Ter Maats

Grandpa's Bridge

noreply@blogger.com (Martha TerMaat) — Sun, 30 Jun 2013 15:35:00 +0000

When Dad was growing up in Sheboygan, Grandpa TerMaat supported the family driving delivery trucks, but later in life he was the bridge tender for the 8th Street drawbridge and this is how his grandkids remember him. The picture above of Grandpa enjoying the view from the bridge with grandson Chris dates from around 1957.

These two pictures show Chris and I visiting Grandpa at his workplace in 1963. I remember being a little jealous of Chris because he got to help make the bridge go up and down for a boat to pass through. I thought it was an awesome job, sort of like having a superpower. I get a special thrill anytime I encounter a draw or lift bridge and think of my grandfather.

The brick building visible in the background of the photo above is the C. Reiss Coal Company building. You can learn more about that company and see some other historical, views of the Sheboygan river and harbor at this page. The bridge is visible in the lower left corner of this aerial shot which looks like it dates from Grandpa's era.

I don't recall ever hearing stories about mishaps or other incidents at the bridge, though there is one famous drawbridge accident from 1911 that pops up on the Sheboygan history sites, in which a trolley car slid off the open bridge drowning three. Surely that story would have been passed down from one bridge tender to the next.

Here you can have a look around the modernized bridge as it looks today via Google Street View.

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Gone Fishing

noreply@blogger.com (Martha TerMaat) — Sun, 16 Jun 2013 17:39:00 +0000

For Father's Day, how about a tribute to TerMaat men fishing? First, above we have a photo of Grandpa TerMaat in Eggebeen's backyard in 1955 with a big catch. You can make up your own fish story to go with this picture as there are no other details available, other than one presumes Aunt Margaret prepared a tasty meal from this!

Next we have some pictures from 1962 where Grandpa takes Richard and Chris fishing. I'm pretty sure Dad was the cameraman, so this was a multi-generational expedition. I wonder if this is where he learned to fish when he was young.

Eventually Chris will move on to bigger fish, but you can tell he's pretty proud of this little guy here (despite the camera error) and as you can see below, Richard and Chris did pretty well, in a quantity vs. quality kind of way.

These next are from 1963. I assume these are fishing trip preliminaries with Chris and Vernon (or in the second picture Vern and Jim?) collecting grasshoppers and earthworms for bait in Aunt Hattie's yard. Followed by Richard and Chris at a different bridge than above.

Finally, here are a few pictures of a 1964 trip again with Grandpa TerMaat, Chris, Vern (and cameraman Dad).

For all the Dads, thanks for keeping the dream of landing the whale going!

Chris On The Move

noreply@blogger.com (Martha TerMaat) — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 15:32:00 +0000

In honor of big brother Chris' Chicago to River Falls bike trip and his 60th birthday, here are some photos of epic bike trips of the past.

1955. Two years old. Not sure where he is or even if he's exploring Valparaiso or Ann Arbor but this is how it all started.

1956. Exploring Ann Arbor. 4 Marshall Court to Division and back.

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1957. More Marshall Court. Okay, not a bike, exactly. More of an aspirational vehicle for Little Chris' dreams of travel adventure. I doubt he got as far in this pedal car as he did on the trike.

Here we have a journey down Hedges Street (now incorporated into the Heidelberg College campus), Tiffin, Ohio in 1958.

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1967. The car had a paint makeover and Chris is cruising the driveway in River Falls, Wisconsin.

1976. Going nowhere fast. A bit of a fallow period for bike pictures. Dig the bell bottoms and lavender shirt though.

Okay this is more like it. Here's one from a bike trip around Minneapolis in 2010. Bon Voyage and Happy Birthday Chris!

Crescent School

noreply@blogger.com (Martha TerMaat) — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 01:32:00 +0000

Click to Enlarge

I love the motley assortment of kids in these old one room schoolhouse photos. For a long time I thought we might have to enjoy them without knowing if any of these kids were our ancestors, but thanks to an assist from facial recognition software I think I have some answers.

This first one is helpfully stamped with the photography studio's location in Arpin, Wisconsin. Crescent School was located between Arpin and Vesper in Wood County, on what would become the Dykstra farm and right next to TerMaat property. Great grandfather Jan Hendrick Ter Maat moved to Arpin in 1912. Our grandfather Henry was already 17 and too old to be in school, but his younger siblings weren't. This picture was probably taken between 1912 -14. Ter Maat sisters Jennie, Lizzie and Anna are in the dark dresses near the teacher.

Click to Enlarge

This picture appears to be a few years later and Jennie and Lizzie are standing in front of the teacher, both with big bows in their hair (They must have known it was picture day and really dressed up. Lizzie stands out with a bowtie!). Young Anna is probably front row, first girl from the left.

The Dykstra family arrived in Wood County about 1913 so Grandma's sisters Winnie and Kate who were close in age to Lizzie and Anna might be in these photos too, but face recognition isn't telling tales in this case. In addition the tallest boys in these photos could be Ralph Dykstra and George Ter Maat, who were the same age, but that's just speculation. In 1913 they would have been 14 years old and coming to the end of school years.

Click to Enlarge

Finally, here is a Crescent School photo from the 1920s featuring the next generation of Ter Maats and Dykstras. Great Aunt Tena Dykstra is the tall blonde in the third row. Hattie TerMaat is in the second row, third from the right. It's possible that the girl on the far left next to the teacher is Margaret, but I'm less sure of that. At least one of the urchins in the front row is likely the oldest Dykstra cousin, Cornelius, but I couldn't say which. Henry Dykstra, in his memoir Two Longs and Ten Shorts wrote about attending Crescent School,

I actually spent one and a half years in the first grade. My parents enrolled me when I was just five years old. This may not sound unusual in this day and age, but at that time when a teacher had thirty to thirty-five students in her care with an age range of six to sixteen, she had very little time for the very young student. A visit by the county supervising teacher nipped my early education in the bud, as she removed me from school at mid-term.

So depending on the year this was taken he might be in this picture too!

Location of Crescent School:

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Little Hattie's Best Dress

noreply@blogger.com (Martha TerMaat) — Sun, 31 Mar 2013 21:25:00 +0000

Aunt Hattie loved to dress her nieces and nephews up in sailor suits. Here I am with cousin Ann Eggebeen in matching sailor dresses in 1963. (And what a lush backdrop Uncle Joe's glads and dahlias make!).

Here's Pete in 1968, with Grandma TerMaat in Hattie's kitchen, ready to set sail.

I think I've discovered why Hattie favored these Victorian outfits. In the formal portrait below are sisters Hattie and Margaret TerMaat about 1920, Hattie outfitted in a sailor dress. Hattie's about the same age here as the girls in my pre-school Sunday School class who love their ribbons, sequins and tulle. Current fashions favor pink and sparkle and it's hard to imagine little girls today being attracted to a serious color like navy blue, but I'm going to guess that Hattie's ribbons were red. I bet she loved that dress with the giant, shiny bow.

Ter Maats and the Civil War

noreply@blogger.com (Martha TerMaat) — Sat, 09 Feb 2013 20:05:00 +0000

Last summer one of my book groups read Confederates in the Attic: Dispatches from the Unfinished Civil War (great book!) and in preparation for the discussion I looked up the notes I had on Ter Maat civil war ancestors. That started me on quite a roots journey, one that hasn't ended yet. I thought it would be a good idea to share the information I have collected so far, so that my nieces, nephews and others can follow along with the ghosts of their ancestors. With the Civil War sesquicentennial underway, every day there are many exhibits, films, books and other opportunities for learning more about this era and I've found knowing how Ter Maats were affected by the war has increased my interest in participating. So here's what I know:

My great-great grandfather, Christiaan Ter Maat was born in 1828 just outside of Aalten in the Netherlands and at age 25 (1854) came to the United States, settling in Holland township outside Sheboygan, Wisconsin. (The pictures on the sidebar of this blog were taken there.) Christiaan had several brothers --too many to share the family land with in the Netherlands, no doubt-- and most of his siblings also came to the States, though not all at the same time. Anthony came two years after Christiaan at age 19. I'm not sure of young Jan Hendrik's immigration date, but if he came with Anthony, he would have been only 15 at the time.

Both Anthony and Jan Hendrik Ter Maat, just five years after immigration, enlisted in the Union Army, 27th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry Regiment and were assigned to Company F on August 21, 1862. The brothers would have been 25 and 21 years of age at the time. It's not difficult to deduce the psychology here-- two young men, probably working as farm hands for older brothers, yearning for an independent adventure and fortified by having each other to lean on for the journey.

I am still curious as to how they were recruited and how much they understood of the issues they were prepared to fight for. Not all young immigrants were eager to enlist. In neighboring Ozaukee County, army recruitment efforts precipitated a draft riot. Many of Wisconsin's German immigrants left Europe to escape military service and were not happy to find themselves in the midst of a war here. From what I have read about Dutch immigrants during this period, they tended to sympathize with the Democrats and were only gradually won over to the Republicans and the Union cause over the course of the civil war. Some insight as to how the Dutch immigrant community responded to the war is available from a 1988 Civil War-themed issue of Origins (pdf), the magazine of the Calvin College archives.

Anthony and Jan Hendrik might have learned about the politics of their new country via the first Dutch language newspaper in North America, De Sheboygan Nieuwsbode, at least until it stopped publication in 1861. It is available online and fun to look at, even not knowing Dutch. According to an article in a recent issue of Origins, the publisher of this newspaper wavered in his loyalty to the Democrats, even dabbling in a Republican run for office, so perhaps the paper's editorial viewpoint reflected both sides of the debate. Another source credits Peter Daane of Oostburg (in Holland township) as influential in recruiting soldiers to the Union cause. Indeed, brothers Adrian and Peter Daane, Jr., enlisted at the same time as Anthony and Jan Hendrik, also joining Company F. Peter also managed to bring along some of his in-laws. Peter mustered in with the rank of sergeant and rose in the ranks to 1st lieutenant while Adrian was eventually promoted to sergeant. Learn more about Peter Daane here.

The 27th regiment mustered in at Camp Sigel in Milwaukee on March 7, 1863 and the regiment left for garrison duty in Columbus, Kentucky on March 16. The unit stayed there until May 30 at which point they moved to Young's Point, Louisiana in preparation for an assault on Vicksburg, Mississippi. Anthony was gravely ill at that point and never made that move, as he died of disease in Columbus, Kentucky on June 4, 1863. Imagine poor Jan Hendrik, having to leave his older brother on his deathbed!

Library of Congress
Civil War Sheet Music Collection

Jan Hendrik participated in the siege of Vicksburg and the capture of Little Rock, Arkansas. Those battle anniversaries will be coming up this summer, so if you wonder, like I do, what Jan might have experienced, keep a lookout for references to those events. Just the other day, a fascinating article about Vicksburg appeared on the New York Times civil war blog. Vicksburg was important because,

...it was the only point on the Mississippi where the Confederates still had railroad heads on both river banks. President Lincoln recognized Vicksburg’s strategic significance when the war first began. During one strategy meeting, he swept his hand over a large map and declared, “See what a lot of land these fellows hold, of which Vicksburg is the key. The war can never be brought to a close until that key is in our pocket.”

The Canal to Nowhere goes on to describe Ulysses S. Grant's rather daft-sounding plan to reroute the Mississippi to his strategic advantage by building a series of canals. Sounds like a job for some Dutch immigrants! Too bad Anthony and Jan arrived on the scene just after the plan was abandoned.

As to the daily life of a Union soldier, there is a regimental history consisting mostly of news clippings, letters and diary entries. I have only glanced at this so far, and may share more from it later. Many letters written by Wisconsin's civil war soldiers have been carefully conserved. Some have been collected in This Wicked Rebellion: Wisconsin Civil War Soldiers Write Home, a book I'm planning to get to soon. You can also learn more about them on this WPR program and our very own UWRF has a civil war blog offering up regular letters and articles focused on the war experiences of the St. Croix Valley's soliders. WUWM is also running a multimedia Civil War Series which includes more letters and a discussion of Wisconsin's role at Vicksburg. I also discovered another descendant of a Company F soldier doing similar research. I look forward to exploring these resources more in the future.

Casualties in the 27th regiment paralleled those of the war as a whole with disease the leading cause of death. The unit lost 259 men in a little more than two years. Twenty-two enlisted men were killed in combat, and five officers and 232 enlisted men died from disease. Young Jan died of disease in Memphis, Tennessee on October 3, 1863.

Anthony-- or Anton's-- name appears in archives relating to civil war widow's pensions. I believe his wife's name was Dina, and he had a son, Henry, born in 1857 who received survivor's benefits.

Jan Hendrik left no survivors but I don't think he was without legacy. Elder brother Christiaan's wife, Hendrika Wieberdink Ter Maat gave birth to their only son (my great grandfather) on January 29, 1865. This was just two days before the U.S. Congress approved the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, abolishing slavery, the legislative struggle so wonderfully depicted in the movie Lincoln. Christiaan and Hendrika chose to name their baby boy Jan Hendrik. Now, Christiaan also had brothers named Jan Willem and Hendrik, plus a father named Jannes and obviously the choice would have been a nod to the child's mother. But the timing of the birth, when the war must still have weighed heavily on their minds and when the loss of Christiaan's brothers was still so recent, I think points to this choice as an homage to his fallen brother. (You can see a picture of Christiaan and his son, Jan Hendrik here.)

No stories about civil war ancestors were passed down to my father's generation. Dad only came across knowledge of these uncles in his casual genealogical research and didn't puzzle out the details the way I have here. What I find fascinating is that, though I never thought of him as having any special enthusiasm for Civil War history beyond what your average American Lit prof might have, as is made clear in Drew Gilpin Faust's excellent This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War (see also the the Ric Burns film, Death and The Civil War), one of his favorite poets, Emily Dickinson, and his intellectual obsession, Herman Melville, were greatly preoccupied with the search for meaning out of the massive carnage of the war. I may have to take closer look at his old lecture notes to see what connections he might have made. That he was so drawn to these writers, feels like the ghosts of Anthony and Jan Hendrik were speaking to him.

Family Portrait with a Reg'lar Feller

noreply@blogger.com (Martha TerMaat) — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 22:53:00 +0000

This is the only formal portrait that I know of picturing all the TerMaat siblings together. Some effort went into it as you can see that Margaret, Marion and Hattie are wearing matching dresses. And Little Connie has picked out his best tie. If you look very closely, you can see that the photographer added a little blush to the cheeks.

The tie says "Reg'lar Fellers" and depicts one of the characters from a comic strip by that name. The series, created by Gene Byrnes ran from 1917-1949 and had many spin-offs including books, radio, animated and feature film versions, assorted merchandising such as dolls, pencil boxes (just search ebay) and apparently children's clothing. This photo must have been taken in the mid 1930s. 1936, when Dad was seven and the animated short below was released would not be a bad guess.

I like the little Reg'lar Feller jingle that introduces the film. Having just survived a visit from Connie's grandson Max (who really resembles his grandpa!), in which he dug a hole, built a catapult, investigated a pumpkin-tossing trebuchet and devoured Diary of a Wimpy Kid, it's especially fun to see the comic kids digging a hole, messing with an old jalopy, making it fly and in the feature film, building an amphibious vehicle. Some things about seven-year-old boys and their comic alter-egos never change.

Happy Thanksgiving, Sheboygan 1966

noreply@blogger.com (Martha TerMaat) — Wed, 21 Nov 2012 15:25:00 +0000

Thanksgiving at Aunt Margaret's in Sheboygan, 1966

Kid's Table! Pete was less than a year old, so he must have been hanging with the adults. Note that Grandma TerMaat is lurking in the background.

Here Pete joins us to add a little emotional interest to the ritual group photo.

Ann get's caught in a sneeze?

Pete gets acquainted with Aunt Marion.

Eggebeen's had the best games!

Cousin Pile!

TerMaat and B Stevens cousins visit Burton Tower

noreply@blogger.com (Martha TerMaat) — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 03:11:00 +0000

On a 1969 trip to Ann Arbor, the TerMaat kids and Brian, Lisa and Jessica Stevens went on a tour of the carillon in Burton Memorial Tower on the University of Michigan campus. I remember the demonstration was very impressive. You can get a taste of what the tour was like via YouTube here and here. Someone snapped these photos of our outing. Above, Brian, Pete and Chris look down from the tower. Below, Lisa, Jess and I take a turn.

The Graduate

noreply@blogger.com (Martha TerMaat) — Sun, 23 May 2010 01:01:00 +0000

I've got graduation fever. Fresh off my celebration of Stevens diplomas, here's a TerMaat story. Even though Dad went on to earn a stack of diplomas after moving on from Sheboygan Christian School, his eighth grade graduation produced the most impressive document, one of those 17x22 wall-covering behemoths.

The ceremony took place on June 4, 1943 and we have the program so we know young Connie gave a speech:

Here's what the school looked like:

The handsome graduate:

The class had a reunion (I'm guessing in 1993) and this is what they looked like 50 years later. Connie is in the back row, second from the right:

Remember, if you are reading this on the blog, you can click on the photos to enlarge.

Diplomas and Certificates

noreply@blogger.com (Martha TerMaat) — Mon, 03 May 2010 16:06:00 +0000

It's graduation time and it seemed an appropriate time to share some of my grandparents' educational accomplishments, and more interestingly, just what they got to testify to their achievements. One is for Albert Stevens, graduate of Fremont High School in Michigan, Class of 1920, and the other for Angelyn Bouwsma, graduate of Calvin's preparatory school in 1919. Impressively illustrated, to get the full impact of these diplomas you have to visualize them filling half a wall-- each one is 17x22, too big for me to scan so I've done my best to photograph them. (Click to Enlarge).

By the time Albert had graduated from Calvin College proper, the diplomas were still huge but not at all so impressively embellished.

As a bonus, I am throwing in here, the magnificent 1892 20x16 marriage certificate of Angelyn's parents, Jochem Bouwsma and "Hilda" Kolk. I'm guessing they were never keen on displaying this glorious document due to the clerical error of mistaking Hilda for Hillegien. Perhaps Aunt Mary can identify the pictures which would have been in the insets.

Click on the picture to examine the signatures:

Chris visits Aalten, Ancestral Home of TerMaats

noreply@blogger.com (Martha TerMaat) — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 16:43:00 +0000

Back in 1995, Chris made a little side trip from some business junket to visit Aalten, the ancestral home of the TerMaats in the Netherlands. As far as we know, TerMaat is not a common name in the Netherlands and pretty much if your name is TerMaat, this is where your ancestors came from. He found a Reformed Church and cemetery with some TerMaat gravestones. Perhaps he can add more about the trip in comments, but here is a little slideshow of his adventure. (You may need to view or browse these photos on Flickr if you are reading this post on Facebook.)

DeGeus Family Photo Album

noreply@blogger.com (Martha TerMaat) — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 17:13:00 +0000

Here's my little contribution to remembering Uncle Con-- a little DeGeus family photo album spanning brat fries and Thanksgiving in Sheboygan to fishing at Deer Lake. The quality of some of the photos is not terrific but the memories are!

If you are viewing this post on Facebook you will need to click here or here for the full show. You can also browse the pictures on Flickr here.

TerMaat Family Portrait Early 1900s

noreply@blogger.com (Martha TerMaat) — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 16:58:00 +0000

Here is a family portrait of the TerMaat family, taken around 1908-9. I hope I have these correct (left to right): Lizzie, Chris, Henry (my grandfather), Papa John Henry, Mary, Anna, Mama Hattie, George, and Jennie. Click to enlarge.

Tintype: Jan Hinderick Stevens

noreply@blogger.com (Martha TerMaat) — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 16:26:00 +0000

This tintype is very similar to an image appearing in A Stevens Line which AK estimated was taken in 1870. Jan Hinderick Stevens was born in 1841, immigrated to the US in 1865 and died in 1874, survived by one son, Willem, AK's father. Note the faint pink tinting on the cheeks. (Don't forget to click to enlarge.)

Badlands-Yellowstone-Tetons 1970

noreply@blogger.com (Martha TerMaat) — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 00:19:00 +0000

So this post is for Pete. He's about to go on a vacation to Yellowstone, and apparently he's been going around telling everyone he's never been there. So here's the proof that he was there, at age four, same age as Max will be on this visit. Due in part to a camera accident in the Badlands, these are not great pictures, but you can view them all in their unedited glory in this slideshow:

Watch the slideshow on Flickr.

We eagerly await Pete's version of the Old Faithful shot.

Brad Stevens

noreply@blogger.com (Martha TerMaat) — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 19:30:00 +0000

Here are some of my favorite pictures of Brad. I've collected some pictures of young Bradley in a slideshow you can view here.The picture above is a contemplative moment (planning future adventures?) from a 1965 pool party I blogged about previously. More pictures here.

These two pictures are ultimate "Dad" shots. I'm sorry I don't have anything comparable for Brian and Lisa. Maybe Will has one in his collection. The picture of Becca and Jess is from 1962. The other is date unknown.

These two pictures were taken in Muskegon. The top one, date unknown, the bottom is from 1965 (I just like the cool jacket).

And finally, some Brad and Gracie pictures. The last one was taken at Lost Valley.

Prayer

noreply@blogger.com (Martha TerMaat) — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 08:57:00 +0000

This poem was written by Connie TerMaat and published in the Fall 1950 Calvin College Literary Review. It was one of the six poems that won him the top prize in the Eerdmans Literary Awards competition.

Prayer

God, we who travel in the night upon the lake
Have loved the vastness of our world.
We have seen Thy hand
And even in the stars, Thy face.
We thank Thee in the times of storm
For harbor lights, the red and white
That guide us from the violent dark;
We of little faith who dare not tread
The waves which bare the heavy moon,
The golden footsteps of the sun,
We who have entered harbors during a storm
To find the tumult of great emptiness,
We who must so soon depart the lake,
We ask for lights to leads us home,
To guide us to that port where seagulls cry
And circling, sing not loneliness, but love.

Connie TerMaat 1929-2009

noreply@blogger.com (Martha TerMaat) — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 22:37:00 +0000

Cornelius John “Connie” TerMaat, age 80, of River Falls died Wednesday, June 10, 2009. Connie was born in Arpin, WI to Henry and Bertha TerMaat but grew up in Sheboygan, WI with sisters, Hattie, Margaret and Marion. There he developed an abiding love of Lake Michigan lighthouses and tugboats and an interest in the history of the Dutch American community in Wisconsin. Connie taught English at University of Wisconsin-River Falls from 1965 to 1989 including a stint as department chair. A voracious reader, he especially loved Herman Melville, Emily Dickinson, Robert Frost, John Updike, Peter DeVries, Patrick O’Brian, detective fiction and Winnie-the-Pooh. Friends and family looked forward each year to his witty Christmas letters. An avid vegetable gardener (at one time maintaining seven compost piles), he enjoyed puttering around with tools and scrapwood and converting his crops into wine. He was unfailingly loyal to the daily crossword, cookies, ice cream and the Chicago Cubs. He spent as much time as possible at the family cabin on Deer Lake in Burnett County fishing for crappies and watching for herons and loons. As a young man he won prizes for his poetry and continued to write both comic verse and meditations on nature. From his 1950 poem, “Prayer”: “We who must so soon depart the lake,/We ask for lights to lead us home./To guide us to that port where seagulls cry/And circling, sing not loneliness, but love.” Connie is survived by his wife of 57 years, Grace TerMaat of River Falls, children Chris (Nancy) of Naperville, IL, Martha of River Falls and Peter (Joan) of North Oaks, MN, and sister Margaret Eggebeen of Sheboygan. The accompanying photo was a favorite of his grandchildren Sara, John, Eric, Jason, Morgan, Mary and Max. Reading was Connie’s passion. Contributions in his honor may be made to the River Falls Public Library. Send your thoughts to memories@uptocode.com or post them to http://termaats.blogspot.com

The Man Who Came to Dinner

noreply@blogger.com (Martha TerMaat) — Tue, 26 May 2009 14:47:00 +0000

We recently discovered that Jason was appearing in a production of The Man Who Came to Dinner, the same play Dad had a role in as a high school senior in 1947. Above and below are the yearbook pages for the production (click to enlarge). His role was small--the boyfriend of the daughter, smaller than Jason's, who I understand played the father. I'm just a little disappointed Dad didn't have a role that required him to wear one of those Groucho Marx mustaches.

Apparently Dad also appeared in the chorus of the Mikado and presumably is in this picture, though its impossible to pick him up. What I wouldn't give for a close up of him in costume!

Happy May Day!

noreply@blogger.com (Martha TerMaat) — Fri, 01 May 2009 14:53:00 +0000

As is the tradition on this blog, May Day means pictures of birthday girl Martha dressed to impress! In these pictures from 1963 I share the spotlight with cousin Jessica Stevens, who also turns 50 this year (I'm sure someone can fill in her birthday for me in comments). I like our intensity with the bubble-blowing. It looks like these were taken in our backyard in Tiffin, Ohio.

Roasting Marshmallows...

noreply@blogger.com (Martha TerMaat) — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 14:00:00 +0000

... in our best party dresses! Here I am in 1962 with cousins Rebecca and Jessica Stevens having a backyard roast while dressed to impress.

Foster Cemetery

noreply@blogger.com (Martha TerMaat) — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 15:09:00 +0000

Here's a little slideshow of a hike I took out to Foster Cemetery. The Fosters were the founding family of River Falls. The oldest grave is for Eli Foster who was born in 1796 and died in 1856. A little more about the cemetery here. Mom says she remembers a cemetery clean-up day held yearly by Trinity Episcopal (which no longer exists). The cemetery, otherwise abandoned, is now an historical site. It sits on top of a hill overlooking Lake Louise and the lower dam with great views of the Kinnickinnic valley. A beautiful resting place.

For those familiar with the territory, here is a map:

View Larger Map

The prime view reminded me of this photo of Chris and I sitting on the Sioux burial mounds overlooking the St. Croix in Hudson in 1966. (There is now a sign asking that one respect the dead and not climb/sit on the mounds). I wonder if the Fosters aren't the only ones buried overlooking the Kinnick.

Weeding

noreply@blogger.com (Martha TerMaat) — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 06:29:00 +0000

Reading about the plans for a White House vegetable garden this morning I was especially amused by this bit,

Almost the entire Obama family, including the president, will pull weeds, “whether they like it or not,” Mrs. Obama said laughing. “Now Grandma, my mom, I don’t know.” Her mother, she said, would probably sit back and say: “Isn’t that lovely. You missed a spot.”

Go First Grandma! Anyway, the thought of the long-legged Obamas all out weeding reminded me of this iconic Angelyn Stevens photo, once blown up to poster size:

And this like-mother-like-daughter Grace Stevens homage:

Absquatulate

noreply@blogger.com (Martha TerMaat) — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 01:29:00 +0000

Assignment: Define absquatulate and use it in a sentence.
This word was a clue in a recent crossword Dad completed.
This picture which dates from the late 70s or early 80s, (maybe
Pete remembers) shows Dad and Pete working on a gargantuan
crossword puzzle which was a gift to Dad for Christmas or birthday.