Sasha and I were chatting about the family tree. And there was one important fact - okay two - that I can't remember. Okay, there's lots of stuff I don't remember, but you can only put so much in a blog topic before people start getting up for a sandwich midway, stop to feed the cat and then forget they were here reading this thing at all. In fact, see what I mean?
So anyway, we were talking about the family tree, and not that these are the two most important things about that branch, but it was what we were chatting about. And since I didn't know, I'm going to ask for our resident historian to fill in the blanks.
First off, what was Western Sage's mother's name?
Second, how did Herman meet Nanny?
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19 comments:
Her name was Louise Braune. Friends always called her Lisee, to guess at a spelling. It was pronounced Lee See, accent on the first syllable.
Nanny was a member of the Nature Friends which my parents belonged to. She and her daughter had left Germany after the second world war and settled in Los Angeles.
When my mother died in a car accident in Mexico, Mom and Dad had actually been travelling with Nanny's daughter Wilma and her husband, who had taken their own car and gone on to the next town, planning to be joined by the folks within a few days.
Somehow a message had been left for Wilma and John, telling them what had happened. When the message finally reached them, they contacted Dad to tell him that they didn't think they could be of any help, and would go on with their trip.
I had a very hard time with that.
After my mother died, my dad had a very hard time keeping house for himself. I don't think he had ever done any cooking, nor perhaps even made coffee. Widowerhood was tough for him. After some months, he asked Nanny to come and visit him, which she did. I think he must always have had a lot of respect for her and her independent ways. I can remember mother being jealous of the admiration he expressed about Nanny. In any case, he finally asked Nanny to marry him, and she did.
I imagine this is a longer answer than you had expected. Or did you wander off to the kitchen?
Thank you for your answer. And to answer your last comment, I was hoping for just that sort of replt, nothing shorter.
Now that you mention it, I remember that part about John and Wilma carrying on with their trip. What an odd choice for a friend to make.
Now here's the follow-on question. Perhaps you won't know, since it was before you were born, but do you know how Herman met Louise? And if so, do you know when they met and where?
No, I'm not doing a family tree. I'm just curious.
Hey Uncle Matt - have you seen my dad's family tree blueprint ? (literally - on blueprint paper) He carries it everywhere there might be a possibility - although I think it is more concentrated towards the Kulka side.
Its pretty amazing - I am not sure how far back he got, but he brings it out every few years for inspection.
Oh, no. I just wrote out the family history, and my comment suddently disappeared. It was too long to do again right now. I will try when I can get up the energy again.
4 LETTER WORD!
LOUD NOISES!
Yes, dear Sasha. However I have found the courage to try again. See next comment (I hope).
This requires a bit of a history lesson. My father had been constrained to serve in the German army in the first world war. After it was over, in the Becks' view, currents began to shift in Germany in an anti-democratic direction. (We all know what that evolved into.) In Europe there began to be movements to offset this trend. The idea was for workers to band together in order to begin to have some voice in improving conditions for the common man. There was great concern about the big business interests, like Krupp Munitions Factory, having the power to bring about wars to further their own interests.
The idea grew to thinking in terms of unions, like the Longshoremen's, and many others', reaching across borders, and people beginning to band together internationally.
Once these common people were united in their goals, they would refuse to take part in going to war and killing each other.( An early "Power to the people".) This movement had various names - Communism, Socialism, Social Democrats, etc.
Of course, looking back, we also know what that evolved into.
My mother had become a member of one of these groups in Bremen. I don't know what name they gave themselves. She was particularly interested in improving conditions for children, and was active in working with them. On one occasion she was addressing a group of people about her concern, and heard a loud "Sehr richtig" or some such thing from someone in the audience. (We would translate that as "right on!") The handsome young man who had called out in support of her soon came up to engage her in conversation. One thing led to another, as they say.
When Herman moved to Munich (or Munchen) for a year, Louise went with him. They actually lived together there, marrying before they left Munich..
They saw their country moving in what looked to them like the wrong direction. Dad began writing to taxidermy firms in different parts of the world to see if he could get a position elsewhere. He got an offer from a firm in New York. (Also one from Switzerland, but Swiss emigration policies did not permit him to move there.)
There was one hitch in accepting the New York job: they had no money for the boat fare. It turned out that the employer in New York was willing to advance the money for Dad to come, so in 1922,four months after they were married, Dad, knowing no English, left alone for the New World.
It took a year for Dad to have earned enough money to pay back the loan he had received for his passage. When he did, the employer was then willing to advance the money for Mom to come.
When Mother's ship arrived in New York, she was standing at the rail as the ship was docked. Dad spotted her from the pier. He couldn't wait to greet her, so he wrote her a note, wrapped it in something to give it enough weight to reach the ship, and threw it. Oops. Didn't quite make it. Somewhere on the bottom of the water is a key to their apartment, which was the only thing he could find to weigh down the note.
When I think of all the difficulties they overcame in managing to come to America, I know that the loss of the key was among the least of them. I am filled with admiration for their bravery in leaving everything behind, and with much gratitude that they did. They changed all of our lives by their courage.
That's an excellent story. It amazes me the lengths some people have gone through to immigrate to this country. I find it amazing that your dad wrote to other countries, but didn't know English. Even more so that he came to America, indenturing himself to this company and trusting that all would go well. If he didn't have the money to come over, he certainly couldn't have bought passage back home. What faith!
This is so interesting, I hope you won't mind if I drag you along a little more.
How did Herman figure out who to write to? I can't imagine there was an international yellow pages of taxidermists. Did the company who hired Herman just take him in on the basis of his letter or was there further correspondence or a reference from a mutual acquaintance?
And then I wonder, did Louise feel she needed to find a job to get her portage paid back more quickly, or did she set to establishing herself in the local community, and turning Herman's bachelor flat into a home?
(eesmall, yes I have seen the blueprint. In fact, I have a copy. My favorite name is Ignatz Kulka, followed closely by Moses Isreal Kulka. Oh, to be young enough to be choosing names for children...)
Unclematt, I find your questions interesting and want to follow up on them. I will ask Don, who has an excellent memory, what he knows from stories he heard in the family.
I can tell you right now that my mother went to work at a laundry, ironing shirts. I still use what she taught me about how best to do that, even though I have amended it a little. I can remember her starting me out ironing my dad's handkerchiefs, and how proud it made me to tell him that I had done that for him. Obviously it took few steps before we got to shirts.
An interesting follow-up to this would be for the rest of you to tell us something you remember learning how to do from your parents or someone else in the family. Any takers?
Could you imagine if your name was Ignatz Kulka? In addition to getting your butt kicked on the playground as a child, no part of your name would ever be pronounced correctly. I am not sure why Kulka is so difficult. I think the best I have gotten so far is "Kuleeka". What about you guys?
CoooolKah?
or Kulkla?
KookLa?
All commen - however my life is so much more simple now - Small. Not much room for error there!
Kookla. Always Kookla, but sometimes Koo-ell-ka, Kula, Kaluka (my Hawaiian period), Cole (?!), and once Macoco. Kulka is five letters, and none of them silent. How tough can it be?
But let's not get derailed from the great adventure of Herman and Louise Beck! Western Sage, until you get some input from Don, perhaps you could tell us how your parents, finally united in New York, ended up in Los Angeles.
Best wishes,
Ignatz
Dear Ignatz,
One thing I got from Don is I gave the wrong city for my folks. Dad had work in Stuttgart, not Munich. We pretty much are guessing that he had kept track of some of his taxidermy cohorts who may have moved elsewhere, and maybe wrote to them.
As to English, my mother had gone to hoch schule, which is more advanced than high school would be in this country, and she had learned some English, even with the English accent. Her mother, who was run over by a train when mom was 17, had insisted that her daughter get a good education. She had a little shop in the front room of their house where she sold sewing notions and other small items a housewife would need. I'll bet she scraped that money together for tuition. Mom told me that most of the other girls were from wealthier families, which made it hard for her, but by God, she got an education!
And never got over the loss of her mother - couldn't ever talk about it without breaking down.
To be continued
I have to maake this quick, but:
A) This is all very interesting, and I'm glad you brought it up, Natty
B) I have just found out that people on either side of my family have been run over by trains.
1) Thank the stars for automobiles.
2) I'm going to be watching my back.
Raleigh is rather good with Kulka.
Might it be due to the large "urban community" (I swear that's not offensive like it sounds)that has to deal with names like LaQuanta and Marakish? (Actual names of people I work with, by the way)
You mean nobody ever got cuckoo?
As to (B), Sasha, fill us in.
Herman and Louise lived in New York for 4 years. Then, as their story went, they had decided they wanted to have children. New York City did not seem the place where they wanted to raise children. They decided to head for Los Angeles. (I wonder if my dad didn't have hopes of getting employment with the Los Angeles County Museum, even at that date.)
When they arrived, Dad was able to get a job lwith a commercial taxidermist. In those years, people still hunted for game and wanted the heads stuffed for their den or dining room, or bathroom - who knows what. He applied for citizenship, knowing that that would be required before he could get a job with the county. AFter talking to museum personnel, it seemed that the job could be his when he became a citizen.
Their first child was on the way when Dad was qualified to adopt the USA as his country. He became a citizen,and the job was his! He began working on artistic and carefully accurate renderings of various animal groupings for the museum diaramas.
I was born in the same week that the stock market crashed, in October of 1929. I shudder to think of what the family would have had to live on had Dad not become an accredited county employee before the crash. As it was, he continued working all through the depression. Lord knows we were not wealthy, but neither did we starve.
Thank you for encouraging me to remember the family history. While I still can.
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