Family Reunion ~ From The Netherlands to North Dakota

 I was fortunate to have two great-grandmothers and two grandmothers living near the five years we lived in the Pollock area. The reunion this past weekend was a gathering of descendants of my maternal great grandmother, born in The Netherlands in 1877, emigrating to America in 1886. Her father borrowed $300 to bring the family of seven to America where farmland was available for low prices. Family records say the ocean crossing took 11 days. From New York Annie's father bought train tickets to Kansas City. When they arrived her father had $5 left. They were met by relatives who took them to Holland NE, but the hot humid climate (so different from The Netherlands) and the lack of jobs had the family and others who had come on the same ship head farther north to another community of Dutch settlers in Hull and Westfield ND in March 1887.

The reunion organizer has a passion for genealogy and always has according to his sister whom we visited with during one of the meal gatherings. Descendants attending the three day gathering came from the East Coast to the West Coast to visit the cemeteries, church and homestead land of their ancestors. His son and daughter told me he, Steve, has plans for three more books, one for each family line.

There was time for looking at photos. (My uncle is also 90 years of age.)

Steve, the organizer, and the age 90 and older attendees

my mom (almost 93) on the left, her cousin (90) in the middle,

and my 100 year young aunt on the right

there were probably 5-7 attendees in their 80s

Looking at the graduation photos from the Pollock High School, my grandmother's brother graduated in 1928. I believe the first graduating class from the Pollock School was in 1925 which would explain why a couple of grandma's sisters went to high school in Holland MI, staying with relatives.

Mina, one of Grandma's younger sisters, often helped take care of the children on the farm when grandma had to help grandpa with farm work. An interesting tidbit I gleaned at this family gathering was the number of teachers in the family, both men and women.

This is a four generation photo (1900??) of my grandmother (the little girl), her mother Anna (my great-grandmother) and the women of two more generations, Hielkje (seated) and Anna.

I am so glad I have relatives willing and able to do the research and share it with us, the rest of the family. It was so interesting to learn the why and how of family names, to hear the same incident with different facts from different family members, and to feel connected with people I had never met. 

This reunion reinforced why it is so important to write our life story, however mundane we think it might be. Who else is better to tell what happened than those of us who were there and who lived the times?

Cathedral Historic District

 When we visited the Pettigrew Home and Museum with the grandkids I selected a couple of brochures to take home and read later. One of the fliers advertised a Sioux Heritage Museums Alliance 2022 Historic Homes Tour, a fundraiser for the Siouxland Heritage Museum Alliance.  I asked our FDIL and FGD if they would like to go with me. They would and we did.

There were 4 private homes and the Pettigrew Home & Museum on the tour. All the homes are in the Cathedral Historic District. Since Miss W loves seeing old homes and all the stuff that may have been in period houses, I was certain she would enjoy the tour. Our FDIL worked with the owner of one of the homes doing research and selecting period items to replace the not original to the house items like door knobs, light fixtures, and paint colors. So all three of us had a personal connection to the event.

The Colonial Revival home was built for John Kelly & Elizabeth Haughton. They had moved to Sioux Falls in 1889. John was the founder and president of the Sioux Falls Produce Company.

Colonial Revival style emphasizes symmetry with a prominent front porch, balanced windows...

...decorative dentils and prominent roof dormers.

The most unique item I noticed was the leg lamp from A Christmas Story being proudly displayed in the window in one of the two front rooms in the home.

This home was not on the tour this year, but we walked by several times so the camera just took note. It is a Tudor Style home built in 1912.

Shingle Style home characteristics are an asymmetrical facade, steeply pitched roof, and areas of siding consisting of wooden roof shingles. It was built in 1893.

The house was built for Fred & Belle Holister in 1893 and sold to Waldo & Maud Sharp, president of Security National Bank and owner of a grain elevator company.

This home had lovely old light fixtures.

I am assuming they were original to the house because of their uniqueness.

Folk Victorian houses tend to have square, symmetrical shapes with el-shaped projections. But they share (with Queen Anne) characteristics such as a prominent front-facing gable, porches with spindlework, brackets under the eaves and ornate trim.

When George Adkins, a local stone mason, built this house in 1888 it was not built on this lot at this location. It was moved in 1908 to its current location in the historical district. The rooms are smaller in this home.

embossed wall covering

windows in the front room

post office mailboxes built into the wall bookcase

A hardware store nut and bolts storage & display case is the base of the dining counter in the kitchen. This home also had a butler's pantry as did the previous two homes.

George and Marguerite Perry built this Dutch Colonial Revival house. Marguerite lived in the home until her death in 1945. This house is undergoing major renovations by its owner. This is the house FDIL has had a personal connection.

Some Dutch Colonial Revival features include a gambrel roof similar to a barn's roof, dormer windows, flared eaves and some columns along the front doorway with gambrel portico.

George Perry was vice president of the Minnehaha National Bank and was also involved in real estate, the East Sioux Fall quarries, lumber yards and grain elevators.

The marble fireplace has been brought back to its original look. The home is not furnished at this time.

the front entrance of the Pettigrew Home

Cake, lemonade and water were served at this location during the tour of homes. 

It was also the location for a carriage ride.

Cooter & Gino getting some attention from FGD & FDIL

a great ending to a lovely evening with these two beauties

Guest Photographer

 We had another day with the grands last week spending some time at The Falls, some geocaching, and visiting a museum. Grandson McBe was in charge of the camera and Miss W took to geocaching.

an evergreen geocache hide

geocaching at The Falls

I got to use my camera

the following photos were taken by McBe, as were the first two

not a lot of water rushing over the falls

I was telling him about framing a photograph. This is from one of the windows in the visitor's center tower at The Falls.

his framing choice at another window

another geocache find (I spotted this one!)

We then promised them a visit to a museum since none of the ones in Vermillion were open earlier in the week. We went to The Pettigrew Home and Museum and got a guided tour. The docent was very kind and patient with the photographer. (I switched some of the photos to black & white due to the indoor lighting and distorted colors.)

The kitchen stove similar to the one used by the maid in the home of South Dakota's first full term US Senator, Richard F. Pettigrew.

a rare Tiffany ceiling light

electric on the bottom, gas bulbs on the top

the ornate icebox refrigerator

jeweled window in the welcome to our home room

books and artifacts from Mr. Pettigrew's downtown law office

We learned Mr. Pettigrew traveled around the world for a year as a honeymoon with his second wife! He was an amateur archaeologist, collecting many cultural items from his travels. The Pettigrew home used to display his collection of birds, bugs, Native American artifacts, fossils, firearms, etc. Most of those items have been moved to another location and the home has been restored to look as it may have in 1911-1926 when the Pettigrews live in the house. 

The Queen Anne house was built in 1889 for Thomas B. McMartin and his wife. Mr. Pettigrew bought it for $12,000 in 1911. Tours of the home are free.

Something New at the House

 While we were in Hawaii last month, the front patio was poured. When we got back it was shopping time for the furniture. Then it was decorating time. So here is the end result.

Our neighbors mentioned this project last summer. I wasn't immediately onboard, but Hubby convinced me it would be a great way to meet the neighbors...sitting outside in the front of the house while people are out walking.

I bought a new patio rug for the back deck, so put the old rug in the front. Hubby thought the area needed flowers and color, so end of the spring sale on plants helped fill the purple planter. I moved the Hibiscus tree to the front. We bought new glass topped side tables and the new rocking swivel chairs. 

Hubby was right. Our neighbor walks across the street often to visit if she sees us outside working or just hanging out. With 90º-100º temps, we are not out in the sun often. 

The orange day lily finally bloomed. It adds a real spot of color with the yellow lilies and the pink geraniums. The apricot colored lily will bloom soon.

We ate this six inch cucumber last night. The plant was labeled a bush cucumber. The dang thing started vining over the edge of the pot so I bought a trellis and zip-tied it to the deck railing and zip-tied the planter to the metal chair holding the pot. During one of our windy days the plant had tipped off the chair, so that is the reason it is now tied down. The cucumber was GOOD!

This tomato will be ready next week! The tomatoes are in pails and in the frame we made. It all works great, but the tomatoes do not have many blossoms. They are growing and look healthy, just not producing like I wish.

When I went to water last night, this little grape tomato had fallen off. I ate it. This plant is also a disappointment as it does not have a lot of blossoms and the tomatoes that have started are very small for grape tomatoes. (This plant has yellow leaves at the base. I did remove them.)

the tomato on the third plant

The cucumber bed got new organic soil this spring. I planted three straight eight/burpless cucumber plants. The one on the left took off almost immediately. You can see it has reached the top of the deck railing. The other two plants are just starting to vine. (The potted bush cucumber plant is on the right of the cucumber box.)

There are teeny tiny cucumbers started on the vine on the plant on the left, but they are certainly itty bitty things! It will be awhile before we have any more cucumbers to eat!