Several of my siblings, in close recess and secret conclave in St. Louis, have decided to visit my dad’s cousin, Joan. Since her elder sister’s death several years ago Joan has been the last Schuler of her generation and with my mom’s death she’s the last surviving member of that generation of my family period.
In anticipation of the visit I gave my siblings several questions to ask:
- Did Grandpa Schuler (my great-grandfather) speak with an accent? He arrived in this country as a child and his mother tongue was undoubtedly German, either Hochdeutsch (Standard German) or, more likely, Schwyzertütsch.
- Did Uncle Tony (her father) speak German? He was born in this country but I think it’s possible that he and his brothers, one of whom was my grandfather, also spoke German.
- What were her impressions of my mom when she first met her? My mom was her elder sister’s best friend at the time (that’s how my parents met). Joan was the younger kid sibling.
Joan is very likely the only person who could give me the answers to any of those questions although some of her eldest sister, Virginia’s, children are older than I am and undoubtedly have better memories of Uncle Tony than I do since they lived with him.
What other questions should I ask?
Update
Joan has no memories of Grandpa Schuler. Uncle Tony did speak at least a little German. Everybody in the family liked my mom.
Any photos with unidentified persons in them?
Already asked about those. But that’s a good idea nonetheless.
As I might have mentioned I have family pictures going back to the 1870s. In many cases the albums themselves were pretty clearly annotated. That’s actually one of the challenges I have. I want to reproduce the pictures and reproduce the albums because of the valuable info written in them.
Any particular quirks, habits or irritations that elders displayed?
I ask because my husband’s grandfather liked his fried eggs with exactly two drops of Tabasco in the morning.
My grandmother, who had a lovely complexion, cleansed her face every night with Pond’s cold cream and Jergen’s lotion, which was little more than witch hazel.
My Pennsylvania Dutch ancestors arrived about 1740 and more than a hundred years later their grandchildren (my greatgrandparents) were still speaking German exclusively. My grandparents were finally bilingual, speaking accent-free English, and my father and his siblings, while occasionally being chewed out in German, spoke English only.
I’m betting Grandpa Schuler had no accent.
The only thing I know about my great-grandparents is that my grandmother traveled to Baton Rouge to meet her father, after many years. I don’t know whether he left her mother in the lurch, or was chased off for bad behavior, or what. I need to speak to Aunt Ruth. She’s in her deep eighties.
What should you ask?
“So. . . any bank accounts or stock holdings you may have, shall we say, forgotten about? If so, would you like some help with those?”
Michael:
Nah, she has kids of her own. Although it’s funny you should mention it. My mom was discovering accounts of my dad’s for a decade after he died. And we uncovered an account of my mom’s we hadn’t known about a year after she died.
Janis:
Don’t put it off.
On another note, did your sisters ever wear dresses from the St. Louis Exchange?:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/18/fashion/18exchange.html?ex=1175140800&en=9ecc18d45ae1062e&ei=5070&emc=eta1
I don’t believe so although (after we moved from our tough inner city type home where I spent my formative years) we lived within walking distance. If you search “St. Louis Woman’s Exchange” on Google and look at the map they provide, my mom’s house is a short walk across the Bogey Club Golf Course from its location. You’ll also see the John Burroughs School on Price Road. The Prices of that road were Vincent Price’s family.
Burroughs is a small tone-y private school. My impression is that it was somewhat snooty. A couple of neighbor kids went there. One was an obnoxious snot and the other was and is as solid and decent a person as you’d ever want to find. Her brother is something of a rock ‘n roll celebrity—google “Pavlov’s Dogs band”. On an amusing side note her brother David and his wife came to my mom’s wake. When the band took a break David picked up one of their guitars and knocked them out with his own performances—they were kind of in awe. That’s the thing with professional musicians—the problem is keeping them from playing, not encouraging them to play. I sang. My niece (a step-dancer) danced.
I suspect there was a social thing going on here. My instinct is that St. Louis Woman’s Exchange was a hangout for Protestant old money in St. Louis. I can say with authority that I’ve never been there although I’ve passed it thousands of times. Although we were related to original settlers (an important St. Louis social distinction) and the Schulers were politically connected they weren’t Protestants and they weren’t old money.
My recollection is that my mom got her clothes from Saks, Peck & Peck, and Scruggs (top drawer local department store, now defunct). I’ll need to ask my sisters where the clothes my mom didn’t make for them came from.
Your mother sewed, too? I can’t remember but one off-the-rack dress before I was ten years old. And lots of hand-me-downs from older cousins. My cousin Tim and I were the babies of the families.
If I’m not mistaken she made all of my sisters’ clothes until the twins were born and quite a few thereafter.
My maternal grandmother (mom’s mom) was an accomplished seamstress. Not only did she make all of my mom’s clothes when she was a child (which were quite elaborate) she made all of the costumes for the vaudeville troupe.
Your mom talked about teachers admiring her pretty, homemade underwear in Ann’s interview.
My mom sewed but that was about it. She didn’t knit, crochet, or tat. My wife does all three as well as sew. Mostly knits but she’s made beautiful dress coats and suits for herself. I’m tempted to post pictures of some of her most beautiful projects. She’s made innumerable baby hats and blankets. She just finished a shawl and is about to start another.
One of my sisters has what I can only characterize as the God-given gift to make beautiful clothes without patterns. I think she made her own senior prom dress.
The women in your life might enjoy Kathleen Fasanella’s blog, Fashion-Incubator. She writes about the fashion industry from a hands-on perspective.
I found her yesterday through a mention at Tyler Cowen’s, and can’t stop reading. She’s the one who mentioned the Women’s Exchangeof St. Louis.
And good for your talented sister. I wish she were mine.
Error! Error! Grandma followed up her cold cream with OJ’s Beauty Lotion.