Pedigree Ornament No. 10: my paternal Great Grandfather.

Thomas William Russell, born 1847, in the village of Holytown, Bothwell Parish, Lanarkshire, Scotland; died 1928, West Barnesboro (now Northern Cambria), Cambria County, Pennsylvania; buried International Order of Odd Fellows Cemetery (no marker), Brisbin, Clearfield Co., PA.

Pictured above is the former National Bank of Barnesboro (red-brick), in Cambria County, PA. But, you know how banks are these days. National Bank became Laurel Bank, and the latest is the Bank of Northern Cambria. Photo was taken in 1992, by Bob Kramp.

My father’s maternal grandfather, Thomas William Russell, spent his last couple of decades, 1900-1925, as a janitor at the National Bank of Barnesboro. He lived in an apartment in the basement of the bank. My uncle Russell Stryke remembers visiting his grandfather, Thomas. He said that Thomas spoke with a Scottish Brogue, and used the pronouns “thy and thee”.

Thomas was born in Scotland, but within a year, his family migrated to the coal fields of County Durham in northern England. Here, he met his English-born (Yorkshire) wife, Eleanor Hartley, and they had their first five children in County Durham. Unfortunately they also witnessed the death of their first two children who were girls. Thomas and all of his male siblings were coal miners. They immigrated to Pennsylvania about 1881, and Thomas in particular was joined by some of his in-laws, the HARTLEY and HESELTINE families.

Thomas and his kin first settled in Clearfield County, PA, and continued to mine coal. Although the mining industry was a dangerous place to work and labor strife occurred regularly, I believe the Russell families were somewhat better off than in England. There is some evidence that they bought land in Houtzdale and the materials to build their own houses. Thomas wanted his two sons not to become coal miners. Apparently they never did. Sons in the next generation were proprietors of grocery stores and movie theaters, laborers, and at least one of Thomas’ nephews became a Primitive Methodist Minister.

Unfortunately, Thomas' wife was relatively young, about 48 years, when she died. There were five children left in the household, aged 6 to 16 years. Thus, Thomas was an elderly widow during the times he spend living in the small apartment at the bank.

Being a coal miner and a bank janitor seem to be pretty humble occupations in my opinion. But I believe he did those jobs well and without complaint. There were activities of bygone days by which men judged their fellow man. For example, Thomas was one of the oldest members of the local Lodge of the Scottish Rite Masons. When I read Thomas Russell’s obituary, I can see why Robert Burns, Scotland’s favorite son, who is also known as the Ploughman Poet, was Thomas’ hero. Burns was born about 50 years before Thomas. As I read, I had a changed and respectful vision of the person who was my great grandfather though I never heard much about him from my close relatives. Below is an excerpt from Thomas’ obituary. In those days, in a small town, some obituaries of an honored citizen took up quite a bit of newsprint, thank goodness.

From The Barnesboro Star, Thursday, 10 Jan 1929, page 7:

"Death of Thomas Russell, Sr. He was a great student and lover of Bobby Burns, memorizing many of his poems.’ 'The Cotters Saturday Night', 'The Two Dogs', 'Man was Made to Mourn’, ‘The Wee Mouse’, and Burns' ‘Letters to his young friend’ were always at his tongue's end. He often said that when a small boy, his father who was somewhat of a poet himself, used to gather him, and the other children around his knee, and recite to them Burns' poems. All through his life, Burns was his constant friend and companion. Another of his favorites was the poem often quoted by Abraham Lincoln: ‘Why should the Spirits of the Mortals be Proud’ [by Robert Burns] and only a short time before he went to his bed, he surprised his friends by reciting this entire poem. Coming from a man of his years, a typical Scotchman (sic) with hoary head and of venerable appearance it created an impression on the minds of his hearers that they will never forget."

Thomas W. Russell, “with hoary head and of venerable appearance” sits to the left of his brother, Robert Russell, and their brother-in-law, Alexander Forsyth (m. Alma Emma, nee. Russell). The man on far left has not yet been identified. Photo was taken in Syracuse, New York, 1920. Thomas was about 73 years old; Robert, about 70 years.

Pedigree Ornament No. 9, my Paternal Great grandmother.

Henrietta Hohnke, born 1842, probably in West Posen, Prussia (now Wielkopolska, Poland); died 1922, West Houtzdale (also known as West Moshannon or Cross Keys), Clearfield County, Pennsylvania; buried International Order of Odd Fellows Cemetery, Brisbin, PA.

Today’s Pedigree Ornament features an image of the former Saint John’s German Lutheran Church of Houtzdale, Pennsylvania. Like other “ornaments” is this series, I am choosing an image which is unique to a particular ancestor. Though not entirely unique to Henrietta, this image does characterize the religious community for several of my German ancestors and their neighbors who settled in Houtzdale, PA, in the early days. They included the STREICH, WAGNER, HOHNKE, TUSCHLING, KRAMP, and SROCK families among others. The early days actually began in 1870s when the area was a fertile resource for timber. Then coal was discovered on the lands by Dr. BRISBIN, and soon the Berwind and White Coal Company opened up mines into the Moshannon vein of the surrounding mountains as well as in the town itself. The soft coal was the perfect grade of mineral for powering the Steamships which were bringing hoards of immigrants to the New World. A system of railroads was built linking Houtzdale to New York to haul the coal.

In the 1990s, I visited the church office and discovered the Kirchenbuch (parish record book) which listed the baptisms and vital statistics for the congregation. Also recorded were early lists of communicants. The latter were helpful for grouping individual members together as family units. The marriage of Karl (Charles) Wagner to his third wife, Witwer (widow) Henrietta Streich, was recorded as shown below (click on image to enlarge):

I included this image to show why genealogists can go nearly blind during their research. The Wohnen (residence) of Karl is stated as “auf Pommern, jetzt Houtzdale” (“from Pomerania, now Houtzdale”) indicating Karl’s former and current residences. The column heads are not shown here in order to present a closer look at the individual entry. Karl’s birth date (Geborn) was 29 Sept 1849. The location and date of Henrietta’s birth is not stated. Oh well, she’s a female; it doesn’t matter. But, the female in this case was MY Great Grandmother. The opposing page 251 (not shown), listed the witnesses: “Rudolf Srock and Wilhelmine SROCK”. I have deduced that Wilhelmine was Henrietta’s sister who was married to Fredrick SCHROCK and Rudolf Srock was Fredrick's brother. HOHNKE was the maiden surnames of the sisters. The pastor was Detlef Ph. EBERT.

In St. John’s Kirchenbuch, in the section subtitled Gestorbenen (deaths), Henrietta’s vital statistics came to light, sort of. She was born 30 Aug 1842, (her tombstone was inscribed, 1841) at “P. Posen, W. Prussia”, Germany. She died 27 Jan 1922, at the age of 80 years, 4 months, 27 days, of cancer, and buried 31 Jan 1922, at Brisbin cemetery. John T. JENNINGS, pastor. Unfortunately, the birthplace is not too specific. “P. Posen” probably means the Province of Posen which was one of the largest provinces in Prussia at the time of Henrietta’s birth. The location “W. Prussia” is probably West Prussia which further confuses the issue because West Prussia was a Province just east of Posen. Incidentally, both West and East Prussia were far east of Berlin.

Since the church was only open on Thursday afternoons, I spent many hours on those days recording data from the Kirchenbuch. Fortunately, I discovered that the LDS church microfilmed the same Kirchenbuch many years ago. What luck, even if it was discovered a little too late. At least I could obtain photocopies to study the German writing.

The congregations of the former Bethel Swedish Lutheran and the St. John’s German Lutheran were merged in the 1970s and services were held at the Bethel Church whose name was changed to Faith United Lutheran to reflect the merger. However, when there was a fifth Sunday in a month, services were held at the old Gothic style, white clapboard, St. John’s. Unfortunately, in 1997, the water pipes froze and the cost of repairs was too much for the congregation to handle. St. John’s Lutheran Church was demolished. An outdoor gazebo and garden now stands on the former church’s foundation. The old church bell is mounted inside (see below):


REFERENCES and LINKS:

1. A memorial plaque for the former St. John’s German Lutheran church, Houtzdale, PA, has been added to the gazebo and was shown in an earlier blog entry.

2. The Latter Day Saints library at Salt Lake City, has microfilmed the Kirchenbuch of St. John’s German Lutheran Church, Houtzdale, Clearfield Co., PA: Microfilm no. 1671236.

Pedigree Ornament No. 8, my Paternal Great Grandfather.

Karl Streich, born unknown date, probably in Prussia; died 1885, probably in Peale, Clearfield County, Pennsylvania; buried in unknown location.

It is quite difficult to create a unique Christmas Ornament for a person who seems to have been invisible, which is the case for my great grandfather, Mr. Strike. To compound the issue, his descendants used various spellings of the surname which in some cases have been documented, for example, on marriage records and at least one tombstone- his grandson used the “Stryke” version on his inscription. But never mind, the surname has disappeared from this particular descendant line of our family tree. Of course, we know Mr. Streich existed, because four of his children survived- Amalie, Otto, Julius, and Martha- though one of those children, Julius, seems to have also become invisible many years ago. But not before he fathered a daughter who was “found” not so long ago. With some persistence, even Julius’ abandoned wife was located. I believe Mr. Strike’s first name was Karl based primarily on naming patterns and a process of elimination. One of his two sons and a grandson both have the middle name of Karl.

Karl Streich probably resided in Pennsylvania over the 3 years period between 1883 and 1885. The youngest of his children, Martha Streich, was born in June 1883 in Peale, Clearfield Co, PA, and his widow’s marriage application to her second husband states her first husband died in October, 1885. Unfortunately, the town where the Streich family first settled after immigrating to America was completely removed lock, stock and barrel, to various locations around the turn of the twentieth century. After the mines were exhausted, the stores, company houses, and churches, were loaded onto rail cars and transported elsewhere, like a tent circus. The only landmark of the town that remained was the cemetery. But care of the cemetery was abandoned and the tombstones, whether made of wood or stone, have crumbled to the earth and then covered with the succession of a new forest. Only one tombstone survived for many years, but the last time I tried to visit the cemetery, I could not ascertain the outline of the cemetery or the last known tombstone.

Nevertheless, I will still hang Karl Strike’s Pedigree Ornament on my blog just in case someone ever comes around to claim it.

REFERENCES and LINKS:

1. The Ghost Company Town of Peale, PA, an informative web site maintained by John Krygier

2. Web site of the Peale Research Foundation organized by a couple of local residents (Wagner family) of nearby Grassflats.

Three genealogical presents I would like to see under my Christmas Tree

The topic for the 62nd edition Carnival of Genealogy is “Three Wishes”. We bloggers of genealogy were given the challenge to write a letter to Santa asking him to grant us three gifts from our ancestors. We all know that Santa has been around for a very long time and must therefore know a lot of history and would certainly sympathize with us and grant us our wishes. All we have to do is ask, right?

The first gift on my list would be the Brooch that was worn my paternal grandmother, Mrs. Emily Strike, born Russell, in at least three pictures which I have seen of her as a young woman. I noticed that there seems to be a miniature portrait on the face of the brooch. Emily’s mother died about 1892 in Houtzdale, Pennsylvania, and left five young children, two boys and three girls, on the hands of the father, Thomas W. Russell. Emily the third-born child who survived (the first two children died early) was about 12 years old. The oldest girl in the family, Jane Ann, was not much older. Nevertheless, the three girls in the family took the mother's place and kept the house clean and their father and brothers well fed. The only existing picture of the mother, who was the former Eleanor Hartley, might be the image on Emily’s brooch. Unfortunately, the brooch has not been seen for years. I hope that it may still be in the hands of one of Emily’s descendants. Actually, writing up this wish list has given me renewed motivation to ask around for it.

The picture below shows Emily on the left wearing the brooch and on the right, Emily’s younger sister, Janet Russell.

I have been over this picture, particularly the brooch with a magnifying glass, but the resolution does not allow me to indentify the image with certainty. I can not even make out the person's gender. Recently, I have thought the image might be Emily’s husband, Otto Strike, rather than her mother. I overlayed a close-up scan of the broach with a scan of Otto as a young man (see picture below). The picture of Otto was actually cropped from what I presume is a wedding picture of Emily and Otto. Is that Otto in the brooch? Was it customary to have a picture of a woman's husband, or perhaps her betrothed, on a brooch?

My Second Gift Wish:

I lived in Geneva, Switzerland, for two years (1973-1974) on a research fellowship. While there, I bought this carving of a man blowing the Alphorn. My maternal grandmother was born in Canton Thurgau, Switzerland in 1894.

I am thinking big here. I do not know where I would store such an instrument. So, my practical wish would be to have someone show me how to make just one long, sweet sound from the alphorn. Christmas morning, around 6 am, would be a good time.

Third Gift Wish (is that all?):

The image above shows my mother visiting her first cousin, Martina Rink, in Schaffhausen, Switzerland, in the Spring of 1974. Martina died the next year after this picture was taken. Martina was never married, and she had one brother with whom we have lost touch. My third wish is to take a second look at the photo album which lies under Martina’s hand- if it still exists. The ultimate gift would be to have the album on my shelf. Too bad personal scanners were not common in 1974.

REFERENCES and LINKS:

1. My mother was the daughter of Margaret Austel; and Martina, the daughter of Ida Austel. To undestand more of this relationship, see previous entry, "Austel Line ... Introduction to the first generation".

2. See what gifts other Genealogy Bloogers wished from their ancestors; sorry, only 3 gift requests allowed.

Pedigree Ornament No. 7, My Maternal Grandmother

Margaret Austel, born 1894, Bürglen, Canton Thurgau, Switzerland; died 1963, Alexandria, VA; buried St. Mary’s Cemetery, Alexandria, VA.

The Pedigree ornament above shows the German-printed Himmelsleiter which once belonged to my maternal grandmother. Literally, it translates “Heaven guide” but essentially, it is a prayer book, with prayers about Holy Communion, Stations of the Cross, and certain other litanies of the Catholic Mass. The picture is captioned, “Der Liebe Jesusknabe” which even I can translate, “the dear child Jesus”. But that’s about as far as I can go. My grandmother was born Margaret Austel, in the German-speaking part of Switzerland, in Canton Thurgau, in the village of Burglen. The village is named after a small castle (Burg) which dominates the hill overlooking the town. Margaret immigrated to America with her family when she was about eight years old; thus, German was her native language. Undoubtedly, a mixture of German and English was spoken in their home in Braddock in the early days. In any case, Grandma could speak German when she wanted to, even though I rarely heard anything around her house other that an occasional “Gesundheit”. Apparently, she could also read the Gothic German quite well as evidenced by the Himmelsleiter which she often brought to mass.

Let me interject a biographical note here. Grandma was fortunate to be able to bring a little black book to Mass which she could read and understand. However, when I was brought up in the Catholic Church, parishioners brought little black books (missals) which were printed in Latin. And the priest prayed in Latin. I don’t think I ever understood what was really going on. I guess that all changed later on when the liturgical vernacular was changed to English.

Margaret Austel married Charles A. Gailliot in Braddock, near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1917. Unfortunately, she lost her husband in 1948, when he was only 54, and she was the same age, as they shared the same birth year. I was six years old when grandpap died; so, Grandma was a widow for most of the time I knew her. Grandma Gailliot was the grandparent I spent the most time with as a youngster, especially when our family lived within walking distance of her house. We continued to visit Grandma on most holidays, even after we moved further away and had to drive the car. When I went to high school and college, my visits to grandma became far and few between. Now that I am a grandparent myself, I can see I missed a lot. As they say, wisdom is wasted on the old.

A Remembrance Card

I was leafing through the Himmelsleiter in preparation for this blog entry, when I came upon a remembrance (Andenken) card wedged between a couple of pages. It had a picture (see below) of a priest (Hochw. Herrn Pfarrer) named Josef Zündt. The text mentioned that he was a Kaplan in Bruggen, Appenzell and Gonten, between the years, 1880-1920. Appenzell was a town also located in Canton Thurgau. I wonder what the relationship of this priest was to Grandma. Was he the family’s priest, a friend, or maybe a relative? I will leave it here for the Google surfer to find, and hopefully, provide a comment.


The Pedigree ornaments for my grandparents have now been posted. Tomorrow, I will begin posting Pedigree ornaments for my eight great, great grandparents. To see all the Pedigree ornament in this series, click on the tag "Xmas-2008" in the far right-hand column of this web site.