GRANDMA'S ELLA
When I was growing up it seemed that everyone referred to their grandparents as "Grandma Smith" or "Grandpa Jones" and never used their first names. In recent years I have noted that my godchildren and their children refer to THEIR grandparents as "Grandma Elsie" or "Grandpa Joe", etc. That would never have worked for me!
My maternal and paternal grandmothers both had the name "Ella". It was never confusing as I always referred to them as "Grandma Kijak" or "Grandma Schulte". As a child I can remember thinking that everyone's grandmothers were named Ella! While they may have had the same name they were very different.
My maternal grandmother was born Ella Emma Louise Kolberg on August 8,1895 in Stevensville, Michigan on the southwestern side of the state. She grew up on the family farm and attended the local Lutheran church. She had two older sisters and three older brothers and was the youngest in her family. Her parents had lost three other children earlier. This is a photo of Robert, Ella and Hugo Kolberg:
On March 10, 1910 she was confirmed at St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Stevensville:
On June 17, 1914, at Trinity Lutheran Church in St. Joseph, Michigan, Ella married Joseph Kijak. They were to have 3 sons and 1 daughter (my mother):
I was very close to my Kijak grandparents as this picture shows, even though I grew up in the Detroit suburbs, a good 200 miles away from St. Joseph and only visited them several times a year. Here is a photo of my grandparents with my brother and myself in 1958:
My grandfather passed away in 1960 and my grandmother in 1973. They are buried together in Lincoln Township Cemetery in Stevensville, Michigan. My grandmother was an excellent seamstress and did crafts as well and my home, today, contains many keepsake items from her that are very special to me.
----------
My paternal grandmother was born Ella Anna Helene Wellhausen on November 15, 1896 in Detroit, Michigan. She grew up in Macomb County, Michigan and attended the local Lutheran church in Fraser. She had an older sister and a younger brother. Her parents ran a local general store. She was close to her older sister, Gertrude, and they won a contest in 1900 which was covered by the local paper where they were dubbed "The Dancing Darling's of Macomb County":
On December 24, 1917, at First Lutheran Church in Waco, Texas, Ella married Elmer Schulte as he was preparing to serve in France in WWI. They were to have 1 daughter and 2 sons, one of which was my father:
My grandfather was to pass away nearly one month after this anniversary in 1968. My grandmother passed away in 1989 and both are buried in Gethsemane Cemetery in Detroit. I do have my grandmother Schulte to thank for my interest in genealogy as she was to assist me at the beginning of my journey.
----------
Having both grandmothers named "Ella" did not really cause much confusion. One set of grandparents lived in Detroit and the other set in St. Joseph, Michigan. I would say "never the twain did meet" but that was not true.
In a twist of fate my maternal grandmother, Ella Kolberg Kijak's brother, Hugo Kolberg, (as seen above in their childhood photo) would have a career in Detroit where he settled. He would meet, fall in love with and marry my paternal grandmother, Ella Wellhausen Schulte's sister, Gertrude Wellhausen, (as seen above in the 'Dancing Darlings' photo). The two families would be forever merged and would be the impetus for my own parents meeting.
But that is a story for another time!
No comments:
Post a Comment