9/26/10
Hi Kent,
Thanks for your interest in Verena. Here is her family sheet that my mother typed up. This is what I know about the children (all who lived their lives in Ogden) and their families: Horace-- Reported to be a mild-mannered nice guy, had more kids than the others. I think he and Jesse were butchers. I'm in contact with members of his family. Family scandal is that one of his sons ran off with the wife of another son. Henry Jr-- Was a night-watchman grain silo and one night fell into the silo and was found dead the next morning. Have found contacts with his descendants. Fred-- I know my mother communicated with members of his family, and I have a lead from the Family History Center to follow up. I suspect his family may have important genealogical material. Elizabeth-- Have a lead from the FHC on her family. She had 2 children-- one I think was Ogden's fire chief. She and Edna seem to have married brothers. Jesse-- Bachelor, lived with Lawrence and Anna and may have been "sweet" on Anna. Edna-- Like Elizabeth, she died young leaving 2 sons. My mother was given Edna as a middle name. I'm in contact with a granddaughter. Clarence-- lived one year. Hazel-- married "up" and owned a grocery store. Tried to hold the family together and Verena would stay with her. The only one I remember. Our family used to phone her when we needed help with Grandpa Harold, who would sometimes go on drinking sprees. Hazel lived to be 73, the longest of any of Verena's children. Verena, who lived to be 68, hada short-lived family. Hazel's daughter Margery, on the other hand is 93, and I have become close with her since Mom's death. Marge is Verena's last living grandchild. I plan to visit her again in Layton, Utah, this year and take better notes this time. I just talked to her on the phone and she is as sharp as ever. Lawrence-- Had 2 daughters, one with cerebral palsy, and I think his line died out. I have a contact to follow up with from FHC. Marge remembers his wife Anna as always smelling like garlic-- I guess a lot of people took garlic (like today actually) as a health supplement. Harold-- My grandfather. He was 2 when his father died. A handsome, sensitive, hard-working guy. Like his father, brother Fred I think, my father and my mother, he worked for the railroad. He was well-liked by all, but didn't believe that. He married my grandmother when he was 19 and she was 16 and only had my mother (a year later) who they doted on. Like my grandmother, he was a very-functional alcoholic. I think his cause of death on his death certificate (heart attack) was a cover up and that he died from suicide brought on my depression and undiagnosed physical pain.
Also enclosed is a sheet of photos I got from Marge. Unfortunately, the family didn't label their photos well, and my next goal is correcting some mislabeling done by others. The photo of Verena, upper left, is the one I think is correct. This is what I started with and lightened it to get rid of some of the black smudges. Can you photoshop anything that would make it better or do you think what I did is the best that can be done? I think the other woman in the photo might be her and Emma's sister Elizabetha, the only daughter of Jakob's first wife who lived that long other than Bertha. Lower right the woman is labeled Verena, but I don't think it is? It almost looks like a younger version of the woman just above. What gives Verena away is the very long chin. The woman bottom right actually seems to have a chin between the size of the 2 women above her? The children, lower left, are 3 of Verena's, but the only children I could detect that would the ages of those pictured are Edna, Lawrence, and Hazel, and not my
grandfather Harold.
The Newsweek article? I don't know about you, but I get tired of non-teachers explaining to us what's wrong with America's educational system. I think this writer has got it right.
I'm hosting a friend from France, starting tomorrow, for maybe 25 days! I've never had a visitor for that long. There is a chance that if he gets bored, he will go visit another friend. I don't know how much family work I'll get done during the time he's here.
Yours, Steve