Rabbits on the Henize farm

The Henizes raised rabbits on their farm in the 1910s. In the following photographs, you can see several of the Henize children (including my great grandmother Lucy) posing with the rabbits. I believe the structures in the first picture have the rabbit hutches in the background.

The very last picture is a bonus of Grandma Kathleen with what I believe was a pet rabbit, since it was named Hink.

Twins Beryl and Bedah with rabbit, dog, and most likely hutches

Beryl

It's overexposed and hard to see, but the rabbits are there! 

Beryl and Lucy with rabbits and chicken; barn in background.

Aunt Vesta (the taller girl) with other children holding rabbits in front of a giant pile of corn stalks.
That's some harvest!

Kathleen with Hink

Great Aunt Bea

Becky here. As I gazed out the window today past my Christmas tree looking out over the freshly-fallen snow, I remembered some Christmas decorations that we used to put out every year as young kids: some crocheted snowflakes. I remembered hearing a story about a great aunt who made hundreds (?) of them, and each one of them was different. It made me want to know more of the story.

First I called Katie, hoping that there was a blogpost already written about this great aunt. Then I called Dad to see what he could remember.

The crafter was Great-great Aunt Bea (Dora Bedah Henize); Great Grandma Lucy's sister. Aunt Bea could do just about any craft, but she was exceptional at crocheting. She and Uncle Paul had no children of their own and she didn't work outside the home, so she focused much of her energy on her garden. She had a yard that was the envy of the neighborhood with spectacular flowers and impressive vegetables. Dad recalls tomatoes that were the size of grapefruit!

Dad remembers going over to Aunt Bea's house and playing with her amazing antique toys, particularly the brass elephants and the Mickey Mouse Airplane

Aunt Peggy's most vivid memory of visiting Aunt Bea was eating corn on the cob off of Aunt Bea's crystal corn holder dishes. Her dishes were perfect for smothering the cob with butter! Aunt Bea made Barbie doll clothes for all of the nieces and great-nieces. Aunt Peggy's dolls were no exception. When Aunt Bea went walking in her yard with Aunt Peggy, she would often pick a beautiful small bouquet for her.

Aunt Bea also made afghans for her sisters.

After such a talented and beautiful life, Aunt Bea started showing signs of dementia and Alzheimers. At first, it was mild. She started saving the weeds and pulling up flowers. One time she suffered a nasty cold, and when she recovered from the cold she sadly forgot how to walk.

The part of the story that I have loved over the years is that despite not remembering much of her life that she was still able to make something so beautiful and intricate as those snowflakes. She could make several in a day.

Compassion - Vesta May Cowdrey (nee Henize)

So in the pictures that Rachel sent me, I found a lot of this young man (or maybe these two are brothers?):

I asked Grandma Kathleen about the picture on the left, thinking these two were the same person. Grandma replied saying that his name is Danny Lightner. The caption for the picture below, however, is "Vesta, Jackie Lighten, Mary Louise". Grandma told me, "Aunt Vesta and Uncle Herman frequently took in boys who needed help. They would help out with some farm duties, but treated as part of family. This boy was Danny Lightner. He was with Aunt Vesta for - maybe 5 years."

I think it's sweet that we have people in our family like Aunt Vesta and her husband, Aunt Docia, and Robert Jackson Connell who had the generosity and compassion to take in children who needed help.

Mary Louise, Vesta, Jackie Lighten

Aunt Vesta

John Henry Henize

John Henry Henize was a hardworking farmer. He owned his own land, as his father did before him. John lived in the same area all his life--in Brown County, Ohio.

The second picture in this post is of John with his wife Mollie.

Parents: Christian Henize, Elizabeth Kantz

Birth: May 31, 1864

Marriage: March 2, 1890 to Mollie Chambers. He was 25 and Mollie was 21. They had 9 children: 

• Children: Thomas Christopher (Chris), Frederick Raymond (Fred), Vesta May, Ralph Lawrence, Harley Clyde, Walter Floyd, Ora Bery (Bery), Dora Bedah (Bee), and Lucy.  Bery and Bee were twins.

Death: November 30, 1948 of heart disease. John lived to be 84 years old.

Records located for John Henize:

1870 Census

1910 Census

1920 Census

1940 Census

Death Certificate of John H. Henize

Iconic photos

Here are some more of those pictures Rachel scanned and sent to me. Of the pictures that we know who's in them, they all seem to be Grandma Kathleen's family. I'd assume that someone from her family took these, and most people in the pictures are either related to her through family or through friendship with her family.

What an awesome picture! Rachel thinks that Becky has a kindred spirit among our kin. :) I do, too!

Now here's the big question: Is it a lunar or a solar eclipse?

I have no idea who this is, but I thought it was an amazing picture. 

I don't know who this is, either, but someone looks like a Don Juan--what a pose!

Lucy Elizabeth Melissa Henize

Lucy E. M. Henize is best remembered for her excellent cooking and generous dessert portions. She ran a restaurant out of her family's home and made the most delicious desserts her children and grandchildren had ever tasted. When she served a piece of cake or other dessert, she wasn't stingy. My dad told me that many times, the widest part of the wedge of cake that she'd serve would be over three inches wide! Many of her recipes are still used by her daughters, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.

Birth: January 2, 1908
Marriages:

1. March 26, 1927 to Cecil Denver Wallace. They had three children together:
   Cecil Denver Jr, Janet, and Kathleen Raye
2. February 3, 1963 to Lloyd Albert Bohl 

Death: September 1986

1910 Census:

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Something funny from this particular census page is that two other families--in addition to Lucy's family--had a boy named Ora. Since these families are on the same page as the Henize family, I know that they were neighbors. I wonder if there was a prominent man named Ora in the Amelia community that these boys were named after?

This census is very interesting. You can see that Lucy had a lot of siblings (eight siblings, to be exact), and that Lucy was the youngest. The two siblings just older than her -- Bery and Bee-- were fraternal boy/girl twins. I wonder if Lucy ever felt left out? Whether she did or didn't, she seems to have enjoyed being around her family as evidenced by the family reunions they had every summer that Grandma Kathleen remembers very fondly.

Another interesting thing is that although I'm sure all of the children helped on the farm, the older boys were listed as "farm laborers" on the census. You can also see that none of the children that Mollie, Lucy's mother, gave birth to passed away before this 1910 census was taken. She was very blessed for the time she lived in, since medical care and accident prevention weren't as good in those days as they are now.

1920 Census:

Click to enlarge

In this census, we see that three of Lucy's siblings have moved out and probably started families of their own.   We also see that Lucy's sister Vesta is a teacher working on salary.

As you can see from the records, Lucy's paternal grandfather immigrated to America from Germany. You can also see that her maternal grandmother was born in Indiana. Something striking about the family that Lucy grew up with is that they owned their own farm without a mortgage. This is unique. The families of my other great-grandparents--probably excepting my granddad Broadus, who I haven't researched yet--either rented or owned with a mortgage.

1930 Census:

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1940 Census:

Click to enlarge

Something interesting from this 1940 census is that it lists the yearly income of the families. If you enlarge the picture, you'll see that Cecil's yearly income was $1,640. For comparison, a civil engineer on the same page of the census earned $3,000 and a store manager earned $2,400. The clerk at that store earned just over $500 a year. Also of note is that Cecil was a music teacher when his family was young as well as when it was more mature. As you can see, Lucy had not yet started her restaurant; the censuses show that she was a homemaker.

Aside: The restaurant was started when Grandma Kathleen was a teenager.

Pictures-Wallace and Henize

Grandma's home video finally got here! (I've had it for a little over a week now, I just didn't get around to editing it and putting it up). I now have a video editing program, but I can't get it to show more than about 13 seconds of the video. I have managed to get some screenshots from it, so here's a little preview for the video that Grandma sent to me:

Aunt Janet, Kathleen, and G'ma Lucy

John Henry Henize, Mollie Elizabeth Chambers

Julia Anna Peters, James Wallace

Lucy Henize

Aunt Bee (Dora Bedah Henize)

Uncle Paul (Aunt Bee's husband, Paul Liming)

Cecil Jr with pet dog

Kathleen

Janet

Cecil Jr.

Cecil Sr.

Cecil Jr

Kathleen on a scooter

Cecil Jr with Kathleen

Cecil Jr pulling Kathleen and Janet on a sled

Snowball fight: Cecil Jr, Kathleen, Janet

Cecil Jr

"WALLACE MUSIC SHOP" -sign outside their house

Cecil Sr's band

Lucy and Kathleen

Cecil Sr.

Uncle Ralph (Ralph Lawrence Henize)

Aunt Louise and/or Aunt Alverta (wife of Ora Bery Henize)

 I couldn't find a Louise among Grandma Kathleen's aunts unless it was her Aunt Hazel Louise, married to her Uncle Harley. But there's a shot of her Aunt Hazel that shows her a bit heavier than this woman.

Edit: Grandma sent me an e-mail telling me that Aunt Louise was married to Uncle Ralph.

Cecil Sr with pet dog

Janet

Janet making a fish face

Kathleen and Janet with pet dog and cat

Janet and Kathleen