Amelia

I love family history, but sometimes I want to throw my computer out of a window.  My great grandmother was named Amelia, and her mother was named Amelia and her mother, I have no idea.  

My great grandmother's full names was Amelia Catherine Kolmann. (I think)

I have seen a great deal of variations to the spelling, here are a few...

Amelia Catherine Kolman

Emilie Kollmann

Emelia Welsh

Emelia Catherine Kolman

Amelia Katherine Kollmann

Amelia Catherin Kollman

....at one point her middle initial becomes an L.  

My father only remembers her by "Grandma," and his great grandmother who was also named Amelia he knew only as "Grossmutter."  So at least that gives us a country of origin, Germany.  But not much else....

I know Amelia Catherine Kolmann was born August 23, 1897 in Pennsylvania.  And during her childhood she traveled to and from Germany with her mother.  So you would think that would mean she would have a passport, but I have not found her passport or even an application.  (Yes, I tried her mother too.)

I found 1 ship manifest in German of her leaving Germany, but nothing heading to Germany in the first place.  

I know she married my great grandfather, Patrick Joseph Welsh, but I have not been able to find their marriage license.  I am guessing they got married before 1915, since that was the time they had their first daughter, Virginia Eleanor Welsh "Jeanie", but I can't prove it.

Amelia died on August 1, 1977 in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania.  At the time she was living with her youngest daughter and her family in Export, PA.  This is the only part of her life of which I am certain.  

So many pieces of one life, but as of this moment, that is all they are.  Someday I hope to be able to take all these pieces of Amelia and sew a beautiful quilt of her life together for both myself, my daughter, but most of all for my father.

Food for the Family

Woman are the heartbeat of a family.  Woman are a huge part of creating the environment in which their family either flourish or sadly fade.  One way to enrich that environment is through food.  

No U.S. Census is going to tell you what your Great-Grandmother's go to meal was on a Friday night, but her recipe box that is in your mother's attic might.  Thinking out of the box to mold your female ancestor's lives is key, since much of their lives was not documented like they male counterparts.  

If you know your female ancestor had a signature dish, you may be able to research the origins of where the meal was created that may point you into area where you have family roots.  Or it may just give you a glimpse into their daily lives.  

My mother remembers her grandmother (Elsie May Miller nee Burton) making her silver dollar sized pancakes and sausage for breakfast and they would dress it with either sugar or maple syrup from the sugar maple trees they family had on their property.  All the children would boast about how many pancakes they were able to eat, a sort of contest between siblings.  

Other the other hand, my Grandmother on my paternal line (Elizabeth Jane Ferraro nee Welsh) taught me how to make ravioli.  Now the trickier part is, that she was not from Italy.  She was actually both Irish and German, but she married a man from Calabria, Italy.  Therefore she learned and passed down all the family recipes that she had learned from her mother-in-law.  

I will end with one of my favorite recipe cards that I found with my maternal grandmother's (Julia May Youngman nee Miller) recipe box.  It is a recipe for a Butter-less, Egg-less, Milk-less Cake.  Notice, the reasoning for such extreme lack of basic ingredients.  (Rationing for WW II.)