Branching Out – Connections to Cottage Grove – Part 3

In my previous post I mentioned that I discovered a connection from my childhood home at Halsey to my current home in Cottage Grove while reading a family history book at the Cottage Grove Genealogical Society library. Guess what? I read another book and found another connection.

This time I read about the Currin family. Three of this family were Donation Land Claim settlers in the Cottage Grove area: John Currin, his brother William Currin and his sister Christiana (Currin) Cooley’s son, George Cooley. It was the grandson of George that caught my eye, Dale Drinkard. You guessed it, Dale had a connection to me.

He married my 2nd cousin, Delma Falk, 19 Jun 1937 in Linn County, Oregon. Delma said that she and another cousin helped to organize the Falk family reunion which was held each summer when I was growing up. After I began my family history research over 30 years ago I again attended the Falk family reunions and almost always Delma and Dale were there. Again I have always liked this photo I took of them in 1988 at the reunion.

Delma was born in the Halsey area 31 Jan 1915. Delma’s birth certificate has been altered to include her name, since the original certificate calls her Baby Falk. She was about 3 years younger than my mother Wilma and 2 months older than my aunt Lois, although Delma’s grandfather was a much older brother of Wilma and Lois’s father. I have always liked this photo of the three of them.

Lois, Wilma & Delma

While writing this blog post, I realized that I had not been diligent in adding the available sources for them to my family tree on Ancestry (joanne genealogy). So I worked on it. It reminded me that when Dale died 17 Sept 2005, at age 93, he and Delma had been married 68 years. Delma lived for almost 8 more years and died at age 98 on 27 Jul 2013. I have missed seeing them at the reunions and didn’t have the opportunity to explain the Cottage Grove connection that I had with Dale.

Over 175 Years Old

A great big thank you to my 2^nd cousin from Wisconsin. (I recently was able to connect with him since we were DNA matches.) He shared this photo and gave me permission to put it on my blog.

The family story tells us that the clock was given as a wedding gift to my gt-grandfather, Ludwig Falk, and his first wife, Marianne Kuss, in 1839 in Prussia. Ludwig married my gt-grandmother, Anna Louise Boehm, in 1850, after Marianne had died. Ludwig and Anna and family immigrated to the United States in 1858 and settled in Wisconsin. So, the clock must have traveled with them on the ship.

The clock has been in the possession of my cousin for over 30 years and he states that it is still keeping time.

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks – 30 – Colorful

My aunt had a colorful name. Violet was my mother's youngest sister. My mother, Wilma Falk, was 12 when Violet was born on 11 Mar 1924. There were 2 other sisters between them and a baby brother was born in 1927.

I decided to check happenings in Violet's life in the 22 years before she was married in 1946 by using the Newspapers.com website. Since she lived in Harrisburg Oregon the nearby newspaper in Eugene did include her name in over 30 issues. Also I found a mention in the Corvallis paper when she attended the England family reunion in Corvallis in 1930 with her parents and siblings. Since she was only 6, I wonder if she would have remembered that.

Reading about her activities in the newspaper, I learned a number of new things about her. When she was 5 years old in 1929 she attended a Sunday school party. In 1937 she was attending Busey school and

appeared in two of the plays presented at the school pie social. She was the only eighth grade graduate from Busey school that year and went on to attend Harrisburg High School. She did well in school, listed on the honor roll at least 3 times and graduated in 1941 with a class of 17 as the salutatorian. She appeared to be active in school: she was vice president of her junior class; appeared in the junior class play, played in a trumpet trio for the school band concert and went with the group to the coast for the Senior “Skip Day.”

She also was involved with the church as in 1939 she went with a group of Christian Endeavorers from Harrisburg to Portland. She played in a trumpet duet for the 1939 Christmas Sunday School program. I never knew she played the trumpet.

The newspaper named Violet as one of those who attended the bridal shower for her sister Lois in 1939 and again for the wedding shower for her sister Erma in 1941.

At some point Violet moved to Eugene where she was employed in office work. The 1944 Eugene city directory lists her as Violet Falk as a secretary at Oregon Mutual Life Insurance Company. Oregon Mutual was located at 132 E. Broadway in the Miner Building, room 343. I have memories of visiting the Miner Building, although it was not for Life Insurance. Violet was living at 710 Lawrence and her phone number was 2977. According to Google Maps today, it is ½ mile from where she was living to where she was working and it would take about 11 minutes to walk that distance.

While living in Eugene Violet still had friends. She was the maid of honor at a wedding and was in charge of the guest book at another, plus she was listed as a guest at a couple of bridal showers. She joined the Business Girls club, aka the Employed Girls club at the YWCA. In 1946 she was the chairman of their social committee and helped with at least 3 of their dances. She also served as a Junior Hostess for the USO, and received a 200 hour pin at their closing meeting in February of 1946. I read a little more about the USO Junior Hostesses and discovered they had some fairly strict rules: no slacks allowed, no smoking inside the USO areas, no drinking alcohol on the job, no dancing with other women and no refusing to dance with a service man unless he was “ungentlemanly.”

Finding out more about my aunt from reading in the newspapers made me wish that I had talked with her more often and asked questions about her life.

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks – 28 – Travel

When I thought about this theme, I realized that I know little about how most of my ancestors traveled. But then I remembered that I have used at least three different sources to learn about their travels: by train, sailing ship and covered wagon.

1. I interviewed my father, Lester Albertson, before he passed away in 2004. He told me that when he and his parents and two sisters came to Oregon from Kansas in 1911, they rode the train. His father, Oran Jesse Albertson, had worked for the railroad back in Kansas, so they had a pass. Apparently they traveled from Goodland, Kansas to Portland, Oregon and then continued south to Halsey, Oregon where Oran's brother Arthur lived.

2. When my immigrant Falk gt-grandparents came from Prussia to the United States in 1858 the passenger list gives the name of the sailing ship they came on. It was a bark named Wieland. I have a picture of a bark named Wieland, but it was built in 1862 and was larger as Lloyd's Register found on the Mystic Seaport website, show the earlier Wieland tonnage to be 512 and the later one was 632. But I believe as they were both barks, they probably had a very similar appearance.

2. In 1938, before I was born, the Bond family reunion printed a booklet with the journal entries of my 2^nd gt-granduncle George Bond on the trip from Iowa to Oregon in 1853. Since this was over the Oregon Trail, it is logical to believe they traveled by covered wagon. It makes it more believable when the entry for April 9 stated that they “loded the wagons.” But they apparently did use tents while camping along the way because on May 14 George recorded that a storm prevented them from pitching their tents. I have always felt so fortunate to be able to read the daily travels for that group which included my 2^nd gt-grandparents and 2 sets of 3^rd gt-grandparents as well as over 30 other relatives.

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks – 22 – So Far Away

The theme this week is quite vague. Amy Johnson Crow, who has been setting the themes each week, has admitted it is vague and she is looking forward to what those who are following these prompts will come up with.

I had an event today, 31 May 2018, which fits very well with this theme. One of the members in the Prussian Genealogy Facebook Group, Laura Kaatz, had posted photos in 2017 from the town of Nakel, formerly in Prussia, but now in Poland. Included in them was the former protestant church there. My gt-grandmother, Anna Louise, daughter of Michael Boehm and Anna Rosina Leu, was baptized at the protestant church in 1832, confirmed in 1846 and married to the widower Ludwig Falk there in 1850. I did a blog post for her on her birthday last year, August 30^th.

https://joannesgenealogyresearch.blogspot.com/2017/08/ancestor-birthday-anna-louise-boehm.html

But I was unsure if it would be the same church building. So I contacted Laura Kaatz on the facebook group and asked that question and also if I could have permission to use one of her photos on my blog. She very graciously gave permission and verified that it was the same church.

So here it is, the former protestant church in Nakel, Kreis Wirsitz, Posen, Prussia, now

Nakło nad Notecią, Poland. When I asked Google how far it was from where I live in Cottage Grove Oregon, it told me it was 5,341 miles. Now I would consider that “so far away.” But thanks to another genealogist who was willing to share I can post a modern photo of the church where my gt-grandparents were married over 160 years ago.

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks – 21 – Military

Yes, I do know that week 21 was last week, so I am late, which is not that uncommon for me. I had thought that I would probably skip this theme because most of my family did not serve in the military and I had already written about many who did. However, yesterday I saw that Ancestry had added a new database to their collection, U.S. WWII Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947, so I decided to look up some family names in that collection and write about them today.

I started with Albertson in Linn County, Oregon. There was my father, Lester Albertson and his first cousin Earle Albertson, both listed as Halsey, Linn County, Oregon as their residence place. My father's registration was on 16 Oct 1940. I checked the historical background for this database as given by Ancestry:

“The U.S. officially entered World War II on 8 December 1941 following an attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. About a year before, in October 1940, President Roosevelt had signed into law the first peacetime selective service draft in U.S. history because of rising world conflicts. Multiple registrations held between November 1940 and October 1946 signed up more than 50 million American men aged 18–45 for the draft.”

Although this states the registrations began in November, apparently Linn County started soon after the law was passed.

Next I looked at my Falk cousins who lived in Linn County. There were 10 of them listed, except Gerald was my uncle, not cousin. The first 5 were registered on the same day as my father, 16 Oct 1940. The next 2 were registered on 1 Jul 1941, still before war had been declared. They both were born in 1920, so were age 21 before that date. The next 3 were on or a few days after their 18^th birthday. They were registered near the end or after the end of World War II. Here is a listing as found on Ancestry.

Name	Birthdate	Registration Date
Charles Donald Falk	08 Nov 1913	16 Oct 1940
Leslie Edgar Falk	03 Jun 1915	16 Oct 1940
Russell Charles Falk	05 Apr 1915	16 Oct 1940
Omar Ellsworth Falk	27 Aug 1916	16 Oct 1940
Rawley Lincoln Falk	12 Feb 1918	16 Oct 1940
Everett Henry Falk	21 Jun 1920	01 Jul 1941
Lyman Lyle Falk	15 Feb 1920	01 Jul 1941
Louis Raymond Falk	12 Apr 1926	12 Apr 1944
Gerald Keith Falk	01 Aug 1927	08 Aug 1945
Delmer Orvilee Falk	13 Mar 1929	13 Mar 1947

I checked one more place. Were any of my relatives in Sherman County, Kansas registered?  The answer is yes. An Albertson cousin, Wilfred Glen Albertson, and a Smalley cousin, Lauren Bobby Smalley, were both registered on that first date, 16 Oct 1940.  For these 2, Ancestry provided a link to Fold 3, where I could see a copy of the actual registration. So here are those 2 registrations. 

So, what did I learn from this? Often it pays to check the research databases to see if any of the new records will include your family members.

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks – 20 – Another Language

The records for my Falk ancestors that I have found before they came to the United States are written in German.

The ones I have found were in Posen Province of Prussia, which is now in Poland. But they attended the Evangelische or protestant church and spoke German. Most of these records are quite difficult for me to read.

Here are some examples:

The birth record for my gt-grandmother: Anna Luise Boehm, from the church at Nakel.

The death record for my 2^nd gt-grandfather: Michael Boehm from the church at Nakel.

And I am hoping this is the birth record for my gt-grandfather, Ludwig/Carl Ludwig Falk, from the church at Wirsitz.

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks – 12 – Misfortune

The theme for this week is misfortune. It was in March in 1932 when a misfortune came to my mother's family. She had graduated from high school, but was dating my father and her home was still with her family: her parents, Julius and Florence (Bond) Falk and her siblings Lois, Erma, Violet and Gerald Falk.

This clipping from the Eugene Register Guard of 11 Mar 1932 describes what happened.

I found another clipping and learned that it was Violet who had discovered the fire about 4 o'clock when she went upstairs to rest, as she was not feeling well. Julius was gone at the time. This clipping stated that arrangements were underway to replace the house, which had been built 19 years before.

Another clipping was a Card of Thanks from the family to the community: “We wish to thank those who were so kind and thoughtful during the loss of our house. Words cannot express our gratitude to everyone who helped in removing the contents during the fire, and we wish to especially thank all who had contributed to our home since. Julius Falk and family.” 

I have a letter that my mother wrote to my father about 2 weeks after the fire, on 24 Mar 1932, where she stated: “My Dad said that he offered the O. E. [Oregon Electric Railroad] man $125 for the house and they wanted to know if he couldn't give $150 for it. He'll hear from them next week about it I guess.” I had always been told that they moved an Oregon Electric Railroad house from the Cartney siding as the Railroad no longer needed an employee to live there. The siding was a little less than a mile from their home. 

I wish I had asked my mother more about it before she died. She did tell me that she was sorry that many of her keepsakes had been stored in the attic and had been destroyed so she couldn't show them to me.

I wonder if some of my cousins did find out from their parents more about the fire.

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks – 11 – Lucky

The theme for week 11 on 52 Ancestors is Lucky. I consider my self lucky (or I prefer the term blessed) that with all the moving my family did, my earlier ancestors were at the right place at the right time to meet and marry and become the parents of my later ancestors.

For example, my 4 grandparents were born in 4 different states: Iowa, Kansas, Wisconsin and Oregon.

My paternal grandfather, Oran Jesse “OJ” Albertson, was born in Marshall County Iowa in 1882, but in 1887 the family moved to a homestead in Sherman County Kansas. My grandmother, Lucie Rachel Smalley, had been born in 1886 in Sherman County just after her family had moved there from Saline County Nebraska. It was in Sherman County that OJ and Lucie were married in 1906 and my father, Lester Oran Albertson, was born in 1907. The family moved to Linn County Oregon in 1911.

My maternal grandmother, Florence Edna Bond, was born in 1891 in the Willamette Valley, Lane County, Oregon. About 1894 the family went north to Gilliam County Oregon, but by 1905 they had moved back to the Valley to Linn County Oregon. My grandfather, Julius Adolph Falk, was born in 1880 about 2000 miles away in Iowa County Wisconsin. A number of his family moved to Iowa and then 6 brothers moved to Linn County Oregon between 1900 and 1910. Julius came by 1905 and it was in 1910 when he and Florence were married. My mother, Wilma Anna Falk, was born in Oregon in 1912 and because Lester and family had moved to the area in 1911, they eventually met and were married in 1933.

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks – 4 – Wilma Falk

The theme for this week on 52 Ancestors is “Invite to Dinner” and today, January 27^th, was my mother's birthday, so I decided to write about some of the foods my mother, Wilma (Falk) Albertson, served to our family. Of course she enjoyed eating also.

                                                           Thanksgiving 1977

We lived on a farm and had our own beef and my father was a hunter and fisherman, so had lots of kinds of meat and fish to eat. Some of my favorite dishes included Swiss Steak, which was a thick beef steak cooked with onion and tomatoes; heart with dressing, the beef heart had been boiled and then sliced in a casserole dish with dressing on top and baked; duck and dressing, again the duck was boiled and then the meat taken from the bones and placed in the bottom of a casserole dish with dressing on top and baked; (you might think I really liked dressing not just with turkey); meatloaf, made from the recipe on the Quaker Oats box which is still one of my favorite recipes; Texas hash, which was hamburger, rice, onions and tomatoes; macaroni mixed with tuna fish and cream of mushroom soup; baked salmon; and fried salmon or stealhead steaks. It looks like I had a lot of favorites. That is my style, I like lots of different things.

Well, did my mother ever serve any vegetables? Yes, of course she did. If you count potatoes as a vegetable they showed up most days. It seems like one of the ways I helped in the kitchen often was peeling potatoes. During the summer from our garden, we had green peas, green beans, corn on the cob, cucumbers, and tomatoes. We usually grew some winter squash which would be ready in the fall. I did like the acorn squash when served with cinnamon and sugar. During the winter we had home-canned green beans and frozen vegetables purchased from the store. It seems like my mother used a rotation of frozen spinach, broccoli, cauliflower and brussel sprouts. While growing up it was only the spinach that I liked. As an adult I have learned to enjoy broccoli and cauliflower, but still am not fond of brussel sprouts.

We can't leave out dessert. After one of our neighbors put in a blueberry farm, I learned how much I enjoyed blueberry-peach pie. For my birthday I often would request prune cake, which my mother could make so well. I didn't even care if it had any frosting. For family Christmas dinners, I remember my mother was asked to bring the pumpkin pies. They were really good. A dish that I haven't had for a long time was floating island. This was soft custard with meringue floating on it. She only made this for special dinners when we were using the best china and pretty glass dishes. Another dish I liked was a baked apple dessert.

This has been an enjoyable trip down memory lane for me.

Death Certificates From the Past – Andrew and Caroline (Falk) Drone

On November 19^th I posted the death certificates of my grandfather's brother Leonard and Leonard's wife Katherine (Drone) Falk. Today, December 13^th, are the death certificates of one of my grandfather's sisters, Caroline, and her husband Andrew Drone.

Caroline was one of the family who was born in Prussia. You may notice that the informant stated she was born in Germany as well as the birthplaces for her parents. Germany was formed as a country in 1871 which was after all of them were born, but when she died the place where she was born had become a part of the country of Germany. Andrew was born in Pennsylvania and they both died in Grant County Wisconsin.

The relationship between Leonard's children and Caroline's children was a little complicated, because Leonard's wife Katherine was the daughter of Andrew and his first wife. That made Katherine both Caroline's step-daughter and sister-in-law. So Andrew was the father of Caroline's children and the grandfather of Katherine and Leonard's children. But he also was an uncle by marriage to Katherine and Leonard's children since Caroline and Leonard were siblings.

Grandfather Falk Was In the Newspaper

On 11 May 2017 I wrote about some of the entries in the local newspaper (Goodland Kansas) about my grandfather Albertson. Today it is my grandfather Falk's turn.

I already wrote (16 Feb 2017) about how the Julius Falk family visited with their daughter Wilma and her husband and also about their trip south to Glide to visit Julius' in-laws.

The Albany Daily Democrat of 24 Jan 1920 told that Julius made a trip to Portland and when he returned he was driving a Stoddard-Dayton automobile.

In reading the Albany and Eugene newspapers I found that Julius and family lived between Halsey and Harrisburg. (I actually already knew that.) When an item was listed in the Halsey news he lived southwest of town and if it was found in the Harrisburg news he lived north of town. On 16 Oct 1908 it was reported that he had purchased a farm 3 miles north of town and the price was $25 per acre. I very much doubt that his land could be purchased at that rate now.

There were a couple of items related to farming. In 1917 Julius was helping fill a silo. In Feb 1922 he reported that his first lamb had come on October 10 and that was confirmed by a witness, Clarence Grimes, who distinctly remembered the early lambs during hunting season. In 1934 a crew was threshing sudan grass crop for him. In 1937 he was listed as a visitor at the Lake Creek Grange with his son and daughter. Of course the fact that his daughter Violet gave a reading as part of their program probably influenced that visit.

It was in March of 1924 when he was listed as the father of a new daughter and then in August of 1927 he was the father of a son. He was mentioned as father of the bride when Wilma was married in 1933 and again as father of the bride when Lois was married in 1934. I smiled when I saw that the newspaper had listed Lois' husband as Benjamin “Lotsplick” because he name really was Lotspeich. Maybe someone's handwriting wasn't too legible. Julius was named as one of the grandfathers when Joanne was born in 1939 and then again in 1942 when her brother Oran was born.

Ancestor Birthday - December 4th – Julius Adolph Falk 1880 - 1944

I am a day late posting about Grandpa Falk's birthday since it came on a Monday and that is the day I try to post a mystery photo, which I did yesterday.

Two years ago I wrote a post about Julius' birthday, 4 Dec 2015. Here is a copy of that:

It was on December 4th, 1880, in Avoca township, Iowa County, Wisconsin, when my maternal grandfather, Julius Adolph Falk was born. Both of his parents, Ludwig Falk and Anna Louisa (Boehm) Falk, were born in the Posen Province of Prussia. They were German speaking Protestants who had immigrated to the United States in 1858. Julius was their youngest son, with at least 11 older brothers and sisters and 4 older half-siblings. By 1905 Julius had moved to Linn County, Oregon, where he married Florence Edna Bond in 1910. He continued to live there on his farm with his family until his death in 1944.

With that post I included a photo of him on an old tractor. I really enjoy this picture. Here it is again.

Other posts that include him were

the photo of the 6 brothers who came to Oregon 23 Sep 2017,

http://joannesgenealogyresearch.blogspot.com/2017/09/6-falk-brothers-came-to-oregon.html

a post about his automobile 28 Nov 2016

http://joannesgenealogyresearch.blogspot.com/2016/11/did-grandfather-falk-have-car.html

his wedding photo on 22 Oct 2014,

http://joannesgenealogyresearch.blogspot.com/2014/10/wedding-wednesday-julius-falk-and.html

a map showing his Oregon property 13 Oct 2014,

http://joannesgenealogyresearch.blogspot.com/2014/10/mapping-monday-j-falk.html

and the church record showing his birth 5 Oct 2014.

http://joannesgenealogyresearch.blogspot.com/2014/10/church-record-sunday-julius-falk.html

You can read more about him on my website:

http://www.joanneskelton.com/p1.htm#i5

Death Certificates From the Past – Conrad Falk and Albert Falk

These are the death certificates for two more of my grandfather's brothers who died in Oregon.

They died about 2 ½ years apart: Conrad on Christmas Day 1942 and Albert in June of 1945. My grandfather died in-between them, in 1944. Their death certificates show that they both had lived in Oregon for over 30 years and were living in Marion County when they died. I noticed that they were almost the same age when they died. Conrad was 77 years, 11 months and 10 days old, while Albert was 78 years, 1 month and 19 days, so that is just a little over 2 months difference. I find it interesting to investigate the many pieces of information you can find on death certificates.

Death Certificates From the Past – Leonard and Katherine (Drone) Falk

Here is the post for today, November 19^th. Leonard is one of my grandfather's older brothers. He was born in Grant County Wisconsin and died in Mt Angel area, Marion County Oregon. His wife Katherine was also born in Grant County Wisconsin and died in Albany area, Linn County Oregon.

You may notice that Leonard's wife is listed as Dorothy. That was his second wife. Katherine died almost 30 years before Leonard did, however she was the mother to all of his children.

Death Certificates From the Past – Paulina (Falk) Seefeld and Anna (Seefeld) Powell

I skipped making a post yesterday, so this is for November 18th. On November 14^th, I posted copies of the death certificate of my grandfather's brother Charles and his wife. These certificates are for their daughter Paulina and her daughter Anna. Paulina was born in Iowa County Wisconsin and died in Albany area, Linn County Oregon. Anna was born in Sexton, Kossuth County Iowa and died at Halsey, Linn County, Oregon.

If you check the dates on these certificates, you will see that the daughter died almost 15 years before her mother did. I find it sad when a parent loses an adult child.

Fotos of Some of Sarah Lollar's Children

Yesterday I posted about my 3^rd gt-grandmother Sarah Lollar and that she had 16 children. I only have photos of 3 of them, 2 daughters and 1 son.

This is one of the family of an older daughter, Leatha Ann (O'Neal) Lanning, who was born in 1827. I guess Leatha took after her mother since she had 17 children. Only 12 are shown here. My thanks go to Ancestry.com member, kittyacres, who allowed me to use this picture.

This photo is of one of the youngest daughter, Rebecca (O'Neal) Monroe, who was born in 1845. It was in the collection of my grandmother, Florence (Bond) Falk.

This last photo is of my 2^nd gt-grandfather's family. Commodore Perry O'Neal was born in 1835. It was shared with me by my cousin, Robert Bond.

They Emigrated in 1858

It was in 1858 when my gt-grandparents, Ludwig and Anna Louisa Falk, left their home in Posen in Prussia and came to the United States to settle in Wisconsin. Ludwig had 3 children from his 1^st marriage and together they had 2 children who came with them for a grand total of 7 who left Bremen on the bark Wieland and arrived at Baltimore on 22 Jun 1858.

Sometimes I wonder why they chose to come at that time. I don't have any family stories since all of the immigrants had died before I was born and I was still very young when my grandfather who was the youngest of the children born in Wisconsin died.

I was reading in a book about researching German ancestors, German Maps & Facts for Genealogy, by Wendy K. Uncapher and Linda M. Herrick. On pages 18-19 they included a section titled, “Events that Affected Migration.” I thought that these following might have been some that affected my family.

• 1842 – Prussian law passed guaranteed freedom of emigration.
• 1846-47 – Societies were started and newspapers devoted to emigration were published and circulated.
• 1849 – Bremen built emigrant housing to improve conditions.
• 1850-60 – Expanded railroad lines made transportation possible to Hamburg and Bremen.
• 1857 – Depression

It probably was a combination of a number of factors and I'll probably never know for sure.

Death Certificates From the Past – Charles L and Odelia (Rike) Falk

As I stated on November 5^th, I intend to keep working at scanning copies of death certificate made at the State Archives in years past. These are my grandfather's brother and his wife. They were both born in Prussia, which became a part of the German Empire in 1871, so at the time of their deaths it was called Germany. They both died in Halsey area, Linn County, Oregon.

You may notice Charles' wife has more than one spelling for her name. Odelia is what is on her gravestone. Also there is a double stone for them at Alford Cemetery between Halsey and Harrisburg. It is probable that her body was moved from the Pioneer Cemetery near Halsey after her husband was buried at Alford. I find it interesting that one of their sons, Chris Falk, was the informant for his father's certificate and one of their married daughters, Paulina Seefeld, was the informant for her mother's certificate.

Treasured Memories From the Past – An Heirloom Wedding Gift

This is a cut-glass candy dish that my grandmother, Florence (Bond) Falk, gave to me for a wedding gift in 1972. The story that was told to me was that she had received it as a wedding gift when she was married in 1910 and she determined to give it to her oldest granddaughter for her wedding. Since I just happened to be the oldest granddaughter, I did receive it. Now I cherish it for its beauty, but more importantly for who gave it to me and why.