June 1999 Volume
3 Issue 3
Want soothing music while you read? Just click
the
|
6. Kathryn Schwenk and David Axtell of the Bay Area celebrate 9th year of marriage. 13. Rolene Peters and Steve Plautz near St. Paul MN, she the dau. of Evelyn Schwenk, celebrate their 28th year of marriage. 16. Gretchen Carlson and Daniel Zbichorski, also near St. Paul, she the dau. of JoAnn Schwenk, mark their 9th year of marriage. 23. Dieter Rehse and Irene Röcker of Laichingen, Germany, both descendants of Konrad Schwenk, celebrate their 26 year of marriage. 25. Richard Schwenk of Manila turns the big 65. 27. Christine Schwenk and Richard Moore of Boise, Idaho married 18 years ago in Boise. Want to see how these and other Kids are related to you?
Click here for those who descended from John
Schwenk and his immigrant siblings. Click here
for all others. Want to see pictures of most of these 52
Kids? (188 KB).
|
 |
Dies und Das
(Editors' note: underlined persons are Konrad's Kids.)
Ursula Gorzelany of Kochstetten Germany will travel to Idaho
in early August to visit her cousin Don Schwenk. This will be her
first travel abroad. She lives on a farm of 125 acres about 3 miles NW
of Mundingen where her 5xgrandfather Conrad Schwenk was a brewer and innkeeper.
Her parents milk 25 cows, raise 50 brood sows and her father also does
custom baling work for other farmers...Thomas Breymayer of Hannover, Germany,
age 29, online and a recent mechanical engineering graduate, may also visit
Don this summer. He is not a Konrad's Kid, though he is a distant cousin
to about half of us through the Breymayer lineage in Mundingen...Milt
Schwenk and wife Joan and their son Kyle Schwenk and his wife
Beth leave for Europe in June. They intend to visit Dieter Rehse
and wife Irene in Laichingen - the cradle of Schwenkdom - near the
end of the month. They also will visit Heinrich Schwenk in L., the father
of Michael Schwenk who now lives near Stuttgart...Peter Hayes
of near Albany, New York recently wrote, "Sally, Jim, Martha & I
will go out to Salt Lake City around Memorial Day for a little vacation.
Jim, being an airline employee can get us tickets for a reasonable rate.
It gives us a little vacation and some dedicated time to look into family
history nooks and crannies. I will work on Martha's Tory ancestors for
a while." Sally Hayes Downey, Peter's sister, lives near Chicago
with husband Jim...Christopher Hilsenbeck of New York State recently sent
email to Don Schwenk after finding the Hilsenbeck page in Don's Website.
Chris provided the name of his father Steven and his grandfather Benjamin
Hilsenbeck, and wanted to know if he were related to Don. Both Steven and
Benjamin were already in Don's tree and thus Christopher is a distant cousin
to about 90% of us with our common ancestor being Philipp Hilsenbeck, 1628-78
of Feldstetten next door to Laichingen...Olinda Haehlen Corin near
Olympia, Washington, recently sent a 1963 photograph of her father Rev.
Maurice Ludwig Haehlen who is shown officiating at a memorial service in
the Olympia United Churches in Olympia on the occasion of John F. Kennedy's
death. Click here for a look. Olinda tells
your editors that her sister Maurla Haehlen White near Washington,
DC, is leaving in late May to spend two months in Switzerland and another
country in Europe with the intent to pursue family history research...
New Kid makes 52
On May 12th, Don Schwenk received an email from Maureen M."Micky" Schwenkbeck of Lewiston, NY near Niagara Falls. She had typed Schwenkbeck into a search engine and was linked Don's Website. Her husband is Karl George Schwenkbeck, born in 1949 in Niagara Falls. He was already in Don's tree, but Don did not know the name of Karl's wife nor the names of two of his sibling sisters. Micky subsequently provided the missing data. Karl is a superintendant at CG/G, a carbon plant near his home. Some of his hobbies are marathon running and downhill racing on mountain bikes. Micky is very interested in family history. You can see Karl's descent from our Konrad by clicking here. Welcome to the Klub Karl!
A Schwenk Reunion? When and Where?
In February of this year, a questionnaire was sent to the then-40 Konrad's
Kids. One question dealt with a tentative Schwenk Reunion. Here repeated
is that question: If a Konrad's Kids' Reunion were held on the weekend
of June 24th, 2000 in the Midwest (e.g. in Rapid City or nearby), would
you attend? (Such a reunion would also heartily welcome those descendants
of Conrad who are NOT yet online.)
a. Almost certainly.
b. Maybe.
c. Probably not.
25 responses were received. 10 indicated they would almost certainly attend; 10 indicated maybe. So now the question is what do we do with this idea of a reunion? Ideas are easy. The hard part is bringing them into reality. And this requires someone to volunteer. We need a chairperson. Someone to organize a reunion. Someone to find the right location, to make reservations for a meeting facility, to draw up some kind of a program.
Some may ask why Rapid City was suggested as a tentative location. The reason is partly because this is more or less central to those of us living in America and also because the Black Hills is a beautiful area and offers many wonderful attractions such as the Mt. Rushmore Monument, Deadwood, Sturgis, Rapid City. Click here for a splendid map of the entire region.
And as to when this reunion might take place: This subject has recently been discussed by a few of us. Some feel that there is not enough time remaining (12 months) to organize a reunion if we held this in the summer of 2000 and that this should be calendared for 2001. And not enough time remaining to generate a broader interest among our Schwenk kin - online and offline, nor enough lead time so that people can reserve the date on their calendars.
John Schwenk in Pasadena, CA has offered to assist a chairperson.
And your editors will naturally work and coordinate with the chairperson.
Our
plea here is for one of you to step forward and get the ball rolling!
Your editors will be standing by their computers waiting for your mail!
Thank you.
A Short Story by Earl W. Schwenk
Editors note: In 1979, my father put to paper many short, short
stories. These were memories of his youth. He called these Some of my
Yesterdays. He passed away in 1991 at the age of 80. In 1995
and in memory of him, I self-published this collection of stories. Below
is one of these stories. He was then age 13 and living near Chamberlain,
South Dakota. Don Schwenk.
THE CYCLONE OF JUNE 14, 1924
It had been unusually hot and sultry. We were trying
to finish corn planting. A bit late but nevertheless we were still
at it. The day was June 14th, 1924. Flag Day - also my sister's
birthday. It was Saturday. Two four-horse teams had been driven in
from the field, watered and put in the barn.
It was chore time, and the cows had been put
in the barn and part of them had been milked and some turned out into the
corral. Approximate time was around 6:30 p.m. The Delong family was working
for my dad, and some of them were in the barn doing the milking.
The sky and horizon in the west was very dark. There was not any
air stirring. It was unusually calm - an eerie feeling. I went
to the house with two buckets of milk to pour into the separator.
Before I got to the house, I could hear a terrific roar coming and rolling
in from the west. Some of the black clouds were nearly to the ground.
The storm was fast approaching. I put the buckets of milk on the
porch. Edith Delong, who was my age, was alone at the house. I said,
"Let's get to the barn, quick", for everyone else was there. We ran
as fast as possible. The wind had already struck, and was carrying
us along. Edith got into the barn through the large south sliding door.
Somehow I went right past it with the wind. Anyway, I was protected
somewhat on the east side of the barn. My father saw me and got me
into the barn. No sooner had I got into the barn - a matter of a
few minutes--when we heard a terrific crash. The barn was crashing
in. We, that is, my dad, Lloyd, Paul Howard, a hired man John, and
myself were in the south and close to the door. The large door was open,
and we went out into the storm when we heard the crash. The black team,
Pet and Bob, were in the front stall and had not been haltered up yet -
they also went out the door into the storm. The DeLong family were
also in the south end of the barn. There were two grain bins and a harness
room in the south end, and they were in this area. This is what saved them
from being crushed beneath the weight of the barn. My dad, Lloyd,
Paul and John were blown, so to speak, about a quarter of a mile south
where they laid flat on the prairie grass and waited out the storm.
Somehow I got separated from them. I could not stand up in the wind,
and slid along the ground into the manure spreader. I got on the
south side of the spreader and crouched down to the ground. Debris,
boards and timbers were flying over me. Some stopped on the opposite
side of the spreader. It was raining very hard. I was drenched
to the skin, but since I was behind the spreader, I thought I was safe.
I didn't know what had happened to my father or the rest.
Many thoughts flashed through my mind ... a thirteen
year old boy. I recalled some evil things I had done and asked forgiveness.
Many things flashed through my mind during the hour that I crouched by
the spreader. When tragedy strikes, we become emotionally unstable
.... whether young or old.
The wind was subsiding. I could see the four
men to the south, and was happy that they were safe. I wondered about
the DeLong family. Were they crushed under the barn? We went
to the barn. The south and middle part of the barn was being supported
by the grain bins and harness room. They were all safe, for which
we were very grateful.
What a sight! A huge barn flattened, and broken
boards and timbers strewn about. Wreckage is always a devastating
sight. The horses, with the exception of the black team, were still in
the barn underneath the flattened barn. Also four cows that had not
been turned out. Eight head of horses, including two saddle horses,
had to be chopped out, one at a time. Some were cut badly by nails
as they struggled, trying to free themselves. One saddle mare - Lady
by name - did considerable floundering and threw her head at an inopportune
time, and the axe hit her in the bridge of her nose, making a deep gash
through the bone, which took all summer to heal. I felt so bad about
it.
The four cows were still in the stanchions.
They were dead. They had choked to death when the barn caved in.
There were several sheep killed by flying debris. The sheep were
in a corral on the north side of the barn.
Indians came the next day, Sunday, and skinned the
cattle and sheep. They wanted the meat. Strange how fast news
travels. We had not told anyone that we had lost any livestock.
Many Indians arrived with their ponies and buckboards.
We worked until dark getting the horses chopped
out of the barn. The Frank horse was a nervous horse and he was cut
quite badly by nails as he struggled trying to free himself under the rubble.
My mother and sister Evelyn were waiting for all
of us to arrive. They were in town in Chamberlain. The day being
Evelyn's birthday. A special birthday supper had been prepared.
No one had arrived at suppertime. Mother naturally was much worried.
We could not telephone, so it made suspense much worse. My dad, Lloyd
and Paul took off for Chamberlain after the storm in Paul's Chevrolet Touring
car. I stayed at the ranch to help with getting out the horses from
the barn.
The chicken house was totaled. Blown away.
The chickens also. I saw white chickens being carried away in the
wind. I don't know what happened to them, but I never saw a chicken
after the storm. The house and hog house weathered the storm.
Lloyd and I spent most of the summer cleaning up the mess. Pulling
nails, piling good 2x4s and 2x6s, and piling the broken splintered lumber
in a pile which we burned later. A new barn was built, much smaller
than the old one. Most of the lumber for the new barn was from the
old barn. Only some siding and shingles had to be purchased.
My dad hired George Smith to do the carpentry. More about George
later. The DeLong family decided they had had enough of Buffalo County
and cyclones, so they moved back to their former home in the southeastern
part of S. Dakota. The ranch didn't seem the same after the storm
of June 14th. Much had to be done to clean up debris and rebuild.
|
|
In the April issue, I wrote on the subject of html (rich text, formatting). And I made one statement which I subsequently found to be incorrect. I wrote, "If you use NS Comm or MSOE, don't waste your time sending a nicely formatted e-mail to people who use email programs other than these two." AOL 4.0 users can receive formatting from Netscape users, but they simply cannot send html to people other than AOL 4.0 users. Here are some guidelines for the use of html for Netscape and AOL people.
AOL to other email program users
1. Send only plain text. Nothing else will show up on the recipient's
screen but plain text. Period! Of course, you can send attachments.
2. Don't bother using any variety of font types. Recipient will only
see his/her own default font.
Netscape to AOL 4.0 recipients
Options:
1. All types of formatting will be seen by the
AOLrecipient.
Send
this as html only!!
2. Background color will be seen by the AOL recipient.
3. After using a font color other than black, you need to highlight
the word following that and select default black font (like following
the word recipient in green). Otherwise all the words following the word
recipient will appear in green on the AOL screen.
4. Of course you can send attachments. But only one per email.
Do not:
1. Send imbedded images.
2. Use background files.
3. Create tables.
4. Allow more than two spaces between sentences (otherwise irritating
  stuff - html code- shows up on the AOL screen).
Attention Outlook Express Users
Tests from my OE program to my AOL program indicate the sending of html to AOL people is not worth considering. Some formatting (underlining, and background color) works, while other forms of formatting do not.
Links
http://www.sltrib.com/1999/may/05231999/utah/107641.htm
- Salt Lake Tribune Article:Roots Online: LDS Web Site Has 400 Million
Names. This article tells of the very recent creation of the Website below.
http://www.familysearch.org
- This LDS goldmine for genealogists is now open.
http://laurasmidiheaven.simplenet.com/American.htm
- American Folk Midi, Traditional Midi@ Laura's MIDI Heaven! This site
contains a vast number of midi files which you can download. Or just listen
to.
http://www.gastro-freizeit.de/bawue.htm
- Here you will find a great number of fine restaurants in Baden-Württemberg,
Germany where our Schwenk roots lie.
Animations
and
Audios of the Month
|
mean April Fool's prank |
cartoon. The graphic artist who created this one was very talented! |
popular old tune, Home Alone. 3.45 minutes |
|
|
 |
|