"The Old People"

 My mother started displaying this old album at her home on the fireplace mantel after I was married.  I was curious about the people inside but she didn't know who any of the people were.  She knew it had belonged to her grandmother Olive Iola (Dixon) Carver but that was all she knew about it.  (Olive is Elaine (Carver) Elsner's mother.)
Every time I would visit my mom, I would look to see whose picture the album was opened to and sometimes I would turn the page so that we could look at a new person for awhile.  I called them "the old people".  Then one day I noticed that "the old people" were not on display anymore!  She had put the album away.  I felt sorry for "the old people".  I felt like they should be seen even if we didn't know who they were.
When she decided to sell her house and move to California I asked her what she was going to do with "the old people" and she said that I could have the album.  Boy was I happy!  I really loved looking at these photos and wondering about who the people were.  The album was very fragile so I had to be very careful with it.  I put it on my mantel for awhile, but it really needed to be put in a safe place to keep it from falling apart any more than it had.  So I bought a special box to keep it in.
I had done a little genealogy, but it wasn't until a few years later that I really got into it.  I was laid off from my job, I had lots of time on my hands, and I was hooked on genealogy staying up till all hours of the night searching for ancestors.  That is when I decided that I would find out who these "old people" were.
I was able to find out who they were and where they belonged on the family tree.  But, I never scanned the photos because the book was too delicate.  I couldn't remove the photos without causing damage and I didn't want to subject the album to a scanner by smashing it flat onto the glass and having to flip and hold the album one way and then the other to scan the pictures.  But I have a Flip-Pal mobile scanner now, so I can scan the pictures without harming the album.  So I thought I would scan the pictures and share with you what I know about the "old people".  So the next several posts will be about the people in this album.  They are my ancestors from my great grandmother Olive Iola Dixon's family.

Royce Kettelhodt, 1928-2013

Royce Albert Kettelhodt, age 85 of Princeton, MN, passed away Friday, August 23, 2013 with his children by his side. Royce was born on March 26, 1928, in Princeton, the son of William and Elizabeth (Elsner) Kettelhodt. He was united in marriage to Ardis Shelley on August 1, 1970 in Princeton.

Royce enjoyed hunting, fishing and gardening. He also loved spending time with his family and going to family outings. Royce was a member of the Moose Lodge and a lifelong resident of Princeton, MN.

Royce is survived by his children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, along with many nieces and nephews and extended family.

He was preceded in death by his parents; wife, Ardis; and brother, Harold.

The funeral service was held on August 30th at the Immanuel Lutheran Church in Princeton, MN with Rev. Michael Soppeland officiating.  Interment was in Oak Knoll Cemetery in Princeton, MN.

Elizabeth M. Gawehn, 1889-1974

  Elizabeth M. Gawehn was born in Germany in July of 1889 to August and Zilla (Richter) Gawehn.  She had two brothers, George and Erich, and a sister, Luella.
  As a child, she was called "Lizzie" and later on everyone called her "Betty".  She was only about a year old when her parents and older brother, George, immigrated to the United States and settled in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
  Elizabeth never lived on her own, married, or had children.  She played tennis and competed in tennis tournaments at the country club in Fort Wayne.
  Elizabeth held several jobs throughout the years.  When she was 15, she was an operator at Bush Box Company.  Two years later, in 1906, she was a transferer at W. K. Mills.  She worked there for at least two years.  By 1912, Elizabeth was an operator for General Electric Company.  In 1919 she worked at Home Tel Co as an operator.  The 1920 census says she was a saleslady at a dry goods store and the 1921 city directory lists her occupation as a clerk at Tepper's.  By 1930, she was working as an operator again in an electrical factory (maybe General Electric again?).  In 1940, she worked in a bake shop with her sister-in-law, making deliveries.
  Elizabeth died on March 19, 1974.  She was 84 years old and the first of the siblings to pass away.  She is buried in Lindenwood Cemetery in the same plot as her brother Erich and sister Luella.

Sunday's Obituary - George Richter Gawehn

Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette
Oct. 2, 1976, pg. 2C

George Gawehn Dies;

artist, ex-gun champ

  Services for George R. Gawehn, 89, a retired artist and etcher who died at 9 p.m. Thursday in Byron Health Center, will be at 11 a.m. Monday in D.O. McComb & Sons Lakeside Park Funeral Home.

  Mr. Gawehn, a native of Germany, had resided in Fort Wayne most of his life.  He was an artist and photographer for General Electric Co. and Bowser Co., and opened his own studio in 1946.

  Mr. Gawehn was a World War I veteran.  In 1923-24, he was national Pistol Marksmanship Champion.

  Surviving is a sister, Luella Gawehn, Fort Wayne.

  Friends may call from 7 to 9 p.m. today and 2 to 5 and 7 to 9 p.m. Sunday, with Masonic services at 7:3[sic] p.m. today.  Burial will be in Lindenwood Cemetery.

George is the son of August F. and Zilla (Richter) Gawehn.

Sunday's Obituary - Erich J. Gawehn

Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette
Sat., Feb. 8, 1975, pg. 3C

ERICH J. GAWEHN
  Erich J. Gawehn, 77 formerly of 1002 Grace Ave. died at 3:50 p.m. Thursday in Byron Health Center.  A lifelong resident of Fort Wayne, he had retired from the General Electric Co. after 35 years' service.
  Surviving are a brother, George, Fort Wayne; and a sister Luilla [sic] Gawehn, Fort Wayne.
  Services will be at 2 p.m. Monday in D.O. McComb & Sons Lakeside Park Funeral Home where friends may call from 2 to 5 and 7 to 9 p.m. Sunday.  Burial will be in Lindenwood Cemetery.


Erich is the son of August F. and Zilla (Richter) Gawehn.

Sunday's Obituary - Elizabeth M. 'Betty' Gawehn 1889-1974

Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette
March 12, 1974, pg. 4C

Elizabeth C. 'Betty' Gawehn
  Services for Elizabeth C. "Betty" Gawehn, 84 of 1002 Grace Ave. will be at 2 p.m. Wednesday in D. O. McComb & Sons Funeral Home.  Miss Gawehn, a native of Germany, died at 8:43 p.m. Sunday in Turtle Creek Convalescent Centre South.
  Surviving are two brothers, Eric J. and George R., both of Fort Wayne; and a sister, Luella Gawehn, Fort Wayne.
  Calling will be from 2 to 5 and 7 to 9 p.m. today at the funeral home.


Elizabeth is the daughter of August F. Gawehn and Zilla (Richter) Gawehn.  Also, her middle initial was published incorrectly, it should be an M.

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to all the Dads out there!  This is a picture of my dad having fun at Disneyland.  We lived in Los Angeles and went to Disneyland a lot.  This picture was taken in 1968, so I was 6 and my sister was about 3 1/2. That's Dad driving the yellow car with me in the passenger seat.  If you look closely, you can see that I'm holding on to the dashboard with one hand and my sunglasses with the other.  We are about to take off and I know that my dad is going to drive that little car as fast as it will go! Ha ha!!  Mom is following behind in the blue car with my sister.  She is so small you can barely see her there in the passenger seat!

Alex & Laura's Wedding

Congratulations to my nephew and his new bride!

Alexander W. Elrod and Laura M. Sanders were married in a beautiful ceremony at the Marty Leonard Chapel in Fort Worth, Texas on Saturday, June 1st, 2013.

Laura looked stunning in a beautiful flamenca style gown of ivory lace with an asymmetrical hem of fluttering tiers and cap sleeves, designed by Va Et Vien exclusively for BHLDN.

I took this photo on the night of the wedding rehearsal outside the Marty Leonard Chapel.  The architect was E. Fay Jones, who studied under Frank Lloyd Wright.

    This is the view from the choir loft.

And this is the view when you look up from inside the chapel.

The wedding reception was held at The Woman's Club of Fort Worth.  This is a view of the courtyard.

The guest book table.

The bridesmaid's bouquets were used in the table centerpieces.

             Beautiful table decorations.

There was a buffet of delicious
hors d'oeuvres.


The beautiful wedding cake.  It was delicious too!

First Dance






Music was by
the Texas Gypsies.

               Everyone had a great time dancing to the  fabulous music of the Texas Gypsies!                                                                                                                

Here's wishing them all the love and happiness in the world and congratulations on their marriage!

              Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful and endures through every circumstance. - 1 Corinthians 13:7

Memorial Day - 2013

Dallas-Fort Worth National Cemetery

May 27, 2013

Gawehn Family

I have mentioned members of the Gawehn family briefly in previous posts and I have posted a few of their obituaries so I thought I would tell you what else I know about them.

Zilla (Richter) Gawehn is Lydia (Richter) Elsner's younger sister.  (Lydia is my great great grandmother.)  Zilla was born on October 26, 1863 in East Prussia.  In about 1885, she married August F. Gawehn (born October 9, 1852 in Germany).

While they were still in Germany, they had two children: George Richter Gawehn, born January 20, 1887; and Elizabeth Gawehn born in July 1889 (according to the 1900 US Census or Feb 1889 according to the document below).  The four of them immigrated to the US in 1889.

I saved a pdf file a couple of years ago that contains lists of people that immigrated to the USA on which the Gawehn family is listed.  The file is in German and is titled SEDINA-ARCHIV FAMILIENGESCHICHTLICHE MITTEILUNGEN POMMERNS.  With the help of Google, that translates to Sedina Archive Family History Information Pomerania.  It contains excerpts from ships lists from March 25, 1884 through February 20, 1890 of Pomeranian immigrants to the USA.

Abbreviations and column headings from Sedina-Archiv Familiengeschichtliche Mitteilungen Pommerns.

  Translation:

Abbreviations:

Adr    = Address             K      = Child (ren)                 S     = Son

E       = Spouse              M       = Mother                      T     = Daughter

J        = Years                 NY.   = New York                V     = Father

oo     = Marriage            >        =After (destination)

                Date    Ship      Name        First Name  Age                 Note

Clip from Sedina-Archiv Familiengeschichtliche Mitteilungen Pommerns containing the Gawehn's information.

This tells me that August Gawehn (a tailor, age 37), along with his wife Zilla (26 yrs), daughter Elizabeth (10 months old), and son George (2 yrs) arrived on the Polaria on Dec. 7, 1889 in New York from Lauenburg.

After arriving in New York, they made their way to Fort Wayne, Indiana.  I had wondered why Albert and Lydia had chosen Fort Wayne when they immigrated in 1887, and I now know that Lydia's brother Erich J.B. Richter had immigrated to the US in 1881 and he lived in Fort Wayne.  When Zilla and her family arrived, Erich was still in Fort Wayne, but Albert and Lydia had already moved to Chicago.

Zilla and August had two children born in Fort Wayne: Luella R Gawehn, born July 26, 1892; and Erich John Gawehn, born March 15, 1897.

I have already posted obituaries for Zilla, August, and Effie (George's wife).  I found obituaries for Elizabeth, Erich and George but not Luella.  I ordered copies of the ones I found so far and will post them as soon as I receive them.

Obituary - John Howard Yost, Jr., 1970-2013

My brother-in-law passed away suddenly on February 4th.  It is still unbelievable that he is gone.  He was so full of life.  He is missed by everyone that ever met him.  He loved his family, had a great sense of humor, loved life, and loved to play jokes on people.

There was a Celebration of Life gathering on Sunday, February 10th at the Hilliard Funeral Home officiated by Rev. Kenneth Meadows.  There were many beautiful flowers and Johns casket was draped with the American Flag.  People of all ages attended including a newborn baby.  There were people from his work, his children's friends, Marines, Boy Scouts, family and many more.

A slide show played with pictures of John throughout the years as songs played.  Some of the pictures made everyone laugh and his 2 year old niece would called out, "Uncle John is funny!".

The Reverend asked that if anyone had anything they wanted to say about John to come up to the podium.  Many came forward and spoke about how much John loved life, how they met him, how good a friend he was, his sarcasm, how he loved to blow things up, and many people spoke about the pranks that he played on them.  We laughed and cried as we listened to all the stories.

At the end of the gathering, two Marines came forward and after taps was played, performed the folding of the flag ceremony and presented the flag to his wife.

After the service there was another gathering in the school cafetorium with food and drinks where many people came and exchanged more stories about John.

John Howard Yost, Jr.

John Howard Yost, Jr. was born June 19, 1970 in Norfolk, Virginia.  He had been a resident of Ben Wheeler for 10 years.  He was raised in Jacksonville and Ft. Myers, Florida.  He served in the US Marine Corps for 8 years, and was a Gulf War veteran.  He worked as a boiler operator for Delek in Tyler, Texas for 9 years.  He was very active in the Boy Scouts of America and was a member of the NRA.  He enjoyed shooting targets in his spare time.

John passed away at the age of 42 on February 4, 2013 in Tyler, Texas.  He was preceded in death by his father John Howard Yost, Sr.

Survivors include his wife and three children, his mother, dad, sisters and brothers.

A father, a husband, a son,

a brother, an uncle,

and a friend full of love.

We will laugh with the memories

and shed tears for those

we have lost.

You will be missed

more than words can ever say.

"Johnisms"

Ordinary is boring

Build your own fireworks

as they make a bigger boom

Your problem is obvious...

Pinatas are like people...

Don't bother me...I'm busy being crabby

Nothing says 'Opps' like a wall of FLAME

Let's blow S*** UP!!!!

Don't worry, we've got everything under control

Treasure Chest Thursday - My First Valentine

My first Valentine

Honest ENGINE!

I want CHOO

for my

Valentine!

My first Valentine's day was February 14, 1962.  I was just 2 weeks old and this was my first Valentine.  It was from a boy named David who was 6 weeks old.

Elmhurst, Illinois

  I have been busy scanning what seems like millions of family photos.  I am usually confined to a back bedroom with my computer and printer/scanner when I do this.  But I got a new toy for Christmas that has changed that.  A Flip-Pal Mobile Scanner!  It doesn't require you to be connected to a computer because it saves all the images onto an SD card and when you are ready, you insert the SD card into your computer to transfer the images.  Now I can scan anywhere!  It's really nice to be in the living room scanning and watching TV at the same time.
  I have come across a few old photos belonging to my great grandparents, Erick and Lulu Elsner, that I had not seen before.  Such as this one:

  This is a picture of their house in Elmhurst, Illinois.  I have been trying to figure out the timeline for the period of 1920 thru 1930.  I can't find the 1920 census for them, but I am sure they lived in Minneapolis, Minn at least part of the year, because their son Darrell (my grandfather) was born there in March 1920.  By the time the 1930 census was taken, they were living in Tucson, AZ.  And later they moved to California.  But some time during the 1920's they moved to Elmhurst, Ill.  

    Anyway, grandma Lulu almost always wrote the year on her photos.  I say "almost always" because she didn't do it on this one.  Of course!  Here is the back of the photo:

  So I have been looking for online City Directories for Elmhurst, Ill during the 1920's so I can figure out what years they lived in Illinois.  I have only found one online so far for DuPage County 1925-1926.  

  There is grandpa Eric and his brother Otto.  Grandpa Erick was very close with his brother Otto.  They were carpenters by trade and built and sold many homes during their lives.  They moved to Elmhurst because of the building boom.  

  I didn't find Fred in this directory. (Grandpa's other brother.)  In a previous post, I have a passage from the book Down Winsor Way that says Fred went to Elmhurst in 1923.  And Fred was living in Elmhurst, Ill when the 1930 census was taken.  So I expected to see his name between Eric and Otto.  The directory contains several small communities in DuPage County, and I checked every one of them, but no Fred. 

  

Happy New Year!

Me, around 1964 or '65.