52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Week 49

Mayme Crusham ~1950

With the writing prompt being Winter, I immediately searched through old photographs to see if I had a wintertime photograph of one of my ancestors. I came across this one of my maternal grandmother, Mary Barbara (Metz) Crusham.

Known by all as Mayme, she was born 5 February 1890 in Cincinnati to Peter and Bridget (Maher) Metz. Mayme was the second oldest of five children, with the others being Helen b. 1888, Alice b. 1892, Stella b. 1893, and Walter b. 1895. Mayme married Michael Crusham on 21 June 1911 when she was 21 years of age.

The photograph was taken in front of Michael and Mayme’s house at 1238 Rosemont Avenue in the Price Hill neighborhood of Cincinnati. My older sister Kathleen is seated on the bumper of what was probably my dad, LeRoy Kubler’s, car as we owned the house next door to Grandma and Grandpa. After discussing the photo with my sister, we decided the boy in the photo is most likely our brother Kenneth. It is difficult to say as he is turned away from the camera, and with my sister being seated you can’t get a feel for the difference in their height. Kathy is two years older than Ken. Our older brother LeRoy was diagnosed with aplastic anemia when he was a couple of years old, so he would not have been allowed out in the snow.

Having said that, and guessing that Kathy is around six years of age in this photo, it is likely that the photo was taken late in 1950. LeRoy died at the age of seven in January of 1950. And a huge storm system moved into the central part of the United States in November of that year.

The snow started out just before Thanksgiving in 1950 as a seemingly normal weather event, but it turned deadly. The significant winds created blizzard conditions, and Cincinnati and other areas received more that 2 feet of snow in three days due to the slow-moving storm. The snow conditions lasted from November 22-30. As if that wasn’t bad enough, above average temperatures during the first week of December led to flooding, with the Ohio River reaching 56 feet, 4 feet above flood stage. That certainly must have made for an interesting winter in Cincinnati.

There are a couple of things that strike me about this photo. First, Grandma’s feet and legs must have been freezing! It sure doesn’t appear as though she has boots on. Second, just in looking at her I would have guessed she was in the winter of her life. And yet, she would have only been 60 in this photo. Heck, I’m older than that right now, which makes me totally revise my idea of the definition of the “winter of your life”!

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Week 48

As November is the next-to-last month in the year, Next to Last is the writing prompt this week.  For this prompt I will be writing about my paternal great-grandmother, Louisa A. Boegel. Born in Cincinnati, Ohio in July of 1870, Louisa was the fourth of seven children born to Johann Heinrich Boegel and his wife, Sophie Elizabeth (Suhre) Boegel. Johann had emigrated from Prussia, arriving in Baltimore on 20 July 1858. On 26 November 1858, he married Sophie Suhre in Cincinnati. In later years he owned a saloon on the northwest corner of Ninth and Elm Streets.

In the 22 June 1882 edition of the Cincinnati Enquirer, an article appeared on page 8 entitled "Good Pupils" with the subtitle "Who Have Been Tried and Passed". The article went on to list the names and average percentage of all the pupils of Grade D who were examined for admission to the Intermediate Schools and received a score of at least 70%. Under the Third Intermediate School, Sixth District appears the name Louisa Boegel, with a percentage of 70.3. There was one student who scored 70%, making Louisa the next to last student in the class.

Louisa Boegel

On 18 January 1891, Louisa married Henry Kubler at St. Gabriel’s Church in Connersville, Indiana. Together they had two children: Joseph (my grandfather), born in 1891 and Ethel, born in 1894 and died in 1895. Louisa was listed in various city directories as being a seamstress.

Henry was only 33 when he died on 11 February 1902, and on 9 November 1903 Louisa married Charles Fredrick Brinkman. They had a son Charles, born 6 January 1907. Louisa died 17 October 1913 at the age of 43, when her son Charles was only 6 years old.

Louisa may have been next to last in her class when she was 12 in 1882, but without her I wouldn’t be here. And we all know what the person who graduated last in the class in medical school is called - Doctor.

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Week 47

Polaroid Land Camera

This week is Thanksgiving, so the writing prompt is Thankful. The thing that I am most thankful for, from both a personal and a genealogical perspective, is the fact that my dad was a person who embraced new technology - at least to a certain extent. Because of this, I am blessed to have old photos of my family, as well as his military days in WWII, because he was comfortable using a camera. He got a Polaroid Land Camera in the early 1960s, and we were all amazed when the photos popped out of it.

But the best thing he did was to purchase an 8mm movie camera in the 1950s. While he did not shoot a lot of film, I am so fortunate to have in my possession five reels that have survived the years. Included were the 50th wedding anniversaries of both sets of my grandparents! Recently I had the films converted to an mp4 format, using a local service provider. The films were in decent shape considering they haven’t exactly been stored properly the past 50 plus years.

The film is priceless to me, and to have the opportunity to have my parents, grandparents, and other loved ones brought back to life is such a treat. My goal is to edit the footage, removing film that is too light to be distinguishable. I also want to add still photos, text and music to the final product. I did a little of this before I went to Cincinnati in October, creating one mp4 for the Kubler relatives to see and a separate one for my Crusham family. But for my siblings I will make one continuous film that can be shared with them. Hopefully they will treasure the memories as much as I do.

Thanks, Dad - and Happy Heavenly Thanksgiving!