Fearless Females - Religion

It is said that “the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world”.[i]  I think this is particularly true with families.  My German ancestors brought their Catholic faith with them and remained strong in their faith.  My grandmother Henrietta Burbach held her beliefs close to her heart.  Her Viking prince, Adolph Hansen was of the Lutheran religion.  Somehow she managed to have both her prince and her religion.  I don’t begin to understand it but on 30 October 1907 Henrietta and Adolph were married at a Nuptial Mass in Gesu Church in Milwaukee, WI.  This was very unusual since at that time the church did not allow non-catholics to approach the altar.  In fact mixed marriages were definitely not encouraged.

  

In 1908 Henrietta and Adolph are back in Milwaukee for the baptism of Henrietta’s nephew Herman Adolph at St Joseph parish on 4 April 1908.  They were the godparents of the baby who was named after his grandfather.  Again this was just not allowed by the church at that time.  According to church rules both godparents were required to be Catholic.  Adolph and Henrietta’s daughter Dorothy would be baptized in Chicago later in the year.

After his death in 1946, Adolph was buried in Mt Carmel Cemetery in Hillside, Illinois.  Again at the time only Catholics were buried in Catholic cemeteries. 

Was this the original “Don’t ask, don’t tell”?  Or was there another reason that these exceptions were made?  I have asked the Archdiocese of Milwaukee to check the records of Gesu Church to see if Adolph became a Catholic there in preparation for the wedding.  Another route would be to find Adolph’s address in Chicago in 1907 and see if he was baptized in a Chicago parish.

Will I find the answers?

---

[i] From a poem (1865) by William Ross Wallace

1 From a poem (1865) by William Ross Wallace

Fearless Females - Sisters from Hungary

New York Passenger Lists

SS Aquatania sailing from Southampton

Arriving New York 9 Dec 1921

Lines 21, 22, 23 show the arrival of three sisters from Hungary.  Juliana 20, Mary 16, and Elizabeth 12, had traveled from Szabolcs Megye Nagy,  Apagy, Hungary to come to the new world.  It must have been a terrible crossing, the page shows that many people had been in the hospital, some even died.  Mary was one of those hospitalized, so ill that she refused to even think about another sea voyage ever again.  The ship log shows that they had been living with their brother Peter Fendrik in Apagy until their voyage to America.  It was very scary for the three girls who spoke no English.  They were going to Rayland, Ohio which may have been the home of their mother Elizabeth who came to America about 1914.  They hadn't seen their mother in seven years and now she was married with another child.

This is not Mary's entire story.  It does not relate how she immediately went into service in a private home and learned English by immersion.  She married a coal miner and lived her live in Martins Ferry, Ohio raising three children and practicing her faith.  Although she was a small woman, she was four feet nine inches in height, Mary was a giant in the kitchen.  Mary's baking skills were legendary and were in high demand.  She baked for family and friends often donating to church dinners, and funeral luncheons.  

Mary Fendrik Gulyban was my father-in-law's mother.  From her I learned to make stuffed cabbage rolls. and her wonderful Hungarian Kolaches filled with apricots, nutmeats, and poppy seeds.  

Mary died in 1987 twenty two years after her husband.

Fearless Females - Heirlooms

My grandmother Mama Dear (Alice Fleming Connery) had a collection of plates that helped to decorate her dining room.  They were displayed in a built-in buffet and hutch that stood at the end of the dining room beyond the long dining table.  The hutch part had clear glass fronted cabinets.  The plate collection was kept inside the glass doors.  The only thing the plates had in common with each other was that they were all hand painted.  I was fortunate enough to receive these plates upon Mama Dear's death in 1962.  The collection graced my dining room in one home and the kitchen wall in another home.  It has now been shared with my daughter and my nieces.  Pictured below is one of my favorite plates that I have kept.  It is about ten inches across and is about two inches high.

I believe the very first plate in Mama Dear's collection was given to her as a wedding present as on the back of the plate there is an inscription with the date of 28 June 1893.  I suspect that it was a gift from her husband Popsy (MJ)  since there was a fairly large collection sharing the hutch with a collection of Irish Belleek pieces.  The Belleek is another tradition in my family as each of my sisters has a collection that was begun when my mother down-sized and gave each of us a piece.

Fearless Females 15 - Kathleen Connery

Lisa Alzo of The Accidental Genealogist blog presents Fearless Females: 31 Blogging Prompts to Celebrate Women’s History Month. March 15: Write a six-word tribute to one of your female ancestors. For my aunt Kathleen Connery: Loyal, loving, determined, generous, devout, strong of heart.

Fearless Females Blog Post: March 4: Marriage Records

Once again, in honor of National Women’s History Month, Lisa Alzo of The Accidental Genealogist blog presents Fearless Females: 31 Blogging Prompts to Celebrate Women’s History Month.
March 4 — Do you have marriage records for your grandparents or great-grandparents? Write a post about where they were married and when. Any family stories about the wedding day? Post a photo too if you have one.

My mother's parents Alice Fleming and Michael Connery were married 28 June 1893 in the Port Huron home of Alice's sister Mary Fleming Walsh. The priest who performed the Catholic ceremony was their brother Fr Thomas Fleming. Two of their daughters, Pauline and Elizabeth, chose June 28 as their wedding day and at least 2 of their grandchildren also share that anniversary.

 

My father's parents Henrietta Burbach and Adolph Hansen married on 31 Oct 1907 in the Jesu Church in Milwaukee, WI. The real question in this story is how did they manage to have a nuptial Mass when Adolph was not a catholic. He is also listed as a godfather to Henrietta's nephew Herman Adolph in 1908.