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Tag: Schum

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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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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confetti photo courtesy Eric B. https://flickr.com/photos/silverfuture/
Three cheers!

Three cheers!

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Actually, how about a thousand cheers? Have you ever been greeted by a blizzard of confetti online while performing a simple task? Confetti, plus a message designed to send your heart soaring? So it was with me this morning. The online celebration was for the one-thousandth clipping I’d snagged on the Newspapers.com site. Totally unexpected and sort of embarrassing. (Maybe it’s a generational thing?) There have been many news clippings over the years that have helped with family stories for…

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clock in library
The clock

The clock

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Farmer Gary has been incredibly patient as this blog has explored mostly my ancestors, as we peer back over the decades. But now, it is (ahem!) time to explore the story of a special clock from long, long ago. Gary remembers that his mom really wanted to inherit that clock. She’d grown up with it, after all. Every Sunday evening, her father – Mike Mehling – would smoke his pipe. Then he would gently remove the clock from its shelf…

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1877 Henry Schum
Murdar in the family

Murdar in the family

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Exploring the many branches of our family tree (another retirement project) is fascinating. Some of those limbs, though, are rather gnarly. Let’s get right to it: There was a murder in Ferdinand back in 1909. Gary‘s great-grandfather on his mom’s side, Henry Schum, was killed while trying to break up a drunken brawl. Note: I’m hoping enough time has passed that I won’t offend anyone by mentioning the coinciding murder of the English language. Coverage of the patriarch’s death unfurled…

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