MY ANCESTORS' MODE OF TRANSPORTATION
While I would love to have knowledge of, and photos of, the modes of transportation that my ancestors used in Germany and Poland unfortunately I do not. What I do have, though, are some photos of ancestors with the various means of transportation that they used in the US.
My mother's uncle, Theodore Wierzbicki, husband of her aunt, Anna Kijak, used this means of transportation to get around while living in St. Joseph, Michigan.
Unfortunately I do not know the name of the horse(!):
I do understand that my own great-grandfather, August Kolberg, had a horse and wagon which he used to drive from his farm in Stevensville, Michigan to the bigger town of St. Joseph. The story goes that August visited a local saloon there in St. Joseph and at the end of each "visit" the horse was supposedly so smart that he could head back home to the farm in Stevensville on his own without the aid of August. How I would love to have a photo of that horse and wagon but I do have a photo of August in approximately 1916:
My uncle, Melbourne Schulte, in 1938, with his brother, my father, Mylen and their sister, Marilyn with his 1935 Terraplane. After the death of their grandfather, George Wellhausen, in 1938, Melbourne asked their grandmother, Amelia Schluessler Wellhausen, if he could have his grandfather's car. His grandmother, always frugal, agreed if he would pay her $300 for the car. He did and this was the reward:
My father's car, in 1942, after some reckless driving, just after graduating from high school. Definitely his older brother, Mel, didn't let him drive the above Terraplane:
A very different mode of transportation, but very useful for my cousin, Melbourne Schulte, Jr. in 1944, was this carriage where he is shown with our grandmother, Ella Wellhausen Schulte, in the front, our great-grandmother, Amelia Schluessler Wellhausen, in the back-right side and our great-aunt, Gertrude Wellhausen Kolberg, in the back-left side. This proved to be a much safer mode of transportation for cousin, Mel, than the one he chose when he was in his early 20's and drove his then sports car into the front of a local grocery store. He was lucky to escape with his life but the car did not fare well. While I don't have a photo of that poor car I do have the memory of my father taking me to view the car as a means of pounding into my mind the lesson of safe driving:
August, Bertha, Hedwig (sitting) and Amelia Kolberg (born in America-standing) in 1888:
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According to passenger list information from the port of Castle Garden in New York, Paul Kolberg, brother of my great-grandfather, traveled from his home in Klein Tuchen, Kreis Bütow, Pommern, Germany at the age of 18 to Berlin and on to the port of Bremen where he boarded the ship Werra going on to Southampton and then to New York. Family lore stated that Paul came to America dressed as a woman to avoid military service in Germany but that is hearsay as Paul is listed on the ship manifest as a male:
Paul Kolberg in 1891:
Transportation - A vital form of movement both in the past and present!
2 comments:
I have sometimes wondered why my ancestors did not take photos of their cars, or horses, but then I realize I have not taken photos of my various vehicles either! Thanks for sharing your collection.
That's very true. I never took photos of my various cars either. Some of my friends even had names for their cars! I never did that either! Thanks for your comments.
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