2024 #52Ancestors #Week20 Taking Care of Business

I've written previously about the shoemaking of my Dutch immigrant great-great grandfather, and of Peter Winkel's involvement in the Farmer's Co-Op and Stock and Lumber Yards. Also, about my grandmother working at Dayton's Minneapolis. There was a great deal more work or business going on in north western Iowa in the early years of the previous century, particularly sewing and mending in a time when you certainly couldn’t run to the mall for a new blouse.

1899 & 1900s

Miss Allie TenKley hereby announces to the public that she is ready to do any (sewing) work - Wednesday August 2, 1899

Miss Bertha and Alice TenKley are sewing at their house and at others. - Nieuwsblad, Sioux Center, Iowa - Sept 14, 1904

I’ve known most of my life that my great grandmother was quite a talented seamstress. I have a few photos of the entire family that include outfits, I’m told, where it’s likely that she made every stitch of clothing herself. I hadn’t realized that she and her sister both offered their skills for hire. I also learned from official records that both were attending the public schools at this same time.

Dick Winkel has given up his job at the Wassenaar’s lumberyard and intends to go to Canada. His brother Pete will take his place in the yard. - Nieuwsblad March 15, 1945 (36 yrs ago - 1909) 

Dick Winkel and W. Brandts returned disappointed from Canada. No work claims to be gotten too far from the railroad so when they had spent the money they took along from Sioux County they made up their mind to return to the motherland, for they thought they had as much chance in Sioux Center as in foreign lands. - Nieuwsblad May 3, 1945 (36 yrs ago - 1909)

Not needlework at all, but this Canadian trip of Dick Winkel (Peter’s brother, not his dad or his son) has to have been a very big deal. Considering the dates of the newspaper article, they seem to have been gone for at least 6 weeks. I imagine they journeyed by train, and I know considering my own hometown, it is NOT warm in Canada in March. I wonder if this would have affected the trajectory of the rest of his siblings, had they been successful.

1910s

Mrs. W. A. van Steenwyk and Miss Jo Winkel were at Sioux City on business. - Hull Index May 31, 1912 

Miss Johannah Winkel, one of our milliners, has returned from the Twin Cities where she purchased her fall line of goods. - Alton Democrat Aug 24, 1912

Mrs. W. A. van Steenwyk and Miss Jo Winkel went to Minneapolis on Monday evening to do their shopping for the fall. - Nieuwsblad August 1912

The millinery firm of Van Steenwyk is dissolved. Miss Johanna Winkel will alone have charge of it in the future. - Alton Democrat June 7, 1913

Millenery Opening

Friday & Saturday 

19 & 20 Sept.

I'll have my millenery opening

All Ladies Are Becoming Friendly

Invited to come in.

Never before

Has there been such a beautiful assortment (of)

Hats at SIOUX CENTER

Been on display.

For ladies of all ages.

I have one of the finest trimmers,

Who is available.

Good and neat work guaranteed.

At the lowest prices.

Mrs. J. Brandts

Better known as: Jo Winkel

Nieuwsblad Sept 17, 1913

Mrs. J. Brandts will ... going to Minneapolis to do her shopping.- Nieuwsblad Feb 18, 1914

Mrs. P. Winkel and her sister-in-law Mary (Jo?) went to Sioux City a day last week on business. - Alton Democrat Jan 11, 1919

Jo, Mary and their mother, circa 1910-15

I had to do some digging, to find out anything at all about my Great-Great Aunts Johanna and Mary Winkel. One lived with her children in Sioux Falls, the other in California. I have no idea why there was almost no information about them within the family, perhaps I didn’t ask any of the right questions years ago.

At any rate, it was fascinating to learn this year that Jo was the co-owner of a business, one that she kept at, if briefly, after she married. It certainly wasn’t unheard of for a woman to have a shop, and she may have spent a fair amount of time at her father’s knee as he plied his cobbler’s trade in the shops of other men.

Clearly from her ad, Jo and her partner dealt in fashionable hats, but lace and linen caps were still being worn by many of the Dutch women of this largely Dutch community. Perhaps those caps were relegated to seamstresses like her sister-in-law.

1920s

FOR SALE - Gerrit ten Kley, Chevrolet 490 touring, Jelle … Chevrolet sedan. - Sept 1, 1920

I’ve included this last clipping as a nod to the ability to go increasing distances, which allowed both the mobility to source more goods, but also to travel to the increasingly popular department stores spreading across the nation. The town seamstresses and the local hat shop were superseded long ago.

Even my Grandma preferred “store-bought” after growing up with homemade (though well done) garments. Clearly she had a huge amount of company, and I was a fortunate recipient of some darling little dresses from Dayton’s. Oh, how I loved going to The Mall with her, too!

2024 #52Ancestors, Week 19: Preserve

Let's talk about the difficulties of preserving family history.  If you're like me, you have a full-time job that takes up much of your time - time that you would much rather be spending tracking down elusive ancestors.  Maybe you are also raising children.  I have a daughter.  She is in elementary school, so her folder must be checked and emptied every night, and there are always birthday party invitations to consider and permission slips to be signed.  On top of these responsibilities, we also have a yard to maintain and a vegetable garden to manage.  The garden is substantial - it used to be a 20x40 in-ground pool.  Somewhere in the midst of all of this, I steal an hour or two in the evenings to work on genealogical mysteries with my distant cousin, Heather.  What I'm saying here is that preserving family history takes time.

Time, however, is not the only necessity.

I inherited this stack of boxes from my grandparents when my maternal grandfather passed away in 2022.  I have sifted through them multiple times, trying to organize the photos into Grandma's side or Grandpa's side.  I have made some progress, but as you can probably tell from the items unrelated to genealogy piled in the foreground, these boxes have been sitting on the table for some time.  In fact, these photos have been sitting on a table in our dining room since October of last year.  They had been sitting on the floor in my library, but we rescued a dog, and I didn't want to risk finding out the hard way that he was a chewer.

Speaking of the library, this old TV stand has been repurposed into a coffee table for our book room.  Inside it, you will find another collection of genealogy materials.  I have my mother's DAR application (putting in my own application has been on my to-do list for some time), a cabinet card album full of my great grandparents' relatives, a book on dating photos using fashion, an assortment of pictures my dad gave me of his aunts and uncles, books detailing the tips and tricks of genealogy, a CD of information about my Arter relatives...and who knows what else.  The point is that while preserving family history takes time, it also takes space.  

You might ask, what is the point of this post?  Just this.  Thank your family preservationist because he/she has certainly dedicated more time and space to this calling than you realize.

2024 #52 Ancestors #Week19 - Preservation

When I saw this prompt, thoughts immediately went to my maternal grandma's strawberry freezer jam. I can't write much about that, except to say that it was a delicious treat, that I miss it - yes, I know I could learn to make it - and that I have a strawberry tattooed on my right arm in her memory.

I confess to being more than a bit obsessed with family photos (the older the better) and I spend most evenings chatting with my lovely Cuzzin, not always solely about genealogy but at least mentioned almost every day. I enjoy the research, the "hunt" as it were, more than most other hobbies or genealogically related tasks, and I enjoy sharing what I've learned.

The chore of preserving the "finds" properly never ends, and I am still learning to site my sources. This is a significant learning curve when one web link or note noted down 20 years ago leans to many a rabbit trail and too often, few actual discoveries.

I plan to leave everything to my youngest daughter, who shares my interest, and anything that she doesn't care to keep can be donated to the library or historical society. In that interest, getting scraps of paper and their sources documented properly, photos sorted and labelled and everything in some semblance of order is extremely important, as well as making sure much of this is digitized. This is a project I thought I might make some headway on this year, but it hasn't worked out that way quite yet. Binders and boxes and piles, oh my!

Meanwhile, I'll keep recording bits and pieces here until the heavy lifting gets a bit more traction!

2024 #52Ancestors #Week18 Love and Marriage and Divorce and Love and Marriage

My Grandpa Clint Lowe was born to city dwellers in Sioux City, Iowa in January 1916.  My Grandma Margaret (nee Winkel) Lowe was born 9 months later in Sioux Center, Iowa, about 45 miles away.  While she had no doubt visited Sioux City with family, her parents moved to the city when she was approximately 15.

Clint and Margaret's brother Dave were both members of the Order of deMolay, and one day Dave Winkel brought my Grandpa home with him, where he was introduced to Margaret.  They may have seen each other previously, but this was auspicious. The two became sweethearts.

On Sunday April 14, 1935 the two of them journeyed 40 miles to Vermillion, South Dakota and stood before Robert Martin Jr and one Methodist clergyman and were married. Neither of the newlyweds were yet 20, although according to the record, Grandpa reported he was 21. They went home to Sioux City and after informing their two sets of parents and siblings, the couple lived with Grandpa Clint's parents, Gus and Lulu, and grandpa's 14 year old brother Jack.

I do not know what specific disagreements may have occurred, but I know these details: Two women at home (grandma may have been working outside the home, Lulu was not), two men at work, and a teenaged boy in the house as well. The depression was on, and times were difficult on a good day.  

Some time in 1939/39, the disagreements, whatever they were, resulted in Grandma petitioning Woodbury County court for a divorce, which was granted. I've found no evidence that my grandpa knew of this, but his own father had been divorced back in 1911 after an extremely brief marriage which produced a daughter no one in our family had ever met (I learned this in 2020 via a newspaper clipping).

Again, I know little of what happened over the next few years except that Grandma spent time with her eldest nephew, Dennis, and Grandpa worked for the Sioux City power company.  War arrived.  Grandpa enlisted and was sent to Ohio and later North Carolina before going overseas.  At some point Grandma moved to Dayton, Ohio, where she lived on Victor Ave and worked in the Finance Department at Wright Field.

On Saturday, July 17, 1943 Clint and Margaret appeared before Rev. Charles Zimmann at First Lutheran Church in Dayton and were married again. Grandma wore a powder-blue crepe dress, which I just know was so flattering on her. They spent a week honeymooning in Chicago this time and stayed at the Atlanta Hotel for $34 for the entire week. They attended one of the WLS-AM Radio Barn Dances, and servicemen were treated well everywhere they went, being admitted to the bus, the train and the movies for free.  Grandpa told me once that when they went to a nightclub, the maitre'd saw Grandpa in uniform, pulled them out of line and led them to a table right next to the dance floor.  They were, per a Sioux City newspaper, briefly joined by Gus and Lulu while in Chicago.

From Chicago, Grandpa was sent to Fort Bragg. Grandma went back to Dayton and her job. When Grandpa was later sent to New York, Grandma joined him there for just a few days.  I imagine it was there that Grandma kissed the back of her photo with her pink lipstick, which he kept in his wallet.

When Grandpa did come home, they visited Sioux City together briefly, and set out to make their new home in Minneapolis, Minnesota. They were eventually married for a total of over 60 years, sharing their Lutheran faith, working and raising 2 children. They enjoyed 5 grandchildren (and some of their 9 great grandchildren) prior to their passings in March 2001 and in May 2004. All of us grandchildren are married now, and my husband and I will make half of 60 this year. 

Grandpa and Grandma in Chicago

Grandma and Grandpa late 1990s

2024 #52Ancestors, Week 18: Love, Marriage, and Divorce

Something that you hear frequently is that "divorces just weren't that common back in the day."  As I have researched various family lines, I have found this to be distinctly untrue.  I tried to come up with a unique spin for Week 18's Love and Marriage prompt, but it just seems to make the most sense to link to some of my previous posts where love leads to marriage...and then to divorce.

Nettie M. Pearson (divorced in approximately 1915, 1916, 1917, 1933, 1939, and 1945)
Nettie wins the prize for marriages/divorces with a grand total of six husbands. The link above only mentions five of them, but I have recently uncovered a marriage to Ansel Gus Hursey in May of 1917. This brief marriage occurs between her marriages to Roy Hudson and Walter Miller. While I do not have divorce documentation for each marriage, I do have divorce dates for "The Two Walters." I also know that none of these marriages ended due to the death of the husband.

Jennie Grace Terpinitz (divorced in 1936 and 1941)

Jennie was a highly educated and independent woman, but she was married three times and divorced at least twice. As I don't know what happened to her after she returned from World War II, it is possible her third marriage ended in divorce as well.

Dora Isabelle Green (divorced in approximately 1882 and again before 1895)
This sister to my great great grandmother was married and divorced twice, and her third marriage ended with the death of her husband.

Ann Elizabeth Echols (divorced in 1869)
My great great great grandmother is my earliest documented divorce. She and Thomas Green divorced in 1869 after she could no longer handle the changes in his personality caused by his Civil War service.

And if you're looking for a divorce record, I recommend checking out Dade County, Florida.

2024 #52Ancestors, Week 17: Revolutionary War

Before reading this post, you might want to take a look at some other war-related posts on this blog:

2024 #52Ancestors, Week 4: Witness to History 

Uncle Bud wrote letters to fallen soldiers' families during WWII.

2023 #52Ancestors, Week 45: War and Peace 

GGG Grandfather Thomas Green fought in the Civil War.

Nobody Knows About Jennie Grace (Terpinitz) Lambert Amey Johnson

Thomas Green's granddaughter enlisted in the WACS during WWII.

For one of last year's #52Ancestors posts, I wrote about the longevity of the name Thomas Pearson.  One of the Thomas Pearsons in question fought in the Revolutionary War.  This particular Thomas Pearson, my GGGGG grandfather (and son of my GGGGGG grandfather, also Thomas Pearson) was born in Yorkshire, England, but records indicate that he emigrated from England in 1774, and by 1776 he was fighting for his new country's freedom. 

Pearson was at the Battle of Waxhaws, also known as Buford's Massacre.  Here, Buford's 3rd Virginia Detachment (somewhere between 350-380 Virginians) was decimated by Banastre Tarleton's forces.  It was not much of a battle with the Patriots managing only a single volley before they were overcome by the British troops.  Survivors of the battle also reported that the British even massacred men who were in the act of surrendering.  Casualties (including killed, wounded, and missing/captured) totaled 316 for the Patriots.  The British lost only 17.  Thomas Pearson was among the wounded and was also captured.  On one Sons of the American Revolution Membership Application, it states, "Prisoner till May, 1783.  Thomas Pearson received 13 wounds; this and imprisonment brought on temporary derangement."

Thomas Pearson's last pension affidavit (November 1834) reads as follows: "Whereas it is represented to the General Assembly, that Thos Pearson, a soldier in the revolutionary war, belonging to the VA Line on continental establishment, and attached to the regiment commanded by Col. Abraham Buford, received  in an action with the British troops, fought in SC in the month of May 1780, sundry wounds in his head and arms, which have rendered him, in his present advanced stage of life, (being sixty two years of age.) incapable of maintaining himself by labour."  Thomas Pearson died 29 September 1835.

Sources:

"Buford's Massacre Site," South Carolina Department of Archives and History, www.nationalregister.sc.gov/lancaster/S10817729019/index.htm.  Accessed 25 Apr. 2024.

"Waxhaws," Battlefields.org, American Battlefield Trust, www.battlefields.org/learn/revolutionary-war/battles/waxhaws. Accessed 25 Apr. 2024.

2024 #52Ancestors #Week17 The War at Home

Back: Dorothy, Peter Winkel, Dave, Carole

Front: Dennis, Elsie, unknown ladies (likely Elsie’s sister Bertha and Carole’s mother)

Small children are Dave and Carole’s Dianne and David Jr.

Unknown Cousin

So much space has been devoted to our country, and my family's many veterans of many wars. I am the wife of a veteran, and I'd like to devote a little space to the war at home.

I've found a few clippings re: the war effort in Sioux County during World War I:

Mondag 8 April. … Miss Mary Winkel (list of several women covering shifts for week).

- Red Cross Com. - April 3, 1918


Mrs. D. Ten Kley has already knitted 36 pairs of socks for the Red Cross. -

Nieuwsblad June 26, 1918


I've written before about the difficulty that must have concerned and confused immigrants who still had siblings, nieces and nephews in the Netherlands. I don't have surviving letters, but there are a few from around the turn of the century, and certainly there must have been some trepidation in waiting for the news in the papers.

As for World War II, many mothers, my great-grandmother included, watched and waited as their sons went off to Europe and the Pacific Theater, supported their daughters whose husbands were gone, and helped to care for grandchildren, to say nothing of maintaining Victory Gardens and running a household during rationing. Elsie and Peter Winkel loaded their Packard and drove from Iowa to Washington State to see their son (Dave, I believe. He was in the Navy, but Dick was in Seattle for a time). I would hazard a guess that family members donated their gas rations for this trip. My own dad recalls having to donate rubber from a variety of sources including tricycle and bicycle tires.

In June 1943, my great uncle Dick was home for a short while on furlough, and a month later a note appeared listing his APO at Fort Robinson in Arkansas. I don't know if Grandma had been able to see her brother during his furlough as she was in Ohio, married on the same day Dick's address clipping ran in their hometown paper. That same summer, Dorothy had remarried and moved to northern MN, so that all 4 Winkel children were away from home.

Additionally, while war was raging, Aunt Mary lost her 17 year old son who had been born with severe disability, while she was also attendinhg her ailing father, whom the family mourned the loss of in Dec 1944. Their patriarch was gone, and his namesake grandson was still away.

Ultimately, my 2 great uncles Dick (married to Mary) and Dave (Carole) made it home to Sioux City after the war, and before the death of their mother the following spring. When my grandma and grandpa returned to Iowa, they had agreed to visit and to begin a new life in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Dorothy and her new husband and Dennis, nearly 10 when the war ended, remained in Duluth.