(Not So) Wordless Wednesday: John Pape, age 88, 17 July 1939

This photograph of my great-grandfather John Pape was taken at a "lake front park at the foot of Church Street in Evanston," Illinois, which I believe is today's Dawes Park. He looks rather dapper for age 88, don't you think? And he lived for almost six more years.

At one time I thought I didn't have a lot of ancestral relatives on the Pape side in the United States. My grandfather Paul Pape had five children, his sister Martha had two, and his sister Rhea had one. I knew that one of John's brothers, Anton, had also come to the United States, but I have only found one child for him (Hugo, later an alderman in Evanston). Anton lived about a block down Sherman Avenue from John in Evanston from at least 1889 through 1892, but apparently passed away that year or in 1893.

I have since learned that John provided housing for his youngest brother, Lorenz, and at least six of his eight children when they immigrated to the United States in 1909 and 1913. But, that's another post for another time. There are a lot of Papes in this country, and apparently I am related to more of them than I thought.

© Amanda Pape - 2010

(Not So) Wordless Wednesday: Carl Massmann, 1847-1929

Carl Massmann was born May 22, 1847, in Hanover, Germany. He married Minna Freicke in Hanover on January 4, 1870. They had eight children, the first three being daughters who all died before age 5. He emigrated to New York City in October or November, 1884 on the Elbe out of Bremen. He became a citizen in Chicago on October 17, 1891. He was an upholsterer and lived in Chicago for 45 years. He died from uremia and chronic interstitial nephritis on February 7, 1929, a few days after my father, his great-grandson, was born, both in Evanston, Illinois.

Carl appears to be a bit younger in this picture than he is in this one, taken in September 1924 at his son's wedding. I'm guessing the photograph was taken at the same time as this one of his wife and daughters, placing it between 1895 and 1917.

Got the income taxes done, but still swamped with a lot of other work and happenings. Hoping I can get back to normal blogging next week.

© Amanda Pape - 2010

(Not So) Wordless Wednesday: Spring 1988 in Seattle

This is my son Eric, almost age 2, at the Washington Park Arboretum in Seattle in the spring of 1988, shaking down the (probably apple) fruit tree blossoms.

Taking a little break from genealogy research and blogging. Trying to get the income tax return done and plan the upcoming vacation in Hawaii, and dealing with various employee issues (including trying to get my own self-evaluation done) at work. Hope to be back at it next week.

© Amanda Pape - 2010

(Not So) Wordless Wednesday - Me and Mom, April 1957

Still in a sentimental birthday mood...

This photo of me and Mom (Geraldine Guokas Pape, age 28) was taken at my parents' home at 2059 West Touhy Avenue in Chicago, sometime shortly after my birth on April 4, 1957.

In the birthday card she sent me, Mom wrote of memories similar to Dad's. She also noted that the day we came home from the hospital, "I got something in my eye and it was painful. So an eye doctor came to the apartment to look at my eye." It turned out she had iritis, and she had to use eye drops to clear it up. Looks like it was gone by the time this photo was taken.


© Amanda Pape - 2010

Sentimental Sunday #2 - Birthday Memory from Dad

Today I received this lovely e-mail from my dad:

I can still remember the night you were born. Your mother and I went for a walk per doctor's suggestion. It was cold and blustery. Shortly after we got back to the apartment your mother started getting pains which she thought were gas pains. I called your Aunt Betty and she told your mother to get up and walk around for a couple of minutes. If the pains did not stop call the doctor. We went to the hospital and soon after you were born.

Next morning Aunt Betty called. I told her your mother had a nine pound and two and half ounce gas pain.

Hope you have a nice day. Love, Dad

Aunt Betty is Dad's sister, and she is a nurse. I was born at 2:31 AM on April 4, 1957, at St. Francis Hospital in Evanston, Illinois. Mom's labor lasted about two and a half hours. The photo above of me and Dad (Frederick Pape, age 28) was taken later in the month at my parents' home at 2059 West Touhy Avenue in Chicago.

© Amanda Pape - 2010

Sentimental Sunday: Happy Easter - 1961

This is me on Easter 1961, which fell on April 2 that year. This was taken outside our family home at the time, at 7913 Cedel Drive in Houston, Texas. Two days later I turned four.

Yup, today is my birthday, only the second time since I was born that it has coincided with Easter (the last time was 1999). This won't happen again until 2021 when I'm 64.

Here's a table that shows when (western) Easter fell or will fall from 1583 through 4099, for those of you with birthdays between March 22 and April 25. It's part of a great website on Easter and calendars.

Back when I was little, my maternal grandfather, Charles Guokas Jr., used to pay for Easter dresses for me and my sister Karen. Karen's birthday is March 17, so it was kind of a combined Easter/birthday gift for both of us. Usually the dresses were alike, and were these lovely poufy things with the scratchy petticoats! When we got older, Mom, who is an excellent seamstress, often made our Easter dresses, and they were not the same.

Happy Easter, everyone!

© Amanda Pape - 2010

(Not So) Wordless Wednesday: Fearless Female Edith Elizabeth Wolfe Smith Murff Brown Gould Knox

Despite spending a lot of time with my Great Aunt Edith while I was growing up, I'm missing a lot of information on her timeline. She was born in Louisiana on December 9, 1910, and is the younger sister of my grandmother, Sara Melzina Wolfe Guokas Archibald.

Although she had no children, Aunt Edith was married five times. Her first husband was an Oliver Smith - they were married and living in Dallas when her father, Louis Henry Wolfe, passed away in April 1929.  In the late 30s, she was married to an M.B. Murff, for a brief period of time. She didn't talk much of these marriages that ended in divorce, and I've found no records of them so far.

Her longest marriage was to her third husband, Robert Brown, who died in 1970. He had a daughter, Bobbie Nell Brown, from a previous marriage who was quite close to Aunt Edith - they shared a home after Edith's last husband died, and Edith nursed Bobbie through her final illness.

Edith married Donald F. Gould on December 11, 1981, when she was 71 and he was 77. He died in 1990. Edith married Dee Roy Knox on June 14, 1991, when she was 80 and he was 82. He passed away on November 27, 1997, just nine days after my grandmother Sara Wolfe Guokas Archibald's death.

Edith lived for many years in Houston, Texas, where she worked for an optometrist. Between her third and fourth marriages, she and my grandmother shared a home on Beechnut in southwest Houston, only a mile or so from my family's home. I can remember staying there a few times when I was home from college (because my bedroom in the family home had been given to one of my four siblings).

Aunt Edith lived in Hilltop Lakes, Texas, for most of her fourth and fifth marriages, but moved to New Braunfels, Texas, sometime after Dee died. When I'd make my annual visit to Texas from Washington state, my parents (from Fredericksburg), my aunt (from Houston) and I would meet at Aunt Edith's for lunch, as it was pretty equidistant. Edith's stepdaughter Rowena Knox Hackfield and her husband Leon lived nearby.

Edith passed away at age 95 at her home in New Braunfels, on May 31, 2006.


© Amanda Pape - 2010

Tombstone Tuesday: Carl & Minna Massmann

This is a terrible photo of the gravestone of Carl and Minna Freicke Massmann in section 28, lot 20, grave 2 of Memorial Park Cemetery, Skokie, Illinois. It was taken on a snowy day in January, 2000.

Carl Massmann was born May 22, 1847, in Hanover, Germany. He married Minna Freicke in Hanover on January 4, 1870. They had eight children, the first three being daughters who all died before age 5. He emigrated to New York City in October or November, 1884 on the Elbe out of Bremen. He became a citizen in Chicago on October 17, 1891. He was an upholsterer and lived in Chicago for 45 years. He died from uremia and chronic interstitial nephritis on February 7, 1929, a few days after my father, his great-grandson, was born, both in Evanston, Illinois.

Minna Freicke Massmann was born February 10, 1847 in Germany. She emigrated to the United States around 1885, and lived in Chicago for 32 years. She died there from diabetes on March 14, 1917.

© Amanda Pape - 2010

52 Weeks to Better Genealogy - Challenges 12 & 13

The Week 12 challenge (developed by my friend Amy of We Tree and hosted by Geneabloggers.com) was: Check out the web sites for the Society of American Archivists (SAA), ARMA International, and the American Library Association. Genealogists can benefit from the educational opportunities and publications of other information-based organizations. You may not be an archivist, records manager or librarian, but you share the same interests. Look at the events these associations hold. Find the books they publish and see if you can request them through your library via Inter-Library Loan. You may also want to check out your state’s (or country’s) library association. If you’re a genealogy blogger, write about your impressions of one or more of these organizations.

I decided to take a look at the SAA website. I was intrigued by their ePublications page. While I didn't see anything directly related to genealogy, I saw some things that might help me at work (I'm a university librarina), particularly a glossary of archival and records terminology, and a thesaurus for use in college and university archives. There were also a number of publications in their online bookstore that were of interest, at least one of which is already in my university library's collection.

Week 13's task is: Make an appointment with Cyndi’s List. All beginning genealogy publications include a link to Cyndi’s List because it is the ultimate guide for family history links. If you’ve never used Cyndi’s List, take the time to look around. If you’re familiar with the site, look again. Take the time to browse with detail. Don’t try to research your own family’s history, just move through the site and get a feel of all it has to offer. If you have a genealogy blog, share with your readers a new website you discovered through Cyndi’s List.

I'd heard of Cyndi's list before, but I wasn't aware of just how much is on it! I'm amazed that one woman maintains this with no help (or at least that is the impression I get from her blog). Perhaps it is getting a little too big, as I encountered a lot of broken links.

Nevertheless, there is an enormous amount of useful stuff at this site. One page that caught my eye was the page on How To - Tutorials and Guides. Since I still consider myself a beginner in genealogy, this page should be really helpful.

© Amanda Pape - 2010

(Not So) Wordless Wednesday: Fearless Females: Minnie, Minna, and Frances Massmann

Continuing on the theme of focusing on females for Woman's History Month:

In the center of this picture is a great-great-grandmother, Minna Freicke Massmann, flanked by her daughters Minnie Clara Massmann Petersen on the left, and Frances Massmann on the right. My notes say the photograph was taken sometime between 1895 and 1917.

I don't know much about these ladies yet, but here's what I do know: Minna was born around February 10, 1847, in Germany, and married Heinrich Carl Massmann on January 4, 1870, in Hanover, Germany. They had eight children, the first three being daughters who all died before age 5.

Frances was the next oldest. She was born July 16, 1874, in Hanover, Germany, and baptized Johanna Ernestine Liena Franciska. She never married, but stitched lace curtains and table linens for the wealthy on Lake Shore Drive in Chicago, and took care of her parents. She died of breast cancer in Forest Park, Illinois, on July 6, 1958.

Minnie was the next-to-youngest child. She was born April 22, 1878, in Hanover, Germany, and baptized as Maria Elisebet but went by Minnie Clara. She married Anton M. Peterson, who was a few years older, on June 23, 1909. They later divorced and she married his nephew, Arthur M. Peterson, who was 14 years younger. She had no children, and died in Chicago from a stroke on January 29, 1938.

Minna had three other children, all boys, including my great-grandfather, Frederick Henry Massmann. Minna died from diabetes in Chicago on March 14, 1917. All three women are buried in Memorial Park Cemetery in what is now Skokie, Illinois.

© Amanda Pape - 2010