the interview, Fountain Hughes said, "My grandfather belong to Thomas Jefferson," and "my father got killed in the Army" [in the Civil War]. It's not clear who Fountain's father was. He may have accompanied a Burnley master in the war as a servant. His grandfather was probably Wormley Hughes, who became the head gardener at Monticello, and whose mother was a sister to Sally Hemings.

She also found contact information for the sole surviving direct descendant of Fountain, using the Reference USA database. She recorded an interview with her which she played for us. Shallie Barrett Marshall remembered her great-grandfather living with the family when she was a child.

This was a fascinating case study, and Ari provided a handout listing resources for African-American and slave era genealogical research, including a list of misconceptions about such research.

© Amanda Pape - 2012 - click here to e-mail me.

ALA RUSA "Genealogy is Bigger in Texas" Preconference - part 1

2012-01-21T16:17:00.001-06:00

Yesterday I was fortunate to be able to attend the American Library Association (ALA) Reference and User Services Association (RUSA) History Section's genealogy preconference at the Midwinter Meeting being held January 20-24 in Dallas. It was titled "Genealogy is Bigger in Texas" and ran from 10 AM to 5 PM at the Dallas Public Library. The preconference was free (thanks to sponsorship by Proquest, who also provided yummy breakfast goodies and a delicious lunch), but required preregistration due to limited seating.

The day was so chock-full of good information that there was barely time for bathroom breaks, let alone a visit to the Dallas Library's awesome genealogy and Texas/Dallas history collections. In fact, the first speaker was Lloyd Bockstruck, who retired July 31, 2009, as supervisor of that genealogy section (where he served since 1973), on "growing a collection during harsh economic times." My photo of Bockstruck is blurry, so I'm using one from his days as a genealogy columnist with the Dallas Morning News. My mother clipped a number of his columns when my parents lived in Lancaster (a Dallas suburb) in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and she still has them in her files.

The only time I might have been able to tour the rest of the library was from 10 to 10:30 AM - but if I had, I might have missed out on winning a door prize, awarded by Michael J. Hall, Deputy Chief Genealogical Officer of FamilySearch. My prize was the set of the first two volumes of Texas First Families Lineages (volume 3 will be published in November), a $60+ value that I'll be adding to my library's genealogy collection.

Other presenters were Ari Wilkins of Black Genesis on an African-American genealogy case study, William Forsyth of Proquest on their genealogy/history products, Aaron Holt from the National Archives in Fort Worth on their Native American holdings, and Sue Kaufman of the Clayton Library Center for Genealogical Research of the Houston Public Library on their holdings and services. Watch for blog posts on each of their presentations in the near future.

Wordless Wednesday: Stop SOPA and PIPA

2012-01-18T20:34:00.000-06:00

End Piracy, Not Liberty

Amanda Pape - 2012 - click here to e-mail me.

Tombstone Tuesday: Elizabeth Baker Williams, 1737-1762, Jamaica

2012-01-17T22:10:00.000-06:00

Elizabeth Williams
Wife of Col Tho Williams

Daughter of Will^m & Martha Baker
Departed This Life
April the 2 1762
Aged 24 Years & Five Months

This grave is in a ground floor room at the Good Hope Plantation Great House in Trelawny Parish, Jamaica (near Falmouth). Thomas Williams built the house for his first wife who sadly died, probably of malaria. The tour guides said Jamaica has a rich history of Santería and Obeah (sometimes spelled Obi, Obea or Obia) voodoo and the natives say the room is haunted by a “Doppi” or ghost.

Happy New Year! Motivation Monday - Genealogy Goals for 2012

2012-01-16T21:25:00.001-06:00

Okay, I'm about two weeks behind on this one, but I have a good excuse - I was out of town January 6-15 and trying to get some 2011 year-end stuff done in the days before I left - I've been playing catch-up in my life since Thanksgiving!

I'm not much for New Year's resolutions, at least not speaking them aloud or putting them on paper, as inevitably I don't achieve them. But maybe that's been part of the problem; not enough accountability.

Part of what's motivated me to try to set some genealogy goals for this year was a conference stipend from the Texas Library Association's archives, genealogy, and local history group. As it turns out, I will be unable to attend all of this year's conference (one of the requirements to receive the stipend), but I doubt that I would be a high-ranking candidate for the stipend this year anyway. I have not been as involved as I should be in local genealogy and historical societies (joining Hood County's at their January 23 meeting) and even in the library association's district/system meetings (other than annual conference and North Texas Library Partners' TechNet,) although I am attending the Reference and User Services Association's History Section free genealogy preconference at the ALA (American Library Association) Midwinter Conference in Dallas this Friday.. I just did a presentation on "Social Media in Genealogy and Family History" at Tarleton's Texas Social Media Research Institute's first Social Media Conference, and I'm hoping to do that presentation somewhere else. Maybe

Besides attending the local genealogy/historical society meetings (monthly except for July, August, and December), I'm going to try to post in this blog at least once a week (Amy Coffin's 52 Weeks of Abundant Genealogy should help, as should Thomas MacEntee's Genealogy Blog Editorial Calendars) and back up my data once a month.

I'm also hoping to combine partial attendance at this year's state library conference in April in Houston with some research there (assuming I figure out in advance exactly where I need to go and what I need to look for) on my mother's ancestors, some of whom immigrated there from Lithuania, as well as in Bremond and Hearne which are on the drive there.

Finally, after a bad experience trying to have microfilm sent to the local Family History Center (which I'll blog about later), I will make lemonade out of lemons by trying out the Family History Center in the town of my place of work - one of the lemons being that the upcoming retirement of my workplace's local history expert means that I'll be working Thursday evenings this spring, meaning I could take some Thursday afternoons to do some research there

© Amanda Pape - 2012 - click here to e-mail me.

Candlelight Tour: Historic Houses

2011-12-31T10:15:00.000-06:00

Early Granbury merchant and saloonkeeper Robert Randolph Daniel (1864-1918) had this house built about 1892. In 1899 it was sold to Wesley Smith Harris (1854-1930), a prominent local furniture dealer and undertaker. Representative of elegant turn-of-the-century homes in Granbury, the Victorian residence reflects influences of the Italianate and Eastlake styles and features an ornate square tower and intricate ornamentation.

Notice also the limestone mounting block in front of the home, used to step in and out of carriages or mount a horse, and the stained glass in the front door and upstairs windows, which is original. During World War II this home was divided into three apartments, which will be advantageous in its upcoming use as a bed and breakfast.

The Holderness-Aiken House is next door to the Daniel-Harris House. Also from the historical marker:

Contractor E.J. Holderness, credited with building numerous Victorian structures in Granbury, erected this home for his own family, in 1896. The front porch features intricate Eastlake style decoration. Enlarged before 1910, the one story frame house was occupied by Holderness until 1913. It was acquired in 1926 by Mary Narcissa Rylee (Mrs. Ed) Aiken (1856-1931), member of a Pioneer Hood County family.

This tiny house had lots of interesting details, including the state seal carved into the paving stones of the walkway.

The Rickenbrode Residence is across the street from the Daniel-Harris House. This early-Craftsman style bungalow was built for Charles E. Brady and his wife Annie in 1913 by local contractor Jim Stout, at a cost of $550.

The Cogdell "Yellow Rose" House was the last one I visited on the tour, just before it ended at 5 PM on Sunday (hence the darkness of the photo). The house was built around 1895 by Daniel Calhoun Cogdell, a prominent businessman and banker, supposedly for one of his daughters. Cogdell also built the large house next door (not on the tour) as his main residence, and at least two other houses in Granbury for other children.

© Amanda Pape - 2011 - click here to e-mail me.

Candlelight Tour: Nativity Display and Presbyterian Church

2011-12-30T23:10:00.001-06:00

Candlelight Tour: Granbury Railroad Depot

2011-12-29T23:25:00.051-06:00

The station sign, visible from approaching trains

The interior features pine floors, twelve foot high ceilings, and two chimneys for potbellied stoves. Below, volunteer Yvonne Ables points out the features (including a curved reflector at the top) of a candle sconce from a late 1800s-early 1900s railroad dining car, to the right of the old ticket window.

The old bay window area now has a working telegraph display. I learned that the original straight key apparatus (below right) caused "glass arm," a repetitive motion disorder (like carpal tunnel syndrome)...

...so the Vibroplex (below left) was invented to reduce stress on the hand. It also made transmitting Morse code faster.

A volunteer (I did not catch his name) demonstrated the operation of a Y-shaped train order hoop (or fork). A train order provided instructions or information on timetable changes from the dispatcher to the train's engineer (with usually a second copy to the conductor at the rear) at stations where the train did not stop, in the days before radio became common. The message was tied with a slip knot to the center of a pre-cut string. The string was then looped through notches (like those in an arrow so it would fit into a bow string) cut into the tops of the dowels forming the legs of the Y, and secured at the bottom in a spring clip. The telegrapher or an assistant would then hold up the pole so that the top of the Y would be within arm's reach of the train crew. The crew member would slip an arm in the loop and the string would pop off.

Here's a short (35 second) video where "hooping up" train orders is demonstrated twice:

The old freight and baggage room area of the depot is now an archive for county historical and genealogical records, many of which were rescued when they were being discarded out of the courthouse:

Passenger service ended at the depot in the 1970s, and freight service ended in 1983. At that point, the county's genealogical society and historical society formed a joint committee to restore the building and operate it as a museum as well as the records repository. The groups have a joint monthly meeting at the Depot except in July, August, and September. The depot museum and genealogy research library are open Monday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. and by appointment.

© Amanda Pape - 2011 - click here to e-mail me.

Candlelight Tour: Mangold Stick Horse Factory

2011-12-28T23:09:00.000-06:00

Candlelight Tour: Granbury Light Plant

2011-12-27T11:32:00.000-06:00

Back on December 3, we served as docents for the Hood County Courthouse on Granbury's annual Candlelight Tour of Homes (and other historic structures). One of the benefits of our two-hour shift was a free ticket to see other sites on the tour, which I will continue to feature this week.

One of the stops on the tour was the old Granbury Light Plant. I pass by this place all the time. It's about a mile north of my home, behind the post office, and on my 13-mile bike ride. I'd never been in it (because it is rarely open), so I was eager to see it on the tour.

The sign outside the light plant is a little misleading. There was a light and power plant (and water works and ice manufacturer) in this area since 1904, but the building pictured was not constructed until 1923, when the City of Granbury purchased the utilities from a franchisee. The City operated a power plant here until 1954.

The equipment remained intact, and through the efforts of the late Hugh Raupe, a former mayor of Granbury, and the late Weldon Newman, Light Plant engineer from 1939-1948, the Hood County Historical Commission, and the City of Granbury, the building and equipment were restored. The Granbury Flywheelers (Branch 43 of EDGE&TA, the Early Day Gas Engine and Tractor Association) maintains the equipment and opens the building for demonstrations on special occasions (like the Candlelight Tour) and by appointment. That's local resident Jack Wesley, 2011 vice-president of the group, greeting me at the door, below left.

Engine #1, above right, is immediately in front of you as you enter the door. This diesel Fairbanks-Morse was installed in 1939 and replaced an earlier engine, but was not operating this day. It exhausts through the roof.

Engine #2, below left, also a diesel Fairbanks-Morse, is original to the building and installed in 1923, and was already running when I entered the building. This 50-horsepower engine exhausts out underneath the floor into an underground pit, and then outside through a large pipe. The floor above the pit shook from the vibrations, as it runs at 257 RPM.
All of the electric current made by the diesel generators was passed through the switchboard, pictured above, before being distributed throughout the city.

During my visit, members of the Granbury Flywheelers were working on Engine #3, another Fairbanks-Morse diesel installed in 1930. It was brought to town on a railroad flat car. Scaffolding and rollers were made from timber, and a team of horses moved the engine onto blocks of ice which, as they melted, let the engine down to the cement slab and into permanent position.

The flywheel had to be in a certain position for the engine to start, which is what the gentleman with the poll is doing below left. Numerous adjustments were made, and then the engine literally roared to life.

The building also has pumps for intake water and cooling water, original air tanks and an air compressor (needed to start the engines), and a gasoline engine and air compressor used to pump up the starting air if all the diesel engines were down and there was no electricity for the regular air compressor.

These guys love what they are doing, and their enthusiasm is contagious. I must have spent an hour here. I look forward to visiting again during Granbury's annual Harvest Moon Festival in October, when the Flywheelers also display their antique tractors and parade them around the courthouse square.

© Amanda Pape - 2011 - click here to e-mail me.

Candlelight Tour: Hood County Courthouse

2011-12-26T13:50:00.004-06:00

Back on December 3, we served as docents for the Hood County Courthouse on Granbury's annual Candlelight Tour of Homes (and other historic structures). One of the benefits of our two-hour shift was a free ticket to see other sites on the tour, which I will feature later this week.

Another benefit was getting a preview of the newly-renovated interior of the courthouse a few days earlier, before many citizens had seen the results of the nearly-three-year project.

The Hood County Courthouse was designed by Waco architect Wesley Clark Dodson, who designed a number of other courthouses in Texas, including the one in Lampasas. Many of these are in the French Second Empire style. It was constructed in 1890-1891.

One of its most interesting features are the paintings on the doors of vaults and safes throughout the building. Many of these had been painted over and needed careful restoration.
Most of the benches in the second floor courtroom are originals, as is the wooden floor, pictured above.

The second floor courtroom used to have a dropped ceiling and a number of partitions, as pictured below left. The photo below right shows how it looks today:

During the restoration, experts scraped away layers of paint, exposing decorative treatments. Faux black grout lines were painted over a calcimine blue-gray background, creating the appearance of Cannes stone, reflecting the building's French design. Near the ceiling, they uncovered a Victorian motif hand-stenciled in brown oil-based paint that replicates the art metalwork pattern in the courthouse staircase, below right. These original paint treatments were restored, below left.

The removal of the false ceiling exposed the soaring 19-foot walls, the 32-foot vaulted corrugated metal ceiling, and tall, narrow Victorian windows.

Another interesting feature, not described in the literature we were given, was the old urinals on the landing between the first and second floors on the east end of the building. Apparently these were just large funnels (now gone) connected to holes in the floor, which are still visible. (The center photo below is by Andrea Sutton and was taken February 23, 2007, for the Hood County Historical Society.)

And finally, just for fun - my husband pretending to be a mean judge on the Candlelight tour (his station was the second floor courtroom; I was on the first floor), and the nutcracker sentry just outside the south side door, next to the historical marker (click on the photo to enlarge it and read the marker).

© Amanda Pape - 2011 - click here to e-mail me.

My First Christmas, 1957

2011-12-25T22:03:00.000-06:00

Mom (Geraldine Margaret Guokas Pape) and me at home.

Dad (Frederick Henry Pape), Mom, and me, probably at a friend's or relative's home.

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-25T08:20:00.001-06:00

Here's our Christmas "newsletter," the year in review (it even has music!):

Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories: Christmas Eve

2011-12-24T23:59:00.001-06:00

December 24 Prompt:
Christmas Eve-

How did you, your family, or your ancestors spend Christmas Eve?

Ha! I'm still PREPARING for Christmas on Christmas Eve! Amazingly, this year I finished my shopping early (for me), so today I could concentrate on baking cookies and wrapping gifts while listening to holiday music.

My dad tells me that growing up, his family opened their gifts on Christmas Eve. They would usually go to Grandpa Massmann's house, who would take them out for some kind of distraction while his servants played Santa and put the gifts under the tree.

Mom's family opened gifts on Christmas Day, so when she and Dad married, he adopted her customs. I don't remember anything special happening on Christmas Eve while I was growing up, except attending Midnight Mass when I was older.

Mark and I opened our gifts to each other tonight, as we travel to McKinney tomorrow to celebrate Christmas with Mark's daughter Kim and her family. We will see my parents and aunt (and possibly others in my family of origin) on December 27 and/or 28.

My son Eric is spending Christmas with his dad in Oregon. Eric's father and I separated when Eric was ten. Our custody agreement specified how the Christmas holidays were spent, and in alternating years, Eric was with me on Christmas Eve (until 1 AM Christmas Day, after the midnight church service). I think this led to being comfortable celebrating on either Christmas Eve or Christmas Day - or both.

Below is a picture of Eric with a gingerbread castle he made during his sophomore year in high school, in a world history class. It was the last class day before the holiday break, and they HAD been studying the Middle Ages! I think that castle became part of our household decorations until I moved back to Texas in early 2006.

Merry Christmas to all!

This is post 24 (and the final one) in the Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories hosted by Geneabloggers.com. Originally published December 24, 2009; slight revisions were made in 2010 and 2011.)

© Amanda Pape - 2011 - click here to e-mail me.

Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories: Sweethearts

2011-12-23T23:59:00.000-06:00

December 23 Prompt:
Christmas Sweetheart Memories-

Do you have a special memory of a first Christmas present from a sweetheart? How did you spend your first Christmas together? Any Christmas engagements or weddings among your ancestors?

I first met my sweetie 31 years ago, in 1979. That Christmas, I believe he gave me the large dark ring at the top in the pictures below, because the pictures are cropped out of larger photos taken in January 1980. The ring was sterling silver with a large malachite stone in an unusual shape. I wore it for years, until the stone fell out somewhere.

The photo at the top of this post is of his gift to me in 1980 (I think). It's a brown leather Coach bag that I STILL use today.

The photo below is of me in my sweetie's Christmas gift from 1981: a gorgeous angora green sweater dress. I remember wearing it to a New Year's Eve party that year.

My parents say they spent their first Christmas together (1954) in an apartment on Irving Way in Houston, Texas, that was "crawling with bugs." Dad was still stationed at Ellington Air Force Base. He was released from the service in April 1955, and then my parents moved to Evanston, Illinois, where they lived until I was about 9 months old, moving back to Houston early in 1958.

I'm not aware - yet - of any Christmas weddings or engagements in my families, but Mark's nephew got married on Christmas Eve in 2009.

(This is post #23 in the Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories hosted by Geneabloggers.com. Originally published December 23, 2009; slight revisions were made in 2010.)

© Amanda Pape - 2011 - click here to e-mail me.

Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories: Loved Ones Gone

2011-12-22T23:59:00.001-06:00

December 22 Prompt:
Christmas and Deceased Relatives-

Did your family visit the cemetery at Christmas? How did your family honor deceased family members at Christmas?

We didn't visit the cemetery, and I don't remember doing anything in particular to honor deceased family members at Christmas, but I know I think about family members who have passed on. For example, I think about my grandmothers, Nana and Nani, Elizabeth Massmann Pape and Sara Wolfe Guokas Archibald, when I make Streuselkuchen coffee cake and eat Christmas dinner respectively.

The photo above was taken at All Saints Cemetery in Des Plaines, Illinois, by one of my Streff cousins before the graveside service for Nana on January 19, 2000. Nana passed away on January 13. I was fortunate enough to see her a few weeks before, around her 97th birthday on December 23. I was a single mom living in Washington state at the time while Nana lived near Tampa, Florida, and this trip would not have been possible without the assistance of my cousin Tom Streff who, as a pilot with American Airlines, was able to obtain a low-cost ticket for me both to see Nana and to go to her funeral in Chicago later.

This imposing monument is a result of my great-grandfather, Frederick Massmann, who at one point in his life was president of the National Tea Company and was rather wealthy. He is buried here along with my great-grandmother Elizabeth Dienes Massmann, son and daughter-in-law Alfred and Agatha Burke Massmann, Nana and Grandpa Paul Robert Pape, grandson Paul Robert "Bob" Pape Jr. and his wife Delores "Lorrie" Olker Pape, and granddaughter Rose Mary Pape Dietz and her husband Ronald Dietz.

(This is post #22 in the Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories hosted by Geneabloggers.com. Originally published December 22, 2009; slight revisions were made in 2010.)

© Amanda Pape - 2011 - click here to e-mail me.

Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories: Religion

2011-12-20T23:59:00.000-06:00

December 20 Prompt:
Religious Services-

Did your family attend religious services during the Christmas season? What were the customs and traditions involved?

Growing up Catholic, naturally we attended Mass every Sunday (and usually every Friday at Catholic school). When my son Eric was little, we attended the Lutheran church (back then the church of his father). At both we observed Advent with the lighting of the wreath. I also remember some midnight services, and passing the flame from individual candle to candle.

Another custom in my family has been setting up a Nativity scene. Somewhere in the 1960s, my mother bought a beautiful Lotte Sievers-Hahn (1908-1987) hand-carved wooden set made in West Germany, pictured at the top of this post. I believe we started out with just Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, but over the years more pieces were added. By 1968, we had the stable, Three Wise Men, a camel, cow, deer and fawn. By 1979, when the photo above was taken, we had added two shepherds, a number of sheep, and an angel. We also got rather clever setting it up, using books to create "hills," hanging the angel and a star, and adding a light behind the stable for dramatic effect. My parents still have this Nativity scene and say it's worth about $400. Apparently you can still get pieces for it.

My parents gave me a Nativity scene when I got out on my own, by 1982 when the picture to the right was taken. It's ceramic and the name "Cathie Byrnes" is penciled on the bottom of the largest piece, but I haven't been able to find out anything about her. Despite traveling to Washington state and back to Texas, it has survived intact except for the ears on one of the donkeys. Nowadays during Advent and Christmas, it resides on the mantel above the fireplace, where it blends in well with the limestone.

To the left is a photo I took in 1982 of the Nativity scene at my Uncle Ronald and Aunt Rose Mary Pape Dietz' home in Glenview, Illinois. The caption I wrote on it at the time said it was "in the Pape family for three generations." I'm not sure if that means it originally belonged to my great-grandparents John and Gertrude Kramer Pape, or if it came down through my paternal grandmother's family and originally belonged to Frederick and Elizabeth Dienes Massmann, or even to Fred and Regina Mattheis Dienes. All of them (except Elizabeth Dienes Massmann, born in Illinois) were German immigrants, so it is possible the Nativity scene was brought over from Germany. Unfortunately, this Nativity scene may have been left behind in an attic in Florida after my Aunt Moe (Rosemary Pape Dietz) passed away in 2007.

(This is post #20 in the Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories hosted by Geneabloggers.com. Originally published December 20, 2009; slight revisions were made in 2010.)

© Amanda Pape - 2011 - click here to e-mail me.

Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories: Shopping

2011-12-19T23:59:00.001-06:00

December 19 Prompt:
Christmas Shopping -

How did your family handle Christmas shopping? Did anyone finish early or did anyone start on Christmas Eve?

Christmas shopping. Ugh.

Obviously not my favorite thing. I'm not real big on gifts - receiving or giving them. I don't start shopping on Christmas Eve, but neither do I finish shopping early either.

My family of origin handles Christmas shopping via lists. Somewhere around the time the youngest outgrew Santa, we all started making lists of what we wanted. The lists would be circulated among the other family members and we'd indicate what we planned to buy. If your list was planned carefully (nothing too outrageous, stuff everyone could afford), you would get everything on it.

My family still does this today, although I only participate for Mom and Dad. Mom makes this particularly easy. My parents live in a smaller town and Mom does a lot of catalog shopping. She makes a list (at the top of this post), noting item numbers, price, where you can get it, the website and phone number. She also cuts out pictures and descriptions of the items from the catalogs. Dad assembles those onto additional sheets of paper (like below) and repeats the info about where you can get the items. He then e-mails the list and pictures to me and my siblings around Thanksgiving, and we e-mail each other saying what we're going to get her.

Since I now live in a small town and also do a lot of catalog and online shopping, I find Mom easy to buy for. Dad is not quite as detailed, but there is usually at least one thing on his list that I can easily get for him. I don't make any lists for myself because I really don't want or need anything.

In 2011, we're spending Christmas with Mark's daughter and her husband and their seven children (yours, mine, ours). I'm pretty much done with my shopping for them; just need a few more little things for the girls.

(This is post #19 in the Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories hosted by Geneabloggers.com. Originally published December 19, 2009; slight revisions were made this year.)

© Amanda Pape - 2011 - click here to e-mail me.

Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories: Stockings

2011-12-18T23:59:00.001-06:00

Prompt for December 18:
Christmas Stockings-

Did you have one? Where did you hang it? What did you get in it? Do you have any Christmas stockings used by your ancestors?

I did have a Christmas stocking, but it may not have been until I was about 13. The picture above was taken in 1970, I believe shortly after my siblings and I decorated the felt stockings Mom made for us. They are lined up in our birth order, so mine is on the left, followed by Karen's, Mark's, Brian's, and Mary's. I do remember that Brian and Mary were fairly young when we got the stockings as Karen and I actually did the decorations on theirs, so it may have been earlier than 1970 (but no earlier than 1964).

To the left and right are pictures of Mark, Brian and Mary looking in their stockings on Christmas mornings in 1971 and 1973 respectively.

We didn't have a fireplace growing up, so the stockings were hung from a drawer in an etagere in the living room while they were empty. They were too full to stay hung there after they were filled, so I think they were laid out on a coffee table.

I don't remember exactly what we got in them. I think there was tangerines, walnuts, and candy, and little unwrapped gifts that were small enough to fit in them. By 1979, even our basset hound, Barney, got his own stocking filled with doggy toys and treats.

My husband Mark still has his stocking from childhood. His mother, Jewel Moore Gresham, made it for him when he was little (maybe around 1944?) and saved it for years. He found it among her things after she passed away in 1994. It hangs above our (unused) fireplace today, flanked by Eric's and my store-bought, fuzzy red stockings with white cuffs, with our names in green glitter glue.

(Post #18 in the Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories hosted by Geneabloggers.com; originally published December 18, 2009.)

© Amanda Pape - 2011 - click here to e-mail me.

Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories: Evanston, IL, 1929-1951

2011-12-17T23:59:00.001-06:00

December 17:
Christmas in Evanston, Illinois, 1929-1951

Prompt: Grab Bag/Author's Choice. Please post from a topic that helps you remember Christmas past!

I showed my dad (almost 81 at the time) the list of prompts for the Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories, then had a hard time keeping up with my notes on everything he remembered!

Dad is the grandchild (or great-grandchild) of German immigrants on both sides, and he can remember real candles on some of their Christmas trees. He knew people that strung popcorn and cranberries alternately in garlands. He also remembers beautiful glass ornaments from Germany on theirs and his parents' trees.

Besides the Streuselkuchen I mentioned in the holiday foods post, he remembers prune and raisin coffee cakes, stollen, and eggnog. His mother, Elizabeth Massmann Pape (my Nana) also made tons of Christmas cookies, including pfefferneusse, which he remembers being rather hard to bite into. They'd have 10-12 boxes of different kinds of cookies, including cut-out and iced cookies and ones with baked-in goodies. Dad remembers helping as there were extra cookies for the helpers! His favorites were chocolate ones dusted with confectioner's sugar.

Because my Grandpa (Paul Robert) Pape was an insurance broker, Nana (Elizabeth Massmann Pape) sent out a lot of Christmas cards, and they received a lot too, which were put on display. Likewise his parents would have a holiday party for these customers, and Nana would hold one for the relatives too.

He remembers they had outdoor decorations, but mostly just around the door. The weather wasn't always conducive to putting up a lot more than that.

He remembers visiting Santa Claus in department stores, but as mentioned in the post about other traditions, Santa also came on St. Nicholas Day. Dad said his Grandma (Elizabeth Dienes) Massmann used to go to Hibbard, Spencer & Bartlett for toys and other gifts - Dad worked for them one summer.

As for holiday travel - Dad remembered Christmas in 1951, when he was a navigator cadet at Ellington Air Force Base outside Houston. The Chicago area received tremendous snowfall that December and getting there for Christmas was going to be a problem. He said Colonel Lee released planes, and two were going to the Chicago area. He managed to get into O'Hare (this was back when it was being used by the Air Force and wasn't the commercial airport it is today) when all other Chicago area airports were closed.

Mom likes fruitcake - Dad does to a point. One of his summer jobs was working for Casey's Fruitcakes in Evanston during World War II. An exact amount of dough had to be put in cans in which the cakes were baked, sealed, and then sent to servicemen overseas. He said the amount of dough had to be just right in terms of weight.

As mentioned earlier, Nana's birthday is December 23. Dad said she insisted on having a separate birthday party and presents, not combined with Christmas. He and his four siblings would pool their money on shopping for their parents' gifts, with his older sister Betty usually purchasing Nana's, while he and his brother Bob would get Grandpa something like fishing line (or a new reel when they were older).

Of course, growing up in the days when the Catholic Mass was entirely said in Latin, I'm sure a lot of Christmas carols and Advent hymns were sung in Latin, too.

The photo at the top of this post is of a postcard of the Evanston City Hall (a hand-colored photograph) that I bought in an antique store in Granbury, Texas. It's undated, and it's hard to read the postmark (in Chicago, Illinois), but my son thinks it says 1907. That would correspond with the type of postcard it is (undivided back with some writing space on the front, which were made December 24, 1901 through at least March 1, 1907) and the one-cent Franklin stamp on the back (which was introduced in February 1903). Postcards could be mailed for one cent until 1952 (except November 2, 1917 - July 1, 1919, and April 15, 1925 - June 30, 1928 when the rate was also two cents). You can see the building in the backgrounds of this 1902 photo of the Rood Building housing the Lord's store next door, and this supposedly 1896 photo of Fountain Square in Evanston (actually taken 1893-1895 based on the location of Lord's).

Karen Hansen, Adult Services Librarian at Evanston Public Library, answered my query about the building:

According to Evanston: A Pictoral History, the city broke ground for the City Hall building in 1891. In 1946, the building in your postcard was sold and the former Evanston Country Club building was designated as the new City Hall. The old City Hall was razed shortly afterward during the same year. So...the building would have existed at least for part of the time your father lived in Evanston. I hope that helps you fill a gap in your family history!

Debra Gust, Image and Licensing Specialist with the Curt Teich Postcard Archives at the Lake County Discovery Museum in Wauconda, Illinois, wrote to me,

This is a very early Teich card, the number on it is 94. Because of the undivided back we know that it was printed sometime before 1907, but I cannot give you the exact year. The one we have in the collection was postmarked 1905.

(Post #17 in the Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories hosted by Geneabloggers.com. Originally published December 17, 2009; revisions were made in 2010 (major) and 2011 (minor). Thanks also to digital image expert Jennifer Lafleur for additional links to images and articles.)

© Amanda Pape - 2011 - click here to e-mail me.

Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories: School

2011-12-16T23:59:00.001-06:00

Prompt for December 16: Christmas at School -
What did you or your ancestors do to celebrate Christmas at school? Were you ever in a Christmas pageant?

Well, of COURSE I was in a Christmas pageant! I went to Catholic school, after all. I was Mary, mother of Jesus, in third grade (I still have my baby doll that acted as Jesus). In sixth grade, I was in the school choir (along with my 5th-grade sister Karen) - snippets of the printed Christmas program are above.

Once a photographer from the Texas Catholic Herald came out to take the photo at right of my 8th-grade class lighting the candles on an Advent wreath. It was published December 18, 1970. I was very tall in 8th grade and you can see me in my dark-framed glasses at the upper left of the photo.

I went to an all-girls Catholic high school that held a formal Christmas Dance at a classy location each year. Being an all-girls school, of course the girls asked the guys to the dance. I invited someone each of the four years, but was turned down by the guys I invited in my freshman* and junior years because they were (supposedly) going to be out of town the dates of the dances, which fell in the week before Christmas. We girls bought a "bid" to attend the dance which resulted in a lovely engraved souvenir like the one at the left.

(*The guy I invited freshman year is at the far right in the windbreaker in the newspaper photo above.)

(Post #16 in the Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories hosted by Geneabloggers.com. Originally published December 16, 2009; slightly revised this year.)

© Amanda Pape - 2011 - click here to e-mail me.

Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories: Holiday Happenings

2011-12-15T23:59:00.000-06:00

Prompt for December 15 -
Holiday Happenings!

Often times December to mid-January birthdays get overshadowed by the Christmas/Hanukkah/New Year holidays. So we're going to shine a spotlight on those family members and ancestors this time around. Select one or more December to mid-January birthdays and/or anniversaries in your family tree. Write a short tribute to or memory of those birthday guys or gals and write a toast to the anniversary couples.

I think every family has lots of birthdays (and a few anniversaries) that fall during the Christmas holiday period. I'm picking a few from the early 1980s just cuz I have some photos of these events.

My paternal grandmother, "Nana," Elizabeth Massmann Pape, was born December 23, 1902. The family decided to throw a big 80th birthday party for her in 1982. At that time she had five children (all married), 28 grandchildren (many married), and 9 great-grandchildren, and most of them were able to come to the party in the Chicago area. A lot of the grandchildren, one of their spouses, and one great-grandchild are in the photo at the top of this post - I'm not going to try to name them all!

The photo at right is also from that 80th birthday party, and pictures Nana with her five children, from left, Elizabeth "Betty" Streff, my dad Fred Pape, Paul Robert "Bob" Pape Jr., Marilyn "Beete" Hedger, and Rose Mary "Moe" Dietz.

On January 2, 1981, my cousin Donna Pape married John Jajich, also in the Chicago area. Donna is just a few weeks younger than me, and her parents, Bob and Dolores "Lorrie" Olker Pape, are my godparents. We're all pictured at left. Donna had come to Texas for a long vacation the previous January, so of course I had to go to her wedding!

The days after the wedding were fun too. Donna's brother-in-law, her sister Terrie's husband Mark Zitzelsberger, celebrated his birthday a few days later. In the photo below, surrounding Mark are Terrie (pregnant with first child Lisa), Aunt Lorrie, my cousin Judy Pape Schaller, and me.

That same trip, I cross-country skied for the first time in the Forest Preserve District of Cook County, Illinois. That's me pictured to the left, and Judy and Uncle Bob in the photo below right.

All of these photos are especially meaningful now because Nana, Aunt Lorrie, Aunt Moe, and Uncle Bob have all passed away. I miss them, especially this time of the year.

(Post #15 in the Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories hosted by Geneabloggers.com. Originally published December 15, 2009; minor revisions were made in 2010 and 2011.)

© Amanda Pape - 2011 - click here to e-mail me.

Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories: Food Gifts

2011-12-14T23:59:00.010-06:00

Prompt for December 14 -
Fruitcake, Friend or Foe?

Did you like fruitcake? Did your family receive fruitcakes? Have you ever re-gifted fruitcake? Have you ever devised creative uses for fruitcake?

I know we received fruitcakes when I was growing up. I tried them, enough to know I don't like them. If someone gave me one today, I think it would be cruel to "re-gift" it, since I don't know anyone who likes fruitcake. (Well, I take that back - Mark says his mom made a fruitcake that was actually quite good.)

As for creative uses of fruitcake - I'm going to make creative use of this post and talk about OTHER food gifts.

I grew up in Texas, and live there again, but from November 1984 through December 2005, I lived in Washington state. For a number of years, my brother Brian sent me pecans from Pape Pecan House (no relation - I think!) in Seguin, Texas. One year he sent shelled pecan halves in a green ceramic dish shaped like Texas (which alas, broke in transit back here), but most of the time he send two-to-five-pound bags of shelled pecans suitable for baking. This was a great gift that I really appreciated, as the pecans froze well and I could make Pecan Puffs year-round if I wanted.

The pecans always arrived with recipes, like this one (right) for pecan pie. This one was so close to my mother's recipe that I just made the necessary changes. I've never been to the Pape Pecan House, but I need to go - they have The World's Largest Nutcracker Collection - almost 10,000 of them as of December 9.
During some of the years I lived in Washington, we sent apples to my family in Texas. The gifts did double-duty as they also benefited the Children's Home Society of Washington. The packaging isn't so nice now, but I thought about sending the gifts to myself at times as the beautiful boxes they came in were perfect for storing Christmas ornaments. Plus, I understand the apples were better than any even we could get in local grocery stores. To the left is an article about the apple sales from the December 1, 1986 (a year we would have sent them) Spokane Chronicle.

Today we send Rio Red grapefruit (yum!) from the Rio Grande Valley of Texas to Mark's two sisters (in New York and Washington states) and his daughter in South Carolina. From them, we've received gifts of home-smoked salmon, home-grown walnuts, apples and pears, and dried fruits, all of which we really appreciate.

The photo at the top of this post is of pecans we've picked up in our neighborhood - lots of pecan trees in this part of the state! They are in a wooden dish that used to belong to Mark's parents.

(Post #14 in the Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories hosted by Geneabloggers.com. Originally published December 14, 2009; minor revisions were made in 2010 and 2011.)

© Amanda Pape - 2011 - click here to e-mail me.

Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories: Travel

2011-12-13T23:59:00.001-06:00

Prompt for December 13 -
Holiday Travel

Did you or your ancestors travel anywhere for Christmas? How did you travel and who traveled with you? Do you remember any special trips?

Growing up, Christmas was always at my family's house. There were seven of us, and my mother's two siblings had no children, and my dad's siblings and parents all lived far away (we were in Houston, Texas, and they were in the Chicago area and Rochester, New York). So no, we didn't do any traveling for Christmas.

Nowadays, my family of origin's Christmas is usually at my brother Mark's house in Austin. He and Debbie have the most kids (four) and the biggest house. When I moved back to Texas in 2006, we drove down there for Christmas Day. I tried to drive back the same night. THAT was a mistake. Tons of deer along the road - very stressful. So now, if we go, we stay overnight. In 2007 and 2008, we stayed at the famous Austin Motel, but we didn't stay there in 2009, because Christmas was on a Friday and "weekend rentals must include Friday and Saturday." Kinda defeats the purpose of staying in an $80 room if you HAVE to stay two nights.

Pape Ranch Xmas Tree, 2008

In 2010, we went to Austin for Thanksgiving, and went to Mark's daughter Kim's home in McKinney (about a two-hour drive) for Christmas Day, and spend it with Kim and her husband Mike and their seven yours-mine-ours children. We've been invited again this year. We will see at least my parents and aunt Sister Jean Marie (who'll be visiting them) on December 27 and/or 28. Kind of hoping that Mark and Debbie and the kids will be at their ranch near Bend during that time and that can be our meeting place, as it's about halfway between my parents' home and ours. It's also not too far out of Austin, so perhaps some of my other siblings can make it there as well.

(Post #13 in the Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories hosted by Geneabloggers.com. Originally published December 13, 2009; major additions and revisions were made this year and in 2010.)

© Amanda Pape - 2011 - click here to e-mail me.

Social Media in Genealogy and Family History: Tech Tuesday Tip

2011-12-13T11:59:00.002-06:00

My employer, Tarleton State University, recently formed the Texas Social Media Research Institute. They held their first Social Media Conference on December 2. Most of the presentations were by communications students of their research, but outside presentations were also solicited. Being that three of the institute's directors are friends of mine, I volunteered to do two.

I don't claim to be an expert on the use of social media in genealogy, but we couldn't afford to bring in Thomas MacEntee or Amy Coffin or any of the fabulous geneabloggers that I follow. So, my presentation was pretty personal, with examples of how blogging, photo sharing sites, and Google Maps have helped me in my family history research.

In my work as a librarian, I do a lot of instructional sessions, and I generally do them live. I wanted to do the presentation the same way, rather than as a PowerPoint or even a Prezi. However, since the conference proceedings were going to be published online, I needed some way to archive my presentation. I'd bookmarked the blog posts and other web pages I wanted to show in a Delicious stack, but decided at the last minute to give Diigo lists a try, so I could add my comments on each page as a "sticky note" that would be visible to viewers later in Diigo's Webslides format. Here's the result (also at http://slides.diigo.com/widget/slides?sid=52687):

Diigo is still in beta (the help pages in particular are lacking), so this WebSlides took some time to put together, and doesn't work quite as I'd like it to. For one thing, WebSlides won't show anything on secure web pages (those whose URLs begin with https), so web pages for the last 12 slides can only be viewed by clicking on the link on the lower left corner of the slide to open the page in a separate window.

Let me know what you think.

UPDATE: The WebSlides do NOT show my sticky notes unless you are signed into my Diigo account - bummer! Here is a link to my list of annotated web page links for this presentation:
http://www.diigo.com/list/riofriotex/social-media-in-genealogy-and-family-history

© Amanda Pape - 2011 - click here to e-mail me.

Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories: Charity / Volunteer Work

2011-12-12T23:59:00.000-06:00

Prompt for December 12:
Charitable / Volunteer Work-

Did your family ever volunteer with a charity such as a soup kitchen, homeless or battered women's shelter during the holidays? Or perhaps were your ancestors involved with church groups that assisted others during the holiday?

I wasn't really quite sure about how I would answer this prompt, until I remembered the photo to the left. It was taken around 1946 of my paternal grandmother's father, Frederick Henry Massmann. According to The American Catholic Who's Who, Volume 7 (1946 and 1947, page 300), he was named a Knight of the Pontifical Equestrian Order of St. Gregory the Great in 1932 by Pope Pius XI. The honor can be bestowed on those who, by "the renown of their deeds or the degree of their munificence, are deemed worthy to be honoured by a public expression of esteem on the part of the Holy See.”

Recently my parents hired a genealogist in the Chicago area to do some more research on the reasons he received this honor. According to Edward R. Kantowicz in Corporation Sole: Cardinal Mundelein and Chicago Catholicism (page 177):

At the Holy Name Society Mass in the cathedral on New Year's Day, 1928, Cardinal Mundelein announced that "a vocation school for boys who have made a misstep and who deserve another chance" would be built near Lockport, Illinois, and named Holy Name Technical School... Mundelein asked the Holy Name men to raise the funds to build the school, and he planned to have the Catholic Salvage Bureau subsidize its operations and upkeep. Frederick Massman [sic], a Holy Name officer, donated $5,000...

Although he was actually named a Knight on May 21, 1931, Massmann wanted to be invested on the opening day of Holy Name Technical School (now Lewis University), on May 30, 1932. Apparently the opening was a very big deal, with a crowd of over 50,000 in attendance and airplanes flying over.

Massmann was also very involved in the establishment of the Catholic Youth Organization and with the Boy Scouts in Chicago, Illinois. According to an article in the May 29, 1932, Chicago Daily Times, sent to me by Brother Bernard Rapp, FSC, Director of University Archives, Lewis University, Massmann was made a Knight "in recognition of his benevolent work for boys."

Pictured above, the Knights of St. Gregory the Great uniform is described as a "dark green tail coat and trousers, both trimmed with silver embroidery, a cocked hat and dress sword: white gloves are worn." Detail of the sword can be seen here and detail of the badge here.

(Post #12 in the Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories hosted by Geneabloggers.com. Originally published December 12, 2009; major additions were made this year and in 2010.)

© Amanda Pape - 2011 - click here to e-mail me.

Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories: Other Traditions

2011-12-11T09:22:00.000-06:00

Prompt for December 11 -
Other Traditions

Did your immigrant ancestors have holiday traditions from their native country which they retained or perhaps abandoned? Did your family or friends also celebrate other traditions during the holidays such as Hanukkah or Kwanzaa?

My almost-83-year-old dad is 100% German, I think - three out of his four grandparents emigrated from Germany, and the other was the daughter of a German immigrant. Dad says that when he was a child, they celebrated Saint Nicholas Day on December 6. He and his four siblings would hang their stockings ("the biggest socks we could find") on their phony fireplace in their Lunt Avenue, Chicago home. The next morning, they would find them full of fruit (tangerines and Golden Delicious apples), nuts (walnuts and pecans in the shell), and candy.

We didn't do this when I was a child, but I'm hoping some of my aunts and cousins read this and let me know if they celebrated Saint Nicholas Day in their families, then or now.

I have some good friends, Jeff and Kathleen, who celebrate Hanukkah as well as Christmas--at least, I assume they do, because Kathleen makes the best latkes!

When my son Eric was growing up, we tried to observe the true Advent (the period before Christmas beginning four Sundays before Christmas Day - so it would often begin in November--as it did this year, on the 27th-- and NOT on December 1). When Eric was in kindergarten, he made a lovely wreath with dried pasta, pine cones, and walnuts sprayed with gold paint. With a simple ring of candle holders added, it makes the perfect Advent wreath. I've put a lovely music box snow globe (it plays "Oh Holy Night") with the Nativity scene that my paternal grandmother gave me years ago in the center. To the right is a photo of the Advent wreath and snow globe music box Nativity scene.

(Post #11 in the Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories hosted by Geneabloggers.com. Originally published December 11, 2009; slight variations made this year.)

© Amanda Pape - 2011 - click here to e-mail me.

Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories: Gifts

2011-12-10T00:17:00.001-06:00

Prompt for December 10 -
Christmas Gifts

What were your favorite gifts both to receive and to give? Are there specific gift-giving traditions among your family or ancestors?

Addressing just the second question--I remember in my early 20s that my family of origin would have a AM Christmas and a PM Christmas.

On Christmas morning (above left, 1981), the tree would be loaded with gifts to and from my parents and siblings. When my maternal grandmother, maternal aunt, and sometimes maternal great aunt and maternal uncle and his family would arrive in the afternoon (above right, 1981, with our basset hound Barney in front), there'd be a whole 'nother load of presents put under the tree for all of us to open.

Below are family from my mother's side opening gifts on Christmas afternoon, 1982. From left are my aunt Mary Anne Sarmiento Guokas, great uncle Don Gould, grandmother Sara Wolfe Guokas Archibald, cousin Sophia Sarmiento, family friend Sister Cecilia, and great aunt Edith Wolfe Gould. You can see my aunt Sister Jean Marie Guokas' black veil (the back of her head) in the foreground, and my uncle Charles Guokas III is on the floor.
(Post #10 in the Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories hosted by Geneabloggers.com. Originally published December 10, 2009; slight variations made in 2010.)

© Amanda Pape - 2011 - click here to e-mail me.

Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories: Corpus Christi Christmas

2011-12-09T00:01:00.000-06:00

December 9 -

Prompt: Grab Bag/Author's Choice. Please post from a topic that helps you remember Christmas past!

I'm writing about Christmas in Corpus Christi, Texas, where I was blessed to live April 1, 1979 until mid-October, 1984. One of the highlights was Harbor Lights, when boats in the marina downtown were decorated with lights. This apparently has since become a big festival with a nighttime illuminated boat parade where some people go all out, but it was just stationery boats lit up in their slips back then. The pictures above and below are from 1981. On the left below is my husband Mark's first sailboat (co-owned with his friend Tom, and now owned by his son Drew), the Wagon, and on the right is his second sailboat, Contagious (aka Contigo).

Another annual event back then was the Christmas Tree Forest, held in the Art Museum of South Texas in Bayfront Plaza. Local organizations and individuals would decorate trees to fit with a unifying theme. In 1982, that theme was international holiday traditions. I love the Texas tree, below left. The city Park and Recreation Department (where I worked April 1979 to October 1981) did a "Japan" tree (below right) decorated with paper fans and origami:

The Christmas season wasn't complete for me without participating in the Collier Pool New Year's Day 2 Mile Swim (I'm thrilled to see this is still going on!). Collier Pool is an outdoor pool (heated in winter) where I worked out regularly except in the busy summer season (I used the pool at Corpus Christi State University, now Texas A&M - Corpus Christi, that season). Below left is my shirt from the 1983 swim--temperatures that day ranged from 42 to 50 degrees. Collier staff even had their own tree (below right), festively decorated with race ribbons and swim lesson cards, among other things.

(This is post 9 in the Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories hosted by Geneabloggers.com. A variation of this post was originally published December 9, 2009. Slight modifications were made this year.)

© Amanda Pape - 2011 - click here to e-mail me.

52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy & History: Space City USA - Those Places Thursday

2011-12-08T22:51:00.019-06:00

The prompt for Week 49 of 52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy & History is Historical Events:

Describe a memorable national historical event from your childhood. How old were you and how did you process this event? How did it affect your family?

I remember some memorable national historical events from my childhood that were not so nice, but I'm choosing today to talk about some pleasant ones.

I was born in the Chicago area, but grew up in Houston, Space City USA - back in the 60s and 70s. So naturally, the space program, and especially the race to the moon, was a big deal for me and my family. My father was a navigator-bombardier in the Korean War, and very interested in astronomy. He taught my four siblings and me about the stars (you could actually see them from our on-the-outskirts Houston neighborhood back then), and often took us to the Burke Baker Planetarium.

At Christmas 1968, I was 11, and I remember Apollo 8, the first manned mission to orbit the moon. Especially memorable was the crew's Christmas Eve reading of the first ten verses from the Book of Genesis (the most-watched TV broadcast ever at that time), and the famous "Earthrise" photograph taken the same day, both of which were the subject of a commemorative stamp:
Just seven months later, in July 1969, I remember the first landing and walking on the moon, Apollo 11. It's a good thing this mission occurred in the summer, because I think we were glued to the TV through the entire event. I definitely remember watching and hearing "Houston, Tranquillity Base here. The Eagle has landed," and being awake when Neil Armstrong stepped foot on the moon (at 9:56 PM Houston time) and uttered the famous words, ""That's one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind."

I also distinctly remember Apollo 13 in April 1970, the scary mission that didn't land on the moon and that we feared wouldn't make it back to Earth, and Apollo 15 in July-August 1971, the first to use the moon buggy:

My maternal grandmother, Sara Wolfe Guokas Archibald, worked for the downtown post office in Houston, and obtained for me the first day covers pictured here.

© Amanda Pape - 2011 - click here to e-mail me.

Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories: Cookies!

2011-12-08T00:01:00.003-06:00

Prompt for December 8 -
Christmas Cookies -

Did your family or ancestors make Christmas cookies? How did you help? Did you have a favorite cookie?

My mother made a lot of Christmas cookies when we were growing up. I'm sure I helped - somehow. I had/have three favorites that I still make today:

The ones pictured at the top (photo adapted from Mary Jane Watson) are known by a number of names: Russian Tea Cakes, Mexican Wedding Cookies, Snowballs. We always called them Pecan Puffs. Obviously we always made them with pecans (something I can pick up from under the trees where I live), but I've seen recipes with walnuts. The recipes are all basically the same:

1/2 pound butter
4 tablespoons powdered (confectioner's) sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups flour
1 cup ground pecans (or walnuts)

Mix. Roll in balls. Bake 40 minutes in 250-degree oven. While warm, roll in powdered sugar.

Another favorite was Lemon Bars. These are very easy. They're also pretty common. A few years ago, somebody won the "delicious" category in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram's Cookie Challenge with an almost-identical recipe to the one following. Hmmph.

Mix 2 cups flour and 1/2 cup powdered sugar. Cut in 1 cup butter with pastry blender until it clings together like pie crust. Press into the bottom of a greased 13" x 9" pan and bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.

Beat 4 eggs, add 2 cups granulated sugar and 1/3 cup lemon juice. Sift in 1/4 cup flour and 1/2 teaspoon baking powder. Pour over the baked crust (which does not need to be cooled) and bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. When cooled, sprinkle with confectioner's sugar and cut into bars.

The last favorite is one I call "Chocolate Swirls." It uses unsweetened chocolate, ginger, allspice, and cinnamon, so they aren't super-sweet. The dough is chilled, hand-rolled into "snakes," and then coiled into a circle and sprinkled with granulated sugar. They take the longest to prepare but bake the fastest (10 minutes).

I don't remember making traditional cut-out sugar cookies and frosting them as a child, but I did do that with my son a few times when he was little. However, now he's not much into sweets, and my husband and I don't really need the calories. I probably wouldn't make cookies at all if it wasn't for my husband's grandchildren. The youngest, Luke, LOVES the lemon bars, and his dad, Mike, likes the pecan puffs. A bunch of my Christmas/winter tins are still at their house from the last time I made them some, for the day after Thanksgiving.

(This is post 8 in the Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories hosted by Geneabloggers.com. A variation of this post was originally published December 8, 2009. Slight modifications were made this year.)

© Amanda Pape - 2011 - click here to e-mail me.

[Not So] Wordless Wednesday: Remembering Pearl Harbor

2011-12-07T12:19:00.000-06:00

On our trip to Hawaii in May 2010, I took a close-up of one of the many names in the Arizona Memorial shrine. The name is B. Kolajajck, S1c, who my aunt told me was the brother of a fellow nun. He was one of 1177 sailors and marines that died on the USS Arizona in the Japanese attack on December 7, 1941, 70 years ago today.

I did a little research and found out this was Brosig Kolajajck, Seaman First Class. I was able to find him on the 1930 census (spelled as Brozac Koleyojack), age 14. He was living in Anderson, Grimes County, Texas, with his parents, Frank (age 46) and Maggie (age 25); sisters Elizabeth (19), Martha (12), Mary (10), and Margareta (6); and brothers Lewis (8) and Howard (aka Harold M.) (4). All of them were born in Texas, but Frank's father was born in Ohio and his mother in Poland. Maggie first married at age 19, so Brosig was her oldest child, but Frank first married at age 22, so Elizabeth is a daughter from that previous marriage. Frank is listed as a farmer, and Maggie, Elizabeth, Brosig, and Martha as farm labor.

The United States Department of Veteran Affairs shows the date of birth for Brosig to be December 4, 1915, so he'd just turned 26 a few days before the Pearl Harbor attack. There is a marker for him at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu.

Mary, born September 12, 1919, became Sister Juliana Kolajajck, CVI. She passed away November 6, 2004, and is buried at Forest Park Cemetery, Houston, Texas.

[This post was originally published June 29, 2010, and has been slightly revised.]

© Amanda Pape - 2011 - click here to e-mail me.

Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories: Parties!

2011-12-07T00:01:00.004-06:00

Prompt for December 7 -
Holiday Parties -

Did your family throw a holiday party each year? Do you remember attending any holiday parties?

I don't recall my family throwing any holiday parties. The family of course got together on Christmas, but I'll talk about that more when we get to the gift memories.

I did attend a lot of holiday parties, particularly during my college years, and for a few years after. I went to an all-girls Catholic high school and had a pretty close bunch of friends. The Christmas season was a good time for get-togethers, and I think someone had a New Year's Eve or New Year's Day party every year.

The photo to the right is from a party at my parents' house in Houston, Texas on December 27, 1980, and that's me on the upper left. I had graduated from college two years before and was living in Corpus Christi at the time. Four years later, I had moved to the Seattle area, so no more of these parties. I miss them.

I've got a lot more holiday party group photos like that one or where I'm acting silly (I'm in the green shirt in the December 1978 party photo at the top of this post), but I've only included ones where you can see a Christmas tree in the background--to prove they're from holiday parties.

My undergraduate majors club (Recreation and Parks at Texas A&M University) also held a fancy Christmas party every December. Unlike most of our other social events, everyone was encouraged to dress up for these, and the girls often wore long skirts. To the left are the officers at the 1976 party - I was the reporter-historian that year and I'm at the lower left.

This was also the event where the "Silver Chaparral" award was given to the outstanding Fall graduate of the department. Guess who in December 1978->:

(This is post 7 in the Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories hosted by Geneabloggers.com. This post was originally published December 7, 2009. Slight modifications were made the following year.)

© Amanda Pape - 2011 - click here to e-mail me.

Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories: Santa!

2011-12-06T08:37:00.000-06:00

Prompt for December 6 -
Santa Claus -

Did you ever send a letter to Santa? Did you ever visit Santa and "make a list?" Do you still believe in Santa Claus?

I know I made lists, and I probably sent some letters to Santa, but I have proof of the department store visits to him! The photo at left is of me and my sister Karen in 1959. I'm almost 3 and she is almost 2. This must be our first visit to Santa - don't all three of us look a little apprehensive?

We usually went to Foley's (bought out by Macy's a few years ago), and they used to do up nice cards like the one below (from 1960) to put your Santa photos in:
I'm the oldest of five, and there's a seven-and-a-half year gap between me and the youngest. Therefore, I went to see Santa for a number of years. I've seen one picture with my youngest sister in it, and I must have been about 10. I looked too old to be visiting Santa, and I think that was the last year.

Because of the younger siblings, I kind of HAD to keep believing in Santa, even if I had my own personal doubts. I have a memory from around age 12 of awakening at night Christmas Eve and looking out the window. I thought I saw something in the sky that looked like Santa's sleigh and reindeer zigzagging down - the reins made lines that were alight somehow. That was the last time Santa worked his magic on me, though.

I didn't really promote the Santa idea with my son Eric. Some of it was rebellion against the increasing commercialism of Christmas. Some of it was practical - I felt the Santa myth set up unrealistic expectations on the quantity of Christmas presents to be received, and our budget was very tight when Eric was little. His paternal grandmother did take him to see Santa in 1989, when he was three-and-a-half, resulting in the lovely picture at left.

(This is post 6 in the Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories hosted by Geneabloggers.com. This post was originally published December 6, 2009. Slight modifications were made the following year.)

© Amanda Pape - 2011 - click here to e-mail me.

Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories: Outdoor Decorations

2011-12-05T22:04:00.001-06:00

Prompt for December 5 -
Outdoor Decorations -

Did people in your neighborhood decorate with lights? Did some people really go "all out" when decorating? Any stories involving your ancestors and decorations?

Unlike today, outdoor house decorating was generally pretty subdued when I was growing up in the 60s and 70s. The photo at left, taken in 1982, is pretty typical of our home and neighborhood in Houston, Texas. I do remember that for many years all of the outdoor lights on our home were blue, which looked pretty neat against the orange paint trim on our brick house.

I've continued with the subtle style of outside decorating in my own home, which is built to look like homes here between 1910 and 1940. There's usually a swag on the front door (the photo at right is the one from 2006), an evergreen garland with some white lights draped above the door,and some lighted wreaths on either side of the door and the garage. In 2009 I also had red rope lights wrapped around the white posts in front, and multicolor lights in the two front windows flanking the door (see the photo below), but I'm not sure if that's going to happen this year.

My town does up its historic square and a nearby park in style. The bridges and reflections off the water (at right and below) are especially nice:

----- Lights over the square that run from the top of the courthouse can just barely be seen in the background of the photo at right.

What I don't like are some of the cheesy decorations outside some homes. The one below from a couple blocks away and a couple years ago is a particularly bad Nativity scene. Santa as Joseph? An angel as Mary? Um, no.

(This is post 5 in the Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories hosted by Geneabloggers.com. This post was originally published December 5, 2009. Slight modifications were made this year.)

© Amanda Pape - 2011 - click here to e-mail me.

Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories: Cards

2011-12-04T21:25:00.000-06:00

Prompt for
December 4 -
Christmas Cards -

Did your family send cards? Did your family display the ones they received? Do you still send Christmas cards? Do you have any cards from your ancestors?

I grew up in a card-sending family, and I continue that tradition. My mom has sent out Christmas cards to family and friends for years and I think I started doing so around age 12. Above is the one I sent in 1970 (this to my pen pal Mimi, who gave it back to me about 25 years ago).

Mom had lots of creative ways to display the cards we received. To the left is one way she did it, in 1968.

One year she used some ribbons to hang them on a wall or a door. She didn't do it that way for long, but she kept the ribbons, and somehow I ended up with them by the time I got my own apartment in 1979. I still use those ribbons today - in fact, once I hang up the cards on the study door, they stay up until the next Christmas season. To the right are the cards I received in 1980:

We have a couple cards from my husband Mark Gresham's ancestors. At left is the one his parents (Francis and Jewel Moore Gresham) sent out in 1942 (I believe), with a photo of toddler Mark on the cover. Below is a card Mark's parents received from Mark's paternal grandmother, Betty Dickson Gresham. It was sent sometime after 1940 (Mark's paternal grandfather M.E. "Ellis" Gresham's died in February 1941) and before 1976, when Betty died.

(This is post 4 in the Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories hosted by Geneabloggers.com. This post was originally published December 4, 2009.)

© Amanda Pape - 2011 - click here to e-mail me.

Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories: Ornaments

2011-12-03T22:30:00.002-06:00

Prompt for December 3 - Christmas Tree Ornaments -

Did your family have heirloom or cherished ornaments? Did you ever string popcorn and cranberries? Did your family or ancestors make Christmas ornaments?

I don't think they were heirloom, but definitely cherished on our family Christmas tree growing up were the fragile glass "Old World" style ornaments, often in unusual shapes and/or with indentations, like the one pictured above in 1979. In the upper left corner, you'll also see a diamond-shaped ornament. I think that is a mirror, as I remember our tree having some of those, to help reflect the colored lights.

Heading for heirloom status is the tree skirt (above) my paternal grandmother, Elizabeth Massmann Pape, made for us when I was growing up. The decorations have sequins sewn on by hand. Below is some detail:

Our tree growing up was an eclectic mix, as is ours today. Pretty much every ornament on our tree today has a story behind it. I like to buy ornaments when I travel to remind me of places I've been. There are some ornaments on the tree that my son Eric made when he was little. Unfortunately, those are still in the box, but here are some photos of some of my other shiny ornaments. Even today I have a strong preference for sparkly stuff.:

Stringing popcorn or cranberries was not part of our traditions, but I know my siblings and I made some ornaments as kids, and I've made a few since then. But that's another possible post.

(This is post 3 in the Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories hosted by Geneabloggers.com. This post was originally published December 3, 2009.)

© Amanda Pape - 2011 - click here to e-mail me.

Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories: Holiday Foods

2011-12-02T22:27:00.000-06:00

Prompt for December 2 - Holiday Foods:
Did your family or ancestors serve traditional dishes for the holidays? Was there one dish that was unusual?

It's traditional in my family to have turkey for Christmas dinner. Growing up, my mom always roasted it inside a brown paper bag (20 minutes per pound as I recall at a fairly low temperature), but I'm not sure how my brother Mark and sister-in-law Debbie cook it now (they've been the hosts the past few years). We always had rice dressing with it which my brother Brian now makes at family gatherings. Debbie makes a mean pumpkin pie from fresh pumpkin, and Mom's pecan pie is absolutely the best (tons of pecans in it). My favorites were and are the vegetables. My maternal grandmother (Sara Wolfe Guokas Archibald, aka Nani) could always make them taste so good. For example, she'd melt Velveeta into creamed corn; add chopped celery, onion, and red bell pepper; top with bread crumbs and parsley flakes, dot with butter and bake. MMMMM.
The one possibly unusual dish we have (at every family gathering) is something I call "Sister Jean Marie Salad," for my maternal aunt (Jo Ann Guokas) who I think originated the recipe. [It's pictured to the left at Thanksgiving 2010.] Here (to the right) she is holding me in September 1957 in Houston, Texas (I am five months old).

Here's the recipe:
Mix together:
3 regular size cans of fruit cocktail, drained
12 oz. carton of Cool Whip
3 oz. package of Jello crystals, any flavor*
48 oz. of small curd cottage cheese

*It's typical in my family to use a red jello like cherry or strawberry, hence the salad turns out pink. The more common name for this salad, in my family, is "the pink stuff" and my sister Karen typically makes it for family gatherings.

For me at least, it's also become a tradition at Christmastime to make a German coffee cake recipe (a Streuselkuchen) that was taught to me by my paternal grandmother, Elizabeth Massmann Pape, back in the 70s. She learned it from her mother or grandmother, I can't remember which.

Here's a picture of my paternal grandparents on their wedding day, September 3, 1924. Standing are my great-grandfather John Pape, grandfather Paul Pape, great-grandfather Frederick Massmann, and great-great grandfather Carl Massmann. Seated are my great-grandmother Elizabeth Dienes Massmann and my grandmother Elizabeth:

The recipe calls for fresh cakes of yeast (not the dry "activated" stuff) and the dough rises three times. The streusel is a mixture of brown sugar, granulated sugar, flour, and real butter, with either some grated orange and lemon rind or some cinnamon. It takes all day but generally makes 6-8 coffee cakes depending on the weather (sunny dry days produce more coffee cake). My dad gets a couple for part of his Christmas present, and most of the rest go to the family gathering in Austin for snacking on Christmas Day and the day after.

(This is post 2 in the Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories hosted by Geneabloggers.com. This post was originally published December 2, 2009, with a slight modification a year later.)

© Amanda Pape - 2011 - click here to e-mail me.

Christmas Trees and Christmas Cousins: Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories

2011-12-01T17:14:00.002-06:00

The prompt for December 1 in the Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories is The Christmas Tree:
Did you have a real tree or was it artificial? How big was the tree? Who decorated the tree? What types of Christmas trees did your ancestors have?

I've addressed the first three questions in my post for this date last year. As for the fourth question, this might be a Pape family Christmas tree circa 1913-1917:

I call this the "Christmas Cousins" picture, taken (I believe) between Christmas 1913 and Christmas 1917 inclusive. I believe that this is a photograph of the seven children of John and Gertrude Kramer Pape, my great-grandparents, and the six children of John's brother Lorenz (or Laurenz) and his first wife Maria Henrietta Kamp Pape. It was probably taken at John's home at 1043 Sherman Avenue in Evanston, Illinois, as this is where Lorenz' family first went when they immigrated. By June 5, 1917, according to World War I draft registration cards, Lorenz and his family were living at 1622 Forest Avenue in nearby Wilmette, so the photo might have been taken there. Or, it could have been taken in a professional photographer's studio.

So how did I get this picture?

Here's an e-mail I got from a third cousin named Mary Kay, after she and her sister viewed my posts in this blog about architect Ewald Pape and our mutual great-great grandparents, Jacob and Elizabeth Gierse Pape:

My sister was doing some family research and found your information about the Pape family. Our Grandmother was Maria (Mary) Pape....one of Ewald’s sisters. I may be able to fill in a few holes in the family tree. I recall meeting Ewald, Alma and Bert years ago when they visited my Grandmother in Nekoosa, Wisconsin where she lived. I also have a small painting Ewald did of a locomotive. (dated 1914). We were thrilled to see the picture of our mutual great-great grandparents. Looking forward to hearing from you.

Mary Kay and I have exchanged a number of e-mails, information, and photographs, including this "Christmas Cousins" photo, and one I used in a later post about Ewald.

Here's who I think is who (based on some input from Mary Kay, her 85-year-old mother, and my 82-year-old father):

Top row: Ewald*, Walter, Clara, Dick, Nellie*
Middle row: Maria*, Paul, Rhea, Karl*, Lee
Bottom row: Joseph*, Martha, August*

*children of Lorenz

My dad and I are absolutely positive about Clara, Paul, Rhea, and Lee. Mary Kay and her mom are absolutely positive about Nellie and Maria. Martha is the only girl left, so we are pretty sure that is her in front, but its underexposure makes it hard to be sure. We're kind of guessing on the rest of the guys based on their relative ages.

The photo would have to been taken in 1913 or later, because 1913 is the year Lorenz and his kids by his first wife immigrated from Germany to the United States. Here is how old everyone would have been at Christmas 1913 (so these would be the minimum ages for the cousins in the photo - they could have been older if it was taken in a later year):

Karl and Clara: 24
Martha: 23
Joseph: 22
Rhea and Maria: 21
Lee and August: 20
Ewald: 19
Paul and Nellie: 17
Dick: 15
Walter: 13

My mother thought that perhaps they assembled all the children (John's and Lorenz's) together for a photo one Christmas to send back to the family in Germany. In fact, I have sent a copy of this photo to a German Pape cousin (descendant of John and Lorenz' brother Joseph) to see if anyone there has a copy.

I am guessing the photo was taken before 1918, as that is when the first cousin got married (Joseph in April). It may have been taken before Clara moved to Sioux City (she is listed in their 1915 directory), although I suppose she could have come home for Christmas.

© Amanda Pape - 2011 - click here to e-mail me.

Wordless Wednesday: Happy Blogiversary to Me!

2011-11-30T23:59:00.000-06:00

Two years ago tomorrow, on December 1, 2009, I started this blog! Photos below are from a Gresham family birthday: either Mark's in 1943, Ann's in 1946, or June's in 1954.

©Amanda Pape - 2011 - click here to e-mail me.

52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy & History: Fall - Thankful Thursday Thanksgiving

2011-11-24T16:03:00.006-06:00

The prompt for Week 47 of 52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy & History is Fall:

What was fall like where and when you grew up? Describe not only the climate, but how the season influenced your activities, food choices, etc.

Well, I spent the first 27 years of my life in southeast Texas (Houston, College Station & Washington County, San Antonio, and Corpus Christi), where autumn (I prefer that term to fall) means it's not quite as hot as summer, it might rain a little more, and (when I was in junior high, high school, and college), you go to football games (St. Francis de Sales, St. Thomas, and Texas A&M respectively).

Then I spent the next 21 years in the Seattle area, where autumn meant much cooler temperatures, skies that were mostly gray, and - because it is the Evergreen State - not that much autumn color. Sometimes, though, you'd luck out with a perfect day, sunny, not too cold, and you'd find riotous hues:

My aunt Sister Jean Marie Guokas, my grandmother Sara Wolfe Guokas Archibald, and my son Eric Bolme at the Washington Park Arboretum, Seattle, October 29, 1990

Now I'm back in Texas, albeit in the northern part of the state. Sometimes autumn is pretty warm (a high this fall of 100 on September 29), sometimes it's pretty cool (a low so far of 28 on November 4). Today is a pretty typical day - it's sunny and 68 at 3 PM, and we just got back from walking to a local diner for a Thanksgiving dinner. We'll be with Mark's family in McKinney tomorrow, and we couldn't both go there and to Austin for Thanksgiving with my family today (they're about six hours apart).

Autumn means I eat more soups (since it's finally cool enough!). Autumn means I'll be walking more and biking less, because the days ARE shorter and cooler and it's more windy. However, Mark is asleep on the couch after all that turkey, and I'm about to head out on a bike ride, since it IS glorious today.

November in particular is a tough month for me. I've suffered some personal losses in this month, such as a divorce filing and the death of my maternal grandmother. It was particularly hard when I lived in Seattle and was so far away from family, especially combined with the often-gloomy weather. I remember my very first month in Seattle was November 1984, and all it did that month was rain (or snow), and I thought, "what have I done?" I remember my son Eric making a little book in kindergarten (1991) with his illustrations to these last few words of Thomas Hood's poem "No!", and thinking how fitting they were:

...no butterflies, no bees.
No fruits, no flowers, no leaves, no birds.
November!

Thanksgiving has been the one bright spot in the month. When my grandmother passed away on November 16, 1997, I was in the midst of a long pre-divorce separation, and my offspring spent that holiday with the soon-to-be-ex, so I decided to stay in Texas after the funeral through the holiday. My siblings treated me to a haircut and massage and manicure and pedicure, things I certainly could not afford for myself at the time. The five of us had a new group portrait done of ourselves for our parents. And, it was warm enough to eat Thanksgiving dinner outside:

Today I'm very thankful for my family, and to be living once again in Texas.

© Amanda Pape - 2011 - click here to e-mail me.

Wordless Wednesday: Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-23T23:30:00.001-06:00

Kindergarten project by my son Eric, November 1991

52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy & History: Politics - My Connection with a Governor (part 2) - Those Places Thursday

2011-11-17T23:59:00.048-06:00

The prompt for Week 46 of 52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy & History is Politics. The real prompt doesn't fit me very well, so I'm going to continue the story of my connection to Texas Governor Miriam A. "Ma" Ferguson.

As I wrote in an earlier post, my maternal grandfather, Charles Guokas Jr., was appointments secretary to Ma Ferguson from June 1933 to January 1935, when her second term ended. Ma and her husband, former governor James Edward "Pa" Ferguson , returned to their Austin home at 1500 Windsor Road (at the corner of Enfield). Although my grandparents, mother, and her siblings moved back to Houston, they stayed in touch with the Fergusons, as evidenced by a photograph of my grandfather and Pa Ferguson in Houston, and this photograph (right) of Ma Ferguson with her grandson, James Stuart Watt (born 1939); my mother, Geraldine Guokas Pape (the taller girl in back); my aunt, Jo Ann (Sister Jean Marie) Guokas; and my uncle, Charles Guokas III (1927-1999). James looks to be about two in this picture, so I'm guessing it was taken about 1941, when my mother was 13:

When my mother attended the University of Texas at Austin (1945-1949), she roomed with Ma Ferguson in the house on Windsor. Pa had passed away in 1944. The photograph on the left of my mother and Ma Ferguson was taken December 18, 1945, at a Ford House (like a sorority) dance at the University of Texas.

The two black-and-white photographs below are in the book Miriam: The Southern Belle Who Became the First Woman Governor of Texas, by May Nelson Paulissen and Carl McQueary.
The first photograph (with the postman) is from page 281; the second is from page 172. Both are originally from the Bell County Museum. The color photograph at the bottom shows how 1500 Windsor looked this past summer.

Part 3 - the last bit of the connection - will be posted sometime in the future.

1500 Windsor, Austin, Texas, June 2011. Apartments have been built immediately behind the house fronting Enfield Rd.

Happy Veterans' Day! - Our Dads

2011-11-11T00:01:00.080-06:00

My dad, Frederick Henry Pape, at his graduation from Navigator Training School,
Ellington Air Force Base, Houston, Texas, April 1952.

Mark's dad, Francis Edward Gresham, US Navy, World War II, April 1944 - August 1945

My dad, Frederick Henry Pape, was in the Air Force from March 1951 through April 1955, and served in the Korean War from September 1952 to April 1953 as a navigator and bombardier on B-26s, mostly flying out of K-1, the Pusan West Air Base. He flew at least 50 missions and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.

Dad attended flight school in Columbus, Mississippi and graduated from Navigator Training School at Ellington Air Force Base, Houston, Texas, in April 1952. Dad went back to Ellington after his Korean War service and was training other navigators there when he met my mom.

Mark's dad, Francis Edward Gresham (1911-1990), served in the Navy during World War II, from April 1944 to August 1945. Francis was an experienced pressman and print shop manager, and after basic training in California, he was sent to work as a negative engraver and cameraman at the Navy's Hydrographic Office in Washington, D.C. during the war. Afterwards, he returned to work as a civilian at the US Naval Air Station in Corpus Christi, Texas, promoted from his pre-war job as a junior supervisor to supervisor of "miscellaneous duplicating devices." He went on to hold other civilian print shop positions with the Navy in Pensacola, Florida; Guam; and Bremerton, Washington.

© Amanda Pape - 2011 - click here to e-mail me.

Those Places Thursday: Dad's High School - Loyola Academy, Chicago

2011-11-10T11:58:00.002-06:00

The prompt for Week 45 of 52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy & History is High School. I'm going to continue the theme and talk about the school my father Frederick Pape attended for high school, which was then ninth through eleventh grades.

Describe your middle and/or high school. Was it a large or small student body? Is the school still in existence today? How has it changed since you went there?

Dumbach Hall, photo by Amerique, CC BY 3.0 license

Dumbach Hall, public domain photo, Wikimedia Commons

Dad went to Loyola Academy in Chicago from fall 1942 until he graduated in spring 1945. At the time he attended, it was an all-boys Catholic school in the Rogers Park area of Chicago, on the campus of Loyola University (which Dad also attended). The school was founded and still in Dumbach Hall (built 1908) on the university campus when Dad was in high school.

The school is VERY different today. In 1957, it moved to nearby Wilmette, and in 1994, it went co-ed, merging with a nearby all-girls Catholic high school.

© Amanda Pape - 2011 - click here to e-mail me.

(Not-So-) Wordless Wednesday: High School Teachers

2011-11-09T00:01:00.001-06:00

Keeping with the theme of High School for Week 45 of 52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy & History, here are a couple photos (taken by Mark) and stories from Mark's high school days on Guam.

Francis Howard Hildebrand (above left, born 1929?) was Mark's algebra teacher his junior year. The back of the photo says, "Our buddy, Mr. Hildebrand." According to Mark, he didn't learn much algebra, but Hildebrand told great stories about being a P-38 pilot in World War II. There was a photo of Hilbebrand in the faculty section of the 1958 Gecko yearbook, but not 1956 or 1959 (Mark does not have a copy from 1957). Apparently Hildebrand returned to the States and earned a Master of Science in the Teaching of Mathematics from the University of Illinois in June 1959, and went on to write some math books.

Alvin L. Ratzlaff (above right, 1904-1978) was Mark's chemistry and physics teacher, and was in all three yearbooks. One story Mark tells about him goes like this:

One day Ratzlaff spilled potassium on his desk Normally it is stored in kerosene (or another hydrocarbon), which isolates it from oxygen and keeps it inert. While he was lecturing, pieces of potassium would "poof" into flame, and Ratzlaff would "clunk" his hand down to put the fire out.

Ratzlaff was a World War II veteran, and had a masters degree from Columbia University.

© Amanda Pape - 2011 - click here to e-mail me.

Matrilineal Monday: Mom's High School, Incarnate Word Academy, Houston

2011-11-07T22:58:00.002-06:00

The prompt for Week 45 of 52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy & History is High School. I'm going to continue the theme and talk about the school my mother Gerrie Guokas Pape attended for high school, which was then eighth through eleventh grades.

Describe your middle and/or high school. Was it a large or small student body? Is the school still in existence today? How has it changed since you went there?

Mom went to Incarnate Word Academy (IWA) in downtown Houston, Texas, starting there in eighth grade in the fall of 1941, and graduating four years later in the spring of 1945, after completing eleventh grade. Sometime during that period, twelfth grade was added for subsequent classes. My mother's sister, Jo Ann (Sister Jean Marie) Guokas, younger by two years, attended IWA for five years, eighth through twelfth grade, graduating in 1948, after she'd already entered the convent.

IWA is the oldest Catholic high school in Houston. Here's what Texas Historic Marker #10588 says:

Established by Sisters of the Incarnate Word and Blessed Sacrament, a religious order founded 1625 in Lyons, France. In 1852, at request of the First Bishop of Texas, the Rt. Rev. John M. Odin, the order entered the United States to engage in religious education. The sisters opened their first school in Brownsville in 1853; second in Victoria, 1866; and the third here. Mother M. Gabriel Dillon and two sisters came to Houston in 1873 at request of the Rev. Joseph Querat, to begin teaching young girls in temporary quarters at the old Franciscan Monastery on Franklin. By Jan. 3, 1874, their own 3-story edifice was finished. Facing Crawford, it had a courtyard bounded by Capitol and Jackson. Boarding facilities opened in a few months. A State of Texas Charter empowered the Academy to issue diplomas, beginning in 1878. In 1899, the Exhibition Hall (auditorium) was built. To accommodate growth, another 3-story structure was added, 1905. Original building was replaced in 1948.

the original 1874 building on the left, with the 1905 building to its right and the 1899 auditorium at the far right.
From Incarnate Word Academy website

The 1905 building, still standing today, designed by famous Texas architect Nicholas Clayton.
Photo by accent on eclectic, Patrick Feller, used under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license

Mom, Class of 1945

A pre-1948 postcard with 1874 building in foreground,
and Annunciation Catholic Church in the background.

I probably would have attended IWA, too, if my family had not moved to Sharpstown in 1964 (about the same time St. Agnes did too, just one mile from my home), and if my aunt had not been principal of IWA from 1964 through 1978, which covered my high school years.

The 1899 auditorium (also designed by Clayton) and the 1948 replacement of the original 1874 building were both replaced by 1984 (while my aunt was president and then development director) with a four-story building that wraps around the 1905 building. The illustration below, showing how the school looks today, is also from the school website. You can see how close the school and church are to Minute Maid Park in this photo.

IWA is still an all-girls Catholic high school that currently enrolls about 280 students. When Mom went to the school, it was a little smaller, but not much.

© Amanda Pape - 2011 - click here to e-mail me.

Sentimental Sunday: Mark's Schools in Guam

2011-11-06T16:01:00.002-06:00

The prompt for Week 45 of 52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy & History is High School. Continuing with that theme, I'm going to talk about Mark's schools while his family lived on Guam (late 1954 through August 1960).

Describe your middle and/or high school. Was it a large or small student body? Is the school still in existence today? How has it changed since you went there?

Mark's dad was sent to Guam by the Administrative Department of the Navy (he was a civilian employee) in July 1954. The family followed from Pensacola, Florida, sometime during or just after the first six week grading period in eighth grade for Mark. He completed eighth grade, graduating June 8, 1955, at the Wettengel Elementary School, which as that time was housed at Andersen Air Force Base, and appeared to only enroll stateside students (at least, in eighth grade). It's now a K-5 school in a building in Dedego that opened in 1968.

Mark then attended and graduated from George Washington High School, at that time located in a number of quonset huts at the former Fifth Field Marine Depot in Mongmong. Here's an aerial view published in one of Mark's high school yearbooks, the 1958 Gecko:
The school was huge at the time Mark was there, with over 2500 students enrolled (based on the number in English, generally a required course all four years), according to this graph in his senior yearbook, the 1959 Gecko:
The photo below left is of Mark and his friend Paul Gillet ("Mr. Statesider 1959") outside the school, and the other photos are ones Mark took inside the library (below right) and in science labs (bottom). Mark said each quonset hut (there were about ten) held five classrooms, and one also served as a mess hall (cafeteria).

The school still exists today, but in a building constructed in 1966 in Mangilao. Mark's school was destroyed by Super Typhoon Karen in November 1962.

Mark attended the Territorial College of Guam in 1959-1960. This two-year college was also built on the old Marine Depot in quonset huts. A new facility opened in the fall of 1960, also in Mangilao, but by this time Mark's family had moved back to the States. The College eventually evolved into today's University of Guam.

© Amanda Pape - 2011 - click here to e-mail me.

52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy & History: St. Agnes Academy, Houston, Texas

2011-11-05T21:37:00.002-05:00

The prompt for Week 45 of 52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy & History is High School.

Describe your middle and/or high school. Was it a large or small student body? Is the school still in existence today? How has it changed since you went there?

For high school, I went to St. Agnes Academy in Houston, Texas. The school was founded in 1906 and was originally at 3901 Fannin near downtown Houston, but moved in 1963 to Sharpstown, about one mile from the house my family moved to in 1964. Here's how it looked when I graduated in 1975:


Illustration on the commencement invitation for the Class of 1975.

Here's how the school looks very today. Above left is the administrative wing, with a library addition (since I graduated) to its right. According to the school's virtual tour, this wing still has a beautiful foyer and the lovely chapel on the second floor. To the right is the new "Center for the Sciences and Student Services," a three-story building constructed in front of the old two-story student entrance and classroom wing (also to the right in the announcement engraving above).

The back side of the school has changed quite a bit. The photo of me below left was taken in the fall of 1972 behind the cafeteria. According to the campus map, the cafeteria has been enlarged a bit, and a new larger gym was built (part of it covering the location of the previous gym) in 1983. As the existing school site is landlocked with no room for expansion, an 18+ acre site one mile to the east was acquired about a year ago for a new athletic complex.
I was pleased to see from the virtual tour that the classrooms in the two-story wing still look similar to the photo above right (of me in advanced freshman algebra in the winter of 1971-72), except of course blackboards have been replaced by whiteboards. There's still an auditorium (where our commencement was held) and art/music areas, and the courtyard is still there (with big trees now!). My graduating class had 119 students with about 600 in the school overall; today the school has an enrollment of about 850.

© Amanda Pape - 2011 - click here to e-mail me.

Those Places Thursday: St. Margaret Mary, Chicago, Illinois

2011-11-03T00:01:00.001-05:00

Dad's first grade class at St. Margaret Mary in Chicago, 1935. Dad is kneeling right in front of the nun.

The prompt for Week 44 of 52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy & History is Elementary School. I'm going to continue the theme and talk about the schools my father Fred Pape attended for kindergarten through eighth grades.

Describe your grammar/elementary school (or schools). Were they big or small? Are any of these schools still in existence today? If so, how have they changed since you went there?

As mentioned in yesterday's post, Dad went to St. Scholastica for kindergarten. However, he attended St. Margaret Mary in Chicago for first through eighth grades. He started in September 1934 (at age 5) and graduated in June 1942 (at age 13).

A few weeks ago, my cousin Terrie and her daughter Lisa checked out the house our dads and their siblings grew up in, and they also visited St. Margaret Mary. These photos are courtesy of Terrie and Lisa.

Terrie wrote, "At the school [pictured above] they were setting up for a school fair and we met a man named Jim Sampson whose dad would have probably been in Dad's [Uncle Bob's] class as they were the same age. His uncle was Conrad Camp & also went there, as did they son (who we spoke with) and his kids. He also told me a story of a bear named Chip back then." Dad wrote,

In the picture of the west side of the school you can almost see the northwest corner. It is partly hidden by the side of the tree. On the backside of that corner was the bear cage of Chip. He was in a strong steel cage, with a high steel fence about 5 or 6 feet in front of the cage. The bear was found as a cub in the Northwoods of Wisconsin by then-pastor & founder, Reverend Father George McCarthy.

The school has three levels, as you can see, because when this building was completed, there was no separate church building, so the church was on the second level for many years until the new separate [church] building about 1938. In the top right of the picture you can see the roof, which still has Spanish tile like we had on the 2093 Lunt house.

The church looks about the same from what I can see in the pictures. Bette, Moe, Bebe [my aunts' nicknames] and I were all baptized in the first church in the now all-school building. Amanda [that's me] was baptized in the present church.

(The photo on the left is of the exterior of St. Margaret Mary Church; above is the interior.)

© Amanda Pape - 2011 - click here to e-mail me.

Wordless Wednesday: Dad's Kindergarten Class, 1934

2011-11-02T00:01:00.002-05:00

Frederick Henry Pape's kindergarten class at St. Scholastica in Chicago, which still exists today but is now an all-girls Catholic high school. Dad says, "I am the first one on the left in the top row. The third from the left on the top row was Bill Rafe who was with me at St. Margaret Mary through 8th grade. The only other one I can identify is the boy who is 2nd from the right. His name is Don Campe. We were friends all the way through 8th grade at St. M. M. and at Loyola Academy and Loyola University and until I entered the Air Force."

More about St. Margaret Mary tomorrow!

© Amanda Pape - 2011 - click here to e-mail me.

Matrilineal Monday: Mom's Elementary Schools

2011-10-31T23:06:00.001-05:00

The prompt for Week 44 of 52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy & History is Elementary School. I'm going to continue the theme and talk about the schools my mother Gerrie Guokas Pape attended for kindergarten through seventh grades.

Describe your grammar/elementary school (or schools). Were they big or small? Are any of these schools still in existence today? If so, how have they changed since you went there?

Mom started school at kindergarten in fall 1934 at St. Mary's in Austin, just south of the State Capitol. At that time my grandfather Charles Guokas was appointments secretary to Governor Miriam Amanda Ferguson. When her term ended in January 1935, the family moved back to Houston. St. Mary's still exists today, but is now called Cathedral School of St. Mary.

Back in Houston, Mom finished kindergarten at St. Joseph Catholic School and also went there for first grade. I think the First Communion picture below was probably taken during that time. I think Mom is the girl on the second row diagonally up to the right from the candle bearer on the right, with her face turned to her right. Interesting, her older brother Charles is also in this picture (he's the boy in front of the white doorway arch on the left), as is her younger sister Jo Ann (not receiving her First Communion, but--appropriately, since she later became a nun--dressed as an angel, with a crown on her head, on the upper left, to Charles's right:
However, this being the Depression years, hard times hit the family in 1936-1937, and Mom went to the local public school, Crockett Elementary, near her grandfather's home at 1717 Shearn (where they were living at the time) for second grade. At the end of her first semester there, she was promoted to third grade, so she essentially skipped a year. Crockett Elementary still exists at the same site, but has been in a new building since 1980. (Listen to their cool marimba and orchestra band on that web page!)

Mom went back to St. Joseph for fourth grade, and graduated from seventh grade there in 1941. At that time the school only had seven grades, and high school started with eighth grade. While St. Joseph Catholic Church still exists, the school closed some years ago.

© Amanda Pape - 2011 - click here to e-mail me.

Sentimental Sunday: Mark's Schools, Grades 1-7

2011-10-30T23:52:00.003-05:00

The prompt for Week 44 of 52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy & History is Elementary School. I'm going to continue the theme and talk about the schools my husband Mark attended for first through seventh grades (and a little bit of eighth grade too).

Describe your grammar/elementary school (or schools). Were they big or small? Are any of these schools still in existence today? If so, how have they changed since you went there?

Mark went to Travis Elementary in Corpus Christi, Texas, for first grade and the first semester of second grade. The school still exists today, although in a newer building. In January 1949, his family moved to the Myrtle Grove area of Pensacola, Florida. Myrtle Grove Elementary, placed in service in 1936, was Mark's school for the rest of second grade through sixth grade. Here's how it looks today:

source: http://www.escambia.k12.fl.us/schscnts/myre/Master/Images/MGSchool.jpg

I found a picture among the many that Mark's sister recently gave me, that I think might be the same school (I think Mark might be kneeling on the far right):Mark describes the area as being fairly rural when they lived there, but Pensacola seems to have grown up around it. I looked for three of their addresses on Google Maps street view, and only one looks like it might have in the late 1940s and early 1950s. So I suspect the population of the school has changed as well. The school did undergo some renovations and additions in the 1990s and early 2000s.

Mark started middle school at W. A. Blount Junior High School, also in Pensacola. He attended this school in seventh grade and for the first six weeks of eighth grade, before his family moved to Guam. The school was closed in 1982, although the building still stands today.

I love the way school pictures were done at Mark's schools - having the year printed on the front of the pictures is so convenient! I believe the reason there is no second grade picture was because of the family's mid-year move; before photographs were taken at Travis Elementary, but after photographs had been taken at Myrtle Grove Elementary.

© Amanda Pape - 2011 - click here to e-mail me.

Sentimental Sunday: 52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy & History: K-8 Schools

2011-10-30T17:13:00.002-05:00

The prompt for Week 44 of 52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy & History is Elementary School.

Describe your grammar/elementary school (or schools). Were they big or small? Are any of these schools still in existence today? If so, how have they changed since you went there?

Except for kindergarten, I went to Catholic schools, which generally go through grade 8, so that's what this post will cover. I went to three schools: Ridgecrest Elementary, a public school, for kindergarten; St. Jerome School for first grade, and St. Francis de Sales School for second through eighth grades, all in Houston, Texas.We lived in the Spring Branch area of Houston when I was in kindergarten and first grade. St. Jerome, our parish, did not have a kindergarten in 1962 (the school had just opened that year), so I went to public school. I don't remember much about Ridgecrest, except that it was close to home. According to the Spring Branch ISD website, Ridgecrest was built in 1953 and replaced in 2009-2010. My kindergarten teacher was Mrs. Knott, I got to wear a lot of dresses my mother made, I learned to tie my shoes there, and got to take naps.

My first grade teacher at St. Jerome was Mrs. Rose Jackson. I learned to read, write, and spell with the "Spalding Method" (The Writing Road to Reading, by Romalda Bishop Spalding). I also remember the death of John F. Kennedy being announced in class. St. Jerome School still exists today, but I'm not sure what has changed there.

In the summer of 1964, my family moved from Spring Branch to Sharpstown, just a few blocks from St. Francis de Sales. This was also a new school, opening that year. I have many great memories of my years here, which I've written about in previous posts. I still contribute money to the school and receive the Valiant Voice newsletters for alumni. I've bought books for the library at the annual school book fair (via e-mail with the librarian), and there are still book plates on books in the school that I bought and donated back in the 60s. At least, there were during my last visit in 2004.

The school has changed some since I graduated and moved away from Houston. A new church was built, and the old church became the gym and parish center. It was interesting to read that the office area was recently revamped to look more like it did back in 1960. The neighborhood too has changed, and the school is more diverse.

© Amanda Pape - 2011 - click here to e-mail me.

Wordless Wedding Wednesday: Francis Edward and Jewel Moore Gresham, 1940

2011-10-26T00:01:00.002-05:00

Sentimental Sunday: 52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy & History: Thanks, Miss Smith!

2011-10-23T14:28:00.001-05:00

The prompt for Week 43 of 52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy & History is Worst School Subject.

What was your worst or least favorite subject in school and why?

Although I loved school, there were a few subjects I didn't care for, primarily because I wasn't very good at them. I'm not very good with my hands, so handwriting and art were always a struggle (not to mention, I'm not artistic). In high school, I wanted to learn the skill of typing, but I didn't want a low grade to affect my grade point average, so my solution was to take the course in summer at the public school. The grade wouldn't transfer to my Catholic high school. I got a B, and developed appendicitis at the end of the course. I'm convinced there was a connection (but very glad today that I know how to type).

My grade school started teaching Spanish in fifth grade. I think it was required. I don't have an ear (or a tongue) for languages, but I'm glad I stuck with it in junior high and high school. I made it through Spanish V my senior year and placed out of all foreign language requirements in college. I can read Spanish fairly well and understand a lot if it's spoken slowly. A Spanish "fiesta" near the end of eighth grade was a highlight, as a bunch of us went to the home of my friend and classmate Lisa, whose Mexican grandmother made masa (tamale dough) from scratch. We spread the masa on corn husks, filled the tamales, and steamed them for our fiesta.

Music was another tough subject for me. I can't read music, and I can't sing my part (I am and always have been an alto) without drifting off to join the melody line. I wanted to join the band in fourth grade, but gave it up after only a year. I wanted to play flute or clarinet, but by the time I met with the band director, all those spots were taken, and I got talked into the cornet. I hated it and I hated to practice.

It's interesting what a difference a single teacher can make. My music teacher in sixth grade was Mrs. Carino, and I was inspired to join the choir that year. We did two performances. There was another choir in eighth grade, but the music teacher didn't inspire me, so I did not join.

Physical education, P.E., is another good example. I'm not athletic, I'm not even particularly coordinated. But I had a wonderful P.E. teacher through much of grade school who encouraged us to get involved. I wasn't good enough to win the Presidential Youth Fitness Award (85th percentile), but I WAS good enough to earn a Youth Fitness Achievement Award (50th percentile) on the Youth Fitness Test.

Miss Smith, though, encouraged us to TRY and do our best. In seventh grade, I swam on the swim team. We only had one meet (there weren't that many Catholic schools in Houston with girls swim teams), and I only got two fourth place and one sixth place ribbons, but I won an athletic award ribbon that year!

In eighth grade, I swam again (second place in backstroke). I also tried out for volleyball, and made the B team. I think everybody who tried out who wasn't very good made it on the B team, but it didn't matter. I remember one game where I served 15 aces in a row. I also joined the pep squad, Miss Smith's invention to let all interested girls cheer for the junior high football team, even if they weren't pretty enough or popular enough to be cheerleaders. Miss Smith was great about having interesting "spirit ribbons" made up to thank her teams, like those to the left and right (detail from the bottom of the ribbon on the right is at the beginning of this post).

Thank YOU, Miss Carolyn Smith (she's retired, but a friend on Facebook), for many exceptional years, and for inspiring a lifelong interest in health and fitness.

© Amanda Pape - 2011 - click here to e-mail me.

Wordless Wednesday: Happy Birthday, Mom!

2011-10-19T00:01:00.000-05:00

Happy birthday to my mother, Geraldine Margaret Guokas Pape - she is 83 today! This picture was taken when she was about 15 years old.

© Amanda Pape - 2011 - click here to e-mail me.

Talented Tuesday: 52 Weeks of Personal History & Genealogy: Favorite School Subject(s)

2011-10-18T16:22:00.001-05:00

The prompt for Week 42 of 52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy & History is Favorite School Subject.

What was your favorite subject in school and why? Was it also your best subject?

I was one of "those" students who LOVED school, and thus just about every subject was my favorite and my best (I'll talk about the few that weren't next week). As my favorite teacher taught English, it's not surprising that was one of my preferred courses. I loved reading and writing, and for my senior electives in high school, I chose poetry and Shakespeare (the latter still a lifelong love).

I liked social studies, especially Texas history and any geography (I'm still fascinated by maps). Math came easy to me, and I took every single math course my high school offered, including some interesting electives like "algebraic structures" and "conic sections, as well as beginning calculus.

I also liked science - mostly because of the school science fair! I entered nearly every year, and in seventh grade, I was a winner!
My project was on the effect of minerals on plants, and I did an experiment, giving different plants different fertilizers and mineral supplements, and measuring the effects on their growth. Besides getting a nifty ribbon,
my name also appeared in a couple local newspaper articles, AND, as the first-place winner in a junior high division (biological sciences), I represented our school at the Greater Houston Science Fair*!

I didn't win anything at the big city fair, held downtown in what was then the Albert Thomas Convention Center**, but it was so much fun, and I learned a lot. So of course I entered the science fair the next year. I now knew how to make my presentation more attractive (remember, this was before the days of personal computers - everything was typewritten and/or hand-lettered!). I thought my topic, geotropism (now called gravitropism), and my experiment were even better than the previous year's. However, the judges didn't agree, and I got second place - and did not go to the citywide science fair that year.

*now the Science & Engineering Fair of Houston
**now Bayou Place

© Amanda Pape - 2011 - click here to e-mail me.

Sentimental Sunday: Happy Birthday to My Baby Sister!

2011-10-16T00:01:00.001-05:00

Happy birthday today to my youngest sister, Mary Elaine!

I received my first camera a few months before this photo was taken. My baby sister became my most willing photo subject - which was probably a good thing, since, being the fifth of five children, my parents didn't take quite as many photos of Mary when she was little as they had of me, the oldest.

In this photo, taken in February 1967 when Mary was two-plus years old, she is recovering from a broken collarbone - hence the funny lumps under her shirt. And - oh yes - she dressed herself in a striped shirt, plaid skirt, and pink corduroy pants!

© Amanda Pape - 2011 - click here to e-mail me.

Those Places Thursday: 2093 West Lunt Avenue, Chicago, Illinois

2011-10-13T23:10:00.007-05:00

Recently my cousin Terrie and her daughter Lisa checked out the house our dads and their siblings grew up in, at 2093 West Lunt Avenue in the Rogers Park area of Chicago. These photos are courtesy of Terrie and Lisa.

The house is on the corner of Lunt and Hamilton, and one record I found said it was built in 1927. That sounds about right. Terrie's dad, my Uncle Bob Pape, was born in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, in January 1926. Bob and my dad's sister Betty was born next, in October 1927, but in nearby Evanston. My dad, Fred, was born in February 1929. They all appear, along with my grandparents Paul Robert and Elizabeth Florence Massmann Pape, at this address on the 1930 census. My dad says,

Your grandfather Pape had the whole attic refurbished into three rooms plus a bathroom with a tub...Your great grandfather Massmann built this bungalow along with his mansion which was one block [east] at the northwest corner of Lunt and Ridge Avenues...

In the picture of the west side of the house [below] there is one small window behind the front door [for a hall] where people could take off or put on coats which were put in a closet across the hall. In this same picture you can see two large windows which were part of the good sized dining room. The kitchen then was directly to the [right, in the photo] of the dining room.

Dad says his and Bob's bedroom was the one on the second floor at the front of the house, in the photo below. He said this "was a good size room there which [Bob] and I occupied for many years until [Bob] was recalled into the Navy and I went into the Air Force during the Korean War....On the second floor in the same picture you can the chimney abutting another dormer which was on the second floor bathroom." Their parents' bedroom was on the main floor, in the first (front) area that juts out on the left. The bedroom shared by their younger sisters, Rosemary and Marilyn, is in the second (back) jut-out area. Terrie says there is stained glass at the top of the windows in the front; I assume this area was the living room.

Below is a view of the back of the house. Dad says,

In the picture taken at the rear of the house, the two windows to the right of the back door were part of the third bedroom on the first floor. When we had a live-in maid she had that room. Later it became a guest room and Mom's sewing room. Also in the rear house picture on the second floor, that dormer was part of your Aunt Betty's room until she entered RN [nurse] training at St. Francis Hospital [nearby in Evanston; the hospital where I was born] where she lived while in training.

In the same picture the window to the left of the back door faced on the breakfast nook where we ate most of our meals during the summer. The kitchen was directly in front of the breakfast nook.In the shadowy area right below that window were the steps that led to the outside door of the basement. The basement ran the full length of the house and was furbished enough for parties or a great play area when we were young kids.

Dad also says,

The old 2093 Lunt Ave. house has not changed much in the last 53 years except the landscaping looks much better. There are more shrubs and flowers. The roof is different also. We had an old heavy Spanish tile roof. The tiles were made of a stone material which I thought would last forever but they were breakable...

In the middle of the back yard (most of which you see) there was a large sour red cherry tree. Another sour red cherry tree stood next to the garage. In summer time friends and neighbors would ask to pick some of the cherries in pails which they brought. The folks usually gave their permission.

Terrie said the neighborhood was safe and clean. Records I found online show that this house has 1881 square feet and two bathrooms and a detached garage (not visible in these photos) on a 8,850 square foot (0.20 acre) lot. It last sold in May, 1983, for $98,000, and is estimated to be worth $338,500 today!

I have a number of photographs taken outside this house in the mid-1940s that I will try to post soon.
View Evanston and North Chicago, Illinois in a larger map

Other family members lived very close by. Dad's grandfather John Pape and his third wife, Agnes Hedwig Burkhardt Reimer (about 1873 - 1937), lived at 1949 Lunt in 1930; while his other grandparents, Frederick and Elizabeth Dienes Massmann, lived at 7000 Ridge Boulevard (at the intersection with Lunt) for at least 1927 through the mid-1930s. Dad's cousin Jack Bleidt and his parents, Charles and Martha Pape Bleidt, lived across the street at 2084 Lunt in at least 1936. Nana and Grandpa (Paul and Elizabeth) were married at St. Jerome's, 1709 W. Lunt, in September 1924. And my parents were living at 2059 W. Touhy, at its intersection with Ridge, just a few blocks north of Lunt, when I was born in 1957. Click on the pins in the map above to see these places today.

© Amanda Pape - 2011 - click here to e-mail me.

Wordless Wedding Wednesday: Lisette & Ben, September 10, 2011

2011-10-12T00:01:00.001-05:00

Sentimental Sunday - 52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy & History: Teachers

2011-10-09T18:43:00.002-05:00

The prompt for Week 41 of 52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy & History is Teachers:

Did you have a favorite teacher when you were growing up? What class(es) did this person teach and why did he/she make an impact on your life?

I liked a lot of my teachers, but I'd have to say my favorite growing up was Mrs. Rovello, my English teacher in sixth grade at St. Francis de Sales in Houston, Texas, in 1968-69. St. Francis was unusual in that classes were organized to take advantage of a teacher's subject area expertise. The fifth and sixth grade classes, four total, were paired up, with teachers assigned to a home room (which included teaching religion), and then classes rotated for science, social studies, math, and English. We also had P.E. specialists (boys and girls) daily, and music once a week. Mrs. Rovello had a fifth grade home room (possibly my younger sister's), but taught all the English classes for grades five and six.

Besides being pretty, Mrs. Rovello was my favorite because she encouraged creative writing. This was the year I won a national essay contest and a local poetry contest. We also used the SRA cards reading program, which I loved, and I think SRA had a writing program too. No matter - Mrs. Rovello inspired a love of writing that continues to this day (probably why I love to blog!).

A little bit of searching on Ancestry.com and Google revealed that Lily Ann Rovello is now Lily Ann Cunningham, and probably an adjunct lecturer in the Department of Arts and Humanities at the University of Houston - Downtown, who teaches primarily art history courses.

I don't know if she'll ever see this, but if she does - Thank you for inspiring me!

© Amanda Pape - 2011 - click here to e-mail me.

Tombstone Tuesday: Francis and Jewel Moore Gresham Memorial

2011-10-04T11:06:00.002-05:00

My in-laws, Francis Edward Gresham (1911 - 1990) and Jewel Moore Gresham (1914 - 1994), were cremated. Their cremains are buried in a little garden on the property of my sister-in-law and her husband, on a hillside above the White Salmon River in Washington, overlooking Mount Hood in Oregon. My father-in-law loved to fish, so this is appropriate. Although both were born in Texas, they had lived in Washington state since 1961. My mother-in-law was an avid gardener, and some of her favorite flowers are planted at this spot. Nearby are vineyards, a fruit and nut orchard, and extensive vegetable gardens. If my mother-in-law was still alive, today would have been her 97th birthday. The stone above the cremains reads:

Gone yet not forgotten,
although we are apart,
your spirit lives within me,
forever in my heart.

Wordless Wednesday: Tandy Clayton Moore, early 1900s

2011-09-28T22:04:00.000-05:00

I know nothing more about this photo, which I also scanned while visiting my sister-in-law and her husband three weeks ago, than what is written on it. Tandy Clayton Moore is Breathless' maternal grandfather. I'm guessing this photograph was taken in the early 1900s.

© Amanda Pape - 2011 - click here to e-mail me.

(Not-So-) Wordless Wednesday: Ivis Moore, circa 1929

2011-09-21T21:32:00.001-05:00

This is another photograph of Ivis Moore Mew, my mother-in-law's sister, that I scanned while visiting my sister-in-law and her husband two weeks ago. I'm guessing this was also taken in 1929, about the same time as another elegant portrait of her sisters, but I'm not sure.

© Amanda Pape - 2011 - click here to e-mail me.

(Not-So-) Wordless Wednesday: Moore Siblings, circa 1906

2011-09-14T21:41:00.001-05:00

I just got back from a vacation that included a visit at the home of my sister-in-law, who gave me TONS of family pictures and let me scan some others, including this one. It's of her maternal uncle and two aunts, taken about 1906. From left are Velma Moore (1903 - 1910; she died of diphtheria), Ivis Moore Mew (1905 - 2004), and Thomas Gurth Moore (1902 - 1935; he died of pneumonia). The photo was probably taken in Tarrant County, Texas.

© Amanda Pape - 2011 - click here to e-mail me.

Matrilineal Monday: Happy Birthday, Sister Jean Marie!

2011-09-12T11:01:00.019-05:00

My aunt, Sister Jean Marie (born Jo Ann) Guokas, is 81 today, September 12. This is one of my favorite pictures of her and her older sister, my mother, Geraldine Margaret Guokas Pape, taken sometime in the early 1930s, probably in Houston, Texas.

My aunt has been a nun with the Congregation of the Incarnate Word and Blessed Sacrament since 1949. She's had a very interesting life and has traveled more than I have! She just retired at the end of June.

© Amanda Pape - 2011 - click here to e-mail me.

Sentimental Sunday: September 11 - Anniversaries That Are Happy Ones

2011-09-11T00:01:00.001-05:00

Frederick Henry Pape and Geraldine Margaret Guokas, Dad and Mom, married September 11, 1954, at Annunciation Catholic Church, Houston, Texas. Photo by Kaye Marvins.

Also married on this date: Dad's sister, my Aunt Betty, and Uncle Bud, in 1948; and my cousin Jim and his wife Karen, in 1976.

Happy 57th, 63nd, and 35th anniversaries respectively!

© Amanda Pape - 2011 - click here to e-mail me.

52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy and History: Road Trips

2011-09-03T00:01:00.051-05:00

The prompt for Week 35 of 52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy & History is Road Trips

Describe a family road trip from your childhood. Where did you go and why? Who was in the car? How did you pass the time?

My family went on a LOT of road trips for vacations when I was a child. With seven of us, it was just too expensive to fly (although one year, 1970, we did take the train to Chicago). Some trips were fairly short, like to New Braunfels or the Frio River in Texas, or to the New Orleans area. The longest trip we took was to Rochester, New York, in 1971, camping most nights in an eight-man tent there and back to Houston, Texas.

The photos below are from a trip to New Mexico in the summer of 1966. I was nine and got my first camera, a Brownie, that year. I took a LOT of pictures at roadside parks where we'd stop for a picnic lunch Mom had packed, often photographing my siblings holding the colorful paper plates we used.

In the photo above left, you can see our Chevrolet station wagon in the background. My two brothers rode in the back. I know eventually we had a station wagon with a third seat back there, but I'm not sure if this was it. My two sisters and Mom usually sat in the regular back seat. Mary, the youngest, was not quite two in the summer of 1966, and she would have been in the middle of that seat.

I usually sat in the front passenger seat, often serving as the navigator, reading the map and telling Dad where to turn. I remember playing license plate games, and alphabet/spotting games, but mostly I remember just looking out the window and enjoying the sights.

© Amanda Pape - 2011 - click here to e-mail me.

(Not-So-) Wordless Wednesday: Happy 70th Birthday, Breathless!

2011-08-24T00:01:00.001-05:00

Mark was born on this day in 1941, at 11:45 AM at Santa Rosa Hospital in San Antonio, Texas. He weighed seven pounds, seven ounces. At the time his father, Francis Edward Gresham, was 30 and working as a multilith operator for Studer's Photograph Studio. His mother, Jewel Moore Gresham, was 26, and this was their first child. They were living at 405 San Pedro at the time.

Mark's maternal grandfather, Tandy Clayton Moore, was born on August 22, 1878, and his maternal great-grandfather, Thomas Jefferson Moore, was born on August 20, 1852.

© Amanda Pape - 2011 - click here to e-mail me.

Matrilineal Monday: Tandy Clayton Moore, born August 22, 1878

2011-08-22T08:12:00.000-05:00

Tandy Clayton Moore is Breathless' maternal grandfather. He was born 133 years ago today, on August 22, 1878, in or near Salem, Lee County, Alabama, the oldest child of Thomas Jefferson Moore (1852-1904) and Angeline/Evangeline Elizabeth "Lizzie" Peach (1859–1924). In 1880, the family was living in or near Auburn in Lee County, Alabama.

When Clayton, as he was known, was five, his parents, two younger brothers, grandfather and step-grandmother, four of five Moore uncles, and two of three Moore aunts, all moved to Texas, taking the train to Lewisville. Clayton helped with the family farm near Flower Mound, raising crops to help support his aunt Sue Moore, who was 11 years older and single.

Photographs of Clayton from late 1900 or early 1901 show that he was quite a handsome man. Breathless' first cousin, Thomas Clayton Moore, says about their grandfather on page 49 in his unpublished manuscript Heroic Lives of Ordinary People, that

Sometime in the summer of 1898, when he was nineteen, he went to talk to the Bartonville postmaster, Wiley Thomas Jones, at the postmaster's home about a postal matter. While engaged in conversation, he saw a pretty 16 year old woman getting wood from the woodpile for the cookstove. He told this writer many years later that he decided then and there that that was the girl he wanted to marry. He learned that her name was Nancy Flora Jones.

They were married, on August 7, 1901, "at the residence of Robert Keith, the officiating minister." according to the Denton County News, August 15, 1901, page 8, column 5.

Clayton and "Nannie" headed north to Oklahoma, eventually leasing 40 acres (for five cents an acre) near Indiahoma in Comanche County from a Comanche chief named Chebahtah. It was here, in an eight-foot by ten-foot dugout, that their first child, Thomas Gurth, was born in 1902. Besides farming cotton, Clayton also worked building fences and doing odd jobs for $10 an hour for Quanah Parker.

About a year later, the family moved to Fort Worth. Clayton worked for a carpenter, driving nails for a dollar a day, ten hours a day, six days a week. Daughter Velma was born near Lewisville in October 1903 (sadly, she died in 1910 of diptheria). After Clayton's father died young of pneumonia in 1904, the family moved back to the Flower Mound homestead to help Clayton's two younger brothers work the family farm. Daughter Ivis was born there in 1905.

Late in 1906, Clayton found a farm 14 miles west of Fort Worth, and moved his family there. Later he took a job in construction with the Swift and Company meat packer. Daughter Ruby Clayton was born here in February, 1907. When Clayton was laid off by Swift and Company two years later, he found a 20 acre farm to rent near Azle, and the family moved there in 1909. Daughter Beulah Mable was born there in March 1910.

Clayton later rented a larger place, 80 acres near White Settlement, with a log cabin near Little Silver Creek. Their last two daughters were born here, Audie Ruth in 1911, and Breathless' mother, Jewel, in October 1914. The family later moved into the "big house" on this former plantation, which was surrounded by geraniums. Jewel later said that "whenever she smelled the fragrance of geraniums, she thought of this time." (page 88).

In the summer of 1918, Clayton's cotton crop was destroyed by boll weevils, so the family followed friends to Marlow, Stephens County, Oklahoma. They bought a 120-acre farm in Bray, about ten miles west of Marlow. This is where they lived the rest of their lives. Son Gurth died of pneumonia in January 1930, and they helped their daughter-in-law by caring for his two sons at the farm in the late 1930s.

Tandy Clayton Moore died January 1, 1964, at the age of 85. He is buried in the Marlow Cemetery.

© Amanda Pape - 2011 - click here to e-mail me.

Surname Saturday: MOORE: Thomas Jefferson Moore, born August 20, 1852

2011-08-20T16:26:00.001-05:00

Breathless' maternal great-grandfather, Thomas Jefferson Moore, was born on this day 159 years ago, in Salem, Russell County, Alabama. He was the only son of Milton Jonathan Moore (1830-1912) and his first (of three) wives, Rutha Jane Lawson.

He married Angeline/Evangeline Elizabeth "Lizzie" Peach (1859–1924) on December 18, 1876, in Lee County, Alabama. In 1880, they were living with their oldest son, Tandy Clayton Moore (1878-1964) near Auburn, Lee County, Alabama, where Thomas was a farmer.

In October 1883, Thomas and his family (now with three children), his father and stepmother, four of his five younger half-brothers and two of his three younger half-sisters, sold almost everything they owned and bought train tickets for Lewisville, Texas.

Thomas purchased 90 acres seven miles west of Lewisville (near todya's Flower Mound) for $5 an acre, with a house, some outbuildings, and a well already on it. Five more children were born in Texas. The family posed for a photograph outside their home sometime in late 1900 or early 1901.

Thomas Jefferson Moore died of pneumonia at the age of 51, on March 24, 1904, at home near Flower Mound in Denton County, Texas. He is buried at the Shiloh Cemetery in Flower Mound.

[Some of the information in this profile came from Heroic Lives of Ordinary People, an unpublished family history by Thomas Clayton Moore, Breathless' first cousin.]

© Amanda Pape - 2011 - click here to e-mail me.

Treasure Chest Thursday: Marriage of Jacob Pape & Elizabeth Gierse

2011-08-18T00:01:00.002-05:00

On this day, August 18, in 1846, 165 years ago, my paternal great-great-grandparents, Jacob/Jakob Pape and Elizabeth Gierse, were married in Boedefeld, Westphalia, Germany. There is no date on this image (provided by my cousin Bill) but I'm guessing it was taken sometime in the 1860s.

© Amanda Pape - 2011 - click here to e-mail me.

Sentimental Sunday: More on architect Ewald Pape, 1894-1976

2011-08-14T16:15:00.000-05:00

About nine months ago I did a post on Ewald Theodore Pape, my first cousin two times removed. Since then I've done some more research and been contacted by a closer relative (his grand-neice), who provided the picture of Ewald below. I also learned that three apartment buildings in Portland, Oregon, that Ewald designed were placed on the National Register of Historic Places. One of those buildings, the Thompson Court Apartments, was on the Irvington Home Tour in Portland, and I contacted the Irvington Community Association to fill in some of their missing information on Ewald and ask if they had any information I did not have.

Ewald Theodore Pape, 29 October 1927, in Portland, Oregon, probably at work. Photo courtesy Mary Kay Schmidt.

On January 19, 2011, I heard back from Jim Heuer, an architectural historian who lives in Irvington and is a member of the Irvington Community Association's Historic Preservation Committee, as well as a member of the Historic Preservation League of Oregon and a board member for the Architectural Heritage Center. He told me the following:

Thompson Court Apartments (1929), 2304-2314 NE 11th Ave., Portland, Oregon, this & more photos by Werewombat

"Most of the information we have about Ewald Pape is taken from a book entitled Architects of Oregon: A Biographical Dictionary of Architects Deceased - 19th and 20th Centuries, by Richard Ellison Ritz. This book was privately published a number of years ago and is not widely available outside of Portland. The entry on Ewald Pape is quoted below:

Pape, Ewald T.

Ewald T. Pape was not a registered architect but the high quality of the apartment houses he designed in Portland merit his inclusion in this reference work on Oregon architects.

Nothing is known about Pape’s date or place of birth or his education. He is first listed in the Portland City Directory for 1923 as a draftsman. In the 1925 city directory, he is listed as a designer of character homes with an office on Sandy Boulevard. From 1926 to 1934, he had an office in the Couch Building, and from 1935 to 1941 he had his office in the Sherlock Building. Directory listings describe him variously as Architect, Home Designer, Architectural Designer, and Building Contractor (in 1953 and 1954). There are no more directory listings for Pape after 1954.

Between 1925 and 1933, Pape established business relationships with Portland developers William K. Johnson and Robert McFarland, designing apartment houses for each of them. He began by designing four unit apartment buildings, but was soon designing quarter and half block apartment buildings. His designs included the Sheffield Manor, Willister Courts, Burrell Court, Burrell Heights Apartments, San Farlando, Del Mar and others. For William K. Johnson, Pape designed Villa Marconi, Thompson Court, and others.

Pape’s apartment work was innovative, with major emphasis on livability and eliminating the stigma of apartment living by providing individuality and separate entrances for each unit.

No obituary has been found for Pape.

REFERENCES: Portland City Directory; National Register of Historic Places nomination forms for the Thompson Court Apartments, San Farlando Apartments, and Burrell Heights Apartments prepared by Heritage Investment Corporation."

San Farlando Apartments (1929), 2903–2925 SE Hawthorne Blvd, Portland, Oregon, photo by Finetooth

Besides finding the three nomination forms linked to above in the National Register Information System (aka NPS Focus), I also found more information about Ewald on the Multiple Property Submittal (MPS) form for these three properties, entitled "Middle Class Apartments in East Portland." Here are some excerpts about Ewald from that:document:

Burrell Heights Apartments (1928), 1510-1542 SE Clay Street, Portland, Oregon, photo by Finetooth

His plan sheet signature block read "Designer of Character Homes."
In 1923, [he was] residing at the Royal Palms Apartments at 262 Flanders in the North Burnside area and working independently as a draftsman.
In the next year [1924], he married Alma and moved to the Houseman Apartments (now Casa Linda) at 730 Hoyt in Nob Hill.
Beginning in 1925, Pape established an independent office at 956 Sandy Boulevard and began to market himself as a designer of fine homes.
The following year [1926], he moved his office to the Couch Building on 4th Avenue.
[Around 1925,] Pape hired architect O. M. Akers to design a small family house for him in Eastmoreland at 1520 E. 36th Avenue (7528 SE 36th Avenue).

Also, during World War II, "Pape's commissions stopped. Registered architects were involved with federal projects related to the war effort. These included mass housing projects which kept most busy for the duration. Since Pape was not a registered architect, demand for design services evaporated with the reallocation of raw materials to the war effort. He instead took a job as an estimator for the Portland Door Company. After the war, he returned to home designs. He also attempted to capitalize on the housing boom by developing homes on speculation. In 1955, Pape disappeared from the City Directory. Given the substance of his work, he very likely retired and moved out of the area." (He, his wife, and his son all died in California).

© Amanda Pape - 2011 - click here to e-mail me.

Sentimental Sunday: Happy 35th Anniversary, Terrie and Mark!

2011-08-07T00:01:00.001-05:00

On August 7, 1976, my cousin Terrie (who is my financial adviser today) got married in Des Plaines, Illinois. Besides my family of origin (and the bride's, whose father is my dad's brother), two of my dad's sisters and their families were there - so lots of aunts, uncles, cousins and a couple cousins-in-law pictured below:

©Amanda Pape - 2011 - click here to e-mail me.

Wordless Wednesday: Happy Birthday, Brother Mark!

2011-08-03T00:01:00.001-05:00

Me and my brother Mark, late 1960 or early 1961