Where did my name come from?

Fearless Females: 31 Blogging Prompts to Celebrate Women’s History Month.
March 3 — Do you share a first name with one of your female ancestors? Perhaps you were named for your great-grandmother, or your name follows a particular naming pattern. If not, then list the most unique or unusual female first name you’ve come across in your family tree.

I did not realize until I was an adult that my name came from the middle names of my mother's sisters, Leah Margaret Werner and Norma Lucille Werner. My Aunt Leah was 16 when I was born, and my Aunt Norma was 19. Leah was still in high school and Norma was working at Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, OH. She said she did not get to see me until I was about six months old.

L-R - Leah Margaret Werner - Norma Lucille Werner - Allene Marie Werner

about 1940

Fearless Females

Fearless Females: 31 Blogging Prompts to Celebrate Women’s History Month

March 2 — Post a photo of one of your female ancestors. Who is in the photo? When was it taken? Why did you select this photo?

Today, I choose my grandmother, Viola Barbara Pfeiffer Werner. Viola was the 2nd child and the first daughter of Henry and Cora Benton Pfeiffer. She was born on Christmas Eve in 1894. There would be 8 children in this family, 4 boys and 4 girls. Four years after Viola was born, the 4th child of the family, Irene Bessie Pfeiffer, was also born on Christmas Eve. These two sisters maintained an extremely close relationship throughout their lives. Both became teachers in the early one-room schools of Grafton Township in Lorain County Ohio. They had a double wedding on 12 March 1918. Each had 3 daughters.

Grandma Vi was a person who always wanted to "know more". She was an early graduate of Kent State University, she taught school, she was a musician, and she was a photographer. She took and developed her own pictures - you know, those postcard pictures on the heavy cardboard. She wasn't afraid to take on new challenges. She was active in her church and in the Eastern Star.

This is just a short glimpse into the life of my grandma. She died in September of 1991. 

My grandmother was the pianist in a small musical group. She played both piano and violin. This picture was probably taken around 1918-1920. I chose this picture because it shows the musical tradition that has been a strong part of our family over the years.

ANNIVERSARIES OF OUR ANCESTORS

Today, as my husband and I celebrate our 53rd anniversary, I reflect back on how long our ancestors were married. I compiled a list of anniversaries three years ago for our 50th anniversary. It is an interesting side to researching!

My husband and I were married 53 years ago today. There was snow on the ground, but it was warm enough that heavy winter coats were not needed. We had a simple ceremony with the reception held in the church reception rooms. My mother made my wedding dress, and the dress of my sister, who was my bridesmaid. I had a borrowed veil. We lived in an upstairs apartment next to the house of my husband's parents. My husband often walked to work which was about 2-3 blocks away.

A Musical Tradition

A friend asked me today what I was doing special for this Memorial Day Weekend. I really have no special plans, but have thought about going to the local parade on Monday just to see the high school marching band.

That simple remark led to quite a discussion of musical talents within my family. It is an inherit trait that comes from both sides of my family. I started learning to play piano when I was 5 years old. The piano was sitting in the middle of the living room as wallpaper was being stripped from the walls. My dad was my teacher. I've mentioned before his musical talents. In 5th grade we could start learning a musical instrument. I started with the clarinet. I used my Aunt Millie's one piece silver clarinet. I played that clear through high school. In the 8th grade, my band director asked me to learn to play the bassoon as he needed a bassoonist for the high school band. I really did enjoy that instrument. In high school, I was in marching band, concert band, and the orchestra. In marching band, I played either the clarinet or the glockenspiel that you carried in front of you.

I had two sisters and one brother. My sisters were taught piano, but they never really enjoyed it. My brother was also taught to play piano and he has used it much more. One sister learned to play the trumpet, one sister played the violin and flute, and my brother played trumpet, guitar, and keyboards.

My mother also had musical talents in that she had learned to play the piano enough to get by with. She also had played the violin.

My mother's mother was also a piano player and had played the violin. She had bought her violin from a Sear's catalog in the early 1900's. That violin was used by my mother, my sister, my daughter, and my grandchildren! It has a lovely tone to it and is considered a 3/4 size violin. My grandmother was also ahead of her time as she played in a small dance band with 3 guys! How progressive she was.

I had one daughter that played violin and drums (she was also in the marching band), one daughter played violin and clarinet, but stuck with the violin for high school, and my son had different musical talents in that he played the radio.

My husband played the accordion. Some years, we were able to play Christmas music together as a family with some of the simpler Carols.

My father's family line is reported to have been a very musical family with many playing different kinds of instruments to fine singers. This is documented back to at least my 3rd if not 4th great-grandfathers.

Yes, I just may go watch the parade on Monday!

The Flowers of Spring

I love to walk around my yard in the spring and watch the growth and new life that returns. I have some favorites that have come from other family members.

A few years ago, one of my aunts gave me some woodland ferns and columbines. The ferns have disappeared, but the columbines continue to flourish. The breeze likes to shift the seeds around the yard, so I never quite know where they will appear next year. In varying shades of lavender they make quite a special display.

Also in the moist, shady spot of the back yard, I have a small group of jack-in-the-pulpit that has thrived for the 40 years we've lived in this location. The coral bells seem to like that area of the yard as well.

I have some beautiful fall lilies that came from my mother-in-law's yard. There are yellow lilies and some with a deep maroon color. I just have to keep all the weeds out of that little patch.

A couple of years ago, my daughter gave me a start of a lilac bush. It is growing well and bloomed very nicely this year. I love the scent of lilac wafting past me as I walk through the back yard.

Against my back deck, I have 3 special plants growing. One is an antique rose bush - Fantine LaTour - which they say is so old, they don't know exactly how old it is. The blooms last one day in a beautiful purplish-pink color. The second day, the blossoms are more withered. I got the start of this rosebush from my father, in Arizona. He had gotten a start from a first cousin, who had gotten their start from my father's mother, who had lived in Ohio. Since my 4th great-grandparents came to Ohio in 1795, and this rose bush is such an antique, I would like to think that perhaps they brought a start of that bush from New Jersey to Ohio with them as a remembrance of home. Of course, I can't prove that, but I like to think that. My mother always had a huge honeysuckle plant growing beside her home. I was able to get a start of honeysuckle from a plant here in Ohio, and now my honeysuckle bush is as large as hers was. It also draws the hummingbirds, which my mother also loved. The third plant is a hydrangea bush that my other daughter got me one year for Mother's Day. It too is doing extremely well and increases its blooms every year.

Other flowers in the yard include lily-of-the-valley, two iris plants, pink and dark pink peonies, two very huge hosta plants and a Japanese dogwood tree. The tree was a sapling given away by the local electric company when our oldest grandson was small. The tree is about 19 years old now is a sight to behold when it blooms. There are red and yellow tulips in the spring, balloon flowers, and an Easter lily. I have lost my beautiful coral poppies.

My walk around the yard brings me special pleasure and special memories of family members that have contributed to our collection over the years.

Voting for Lincoln

I never met my father's grandparents on his mother's side. My father never met his grandparents on his mother's side either. Both had died several years before my father was born in 1914. In searching for information on my great-grandparents, I was fortunate enough to run across a few newspaper articles that gave a slight glimpse of who they were.

My great-grandfather, Thomas Wallington, was born in Northamptonshire, England in 1825. He married his first wife, Sarah Ann Archer, in England. About 1850, or shortly thereafter, Thomas and his family, including twin daughters, sailed for America. I still marvel at the fortitude our ancestors had to make a voyage to the unknown.

One of his obituaries states that he arrived in the United States with only a shilling in his pocket. Doing odd jobs, he worked his way from New York City to Elyria, Ohio. One of his first jobs was mowing the grass on the public square with a scythe. He went on to other jobs and earned enough money to buy his own farm. Thomas and his family lived in a log cabin not far from downtown.

The log cabin that this family lived in was less than a mile from where I grew up and went to school. The particular street that this cabin was on always seemed to have a "pull" on my feelings. It wasn't until just a few years ago that I found out why - this is where my great-grandfather had lived!

Thomas' first wife died. His children were all adults when she passed away. Thomas met and married my great-grandmother Elizabeth Celia Halliwill and they had 3 children, including my grandmother. They lived in Elyria, Ohio for awhile before moving to Spencer, Ohio. The farm they lived on is exactly one mile south of where my youngest daughter now lives.

Another news article states that he liked to challenge others to walk to Elyria from Spencer quicker than he could. It was a distance of about 12 miles.

There were two obituaries for Thomas - one for each of his families. The obituary shown here had the most information on him.

On this election day in 2012, I thought it appropriate to share that my great-grandfather, Thomas Wallington was the first at the polls in 1860 to cast his vote for Abraham Lincoln. He appreciated the fact that he could be a part of something so special.

I was voter 139 in my precinct this morning - not the first one...

From The Elyria Republican, Elyria, Ohio - 29 October 1908, Page 1

Thomas Wallington 1825-1908

Memories In The Wind

I recently drove past my mother's parents farm near Sullivan, Ohio.  It was a bittersweet trip.

When we were young girls in the late 1940's and early 1950's, our greatest summer expectation was to go to Grandma's house for a week or two during the summer. Grandma and Grandpa had a working farm of about 90 acres with a nice stand of woods and the beginning of the Black River that would make it's way to Lake Erie.

Being city girls, the allure of the farm was always an adventure. There were cows and pigs, chickens, dogs and kittens. There was the big garden that had to be tended and the strawberries that needed to be picked.
There were family reunions both large and small. Tables were set up in the yard and all kinds of food weighed down the boards acting as table tops.

The farm did not have inside plumbing until the early 1950's. That was a big moment!

On Sundays, there was the trip to the farm - about a 45 minute ride. Always for holidays, there was a trip to the farm. Holidays were always a time of great feasts. My mother's sisters, both unmarried at the time, were always there as well. After dinner there was always a walk to the woods to look at birds or wildflowers. In the spring we'd sit in the shadow of the budding trees and make circles of Adder Tongue flowers to wear in our hair. Upon returning to the house, a jigsaw puzzle was generally set out on the card table. Once in awhile, somebody played the piano.

We made hollyhock flower ladies. We watched the steam trains go by on the tracks a quarter mile south of the farm. We WALKED around the 4 square mile block for something to do. Once in awhile we rode our bicycles. I didn't find out until just a couple of years ago that there was a cemetery on that route that had ancestors in it!

One summer, our parents allowed us to ride our bicycles from our home in the city to the farm. What a grand adventure that was. We practiced riding our bikes in town going up and down hills. There weren't that many hills on our trip, but it was endurance practice. We left home early in the morning. No cell phones. No communication along the way - just 3 young girls on their bicycles with a brown bag lunch in the basket and a change of clothes. (There was always clothes to wear at the farm).  Our trip was uneventful and we arrived in good shape. I was allowed to use the telephone (the old wood wall phone with a crank) to call the operator to call home. Our parents came a couple of days later and put the bikes in the trunk of the car to go back home with.

The farm was "the place" to go. It truly was a refuge from the city.

A few years ago, long after my grandparents had left the farm, the house caught on fire on a cold, wintery day in January. The house was occupied but everyone got out safely. The whole top floor of the house was gone, and the house was a shell with the memories blowing in the wind.  The shell of the house has sat there for several years now. However, this trip, the house was completely gone and there is a stand of weeds where it once stood.

The farm of many happy memories

My grandparents

Edward A. Werner and Viola Barbara Pfeiffer