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Tag: Gary

Emma's wooden shoes
The wooden shoemaker

The wooden shoemaker

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Giving my dear husband a hard time about the pronunciation of German surnames is one of my great joys in life. Gary, proud of his heritage, always responds quickly, firmly, assuredly. That is, until we came to his great-great-great grandfather, George Tuchscherer. Give it a try – how would you pronounce it? Gary says it’s do-SHARE. What? How in the world do you get do-SHARE out of Tuchscherer? Gary simply shrugged and repeated: do-SHARE. The great-great-great grandson was tickled when…

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1945 Missing Andrew Wagner
The telegram

The telegram

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Leo and Minnie Wagner waited a long while for a son. They’d married in 1909 and settled down on a farm a few miles west of Gary’s ancestors here in southern Indiana. Minnie was a Mehling. In our family tree, she is Gary’s first cousin, twice removed. By 1922, Leo and Minnie had five daughters. That July, though, a son was born. Think of the love and care Andrew Matthias must have received from all those sisters! The next year,…

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sumac shrubs in our backyard
‘What Red’

‘What Red’

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What’s that out in the woods? Farmer Gary is so patient with my ignorance of all things nature. “Sumac,” he replied. “It’s a shrub.” The leaves were orange last week. Now they’re red. Mom had something to say about sumac back in 2005: What Red What red returns in Autumnin sumac dogwoods the sugar maples We follow itin hills and hollowsthe ponds reflecting The color calls in days alive and readyin this reign of red ~ joan vayo ~ 25…

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semi
‘Don’t make me get Bubba!’

‘Don’t make me get Bubba!’

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Please don’t think for a second that we’ve run out of family stories. It’s just that Farmer Gary has this “Bubba” story he’s been wanting to tell in the worst way. (You may notice I just set up the old gag Abraham Lincoln used for describing his dancing abilities. “I wanted to dance with Mary in the worst way – and I did.” Although with Gary’s accent, maybe it should be “wurst way”?) This audio clip is a tiny bit…

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1877 Katharina Schum
Great-grandma and the switch

Great-grandma and the switch

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Farmer Gary has exactly one story to tell about his maternal great-grandmother Catherina Schum. She was born Catherina (also spelled Katharina) Jent here in northern Spencer County, Indiana, on February 15, 1856. Census records tell us she could read and write – but only in German. She married widower Henry Schum on February 13, 1877. What a lovely couple! We don’t know much about Katharina, except that she told the 1910 and 1920 census takers her occupation was Farmer. Most…

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Land book
Books from five lands

Books from five lands

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Well, look at that – this month we have books from Ireland, England, the U.S., France, and Denmark! Book #1 Land by Maggie O’Farrell After reading Hamnet earlier this year, I knew Maggie O’Farrell’s work to be irresistible. Yes, Land is a novel, but it’s based on a mapmaker ancestor from her family tree. Generations of loss and love unfold over the chapters. And there’s a villain I’ll never forgive! While reading Land, I missed my red-haired mom so much….

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1918 Wigger family
‘Tighter than bark on a tree’

‘Tighter than bark on a tree’

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Farmer Gary has always been crazy about his dad’s uncle Rob Wigger. Rob was a lovable character. He’d grown up on a farm near where we live today, so his visits were always full of questions for Gary. To me, it felt like a pop quiz. Gary passed with flying colors each time. We’ve been digging around all week looking for a photo or two of Rob, and what we have is a beautiful family portrait, probably taken in 1918….

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roundabout
Without a license

Without a license

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It’s weird to think that the town where I got my first driver’s license is now the nation’s top implementer of roundabouts. There’s one of those roundabouts under construction about a dozen miles north of us, causing all sorts of delays. Traffic jams all summer long (one driver fell asleep at the wheel waiting to be flagged through). Back when I was ready for my license, we lived in Carmel, Indiana. No roundabouts then; plenty now. Back in 1974, it…

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1924 Hilda, Hugo, Jim, Al, and Irene Mehling. Plus a stack of straw.
The Mehling cousins

The Mehling cousins

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Farmer Gary and I recently attended what is now, I believe, an annual reunion of cousins on his mom’s side. The two of us gave presentations to the group of 40 or so (mostly) retirees. And no, for some reason I didn’t take photos. But there will be a video. Here’s last year’s: The cousins are the offspring of Mike and Rose Mehling’s progeny. The photo below is from 1924, so Gary’s mom isn’t in it. Rita was born in…

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Photo courtesy Yooperann https://flickr.com/photos/yooperann/
Rhubarb recollections

Rhubarb recollections

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Farmer Gary has been buying and cooking sweet corn like mad these last few weeks of the season. He’s also been complaining about the prices – ranging from four ears for a dollar to a dollar a piece! His shucking and cooking of corn on the cob reminded me of childhood summers. And rhubarb. Mom used to stew it and then top a scoop of vanilla ice cream with it. There was something else she’d make with it, but I…

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