For the bookish among us

At Lake Tomahawk there are two free libraries, one for adults, one for children's books. I gave you this peek a few days ago.

I guess someone is reading all the adult books. Mmm, have to see if I have any to donate! They are supposed to return them of course!

Children's books were there that day, gone the next.

I and some of my friends are lovers of books...and usually are reading at least one, while there's a pile waiting for us.

My current fun is rereading Sir Terry Pratchett's Wee Small Men with Tiffany Aching. They may be geared for young adult, but are smashingly funny anyway. I'm listening to this one, and have several others of the series waiting. I just finished several non-fictions, and am due for a few laughs.

I was happy to have access to audio library books on my phone for my recent hospital visit. The TV was awful, and I hate daytime TV anyway. (a tiny blurry screen, Direct TV choices.)

I recently posted this photo of my mother while on vacation, and she enjoyed reading more than any activities. She never enjoyed being photographed though.

Linnie and Lou(ise) George, distant cousins of mine, 1880. We shared our ggg grandparents  One of them wrote her journal of moving from Alabama to northern Louisiana, with all the trials of growing up and being educated in the south before the Civil War. I've transcribed it for my descendants if they are ever interested. Here's the first of four chapters describing their lives. They were my first cousins three times removed.

Sarah Louise George Tompkins Specht, journal keeper (Lou George) at 84 in 1926

A tea party with laughs, unknown date (maybe 1900?)

Teresa and her hubby, Chuck, in Pigeon Forge TN a few weeks ago. She is one of my favorite book-lover friends. And yes, that's really his beard!

Sharing with Sepia Saturday where there's anything one wants to share that perhaps is related to the posted meme of the week. Yes, there's a fellow reading late into the night. I know the feeling, and fortunately nobody has taken my photo while doing that.

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Today's quote:

There is a fountain of youth: it is your mind, your talents, the creativity you bring to your life and the lives of the people you love. When you learn to tap this source, you will have truly defeated age.

-Sophia Loren, actor and singer (b. 20 Sep 1934)

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Today's art:

Cyndy Salisbury...paper artist..mask maker..sculptor....Bainbridge Island..Washington

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(More) Family Album:

Granddaughter Kate

My middle son Russ, and his daughter Kate, 2023-24

Kate's senior photo

Kate recently played Lacrosse in tournaments with her team in Clearwater FL (they live in OH). Then she and her family went to Berlin Germany for a week to meet with her sister who's doing a study abroad semester. Such fun to have those opportunities for this family!

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Sequestered!

Smoke from wildfires several miles away, came roaring (blowing!) through last evening. Sitting in my living room with windows closed, but curtains and blinds up, I started coughing.

So now blinds are down, and curtains closed. It's a dull place inside, while bright sun shines outside.

Screen shot of warning of unhealthy air last evening.

It has gone down this morning. I'm wearing my N-95 mask when I go pick up my lunch at the senior center.

Happy Birthday to mom's grandpa

Once again I am looking into my great grandfather's history.
I know more today than I did a year ago.  There are still documents out there, and I just added 3 to his entry over in Ancestry's tree.

He was from Germany.  Lots of Texans were.  They came because of the same promise of a new life that people from other European countries were attracted to in the nineteenth century, attracted to Texas hill country especially.

But Grampa Charles Herman Miller had come to America when he was about 2 years old. And he didn't leave a record of who his father and mother (let alone grandparents) might have been.

He did however, apply three times for naturalization status, in the late 1930s.
He was a widower by then, his wife Eugenia Booth Miller having died in 1936...the first year he applied for citizenship.  I don't know why he applied again in 1937 and 1939, but there's his signature on each of the forms.  The one in 1937 has his picture on it as well.

He was still working at that time as a railroad conductor.  By the time he applied in 1939 he had retired at age 71.  (His actual birth date is within 5 years, since he gave different years on different forms throughout his life.) He lived until 1946, in San Antonio, TX .

But let me go back into the history of his family that I have been able to locate.  Just the generalities of life from Mecklengerg, Schwerin, Germany.  From the web I bring you this...

Ancestors in Specific Locations:
Mecklenburg, Germany

Today the province of Mecklenburg where (the author's) ancestors lived is called Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. The modern state, formed after World War II, has much different boundaries that the Mecklenburg of the past. It takes in much of the old Mecklenburg duchies as well as a portion of the western part of Pommerania (the rest is now part of Poland).

In previous centuries, the map of Europe looked much different than it does today. Germany, as a nation, didn’t exist until 1871. In 1618, the most dominant German power was the Holy Roman Empire ruled by the Catholic Hapsburgs from Vienna. Germany was fragmented into many states, varying in size and power, ruled by semi-independent princes. The Reformation had also split the country, with most of the southern states remaining Catholic while the northern states converted to Lutheranism.

Mecklenburg historically was composed of duchies. At the time of the Thirty Years’ War, the province consisted of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, where (the author's) family lived, and Mecklenburg-Gustrow. (A division made in 1701, which lasted until the twentieth century, separated the land into Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Mecklenburg-Streltiz.) With an area similar to Connecticut, Mecklenburg-Schwerin was the bigger of the two duchies, and located on the western side.

The dukes of Mecklenburg squabbled constantly and mismanaged the duchies’ finances, often leaving the province in perilous circumstances. This enabled the greater powers that surrounded Mecklenburg to take advantage of the small, weak province. However, while in later history Prussia annexed much of the area around it, Mecklenburg remained independent until Germany’s unification in 1871.

Photo from Leslie Huber's site

Mecklenburg was known for being perhaps the most backwards of the German states. Fritz Reuter, the famous writer from Mecklenburg, often said that everything happened one hundred years later in his home province.

Life in Mecklenburg was different than life in other German states. However, it shared many characteristics and the people, of course, experienced many of the same events of history. 

SOURCE: http://www.understandingyourancestors.com/asl/mecklenburg.aspx

UnderstandingYourAncestors.com Leslie Albrecht Huber  

Leslie Huber gives many more links, which I will follow in the future.  For now I'm glad to have a bit of background about the area my ancestors lived in, and why they were probably eager to come to wild Texas.

Whoever Charles Herman Mueller's parents were, they made a good decision to bring him to Texas.  In his obit there's a surviving sister mentioned, who I have still been unable to trace.  For this year's birthday I tried looking at ship manifests, but no luck for little Charles or sister Dora.