Visit with Aunt Millie

Had a wonderful time yesterday visiting Aunt Millie. Mary, Mom, and I went up for the day and sat and talked for a good while.

It was a wonderful visit and I got to ask a few questions, scan a few pictures, and bring home an amazing family treasure.

First the pictures which were given to Aunt Millie by Great Great Aunt Lucille (Veronica's sister)

George Bax, Fritz Bax, Mac Bax, Louis Gerling

 I found it funny that Great Grandpa Louis has his coat up as if to hide his face.  We all know Grandma was a fan of putting her hand in front of hers. I guess it was a family trait. LOL

Veronica Bax Gerling

Veronica Bax Gerling

Top: L-Marie Bax? I dont believe this is Veronica's sister. Veronica Bax Gerling
Bottom: Francis Gerling? Edward Gerling

Same woman and little boy from above with the addition of a man
Veronica Bax Gerling, Ed Gerling on Right

Bottom row: Veronica Bax Gerling, George Bax, Regina Gerling, Fritz Bax
Second row: Mac Bax and Mame Gerling
In the back: Louis Gerling

Unknown - but look at the car!

We talked some about the Bax's and where they went.  It was mentioned that Mac and Fred may have been in the WPA, but that they and Pete and Lambert made their way to North Dakota to work.  I found Mac's findagrave memorial and contacted Dennis Olson, who had posted a picture of him.

This is what he said when I asked if he was related in some way to Mack Bax: Sorry, I'm not related to Mack nor do I have any more pictures. My wife and I went through the Litchville Museum pictures and copied and I put them on Find-A-Grave. I can copy and paste the information of Mack and Rose from the Litchville history book published in 2000. Mack and Rose lived on the homestead of my great aunt and uncle when I first knew them. He was on the threshing crew that my father was on. I believe Pete Bax was on the same crew. I have been adding obituaries where ever I can of people from my home neighborhood. If you want you could send me your e-mail and I'll copy from the book.

I am waiting for information from the history book he mentioned. 

Aunt Millie went on to say that while Mac and Fred stayed up North, Lambert and Pete came back with Pete staying in Missouri and Lambert moving on to Texas. When they came to visit after being there, they had an accent that none of the rest of them had (probably the influence of living among the locals ;) )

I am going to start doing more research on Grandma Veronica's siblings and see what I can find.  

About Frederick Lampe (b. 12/31/1839 Lastrup, Germany, d. 8/22/1914) who was discussed in a previous post. He was Peter's father-in-law and Veronica's maternal Grandfather.  At the end of his life he was blind but Veronica described him as red headed teacher. He lived with Peter and Mary (his daughter) and would help Veronica with her schoolwork.  One night she came home with long division and didn't know how to do it. He worked through it with her, but when she got to school she couldn't say how she got the answers that she did.

For Veronica, German was spoken in the school and church until about the 8th grade when there was a switch into English, which may have been due to the anti-German sentiment brought on by WWI.  She remembered that every Christmas mass had been spoken in German before then, but that year it was said in English.. or at least broken English.

She and Peter (I think?) would often speak in German, whereas Grandpa Louis Gerling didn't ever really speak it.

Finally, I got the most amazing gift from Aunt Millie, besides getting to spend time with her of course! ;) But I'm going to write about that in my Week 8 of #52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks.