Jeanette De Vries Brandt

about 1914

So I realized during my last post that my great-grandmother Jeanette had a child every year for SEVEN years!  (Okay it is probably a re-realization!)  Two of these babies died.  Julius Otto before he was one year old and Rose Marie was stillborn.  Now they did re-use those names which does make it complicated.  Four more children came along in 1927, 1929, 1930 and then the baby in 1938.

Jeanette was the seventh child, born Feb 15, 1899, to Johannes and Gertrude De Vries.  She married Otto Brandt Oct 31, 1918.  I have heard that it was a forced marriage in that Otto might not have been willing but Jeanette's brothers made sure he attended.  And since she was 3 months pregnant at the time of the marriage, this is probably true!

I believe her childhood was pretty happy, living on a farm with good parents and lots of siblings.  Her early marriage must have been very difficult with babies and cleaning and the depression.  Her husband Otto was not always able to find work.  She lived until 1975, long enough to see grandchildren and great-grandchildren.  My own daughter received her middle name in honor of Jeanette so she will be remembered.

Gert Brandt

Photo booth picture of Gert Brandt when she was in her early teens.  (This is my favorite of the ones I have seen!)  I'm not sure if she is still in school here.  She was only allowed to go through the 8th grade.  Her father didn't think girls needed to go further.  She worked and gave her salary to her parents after leaving school.

Gert was born May 21, 1921, the third child of Otto and Jeanette.  Her older brother Julius died before she was born.  So she grew up with one older sister and seven younger siblings.  What a full house!  She also grew during the depression and didn't live on a farm, although they did have a garden and chickens.

Maybe I like this picture because it shows she did have some fun!

Military Service in The Netherlands

Otto Brand / late 1880's

This is a picture of my Great-Great Grandfather, Otto Brand.  Otto (third generation with that name) was born November 9, 1860 in Zuilichem, Gelderland, Netherlands.  He served in the military while in his twenties.  The "story" is that he served more than he was personally required by selling his services to those who didn't want to serve.  He didn't marry until he was 30 years old and he and his wife had two children while still living in the Netherlands. His wife Willemke's family had been immigrating to the United States so she really want to join them.  Otto was more reluctant to move but eventually they immigrated with their two young children.

They had two additional children after the migration, one of which was my Great-Grandfather Otto who was born in 1898.  According to my grandmother, her grandfather Otto never really learned English so Dutch was still spoken in his house.  Her future husband, Gordon was able to speak Dutch with Otto which he seem to enjoy.  Otto's own grandchildren had never really learned more than a few words of Dutch.

Otto died July 3, 1947 in Holland Michigan followed 11 days later by his wife, Wilma.  They are buried in the Pilgrim Home Cemetery in Holland.

Flip Pal Scanner

This past Christmas, I received a Flip Pal Scanner!  I do have a regular flat bed scanner which I love, but it does take time to set it up.  Plus I have to run it through my laptop.  Right now my computer needs a new battery so it has to be plugged in at all times.  Additionally, it heats up very fast so I don't like running it all day if I can help it.  So that is where the Flip Pal comes in. Plus I liked that you didn't have to remove a picture from an album to make a scan.

I have used the scanner quite a bit since December.  Because of its size, it works best on regular snap shots and it does scan really fast.  The BIGGEST issue I have with it is the batteries.  It takes 4 regular AA batteries and I can only scan about 45 pictures before they need to be replaced.  I did purchase some rechargeable batteries and hopefully that will work out.  I used rechargeable batteries in my old camera and they kind of sucked too!

Annie's Ghost

I actually read this book a while ago but I think it would be good to describe it now: Annie's Ghosts by  Steve Luxenberg.  Steve is actually a journalist rather than a genealogist but still describes the research he did to find this lost Aunt.  The start of his search came after his mother died and they receive a notice from the cemetery about flowers.  But the notice lists 3 graves, rather than the two expected.  A girl named Annie is listed.  Most of her life, Steve's mother repeatedly stated she was an only child but once when she was sick, she mentioned a younger sister who was institutionalized at the age of 2.  So after finding out the name of this mysterious Aunt, Steve goes looking for the truth.  The story is set in the Detroit area and also describes the treatment regularly given at this large institutions.  Good story and worth a read!

Knitting

So another thing I have neglected over the last few years is knitting.  I actually like to knit quite a bit although not during the summer.  In the winter time it is great to have some yarn and needles in your hand!

It is actually a family tradition to knit!  My mother (plus sister), my mother-in-law and both my grandmothers either knit or crochet.  Both my grandmothers crochet'd (is that right?) until they were quite old since it kept their fingers nimble!  I was actually surprised to see some samples of my paternal grandmother's rather delicate crochet samples.  I have a hard time picturing her doing this type of work since I don't remember her ever doing it in front of me. I do have a couple of ornaments she gave me.  My maternal grandmother actually made wash clothes which is why they are a favorite of mine.  Ever christmas we could pick one out.  Now I wish I had saved one...

So I have to get back into knitting, learn how to crochet and spend less time on the computer.  Good luck with that right?!

Birthdays Through the Years

Grandma and her oldest granddaughter

So I worked on a "secret" project last year (2012) for my older sister Deb (not pictured).  My sister has done many many birthday cakes over the years for the kids of her siblings, plus others.  My job was to help her find a new cake each time so I had a ton of different cake ideas on my computer.  So I printed out recipes for all these different cakes and then made prints from all the kids birthdays.  We did parties from when they were 1 until they were 10 years old.  I actually was able to find almost all of them except for the three oldest because that was before I was regularly taking pictures.  I had the project done by Christmas time and gave it to her then.  She was so surprised!  She said it was her favorite gift and she really enjoyed looking at the book, as did everyone else at the party.

So that got me thinking that it would be really cool if I could find a picture of myself for every birthday.  And if I could, I would make a little photo album and it might be fun to get out every year.  Of coarse, I am almost positive I didn't celebrate every birthday as an adult.  So what would I do for those years??