Stephanie and I left Mason (WV) after that big breakfast and headed towards Point Pleasant, WV. It turns out that the WV State Fair Museum is actually in between Mason and Point Pleasant. All of these drives are along the Ohio River. In a way, it was a good thing we didn't have Frisco, since the place he was scheduled to be while we were at the reunion was at a dog salon in Point Pleasant, which would have been out of the way. He probably could have come with us (you'll recall he was sick and stayed home back in Lousiville at Dr. Kaur's.) The museum complex is adjacent to the Mason County fairgrounds. Family activists had rented an air-conditioned fellowship hall-type building and were ready for us, as we arrived a little late, at about 10:20.
The Schwartz family is Stephanie's paternal grandmother's father's family. Greeting us with Darlene Haer (below left), who had helped organize the retreat, and her mother, Garnet Schwarz, who lives in Point Pleasant (and whose house we once tried to find) and whose husband died a few years ago. Garnet had been married to Stephanie's great-uncle Boyd. Stephanie remembers going to Boyd and Garnet's store on drives with her grandparents between Point Pleasant and Mason and stopping at Boyd and Garnet's house to play with Meg and Ken in one of the upstairs bedrooms when she was much younger.
Both of them were very nice. Cousin Paula sent us newspaper articles not only about the reunion but also about Garnet's quilting club. I believe she's the last person in Stephanie's grandmother's generation - except for Aunt Velma, with whom we stayed in Mason, still alive. Lady, in Texas City, died a couple of years ago, as did Aunt Catherine, Paula's mother.
Stephanie's father, Larry, was already there. He hung out some with Jimmy Schwarz, another 60ish retired Columbus social studies teacher who was nevertheless not exactly Larry's spitting image. Even if Larry isn't massivly into family history, some of the general history thrown in was no doubt interesting. Jimmy took Stehanie's senior pictures when she was in high school. He now does more professional photography with models and weddings, even teaching some photography classes at Columbus State. Jimmy's father owned the large piece of land on Williams road with Stephanie's grandparents. She remembers going there to help with the corn, potatoes, tomatoes, green beans, bell peppers, pigs, and cabbage.
Stephanie's father, Larry, was already there. He hung out some with Jimmy Schwarz, another 60ish retired Columbus social studies teacher who was nevertheless not exactly Larry's spitting image. Even if Larry isn't massivly into family history, some of the general history thrown in was no doubt interesting. Jimmy took Stehanie's senior pictures when she was in high school. He now does more professional photography with models and weddings, even teaching some photography classes at Columbus State. Jimmy's father owned the large piece of land on Williams road with Stephanie's grandparents. She remembers going there to help with the corn, potatoes, tomatoes, green beans, bell peppers, pigs, and cabbage.
Several people in the extended family have gotten into family history - even visiting places in Germany where ancestors came from. Stephanie remembers hearing about how one of her great uncles got better treatment as a U.S. GI and German POW because of his German roots. Nevertheless, all of these folks suffered because of the anti-German hysteria during the two world wars. Stephanie's grandmother grew up speaking German at home - Appalachican German, in West Virginia - but never spoke it again after WW2.
Here's Jimmy and Larry, sitting outside. We sometimes get holiday cards from Jimmy and his family but I don't think I'd ever meant him. Stephanie hadn't seen some of these people in years, including Garnet, Darlene, and her sister Sharon Pafford. It's amazing that a number of these people have stayed around the area since there are not an infinite number of economic opportunities (although no doubt knowing local people helps.) I believe Darlene's daughter, Becky, is a teacher in the elementary school in Point Pleasant (which she hinted was a tad rough - we eventually deduced that some rich kids - to the extent that there are any in town - go to the Catholic schools.)
Stephanie and I took a break and walked around a few of the farm museum buildings. I think this was the old school, relocated from elsewhere in the state - a la the Ohio Villlege or Sturbridge Village.
We got to walk around all of these old buildings, including the old office of the Point Pleasant newspaper.
We ran into other family reunion folks doing the same thing (plus letting some of their kids run around). This group was partly from Florida. Stephanie remembered many of these people from when they were all kids. The sky turned out to look particularly stunning, including pictured against this cousin's pink top (with the relocated church in the background). Meg and her twin brother, Ken had gone to high school in Miami but now both live in Virginia. Ken wasn't able to get away from his work in D.C. to come to the reunion. John and his wife had their teenage son, Benjamin, at the reunion. Benjamin was the only one in Vincent's generation of the Schwarz family.
The sky kept getting more stunning, as I panned to others in this extended family.
Like Teresa's (John's wife) orange shirt against the sky also.
We checked out the church.
And then the school.
Here's Jimmy and Larry, sitting outside. We sometimes get holiday cards from Jimmy and his family but I don't think I'd ever meant him. Stephanie hadn't seen some of these people in years, including Garnet, Darlene, and her sister Sharon Pafford. It's amazing that a number of these people have stayed around the area since there are not an infinite number of economic opportunities (although no doubt knowing local people helps.) I believe Darlene's daughter, Becky, is a teacher in the elementary school in Point Pleasant (which she hinted was a tad rough - we eventually deduced that some rich kids - to the extent that there are any in town - go to the Catholic schools.)
Stephanie and I took a break and walked around a few of the farm museum buildings. I think this was the old school, relocated from elsewhere in the state - a la the Ohio Villlege or Sturbridge Village.
We got to walk around all of these old buildings, including the old office of the Point Pleasant newspaper.
We ran into other family reunion folks doing the same thing (plus letting some of their kids run around). This group was partly from Florida. Stephanie remembered many of these people from when they were all kids. The sky turned out to look particularly stunning, including pictured against this cousin's pink top (with the relocated church in the background). Meg and her twin brother, Ken had gone to high school in Miami but now both live in Virginia. Ken wasn't able to get away from his work in D.C. to come to the reunion. John and his wife had their teenage son, Benjamin, at the reunion. Benjamin was the only one in Vincent's generation of the Schwarz family.
The sky kept getting more stunning, as I panned to others in this extended family.
Like Teresa's (John's wife) orange shirt against the sky also.
We checked out the church.
And then the school.
Back at the Fellowship Hall they were doing some family history presentations.
Pictured below is a man who I believe was Ed. He taken some of the trips to Germany, and was well informed but also good natured.
Pictured below is a man who I believe was Ed. He taken some of the trips to Germany, and was well informed but also good natured.
Ed gave some interseting family history, including who were the original immigrants, Fredrika and her sons (Louise) the one that our family goes back to. Darlene was organized enough to have name tags for everyone that had not only our names but also our lineage so that we could tell which branches of the family we were more closely related to.
Below is another man who'd done some family history research, but had to leave early.
Darlene and her sister also talked. They had handsomely reproduced two self-published books - part memoirs/part biography - and we picked up both of them. I've read the shorter one about people more closely related to us, about a couple growing up separately and then meeting, marrying, and growing old togethether in early 20th Century West Virginia. Stephanie remembers reading them when she was younger and both her grandparents were still alive.
We sat near these folks. We also sat near Larry, but he spent most of the time talking with Jimmy. Carrie, in the pink shirt, is Stephanie's great-uncle Frank's granddaughter.
Below Erma joined in with Larry and Jimmy.
Larry looked at them too.
Stephanie posed with Carrie in front of some of the family history materials.
Larry and Stephanie wound up on opposite sides of these posed big family pictures.
I think this picture below is important, but I couldn't get it to go horizontal. It was a picture of Viva and Erma when they were little.
Stephanie looked at some little shoes that were her grandmother's first pair of shoes.
This posed pictures may exclude people in the family by marriage (I'm in some versions of some of these pictures (probably the bigger ones above) - but not these, the ones I took myself. This is the picture of all people related on the Schwarz side through Louise and Hiram.
Sharon led some more discussion. The group decided to meet next in two years in Marietta (OH) (about 45 minutes up river, where my maternal maternal relatives are from).
Sharon also led a raffle and Kathy (below) won something. We didn't win anything. There were no all-expenses paid trips to Germany, even though we did learn what part of Germany the Schwarz family came from. Ironically it wasn't Schwarzburg, but Thuringia. Schwarz also seems to be a rather common name in Germany since it just means black, so could have been used in ancient times for any blacksmith or smith or some sort. Sharon also shared with us the story about how a "t" got in our name. There are two ways two spell Schwartz or Schwarz. Stephanie's grandmother claimed the name did NOT have a "t". But on some legal documents some of family is Schwartz. It turns out a well meaning family relative (Aunt Pearl's husband Cecil) had added a "t" when he worked with Frank, Ray, and the other brothers at American Standard in the southend of Columbus and filled out the paperwork for social security withholdings.
We got to relax more as all the official business ended and the crowd thinned out a bit. As usual, we were among the last people there, even though we were in a bit of a hurry (and even more than we realized - although you'd never know it - after we started driving).
The lunch food wasn't bad - some cooked by the staff there - some homemade by people there - but not super Weight Watcher-friendly. We saved a piece of pie for Vincent, just in case. We took some pictures of Larry up against the exterior wall of the Fellowship Hall-type building. He smiled less the closer I got with the camera.
I walked a little bit around the farm museum while Stephanie chatted at the end. There were some visitors there for that, not for the family reunion at all (although there appeared to be another family reunion-type event at an open-air but covered picnic table. Below was a relocated barber shop.
Going through some of these houses reminded me of the houses that Mom and I saw in Louisville in May (except this was all self-guided). One of these was the Summer house, associated with a politician from Virginia who President Lincoln apparently offered the 1864 vice presidential slot to. He declined, and East TN War Democrat Andrew Johnson ran with Lincoln on a Union ticket. I wonder if Reconstruction would have turned out differently at all if this man had been vice president, instead of Johnson, when Lincoln was shot.
Below is another man who'd done some family history research, but had to leave early.
Darlene and her sister also talked. They had handsomely reproduced two self-published books - part memoirs/part biography - and we picked up both of them. I've read the shorter one about people more closely related to us, about a couple growing up separately and then meeting, marrying, and growing old togethether in early 20th Century West Virginia. Stephanie remembers reading them when she was younger and both her grandparents were still alive.
We sat near these folks. We also sat near Larry, but he spent most of the time talking with Jimmy. Carrie, in the pink shirt, is Stephanie's great-uncle Frank's granddaughter.
Below Erma joined in with Larry and Jimmy.
Below is Jimmy's wife, Kathy, who was somewhat quieter than he.
Darlene's sister, Sharon, reviewed with us some familiy pictures that Stephanie had put together in a collage frame when she still lived in Westerville (below).
Larry looked at them too.
Stephanie posed with Carrie in front of some of the family history materials.
Larry and Stephanie wound up on opposite sides of these posed big family pictures.
I think this picture below is important, but I couldn't get it to go horizontal. It was a picture of Viva and Erma when they were little.
Stephanie looked at some little shoes that were her grandmother's first pair of shoes.
This posed pictures may exclude people in the family by marriage (I'm in some versions of some of these pictures (probably the bigger ones above) - but not these, the ones I took myself. This is the picture of all people related on the Schwarz side through Louise and Hiram.
Sharon led some more discussion. The group decided to meet next in two years in Marietta (OH) (about 45 minutes up river, where my maternal maternal relatives are from).
Sharon also led a raffle and Kathy (below) won something. We didn't win anything. There were no all-expenses paid trips to Germany, even though we did learn what part of Germany the Schwarz family came from. Ironically it wasn't Schwarzburg, but Thuringia. Schwarz also seems to be a rather common name in Germany since it just means black, so could have been used in ancient times for any blacksmith or smith or some sort. Sharon also shared with us the story about how a "t" got in our name. There are two ways two spell Schwartz or Schwarz. Stephanie's grandmother claimed the name did NOT have a "t". But on some legal documents some of family is Schwartz. It turns out a well meaning family relative (Aunt Pearl's husband Cecil) had added a "t" when he worked with Frank, Ray, and the other brothers at American Standard in the southend of Columbus and filled out the paperwork for social security withholdings.
We got to relax more as all the official business ended and the crowd thinned out a bit. As usual, we were among the last people there, even though we were in a bit of a hurry (and even more than we realized - although you'd never know it - after we started driving).
The lunch food wasn't bad - some cooked by the staff there - some homemade by people there - but not super Weight Watcher-friendly. We saved a piece of pie for Vincent, just in case. We took some pictures of Larry up against the exterior wall of the Fellowship Hall-type building. He smiled less the closer I got with the camera.
I walked a little bit around the farm museum while Stephanie chatted at the end. There were some visitors there for that, not for the family reunion at all (although there appeared to be another family reunion-type event at an open-air but covered picnic table. Below was a relocated barber shop.
Going through some of these houses reminded me of the houses that Mom and I saw in Louisville in May (except this was all self-guided). One of these was the Summer house, associated with a politician from Virginia who President Lincoln apparently offered the 1864 vice presidential slot to. He declined, and East TN War Democrat Andrew Johnson ran with Lincoln on a Union ticket. I wonder if Reconstruction would have turned out differently at all if this man had been vice president, instead of Johnson, when Lincoln was shot.
Pondering these big issues, I left with Stephanie - as scheduled - around 4 p.m.
-- Perry
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