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Penn State Memories

2/22/2013

'Old Main'

On this date in 1855, the Farmers' High School of Pennsylvania was founded in Centre County, Pennsylvania. This institution would eventually become known as Pennsylvania State University. I graduated from Penn State in 2003 with a Master's degree in Meteorology. (They have one of the largest and most well-respected atmospheric science programs in the nation.) I lived in State College for only two years, but I have a lot of good memories from that time. I did some important education outreach work/research, made some good friends, and I met my husband there.

When we weren't busy trying to solve unsolvable radiation or fluid dynamics equations, we found some pretty awesome ways of passing the time. I joined a handbell choir with my church, attended yoga classes, and played intramural flag football with some of the other meteorology graduate and undergraduate students. My husband ate lots of hot wings, drank lots of beer, and trained for (and finished) a marathon. We also traveled a bit around the region; my husband took a trip with a friend to Boston, and we both visited Gettysburg, Annapolis, and Washington D.C.

I saved our student IDs. This is by far the BEST ID photo I have EVER taken in my life. And, of course, I only was able to use it for two years.

Part of my research assistantship involved working with the Meteorology Department's summer professional development workshop for middle school and high school educators. Here I am with the 2003 group, along with my advisor and some of the other instructors I worked with. I loved being involved in this project.

2003 Penn State Weather Camp for Educators

Women's Intramural flag football champs! I usually played either center or "linebacker." We liked to celebrate with homemade brownies after the games :-)

Nittany Valley Handbell Festival 2003. That's me in the front row, fifth from the left.

Oh yeah, and I earned a degree. Getting through some of the required classes was the first time I had ever really struggled with anything school-related, so, in a way, I'm more proud of this degree than anything else I've ever accomplished academically.

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Tombstone Tuesday: Mary Magdalena Bernard Rolfes

2/19/2013

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A kind volunteer with the FindAGrave.com network recently photographed this tombstone for me. This is Mary Magdalena Bernard Rolfes, one of my husband's ggg-grandmothers on his mom's side of the family. (Rita Brunswick Tumbush was her great-granddaughter.) The gravestone is located in St. John's Catholic Church Cemetery in Maria Stein, Ohio.

Gravestone of Magdalena Bernard Rolfes, St. John's Cemetery, Maria Stein, Ohio

Magdalena was the daughter of Joseph Bernard, a French immigrant, and Anna Maria Kemper, who, according to U.S. Census data, was born in Pennsylvania. They were married in Mercer County, Ohio on June 13, 1839. Magdalena was born in Maria Stein, but I have not yet been able to determine Magdalena's exact date of birth; her obituary from The Minster Post (below) states that she was 76 yrs, 2 months, and 7 days old at the time of death. That would put her year of birth at 1846, which may not be correct since her older brother's death certificate has 1846 as HIS year of birth. Magdalena's death certificate lists her year of birth as 1856, which is completely off.

Magdalena Bernard Rolfes Obituary, The Minster Post, 29 Sep 1922

Magdalena married Joseph Rolfes on May 2, 1865 in Mercer County. They lived and worked on a farm in Mercer County's Marion Township, right next to Magdalena's parents, and the two families are listed on the same pages in the 1870 and 1880 U.S. Censuses. The 1900 census lists her as having had 13 children, although I can find birth and/or death records for only 12. Unfortunately, her husband, Joseph, passed away in 1883 when he was only 41 years old. Her oldest child, Henry, was only 17 years old at the time and she had many other little ones to care for. Magdalena did not remarry and, with her children's help, must have kept the farm going, because in the 1900 census she is listed as a farmer and the head of the household. In her later years, she lived with her two daughters, Katherine and Caroline, and her son, Anthony. Katherine worked as a dressmaker to support the family and Anthony worked as a farm laborer.

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A Valentine Between Sisters

2/14/2013

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My Great Aunt Yola gave this Valentine to my Grandma Dina back in the 1920s when they were schoolgirls. I love how she signs her full name - as if it would be from another Yola! I found it in some of my Grandma's things a few months ago. It obviously must have meant a lot to her to keep it all those years.

On a side note, this is one of the weirdest Valentines I've ever seen. "Nobody better BEAT my Time." Not so sure what that's supposed to mean, and the fact that he looks as if he is about to hit her with the club is a bit disconcerting. Can you imagine the response if a child handed out Valentines like this today?

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Matrilineal Monday: Helena 'Lena' Janning Bernhold

2/11/2013

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(Matrilineal Monday is a weekly prompt from Geneabloggers that encourages bloggers to write about an individual female ancestor or a female ancestor's lineage.)

So far in my blog, I've talked mostly about ancestors about whom I have a decent amount of information. Today, however, I'm writing about a woman and her family about whom I have little information. Helena Janning Bernhold is one of my husband's paternal ggg-grandmothers. According to her birth certificate (see below), she was born September 8, 1841 in Ohio and she passed away January 13, 1910 in or near Minster, Ohio (Jackson Twp, Auglaize County).

Helena 'Lena' Janning Bernhold Death Certificate

According to the 1900 U.S. Census, she married Frederich ('Fred' or 'Fritz') Bernhold in 1855 or 1856. (I have not yet been able to find a marriage record.) They had 12 children, only 7 of whom were still living at the turn of the century. Her death certificate and the 1900 census form say that she was born in Ohio, yet in the 1860 and 1880 census schedules she is listed as being born in Germany. Grrrr....

1900 U.S. Census, Frederich and Helena Bernhold and family.

Her death certificate also mentions that her father's name was Bernard. There is a record of a 'Bernard Johning," age 53, in Auglaize County in the 1850 U.S. Census. He is listed with his wife Catherine and one daughter named 'Lena,' who is listed as being ten years old. It says he and his wife were born in Germany, but that their daughter was born in Ohio. I am pretty confident that this IS the Janning family I am interested in. I have also found an index of people buried in the "Old Section" of St. Augustine's Cemetery in Minster, Ohio. In this index, there is a record of a Bernard Janning who was born in 1796 and who died January 5, 1851. This date of death would explain why I am unable to find him in any future census schedules, although I have not located an actual record of his death (yet). This 1860 census schedule lists a 60-year old "Catherine Bernholt" living with Frederich and Lena and their young daughters, Catherine and Mary. Even though the surname is incorrect, I'm pretty sure this is the widowed Mrs. Janning: the age matches, Frederich's mom was not named Catherine (and I found her elsewhere in this census, anyway), and older widows usually went to live with family members in this period.

Needless to say, I still have many questions about this particular branch of my husband's tree. When did Bernard and Catherine immigrate to America? Where in Germany were they from? Were they married in Germany or Ohio? What was Catherine's maiden name? Did they have any other children besides Helena - if those children were grown, did they immigrate to America as well or did they stay in Germany? When did Catherine die and where is she buried?

The best chance I have of answering (some of) these questions definitely requires a trip to Minster, Ohio to look through St. Augustine Church's records. Then, I could really find whether Helena was born in Ohio or Germany and I could look for a marriage record for Catherine and Bernard. It's not a short drive from where I live in Indiana, and it would take some planning, but maybe someday.

(How do the Bernholds and Jannings fit into hubby's family tree? Frederich and Helena (Janning) Bernhold are the parents of Anna Bernhold, who married Joseph Schroeder in 1887.)

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Husband's AncestryDNA Results

2/6/2013

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Last year, my curiosity got the best of me and I took one of the DNA tests offered by Ancestry.com. My results, which I discuss here, were somewhat surprising at first, but after I did some research into the ethnic history of my great-grandfather's homeland, they didn't seem to be implausible.

I asked my husband to take the same test a couple of months ago, again just mostly for fun. I've been researching his family tree for about two years. Honestly, I wasn't expecting much diversity in his genetic make-up. The vast majority of his ancestors were from France and Germany, with a few branches from Holland, Switzerland, and Austria, ALL of which are located in Ancestry.com's "Central European" region. Here are his results:

Husband's DNA Results. (Source: Ancestry.com)

Hmmm....that's a pretty decent chunk of Scandinavian there. (By the way, "Scandinavian" in these test results indicates genetic markers characteristic to modern-day Norway, Sweden, and Denmark.) Wasn't expecting that, or the Finnish/Russian. None of my husband's immigrant ancestors claimed Norway, Sweden, Finland or Russia as their homelands. However, I realize that the test can pick up genetic markers that originate much further back than a European paper trail, so I'm keeping an open mind.

I've been reading a lot of genealogy blogs and message boards pertaining to Ancestry's DNA test and it appears as if my husband is not the only one with the "Scandinavian Surprise." In fact, it seems to be quite common for people with documented ancestors from the British Isles and many parts of Europe to discover these Scandinavian signatures in their DNA, even though they have no knowledge of ancestors from these northern regions. People have claimed that something must be amiss in Ancestry's database or methodology. Ancestry is very forthcoming about the fact that their knowledge of genetic markers and database of samples from throughout the world is continually growing, and that the breakdown of your DNA test may change in the future, depending on what they learn. After doing some research, though, I think that my husband's results are definitely possible when I consider the close geographic proximity between Germany and Scandinavia and the history of contact between their peoples. Add to that the randomness with which DNA is passed on through the generations and these results aren't so far-fetched. This blog post from The Genetic Genealogist does a nice job of explaining why your results may not turn up as you had originally thought they would.

For several centuries about a thousand years ago, pretty much all parts of coastal Northern Europe and the British Isles were subject to some sort of Viking influence, whether it be permanent settlements or battle/raiding events. Just within the past couple of years, Silasthorp, a moderately-sized Viking settlement, was unearthed in northern Germany near the border with Denmark. Experts think that this settlement lasted for 300 years. A Viking burial ground, known as Altes Lager Menzlin, has been found on modern-day Germany's northeastern coast. And there is evidence that Germany's entire northern coast was subject to frequent raids by the Vikings, even as far south as Hamburg, which was raided in the year 845.

Viking Burial Ground at Altes Lager Menzlin. (Source: Wikipedia)

Even after the demise of the Viking settlements, there was still contact between the people of Germany and Scandinavia, particularly through trade. In my research, I learned of the Hanseatic League, which was an organization of merchant guilds and trade towns that operated in Northern Europe between the 1200s and 1700s. The group was a large and, at times, powerful conglomerate that included cities located in modern day Germany, Poland, Sweden, Russia, Latvia, Estonia, Norway, Belarus, and Belgium, with member towns even as far west as the British Isles. In fact, there was so much contact between Germany and Sweden through Hanseatic League dealings that the German language left a pronounced influence on the development of the Swedish language.

So, this is second DNA test our family has taken and in both occurrences the unexpected results have driven me to learn a little more about the history of our ancestors' homelands. The knowledge I've gained makes the test worth it to me, even if it doesn't lead to finding new ancestors or distant cousins.

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Travel Tuesday: Adele's Postcard from London

2/5/2013

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In May and June of 1949, my great-grandparents Louis and Adele Licciardi took a trip to Europe. My grandmother saved most, if not all, of the postcards she received from her parents while on this trip, so I have pretty good idea of their basic itinerary. In Italy, they visited Turin, Rome, Palermo, and Naples. This was probably their first trip back to their homeland since they left in 1920, so I'm sure they visited with friends and family members. But they also spent some time in London. Below is the postcard that my great-grandmother addressed to my grandmother. It reads, "I will call you on the phone June 29 at 7:30PM instead of 2PM. This is a large city but the food is very bad here. -Pa & Ma London, 6-25-1949."

This is how Adele was - she told it to you straight. I'm not sure when all the jokes about poor British cooking started, but clearly she was not trying to make a joke :-)

Back of postcard

Front of postcard

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Happy Birthday, Mom!

2/4/2013

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Today is my Mom's birthday, so I thought I would share some photos of her childhood birthdays:

Mom on her 2nd birthday.

Mom on her 8th birthday.

Mom with her mom and brother on her 3rd birthday.

Mom blowing out the candles on her 10th birthday.

And here is one of the birth announcements that my grandparents sent out when she was born:

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Foto Friday: Louis Licciardi, June 1936

2/1/2013

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Great-Grandpa Licciardi looking quite dapper in his off-white drape cut suit, a style that became popular in the 1930s. I'm not sure where this photo was taken, but he is wearing his Italian War Veterans hat, so it's likely he is at one of their meetings.

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Penn State Memories

Tombstone Tuesday: Mary Magdalena Bernard Rolfes

A Valentine Between Sisters

Matrilineal Monday: Helena 'Lena' Janning Bernhold

Husband's AncestryDNA Results

Travel Tuesday: Adele's Postcard from London

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Foto Friday: Louis Licciardi, June 1936

Emily Kowalski Schroeder

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