Advent Calendar of Xmas Memories 12/3

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 - 2010

Advent Calendar of Xmas Memories 12/2

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 - 2010

Advent Calendar of Xmas Memories 12/1

Prompt for December 1 - 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?

The picture to the left is pretty typical of the trees I remember having while growing up. That's my mom, Geraldine Guokas Pape, with hers and my dad's 1956 tree in Evanston, Illinois. Mom is pregnant with me. This tree looks especially tall; it appears to be higher than the beam or soffit just in front of it.

Here's a photo (below right), also in Evanston, of me (Amanda Pape) in front of my first Christmas tree, 1957:


Growing up in Houston, Texas, we had trees like these purchased from the Christmas tree lots that sprang up on shopping center parking lots around town. We usually got a Douglas fir. They were always real trees, and not flocked. They were always at least 7 feet tall; taller than my dad, but short enough to fit in the typical 60s-70s suburban home with 8-foot ceilings.

The entire family helped decorate it. I do recall that I was (and still am) one of the few to painstakingly, artfully drape those foil icicles on the branches, carefully making them even. I think my younger siblings pretty much left the icicles to me and my parents. A tinsel garland was added to the tree in later years. Here (below left) is my dad, Frederick Pape, and my siblings (counterclockwise from Dad, Mark, Mary, Brian and Karen) decorating our 1970 tree in Houston:

My first tree once I was out on my own, in my own apartment (in 1979 in Corpus Christi, Texas), was a Norfolk Island pine, but I later reverted to the family tradition. More about that in a later post.

For a couple of years when my son, Eric Bolme, was little, we had living trees that we could put on a tabletop and later plant in the yard. We were living in the Seattle area at the time and I believe these were Douglas firs too. Here (below right) is me and Eric decorating a tree in 1988 when Eric was about two and a half:

As he got older, we started going to the numerous Christmas tree farms north and east of Seattle to cut our own trees, again, usually Douglas firs (because they were less expensive). Many of the farms offered warm cider or hot chocolate and sometimes a hayride.

Since moving to Granbury, Texas, in 2006, Eric and I have continued the tradition of cutting a tree at the 4D-Farm north of Weatherford. We particularly like their "Blue Ice" Arizona Cypress (Cupressus glabra) "with soft silver blue to blue-green needles. Its trunk is also colorful, with copper-colored mottling." Now that Eric is six-and-a-half feet tall, it's sometimes hard here in Texas to find trees that are taller than him:

Finally, below is a picture of my husband, Mark Gresham, with his family's Christmas tree in 1942. They were living in either Corpus Christi, Texas, or Washington, DC, at that time. From what I can see in the picture, it looks like Mark grew up with the same kind of Christmas trees I did.

I don't know a lot about the Christmas trees my ancestors had, sad to say. I'll have to ask my parents about that and hopefully add more to this post later.

(This is post 1 in the Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories hosted by Geneabloggers.com. This post was originally published December 1, 2009.)

© Amanda Pape - 2010

(Not So) Wordless Wednesday: Happy Blogiversary to Me!!!

I started this blog a year ago in order to participate in the 2009 Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories.  I haven't posted much lately because of a family crisis and pressures at work.  I plan to participate in this year's Advent Calendar (hence using the Advent wreath week one candle as my birthday candle), but will mostly be re-posting last year's entries, perhaps with a little update and variation when I have time.

I think the crisis will be resolved in about two weeks and I should have more time between Christmas and New Years to do a little more family history research and write about it here.

© Amanda Pape - 2010

There’s One in Every Family – Just WHO is….?

poster credit to footnoteMaven

It's the deadline for submissions to the 100th Carnival of Genealogy, so of course I am writing on the last day. Congratulations to Jasia for receiving over 100 submissions to her 100^th special blogging topic!

Back on Valentine’s Day, I did a post on a photograph of my paternal great-great-grandparents, Jacob and Elizabeth Gierse Pape.  This photo was one of many old photos from my Pape family provided to me by my newly-discovered  second cousin Bill.  He notes that on the back of the photo, it says “From Emma Pape Childs.”

Off and on for the last nine months, I’ve been trying to figure out how Emma Pape Childs is related to me.  Although she’s not one of my ancestors, currently she is my most frustrating brick wall.  I thought I would write about her just to consolidate all of the information I’ve found.  I've checked some more obvious places, and I'd welcome suggestions on where else to look.

Here is what I've been able to find out about Emma Pape Childs:

1) A Cook County, Illinois, marriage certificate shows Emma Genevieve Pape, age 26 and born in Evanston, Cook County, Illinois, married August S. Childs, age 28 and born in Green Springs, Seneca County, Ohio, on 22 February 1911 at St. Nicholas Church, 806 Ridge Ave., Evanston, Illinois. My grandfather Paul Pape and five of his six siblings were baptized at this church (between 1889 and 1900), so that is a good indicator that we are somehow connected.

2) A Cook County, Illinois, birth register shows James Wilson Childs born to August and Emma Childs on 18 November 1911.

3)  Cook County, Illinois, birth certificates show Katherine Elizabeth Childs born 19 November 1913 on Vernon Avenue in Glencoe (August was age 30 and Emma was age 27); Mary Jane Childs born 10 February 1919 at St. Francis Hospital in Evanston (August was 30 and Emma 34? - I think that's backwards), and John Pape Childs born 16 October 1922 at St. Francis Hospital in Evanston (August was 40 and Emma 38).  For the latter two children, they lived at 503 or 507 Oakdale Avenue in Glencoe/Chicago, and August was a painter.  Mary Jane's birth certificate shows she was the fourth child born but only three were living; and John's says he is the fifth child born with only four living.  This told me there was another child born between Katherine (listed as the second child born with two living) and Mary Jane, and either that child, Katherine, or James had died.

4)  A Cook County, Illinois, death certificate shows Gertrude Emily Childs was born and died 15 October 1917 in Glencoe of "failure of respiratory center."  She is buried in Sacred Heart Cemetery in Northbrook, Cook County, Illinois (where I know James W. Childs, Katherine/Catherine E. Childs Anderson, and Mary Jane Childs Domscheit are also buried via FindAGrave.com).

5)  Per his World War II 1942 draft registration card, August's middle name is Solomon and his date of birth is 29 April 1882.  He was living at 503 Oakdale Avenue in Glencoe at the time.  His son James is shown as the person who "will always know your address," so I have to wonder if Emma had passed away by that time.  The World War I draft registration card (from 12 September 1918) verifies his middle name and date of birth, and the contact is listed as Emma G. Childs, wife, address 507 Oakdale Avenue in Glencoe.

6)  August, Emma and family appear on the 1920 and 1930 censuses at 507 Oakdale in Glencoe, New Trier Township, Cook County, Illinois.  The 1930 census shows another daughter, Isabel M., born about 1926 (the Cook County birth certificates in FamilySearch.org only go through 1922).  Both of these censuses show Emma as born in Illinois of German parents.

I think it is interesting that two of Emma and August's children were named John Pape and Gertrude - my great-grandparents' names.

My posting of Jacob and Elizabeth Gierse Pape’s photo prompted a response from a woman who is a granddaughter of Mary Jane Childs Domscheit, and thus Emma Genevieve Pape Childs is her great-grandmother.  She told me Emma’s mother was named Katherine.  I wondered if she meant Catherine/Katherine “Kate” R. Hoffman Pape, the second wife of Anton Pape.  Anton was my great-grandfather John Pape's brother; both were sons to Jacob and Elizabeth Gierse Pape.  I don't think it is likely that Emma is their daughter, though, as Cook County marriage records show that Anton and Katherine married on May 8, 1888, and it looks like Emma was born somewhere between 1883 and 1886 (based on censuses, birth records for her children, and her marriage record). 

However, I am wondering if Emma could be the daughter of Anton and his first wife, Regina Allers, and if Katherine Hoffman Pape is the stepmother who actually raised Emma.  I believe I have found a record for the death of Regina, on the Illinois Statewide Death Index, Pre – 1916.  Regina died March 15, 1887, in Cook County, at age 25, meaning she was born around 1862, which is about right (based on the April 1883 Baltimore passenger list, and her marriage certificate with Anton Pape).   Since Regina died when Emma was age one to four years old (approximately), I think Katherine/Catherine raised her and that is why Emma referred to her as mother.

Katherine Hoffman was born in Wisconsin around 1859-1861.  This would not fit with the 1920 and 1930 censuses, which say Emma’s parents were born in Germany.  However, there are some interesting connections with Emma (and other Papes) and Hoffmans in other census records.

I found an Emma Pape, born in May 1885 in Illinois of German parents, living in Wisconsin in 1900 - "at school" and boarding along with a Minnie Hoffman.  Later, in 1910, I found another Emma Pape of the right age working as a servant in a home in Evanston, Illinois, along with an Alea Hoffman.  Yet another connection of Hoffmans and Papes is that a Jacob Hoffman was the sponsor for my grandfather Paul Pape at his baptism in July 1896.  There's a family named Heffman/Hoffman on the 1870 census in Wisconsin with daughters named Catherine, Mena/Mina (Minnie?), and Lecilea/Cecilia (could this be Alea?), who are the right ages. 

I do think that if Katherine/Catherine had been Emma's natural mother, Emma probably would have been living with her in 1900.  Anton and Regina’s son Hugo Aloysius Pape (born in November 1879 in Germany) WAS living with Katherine in Evanston, Illinois, in 1900; listed as stepson, and she as a widow (Anton died around 1893).  But Hugo was 20 and may have been helping to support his stepmother.

There is definitely a connection between Emma and Katherine/Catherine Hoffman Pape.  The latter is buried in the same cemetery (Sacred Heart in Northbrook, Illinois) as four of Emma's children, in the same plot (2-6), per FindAGrave, as at least three of them.

As of now, I can't find any definitive information on Emma Genevieve Pape Childs prior to 1911 or after 1930, nor on her husband August Solomon Childs after 1942.  I'm making the assumption here that Anton Pape is Emma's father, and that is how we are related (first cousin twice removed).  I’m hoping to hear back from Emma’s granddaughter and from a relative of Hugo’s wife (who found me on Ancestry.com), and perhaps that will give me more clues.

© Amanda Pape - 2010

Wordless Wednesday: Happy Thanksgiving (tomorrow)!

 Mark, Thanksgiving 2006

© Amanda Pape - 2010

Wordless Wednesday: Me and My Siblings, Summer 1965

I'm the oldest (8 here) and at the top of the photo.  Karen (7), the next oldest, is just below me, and Mary, the baby (<1), is in the stroller.  Brothers Mark (5) and Brian (3) are to the left and right respectively.  This was taken in the backyard of the home in the the Sharpstown area of Houston, Texas, that we moved into the year before.  At this point the yard was not yet fenced.

Extremely busy at the moment so I haven't been able to post much.  It will probably be this way for 2-3 more weeks.

© Amanda Pape - 2010

Wordless Wednesday: "3 service stars in the window"

John Pape and Gertrude (Kramer) Pape (in back) with (left to right) sons Paul, Walter, and Lee, probably taken in October or November 1918, as Walter (born 1900) is recorded as having enlisted in the Army on October 5 and released November 14 of that year. Written on the back of the original photograph is "3 service stars in the window," and indeed, if you look in the window to the right, you can see a small banner with three stars.  Lee (born in 1893) served in the Navy from July 19, 1917 to February 15, 1919.  I could not find a record, but it appears that Paul (my paternal grandfather, born in 1896) served in the Navy as well. This photograph is among those saved by sibling Martha and now in the possession of her grandson Bill, my second cousin.  It was taken in front of the Pape family home at 1043 Sherman Avenue in Evanston, Illinois.  The house still stands today and is now numbered 1086.

[NOTE:  In November 2012, my cousin-in-law Cathy Dietz sent some information about snowfall in the Chicago area in 1918 and 1919.  There was no snow in October 1918, and only half an inch total in November 1918.  However, there was 8.8 inches in December 1918, and 1.8 inches in January 1919.  Daily snow depth was at least two inches for the last part of December 1918 and first part of January 1919.  I think the picture was probably taken during the Christmas holidays, perhaps while Lee (and perhaps Paul) were home on leave from the Navy.]

© Amanda Pape - 2010

Wordless Wedding Wednesday: Wedding Photo Table

Recently one of my cousin's daughters got married.  Check out the wonderful display of family wedding photos at the reception, some of which have been featured in this blog.  Thanks to bridesmaid Stephanie for use of her photos!

Above left are my paternal grandparents and great-grandparents.  To the right are Aunt Betty and Uncle Bud, and my parents. Below are my paternal great-great-grandparents.


© Amanda Pape - 2010

Sentimental Sunday: Happy Halloween!

Three of my siblings - Brian, Mary, and Mark - Halloween 1971, Houston, Texas

 © Amanda Pape - 2010