"Hints for Immigrants" by Carl De Haas 1848

We've just discovered that the book "North America Wisconsin Hints for Immigrants" by Carl De Haas is online at the Wisconsin Historical Society website.

What makes this so special is that Carl De Haas is my great-great-grandfather. He wrote this information to help friends from Germany who might wish to immigrate to America.

He begins with advice on passage to America and warnings on packing for the journey. Much of the book is about farming. He mentions the friendliness of the neighbors and how spread out the cities are in America. Having come from Berlin this was quite different.



You can go to the site and read the entire book which has been translated into English. It gives a great picture of the life of an immigrant farmer. De Haas was a well educated man and soon turned to journalism for the rest of his life.

Women of the Bible Quilt Blocks 1-5

I'm taking part in the Women of the Bible Quilt Study led online by Carol Honderich.

I've finished the first 5 blocks of my Women of the Bible quilt and want to share my thoughts and questions on these women's stories.

Eve's block..........she ate the forbidden fruit and shared it with Adam..........why such a risk?.......... did she want something more than the safety of the Garden of Eden?........... she experienced the grief of losing one child at the hand of another..........as the first mother she knew the joys and sorrows motherhood can bring..........

Sarah's block.......... she believed she would become the mother of a great man........... but over the years remained childless..........she lost faith and arranged for her servant Hagar to bear a child.......... many years later she did indeed bear a son.......... only after hurting many people with her manipulations.........

Hagar's block.......... a slave woman chosen to bear a son for Sarah's husband.......... when Sarah's own son was born there was a great deal of strife between the two women..........Sarah cast out Hager and her son leaving them to wander the desert near death.......... God helped Hager without her asking..........a story of being lost and losing hope then discovering it was always there..........

block for Lot's wife......... did she really look back because she longed for sinful ways?...........the Bible tells us that her family was a righteous one..........could it be that she only looked back out of concern for her children and grandchildren left in the city?..........is this a lesson of how we can become trapped by past tragedy unable to move on?.........

Rebekah's block..........her marriage began as a match made in heaven......... but all did not go well over the years..........she became disillusioned and turned to manipulating her family in favor of one child..........is her story a lesson?..........how often we start something with a positive attitude then when difficulties come we lose faith.........

Casual Fashion at the Lake - 1940

I love this photo of my aunt and mother. The picture was taken around 1940 when my dad was dating my mom. He and his twin brother must have done some urging to get their sister and dad's girlfriend to climb that tree. Just click on the picture above to look at a larger version and you will see they don't seem all that sure about the whole thing. :)

The picture shows casual fashion of the time. They are wearing the square shouldered jackets that were popular and though they are wearing saddle shoes and socks for a walk at the lake they are both wearing skirts. It looks cold and you can see my mom has layered a sweater over her shirt in addition to her jacket. Pants would have been warmer yet their legs are bare. It has me wondering how often women wore slacks at that time. I know they become more common after the United States entered World War II and so many women went to work manufacturing items needed for the war effort.

If you looked at the large version you can see the how sharp the picture is and how artfully the tree has been retouched and the picture shaded to bring out the young women. Susana Fierro-Baig does wonderful work with pictures both old and new. Go to her site, Amazing Photo Transformations, to see more of her work.

A Day in Paradise, Arizona

We spent yesterday in paradise. Paradise, Arizona is officially a ghost town but there are a few residences still there. At one time it was a booming mining town with stores, school and the usual saloons. George Walker founded the town in the late 1800s. His historic house built in 1902 is a lovely place to stay when visiting the area. That is, if you don't mind driving 5 miles of narrow dirt roads. But then part of the charm is being away from it all.

Whenever we come over to the east side of the Chiricahua Mountains we drive up to the George Walker Housein Paradise to enjoy viewing birds in the yard there. Jackie and Winston are the owners of the historic house and enjoy sharing information about the history and the wildlife of the area. I wondered how a town that once had close to a thousand residents could have disappeared without leaving more than a few houses. It turns out many lived in tents and when the mine played out those who did own houses and other buildings dismantled them and took the lumber with them to build at their next destination. What a different world that was!

Yesterday was not an ordinary day at the George Walker house. It was a hummingbird banding day. What a treat seeing how the tiny birds were captured, ever so gently checked and measured then given a drink to energize them. Unbanded birds are banded and all information is recorded. Sometimes the hummers need a moment to rest in a warm hand before the fly away.

Below are birds we saw in Portal, Arizona, a tiny community just five miles away from Paradise. The road to Portal is paved and the store has a very few groceries. Otherwise it's 50 miles to the closest grocery store. As you can see the area is remote!



Pictures taken by my DH Gary. AstroBird Photography

Two Inaugurations: Lincoln 1861 and Obama 2009

As I watched Obama ride the train on the route that Abraham Lincoln took to his inauguration it struck me how different were the circumstances of the two rides. I remembered reading about how distraught Mrs. Lincoln was when this happened. Lincoln had many enemies as it was well known he did not support slavery. A plot to assassinate him had been discovered in Baltimore. For fear of assassination they had to slip Lincoln into the capital in secret. You can read about his Secret Train Ride here.


How wonderful it was to be able to watch Obama's train ride as he was celebrated at each train stop. Today the crowd watching the inauguration was a wonderful mix of races and cultures. Sometimes we get discouraged with how slow progress can be but looking back to the inauguration of 1861 we see how, through the efforts of so many, our country has truly changed.

(photos from Wikimedia Commons)
Note, the U.S. Capitol, was undergoing some construction at the time.