Today my mom and I went over to my grandparents house. While there we were talking about my grandma's grandma and how she died in a flu epidemic. This got us into a discussion about family history and what has she had hiding in her trunk for years? A complete family history on her side.
This is a picture of my great-grandma.
We always called her Grandma Hirsch. The name she went by is Lillian Hirsch. Come to find out her name is really Lillie Anna Augusta Cooke Binkley Hirsch. Cooke is her maiden name, Binkley is the last name of her first husband (my grandma's dad), and Hirsch is the last name of her second husband.
The history of all of this is so interesting to me. Like I said my grandma's grandma (so my great-great grandma) died of pneumonia in 1918. Her name was Esther Emelia Renando (changed from Gustavson) when her parents migrated here from Sweden. I didn't really know we had such a strong Swedish background. She died at 33 and had 6 children, her son Swan Erwin died as a baby, and she had another stillborn baby, and was pregnant when she died. She had 3 daughters that lived. My great-grandma Lillie, Hazel Emelia, and Florence Esther.
Her parents names (the ones who migrated from Sweden) were Swan Erick Renando (Gustavson) and Augusta Charlotta Swanson.
She was married to my great-great Grandpa Clarence Hiram Phillip Cook, who lived his whole life in Emerson, NE (which I found out today was named after Ralph Waldo Emerson). His parents names were George Cook and Anna Marie Olsen. After his wife died in 1933 he raised his 3 daughters alone until he married Sylvia Geiger and they had one daughter Phyllis Mae. Phyllis passed away 2 1/2 years ago. She was one of the most funny, care-free people I have ever known and she loved cats. She always remembered every one's birthday and would send a card. At her funeral we sang "Que Sera Sera" (What Will Be Will Be) because I guess she often sang that to her children and my mom and aunt.
That's all I have learned about so far in my reading but I can't wait to delve into it more.
What I love most about all of this is the great names my ancestors had.
I love them, especially Augusta, Emelia, Hazel, and Phillip. I even think Swan has a nice ring to it. I also love Charlotta and I learned today that my grandpa's mom's name Lottie, who I have heard so many great stories about, is actually short for Charlotte. I can't believe I never knew that. I would love to give my future children names of the people in my family history. I feel like I just found a great big treasure box.
As I read more I will write it on here because I just feel like I have to share it!
2 comments:
how cool! i love family history.
Katie - you sure put a lot of information together in a very short amount of time. I am glad that you are so interested in family history. Hopefully, we can get some of grandpa's info together.
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