The cafe

Adam's Cafe

This is the Adam's Cafe. It was a very popular and busy place in the 30's I am told and it is somewhat entwined in our family. Up until a couple years ago I didn't know that the building still stood until the removed a sign covering the front of the building to expose the simple but noticable words "Adam's Cafe."

Now my family did not own the building or business by any means, they were too poor for that. but they worked there. Four sisters did. Guess it was a family affair. My Great Aunts Rose, Issie and Flossie all did along with my Great Grandmother Esther. It was such a popular name in our family my youngest son is named Adam.

In fact my Great Grandmother who was a widow met her second husband Felix, who everyone called Pappy there. Felix was a worker for the Union Pacific Railroad and the depot here in town is a half block away from where Adam's cafe was. At lunch time all the workers would pile in there for the usual cafe meal, then be on their way. I am not exactly sure how their story went but I would like to think it was sweet.

Around Christmas time 2013 the building went through a little bit of a transformation and soon a cute little antique store opened up. Of course I was excited to check it out. I soon became familiar with the nice lady who has the store. He parents years ago bought the building from the owners of Adam's and for many years operated a television store. Then it sold again and was a slew of small businesses from a pet store to a tattoo shop. The lady who owns it now has been working hard to restore the building though back to its original look and I am happy about it. She even has copies of all the menu's that Adam's passed on to her parents when they bought the building and gave me one. Every Thursday I stop in to see the place.

Rose, Issie and unknown men

~April~

What's in a name

Minerva and Carl

Good evening everyone! This weekend I got to spend some time with a very dear Aunt of mine. And it ending up making my research very difficult. I have been trying to visit with this Aunt for quite a while even though she lives only about 20 miles away we keep having a hard time getting together.

It was a lovely visit. She had many older pictures I got to bring home and make copies of inclusing this one of my Grandma Minerva and Grandpa Carl. This was their wedding day in 1939. I love how she is not wearing the traditional wedding style dress of today and how they added color to the photos.

I have a lot of information on my Grandpa and his parents. I was fortunante that someone has already done an extensive amount of research on my Grandpa's maternal side. The paternal part has been tough as my Grandpa's father stowed away on a ship to the US to avoid the military in Denmark. But this is not my biggest mystery.

That is my Grandmother. All this time I knew that her father was a step father. And then I found my Grandma's marriage certificate and found her real last name. Or so I thought! This weekend my Aunt presented me with my Grandma's birth certificate. What a blow to all of my hard work. The fathers name listed on her birth certificate is very different then the name I have done so much research on. And I have came to a dead end. I can find quite a bit of information on her step father but her real father is a huge question. Then the story, her real father got in trouble with the law and changed his name. But everything I had from the previous name also matched. It is so confusing!  Guess it will be some more late nights and some road trips to find the answers! At least it got me back into the mood to research.

~April~

Research block

For the past two days I have had research block. Along the same lines as writers block which I seemed to catch also.

I did the rookie mistake when I started doing my family tree. I dived in full force into every branch all at once. Mine, my husbands, my ex-husbands (for my daughter some day) all are hanging around in research standstill.

But it is a good thing too sometimes. I get frustrated with one, I can jump to another. Until I hit a block on all of them. And I do a lot of research on ancestry.com. Do not get me wrong, I love the site, but the darn little shaking leaves are not as thrilling as the seem on TV.

Then I get days, sometimes weeks where the thought of researching anything is just downright annoying. And that is exactly where I am. I think maybe sometimes I feel I am not finding what I think I need too so I have to give it a break. And then the other problem I have, the organization of it all. Yikes! I am just learning to be organized as an adult and I expect myself to figure out this mess I have made! Ya right!

So that is it for this evening. My messy family research is on hold. Maybe after a family Birthday party I will be attending this weekend will hit the spark again, maybe not. Good thing it is not my job or I would of fired myself a long time ago!

~April~

My research

Hello all! Short post tonight. But I wanted to write about my family research. I have been dabbling in family history on and off for around six years. Up until the last two though I was just helping my Mom. She was the one who got me involved in this all.

I come from a line of women though that researched. My great aunt Florene on my Mom's side was a research genius. This was way before information was at the touch of your fingertips. She collected everything from newspaper clippings of small gatherings, graduation announcements and pictures in volume. Some family members muttered how they got annoyed about it, I think she was right on track. I envy the amount of time and energy she invested!

My Dad's sister Jeanette was also an avid researcher. All done by hand. I remember years ago for my 12th or 13th birthday she gave me a book to keep track of my family tree. I wish I could find that darn thing now! She was always telling me about things that involved our family history. I think she knew I would carry it on.

Both of these fine women have passed on but their work is not forgotten. A cousin of mine was able to publish a book due to all her research and with the vast amount of information Florene had. I am trying to find a way to carry on Jeanette's work. But it is tough sometimes. Some family members do not understand the significance it means to a researcher. I am sure though somehow she will bring all that hard work to me.

~April~ 

Great Grandma Frances

This is my Great Grandmother Frances. She is holding my Grandmother Leona. I remember Frances well. She passed away just a couple of years ago and we had the pleasure of having her attend almost nearly every large family function.

My Grandma Leona on the other hand passed away when my mother was only 12. I hear a lot that I am like Leona quite a bit but it is hard to imagine when you have no clear comparison. But if I would like to be like anyone it would be Frances. So in a way I am sure that is like Leona too.

Frances grew up poor in a home with a large family. Between her fathers first wife who passed away and her siblings  from his second wife, there were 16 children in the house. I can hardly imagine. They lived out in the country where the closest town was easily 15 miles away. Their farm took a hard hit during the depression. We also live in Nebraska and there is a story of there being a horrible storm rolling in with a possible tornado. There were so many children the Frances was left in the house to weather the storm. And let me tell you she never had liked storms since!

But like any farm girl in those days she learned how to survive and went on to marry. She had 5 children and played several roles in her life. She was an avid gardener, cook and she even went on in the 60's and 70's to drive 25 miles and work in a factory to make ends meet. She made rag rugs and sold them at the local farmers market and for church bazaars. She was a busy woman and known for her fried chicken. And strong willed!

Frances stood strong when she lost my Grandmother. Then on to lose another daughter and son. Her husband passed away and she maintained her life living on the farm. She finally moved into town and lived in low housing but was mostly independent. And every holiday someone would drive the 20 miles to get her and bring her to eat and drink wine. Towards the end she endured breast cancer. That was the slow decline, but if you didn't know her you would of never realized she was losing some of her spunk.

We lost Frances three years ago. She was 96. Holidays are just not the same. No waiting for someone to get back with Grandma. No helping her put her jacket on. And no envelopes addressed to her when kids have parties. But every time I fry chicken (which I hope is just as good as hers!) I smile.

  ~April~

My tree

Last week I was snuggled up in bed with the husband. I had gotten back into full force on my ancestry research after about an 8 month break. There was something I found on Pinterest that was deep in my thoughts for some time now and I finally decided to attempt it.

Now I have never stated I was artists or creative. In fact I look at some of the things I see on Pinterest and stare in awe at the creativity. Up until about a year ago my walls have been pretty bare in my house that I've lived in for 12 years now. Why you ask? Because I look at my walls and I see nothing. No creative juices flow through this mind at all!

So in my bed the other night I said to the husband, "Can I put a tree on the wall here behind the bed? And put pictures of our family?" His usual answer to about just anything followed, "I suppose. If that is what you want to do." Now what I lack in creative ideas I make up for in impulsive whims. From the moment my head hit that pillow until the time I touched that wall with the first stroke of brown outline pencil, that was all I could think about.

And so I started. Outlined, drawn and painted it was finished in around 4 hours. All while the husband was at work. When he got home and found the bed pulled away from the wall and a tree drawn on it I got a look. And, "I didn't really think you were going to do this." Silly husband, when will he ever learn, was my thinking.

The next day came the great picture hunt. I decided to only go four generations back on this tree. Maybe more but for now I will share what I have so far. It is a work in progress. I am now going to track down relatives for pictures. So here it is........

 I will share my progress as I go.

~April~

A Dish That Became More!

The Ugly Wedding Gift!

Here it is! The dish that was my least favorite wedding gift ever! I became the owner of this kitchen wonder when I got married in 1999. It was a gift from one of my mother's older church friends.Now I know the lady meant well at the time  but I just made some offhand comment later to my mom that it was ugly and it went to her house for storage. Now let's put the story behind this.

I was 20. I was marrying a wild and handsome cowboy and I did not know the first thing about cooking. I could boil water and the husband's favorite meal was shake and bake pork chops with shells and cheese. Trust me, that is not a very challenging meal. I had no idea how to utilize a dish like this! Plus I knew it was secondhand and old. I was not into older things at all at that time. Fast forward 14 years to now.

This casserole dish is a common site at my house. It survived a divorce from Mr. Handsome and a marriage to Mr. Sensible and came out of hiding. It has cooked so many tuna casseroles  and other side dishes I cannot even count. And the ugly has grown on me. Cause of course when you have a family of 5 function always outweighs looks.

I have to say, out of the wedding gift I got back then, this is about the only one I remember now!

~April~