Grandmother Jennie Samsel and Great-grandmother Roseanna Thompson

A Timeline for my Grandmother Jennie Floy Miller and her mother Roseanna Ellen Thompson, my great grandmother

by Doris Kay Meinhard Howard

May 28, 2020

Here is a Timeline for my Grandmother Jennie Floy Miller and her mother Roseanna Ellen Thompson, my great grandmother.  And my (Doris Kay Meinhard Howard) Reflections.

It is a challenge to write a timeline because any and every life leads back to an earlier life, going back and then even further back.  Jennie’s life depends on her parent’s timeline, Roseanna and Daniel Thompson; and back yet again to Hannah.   Roseanna’s mother Hannah traveled as a child with her parents and so now we are with Sarah Morse Fisk. 

Well, that brings us to the question of where did they live?  I want to know and look up the information on the town they lived in previously. I can view online some old buildings especially churches and see the topography of the land that does not change much through the years.  And that adds dimension to the life I want to know about. 

And I wonder if important terrible historical events occur during their lifetime.  Genealogy requires time and respect so that another person’s life is revealed more clearly.  It is not just any person but rather your ancestor.  And it is thus your own story. 

Daniel and Hannah were married in New Hampshire and had 5 children while living in Java, New York.  Then traveling west with Sarah, Daniel, Charles, Mary, and Alice until settling in Ogle county, Illinois.   Well, I do not have information on Charles, his death date.  Did Roseanna’s brother Charles live so she could play with him?  Grow up with him?

Hannah and Daniel had Roseanna and 4 more children born while living in Ogle county, Illinois.  They moved again.  What would make one decide to keep moving?  The Meinhard family moved from state to state so our experience informs us of what that requires.  You sort and downsize so you only move the essentials.  You save money for the funds you will need to get started again when you arrive in a different place.  I did not think to question my parents…what were their worries, did they save money for the move?  I think the decision to move required much thought and planning.

1852 birth of Roseanna to Daniel Thompson and Hannah Fisk, Ogle County, Illinois.

1860 Lynnville township, Ogle County, Illinois Census: Roseanna, age 8, is living with her parents & 7 siblings.  Hannah’s youngest child, Carrie Floy is born in Illinois in 1860.  

Roseanna is 8 when her sister, Carrie Floy is born.  Hannah and Daniel move from Illinois to Guthrie County, Iowa after Carrie is born, moving sometime between 1860 and 1872.  Hannah dies at age 56 in Menlo, Guthrie Co., Iowa.  Hannah was going to miss her daughter Rosanna’s wedding.  

1873 Death of Hannah Fisk Thompson in Menlo, Guthrie Co., Iowa.  

1874   Rosana E Thompson marries Simon Peter Miller in July in Guthrie County.

And now our great grandmother Roseanna’s story is the one I want to follow.  We only get a glimpse of the stories.  Always I can only hope to find enough statistics and care enough to fill in detail through knowing historical event and topography of land and military experiences or agony brought by death of a child.  But I do not often find details on the cause of death.  I cannot fill in the emotions of love or hate or fear.  I do consider my questions about these things however. 

c. 1875   Minnie born to Roseanne and Simon P Miller, probably in Fonda, Pocahontas Co., Iowa.

1877   Jennie is born in Fonda Pocahontas Co., Iowa

1879 Beaver Twp., Guthrie Co., IA   Sister Minnie dies abt age 4.  Sister Carrie is born in June.

1880   Beaver Twp., Guthrie Co. Iowa census.  “S.P. Miller, farmer, age 48; Rosa E., Jennie 3, Carrie.

Until I read this census, I had not thought of Simon Peter (Miller) as a farmer.  I identify more closely with him knowing that.  I had heard Mom’s stories about her grandfather.  She told me, “Grandpa was a wall paper hanger and he would tell us stories and joke with us.  I even asked him once, “How many layers of paper would it take to fill the room?’  And I picture him laughing and telling his grandchildren stories.  Even after losing so many loved ones I believe that he enjoyed the family he still had. 

1886 Carrie dies, age 7.

1891   In June. Rosa E. Miller dies and is buried in Glendon Cemetery, Guthrie Co., Iowa

Between the years 1873 until 1893, Jennie lost her mother Roseanna, sister Minnie, sister Carrie, brother Albert who dies in 1893.  Her father, Simon Peter Miller moves with his daughters Jennie and Mabel to Fonda a town in Pocahontas Co., IA.  Now our story switches to our grandparents, Jennie and Herman.  I think the woman carries the pedigree because of her name.  I had to write it down because I kept getting lost, not remembering which person’s story I was telling.  My confusion was in part from the changing of the mother’s name: Jennie Miller Samsel, Roseanna Thompson Miller, Hannah Fisk Thompson, Sarah Morse Fisk.  Do you understand why I say the woman carries the pedigree with her name?  And how easily I can get confused by the changing of their names.  

1900   Cedar Twp., Pocahontas Co., IA census. “Fonda town” “S.P. widow, renting a house, Head.  Jennie dau age 22, Mabel dau age 18.  (Dau is daughter)

On December 24, 1902, Jennie Miller marries Herman Samsel in Fonda, Iowa by Robert Burnip, Clergyman.  Her sister Mabel Miller and a friend? Luella Moonsin sign as witnesses.  The groom is white and this is his first marriage.  The bride is white and it is her first marriage.  I have found their marriage record, “Iowa Marriage Records, 1880-1940 for Rosy Thompson”!!  Have you noticed the various spellings of Roseanna’s name. I only surmise this is the given birth name.  She has gone by Rosana E, Rosa E, and now I read Rosy.  But when I think about it I have also had various names.  I think we also must consider the humor in our lives.  

1904   Earl Clare “Uncle Clare” is born to Jennie and Herman Samsel in O’Brien Co., Iowa.

1906   Rose Anna “Mom” is born in Fonda Town, Iowa Pocahontas County, town of 600.

I did not ever ask Mom about her name.  She surely was named after her grandmother Roseanna.  

1908   Herman Albert “Uncle Bert” is born in Dickinson Co., Iowa

1910   Mabel “Aunt Mabel” is born in Osceola Co., Iowa

1912   Theodore Clinton “Uncle Clint” is born in Osceola Co., Iowa

1915 Robert Donald “Uncle Don” is born at home on their farm near Windom, Minnesota

1917   Merwyn Leland born near Windom, Minnesota on December 17^th, dies on January 18^th, 1918.  

So these are some of my considerations during genealogical research.  These are my stories.  These are your stories.  They are important.

Samsel Photos

Here is a link to our Samsel Photo Album

In Memory of Uncle Don 1915-2000

Click for Samsel Siblings with father Herman

Uncle Don, Mom's little brother

Doris tells us that when Robert Donald Samsel was born on October 18, 1915, in Windom, Minnesota, his father, Herman, was 37 and his mother, Jennie, was 38. He had four brothers and two sisters. He died on March 16, 2000, in his hometown at the age of 84.

Donna Shares Memories of Uncle Don

It's a tiny moment—of sadness, of remembering, of wishing it had been different and we had been a part (more of a part) of Uncle Don's life.

I remember when Dianne and I used to go visit Granpa and Granma on the farm. Food scraps in the slop bucket and "Hooee, Hooeeee, pig pig pig" and slosh, and, standing on tiptoe, we could see the pigs and hear their delicious gruntings.

But also I remember the thrilling excitement of so many adventures with Uncle Don's big kids. They would come over from where they lived, and we would tag along. Out to the pasture, beware the big cows, build a fire and cook a rabbit. Did we really eat it? Into the orchard, carefully working for hours to take the bark off of a fallen tree, and then Granpas' anger. It was supposed to be for something else. But also cautious curiosity as I watched these bigger children when we got together—somehow so different from us.

And then of course, the parting of our lives. Was there an actual rift or just that there was not much in common. Mom's family—where education and music were so central and her siblings where it was different.

We went to Minneapolis many times and had great fun at Uncle Bert's and Clint's and Clare's—eating and talking. Visiting Quaker Oats and the car factory—what one was that? Riding the Trolley car with Uncle Bert, or Clint as engineer. What do you remember?

But then loose connections, memories of Uncle Don in later years as fragile in body and in spirit. A drifting away—our weekend together was a challenge to that possibility as well as being the most fun I've had for a long time. You guys are so much fun to be with. Just didn't get enough of it. Especially liked the thoughts about the state of the church. Great stuff.

Thanks Dorothea and Gordy for prodding us to do it.

Well, Lent is soul work time. I wish I knew what parts of Uncle Don's
life were about Easter.

What Genealogy Does for You

Why an interest in genealogy?

For 2 reasons:

1. It places you into the middle of history

2. You can see the immense pool of heritage that you have to draw on by knowing the events both personal and community wide your ancestors lived through. You don’t have a single story but threads of many stories meet in you.

From Doris Howard

Our Samsel Grandparents

Herman and Jennie

Link to Jennie and Herman picture

Simon Peter & Roseanna

Link here to Simon Peter picture

Written by Doris Howard

The Meinhard Farm at Buena Vista

Alfred and Wilhelmina Meinhard's Farm Buildings

During a visit in 2001, I asked Uncle Bob if he was continuing to write up his family history. He said yes, he had been, and had a number for pieces he was writing. But, he said, he didn't know how much more work he was going to do because he got a new computer and didn't know how to open his files. His new computer had so many unknowns he said. Did I know how to open this file? He asked me to just take it. He didn't think he would get back to it.

I opened the file and extracted his text but without his older word processing program, the text is jumbled with strange characters. Where I couldn't reconstruct something, I left it in the text. I worked out everything but the reference to something old sometimes stored in the machine shed.

Maybe you could comment on this piece. Some of you remember the farm. What did he mean the garage in the basement? Do you remember other details?

I linked to A.O.'s profile Doris posted. I'll add a link to Minnie's profile when she posts,

Farmyard

by Robert Meinhard

The farmyard was about 100 x 150 yards in area. The orchard was in the northwest corner. We did not have many fruit trees, about three or four apple trees and a couple of cherry trees.  Besides the house, there was the barn, hog house, chicken house, granary, blacksmith shop, and privy. It was a fine set of building, as good as any of our neighbors. 

The barn was a large one, much wider than most were. The west side had stalls for eight horses, plus another pen in the rear of the barn, where I kept my baby beeves. The east side was the cow barn with stalls for eight with another pen in the rear. Sometimes sheep, or the bull, were kept in this pen. At one time we had a few steers that we fed, and they were kept in this pen during harsh weather. In between the horse and cow barns, was storage for hay or straw. Above the cow and horse barns were hay lofts.  

The hog house was a well-built structure with a capacity of 15 or so sows and their pigs. Dad farrowed about 100 pigs each year in the early spring that were fattened and shipped to market the next winter. Hogs were the main cash crop for many Iowa farmers at that time.  On the east side of the hog house, was a cement feeding platform where the hogs were fed corn and "slop".

The chicken house was just north of the hog house and housed the 100 to 150 hens and roosters that Mother kept for eggs and meat. Mother had a registered flock of Plymouth Rocks and received a premium for the eggs from hatcheries. She hatched about 150 chicks that were raised for meat and to replace laying hens. We often had chicken for dinner on Sunday and other times as well. The chicken house was built to Iowa State College specifications and had plastered walls.

The Granary located east of the house had bins for grain on one side and a corn crib on the other. In between was a driveway that was used to store wagons and later automobiles.  Attached to the east side was the machinery shed where most of the farm machinery was stored.  This included the tractor, plow, binder, disc harrow, and tooth harrows, mower, and sometimes the old Ç@ @ @[1] was kept in the machine shed during winter. Above the driveway of the granary was a storage area, and one item that I remember being kept there, was the fanning mill used to clean weed seeds from the oats before seeding. Other items were a hand corn sheller and an old captains' chair, which may have been from the old Meinhard Mill[2] at Troy Grove.  Unfortunately, it was never saved.  It would be a prized heirloom today.

The blacksmith shop was located south of the machine shed and contained a forge, anvil, and other blacksmith tools, which Dad used for sometime.

When the basement garage was built, Dad shifted his work shop to the garage.

The privy was located just east of the house and guarded by a large lilac bush.  It was a three holler with two large and one small hole. After the bathroom was installed, the privy was used by us children in the warmer months, using pages from the Montgomery Catalogue for toilet paper. Better than corn cobs. No kidding, cobs were used in emergencies.

---

[1] Again, any guesses? I can’t interpret this old word processing program Uncle Bob was using. Maybe look at ASCII code to get a clue. If he wrote this in 1980’s, the most popular program was WordStar. Electric Pencil had a much smaller following. If probably wrote this piece after 2000 before he died in 2013. I downloaded the file in 2001; he said he had not edited it and probably would not get back to it.

[2] The program showed, “old Ç @ @ @ Meinhard Mill”.

Our Family Tree

An Easy View of Relatives in Our Family Tree

I used Family Echo for a simplified Meinhard Samsel Family tree. It begins with a copy of the Ancestry.com work of Doris and George.  Their work has the definitive family genealogies which are much more extensive and with in-depth information. However, it isn't wise to extend it to the cousins so, let's use this Family Echo tree to add our spouse's families and our cousins.

The tree is open to everyone's family so if you are willing to add more of your family, log in to gain editing privileges. You have to use my log-in name, rmeinhard with DDDRDDms.

It's simple to use. Click on a name and the tree repositions and shows relations to that person. Then click on the relative to add to that person. So, click on Janet and you see this (this picture cut off the right side):

Click on "add parents" and add each one.

When we had a wedding, I showed this tree to people who didn't know all of our family members. It gave us something concrete to talk about.

Doug also posted family genealogies in "docs."

Google Drive for Docs and Photos

Where To Store Docs, Photos, Movies, Notes Calendars for Meinhard Samsel archives?

Meinhard Samsel Diary doesn't store docs or photos. These are stored elsewhere. The Diary only points to the file location. So upload anything to be stored to Google Drive for meinhardsamsel.

For example, Google Drive already has files and photos from Doris, So if you have docs, upload them to Drive.

Then make a new post and enter link to the document or photo. In a blog post, set a link to the docs or photos you want that are stored in meinhardsamsel Google Drive (or elsewhere). You can link to any location such as a website as I have done for the simple family genealogy at Family Echo. (Use regular ms password).

To comment on this post, click the comment button and start a discussion.

AO, Our Paternal Grandfather

 On our Father's Side, Our Grandfather

For we siblings, our father was Karl. His Father, our Grandfather, was AO Meinhard.

From Doris's genealogy work, here's some "Facts; Family" about Alfred Oswald Meinhard

Meinhard Family

Karl & Rose Family

Here is the pdf file for the Family File

Doris

Click Here for Birthdays Anniversaries

Archive Proposal From Doug

Should We Establish Some Archives for Photos and Documents?

Doug's Proposal

 Here is his complete e-mail on May 9, 2020:

Subject: Archive

This may seem a little long but is really quite simple.  And perhaps no one is interested and that is OK.  Lets discuss this on Sunday and see if there is any interest. 

It seems like there are 2 kinds of information we want to pass on to future generations. Photos is an obvious class.  The other type of information is written documents. This would include genealogical documents, obituaries, and other historical documents.  

Pictures were often stored in a shoe box and passed on to children in no particular order.  The destination was often the dustbin. Genealogical records were often stored in a courthouse or in a cemetery providing hours of interest for people like Doris and George.  

Here is my proposal and hopefully we can discuss the drawbacks and features on Sunday.  Richard and I have been discussing this and here are some ideas for discussion.  Store pictures in a Google Docs account.  Use the existing Meinhard Family Diary that Richard has created for documents.  

Google will store an unlimited number of low res pictures. I will also create a flash drive to send to anyone that wants the original scanned image. I will send a complete set of scanned images on a flash drive with all the pictures that Doris et. al. have sent me to be scanned.  Richard has a good start on the documents library.  

Go to:

https://meinhardfamilydiary.blogspot.com/    for the documents library.

For the pictures library use the Gmail account meinhardsamsel@gmail.com 

 If you have Gmail open then you will need to go to the upper right hand corner and add the account.  You can have multiple Gmail accounts open at one time.

Donna's Zoom meeting on May 10

Let's determine what sites we want to use and who might wants to paticipate.

To do that, let's look at the sites during the meeting, discuss, and decide.
If we decide to juse the sites, we can devote part of another Zoom meeting to the technical details.

Meinhard Samsel Diary Site Update

Doug Nominated for Blog Admin Position However he has declined

The Meinhard Family Diary may get a re-vitalization if Doug accepts admin duties. I changed the name to Meinhard/Samsel Family Diary. Currently I invited siblings to be authors. Once you accept you can post. You can all post a comment to this post. At the Meinhard Zoom meeting let's discuss whether we want to use this Meinhard Samsel blog.

We don't have a picture of Doug on Google Photos yet so I used one of his grandchildren. (She's exploring catsup on her french fries.)