“The First Steffy Clan Reunion”

Since I am both a postcard collector and a family historian, I had to buy this postcard, hoping there was a name or two on it that just might connect into my family.  Alas, the only words on the back of it are in the title of this blog.Can you help identify anybody in this picture? It is postally unused, but I believe it came from the Ohio area. I’ve not done much research on this particular line, but was hoping that this would jumpstart it.  Of course, it didn’t.

My Steffys are in Pennsylvania and are as follows:

• Elizabeth AUXER (13 Jul 1785-3 Feb 1870)(and Auxer is the primary line I follow) married Jacob Steffy (abt 1781-1824) on 2 Sep 1800 in the First Reformed Church, Lancaster PA
  • Jacob, born 1801 (must have died early since another Jacob was born 5 years later)
  • Catherine, born 1803
  • Jacob, born 1806
  • George, born 1810
  • William, born 14 March 1812, died 16 Oct 1872 in Lancaster, PA
  • Susan, born 8 Oct 1816, died 24 Feb 1826, buried in Lancaster Cemetery, Lancaster, PA
  • Abraham, born 19 April 1820
  • John Frederic, born 9 April 1823, died 11 April 1824, buried in Lancaster Cemetery, Lancaster PA

 

She Left Her Forgiveness

I’ve been reorganizing my files and came across one of my favorite wills and thought I’d share it. I have left off the names since it’s less than 75 years old.

E—- L—-, also known as

E—- L—-, also known as                                                             Died: —, –, 195-

E—- L                                                                                               ******WILL*******

Wed. —- , 30, 195-.

I wish to explain how I want my wordly possessions to be divided.

To my husband J—- —-, Jr my bank account in the Lancaster County Bank. Also the house hold furniture to do as he pleases.

To my sons – J—- I—- and W—- L— – and my daughter P—- H— my bank account in the F— Bank to be divided equally between these 4 children

My daughter F—- who I do not know if she is alive or not I leave her my forgiveness for all the heart ache she has caused me. I think $10 would satisfy her to be taken from my account at the F– Bank.

I would like my daughter P—- to have my big Ring -

Thats all I guess

 

E—- L. L—-

 

It’s a jewel, isn’t it?

 

 

Louise Kleiss, NYC; Louisa Kleiss Zecher, Lancaster, PA ~ 15 years apart

As many of you know, I am a Kleiss researcher.  My ancestor, Philip Kleiss was a Tavern keeper in Lancaster in the late 1700′s.  After his death his sons ran the Tavern located on the corner of Vine and Queen Streets in the heart of Lancaster.  Today the Tavern is incorporated in the Convention Center, but that is on another blog.  This blog is about the two women referenced above.

I periodically put my surnames in search engines and tonight I was playing around with Genealogy Bank, one of my favorite sites.  I’ve got a lot of information from the old newspapers on this site and an a big fan of it! When I found the following article, I thought it sounded familiar ~

New York Herald
26 December 1895

KILLED BY A MOTOR.
—–
Mrs. Louise Kleiss Struck While Walking
On the North Hudson County
Railway’s Tracks.
—–

Mrs. Louise Kleiss, forty-five years old, of No 27 King street, West New York, was struck by a motor of the North Hudson County Railway Company early yesterday morning and instantly killed.
Mrs. Kleiss came to Jersey City Tuesday evening to make some purchases and took the midnight boat back on the Forty-second street ferry. She had a number of bundles and started to walk home up the company’s tracks on the old Fort Lee road. When between Niles avenue and Twenty-third street, motor No. 191 came up behind her at a rapid rate and striking her hurled her to one side of the track. So rapidly was the car going that it ran three hundred feet before the motorman could stop it.
When the trolley men picked her up she was dead. The body, which was not cut, but badly bruised, was brought to Hoboken where it was identified yesterday morning by the woman’s husband. The woman left a daughter, besides her husband.

As I read this it rang a bell.  I knew I had a Louise Kleiss who had died the same way, and thought perhaps the information was wrong and this one really died in Lancaster.  So I went to the books, my Kleiss books that is, and found what I remembered.  Several differences though:

• My Kleiss was born as Louisa Kleiss, but married a Zecher
• My Louisa Kleiss Zecher died exactly 15 years and 10 days after Mrs. Louise Kleiss
• and of course, my Louisa Kleiss Zecher died in Pennsylvania, not New Jersey.

The similiarites are:

• Their names
• The month of the year they were killed
• The way they were killed
• and they both had been shopping!

Lancaster, Pennsylvania
15 December 1920

TRAIN KILLS WOMAN
RETURNING TO HOME
FROM MARKETHOUSE
—–
Mrs. David Zecher Meets Instant
Death When Hit by Express
at Crossing
—–
WALKED UNDER GATE
DIRECTLY INTO TRAIN
—–
Body Severed But Glasses Stay
on Nose When Searchers
Find Upper Portion
—–
IDENTIFICATION IS SLOW
—–
Eight Mistakes Cause Alarm in
Homes — Son Passed Soon
After Accident
—–—–

Killed by a west bound express train at Prince and Walnut streets last night while on her way home from the evening market at the Northern Market House the body of an aged woman cut in half under the wheels of the train at 5:33 o’clock was not identified as Mrs. David Zecher, aged 72, of 239 Elm street, until near 10 o’clock by her son. In the meantime eight false identifications were made and much anxiety was caused among relatives of per (sic) victim.
The train which struck the aged woman was No. 639, bound for Altoona, the accident occurring within a minute of the time the train had left the station.
Mrs. Zecher’s son, Charles J., 328 Pine street, passed the scene of the accident a few minutes after it had happened while on his way home from work, but did not stop to mingle with the curious crowd that had gathered round the crossing. Had he done so identification of the dead woman would have perhaps been immediate. As it happened the body laid for a time in the freight station near the crossing and later at Fisher’s undertaking establishment until 1o o’clock last night where the son finally was brought to identify his mother. In the meantime efforts on the part of the railroad officials to identify the woman resulted in eight false identifcations before the truth was known.
Witnesses to the accident stated that Mrs.

 

Scenes on a snowy day

Our house from across the street ~ want to buy it??

Jim trying to open Linda F’s gate ~ we finally went around to the garage where we had the garage door opener

1 PM in the afternoon ~ impress you??

Outdoor dining anyone?  Not today. . . .

. . . and a final scene from a snowy window ~

 

Mother’s 90th Birthday Celebration, part two

With cards and supplies for Mother’s party shipped to California, it was time for us to follow them!  We left Philly mid-morning on Sunday and arrived around 6PM in Ontario, California to a greeting via the pilot “welcoming Blaine’s father back home!”  Yup, our son was on duty at the Tower and had been the controller guiding our plane to it’s gate.  Perfect start to our two week stay in Southern California!  Blaine came to see us at our hotel when he got off work and we made arrangements to visit the family the next day to go over plans for the following Sunday.  Thanksgiving interferred with doing anything during the week since we were heading to Tehachapi to spend time with Paige and her family.  But that’s already on another blog!

Naturally, we didn’t do too much on Monday, since there was a 4 year old anxious to play with Pa and Grandma, and we felt that was more important.  The most important thing we taught our grandson was how to write his name in dust!  My mother had sent a set of nesting tables and we were going to transport them to Tehachapi.  They had been in the garage for quite a while and we found the dustiest one to teach Ellis how to do this. Being a grandparent is fun!!

Our chores would begin on Saturday, with the filing of cake boxes, and figuring out the logistics of transporting everything from Riverside to Lake Forest.  On Saturday our assembly line was in full swing.  Ellis was, of course, a big help and really enjoyed helping.  He’d count cookies and put cookies, confetti and a package of macadamia nuts in each container, just like Mommy and Grandma did.  We filled 70 of these since it took 10 to make a cake and we had seven tables.

It was decided that Jim and Linda would meet Blaine and Elaine at the home around noon.  They would take the “cake pieces” and drive to El Segundo to pick up the cake.  Since the icing was whipped cream, it would need to be refrigerated immediately and J and L would arrange for that in the cafeteria.

We went to the arranged meeting place made the arrangements and set up the tents that had been made for “Guest Book” and “Cards” to fit over the basket we had purchased for the cards.  Everything was right on schedule.  Their car was unloaded and we started to set up the tables. Freedom Village furnished the tables, chairs and burgundy table cloths. We furnished the personality.

Each table looked the same, with a cake, two balloons and one or two sets of trivia cards.  A special table was set aside for the cake and two vases of flowers flown in from Hawaii for the event.  Mother’s sister, Pat lives in Kona and sent the flowers as a gift for mother and the occasion.  Elaine had arranged the table beautifully, but one guest seemed to think the antheriums and orchids should be switched and walked up to the table and without asking, just switched them!

Guests started arriving and Ellis and Daphne got to meet for the first time!  Ellis and Daphne are 2nd cousins and are 5 months apart in age.  Ellis was born in July, Daphne will be 4 in December.  They were the entertainment for the day, dancing, making “snow angels” on the floor and doing everything 4 year olds love to do!

Since Daphne was wearing her “party dress,” Ellis had on his “party shirt.”  Hallie asked Ellis where he got his “party shirt,” and he matter-of-factly answered “at the Party Shirt store!.”  Well, Duh!

Although we had planned for 7 tables, in reality there were only 6.  I labeled them by who sat at them.  The one shown above is the “Cousins Table.”  Blaine and Elaine with Ellis, Cherrie (Bud’s wife), April (Bud’s daughter) and her husband Matt with Daphne.  Bud  and Cherrie actually sat at the “Head Table.”  Cherrie was “just visiting” in this picture.

The next picture is what I termed “The Family Table.”  Dan, Paige, Hallie and her boyfriend Peter, sat at this table along with my cousin, Jack and his wife Gale.  Jim joined this table.

Moving to the next table is the “Fallbrook Table.”  These were friends of Mother’s and Paul’s from Fallbrook United Methodist Church.  One of the couple had an exchange student from the Philippines and Mother was delighted to meet her since Mother had spent several years in the Philippines.

A few new friends of Mother’s from Freedom Village made up the next table.  They were delightful people and I could see why Mother chose to have them invited.

The last table were all nephews and nieces of Paul’s.  The only exception was Paul’s daughter and her husband who joined this table.

Bud, being the eldest, and whom I used to call, Heir apparent to the Throne, was appointed to be the Master of Ceremonies.  He arose, gave a little speech about Mother and then each of the three of us got up and told a special memory of our Mother.  Mother seemed to enjoy being the center of attention and remembered each one of our tales!

It was finally time to watch the Birthday Gal blow out her candles and more importantly, taste that cake!!  The cake had three layers, guava, strawberry and mango, with fresh fruits on top ~ mango, kiwi and strawberries on a whipped creamed frosting.  It was light and absolutely delicious!!!  This cake topped off the Hawaiian Theme to a T without being tacky hula skirt, coconut shell  Hawaiian!

Ellis and Daphne, well aware of birthdays, were eagerly awaiting the candle lighting ceremony so they could get their piece of the birthday cake.  Blaine could not light them fast enough for them!

The blog would not be complete without a picture of Mother and her three children.  Bud is the oldest and in the middle, Priscilla, the youngest and on the right.

Does it look like I am upset?  Everyone of the family group pictures has the same look on my face.  Reason?  While the pictures were being taken I was watching several people load up all of the unattended centerpieces and walking out with them.  One person had at least FIFTEEN little cake slice boxes, so many that she had to take one of the round disks we had bought to balance them on!  Made me wonder if she would have done that had the party been in my home!!  There were several people loading them for her!  I was appalled!

I guess no party gets by without a glitch, and if this was the only glitch at least it wasn’t by our hand!  Since I’ve received several thank you notes and phone calls since I’ve arrived home, I would term this a success!  The most important thing after all was Mother, and she was teary, happy and appreciative.

Happy 90th Birthday, Mother!  What do the next 90 hold for you??

 

Mother’s 90th Birthday Celebration, part one

As many of you know, I tackled the challenge of planning a 90th Birthday Party for Mother, rather hesitantly.  Mother lives in California; I live in Pennsylvania.  How on earth could I possibly do this?  I procrastinated, I hemmed and hawed around and I had no idea what I was going to do!

I finally called Mother and told her I was going to give her a party and all I needed from her was a list of guests, keep it minimal and don’t include everybody she had ever known or ever wished she had known!  Mother, being Mother, wanted to know all the details.  I told her it was none of her business, all she needed to know was there was going to be a party!!

. . . and the party plans started!

• First of all, I want to emphasize that I could not have done this without my son, Blaine and his wife, Elaine. They are the perfect “Party Planners!”  I asked for a little help, and I ended up helping them!  They picked up the ball and ran with it!

We needed a place to have this party, and Blaine suggested the complex that Mother and Paul had moved to last spring.  Bingo!  and they would even cater it!  Place reserved and Meal plans in place.  Step one complete.

Next step was the invitation.  I looked online for various samples so I could order one and nothing I found quite fit with what I had in mind.  I finally decided I would create my own with my own theme. . . Mother!

This was easy to create on my Mac.  This picture of my mother was taken next to a pond when she was in Junior High School and I thought the picture would be beautiful on the front of the invitation.  Then came the chore of printing them.  The price for having them printed was astronomical, so I decided to print the invitations myself.  Might as well have had them printed!  By the time I bought ink, card stock and more ink the cost was pretty well up there!  I did save since my costs included envelopes and enclosures, too, which a printing company would not have included.

But after a careful review of printing them myself vs having them printed, would I do it again?  Yup, in a New York minute!  I enjoyed every minute of the creation process and the satisfaction of knowing I had done it myself.

• Total invitations sent out = 54
• Total responses received = 31
• Total people attending = 43
• Actual people attending = 36

With the invitations printed, folded, RSVP cards, SASE and sheet of stationary for “Memories of Catherine” enclosed in each envelope, they were ready to mail.  Jim found stamps that said “CELEBRATE” at the post office and  bought them.  Only problem was they needed extra postage due to the size and weight of each one!

Invitations were sent and it was time to start on a Memory Book for Mother.  I put each one I received in a mylar page and those that were e-mailed to me were printed on the same stationary and enclosed in a mylar sleeve.  In some cases, if I had a picture of the sender and the honoree, I printed it and put it on the page.

The Memory Book was a work in progress since I couldn’t do anything until I got something to put into the book and I had decided a good icebreaker would be a set of trivia cards with multiple choice questions about my mother.  On each one I put a picture of Mother in some stage of her life.  I made ten sets of 25 cards so I could set them on each table for an icebreaker.

The last little detail to iron out was a guest book.  The only guest books I could find were for weddings, so I decided to make my own.  I found a litle birthday photo album the size of a guest book and decorated it up  with scrapbooking stickers, etc.  I did end up gluing each invidual letter on since, as you can see, the letters did not stick very well.  This was the cover.

Meanwhile on the other coast, Blaine and Elaine kept coming up with ideas for decorations, the cake, and party favors.  Since Mother was born and raised in Hawaii, we decided the theme of the birthday party would be, naturally, Hawaiian!  Blaine and Elaine had ordered little cardboard cake wedges that fit together to make a cake.  Each one had a lid and in it we would place one little pack of Macadamia Nuts and three chocolate dipped shortbread cookies from  Big Island Candies. They would be nestled in a bed of colorful confetti with 2 balloons coming out of the middle of each “cake.”  In addition, Elaine had a lead on a cake from Kings Hawaiian Bakery, so they went down there to have a piece of it and ultimately ordered it.

The only idea they had that didn’t work out was for the candles. Elaine had found a place to order a musical birthday candle that opens up to reveal 8 lit birthday candles that spin while playing “Happy Birthday!” Only problem was that the candle sometimes exploded and the candle was recalled! That would have added another dimension to the party!  We decided to put 3 candles, one for each 30 years, on the cake instead.  That would work!

Bags packed, books, trivia cards and extra supplies shipped ahead, we were ready to head for  California and start the party!

Follow it on the next blog later on this week ~

Mother’s 90th Birthday Celebration, part two.

 

Why I’ve Been a Fan of the Yankees

in 1955 the New York Yankees took a six week tour playing exhibition games in Hawaii, Guam and Japan. Any of my readers remember that? or ever heard of it? Probably not. I have never forgotten it.

I was 12 years old and lived on Guam. We looked forward to this game and seeing the World Famous New York Yankees. They played the “Guam Caballeros” and you can guess who won.  That team was full of names we are all familar with today, Mickey Mantle and Yogi Berra among them.  Also on the team was Don Larsen who went on to pitch the only perfect game and the only no-hitter in the World Series the following year.  Game 5 of the World Series against The Boys from Brooklyn, the Brooklyn Dodgers, on October 8, 1956 earned him the MVP of the World Series that year.

Just knowing that would have made them my favorite team, but there is more to the story then just that. You see, after the game, the Yankees remained on the field to shake hands and autograph programs or anything else in our hands. I only got one autograph on my ticket, and it was none other than Don Larsen’s! I still have that ticket. It ranks right up there in the top ten of my prize possessions from my childhood today!  and as Paul Harvey would have said . . .

now you know the rest of the story!