From Dad to Tom

This is a belated birthday gift for my brother Tom,  

but I am publishing it as a gift to othe family members who would like to know more about Donald G Hansen, the author.  The man I call Dad!

December 6, 1943

CHICAGO, IL

It was on the afternoon of December sixth,

That the arrival of Thomas Michael had been fixed.

But too far ahead of the story I am getting you see,

For I had meant to tell it just as it happened to be.

It was a cold morning, one of dark skies and light rain,

The only thing we thought important was Connery departure by train.

Momsie and Pops were going to Florida to see Ellie you know,

They also had in mind the sun so hot and the lack of cold snow.

I arrived home from work about a quarter to ten,

The reason being , it was raining again.

Betty was in the basement doing her wash in her machine so fine,

I went down to give her a hand, especially with the things that were mine.

All of a sudden she said, “Don, I don’t feel so well.”

I said “darling, come upstairs and sit down for a spell”.

We went upstairs and decided after all

To give Doc Carey the long awaited call.

I said Betty to 4140 I must go to say good by,

Because we have many things to do and time will fly.

After telling Ma and Pa good by, and to have a nice trip,

Down Washington Blvd. I met Doc Carey and his black grip.

I said, “Doc, old boy, from your office don’t stay away,

As my loving wife will be your patient today.”

I then called Pauline, who was sweet to say,

That she would stay with Donna til later that day.

Betty and I then in my car started West,

To complete the doings for the things we were blessed.

After arriving at the Hospital, and starting Betty on the way,

Up and down the hall I wandered with my large chest on display.

After waiting for about an hour out there in the cold hall,

Over the loud speaker system my name they did call.

Into the delivery room I then dashed like a kid,

For I was anxious to see just how good a job we did.

Betty was happy to hear it was a boy,

But there was no holding me, overloaded with joy.

Betty looked fine, although tired and weak,

It was at this time I decided things no longer looked bleak.

I then ran to the phone and started my calls of pride.

It seems you just want all to know your son’s at your side.

The first I did call was my mother, who was on the job in our home,

But it seems that there was no answer, now why should mother roam.

Dorothy then heard from me that it was a boy,

Congratulations to both of you, we shall share your joy.

Then I called Pauline, I was still bursting with pride.

I asked her to tell the others before their long ride.

Back in the room with Betty, things were peacefull and quiet.

We both just relaxed, there was no longer a riot.

After sitting there talking, we decided the name should then be,

Thomas Michael Hansen sounded plenty good to Betty and me.

It is no growing late so the door I must close,

Leaving Betty and Tommy in a sleepy repose.

Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories - Day 6 Saint Nicholas

Today is the Feast of Saint Nicholas and the origin of Santa Claus. What are your memories of Santa Claus and waiting for him to come at Christmas? What does Santa mean to you today and how do you pass along that meaning to family and to others?

photo credit: stnicholascenter.org

St Nicholas Day was a very big deal when I was growing up.  It was also my brother's birthday.  Since we were of German heritage, we followed the custom of putting our shoes by the front door on the evening of December 5 in the hope that they would be filled the next morning.  As I remember it, if we (children) remembered to put the shoes by the door, they were filled in the morning.  The shoes had some nuts, an orange or tangerine and some hard candies.  This provided an exciting prelude to the big event of Christmas which was still to come.  

In the weeks between St Nicholas Day and Christmas we were encouraged to have good behavior.  Mom and Dad would spy Santa's elves peeking in a window or from behind a door.  This definitely encouraged good behavior since no one wanted the lump of coal representing bad behavior!  I've lately wondered if this was the foreshadowing of the "Elf on the Shelf" tradition. 

Paddy O'Cinnamon
image courtesy of the website 

 There was also the tradition of listening to the "Adventures of Paddy O'Cinnamon"  aka the Cinnamon Bear at 5:30 weekday evenings on the kitchen radio.  I think we each had our own visual of Jimmy, Judy, and Paddy.  It is still available on mp3s.

On Christmas Eve we were allowed to open one gift befor going to bed,  This was usually new pajamas from our Aunt Pauline and Uncle Bill.  Since there were always wee ones around Christmas Morning came very early in the day.  When we came downstairs the living room was a feast for the eyes with gifts spread out all around the room.  Santa left each child's gifts in a separate spot.  With nine children in the house you can imagine what the living room looked like. There were always dolls and cars, trains, or blocks.

As my children were growing up, we also celebrated St Nicholas Day although my kids thought snowmobile boots were a suitable substitute for their shoes!

I used to save the toys from cereal boxes to add to the "Loot".  Some times there were some gold foil wrapped coins too!

My daughter and her husband added wrapped Santa presents to the other traditions.  They began celebrating St Nicholas Day with their kids when they lived in Germany although it is a different celebration there.  In Germany, St Nicholas Day is when the gifts are given and Christmas is a day reserved as a celebration of the birth of Christ.

Currently the day is still a celebration of the birth of Christ and the gifts are opened after attending Mass.  

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun! - Proof of Lineage and Honoring a Patriot

It's time for another of Randy Seaver's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun challenges!  

Your mission, should you decide to accept it (cue the Mission Impossible! music) is to:

1) What genealogy fun have you had this week?  What is your genealogy highlight of the week?  It could be finding a new ancestor, reading a new genealogy book, hearing a speaker at a seminar or society program, watching a webinar or Hangout On Air, or anything else that you have enjoyed.

2)  Tell us about it in a blog post on your own blog, in a comment to this post, or in a Google Plus or Facebook post.

This week I met with a friend who recently joined the Daughters of the American Revolution to see what proofs of lineage she used for her membership application.  She showed me the book she had used and explained the types of proofs preferred.  It seems that wills, marriage records, and even census forms are commonly used.

Returning home, I began a list of what I would need to assemble.  Most of what I need would come from two places.  The records are in Boone County, Indiana and Jasper County, Illinois.  Then I remembered that on a trip to Illinois ten years ago, my husband and I stopped in Jasper County for a couple of days so we could visit the cemetery his ancestors were buried in and visit the courthouse.  It was my first courthouse trip and I was able to copy some records.  Today I checked my files and some of what I copied ten years ago were the two wills I need for the DAR application!  How do you top that for fun!

The Book of Me, Written by You - Prompt 9: Halloween

Julie's prompt for last week: 
The prompt for week 9 : Halloween
Have you ever participated in a Halloween event?
When was it?
Where was it?
What did you dress as?
Trick or treat?

When I was growing up Halloween was not the celebration it is now.  There were carved pumpkins and trick or treating of course but not the kind of decorations in use today.  I remember a cardboard skeleton hanging in the window.  Someone was always moving his arms and legs.

Everyone went trick or treating and used flashlights to find their way in the dark.  Costumes were homemade using our creativity.  Scarecrows and bums were quick and easy to put together with things found around the house.  We all wore masks to disguise ourselves.  Think Lone Ranger mask.

Pillowcases were used to haul our loot.  In those days, before there was the danger something harmful being in a treat, we got popcorn balls, caramel apples, cookies and other home baked goodies.  

The Book of Me, Written by You - Prompt 7, Grandparents Part 1 Adolph and Henrietta

The Book of Me, Written By You a project created by Julie Goucher of the Anglers Rest blog. The concept: a series of blogging and writing prompts that help family historians capture their own memories and write about themselves. Click here for more information.]

Prompt 7: Grandparents

What were their names?
Where were they from?
Were they related? – Cousins perhaps
Where were they born, another Country 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?

Adolph and Henrietta (Burbach) Hansen were my dad's parents.  Adolph Halfdan was born in Norway and was the third of six children born to Adolf and Dorette (Christiansdatter) Hansen.  His father was a musician and composer in the Norwegian army.  When Dorette died in 1887, after the birth of her sixth child, Agot, her husband remarried.  The fact that the second wife, Nathalie, was only five years older than Adolph's sister Dagny helped spur the decision of Dagny, Arthur, and Adolph to come to the United States.  Shortly after arriving in Chicago, Adolph began working for his uncle Oscar's construction company.   Adolph worked his way up in the company to become secretary and vice-president.  Due to his job,  Adolph traveled all over the United States but remained based in the Chicago area.  In time Oscar Daniels died and Adolph took over the company.  As the economy changed and there were fewer construction projects Adolph and Henrietta even risked their home in an effort to save the company.  Unfortunately, both the company and the home were lost.  When at last I could check the 1940 census, I was amazed to learn the Adolph had achieved so much success with only a seventh grade education.  In my mind I picture him as relatively tall and slender with silver hair and sparkling blue eyes.  Adolph died when I was 4 years old, so my memories of him are scant. One memory (not sure if it is really a memory or something I was told) is going to Kiddie-Land with him on Sunday afternoons.

circa 1909

Henrietta Eva Burbach was born 23 Aug 1888 to Hermann and Eva (Schmidt) Burbach in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.  Her father had immigrated from Germany with his family when he was 4 years old.  Hermann and his brother John had their own butcher shop on Walnut St in Milwaukee.  During her lifetime Henrietta saw more than her share of tragedy.  Her brother John drowned in the Milwaukee river when Henrietta was just four years old.  This left a lasting mark as Henrietta never overcame her fear of water.  When Henrietta was 8 her father died suddenly followed by her only sister the next year.  That may be why she left school after the third grade.   When she was 20 years old, Adolph and Henrietta were married at Gesu Church in Milwaukee and then moved to Chicago.  The young couple saw quite a bit of the United States as Adolph traveled for work.  Their daughter Dorothy was born in Chicago while son Donald was born in Tooele, Utah.  I remember my grandmother always wearing a "housedress" and apron with white ankle socks and sandals. 

google images

She had very thin hair which she curled with silver metal curlers.

google images

I know a lot about Adolph and Henrietta ( aka Bockie and Baba) but I don't feel I really know them.  I wish I could have known them in  a deeper sense,  What were their feelings and core values?  From the facts I have discovered during my research I know they were honest and hardworking.  They valued education and loved books and music.  They were optimistic and loving.  They loved their families.

The Book of Me, Written by You - Prompt 5 My Childhood Home

Julie Gaucher's series of blog prompts continues with Prompt 5 My Childhood Home.

When did you leave home?

Where was it?

Where did you move to?

Was it rented or owned? – with parents/Grandparents

Was it inherited

What was it like – describe it – each room.

Were there a favourite room?

Is there anything you particularly remember from the house?

Pictures

The road & area

In the Fall of 1948 my dad was looking for a house for his growing family of six.  As a realtor himself, Dad wanted to move his family from the city of Chicago to the quieter western suburbs.

119 Virginia St.  Elmhurst
photo held by Paul J Hansen, private, brother of the author.

This photo of the house dad found is dated 9/22/48 in his own hand.  I suspect it was taken as a preview shot to get mom's approval.  She must have approved as we moved into the house in December of 1948.  It was a large white two story house with a large front porch.  When I first saw the house there was a large double wide door opening between the living and dining room and the same opening into the living room from the hall. These openings were framed by dark red velvet drapes that were very dusty.  It soon became a game to run in circles from the hall to living room to dining room to hall.  Soon one of the archways was blocked off and turned into a bookshelf in the living room and a closet in the hall when the original first floor office became my parents bedroom.

Upstairs there were 4 bedrooms and a bathroom.  Two of the bedrooms were very large and at times they both held 3 occupants.  The smallest bedroom at the top of the stairs housed a succession of live-in helpers for my mother.  By the time of dad's death in 1959, there were eleven people in the house.  

Mom and her sister painted the ceiling in the downstairs powder room a deep blue and glued silver stars to the ceiling in the shape of the constellations.  It was an effort to teach us some astronomy.  I don't know if it worked but I can still picture that tiny room with it's blue ceiling and large and small silver stars scattered there.  The upstairs bathroom had no shower until my parents added one.  The water pipes to the shower head were concealed by a shelf unit that was also used for storage.  Can you imagine nine children growing up today in a house with a single shower and only one telephone?  Today our house has three showers and everyone has their own phone in addition to the house phone (or land line) and that is for six people.

You can see the front yard in the picture but the backyard was even larger.  There were two fruit trees for climbing and eating from.  The cherry tree yielded wonderful pies but pitting them was no fun.  In addition we could freely eat the pears off the pear tree.  The cherry tree was spreading and a good place to hide and read a book.  The pear tree was as high as the telephone wires and a special challenge to climb.  The previous owners of the house must have been gardeners since the backyard also had lillys of the valley, peony bushes, tiger lillys, lilac bushes as well as a bed of rhubarb.  In addition to making rhubarb sauce every year some times we would break off a stalk and, after rinsing it off with the hose, eat it like a stalk of celery.  I don't remember having a swing set in the backyard but I do remember the slide.  It was magnificent!  It was at least six of seven feet tall.  At one point all of us were arranged on and around the slide for a local newspaper story about how the mother of 8 does it all.  In this picture the slide appears to be close to 10 ft high.  Later we also had a playhouse in the back yard.  The playhouse was built by my Uncle Tom for his daughter Pat and given to us after Pat out grew it.  It was a real source of delight with real windows and doors!

circa 1955 Elmhurst Press Publications original clipping held by author

As in Real Estate, location is everything in a family home.  This house was in an ideal location for our family.  It was one city block from grade school, high school, church, park, library, train station, (mom didn't drive until the 1960's) drug store, grocery and butcher store, and laundry.  For big shopping trips, mom would walk to the A&P or Kroger store and dad would pick her up on the way home from work.

After dad's death in 1959 mom and the younger children remained in the house until 1971 when mom moved to Florida for her health.  The house is gone now, demolished in favor of condos close to the commuter train station, but I will always remember it fondly as I hope my siblings do.

Back from the War - Wordless Wednesday

My dad Donald Hansen circa 1915-1916