Trick or Treat Winchester VA Circa 1968

Not sure what year this picture was taken.  Mom always made our Halloween costumes.

Toward Veteran's Day

I would love to feature the military service of our family members between now and Veteran's Day.  If you have served or have a family member who served and you'd like to share a picture and a story, send it to me so I can include it here on the blog over the next couple of weeks.


In the mean time, I found this on web and thought it was interesting: Phrases from the Military that have made it into everyday speech:

Deadline

During the American Civil War, prisoners of war were kept incarcerated in makeshift facilities. The prison guards drew a line around the perimeter, instructing the prisoners that anyone who crossed the line would be shot on sight, making it the “dead line.”

Scuttlebutt

On a ship, the crew took their drinking water from a cask called the “scuttlebutt,” and whenever a few men gathered to take a break, gossip and hearsay about the voyage, their superiors, or other events surely followed. Eventually, the word for the water barrel came to refer to the petty gossip itself.

Bite the Bullet

Battlefield surgery was no laughing matter: unsanitary conditions, lack of supplies, lack of postoperative care. When soldiers were injured during a war and anesthetics like chloroform or whiskey had run out, doctors had no choice but to proceed with amputations, even if the patient was fully awake and cognizant. In such circumstances, the soldier was often given a bullet to bite down on to help him channel the pain and keep still.

Sideburns

In his book Sticklers, Sideburns, and Bikinis: The Military Origins of Everyday Words and Phrases, author Graeme Donald writes that the term for sideburns was originally “burnsides,” named after famed Civil War general Ambrose Burnside, who wore his facial hair in this distinctive fashion. Although Burnside had some successes in the war, he was not exactly the most brilliant military tactician, and because of his reputation for getting things wrong, the term “burnsides” was jokingly switched to “sideburns.”

Heard It Through the Grapevine

During the first days of telegraphy, the wires were strung all over the country in patterns that sometimes looked like grapevines. Instant communication made disseminating news easier, but it also made for increased inaccuracy and errors. Civil War soldiers called it “the grapevine” because of the way the wires twisted around the terrain, and because it reminded them of the way information wended its way through multiple parties. The term also insinuated that since grapevines were tended mainly by poor farmers, the information was not to be trusted.

FUBAR

This acronym, standing for “fouled up beyond all recognition” originated in the U.S. Army. Its first recorded use was in 1944, although soldiers had probably been using this slang term for many years before then.

Three Sheets to the Wind

This naval phrase, describing someone who’s had too much to drink, descends from the days of wooden ships. The drunkard’s clothes were usually in a state of disarray, with his shirttails flapping, making him look like an untended ship whose sails were loose and blowing carelessly in the wind.

Avant-Garde

Used by armies all over the world, this term originally referred to the small party that was sent out in advance of the main body of troops in order to plot a course or chart a terrain. It was also sometimes called the advance guard or the vanguard. The French version was appropriated by the arts-and-culture world to refer to anyone working at the forefront of creativity or experimentation.

S.O.S.

The invention of wireless telegraphy was a huge benefit to ships, which were now able to call for help when they were in distress. The code S.O.S. was first used by the Germans in 1905 and was eventually adopted by all nations for both commercial and military vessels. The code isn’t an acronym for “save our souls,” “send out supplies,” or another message; it actually doesn’t stand for anything. The letters were chosen because their Morse code transcription—dot-dot-dot-dash-dash-dash-dot-dot-dot—is unmistakable.

Full Tilt

In medieval times, the sport of jousting, in which two knights charged at each other, each trying to knock the other off his horse, was originally called tilting. To run at “full tilt” was to run at top speed.

With Flying Colors

Flags flown at sea were subject to strict and complex rules; the only time a warship would lower its flag (also called its colors) would be to acknowledge the passing of a higher-ranked ship, or to announce surrender in battle. A ship proudly flying its flag after a battle would have been advertising victory.

As American English evolved, some phrases expanded their meaning, some changed their meaning, and some retained their original spirit. From “AWOL” to “zero hour,” hardly a day goes by that we don’t use phrases that originated in the military. Roger that.

Via http://www.divinecaroline.com/22312/101811-yes-sir-eleven-phrases-military/2#ixzz1cNDAhFaY

Copies of a couple of Marriage Licenses from Summit County

From Ancestry.com:

About Summit County, Ohio, Marriage Records, 1840-1980

Contained in this database are Summit County, Ohio marriage applications and licenses from 1840-1980. The county probate courts of the state of Ohio have kept marriage records since the county was founded from a portion of the Connecticut Western Reserve in 1840. Later records may contain additional information such as age, birth date, birthplace, occupation, parents’ names, and the like.

Kathi Sittner writes that marriage ceremonies previous to county regulation “were performed by clergymen who may or may not have been the heads of established churches. Many records found in church books have been published either as records for a particular church or in compiled early marriage indexes for the state.” In 1888 Ohio required that a marriage license actually be obtained from authorized county officials before the ceremony could be performed. Although regulation of marriage licenses varied from state to state, eventually laws requiring medical examinations or waiting periods between obtaining a license and the marriage ceremony became more standardized.

Here are two that I found recently.  I really like these records as it gives us so much information about couple at that point in time.  It would be great if Cuyahoga County started to release these kinds of records.

Ramon C. Riley and Elinore L. Cork:

Mark A. Riley and Minnalu Brewer:

Don't forget you can click on these to make them bigger.

Betty H Carter Women Veteran Historical Project

I found an interesting resource today, Betty H. Carter Women Veteran Historical Project hosted by the University of North Carolina, Greensboro.
As they describe it:
The Betty H. Carter Women Veterans Historical Project documents the female experience in the U.S. Armed Forces through letters, papers, photographs, published materials, uniforms, artifacts, and oral histories. It contains more than 500 individual collections which includes 300 oral histories. Housed and maintained in the University Archives in Jackson Library, the materials are a research collection for scholars of military history as well as women's studies.
If you had a family member who served, and even if you didn't, it is fascinating to browse around the extensive collection.

 Green and white pinstriped summer uniform dress and jacket for Women Marines, designed by Mainbocher and introduced in 1952. The uniform is made of Dacron and nylon material with green piping around collar lapels, shoulder straps, and on sleeves of the jacket. The short-sleeved dress includes rank insignia on the sleeves indicating the the wearer, Mary Sabourin, was a gunnery sergeant at the time. Marine Corps insignia are pinned to both lapels on the jacket and dress. The uniform was worn with white, wrist-length gloves and a garrison cap.

Happy Birthday Rachel Riley Potsko

Today is the birthday of the youngest Riley cousin. Rachel Sue is the youngest child of David and Nancy Riley.

Rachel and her husband, Andrew Potsko

Rachel and her brother, Nathan
1982

On this day in 1886

On this day in 1886, President Grover Cleveland dedicated the Statue of Liberty.
Here is an article from the Piqua Ohio Call describing the event.

Following Up with the FDR Library about Louise's letter

After I received David's email about Louise writing FDR about Otto's job, I visited the FDR library on-line.  Although they have many interesting resources available to look at, correspondence isn't one of them.  I emailed them asking if letters were part of the Presidential papers and briefly explained the story.


I received the following prompt response:
 Dear Ms. Riley:

Thank you for your recent inquiry to the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library concerning a letter sent by Louise Krausman in late 1935 to the President regarding her husband's termination from the Library of Congress.

We have searched the President's Official File related to the Library of Congress, the President's Alphabetical File, and various indexes and finding aids to our collections.  Unfortunately, we were not able to locate a letter or reference to Louise Krausman.

The Roosevelt White House received thousands of letters per day.  Many of these letters were from the general public requesting some sort of assistance or a particular service.  Usually, such request letters were referred out of the White House to the relevant department or agency for further handling.  Sometimes the correspondent would be sent a polite response from the White House indicating that the letter was being sent to the appropriate department.

I suspect that Mrs. Krausman's letter was referred either back to the Library of Congress for its attention, or perhaps to another agency such as the WPA who perhaps employed Mr. Krausman and detailed him to the Library of Congress. I recommend, if you have not already done so, that you obtain a copy of Mr. Krausman's original civilian personnel record.  The original letter may be located there, or at least a chain of employment paperwork that would indicate in greater detail the chronology of his dismissal and reinstatement.

The National Archives retains the personnel records of federal civilian employees at the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis, Missouri.  I recommend contacting the NPRC at 314-801-9250 or by e-mail at cpr.center@nara.gov.  You can go to the following link for more information on accessing personnel service records:

http://www.archives.gov/st-louis/civilian-personnel/

I hope this information proves helpful.  Good luck in your search.

Regards, Bob Clark

Bob Clark
Supervisory Archivist
Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library
4079 Albany Post Road   Hyde Park, NY  12538
Phone  845.486.7742     Fax  845.486.1147
www.fdrlibrary.marist.edu

I had no idea that you can order personal files for former federal employees.  This is a great resource that could be very interesting if you had a family member who once worked for the Federal Government.  The cost is between $20-$50 depending on how many pages are in the file.

122nd Birthday Louise Brueggeman Krausman

David Glawe surprised me with the following remembrances of his Grandmother Louise.  She was quite a lady.  She was widowed at a relatively young age, took her father in after the death of her mother, and took in their chronically ill brother. 

Tuesday, October 25th is Grandma Louise’s 122 birthday.  Grandma was not one to celebrate birthdays or mention her age.  Part of this was probably because of the fact that Otto was so much younger than she was and possibly because she was was also an older mother, her first child coming at age 31(not so unusual today, but not near the norm at the time).  However that all changed once she became became 70 and then she was proud of her age.  she had a big celebration for her 80th birthday.  It is my understanding that that event was the last time prior to her death 2 years later that all the Brueggeman siblings were together.  I know that it was the last time that all of her children were together.  Ernie and family had been in Florida for some time and Russell and family had moved to Arizona just over a year before.  I think it was one of the first time that there were 4 generations of the Otto Krauseman family as the first 2 of Louise’s great-grandchildren had been born in the spring that year.

Grandma Louise was always a gentle person, however she could be assertive and take action when needed.  All five of their children were born in Akron, Ohio.  They were living in Akron and there was a lot of family around.  However, in the midst of the depression in 1935 Otto, a bookbinder, found himself unemployed.  It was not an unusual occurrence. However, Otto was hired by the Library of Congress.  This was a great opportunity but it meant moving the family to Washington, D.C.  After making the move Otto worked for about 4 months and then received his layoff notice.  Otto seemed to take it in stride but Louise was upset.  Otto went looking for another job in D.C. but Louise did something else.  She wrote directly to President Roosevelt and told him how she thought that it was grossly unfair to offer someone a job and have them move their family to a new city with no other family around and then take the job away.  She asked FDR to look into it.  Otto got his job back and everyone felt that she had a lot of moxie to write the letter.  She said she just did what she had to do for her family.

The extended family came to visit them often and this continued for some time as not only siblings but nieces and nephews came.  Some of Louise’s nieces and nephews came to visit with their children and by the time I was 9-10 years old I often was the family’s official tour guide because of my love of history and knowledge of the sites.  I saw the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument, Mount Vernon and the Smithsonian at least once a year in school and at times 2-3 times in the summer with family visitors.  Louise was always looked forward to visits by family.

Thanks David for sharing this!

Ernst August Synod Records

Pam Carlton (daughter of Juanita Bischoff, granddaughter of Emma Brueggemann) sent some records that you all might like to see.  She sent away in March (and they just came recently) for Ernst August's synod records.  Interesting to me are a couple of things.  One, it looks like they had been contact with Karl Brueggeman.  Two, they listed that he had a stroke in 1909.  We knew he left the Zanesville church for health reasons.


Thank you Pam for sharing this with me so I could share with all.

Don't forget you can click on the images to make bigger.

Did you watch Ken Burns' "Prohibition"?

I had recorded the three part PBS special on Prohibition.  Mark and I watched it this week end.  Did you notice the Rev. Martin Marty was in part 3?  To remind you:  Marty married Elsa Schumacher (daughter of Elsie Emilie Huesemann, grand daughter of Anna Louise Brueggemann).


He spoke about Carrie Nation.  You can watch the video here: http://www.pbs.org/kenburns/prohibition/people/#detail=2082490795-nation

If you didn't watch it, look for reruns or on-demand.  You can also watch it in bits and pieces by following the link above.  It was a fascinating story about an interesting time in history.  It is still amazing to me that it happened and lasted 13 years.  I wonder how our beer drinking German ancestors handled it?

Carrie Nation

Eliza Thompson led women in 1873 to sing hymns against alcohol in Visitation Bands to protest saloons and petition drug stores who filled prescriptions

Today is the anniversary of Debbie Riley's birthday

Today would be the 55th birthday of my cousin, Debbie.  Deborah Sue Riley was the daughter of Mark Riley and Minnalu Brewer.  Debbie died in 1997.

Debbie is the girl in blue. (I'm in red, Judy in Green, and Debbie's sister Liz in Pink)

Working with New Ancestry.com records

I spent a lot of time today working with the new databases that Ancestry.com just released.  Unfortunately, I don't have much to show for it.  The birth records for Ohio are very spotty.  The original records are posted so it is not clear where the information came from exactly.  For example, I found a record for Selma Brueggeman's birth.  It is just an index record referencing the Family History Library in Salt Lake.  There was a record for a M.D. Brueggeman.  The dates and place on the index match to Selma's sister, Linda Dorthea.    


I guess the lesson is that these records aren't complete.  I searched for all the Riley boys, my mother and her siblings, and myself and not one name had a record.


So instead of an interesting post full of information, I'll post a picture:

Selma in front, Lydia and Linda in the back

Unknown in the middle

Date Unknown but I would guess 1917-1919

Shauna Riley's Wedding Day

Tonight, my cousin Kent Riley's only child is getting married in Cleveland.  Kent is the son of Ronald and Bonnie Riley.  The Great Uncles are all there (David, Tom and Ray) with the proud grandparents and father.

Happy Birthday dear Mark

Today is my dear husband's birthday.  Mark Barnard King was born in Wichita Kansas to Barnard Theodore King (Ted) and Mary Kathryn White (Katie).  He is an only child.  He was raised in Pueblo Colorado, Memphis Tennessee, and Oak Park Michigan.


He went to University of Michigan undergrad, Vanderbilt for Masters, and back to Michigan for his PhD.

The Anniversary of Sid and Selma

It is funny how things work out!  Ancestry.com just released a ton of new resources TODAY in celebration of their 15th Anniversary.  In particular interest to me were the Marriage and Birth Records from Summit County Ohio.  I usually have a calendar in front of me when doing my blog postings but I haven't looked at it in several days.  I'll get to how these are connected in a second.


The Summit County marriage records are the applications for a marriage license.  They have posted records between 1840 and 1980. These records are really great because they include the occupations of both the bride and groom, parents' names, mothers' maiden names, signatures, addresses, where the marriage took place.  Just great information!


Now to connect the dots..I found Sid Riley and Selma Brueggeman's License and TODAY is their anniversary!  They were married in 1924. 

Don't forget to click on it to enlarge it.

While waiting for the 1940 Census...

While waiting until April 2012 when the 1940 Census is released, there are some alternative resources available to help piece together what some family members were up to.


For example, we know from the 1930 Census that Fred Long was in California with his "second" wife Vera.  I found them in a 1942 Voters' Registration Log.

They were living at 2521 Howland Dr, Santa Anita Precinct #4, in Los Angeles  County.  They were both registered as Democrats and he was listed as a Saleman. Don't forget you can click on it to make it bigger.   This gives a lot of the same information that the Census would provide.  I'll have to go back and see where I can find him first in California.

Happy Birthday Nancy Guttermuth Riley

My Aunt Nancy is celebrating her birthday today.  She is the wife of David T. Riley. Please join me in wishing her a Happy, Happy Day.

Nancy with her grandbaby, Elenora

Great Resource for Akronites -Wingfoot Clan

I never ceased to be amazed at the resources available on the web.  Today I found a site called Summit Memory.  They have SEARCHABLE copies of the Wingfoot Clan, a weekly newspaper put out by Goodyear for their employees (first published in 1912).  This site has complete copies available for editions published 1939-1946 (plus issues of the Aircraft Edition.  It is fun to look through them, tons of news and facts.  It is a great resource for genealogy.  I searched for my grandfather, Sid Riley, and found that he received his 10 Year Service Pin in October of 1943 (Wingfoot Clan 11/3/1943).  Now I know that he started at Goodyear in 1933.

There was a mention when he went to visit Norm in the hospital in New York (2/7/1945)

Family Picture Friday: Pictures from Norm's Memorial in August

Norman Riley's memorial was held in August in San Jose.  I don't have a lot of pictures to share.

David and Ron Riley

Joseph Riley (Norm's Grandso)
Eric Riley (Norm's son and Joseph's father)

Ray and Nori Riley
I forget who they told me who the man on the left is

Bella Savon (Norm's Great Granddaughter)
James Savon (Norm's Grandson)
Henry (Norm's Great Grandson, grandson of Cheryl)
Amy and Kyle (Henry's Parents, Amy is grandson of Norm)

Missed two days...

I cannot believe I missed two days in a row!  I am in SC with Max for his fall break.  I guess he's a bad influence.    I spent some time catching him up on my new family contacts and he shared that he has helped his roommate setting up his own family tree.  It is interesting to learn about other people's family.  Kenny (roommate) knew VERY LITTLE about his family past his own father (long story) and he and Max were able to fill in a lot of information and Kenny is interested in finding out more.


Until Max goes back to school, my posts won't be too involved.  


Here is another picture provided by Ann Jackson Hilliard:

This is a picture of Fred Long's wife, Clara B Keller, and their youngest daughter, Charlotte (born 1914) and Louise Nagel Long.

More Long: The Long Children

Charles Long and his wife, Louise had six biological children and one adopted daughter.


Lisette Wilhelmine was born 13 Nov 1865. She was the one who was listed as having died of Inflamed Brain on 17 Sep 1866.


Emma Louise Frieda Lisette was born 21 Apr 1867.  She would be my Great Grandmother.  She married E.A. Brueggeman.  She died 14 Apr 1932 at age 64.


Infant who was still born 6 Apr 1869.  Sex unknown.


Anna Friedrike  was born on 12 Dec 1870.  She married Rev. Carl Griese.  I learned today that they had no biological children but adopted a daughter.  She died 01 Mar 1943 at age 72.  They lived in Wisconsin.


Elizabeth Katharina was born 16 Jan 1873.  She married George Miller.  She died 11 Jun 1943 at age 70. She stayed in the Springfield area throughout her life and is buried in the family plot.


Friedrich Heinrich "Fred" was born 10 June 1875.  He had two wives and  five daughters by the first and we don't know about the second.  He was in Springfield, then to Chicago, and then to California.  He died 28 Apr 1944 at age 68.


Charles Henry "Charley" was born 2 Jul 1878.  He also had two wives and a daughter with each.  He moved to Des Moines Iowa and died there 4 Oct 1954 at age 76.


Etta Herra was the child who "was taken in".  We don't know when that happened.  She was born 14 Jul 1879.  She stayed in Sprinfield and died 29 Jan 1948 (age 68).


Ann Jackson Hilliard (grand daughter of Fred) sent me this wonderful picture today.  It is the only picture I have seen with more than one of the siblings in it.  This was taken in 1918 at Carl Griese's church in Anitgo WI. 

Left to Right:  Elizabeth, Charley, Anna, and Fred with their mother Louise in front.  I have never seen a picture of Elizabeth. Don't forget, you should be able to click on the picture to make it bigger.

Rev. E.A. Brueggemann's Church in Hilliard Ohio

Rev. Ernst August Brueggemann was installed in February 1894 at St. James Lutheran Church.  He left in 1905 for a call in Zanesville.  Gus, Lydia, Selma, Linda and Walter were all born in Hilliard.  Here is a picture from the time that Selma had.

This info came from the Church's website:
The St. James Lutheran congregation was formed in 1847 by nine German settler families and was originally named St. Jakobus Gemeinde ("St. Jacob's parish") . The cemetery now located adjacent to the church reflects the local German roots and heritage, and contains the gravestones of prominent local German family names such as Phillippi, Renner and Tinapple. An old urban legend amongst some of the church parishioners indicated that the landowner who provided the land for the church did so with the understanding that German would be required to be spoken and sung at the services. Maurer said he is not sure if this story is fact or just folklore, but he and others in the church enjoy carrying on the story.   Originally all services were in German but English was adopted in the early 1900s and eventually replaced German as the standard language of worship at St. James Lutheran.
I believe that I had been told that EAB started the trend toward English in this Church.


Here are current pictures of the Church from their Facebook page.

Here is a link to the Church's website.

What I've been working on instead of reseaching for the Blog

As some of you know, Ray, Judy and I worked together for many, many years in our retail clothing store chain, The Crate.  We closed our business (on our terms) in the fall of 2008.  I guess "once an entrepreneur, always an entrepreneur".  For most of this year, Judy and I have been developing a new business.  We started with a small idea and it has grown to what we hope will be a great business one day.  We are behind schedule from where we wanted to be at this time but I can finally share our website address so you can check it out. DIYGREEK.COM

This is from the about us section of our site:

When Megan joined a sorority at the University of South Carolina, she needed to make a paddle for her new big sister.  She bought paddle and a few letters at a local Greek Store and spent a bunch of money.  Like most freshman, she had no car and really had no idea how she was going to decorate it.  Fortunately, she had a ride home one weekend and used supplies her mother had on hand. 
While she was home, an idea was formed with Meg, her mother and aunt.  What if we could develop a kit that would give a girl all the supplies she would need to make quality hand made/heartfelt gifts for her big or little sister?  It could SAVE MONEY and SAVE TIME.  Mom and Aunt worked out the idea and consulted Megan every step of the way.DIY Greek was created to give you an EASY way to make UNIQUE gifts that are CUTE and will certainly be treasured by your sisters.  Just imagine, you can make 12 projects for only $64.99 and still have the stencils for future projects.  Think about how much this would cost if you could even find all the items at a local craft store.

Our Logo was designed by Katie Marshall Buzzacco.  She is my cousin, Liz Riley Marshall's daughter.

We are finally ready to sell product!  We are also looking for college students to become Sales Reps in Universities.  If you know of some one who might be interested, check out the link at the website or they can email us at REPS@DIYGreek.com


Thanks for letting me share this and I hope you understand why there hasn't been a lot of new research lately.

Louise Pittman Riley

I let the day get away from me on Friday and didn't get around to the blog before bed.  I neglected to post about Louise Pittman Riley's birthday.  She married Norman Riley in 1948.  They have seven children.  Happy Birthday Louise (Oct 7).

Today is the Anniversary of the Birth of Norman O. Riley

Sid and Selma's eldest son, Norman, would have been 86 today.  You may remember that he passed away in February of this year.


My Uncle David sent along this memory to share:
Norm went to the Summit County Fair, threw a baseball attempting to knock over the milk bottles.  Instead he hit the side of the shelf on which the milk bottles stood.  The proprietor, being a sporting man, challenged Norm(hit the side of the shelf two more times and I'll give you the prize).  Norman, in the best spirit of his penny pitching days heaved a second ball hitting the side of the shelf.  On his third try he hit the shelf again and claimed his prize.  I, David, was astounded thrilled and filled with admiration for my older brother Norman.


Thanks David for sharing this with us.

Not feeling too inspired tonight

I am away from home tonight and not feeling inspired.  I'll post a picture of Sid Riley and his family taken in 1911.

Sid approximately 14 and is on the far left.

A Note from David Reinhardt about his son, Fred

I'd like to share this information that I received from David Reinhardt about his son, Fred.  He has quite a life in Africa doing the Lord's work.

Fred will be coming home from Africa in October for his two month sabbatical and will be preaching and visiting churches that support him during this time.  He wrote the following brief bio for one of the churches he will be visiting so they can put some info about him in their newsletter.

HISTORY OF MISSIONARY FRED REINHARDT'S TIME IN AFRICA

Rev. Frederick Reinhardt, a 2002 graduate of Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, has been a missionary in French-speaking Africa for just over eleven years now.  He first arrived in Togo, West Africa, to live and work on Sept. 1, 2000.  He completed his 2-year vicarage there.  He lived in Togo for a total of seven-and-a-half years, as a normal "career missionary," living and working in one place at a time - though he did move around northern Togo several times!  In late 2007, since he was doing "Area Facilitator" duties more and more in replacement of a former LCMS missionary, he was offered the position of "Area Facilitator for French-speaking Africa," which he accepted.  In order to successfully perform his new duties, it was necessary to move to a capital city - and Fred chose Dakar, the capital of Senegal.  He lived there for three years.  The duties of facilitating mission with partner Church Bodies in French-speaking West Africa was turned over to another LCMS missionary, and Fred was asked to move to East Africa, to the capital of Kenya - Nairobi.  From that large and cosmopolitan city, where LCMS World Mission already had offices and several missionaries living, Fred would be able to facilitate mission and foster the relationships - many of them brand new - with our French-speaking Lutheran partner Church Bodies in Central and East Africa.  The countries he now covers include:  Burundi, Rwanda, Madagascar, Cameroon, the Republic of Congo, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and there are currently some ongoing projects of the LCMS in the Portuguese-speaking countries of Angola and Mozambique, for which he is responsible.  Other countries where a relationship could one day develop include Gabon, Tchad, the Central African Republic, and the Comoros Islands.  As you can see, Fred has his work cut out for him!  And he does the vast majority of it in French!

I "stalked" Fred on Facebook and he has lots of great pictures
of his work in Africa (Frederick M. Reinhardt). This photo is
from the Lutheran Church of St. Augustine in
Brassaville, Congo

Today is the 114th Birthday of Sidney Thomas Arthur Riley

Here is a picture of his birthpace

My grandfather, Sid Riley, was born on this day in Wolverhampton, England on this day in 1897.  His brothers and sister were born in the US but Sid and his younger brother, Norman, were born in England.  Wolverhampton is near Birmingham.  


I haven't found any family member with the name Sidney so I don't know where his parents got it from.  Thomas was his father and oldest brother's name.  He is the only sibling with four names.  I remember being fascinated with that when I was little and the fact that his initials spelled STAR.  I guess Mark and I have sort of continued that tradition as both of our sons have four names.  Both have Riley as a second middle name.


Sid didn't like the fact that my parents called me by my middle name instead of using my first name of Catherine.  He called me "Katie Darling" when I was small.

Sid and "Katie Darling"

  
As a side note, look what you can do in Photoshop using the spot healing tool.  It took no skill at all to repair this picture:

Not bad for a five minute repair job.

I've added a feature to the blog

I added a feature on the right hand side of the blog to make it easier for you to find all the postings about a particular topic.  I used to only use this for me when trying to find a previous post.  I haven't been terribly consistent with my labeling. For example, Ernst August Brueggeman is under EAB and  Ernst August.


If you are looking for a post about someone, look under their first name.   The bigger the type, the more postings under that name or topic.  When you click on it, it will pull up all the postings with those labels.  


It is a good way if you are new reader to the blog to catch up on past postings. 

On a Charles Long roll

I found a new source today but I cannot for the life of me figure out how to copy the actual record to show you.  I can give you a link to the resource so you can look at it yourself.


These are the records of the Oak Ridge Cemetery in Springfield.  We already knew that he died on February 2, 1902 of Heart Disease.  We now know that his undertaker was V. Hemberger.
Here is the link to his record.  I thought these links would take you to the page, his is on page 128.


What we didn't know was what his wife died of.  She died in Wisconsin but was buried at this Cemetery in Springfield.  Louise was listed in the record here as Lorna Long. I know it is her as the date of death (9-22-1923) and age (82 years, 10 months) match exactly.  She died of Gastroenteritis and was buried by Ellinger and Kunz. Here is the link to her record. Again, she is on page 118.


Here is the record for their stillborn child (April 6, 1869). It doesn't list if it was a male or female child. You can view the original on Page 56.


Here is the record for their first daughter who died at 10 months old.  The record states that she died of "Inflamed Brain".  Again these dates match up to what I have already recorded.  She is on page 32 of the same link as the stillborn child. 


I wish I could save these records but at least you all can see them by using the links

Charles and Louise Long