Wordless Wednesday: Happy Halloween! (tomorrow)

Me as a witch at a Recreation and Parks Club Halloween Party, Texas A&M University, 1976

© Amanda Pape - 2013 - click here to e-mail me.

Sentimental Sunday: Mom & Dad at a Bandera Bar, ABT 1954

This is a photo of my parents at a bar in Bandera, Texas, about 1954, while they were on a Rosarian Club trip to the nearby Dixie Dude Ranch.  I'm not sure, but I think they may have been in what is now Arkey Blue's Silver Dollar Saloon, based on some photos I found online of a downtown Bandera bar with similar decor. 

According to the 2012 Handbook of Texas Music, second edition, edited by Laurie E. Jasinski,
"The building was constructed in 1921 and opened as a social establishment called The Fox Hole.  In the 1940s the dance hall became The Silver Dollar."  Other sources say the building dates to the 1890s.  This honky-tonk is located in the basement under the Bandera General Store.  

Or, it might have been the nearby Cabaret. According to the 2002 Dance Halls and Last Calls: A History of Texas Country Music by Geronimo Trevino II, pages 75-77,

The Bandera Cabaret opened its doors in 1936 as a small honky-tonk that catered to folks in nearby counties.  Military trainees in San Antonio and Hondo helped popularize the Cabaret, and in the 1940s it was enlarged to its present size.  The famous "hump" on the dance floor was caused by an uneven pour of concrete during the expansion.  Past owners decided to leave it rather than make the effort to break it up and level it.  It gives you a strange sensation as you dance over that portion of the 2,400-square-foot dance floor.  The hall is over 10,000 square feet....The dude ranches around Bandera bring in people who enjoy going to the Cabaret year after year.

The Cabaret has been closed since 2006, but is currently (as of August 15, 2013) being restored.

© Amanda Pape - 2013 - click here to e-mail me.

Those Places Thursday: Dixie Dude Ranch near Bandera, Texas, 1954 and 1998

Above are my parents at what I am pretty sure is the  Dixie Dude Ranch near Bandera, Texas, around 1954.  They've often spoken of a Rosarian Club trip they took there while they were dating.  The fence in the photo looks an awful lot like the fence at the Dixie Dude in the photo below from July 1998:

My parents took the offspring and myself to the Dixie Dude for a few days in July 1998.  We had a duplex cabin with a connecting door, very close to the  ranch headquarters, where three hearty meals a day were served family-style.  Every day, weather permitting, there was an hour-long morning trail ride and an afternoon trail ride.  Above is Eric saddling up, and below is Dad heading out on one of the trail rides:

mid-1990s Dixie Dude postcard

In the photo above, Mom stands in front of the ranch headquarters and dining hall, under the iconic Dixie Dude sign.

There was a lot to do at the Dixie Dude.  Besides trail rides, swimming in the pool, and hiking around to explore things like the Range War Cemetery, you could watch the ranch hands at work. You could also just laze around on the front porch of the ranch house, and watch zillions of hummingbirds fighting over the multiple feeders hung there.

There was also entertainment each evening.  Besides a sing-along (similar to that pictured in the postcard at bottom left), one day we were given tickets to the evening rodeo in nearby Bandera.  We also had country-Western dance lessons one night, followed the next evening by the opportunity to try our new steps out at the honky-tonks in town.

The Dixie Dude Ranch was established in 1937.  Mom said she slept in a dormitory when she was there in the 1950s.  A brochure that I found (online) from that era indicated that the original ranch house (which burned in 1964) originally had two-and-a-half stories.  Room and board was "$3.50 per person per day, or $22.00 per person per week for iron cot beds on sleeping porch (men) or large upstairs dormitory (girls), 3rd floor."  Two-person bedrooms were available on the second floor for $4 per day per person or $25 per week per person.  Trail rides cost $1.50 each in addition.

© Amanda Pape - 2013 - click here to e-mail me.

Tombstone Tuesday: William Julius Maass and son Charles, "Range War Cemetery" on the Dixie Dude Ranch near Bandera, Texas

The Dixie Dude Ranch, near Bandera, Texas, has a so-called "Range War Cemetery" on the grounds. When we visited in July 1998 (more on that in a future post), we hiked out to it one day.  Under a tree, in a small area enclosed by a barbed-wire fence, there were a couple of wooden crosses and a pink granite marker.

Here's what it said on the marker:

Here lie the remains of our great-grandfather, Wm. J. Maass, buried here in 1893 - and his son Charles, killed in a range war in 188?.  Erected with our various Maass relatives Oct. 1985.

Charles Toudouze

Mitchell Anderwald

A little research showed Toudouze (1923-2009) and Anderwald (1920-2010) were second cousins, sharing the same grandfather too, William Julius Maass Jr. (1863-1935).  William Julius Maass Sr. (1821-1893) was a German immigrant who can be found in Bandera County on the 1880 census with his wife Charlotte Oelze Kissling Maass (1839-1907) and sons William Julius Maass Jr. (1863-1935), Albert Maass (born ABT 1866-1868, died 1918), and Charley/Carl (born ABT 1869/70-, died 188?); and daughters Hellena "Lena" Maass (born July 11, 1875) and Albertina "Tina" Maass (Mrs. Charles) Straus (ABT 1878-1919).   An older daughter, Louisa Wilhelmina Maass Eckhart Evans (1862-1945) had married Christian Eckhart in 1877; he was murdered in 1885).  Charlotte also had two children by her first marriage, Adolph Kissling, born about 1860, and Mary Kissling (Mrs. Claus H.) Thick (1858-1953). Charley/Carl is listed as age 10 on the census day of June 24, 1880, and age 1 on the 1870 Census (taken July 25) so he was probably born in late 1869 or early 1870.

An entry for the Maass Family on pages 106-107 of Pioneer History of Bandera County: Seventy-Five Years of Intrepid History, written by J. Marvin Hunter in 1922, states that William Maass Sr. and family moved to Bandera from San Antonio in 1874, "and located on Middle Verde Creek, on the place now occupied by W. W. Whitley."  Whitley was the original owner of the Dixie Dude Ranch.

Interestingly, the book entry doesn't list Charley as one of William Sr.'s sons, but it does list a Reinhardt, with no other information.  Perhaps Charley and Reinhardt are one and the same?

I could not find any information about a range war in Bandera County.  According to a July 26, 2012 article in the Bandera County Courier about the Dixie Dude, Charley was killed by a cattleman wanting to drive his herd across the Maass property.  Fence cutting was common in this part of Texas in the 1880s, and it often resulted in murders. 

© Amanda Pape - 2013 - click here to e-mail me.

Sentimental Sunday: The Rosarian Club

My parents met when they were both members of the Rosarian Club, a group for young adults at Holy Rosary Parish in Houston, Texas, that was formed about 1949-1950.  The group held numerous social events, and took trips to places such as Galveston, Kemah, and the Dixie Dude Ranch.

They also performed skits.  In the photo at left is my mother, Geraldine Margaret Guokas Pape (in the center), with a couple of her lifelong friends: (Anna) Frances Hubley Grembowiec (my confirmation sponsor),  on the left, and Norine Moreland Valicek (my sister's godmother), on the right.  This photo was probably taken in 1953 or 1954.

© Amanda Pape - 2013 - click here to e-mail me.

Friday's Faces From the Past: Happy 85th Birthday, Mom (tomorrow)!

Geraldine Margaret Guokas in July 1929, nine months old.

© Amanda Pape - 2013 - click here to e-mail me.

Wordless Wednesday: Happy Birthday to My Baby Sister!

Happy birthday to my youngest sister, Mary!

This photo appears to have been taken sometime in the early 1970s (based on the candles I can count on the cake).

© Amanda Pape - 2013 - click here to e-mail me.

Matrilineal Monday: Three (Four?) Generations

This photograph is labeled on the back as being of my maternal great-grandmother Addilee Tennessee Shelton Wolfe Odom Harris (1890-1977); her mother, my great-great-grandmother, Sarah Ann Spikes Shelton (1871-1935); and her daughter, my maternal grandmother Sara Melzina Wolfe Guokas Archibald (1907-1997)  After scanning the picture and looking at it at 100% magnification, I think Sarah Ann is holding a baby.  It's probably my mother's older brother, the oldest of Sara Melzina's children, my uncle Charles Peter Guokas III (1927-1999), but it could be my mother or her younger sister, as they were all born before Sarah Ann died in 1935.  The photo was most likely taken in Louisiana where Sarah Ann and my great-great-grandfather Levi Marion Shelton (1863-1941) lived.

© Amanda Pape - 2013 - click here to e-mail me.

Sports Center Saturday: Fishing

Elizabeth Massmann Pape & Paul Robert Pape, Sept. 1952

My paternal grandfather, Paul Robert Pape (1896-1970), above right, loved to fish, so his family members got to fish, too.  He and his wife, my grandmother Elizabeth Florence Massmann Pape (1908-2000), even planned to fish on their honeymoon in Woodruff, Wisconsin, but, unfortunately, it rained hard the whole time, so they went back to Chicago early.

Above left is my dad, Frederick Henry Pape, at age 10 or 12, around 1939-1941, with the bass and pike he caught over several days at Big Lake, just west of Dairymen's Country Club in north central Wisconsin.


© Amanda Pape - 2013 - click here to e-mail me.

Those Places Thursday: Mom & Dad at Frank's Restaurant, Schulenberg, Texas, ABT 1953

Here's another one of my parents' slides from the early 1950s that I scanned recently.  Mom tells me that this was taken at Frank's Restaurant in Schulenberg, Texas, on the way home from a trip by the Rosarian Club (more on that in a future post), probably to the Dixie Dude Ranch (more on that in a yet another future post).  This is probably from 1953 or 1954, before they got married.

The lady you can just barely see at the far right is my mother's friend Norine Moreland Valicek, who was a bridesmaid in my parents' wedding, and later godmother to my sister Karen (and the source of Karen's middle name).

Frank's Restaurant still exists today (it was founded in 1929), albeit in a different location closer to Interstate 10.  From a photo of a photo taken in the interior of the restaurant five years ago, I learned that the postcards below are from the old location from 1940 to 1958, so this is how the restaurant would have looked when my parents were there.

Frank's Restaurant, Schulenburg, Texas, home of the original "Big Jumbo Hamburger" / Boston Public Library / CC BY 2.0

Frank's Restaurant, Schulenburg, Texas, home of the original "Big Jumbo Hamburger" / Boston Public Library / CC BY 2.0

© Amanda Pape - 2013 - click here to e-mail me.

Tombstone Tuesday: Johann "John" Keller, 1815-1890, Fredericksburg, Texas

In mid-September, I was once again in Fredericksburg, Texas, visiting my parents. Fredericksburg was founded in 1846 by German settlers. We again stayed at a bed and breakfast that is about half a mile from St. Mary's Catholic Cemetery (the second one, founded in 1875; the first one, established in 1860 and called the Old Catholic or St. Mary's Pioneer Cemetery, is another half mile north).  Again, I fulfilled some photo requests for this cemetery on FindAGrave.com, and I also took a few more photos of interesting graves and tombstones.

This one is for Johann "John" Keller. He was born March 21, 1815, in Niederelbert, Nassau, Germany.  In 1845, he emigrated to Texas with his wife, Katharina Menges Keller (1815-1877), their children Maria Magdalena (also called Helena and Ellen, age 6) Hannah (also called Anna, age 3), and Adam (age 1), and a Maria Keller, age 50, possibly Anna Maria Keller (died 1860), and possibly Johann's mother.  They arrived in Galveston on November 20, 1845, on the Barque Straba.  The family originally settled in Gillespie County, Texas.

According to the passenger list, Keller was a wheelwright and farmer.  On the 1850 Census, he's a farmer living in Fredericksburg, and the family has grown to include son Carl (Charles P. Keller, 1849-1889).  Interestingly, on this same census, an Ann Mary Keller, age 64, is living nearby with Johann Adam "Adam" Keller, the future husband of Katharina Lang Keller who I profiled last week.  Adam was on the same boat as John, and not traveling with another Ann/Anna Mary/Maria, so I have to wonder if they had the same mother.

By the 1860 Census, the John Keller family has moved to adjacent Mason County, Texas, in the Fort Mason area.  John is still a farmer.  Oldest daughter Ellen is out of the house, as she married Wilhelm Jung on July 9, 1857, at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Fredericksburg.  However, John and Katharina have three more children:  John Keller (1851-1917), Adolph Adam Keller (1854-1919), and August William Keller (1856-1931) - although the names of the last two were switched on the census.

On the 1870 Census, the family is still living in Mason County, near the Hedwigs Hill post office, but John is now listed as a merchant.  Daughter Anna had married her brother-in-law Wilhelm Jung's younger brother Jacob on October 16, 1860, in St. Mary's Catholic Church in Fredericksburg.  Son August does not appear with the family on this census - which is odd, because his future father-in-law, Francis Kettner, was the enumerator.

By the 1880 Census, John Keller is a widower, and is living with his son Charles and family in Mason County.  He is a merchant.

By the time John Keller died, on December 29, 1890, 36 of his 40 grandchildren had been born, and at least 26 of those 36 grandchildren were still living.

The tombstone reads: Hier ruht in Gott Johann Keller Geb. zu Niederelbert Herzogthum Nassau 21, Marz 1815 Gest. 29, Dez. 1890 Friede seiner Asche.

A translation: Rest in God Johann Keller Born in Niederelbert Duchy [of] Nassau March 21, 1815 Died  December 29, 1890 Peace to his ashes.

© Amanda Pape - 2013 - click here to e-mail me.

Sentimental Sunday: Jaime's Spanish Village, Austin, Texas

In an earlier post, I mentioned that my parents drove to Austin, Texas, from Houston on their wedding night (September 11, 1954) before heading on to Colorado.  They didn't remember what hotel they stayed at, but they did remember where they ate:

IMG_0505 [Jaime's Spanish Village sign at night, Austin, Texas, 11 February 2006] / eschulz / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

So when we had a 50th wedding anniversary party for my parents in 2004, we (immediate family) decided to eat at Jaime's the night before:

Above and below:  Family members at Jaime's Spanish Village restaurant on the evening before Mom & Dad's 50th wedding anniversary party - September 10, 2004

Unfortunately, Jaime's has since closed after 79 years (on July 30, 2010), and another restaurant (Pelon's) has taken its place, keeping some of the old features of Jaime's.

© Amanda Pape - 2013 - click here to e-mail me.

Those Places Thursday: Grand Lake, Colorado, 1954

This past Sunday, I posted some photos from my parents' honeymoon in Colorado in September, 1954.  One photo was of my dad sitting on the porch of a cabin, taken from inside the cabin.  Here's another view of him on the porch, showing the cabin itself:

My parents knew that the cabin was in Grand Lake, Colorado, but they couldn't remember exactly where or what resort it was on.  The only clue we had was in the photo itself.  You can see the word "Nakoni" on a sign on the front of the cabin above.

I did some Internet searches for "Nakoni" and "Grand Lake" and "Colorado," with no luck.  My searches DID bring up the Grand Lake Area Historical Society.  They provided an e-mail address, so I sent in the photos from last week and the photo above, and asked if they recognized it.  Here is their (quick!) reply (the links were added by me):

Thank you for sharing the pictures of your parents' honeymoon in Grand Lake. The Nokoni Cottage was part of the Rhone cabins.  I am attaching a map of the lodging the Rhones offered along the shore of Grand Lake. They also operated the Corner Cupboard restaurant which was a very popular place on Grand Avenue.  That building and many of the cabins have been removed.  The location of the cabin Nokoni is now close to where the Western Riviera motel is located.  It is one block west of the Kauffman House museum.

Kathleen Means

Collections Manager

Grand Lake Area Historical Society

Kathy also said she believes the map pictured below dates from the 1950s, and she gave me permission to use it here on my blog:

Mom and Dad said they remembered spending 2 -4 nights here.  They remembered walking from their cabin to the dining room at the Corner Cupboard restaurant.  One morning, it was so cold that a sprinkler left on overnight had formed ice crystals.  They also remember walking around the lake (probably not ALL the way around; it's a pretty big lake) and taking a canoe trip on it.  They remember that it was the end of the season and there were very few people in the other cabins (this would have been the latter half of September 1954, when kids were back in school).  They said they did not have reservations; they just drove into town that day and asked (probably at the Corner Cupboard) if there were any cabins available.  As you can see from the map above (in the lower left corner), Nokoni was right on the water.  The area looks very different today.

The Corner Cupboard dates back to about 1919.  I found a reference to it in a 1919 National Park Service book on General Information Regarding Rocky Mountain National Park, available online:

© Amanda Pape - 2013 - click here to e-mail me.

Tombstone Tuesday: Katharina Lang Keller, 1832-1901, Fredericksburg, Texas

A couple weekends ago, I was once again in Fredericksburg, Texas, visiting my parents. Fredericksburg was founded in 1846 by German settlers. We again stayed at a bed and breakfast that is about half a mile from St. Mary's Catholic Cemetery (the second one, founded in 1875; the first one, established in 1860 and called the Old Catholic or St. Mary's Pioneer Cemetery, is another half mile north).  Again, I fulfilled some photo requests for this cemetery on FindAGrave.com, and I also took a few more photos of interesting graves and tombstones.

This one is for Katharina Lang Keller.  She was born February 24, 1832, in Nassau, Germany.  In 1852, she emigrated to Texas with her mother, Elisabeth Keller Lang (1803-1885), and her brother, Joseph Lang (1836-1918).

Apparently, Katharina's father had died before they left or arrived, as Elisabeth is listed as the primary immigrant.*

In January 1854, in Gillespie County, Texas, Katharina married Johann Adam "Adam" Keller (1827-1905). Also born in Nassau, Germany, he was a farmer who had emigrated to Texas in 1845.**  He arrived in Galveston on November 20, 1845, on the Barque Straba.

Katharina and Adam had eight children, all born in Gillespie County. Joseph Theodor Keller was born December 22, 1854, and died December 9, 1860. Maria Franciska Keller was born July 3, 1857 and died November 28, 1860.  Both children appear on the 1860 Census.  Their deaths were so close together, I have to wonder if they had the same illness.  Brother Otto Keller was spared; he was born August 9, 1859, but died young, at age 36, in 1895.

The other five children all lived to be age 82 or older. Mary Elizabeth Keller Stehling was born June 17, 1861, in the Honey Creek Community and died March 15, 1958.  Charles Joseph "Carl" Keller was born March 2, 1863, and died April 5, 1953, in nearby Harper.  Joseph John Keller was born April 22, 1865, in Fredericksburg, and died November 4, 1947, in Bandera, Texas.  Adam Gregor "Gregor" Keller was born November 4, 1867, and died November 15, 1958.  Arnold Keller was born April 26, 1872, and died July 21, 1961.

Katharina Lang Keller lived to see 15 of her 16 grandchildren born.  She died March 17, 1901, and her family erected the imposing tombstone pictured above.

The inscription (pictured at left) reads:

Katharina Keller
Geb. [Born]
Feb. 24, 1832
Gest. [Died]
Mar. 17, 1901

At the base of the monument (below left) is an inscription that appears to read, "There is rest in Jesus."

© Amanda Pape - 2013 - click here to e-mail me.


* Struck, Wolf Heino. Die Auswanderung aus dem Herzogtum Nassau (1806-1866): Ein Kapitel der modernen politischen und sozialen Entwicklung, [Emigration from the Duchy of Nassau (1806-1866): a chapter in modern political and social development.  (Geschichtliche Landeskunde, Veroeffentlichungen des Instituts fuer Geschichtliche Landeskunde an der Universitaet Mainz, vol. 4.) Wiesbaden [Germany]: Franz Steiner Verlag, 1966.

[Source Annotation :  From notices of emigration published in the Nassauisches Intelligenzblatt for the years 1849 to 1868. Pages 134-203, an appendix, contain the names of about 4,000 emigrants from that region of Germany which was the Duchy of Nassau. Destinations include North and South America (Brazil, Venezuela, and Texas being indicated specifically). Names individuals or heads of emigrant groups with accompanying wives, children or other family members and places of origin.]

** Geue, Chester W., and Ethel Hander Geue, compilers. A New Land Beckoned: German Immigration to Texas 1844-1847. 1966. New and enlarged edition, Waco [Texas]: Texian Press, 1972. 178p. Reprinted by Genealogical Publishing Co., Baltimore, 1982. Page 108.