Rejoice with your family in the beautiful land of life! – Albert Einstein This time last year I re-posted content with stories centering on my maternal grandfather’s branch of the family tree. Then I realized that during that same time frame, I had actually been in contact with parts of my grandfather’s side of the family from […]
Four Simple Steps To Find Treasure In A Trunk
You know I am given to antiquarian and genealogical pursuits. An old family letter is a delight to my eyes. I can prowl in old trunks of letters by the day with undiminished zest. Rutherford B. Hayes A recent family gathering of my maternal family tree where family lore, good food and catching up are […]
Happy Awesome Birthday Mom – A Love Letter
“I know that despite whatever stupid thing I do, I’d be able to go to my mom and she’d still love me. I honestly believe that” ― Nellie Christine, RID I generally do not write about my mother, unless it is in reference to her family ancestors, the Rightmeiers. Writing about the connection I have with my dad […]
Making Time For Family – Stories Then and Now
Rejoice with your family in the beautiful land of life! – Albert Einstein For the past few weeks I have re-posted content with stories centering on my maternal grandfather’s branch of the family tree. Then I realized that during this time, I had actually been in contact with parts of my grandfather’s side of the family from […]
What Goes Around…..Look For It
…Comes around, or so they say. My maternal grandfather’s roots, Lyman Burdette Rightmeier, centers around a small village in the northern District of Lippe Germany: Varenholtz. During the time his grandfather, Frederick Konrad Regetmeier, lifed there, the region was governed bu Count Simon VI, the son of the staunch Catholic Count Bernhard VIII, who ruled the region and […]
How A Dugout House Demonstrated Wisdom
“Prepare your outside work, Make it fit for yourself in the field; And afterward build your house.” Proverbs 24:27 NKJV My mother’s paternal great grandfather, Frederick Konrad Regetmeyer, immigrated from northern Germany in the mid 1860’s. How that came about is told in a series on circles. After he was naturalized as a US Citizen, through the network […]
Regetmeier Reunion On The Homestead
My mother’s paternal great grandfather Frederick Konrad Regetmeier, immigrated from northern Germany in the mid 1860’s. He ended up in Jewell County, Kansas, a journey that took a decade. The legs of his trip followed the model of many of his country men at the time: 1863 – left Germany as a stowaway with his brother, […]
A Family Summer Picnic, A Castle And Providence
This weekend I will be joining my mother, her brother and members of three of the seven branches of my maternal grandfather’s siblings for a family picnic near Boise Idaho. Sometime in the 40s or 50s three of my grandfather’s six siblings moved from Kansas to this area so I only knew them by name. […]
Generations Passing The Baton
“One generation plants the trees, and another gets the shade” – Chinese Proverb The last of the great generation of Rightmeier men, Lyle Rightmeirer was laid to rest this February with his wife Virginia . They were my Great Uncle and Aunt and passed within two years and two days of each other. My maternal granddad […]