Week 7: Grandparents

The Book of Me prompt for week 7 is Grandparents.

• What were their names?
• Where were they from?
• Were they related? – Cousins perhaps
• Where were they born? Another County or state/area?
• Photos
• What did they do?
• Did you know them?
• What was your relationship with them?
• If you didn’t know them have you researched about them?

I thought this would be an easy assignment, but it was difficult because there was so much to say that it was difficult to write, not knowing what to leave out without affecting their story.  What I've written is a very small part of the people they were, especially my maternal grandparents since I knew them better than I did my paternal ones.  

My Grandparents

I have four grandparents and a set of step-grandparents.  My paternal grandmother died long before I was born—in fact before my parents even met.  My paternal grandfather lived in Nebraska, which was a long way from Oregon.  I only remember meeting him once.  My maternal grandfather died when I was 7.  Again, this was sort of a long-distance relationship, as we lived in La Grande, Oregon, and my maternal grandparents lived in the Portland area.  I was fortunate to know my maternal grandmother the longest, until I was 22.  When we moved to Portland when I was 7, I was able to spend more time with her.  I never met my step-grandparents; she died before I was born and he died shortly after my step-dad became a part of my life. 

Here are their stories, as best as I can relate them.

My father’s father was Karl Altmann a son of Hermann Altmann and Mathilde Schade.  He brought his wife and children to America in May of 1908, when my father was about 6 months old.  I only remember meeting him one time, when I was a small child.  The only thing I remember about him was that he was missing a finger on one of his hands.  That fascinated me as a small child.  He wasn’t a very big man, but I’m not sure that I remember that, or if it’s because I have some pictures of him standing next to my father, and he was a LOT shorter than my father was.  While his immigration papers state his name as Karl Altmann, I have found him in censuses as Carl Altman, and he was buried in Grand Island, Nebraska as “Carl Aultman. “ The name change probably occurred around World War I, in an attempt to anglicize his name.  Grandpa Altman was born in or near Stolzenhagen, Pommern, Prussia 14 August 1881, according to his christening records.  His birth date is confirmed in his WWI Draft registration card. 

My father’s mother was Auguste Friederike Micheel, a daughter of Christian Micheel and Wilhelmine Priem. She was born 7 June 1886 in Saatzig, Pommern, Prussia.  Her parents and many of her siblings came to America in 1900, although there is some indication at least one of her older sisters was here even earlier.  They all settled in Wolback, Greeley County, Nebraska.  She died a few days before her birthday in 1931, of complications from gall bladder surgery.  Thanks to message boards and mailing lists, I was able to make contact with descendants of my grandmother’s brothers and sisters or I would not have this much information.

Karl and Auguste were divorced at some point between 1914 when she returned with her three sons from a visit in Germany, and 1919 when she remarried to Wilhelm Hansen.  From her pictures, she was a pretty woman and I would have loved to have known her.  

Grandmother Altmann and sons. My father is on the left.

Maternal Grandparents

I knew my mother’s parents better, especially my grandmother.  We lived nearer to them  than we did my paternal grandparents, for one thing.  I’m also fortunate that my mother’s youngest sister, Elsie, became interested in genealogy and was able to get information from her many aunts and uncles while they were still living. She was the one who interested me in researching our family.  Because of the family history she wrote, I have more insight into my maternal grandparents’ lives.

Milton Melvin Johnson was born in Jamestown, C loud County, Kansas in 1883.  Flossie Cecelia Paxton, my grandmother, was born in Oketo, Marshall County, Kansas in 1884.  They first met at a mutual relative’s home when they were teen-agers.  While they were not related themselves, they each had cousins who married into each other’s family, as is often the case in small communities.

My grandparents married in January, 1909 when they were nearly 25 & 26.  This was older than the average marriage age of their day. 

 Milton & Flossie on their wedding day

In the summer of 1937, my grandparents brought their three younger daughters (including my mother) to Oregon.  Their only son and their oldest daughter were already there, so they decided to join them.  With the Dust Bowl and Depression going on, it must have seemed the thing to do.  They left most of their siblings behind with this move.

By the time I was born, all the family who lived in La Grande had moved to the Portland area.  I remember making train trips from La Grande to Portland every summer to visit family.  I don’t remember how long we stayed there, but it must have been an adventure for me and my little brother—not to mention my mother, having to ride herd on two small children. 

My grandfather died in June of 1954, a couple of months before my 7^th birthday.  I don’t remember his death, although my younger brother has a vague memory of waking up one morning and Grandpa wasn’t there.  He may have died while we were visiting, or we may have come at that time because he was ill and possibly going to die.  According to Aunt Elsie’s history, he was a hard worker, and always had a job, even during the Depression.  He was a farmer, although there were times he worked other labor jobs to make money to keep the family alive.  I have many pictures of him in jeans or overalls, looking like he had just come in from the fields.  

This is one of the few pictures where my grandfather

isn't in jeans.  This looks like the train station, although

I don't know if it's Portland, La Grande, or somewhere else.

Looks like they're holding boxed lunches.

My grandmother lived another 15 years as a widow.  After my grandfather died, grandma moved into my aunt Elsie’s home in Portland.  She and Uncle Cos had no children, so had plenty of room for her as they lived in a large house in the Laurelhurst area.

According to Aunt Elsie, Grandma was a good seamstress and had earned money before her marriage by sewing and doing housework.  After marriage, she did not work out of her home, but took care of her husband and children.  She made all of the clothes her children wore, as well as shirts for Grandpa.  She was also a good cook, and kept a good supply of home canned foods on the shelf. If company showed up unexpectedly around dinner time, she could always find plenty to feed the extra mouths, along with her children.  Her home-made noodles were legendary.  I remember grandma making them for dinner one time when she came to stay with me when my parents went hunting (and I didn’t want to go).  She said they weren’t very good, but I thought they were wonderful.

Grandma sewed doll clothes for all of us girls in the family, and she also enjoyed knitting and crocheting.  She would embroider pillow cases and crochet the edging on them.  She gave those as gifts, and I still have a couple sets that she made.  She also taught me to embroider when I was about 8.

 Grandmother and "some" of her grandchildren/great grandchildren.

Grandma is in the back row, 2nd from right.  To her right is "me." 

My brother is in front of us, sort of between me & Grandma.

This picture includes her 6 gg grandchildren, and is missing 5

grandchildren. I guess they just wanted "us kids" in this picture.  

I do have another one probably taken at the same time, with just the "grown-up" grandkids

She died suddenly of a massive stroke on December 24, 1969, ten days after my second daughter was born.  Mom brought her over to visit us just a few days before she died, and she got to hold her newest great-granddaughter.   I’m so grateful she got to visit us one last time—no one knew she’d only be with us a few more days.