Follow Friday - Just This One...

I wasn't going to do a post today, but I've been reading Kathy Reed's Advent posts for the Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories and they are addictive!  She's using her brother as a "guest blogger" and posting his Christmas Letters.  These are letters that he wrote and put out at Christmas for his company and they are fabulous!

Kathy is already an excellent blogger and her brother is right up there with her.  I'm enjoying these posts so much and find myself looking forward to the next.  Don't miss out on this series.  Head over to Jones Family Matters and read the posts.  I guarantee you'll be hooked!

Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories - The Tree

My Mom, Aunt Cathy, and Mary Lucille Gilson (at Mary's house)

It's that time of year again, and even though last year was my first year participating in the Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories (and blogging), I really had fun.  Rather than repeat my posts from last year, I'm going to be asking family members to share with me their memories.  I haven't decided yet if I will stick with one family member this year and save the other stories for next year, but I figured it was a good way to mix it up and to gather all those great memories that we want remembered forever!

The following are my mom's memories of the Christmas Tree (and Christmas in general) when she was growing up, edited just a bit so you may understand some of the people and places that were referred to...


When Eddie and I were young my mom and dad would send us next door to Aunt Mary Quirk's house and we'd have dinner with Aunt Mary, Aunt Kay and, when I was very young, grandpa Quirk.  At our bedtime mom came over and took us back to the house, but everything was dark in the living room because Santa Claus was coming that night.


It was so hard going to sleep.  I remember lying awake and hearing noises in the living room but knew I couldn't see what it was.


My father would set up the entire two train set - a big green one (I don't remember the brand) and a little black one (a Lionel).  I guess my mom was in charge of the tree.  It was always a real one with big bulb lights and bubble lights.  I remember always flicking the bubble lights that didn't bubble.  I think the bubble lights on the tree are the reason I still like them so much.  My dad helped grandpa Brown.  When we came down in the morning Santa had been there and it was magic knowing he had done everything while we slept.  He even came into our rooms and put our filled stockings on our beds.


My Grandpa Brown died when I was in 6th grade and it must have been the first Christmas after his death (Cathy was still little) that my mom told us that Santa needed our help that year so we were going to set up the platform, trains and tree and Santa would finish it.  A couple of years later we helped even more by decorating the tree.  I think I believed in Santa until I was in Grebey Junior High School.


Wonderful memories.  Of course, we had to go to the children's mass at St. Gabriel's on Christmas morning.  By that time we had gone through all of our presents at home.  When we came back it was on to the aunts' house (Mary and Kay) next door and got more presents.   By the afternoon we ended up at Aunt Marian and Grandpa Brown's house which was right behind ours.  My mom made the best turkey and pumpkin pie and when it was all finished, Ed and I would go to the Gramley's house to see what Malcom and Tommy got for Christmas.  Nobody in the neighborhood was well off but everyone's father except one had a job.  It was good times.


When we got older and my mom turned the garage into a TV room, we started putting the tree up there.  I think my parents loved Christmas as much as we did.  When we were older my dad would give us money and we'd go to Fellins jewelry or Deisroth's to buy presents for my mom.


I'm sure Ed and Cathy did what I did in trying to duplicate that sense of joy and Santa.  I remember staying up to 4:00 a.m. with your father on Christmas Eve putting together that Barbie three (or was it four) level house.  Good times and very good memories.


Next week I'll feel like a kid again as we bring up the Christmas tree from the crawl space and bring out all the old decorations and bubble lights and put baby's breath on the branches.


Thanks mom for sharing these memories!

Wedding Wednesday - Did You Ever Get the Feeling You're Related...

Green Bay Press-Gazette

This is one of those obituaries that I have in my collection where I have no doubt the bride is related to my husband, but I have no idea what the relation is...yet!

I often refer back to the scrapbooks that my husband's paternal grandmother put together and that were passed on to me by his mother.  They are a treasure trove indeed (although rarely cited).  I see names that are in my husband's direct line, and I see other names in indirect lines.  So who's related?  Well, my husband's 3rd great grandparents were Charles and Josephe Hermans nee Landeck.

Now that's going pretty far back, but Charles is the last male Hermans I have...and I don't have any brothers or sisters for him, and I know of no children that he and his wife had apart from their daughter, Josephine.  There was obviously another Hermans there somewhere.  At least obvious to me.  Yeah, yeah, I know.  Just because someone shares a last name in my tree doesn't make them related and it's sloppy research to try to find records to fit someone in my husband's tree.  I'm not trying to do that though.  This clipping was cut and pasted into this scrapbook for a reason.  I just need to find out what that reason is.  In this case, with a surname in his line, I'm venturing that it's a distant cousin.  After all, I've been told all the Belgians in that part of Wisconsin were related!  An amusing generalization, but you get my point...

Lucille Hermans and Edward Rueckl were married on October 12, 1943 (as best as I can tell from my not-so-exhaustive-research).  Since there's no date on this clipping, I'm going to ensure I have the right date, by verifying it with the local microfilmed newspapers when I get back to Green Bay for the holidays.  We'll go on from there.  I can, of course, hope that someone will come across this post and be able to help me fill in some of the genealogical blanks and speed me on my way.  Isn't that one of the reasons for me, and many of you, to blog?  We want to find those connections.

On to the wedding announcement of this beautiful bride!

"Lucille Hermans Bride at Tonet

Special to Press-Gazette

LUXEMBURG, Wis. - In a ceremony performed by the Rev. L.A. Dobblesteen at Tonet last Tuesday morning, Miss Lucille Hermans, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Frank Hermans of Luxemburg, became the bride of Norbert Rueckl, son of Mr. and Mrs. Edward Rueckl, also of Luxemburg.

The bride wore a gown of ivory satin with a long train, a V neckline with lace yolk, and long sleeves with V-points over the wrists.  Her fingertip veil was caught in a lace headpiece, and she carried a bouquet of Johanna Hill roses and white pompons.

Miss Hyacinth Rueckl was maid of honor, in blue brocaded satin, and Miss Marie Hermans and Iris Luedtke were bridesmaids.  Veronica Hermans was flower girl.  The best man was Linus Hermans, and the bridegroom's other attendants, Robert Colle and Orville Hermans.

Wedding dinner was served for 175 guests at the bridegroom's home.  He is a farmer, and they will live near Luxemburg."

Military Monday - A Harrowing Escape During WWII

Published in the Green Bay Press-Gazette (date unknown)

I don't know if Edward Duquaine is related to my family at all.  The clipping was taken from a family scrapbook handed down to me.  I haven't made a connection yet, but it's possible that my husband's grandmother clipped the article because it was a heroic tale about a local boy.  We'll see what my research finds in the future!

Edward was born on March 6, 1921 to George and Mabel Duquaine nee Lhose.  He was released from the Army Air Corps on June 5, 1945.  He died of natural causes on August 25, 1998.  He is buried in Allouez Catholic Cemetery, Green Bay, Wisconsin.

"Bombardier Describes Flight Of Disabled Bomber to Safety

By Ed Arndorfer

The story of a crippled B-24 Liberator's nerve-wracking flight from Brux, Germany, to safety behind the Allied lines in Italy is told in a letter received recently by the wife of Lt. Edward J. Duquaine, bombardier on the disabled bomber.

Found Going Rough


'We were unable to keep up with the formation and found the going very rough, with the dead engine vibrating the ship tremendously,' Lt. Duquaine wrote. 'I salvoed the bombs after finding it impossible to follow the rest of the way into the target.  We flew off to the side, hoping and praying that enemy fighters would not find us.'

In the distance the crew could see the other bombers blasting away despite the hornet-like resistance of German pursuit planes.  Meanwhile, the pilot maneuvered far enough away from the objective and yet close enough to be in position to drop in on the formation when it headed for home.

However, that was not the case according to Lt. Duquaine. 'When the formation did return, we were unable to follow and found our plane straggling some 100 miles from Berlin.  I was really sweating over my map keeping track of our position, as I was bombardier and navigator on this trip.

At the half-way mark, a second engine lost all oil pressure and the wing began to shake so that the crew thought it would drop off.

'The pilot gave orders to prepare to bale out,' he related. 'Being over enemy territory, we waited a while longer. Then the propeller froze and once more the plane was in level flight.  The other two engines really had a load and we were flying over water and continually losing altitude.'

Now everything that was loose was tossed overboard, including flak suits and ammunition waist and top turret guns. 'In the excitement,' he recalls, 'one man accidentally threw away part of the radio equipment, and another the flares.'

All the while the Liberator was dropping slowly on two engines and oil pressure was beginning to oscillate on the third. They were winging along the coast, with low clouds making visibility poor.  A field was spotted, but it was decided not to land because Lt. Duquaine was certain it was a German base. Finally the Alp mountains were passed and Pilot Dennis Blackwell, Lyme, Colo., set the bomber down at an advance Allied fighter base without the aid of the radio and flora signals that had been heaved over the side in the confusion.  Lt. Duquaine said that previously he had noticed a fire and by the smoke was able to distinguish the direction of the surface wind.

'That base looked good to us, and if it was not for the advance of our Allied armies in north Italy, we would now be prisoners,' he averred.

Late at night the crew members returned to their base on a bomber which had landed to refuel.

Lt. Duquaine entered the service Oct. 16, 1942, and received his commission last Dec. 4 and Midland, Tex. He arrived overseas on May 1 of this year and since then has flown 40 missions. Recently decorated with the Air Medal with an oak leaf cluster, he is the husband of the former Arivilla Challe, 700 St. George street, and the son of Mr. and Mrs. George Duquaine, route 6."

Sunday's Obituary - An Odd Way to Die

1945 Green Bay Press-Gazette

It seems so trivial.  You pinch your finger in a car door on your wedding day but for it to result in a crippling injury that leaves you bed-ridden and ultimately results in your demise?  This happened to Norman Jadin.  He died back in 1945 and is buried in Holy Trinity Cemetery, Casco, Kewaunee, WI.  Transcribing this obituary just makes me say is thank goodness for modern medicine!

Norman married Eunice Dart around 1937.  Eunice was my husband's 1st cousin twice removed and if it hadn't been for this clipping I most likely never would have known about this marriage.  I knew from the obituary of Arthur A. Dart (her brother) that Eunice had married a man named Clarence Bathke.  From this article I know that not only did she marry Norman Jadin, but that they had a daughter, Patsy.  Great discovery.  More work to do!

"Pinched Finger on Wedding Day, Dies Eight Years Later

Special to Press-Gazette

CASCO, Wis. - An infection which he received when he pinched his finger in a car door on his wedding day nearly eight years ago resulted in the death of Norman Jadin, 27, in a Green Bay hospital at 6 o'clock Wednesday evening.

The infection brought on a serious illness, and Mr. Jadin was badly crippled.  For several years he had been bedridden.  He was born in the town of Brussels April 18, 1918, and since his marriage to the former Eunice Dart, Tonet, had lived in Casco.

Survivors are his wife; a daughter, Patsy, 7; five brothers, Rodery, at home; Tony, in the Army in Missouri; John, with the Army in France; Wallace, with the Army in Germany; and Jule Jr., in the Navy in the South Pacific; four sisters, Mrs. Marion Dart of Casco; Mrs. Grace Malcore of Green Bay; Mrs. Margaret Sticka of Almano, Calif., and Mrs. Joyce Worachek, Casco, and his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Jule Jadin Sr., Casco.

The body will be taken to the Richard Dart home on the Jim Sinklar farm from the Weisner-Massart Funeral home, and the rosary will be recited there tonight and Friday night.  Funeral services will be held at 9:30 Saturday morning at Holy Trinity Catholic church."

[Hand-dated 1945 from the Green Bay Press-Gazette]

Follow Friday on Saturday- The "I'm Always Catching Up" Edition

So Google Reader has been telling me for some time that I had 1000+ posts to read and I finally found time to catch up.  While there were many more posts I would have liked to share with you all, these were the ones that I just had to include.  I'm also posting this on Saturday, because I just couldn't pass up a post on Black Friday, so my followings were postponed until today.  Now to make sure that I keep up on my Reader on a daily  basis....

I'm actually starting out with a post that was not from another blog, but I felt it was significant to genealogists anyway.  As I was reading CNN this week an article on "Brown Babies" in Germany caught my eye.  Perhaps a part of history that we are unfamiliar with, but as genealogists could come across if our research for ourselves or others includes African American ancestors.  Ignoring the political incorrectness of the "Brown Babies" label, the article illustrates that a large number of children (in the thousands) that were given up.  These children were fathered between white women and African American Soldiers following WWII.  The women being encouraged to give up their children and the military moving the Soldier when a relationship was discovered.  Shameful.  Please check out the post, "'Brown Babies' Long Search For Family Identity".

I actually came across this as I was reading the news.  Save A Grave posted the same video.  Very sad that so many people's remains were washed away in Tropical Storm Irene, that only about 1/2 of them have been recovered, and then to top it all off some of the tombstones that had been recovered were stolen/vandalized.  Seriously?

Lorine McGinnis Schulze over at Olive Tree Genealogy has a challenge for us all!  Read about her request that you  give 15 minutes to photograph tombstone at local cemeteries in the "November's Genealogy Challenge" and then get out and photograph those stone and get back with Lorine!  I'll be heading out this weekend!

Greta's Genealogy Bog tells how she is having fun creating a webpage for her family's genealogy in her post, "Fun Stuff You Can Do With Weebly."  I love Weebly.  Thomas MacEntee first introduced me to Weebly in one of his many awesome webinars and I use it almost daily for my PTA's website.  It's so easy, you just drag and drop.  Did I mention FREE too?  Who doesn't love free stuff.  There is a "pro" version with more bells and whistles that you pay for, but I haven't needed it yet.  Greta has reminded me with this great post that I need to do the same and get to creating a page for my family's genealogy.  Check out Greta's experience with Weebly.  Everyone I know that uses it absolutely loves it!

At Faces of My Family, Lisa Swanson Ellam reminds us that sometimes it takes awhile to get the answers we need.  It took 11 months in her case, and a slight surname spelling variation!  Don't you love successes!?!

Jennifer Shoer at the Scrappy Genealogist is, well...scrapping!  Join Jennifer for Scrapbook Sundays.  They've been going on for about a month, but it's never to late to start!  Something I've often wanted to do, but never seemed to find the time.  I'm starting to grab pictures and information and I hope to be joining Jennifer and her fellow participants!  What better way to remember our ancestors and to pass something beautiful on about them!

A great post by Deb Ruth at Adventures in Genealogy where she details some great finds and connections she made through Find-A-Grave.  I'm always a big fan of Find-A-Grave and have had much success there as well.  Don't miss out.  Read her post, "Connecting on Find-A-Grave".

Lots of great stuff out there and I'm going to do everything I can to not get so far behind again!

Happy Black Friday

Is that a contradiction?  I don't think so.  I hear so many people grumpy about Christmas music and items being in stores before Thanksgiving.  I'm an early shopper.  I like to get it all done preferably before Thanksgiving. Once Thanksgiving hits you've got a month to get everything done, and I'd prefer to spend that time decorating the house and baking cookies.  I want my children to have the wonderful holiday experiences that I did when I was younger.  Far too many people rush into the over-crowded stores to do holiday shopping and are in anything but a holiday spirit.  It makes me wonder how it was for my parents.  For their parents...and so on.  I'll have to talk to my mother and mother-in-law about that one.  What was it like?

I like to think of snowy, peaceful streets and shoppers strolling through stores.  Parents baking cookies for excited children.  I do tend to romanticize things though.  I know my mother and her siblings have long commented on how exact "A Christmas Story" was to their reality!

Today, for most people, marks the beginning to the Christmas season.  I know that my sisters-in-law and mother-in-law will most likely be heading out to Bath and Body Works (and various stores throughout the Green Bay area) in search of some great bargains.  I have fond memories of going with them (venturing out on Black Friday was something I never would have considered before becoming a part of the Cayemberg family!).  There are enough grumpy people out there today, but my Green Bay family are simply shining lights on a knock-down, drag-out shopping day.

I clearly recall sharking through the parking lot for a space at the mall and my SIL Lori rolls down the window in the bitter Wisconsin winter.  Hanging half out the passenger window she shouts with an enormous smile and a cheer that I hadn't felt on a Black Friday...ever, "Are you heading back to your car?"  The lady smiles back and points to a spot directly in front of us and near the front doors to the department store.  Who says the Irish are lucky!  Luck of the Belgian/Germans here!  On the way out of the department store, Lori flags down the nearest person and tells them where we're pulling out. They bring smiles to people's faces wherever they go.

My father-in-law was always up early and would head out at 3:30 or 4:00am on Black Friday over some deal he saw in the newspaper on Thanksgiving day.  He seldom got the item, but he loved the adventure of it.  He had the excitement of the holidays.

Whether deals were found or missed, a nice breakfast was had and stories were told.  Truthfully I've only been in Green Bay a handful of times on Black Friday, but every time I've been there (well, and any time I'm with my in-laws) shopping is involved.  I don't think I've ever caught a truly great deal when I've gone out on Black Friday, but I'm definitely in the Christmas spirit after being out!  Could you imagine if everyone could be so kind and cheerful at the beginning of what's supposed to mark such a season?

For those who think Christmas has become too commercialized.  You need to remember that Christmas and the holidays aren't what retailers make it.  It's what you make of it.  And frankly, there is usually something to be purchased because we do something special for the season.  Whether it's extra baked goods, a fresh pine tree or presents.  What you purchase is up to you.  You decide.  Not the retailers.  

This is a very traditional time of year.  Whether you "believe" in Santa visiting all the good boys and girls in a celebration of the birth of Jesus, or whether you prefer to leave Santa out of it.  If you celebrate Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, the Winter Solstice or any other winter holiday, it's a time steeped in tradition.  Have you started your own traditions or are you doing something you learned from your parents?  And if you learned it from your parents were they passing it on?  Find out.  Find out before you can no longer ask.

Maybe people need to look at the Holiday merchandise in the stores in October and the seasonal music playing early as a ramp up for their good attitudes?  Get in the Christmas spirit early.  After all shouldn't we  keep Christmas throughout the year?...before we are visited by three spirits reminding us to ditch the Humbug!

[This was originally posted on "Black Friday" in 2010.  I think it's appropriate every year.]