On the Trail of Ancestors

As some know, I enjoy tracking our family genealogy.  Not long ago, I was hunting for some family names online when I came across a website called www.findagrave.com.  This is a site that lists most cemeteries in the USA, and many of those buried in those cemeteries.  Anyone can post to this site.  One thing you can do is locate a cemetery and then investigate if anyone important is buried there. 

So, while searching for information on my Strom ancestry, I found a link to findagrave.com.   It was a link to the grave of my grandmother and grandfather Strom (Dad’s folks).  At Findagrave, when you find a direct relative you can request that the person who put the site up transfer it to you, so I did.  And, so, in due course I met a cousin I had never known before, Linda Pelican Berney, the granddaughter of my Great Aunt Viola Hanisch Paulsen.

This past weekend, Linda and I got together at her Beaver Lake summer cottage… er, home.  We went through family photos that I had.  We invited my cousin Mary Beth Strom Hawkins and my Uncle Lyle.  And, by the way, no, these folks don’t go by these long names.  I’m just trying to provide lineage info, here!  We had a blast.

Just to give a little more context:

My Dad’s mother is a Hanisch.  Grandma was one of 9 Hanisch children, descended from Oscar Gustaf Hanisch and Louisa Sophia Dieterich Hanisch.  In order of birth, these 9 Hanisch children were:

Gustaf Frederick Hanisch (Uncle Gus), Edward Carl Wilhelm Hanisch (Uncle Ed), Viola Hanisch Paulsen (Aunt Viola), Louis Everett Hanisch (Uncle Lou), Millie Hanisch Buss and Minnie Rose Hanisch Hankey– Twins (Aunt Millie and Aunt Minnie), Eda Hanisch Strom (Grandma Strom), Carl Hanisch (died aged 11), and Beata Hanisch Hibben (Aunt Beata)

Here are some interesting photos that we came across:

This delightful lady is none other than my great-grandmother Louisa Sophia Dieterichs Hanisch, taken in July 1942, 2 months prior to her passing.

This pair is my grandfather and grandmother Strom.  Elmer Theodore Strom (1886 – 1937) and Eda Hanisch Strom (1891 – 1967).  Grandpa Strom died of Addison’s Disease in 1937.  This disease was the result of having been gassed during WWI.

Here’s a delightful photo of my Dad and Uncle Lyle at 6 months!

Lyle, Grandma and Dad at 18 months.

 

 

 

 

 

 

That’s Sergeant Major Elmer Strom, shortly after the conclusion of WWI.

And that’s Private Louis Strom, during WWII.

 Uncle Lyle served, too, in the Merchant Marine.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And OH! How we would LOVE to know who THIS IS!

There are a great many more photos, many of which still need to be scanned and cataloged.