52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - 2025; Week 22 "Sports"

DETROIT SPORTS:

In my family, sports played a large part in the activities that my father (and my brother) enjoyed.  The Detroit teams were my father's passion, and he could always be found enjoying a game or three at the same time.

I can still see my father sitting in his recliner watching the Detroit Tigers on the large TV, watching another sport on a small 7" TV that he propped up on his stomach and holding a radio to his ear listening to another team.  Whether it was the Detroit Tigers playing baseball, the Pistons playing basketball, the Red Wings - and Gordie Howe - playing hockey or the Lions playing football, there was my dad.  In fact my parents had season tickets to all the Detroit Lions games for many seasons. 

In going through my photos for an interesting story to enhance this post I came across two photos of my paternal grandfather showing him enjoying sports.  

While I remember my grandfather vividly, and while we were extremely close, he never mentioned anything to me about having actively taken part in a sport.  But pictures do not lie!

Here is my grandfather, Elmer Schulte, in 1902 at the age of 8 with his bicycle.  I am taking liberties here for the purpose of this post that riding a bicycle is indeed a sport!  I am amazed at the size of the tires on this bike and how young my grandfather was when he had this bike.  He was also pretty well "dressed up" for a bike ride; was that the way children road bikes in the early 1900's?  Realizing this photo is well over 100 years old I did the best I could with scanning it:

Some years later, perhaps when newly married, my grandfather was shown in a baseball uniform out on the field catching a fly ball.  My grandmother wrote on the back of the photo that this was "Elmer in baseball uniform" though I never knew that he had actually played on a team.  

Was this a staged photo for fun showing him with feet off the ground catching the ball or was it a real game?  I don't know but it is a unique photo that is also over 100 years old:

While I remember my grandfather enjoying watching the Detroit teams on TV, and listening to them on the radio, it is interesting to me to realize that he also at one time did actually take part in sports.

Memories and newly discovered memories are enjoyable!

copyright 2025, Cheryl J. Schulte

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - 2025; Week 21 "Preservation"

KEEPSAKE ITEMS TO PRESERVE:

I have been very fortunate to have inherited many keepsake items from my parents, grandparents and even a few from great-grandparents.  These are very important to me and are items I want to preserve.  While I don't have children of my own, I am hopeful that my niece (with three young sons) or my nephew will one day continue to keep and preserve these items.

Here are some examples:

A six volume set of "The New Practical Reference Library Encyclopedia" dated 1915 which was owned by my great-grandfather, Rudolph Schulte (1869-1940).  The illustrations in these books are outstanding and they are handy reference guides to events in the world prior to 1915:

A German violin which also belonged to my great-grandfather, Rudolph Schulte (1869-1940).  Rudolph was an insurance salesman in the 1920's.  He had a client who could not pay his insurance premium so he gave Rudolph this German violin in exchange for his insurance premium.  The violin is dated from the 1850's:

A German prayer book which belonged to my great-grandmother, Bertha, nee Kramp, Kolberg (1860-1915).  She brought this book to the US when she immigrated on November 28, 1883 from Klein Tuchen, Kreis Bütow, Pommern, Preußen. This area is now, in 2025, known as Tuchomko, County Bytow, Pomeranian Voivodeship, Poland:

My most prized possession is this cut glass mushroom lamp which belonged to my great-grandparents, Rudolph (1869-1940) and Juliane, nee Feucht (1870-1907), Schulte.  This lamp dates to the mid-1890's and was in their home throughout their marriage and later passed down in the family until I received it.  This lamp is special to me because it is the only item I have of my great-grandmother who passed away at the young age of 36:

A childhood roll top desk that was my father's (1923-1996).  I still use this desk today to hold office supplies and I have a desk lamp placed on top:

A Polish flute (or better known as a recorder) which belonged to my great-grandfather, John Kijak (1861-1945), who used this flute to call sheep while he was still living in Poland.  He immigrated to the US from Taniborz gm. Kleszczewo pow. Poznan woj. Wielkopolskie (Greater Poland) on June 19, 1882:

A photo album that belonged to my great-grandmother, Amelia, nee Schluessler, Wellhausen (1876-1963).  This type of album is frequently seen now in antique shops:

My mother's (1925-2016) cedar chest which she received for her high school graduation in 1943 from her parents.  Her parents had this cedar chest hidden in their own bedroom, covered with a quilt, for weeks before the graduation and my mother told me she never noticed anything different:

 All of these items are important to me and are all displayed in my home.  It is important to me, as a genealogist and family historian, that these items continue to be preserved.

 

A message of appreciation goes to my cousin, Ina, in Poland for the correct wording of my ancestors' Polish home villages.

copyright 2025, Cheryl J. Schulte

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - 2025; Week 20 "Rubis Cousin's Reunion"

RUBIS COUSINS MEET AFTER 80 YEARS:

Newspapers and television broadcasts frequently have human interest stories of family members meeting after many years apart.  Back in 2012, I took part in arranging for my then 87 year old mother to reconnect with her then 85 year old cousin after 80 years apart.

I personally thought it was a slow news day in South Bend, Indiana but alas nobody in the media appeared to cover this story.  Instead I had to cover the event myself!

A few years earlier I had received an e-mail from a person who had come across my blog.  While I frequently receive such e-mails, none have ever had a connection with my mother's paternal grandmother's family which is the Rubis line from Poland.  My mother knew very little about her grandmother who had passed away in 1918 long before my mother was born.  My mother did know that her paternal grandparents had a very rocky marriage and had separated around 1900 and that her grandmother then had connected with another gentleman, moved to South Bend, Indiana from Bay City, Michigan, where she gave birth to 7 more children with this gentleman before she passed away in 1918.

That was why this e-mail I received a few years earlier surprised and pleased me as the woman writing indicated she had seen my blog, noted the banner on the blog that contained the 4 photos of my great-grandmothers and recognized the name of Mary Rubis Kijak.  This writer, D, told me that she believed my great-grandmother was her husband's great-grandmother as well.

E-mails went back and forth between D and myself.  She indicated that her mother-in-law was the daughter of Mary Rubis Kijak's oldest child from her relationship with Frank Banner, Sr.  While my mother knew that there were children from her grandmother's life with Mr. Banner she only remembered them from her childhood.  Living in the fruit belt of Southwest Michigan (St. Joseph) it was common for family members from other areas to visit St. Joseph during the summer to take the fresh produce home.  Evidently members of the Banner family would frequently do so, coming from nearby South Bend, Indiana (35 miles) and my mother remembered playing with these half cousins when they were children.

D and I exchanged information and I learned that D's mother-in-law, Betty, was very eager to see my mother again.  My mother as well was eager and did remember Betty as a child though 80 years had gone by.

On August 22, 2012 we had our reunion.  My mother and I drove from St. Joe to Mishawaka, Indiana and met Betty and her daughter-in-law, D, at a restaurant where we had a wonderful lunch and long conversations.  Both D and Betty had brought scads of photos with them.  Out came my Flip Pal scanner and I was able to scan all the photos right there at the table.  After lunch we went to Betty's house, near the Notre Dame campus, for some further visiting.  

Here is a photo of my mother (left) and Betty (right) at their reunion in 2012:

When there are sensitive issues involving ancestors it is often difficult to learn any of the details involved but Betty was very forthcoming with information on my great-grandmother's second family that I had not been aware of.  It was a very special reunion in many ways and one that my mother and Betty were so grateful for.

The next year D and I arranged another reunion with my mother, Betty and two other cousins, Martha and Evelyn.  Again we traveled to Mishawaka, Indiana and the 4 cousins had a grand reunion that they all thoroughly enjoyed.

Here are the 4 cousins at that reunion with Betty and my mother in the back row standing and Evelyn and Martha sitting:

Again, in 2015, the 3 cousins and D traveled to St. Joseph to take part in my mother's 90th birthday celebration.  Even after so many years apart the 4 women thoroughly enjoyed spending time together.

Since then all 4 cousins have passed away.  D and I still correspond and discuss how happy we are that we were able to get the cousins together when we did.  

This year, my mother would be 100 years old, and in thinking of this I was reminded of these reunions between these cousins.  All 4 women shared the same grandmother, Mary Rubis Kijak, while Martha and Betty had Mr. Banner as their grandfather and my mother and Evelyn had John Kijak as their grandfather.

And I learned a valuable genealogical lesson - "never say never" as there are always avenues to explore that will lead to new discoveries, though I always thought the chances of my finding further information on my Rubis ancestors were slim.

In the last few years I have learned that this is definitely not true, as I have had the immense joy to have connected with a cousin in Poland, from the Rubis side of both of our ancestors, and with her help I have been able to extend my Rubis ancestral line back more generations.

This information will be shared in further blog posts this year.  

copyright 2025, Cheryl J. Schulte

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - 2025; Week 19 "Mother's Day"

MOTHER'S DAY, 1950:

It was Mother's Day, 1950.  I was 20 months old and certainly old enough to give my mother a special Mother's Day gift.  My parents and I lived in an upper flat in Detroit and the only means of entrance and exit was by an outside staircase.  

All on my own I came up with this gift for my mother.  I worked on it the afternoon before Mother's Day.  Quite a gift, wouldn't you say?

Yes, that is a full body cast - the result of slipping on the bedroom floor the afternoon before Mother's Day and the accomplishment of doing the splits.  My poor mother didn't know what had happened and certainly didn't realize the magnitude of the injury.  She has told me that I cried so terribly that she called my father home from work and together they took me to Saratoga Hospital in Detroit.

There I was found to have a broken left leg.  There was an orthopedic surgeon at the hospital at the time and he performed a closed reduction of the left femur and set the leg with the full body cast.  

This was quite a chore for my petite mother to carry me up and down the stairs for the months it took to heal.  I had just been learning to walk and had to learn that all over again.

Fast forward to 1981 and I was now employed at Saratoga Hospital as the Medical Staff Coordinator.  Imagine my surprise to see the same orthopedic surgeon, Clarence Maguire, M.D., still on the staff nearly 30 years since he set my broken leg.  No, I didn't remember him; I just knew his name from my mother's tale!  He was near retirement and thoroughly enjoyed hearing how he had been the surgeon to take care of me on Mother's Day in 1950.  I showed him the photo and he chuckled and remarked that casts like that were certainly not used any longer.

In recent years, the 5 year old daughter of one of my goddaughters had the misfortune of breaking her leg after a fall off her bike.  She had a much smaller and prettier bright purple cast on her leg.  I showed her this photo of my broken leg and her only question was how I went to the bathroom with that cast on!  

Good question!

I will say that in the years after that Mother's Day I did manage to gift my mother much more appropriate and loving gifts though she would often remind me of the Mother's Day in 1950.

copyright 2025, Cheryl J. Schulte