Sunday's Obituary - Mrs. John Boegel

John and Bertha Boegel nee Rosbeck (sitting)

"Mrs. John Boegel

Mrs. John Boegel, 66, nee Bertha Rosbeck, of the town of Ashford, residing near St. Kilian, passed away Tuesday, June 3, at St. Joseph's hospital, West Bend, after an illness of nine months with carcinoma.

Born Aug. 2, 1880, in the town of Wayne, near St. Kilian, she made her home in the vicinity of St. Kilian most of her life.  She was married to John Boegel on April 24, 1900, at St. Kilian and he preceded her in death on March 2, 1935.

The deceased was the mother of four children, one of whom predeceased her.  Surviving are Roman of Theresa, Leona (Mrs. Roman Kuehl) of St. Kilian and Clarence of Barton.  She also leaves five grandchildren; two sisters, Mrs. Frances Steichen of Milwaukee and Mrs. Wm. Pesch of Kewaskum; five brothers, John, Herman, Martin, Adolph and Alfred Rosbeck; one daughter-in-law and on son-in-law.

The remains were in state at the Miller funeral home here from 7 p.m. Wednesday until the time of funeral services which were held at 9:30 a.m. Friday at St. Mathias church in the town of Auburn, the Rt. Rev. J. C. Lederer officiating.  Burial was in St. Matthew's cemetery at Campbellsport.

Mrs. Boegel was a member of the Ladies' Altar society of St. Mathias parish, the members of which attended the services in a body.

Card of Thanks

Words cannot adequately express our deep appreciation for the many kind and sympathetic acts that came to us at the time of our bereavement.  We are grateful to all who helped in any way during the sickness and after the death of our beloved mother.  Mrs. Bertha Boegel, especially Rt. Rev. Lederer, choir, pallbearers, Lades' Altar society, for the floral offerings, spiritual bouquets, to the traffic officer, Miller funeral home and all who showed respect by calling at the funeral home or attending the funeral.

The Surviving Children"

Bertha was my husband's great grandmother. I feel very lucky to have a wedding picture of the young couple.  I need to ask mom if she knows who the other two standing in the picture were!  Since I try to type the obits as-is (no corrections...any differences are my own errors!), I need to specify that the paper got a couple things wrong or were omitted...

1)  Bertha's daughter, Leona, was married to a man named Romand Kuehl not Roman.  There is a "D" at the end of her son-in-law's name.  Her brother was just plain Roman.

2)  I really don't know why they mentioned that one of her son's predeceased her and then didn't mention his name.  Either way, his name was Rudolph and he died in a hunting accident on December 7, 1924.

I also wanted to note that since this obituary was passed on to me by my mother-in-law and was a clipping, I do not know for sure which Wisconsin newspaper ran the obit not the exact date.  It shouldn't be too difficult for someone wanting to track it down though!

Wednesday's Child - Susie Quirk

Susan "Susie" Quirk was the 2nd child of William and Mary Quirk nee Lee of Jeanesville/Hazleton area of Pennsylvania.  She passed away on August 13, 1889 at the age of 15 years and 8 months.  I actually found out something rather interesting when preparing this blog.  I have a baptismal certificate from the church for Susie giving her a date of birth of September 22, 1870.  See the problem?  If this was the same Susie she would have been 18 years 11 months if she died on August 13, 1889.

My guess is that there was another Susie.  I had previously requested baptismal records for all of William and Mary's children and what I got was rather surprising.  I received 3 baptismal records for a William Quirk born to these two people.  My guess is that, sadly, all of their William's died as children (except the last one, of course).  I guess William felt it was important to have a child named after him.  Perhaps he was a first born and was passing on his father's name as well.   

What I do know is that Mary's mother's name was Susan.  Perhaps the Susan that was born in 1870 died and Mary really wanted to name a daughter after her mother.  Don't know, but I'll be writing to the church and asking if they can double-check the records!  It's always fun to make these discoveries!

Anyway, I was given an album with some beautiful card photographs (and a few tin-types).  In there I noticed 4 pictures of a young girl.  The pictures were all on the same page and one page away from a funeral card of Susie Quirk.  I don't know who anyone in this album is for sure.  I only know that it's from my Quirk ancestors due to the dozen or so newspaper clippings referring to marriages and deaths of various Quirks.  I like to think these 4 pictures are Susie, but I'll most likely never know.

 

Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories - 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?

We never sent Christmas cards when I was a kid...or if we did, I knew nothing about it.  Money was almost always tight and I'm fairly certain that every bit that we had was used to make Christmas as special as possible for us kids.  We did receive some Christmas cards though. 

In my post on Holiday Foods I had a picture of our (fake) fireplace with cards taped to the mantle.  I remember hanging cards near the entryway that lead to our living room.  We'd wrap tinsel around the square pillars on either side and tape the cards along the tinsel.

Do I send Christmas cards?  I mean to every year.  I've got a ton of cards packed away with the Christmas decorations from previous years.  Each year I've wanted to send them out and never got around to it.  I love receiving them from friends and family and always want to do the same, but I'm so bad at it.  It's not happening again this year...most likely.  We can hope for a Christmas miracle! :)

The Villers Saga, Part IV

The next in the series of articles would have been one published on November 20th, 1897 titled, "They Want Villers".  I transcribed this article for Carnival of Genealogy's "There's One in Every Family".  So if you'd like to see it, it was my November 20th post...Wow...that was NOT planned!

So moving on to the next in the series...

The Bismarck Daily Tribune, November 23, 1897

"The Villers Case

The prisoner M. J. Villers was arraigned in justice court at Jamestown yesterday charged with murder of August Tromer.  The prisoner is said to have been unaffected by the reading of the charge against him and stated to the spectators in the court that he would be a free man after the trial of the case at the January term of court.  Villers had no attorney and the hearing was continued until Nov 29, when it will be again taken up.  In the meantime Villers is confined in the county jail in Stutsman county.

The removal of the man from the pen here was an extraordinary proceeding, and before Warden Boucher would consent to surrender the man he (wired) for the opinion of a majority of the board of trustees.  Three of them agreed to (allow) the man to go upon the authority of the governor's decision and the request of Judge (Glaspell).  The removal of the man may open up a legal controversy if Villers should be acquitted, or indeed even if he should be (convicted) the former attorneys who have considered the case (said) that there may be a question as to what authority there will be for his return to the penitentiary, after he has been released."

So he had no attorney?  He refused an attorney?  That just sounds awful (and odd).  Anyway, this case was a landmark case for the state of North Dakota in the sense that they were unsure of what to do with a man that was already incarcerated.  How could you release him to be tried for another crime?  I know.  Today we don't think of it as a big issue, but it apparently was a first in the state.  I've got court documents that I'll be posting once I get through the newspaper articles.  Some of those documents...WOW!  Hard to read!  But we'll get there.

Now I'm tired so it's off to bed!  I had wanted to do my Advent of Christmas Memories post on ornaments, but my brain is tired and my Christmas ornaments (for the tree) aren't out yet.  So I'll have to write that one later and find a way to fit it in!  Night all!

Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories - Holiday Foods

Our table...it always seemed like there was more on there as a kid! :)

Mmmmmm...what a wonderful time of the year!

Cookies galore!  Our dining room table was always decked in a tartan tablecloth.  On top were various containers and tins containing fudge, candies, various cookies, nuts, and Christmas hard candy!

Now what I have to say about the nuts is...I NEVER ATE NUTS.  Plus they were in shells and I had no idea what was what.  About the only thing I DID want to do was to shell the nut...and not eat it.  I have learned to love nuts since my childhood, but a nut was not passing my lips even if it was Christmas!  Well there was one cookie exception, but that was cookies, so it's different!

The Christmas candy...you know the kind.  The hard candy ribbons, the peanut filled nuggets, etc.  Yeah...I never touched that either. But it was there every year.  It was really more of a decoration in our house than food.  Something I need to ask about.  Perhaps it being there was a tradition.  Not one I continue however!

My sister and I on Hazel Blum's lap.  I'm only about 2 or 3 so must be 1974-ish.

So, on to a recipe.  The fudge that would be found in one of the various tins on the dining room table!  We call it "Aunt Hazel's Peanut Butter Fudge".  Who is Aunt Hazel?  Well, she's not an aunt or a relation.  We had a wonderful woman that lived next door to us on Diamond Avenue in Hazleton, Pennsylvania.  She married late and never had kids of her own.  She loved us kids.  We called her Nana (both of my grandmas having passed away years before I was born).  She was the only grandmother figure I ever knew.  She taught me to knit and crochet, so I dedicate this post and it's recipe to Hazel Blum.

Aunt Hazel's Peanut Butter Fudge


3 c. sugar
1 c. milk
3 tbsp light corn syrup
1 pint (abt 2 c.) peanut butter
1 pint (abt 2 c.) marshmallow fluff
1 tbsp butter
1 tsp vanilla

Combine sugar, corn syrup and milk in a large pot over low tp medium-low heat and stir constantly until not gritty (this will take a few minutes as the mixture begins to heat up).  Let cook until soft ball stage is reached (234-240 degrees F); stirring occassionally.

Remove from heat.  Immediately add peanut butter, marshmallow fluff, butter and vanilla extract.  Let sit for a couple minutes to allow marshmallow and peanut butter to soften slightly.  While fudge is sitting, line a 9x11-inch pan with aluminum foil.  Butter aluminum foil.

Stir fudge until well combined.  Make sure you are using a strong spoon (depending on atmospheric conditions, i.e. – humidity, etc, your fudge may harden quickly).  Once fudge is mixed thoroughly, pour into lined and greased pan.  You may need to use your hands to press down if fudge has become too thick to pour.  Be careful as it will be hot and you will need to cool your hands intermittently with water to prevent burns.  Let cool until firm.  Cut into squares.

NOTE:  If fudge becomes too hard when stirring (breaking is occuring)  then add a little bit of milk and continue stirring.  Add more as needed, but adding too much at once will ruin fudge so be cautious.

NOTE:  I use “Reduced Fat JIF” for the peanut butter.  It’s not the tastiest peanut butter, but it gives the fudge the taste like Nana’s.  I’ve tried peanut butter that I like on sandwiches and it just doesn’t taste right in the fudge.  Use which you prefer, but if you want the right taste for Nana’s fudge use JIF.

Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories - The Tree

Me (in my Brownie sweater) and my sisters with our dog, Scottie #2

I have fond memories of our Christmas tree.  How absolutely perfect it was.  And it should be since it was artificial! :p

I never wondered why we didn't have a real tree when I was little.  We just didn't.  I accepted that and assumed that everyone did.  My father would take HOURS putting up that darn tree!  Every branch was color coated at the end and they had to go in specific holes or it just didn't work out.  Problem was we had one tree my entire life.  So after decades of use you can imagine how little color at the end of the branches remained.  There was much profanity involved in the assembly of our Christmas tree! :)

I don't think badly for my father about that though.  I'm sure if I had to put together that wicked little thing there'd be some less than lady-like phrases spewing from my mouth!  In fact when hubby and I first married and looked to purchase our first artificial tree (he's allergic to the real thing so this was a no brainer!), we got one and it was just like assembling the tree my dad used to put together.  After almost an hour (if that long) of attempting to erect this monstrosity, the hubby packed it back into the box and back to K-Mart we went to exchange it for a pre-lit deal that only had three pieces to put together...and the branches were on hinges to boot! :)  But this isn't about now it's about then so....

Our tree stood on a platform that my father built.  About 4-inches tall, 7-feet long and 4-feet wide, the tree sat on the back portion of the platform and train tracks were set down in a large oval with an inner, smaller oval. We kids loved playing with the trains each year and decorating the platform was as exciting as decorating the Christmas tree!

My baby sister (baby then, not now!).  You can see the baby's breath in this close up

When I was a teenager I went to live with my mom (divorced parents) and she had a real tree.  She would put baby's breath on some of the branches and it would look like the tree had snow on it!

Tech Tuesday - FilmScan35 I Negative/Slide Converter

Now don't look for me to be writing many Tech Tuesday posts.  I'm not technologically sound...I'm not completely clueless either, but as for why things work the way they do...well, I'm not your girl.  "Thingie" and "Whatchamacallit" are technical terms in my book.  What I can do is review something from an everyday user point of view.

Now I've noticed that Dick Eastman has had a couple posts about negative/slide scanners recently.  That's not why I decided to do this post.  I actually am reviewing this because my friend Jen of Climbing My Family Tree had talked about these types of scanners and wanting one.  I gave her my quick 2 cents and promised a review when time allowed.  It does so here goes...

A year or so ago I finally got my negatives into archival sleeves and in binders (labeled by location of course!) and thought it was time to sit down and start scanning them.  Sadly, I believed that my all-in-one printer could do this and found out quickly that I was mistaken.  The printers I looked into that could handle negatives and slides were way more than I wanted to pay.  I started searching online and came across a number of them on Amazon.com.  What I saw were negative/slide converters that were either several hundred dollars or less than $100.  Nothing really in between.  I went with the FilmScan 35 I by Innovative Technology.  Most of the complaints at the time had to do with it taking so long rather than the quality and effectiveness of the converter itself, so I decided to give it a go.

I must start by saying that my laptop had been running Windows Vista.  The converter was compatible with Vista, but is anything really compatible with Vista?  The converter didn't work right off the bat and I had to reintall the software a few times before I got it running, but it would crash.  Sometimes it would work for one picture and sometimes it would work for an hour or more, but inevitably it would crash and burn.  I tried everything, removing the USB plug and putting it in another port, reinstalling the software/drivers/etc, closing it down and walking away, yelling at it, voodoo, etc.  Nothing worked. I could never tell if I was going to have a good day with it or a bad day.

I put it away for quite some time and decided that today was the day I was going to bring it out and see how it ran on Windows 7.  My laptop is no longer recognizing it's disk drive (time for the hubby to get friendly with my computer again) so I installed the converter on one of his laptops.  It took a little bit of time (not knowing whether to do the x82/32-bit or x64/64-bit installation, I apparently chose the wrong one and it failed to work until I did the 64-bit installation) and a lot of swearing, but I got it to work. No crashes.  It didn't freeze and it worked beautifully.  Well, as beautifully as a $65 converter can be expected to work.

So, how did it work?  That really depends on your negatives.  Some of mine were getting quite discolored.  This scanner will do the job of converting them when you get it working, but it's not going to fix your negatives.  You need photo editing software for that and be warned this converter comes with no photo editing software.  But what do you expect for $65?

The converter isn't super fast, but it's not awful.  You've got to wait a few seconds for the negative to adjust.  Once the image stops making subtle changes you can push the copy button on the top of the converter and capture the image.

Image immediately after inserting

Image after converter has stopped adjusting

The trays for the negatives have little prongs to help hold the negative in place.  Sadly the majority of the time these prongs don't match up with the display window and the picture on my negatives.  It's not difficult to overcome.  Just make sure you don't allow the prongs to catch and close the lid.  It won't damage your negative and the negative doesn't slip if the prongs aren't in the holes anyway.

It took me about 2 hours to convert 160 images.  I've got thousands to go, and I still have to fix the color on the majority of the converted photos, but I've converted them and that's better than they were before!

As you can see from the picture above, the program really isn't that complex.  You won't get lost using it, which is good, because the instruction booklet that came with the converter was 2x3-inches and 6 pages long.  I'm not joking...it was a tiny thing.  There is a quick-start guide and an instruction manual on the disk that comes with the converter, but it doesn't get extremely detailed. It could be better.

Now as for customer support.  There was NO contact information with the packaging or in the instructions booklets.  I had to go searching for a way to contact Innovative Technology online when I was having problems with the converter back in May 2009.  I emailed twice in a 6 week period and got the computer-generated response that my email was important to them and that I would be contacted shortly.  Well, that never happened.  In my 2nd email I even told them that I was preparing to review their product on Amazon.com and would appreciate a response so I could give a better review.  Nothing.

I've seen more current reviews saying how brilliant customer service was.  Maybe they fixed their customer service issues.  Bottom line...the converter is on the slow side, but it works and it's cheap.  It's cheaper than paying someone to do it for you, but you'll be investing a lot of time in the conversion process.  I think it's worth it in the end.  I gave it 3-stars when I rated in a year ago.  With Windows 7, I'll bump that up to 4-stars.  Now I just have to get smart on my photo editing software so I can fix the colors!