The Susquehanna Overflows it’s Banks ~ 2011 vs 1889

It’s a bad flood. Central Pennsylvania was hit hard. The rain didn’t stop and it wasn’t just rain, it was a torrential rain! Estimates are over 12″ of rain with river banks overflowing and basements flooded. Twenty seven feet above flood stage!  Some are comparing it with the 1889 flood, a record that may be broken by the current flood. Boy we have it bad!

. . . or do we?

Several years ago, I had the pleasure of transcribing my great-great grandmother’s diary. It covered just a few years, and 1889 was one of them.

Ephraim and Catharine Auxer Niess lived at 117 Dock Street in Harrisburg. Ephraim could walk to work at Bailey Iron Works and the Susquehanna River was their neighbor. The area today is known as Shipoke, and a trendy neighborhood. It was a working class neighborhood at that time. Today there is no longer a Dock Street. Dock Street is now the Dock Street Bridge and their home was razed for that bridge. As you travel west on I 83, crossing the Susquehanna, you travel over the area where Catharine once had her garden and  Ephraim and Catharine raised their family.

You have the background, now I’ll give you Catharine’s view of the 1889 flood from her diary. Any of my comments will be in italics. Everything I write will be Catharine’s words and style.

Catharine Niess on the right in her "mourning clothes" c. 1912

May 31st – The weather is very unpleasant, has been pouring down rain all day last night and yesterday and still raining very fast this month all through was wet there is fear of a heavy flood. The grain is flattened on the ground, little do we know what is before us. . . Preserve, me, O God: For in thee do I put my trust.

June 1st – We have had a wonderful flood (wonderful does not have the same meaning that it does today!) a lake at Johnstown gave way and drowned over 13,000 people, bridges gave way, and went down with trains. Oh! it was wonderful, it rained powerful the streams swelled every place it reached our city. done great damages only a few lives lost. May 31st (Friday) the flood at Johnstown, on Saturday the waters began to rise very high here, the Paxton creek back of us rose higher than it ever had been, the Susquehanna river in the front came up so high until it swept many things away what was left was in a frightful condition. it left very heavy mud a great many are getting sick. it is feared that we may have a great deal of sickness, but the Lord knoweth best. On Saturday night the waters began to come over the door sils (sic) front and back. Then we were surrounded. We have taken almost everything to the second story, by eleven o’clock we all had to go up and were obliged to stay there until Monday. On Sunday noon the waters began to fall very slowly. Every body seemed glad they had several sand flats in the street. At night they had torches so they could see the boom logs coming, and guide them straight through so they would do no damage to the buildings. Poor men they wished for the day. It was frightful scene, but nothing to compare with Johnstown. Many other towns were swept away with that flood. Water is very powerful and will take it course. Gods ways are not our ways and his ways are past finding out.

June 12th – Am very tired today. We washed a very large wash. Mrs. Blessing helped. Since the flood we have a great deal to do and so much company. On Monday we had six for dinner. The floors are still bare. Orders were given not to lay carpets this week. It seems very unpleasant, but we must bear up with it all. It is all right.

July 9th – I will now make another attempt to write in my Journal. Since the flood my time was so taken up, and besides we had so much rain that were unable to do our out side cleaning and sellers. (sic)Edwin (my great grandfather) white washed the seller to day, the weather has become more settled is very warm, and the farmers are very glad. They can scarcely get hands enough to get the grain away so much rain has caused it to ripen very fast and much of it falls out. A great deal of hay had turned black and it is unfit for use. The heavy rains has caused another flood at Johnstown, not so bad as the first, it was dreadful. A great many came to our city that were saved there. A family of five, husband, wife and three children. It is awful to hear tell when the water came, it came up as fast that it very soon drove them to the roof of the house. Next the house began to move off, they broke a hole through the roof and got on the outside from there to another roof and that way they struggled for life for sixteen hours, and were almost frozen and starved. Some others were 24 hours in the water almost to the neck. Several woman (sic)are here that the rest of the family were lost they are almost insane. Mrs. Blessing was here to day. We washed and ironed. . . . We have not laid our parlor carpet but all the rest. It takes the walls so long to dry.

Ephraim and Catharine Auxer Niess in the backyard of their Dock St Home, Harrisburg, Penna

To compare our life today with what Catharine went through over 100 years ago keeps me grounded. Whenever I feel sorry for myself, I pick up Catharine’s story and I’m thankful for the blessings I have. I’m also thankful for Catharine and her diary. It’s not only an insight into life in the late 1800′s but an insight into Catharine. She was a strong woman with a strong faith.

Thank you, Catharine, for taking time to record your life. My life is easy compared to yours!

 

By George, I found Mr. Auxer, but . . . .

About six months ago, I wrote a blog about how excited I was to find the final resting place of one George H. Auxer.  Two trips north to Stroudsburg, first one to find the cemetery, second one to find the headstone, remember the blog?  I found him because Ancestry.com posted a group of records titled “Pennsylvania Veterans Burial Cards, 1777-1999.”

Never being satisfied, I wanted more information. Perhaps there was some information somewhere that would help me find out exactly how he fits into my line of Auxers. I found the unit in the Bates book, only there was no George H. Auxer. There was a George S. Auner who enlisted in the unit on the same day George Auxer did, and he was discharged on the same day they said George Auxer did. A mistake must have been made in the transcription of my George’s name, right? Isn’t that what you would assume? Until you go on Ancestry.com again, and then you find a profile with the identical information for George S. Auner and a George Anner, but no George H. Auxer. Are you confused? Let me break this down for you:

1.  According to History of Pennsylvania volunteers, 1861-65,  by Samuel P. Bates, this unit was originally known as the Pennsylvania Zouaves. Cool!  Co G enlisted in Philadelphia 20 Sept, 1861, and our man was George S. Auner. On 2 Nov 1864 he transferred to Co A. So I flip to Co. A, and there I find him, George S. Anner, and he mustered out with his company on 17 Jul 1865. Dates match our Pennsylvania Veterans Burial Card for George H. Auxer.

2.  Ancestry.com, Pennsylvania Veterans Burial Cards, 1777-1999, database on line:  George H. Auxer 

3.  Ancestry.com, U.S Civil War Soldier Records and Profiles, database on line:   George S. Auner

4.  Ancestry.com, American Civil War Soldiers, database on line:  George Anner

Since transcription errors seemed logical to me (or I was hoping that’s what it was!) I got on Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness and found a volunteer who will go into the National Archives and copy files for you, for the cost of the printing and her transportation costs. Cheaper than me taking the train into the District, and then a taxi to the Archives, so I enlisted her help. Forty Five Dollars later, I got the file! I was so excited!

Guess who it was???  Not George H. Auxer, but George Sanders Auner, a machinist from Philadelphia and I now know more about Mr. Auner than I ever knew about George H. Auxer and I’m back to square one with a lot more questions!

Where did the State of Pennsylvania get the information for George H. Auxer’s grave? Was it given to them by the family? Was he ever in the service (I doubt it, and was surprised when I found information that said he was.) And why did George die in Stroudsburg when he had a business in Hightstown, New Jersey???

If you analyze the data I’ve found, items 3 and 4 agree with item #1, although after reading the pension file, I now know the name Anner WAS a transcription error! Item #2 stands by itself, and is still a mystery, and is really the only one I am interested in. Besides in May of 1867 when George H. Auxer died, George S. Auner and his wife were welcoming their 3rd child into their home and Auner didn’t die until 1912!

It’s back to the books, databases and that thin air I’d like to draw things out of!

 

Life in Lancaster County. Living in the Past

We had been vacationing in Pennsylvania for years. I had been bitten by that “Genealogy Bug” and we both loved the State and culture. Over ten years ago we made a decision to leave California and move to the Keystone State. Little did we know what life had in store for us because of that decision!

After living in Lebanon for two years, we migrated south to Lititz and lived there for four years.  Keeping with our migration pattern, we headed south again and after looking at a total of 38 different houses, found an 1880′s “City Home” in Lancaster.  The first time we walked through the front door we felt an immediate connection. As it turns out, there was a connection and I’ll explain that later . . .

Philip Kleiss’ name is familiar to anybody who reads the Lancaster newspapers or watches the evening news.  My 6th great grandfather was a Tavern keeper in the heart of the city in the 1700′s. Upon his death two of his sons inherited the Tavern and the building remained on the corner of Queen and Vine Streets.  Plans to build a Convention Center in Lancaster included demolishing the tavern . . . until they discovered an underground cistern between it and Thaddeus Steven’s home.

This is the cistern that saved both of the buildings from demolition. They were saved because an archeological dig discovered evidence that the cistern was probably used as a secret hiding place on the “Underground Railroad.”  The cistern, Stevens home and my ancestor’s tavern will now be incorporated into the Convention Center as learning center and museum.

Ludwig (Lewis) Leader, a sixth great grandfather, also, was one of the earliest settlers in Marietta, a river town about 15 miles from Lancaster.  We have gone to Marietta countless times for brunch, to cemeteries, and just to drive through the town, imagining what it must have been like when he settled in the area.  We have even gone through the home he built in the early 1800′s!  It was for sale, but had been a neglected rental and Jim said Absolutely No Way!!   

Look at it today. Whomever bought it did a wonderful job restoring it; so wonderful that it was on the Candlelight Tour as denoted by the bronze plate next to the door. 

Because Lewis’ son, Samuel married Susannah Bischoff, I am in Pennsylvania! After all, I have Susannah’s Bible.

John Niess was my third great grandfather.  I knew his name, his wife’s name and his childrens’ names.  I had no idea when or where he married.  We moved to Lititz because we had joined the Moravian Church.  I, naturally, became a member of the Archives Committee in this historic Church and looked thru old Church records in answer to genealogy requests.  Imagine my surprise to find John Niess’ marriage record while searching for somebody else!  Think he led me to this Church?  Not a doubt in my mind!

Michael Auxer(s), one was my fourth great grandfather, the other my fifth great grandfather. Both lived in Elizabethtown and both were weavers. I’ve been in the Church they worshipped in and walked on the streets they once did. I have found the graves of each of their wifes, but not either of theirs! My bucket list includes finding their graves and a coverlet that either of them wove.  Philip Kleiss Auxer, was Michael, Jr’s son and my third great-grandfather. In the 1860′s he owned a house west of Elizabethtown in Stackstown, a little elbow in the road.

Today this barn is at the elbow in that road, with maybe 15 other houses in the area.

Now the connection we felt to the house we purchased in Lancaster? While researching the deeds of previous owners, I discovered that my grandmother’s third cousin, Emma Grace Auxer,  and her husband Guy B. Eberly had owned the same property in 1923!  I was living in the past! I actually lived my life in the same home “shirt-tail” relative had!

The most important move was to Pennsylvania, not necessarily all the locations. It has allowed me to find the stories of my ancestors, walk into buildings they once had and see their lives in that third dimension. The move to Pennsylvania brought them to life, warts and all.  They were real people, not just names in my database. We go on with our lives in Lancaster, walking the streets my ancestors did, entering the same buildings they did and visiting the same graves they did. I love knowing that because of what these real people did in the past,

I can truly appreciate living in the present in Lancaster County!

 

By George I Found Him!

Some people will go to any lengths to get that one little piece of information that they are looking for.  I am one of them.  My husband drove to Stroudsburg, over 200 miles roundtrip, not once but twice, so I could find George H. Auxer’s headstone! But perhaps I should start at the beginning of this story . . .

It seems like I always knew there was a George H. Auxer, but I just didn’t know much about him except he was a daguerreortypist.  Since you “ain’t gonna find anything unless you keep looking” I kept surfing and voila! several years ago, I found a reference to this man in the Dickinson College Archives.  I contacted them and made an appointment to come view their file on the information.  All of this is on  another blog I wrote several years ago.  I’ve picked up a little information here and there since then, but nothing noteworthy UNTIL!

Just in time for Veteran’s Day, Ancestry.com posted a group of records titled “Pennsylvania Veterans Burial Cards, 1777-1999.”  Thinking I knew just about every veteran in my database, I almost didn’t check it out as I considered it a waste of valuable time.  Boy was I wrong!  Boy am I glad I checked out this database!  Lo and behold, there was George H. Auxer and he was buried in Stroudsburg!  What??  Stroudsburg?  The card in the database listed the cemetery, section and plot number, name, birth and death dates, dates of service . . . DATES OF SERVICE???  HE WAS IN THE SERVICE??? This was the first I heard of him in the service!  Well, I had to get up there to take a picture of this headstone!

Trip number one:  I went armed with the form I had copied from Ancestry.com and was sure I’d go right to the spot where George was buried.  The cemetery, however, is not marked with section numbers so I went to the office and spoke to two men who worked there.  They informed me there were no such numbers in their cemetery, nor was there a “south side” as the card indicated!  Furthermore, they mow the cemetery and have never seen that name!  Crestfallen I decided I needed to stop at the Historical Society and see if they have any information.  As luck would have it, we were there on a Monday, the only day they are closed!!  On to the Library, where I did find reference to his obituary, but the reference was to records in the Historical Society!  We had a so-so meal at a lunch place in town and headed home.

Mulling this experience over several things occured to me and the first one was they couldn’t have read the headstone if it wasn’t there!  The card had the name of the Cemetery and the street it was located on, and that’s exactly where we were!  The second thing was that reference to an obituary.  The obituary surely has some information that may be helpful.  I looked for the Historical Society on the internet and found an e-mail address for them and shot off an inquiry, stating my dilemna and what I had done so far.  The Very Next Day! I got a response that she had a copy of the short obituary, and a map and finding aid for the cemetery, please send a check for $1.32.  Well! I don’t write $1.32 checks so I sent a little more and within two days had my answer!

The cemetery has been renumbered since the day when George Auxer was buried in 1867 and she sent a map for that period and one for today.  She also sent a sheet with burials in that area, along with a one line death notice that gave nothing more than the fact that he’d died after a lingering illness and his age.  
Trip Number Two:  Earlier this month we lost a friend whom I had known for almost 50 years.  Our children grew up together and our sons still remain best friends, even though they’re in their 40′s now.  Her funeral was on the 30th of November in Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania, right off of the I-80.  Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania is right off of the I-80, 75 miles east of Bloomsburg.  Since it was not a special trip to find George’s resting place, I did not feel bad asking Jim to once again take me to Stroudsburg to find George!  The day before the funeral we did just that.  Armed with the information from the Historical Society and with the above map from Mapquest, we once again headed to Stroudsburg to see if the Historical Society was correct or if the Cemetery caretakers were right.

The straight white line that goes down the center of the cemetery is the road from Dreher Avenue that runs through the cemetery.  Superimposing the map from the Historical Society over the above referenced map we found that the section that George should be buried in the that section that is almost square on the upper middle of the cemetery, under the words “Stroudsburg Cemetery.”  While Jim rested, Linda, armed with a camera started her trek through Section E.  Lo and behold, the names on burial sheet from the Historical Society started popping up and my heart started beating a little faster.  As I got to that pine tree in the center of the cemetery, I found George! I put an orange dot on the map where he is resting for eternity.  I wanted to go find the caretakers next, but thought better of it. . .

Comparing the picture at the top of the page with the map and the orange dot and this picture, do you see George’s headstone at the top of the page?  It’s the little rounded one in front of the flag, and it almost gets the shade of the tree.

The next questions to be answered are, what was he doing in Stroudsburg when he had a studio in Hackettstown, New Jersey?  and If he served in the Civil War between 1861 and 1865, why was he checking into a hotel in Philadelphia in 1862?

I think George has a lot more to tell me!

 

Where There’s a Will, There’s a Way . . .

The word “WILL,” as defined by Dictionary.com
As a verb:

• to give or dispose of (property) by a will or testament, bequeath or devise.
• to influence by exerting power
• to wish, desire or like

and as a noun:

• the act or process of using or asserting one’s choice; volition
• a legal declaration of a person’s wishes as to the disposition of his or her property or estate after death, usually written and signed by the testator and attested by witnesses and
• the document containing such a declaration.

For centuries our ancestors have written their wills to make sure their families are cared for upon their demise.  Some have had specific instructions as to exactly who and who may not benefit from their personal estate and sometimes listed a reason.  In the following examples, the word WILL is both parts of speech, the verb being used as retaliation in several instances!

My ancestor, Philip Kleiss, for example, stated in his will dated 7 October 1797:

ITEM: I give unto my daughter Philippina the wife of George Brungart one shilling sterling money in full for her share of in to and out of my Estate real and personal, and this I do on account of her disobedience towards me.  BUT nevertheless if my said daughter Philippina should become a widow and not able to support herself, THEN it is my Will that my said first mentioned seven Childlren shall be subject to pay unto her yearly the sum of Eighteen pounds specie money aforesaid that is to say, each of them one equal seventh part  thereof during her Widowhood, out of the money & Estate herein to them given, but if my said daughter Philippina should marry again then the said yearly payent shall cease and no longer paid.

Philippina had married a man of a different faith against her father’s wishes.  This was Philip Kleiss, the tavern keeper who had a nine page inventory, not including the 2 full pages of items left to the family!  Philippina got one shilling from the estate.

In a will dated 21 March 1787 written by Maria Barbara Auxer, my 6th great grandmother, her specific wishes were to exclude all of her children except for one.

. . . I, Maria Barbara Auxer, of the Borough of Lancaster in the County of Lancaster and State of Pennsylvania, Spinster, for and in consideration of the good services and attendance done to me in my lifetime, by my son, Christopher Auxer . . . do by these presents give over and bequeath unto him, my said son, Christopher Auxer all my personal estate, monies, bonds, goods, clothes and bedding whatsover to him, his heirs and assigns forever.  . . . and I do hereby by these presents disinherit my other children, Anna Maria, and Elizabeth and Michael Auxer, from all land singular all rights and herediments to my estate herein forever and my said son, Christopher Auxer, shall receive all monies, bonds, clothese and bedding after my decease, and no sooner, to his own purposes, use and behoof.

Her son, Michael and her daughter, Elizabeth were both my ancestors.  What??  Yup!  Elizabeth was the wife of the aforementioned Philip Kleiss.  Her daughter, Catharine married Michael’s son, Michael, Jr.

In Jacob H. Redsecker’s will, he leaves his entire estate to his aunt, Martha J. Ross and his sister, Sarah A. Greenawalt, with the exception of $200 to the cemetery his father is buried in, and the grandfather clock to his brother, Abraham.  Yet, according to the Lebanon Daily News, Friday, April 23, 1909, page 1, column 1:

. . . Out of respect of the wish of the deceased there was no public viewing of the body and during the service the coffin was closed.  . . . It was the wish of the deceased that there should be no eulogy and that there should be no women at the burial.  Both wishes were respected.

Jacob and I are distantly related.  He died a life-long bachelor at the age of 70 and left everything to women and yet he didn’t want them at the burial??

Every once in awhile, as I look for an obituary I run across an interesting article.  Such was the case recently when I found the following on one of my favorite sites, Genealogy Bank. It was in the Pawtucket Times, 10 February 1921.

John Werner, who died at his home on Lowell st.,  Aug. 20, 1820, left three sons and four daughters.  His will, exectuted July 19, 1920, just filed in this city, is remarkable on account of the specific provisions for distribution of his estate.

One daughter is named “to receive $1 to purchase a rope to hang herself with.” The grievance against her alleged is “that she caused the arrest of her father for the sake of a worthless husband and is not worth any more.”

Another daughter named is to receive $1.  She is alleged to have caused him “lots of trouble by associating with married and single men; also that on the death of her mother, she went on a joy ride with a man; also that she refused to contribute any money toward payment of funeral expenses of her mother.”

A son named is to to receive a specified sum, provided he remain a Protestant.

And the last instance of  a strange request was found in the Lancaster County Intelligencer, 14 November 1903:

The will of Joseph Doutot, who died at New Orleans Thursday was filed Friday.  He leaves his property to the undertaker who is to bury him, and provides for a handsome funeral with an adequate number of carriages, but stipulates that no one shall be allowed to see his face after death or be present at his funderal.  The carriages are to accompany the body to the grave, but must be empty.

Don’t you wonder what frame of mind some of these people were in when they wrote their

LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT?

 

I Think They Belong ~ I Just Don’t Know How!!

 

Upon my father’s death, I inherited every bit of his family history that he had set aside at my Aunt’s house.  Among the things were a stack of photographs and portraits that he had saved. Were they labeled? What do you think? I have managed to figure most of them out, but this family has intrigued me.

I’ve shared this picture with others in various family lines and nobody thinks anybody looks familiar.  I know it must be family, otherwise it would not have been saved all these years!

What I know about this family:

• They were not an affluent family.  Their clothes don’t fit, their shoes are scuffed, they need haircuts and they are standing in dirt.
• They were probably photographed by a traveling photographer.  
• Either they or the photographer covered the home with their tablecloths. To show off the tablecloths?  To cover their home?
• This was either two or three generations.  I’d guess three.
• This was photographed in the winter when the leaves were off of the trees, most probably in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania since that is where most of my family is from.

Any thoughts on this?  I wish the photographer had taken the time to put his name on this.  He, after all, took the time to put it on a cardboard backing. . . .

 

Oh Genea-Santa! I’ve tried to be so-o-o good. . . .

won’t you please read my plea and bring to me. . . . .

• One or two letters to my grandfather from his family?  You know which grandfather!  The grandfather who is my brick wall!  The one who I think lied about his name. . . . and if it’s not too much to ask, could it please have a return address on it?  So I know where there were along with their names???  If I could have that, I’d be as pleased as punch!!

• . . . and if that’s impossible for you to find, how about just one coverlet that was woven by my fifth great grandfather, Michael Auxer?  You know (since you’ve been around since the beginning of time!) that he was a weaver in Elizabethtown, surely just one of his coverlets still remain today!  What do you think?  Can you find one of those for me?

• . . . and Santa, one more thing would make this the Christmas to end all Christmases and that would be that Melodeon great grandpa Niess left  Grandma Nellie.  When Grandma Nellie died she left a note that said Dad could have it, but somehow his brother got it.  I’d love to have it, Santa, but I don’t know how to ask for it. . . perhaps you could grab it for me on your travels!

. . . . and Santa, don’t think of this as a bribe, but I’ve left you a plate full of goodies with all of those carbs you need on Christmas night!  You’re going to need them to get around to the homes of all my Genea-blogger friends, and I want you to enjoy them.  However, if you want to leave one of those little things I’d like to have in exchange, feel free to do so!

 

My Genealogy Disaster Box would be Overflowing!

Remember the book “The Five People you meet in Heaven” by Mitch Album?  Well, these are “The Ten Things I Would Take in Case of a Disaster.”

• My father, William F. Sherman, was born in September of 1915.  His great-grandparents, Ephraim and Catharine Niess traveled from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania to Washington DC to see him and for Ephraim to attend a GAR convention.  Catharine brought along this Carriage Robe she had woven for her first great grandchild.  Two months later Ephraim was dead.   Would I ever display the robe in it’s fragile condition?  Never!  Would I rescue it in case of a disaster?  You bet I would!  Item number one in my box.

Carriage Blanket woven by Catharine Auxer Niess circa 1915

• I would also rescue the linen tablecloth Catharine wove from hemp grown on her either her father’s or grandfather’s farm.  This tablecloth is a piece of linen that was from the shroud she had woven for her own burial!  . . . and I have it!  Is it precious?  Yes, it was touched by my great-great-great-grandfather, my great-great-grandmother, her son, my great-grandfather, my grandmother, my father and on to me!  WoW!  At least seven generations have seen this in one stage or another!  My grand mother had it hemmed by her friend Petra Ramirez before 1930. The handwork is phenomenal.  Item number 2 for my disaster box.

Linen woven from flax from my ancestor

• Item number three is actually four items.  In my possession are four family Bibles.
  • The oldest one belonged to my sixth great grandmother, Susannah Bischoff Leader.  The date of 1839 is written in this one.  Read my blog on “Susannah’s Bible.”
  • The next oldest one belonged to my great-great grandfather, Rev. Jeremiah Mark Carvell, PhD.  He was a pastor in the Church of God and died in 1894 at the age of 51.  He carefully entered all the births and deaths of his young children and wife in the pages of this Bible and it even contains a pressed flower, presumably from the funeral of my great-great grandmother.
  • The third Bible belonged to Jeremiah’s daughter, Carrie Virginia Carvell Niess first and my grandmother, Nellie Viola Niess Sherman, secondly.  It is a King James version and I love it. They have both written in it, and now I have it.
  • The Stienstra family Bible is the fourth one in my collection.  Jim gave it to his parents many years ago and all of the family information is filled out on the pages provided.  It includes a handwritten sheet in Dutch that takes the family back eight generations in Friesland.
  

  Open Bible, Carvell; Next one Stienstra, small Bible on Top, Susannahs and other is Niess/Sherman Bible

• My box would also contain my great grandfather’s yearbooks from Law School.  Edwin Alonzo Niess attended Columbian University (Now George Washington University) in Washington DC and graduated in 1895 with a degree in Law.  He had two year books from the same year and one is virtually untouched.  The second one , interestingly enough, has copies of his classmates obituaries either taped over their class pictures or placed on the same page with the picture.  Item number four.

The Columbian, 1895, Edwin A. Niess

The page with Edwin A. Niess with newspaper clippings

• Item number five should be my laptop because it has pictures, stories and most importantly my database on it.  I use it daily and it gets more use than my desktop computer.  I would put this at the top of the box because it would be the first thing I would remove.

• Photos! Photos of my ancestors, photos of me as a child, photos of my children and grandchildren.  This would include a photo album I inherited that belonged to my great-grandmother’s sister, Rosa Gantt Hamilton, and one that belonged to my father.  I love these albums.  Item number six.

Rosa Gantt Hamilton's Photo Album

Front Page of the Album ~ Beautiful, huh??

My favorite picture from the album. Unknown woman with lovely bangs!

• My grandfather, Henry A.W. Lindgren, was an ironworker and I have a beautiful stool that he made.  This has to go in my box! Number seven in my Genealogy Disaster Box.  In addition to the dust, do you see the holes around the edge of the stool?  At one time there was a cushion that was threaded on this stool.  I feel blessed just to have the stool ~ even if the cushion is missing!

Stool made by Henry A.W. Lindgren

• Item number eight are two school books, each belonging to different sides of the family.

• The oldest book is from 1878 and the one my great-grandfather, Edwin A. Niess had.  It starts with an essay he wrote “How I spent the Summer Vacation of 1878.”  One hundred and thirty years to the date later, his great-granddaughter is actually touching the page he wrote on as a child.  Goose bump time!  One page in this book contains a sheet titled “Book Account beginning Sept. 1883″ and lists the books he purchased (including Othello, King Lear) the date, and how much he paid (6 cents for Othello on Oct. 15 when he was 16.)  This is a great chronicle of his early education.

Edwin Niess & Henry Lindgren

• The other book belonged to my grandfather, Henry Lindgren.  This book is from 1894, and he has signed his name Henry Lindgreen, since this was the name that the family came through Ellis Island with.  It was changed back through the court system in the 1920′s, although the use of the correct name was assumed earlier.  His book starts out with the words to the song “Columbia the Gem of the Ocean.”  He was nine years old in 1894 and every page in this book is full.

• The ninth item in the box are all of my father’s passports and his discharge from the service.  They are connections to the places he traveled and when he did.  The discharge is in a leather folder.

Dad's Passports and Army Discharge

• For the tenth item, I would add my great-grandparents wedding book.  What makes this special is the fact that my great-great-grandfather married them!  He filled out the certificate in the book and is one of many signatures of his I have in my collection.  The date of 18 September 1890 is exactly 100 years before my father’s death date.  I treasure this book!

Edwin Alonzo and Carrie Virginia Carvell Niess's Wedding Book

Marrriage Certificate signed by Jeremiah Mark Carvell

My list could go on and on, but my box is not big enough.  Hopefully, I’d have time to grab another box and fill that one, too! Not only would be a shame if I had to leave anything behind but it would be a tragedy.

I am caretaker of too many family heirlooms.

 

Catharine is always in mourning

If you read Catharine’s diary, the theme is established.  It is full of family, friends and neighbors either close to death or dying.  She seems to be obsessed with unhappiness.

Catharine Auxer Niess in mourning

This picture seems to be a theme in her life. Catharine is the one on the right. I believe the woman on the left may be her eldest sister, Anna Maria Lehman, since this picture was taken about the time Anna Maria’s husband died in 1912. Catharine’s husband died three years later, and she probably wore the same outfit. I have the head covering in my collection. The border on this scarf matches the border in the previous collection, over the years the ends have become either frayed or torn, but it is the same scarf.

Catharine's scarf in Linda's home

Catharine was born in the Elizabethtown area of Lancaster County on 19th April 1844 to Philip and Maria (Leader) Auxer.  At the age of 15 she is found working as a domestic in the household of Christian Graybill in East Donegal Township.  Five years later she is married to Ephraim Niess.

By the 1870 census, she had two children and the family lived in Harrisburg. What the census doesn’t tell you is that she had already lost her first two children and her youngest would die in the next year.  She was married to an alcoholic and life was a constant struggle to make ends meet.  Her husband was a Civil War veteran who had seen battle in Chancellorsville.  Life was not easy for Ephraim as he fought his inner devils until his death.

The 1880 Census shows the family, minus the daughter on the 1870 census since she had died in 1871.  Their son Edwin (shown as Edward in 1870) is now 12 and he had a new sister, Catharine, who was nine.  There were three other children born after the 1870 census, and they had also died.  Catharine also lost her mother in this decade.

There is no 1890 census, but the family remained at 115 Dock Street in Harrisburg, Ephraim continued to drink and was still employed by Bailey Iron Works and the family grew by two boys, John Ephraim and Benjamin Franklin.  They would live to adulthood.  Sadness and grief was recorded in her diaries, a copy of which still exists in one of her descendant’s loving care.

I am fortunate to have had this shared with me and have transcribed it.  It covers the years 1888 through 1894 in her life and this is where I find the sadness and illness that plagues her life.

The 1888 diary starts out with two mentions of death in the first month:

Jan 8th
This was a blessed sabbath for me, I read a great deal, I could not go out on account of the weather and my health, this evening I feel very sad, Mrs. Fogerty is very sick, they do not think she will live until morning, I feel sorry for them all, she is a very kind Mother and a good neighbor, they keep a bakery two doors from us, I hope she is saved, how necessary to live for christ, when in health, O help me to drink deep of his sweet spirt of submission, that will enable me to meet, yea, even to welcome, the sorest cross, saying yes, Lord, all is well, just because it is they blessed will, take me, use me, chasten me, as seemeth good in thy sight,

Jan 11th
The weather has changed, is very cold – I feel better, but cannot go out much, Mrs. Fogerty was buried to day, she had a very large funeral, but this is the way we all must go, sooner or later, every day is proclaiming anew the lesson, the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, O that I may seek to live, so that that (sic) time can not come upon me to soon, or too unexpectedly, Oh that I may live a dying life, how blesed to live, a dying life how blesed to die, with the consciousness that there may be but a step between me and Glory.

and then later in the month:

Jan 27th
Two years ago to day Father died I can never forget his happy death, I think of him very much he always seemed so happy, and waited patiently until he was called, to take his departure, to a home beyond the skies, where there is no sickness, nor sorrow, here he was sick a long time, but our afflictions, and our sorrows, are meted out by a tender hand, he would often request us to sing,

Mid scenes of confusion,
And creature complaints,
How sweet to my soul,
Is communion with saints.
Home, sweet Home,
They sung the piece at his funeral, O how he warned us to live, an honest christian life and be ready for this change that was soon to take place with him O how peacefully he passed away it did not seem like death,

. . . and so the years go. She had faith, but was always thinking about death.

Ephraim and Catharine Auxer Niess on their 50th anniversary

Catharine always referred to Ephraim as “my husband,” never by his name in her diary.  They were married 51 years when he died. They had gone to Washington DC in October of 1915 where Ephraim attended the GAR National Encampment and had seen their first great-grandson who was born in September of that year.  That great-grandson was my father.

Ephraim died on 25th of November of that year.  The entry in a notebook she kept simply says:  “He took my husband.”

“He” took her six years later on 27 May 1921.

 

I forgot to add another favorite cemetery!

. . . and how could I ever forget Marietta Cemetery??

John Auxer, Jane Park Auxer, Henry Stoll and Caroline Auxer, their children

Since my Leader family were original settlers of this river town, two cemeteries here reflect my family’s history.  The picture of the John Auxer’s family final resting place is one of my favorites.  It was a chilly day, leaves blowing everywhere, and even the American flag in the distance is flapping in the breeze.  The headstone laying face down is John’s, the broken one next to it belongs to his wife, Jane Park Auxer and the two next to her belong to two of their children, Henry Stoll and Caroline.

Philip and Rebecca Leader

Philip was my g-g-g-g-g-g grandfather’s nephew and has a prominent monument in this historical cemetery.

George W. Leader was Philip’s son and is buried along with his wife, next to her parents in the same cemetery.

Just to walk through this large cemetery and see the history of my family is an experience I would not trade.

I try to do it often.