) ( ) Good Morning Family! .-.,--^--. ( Come on in. . . \\|`----'| - The coffee pot's on. . . \| |// ...and we even have decaf, | |/ tea, and hot chocolate! \ / ------ Today's topics include: 1. Welcome to new cousins 2. A comment from last week's Coffee 3. Those were the days TO OUR NEWEST COUSINS ~~ On behalf of the entire family, I'd like to extend a most hearty welcome to those cousins who came into the family fold this past week. We are very glad to have you with us and hope you'll stay and remain a part of our online family. As soon as you're comfortable with us and the list, please send in your Bower[s], Bauer or Baur lines so we can all see how we're related to you. We do not have a fancy format for sending in records or queries to the list. Post as many as you wish! If the data has anything to do with Bower[s], Bauer or Baur ancestors or any of the 81+ variant spellings we research that might help someone, please feel free to post it. Every scrap of information is appreciated. If you haven't visited the homesite of this list yet, you are encouraged to do so. Our home is Bower Community, located at <http://bowercommunity.com>. There, we currently have two sites: The Bower Family Homestead [a.k.a., the Homestead] is our primary homesite and the gathering place for much of our information. It waits to join us all in welcoming you into the family at <http://bowercommunity.com/homestead>. Smaller is our sister site, the Bower Cottage, which houses most of our projects including an online GEDCOM fed by quite a few cousins from our research groups. Find the Cottage is at <http://bowercommunity.com/cottage>. A COMMENT FROM LAST WEEK'S COFFEE I don't usually do this... write your comments into the Coffees. However, this one was so educational for most of us that I couldn't let it slide. Nadine Donohue <irish2@cox-internet.com> sent me the following that I post here now, verbatim, with her very kind permission: "Your article on old-time washing machines really brought back memories for me. You left out the part about pumping & carrying enough water to fill the machine & rinse tubs. That was my job, so I remember it well. It took a lot of trips to the well & back. We were high-class & uptown, had a wash house in an outbuilding on the farm. The cast iron kettle used to heat the water had a metal firebox under it. The washing machine I first remember was a wooden one like you described. It was replaced with a new Maytag wringer washer with a gasoline motor about 1940. After WWII, we got electricity & had an electric motor put on it. That machine was still in use in 1975, when Aunt Belle died. Find a modern one that will last that long! Nadine Donohue, descendant of John Campbell Orten." Thanks, Nadine, for sharing your experiences and memories with all of us. THOSE WERE THE DAYS "Have you noticed how long it takes to get somewhere now with all the traffic? And traffic lights... is it really necessary to make them red for such a long time?" "That "Sunday driver" in front of us... what IS his/her problem?" "I'm glad we have an air conditioner in our car, even if the radio station we're pulling in isn't one I'd have chosen to listen to." "I sure wish we didn't have to wear seat belts. Have you noticed how they wrinkle your clothes?" "Instead of driving to visit the family, taking a plane would be a lot faster." Complaints... one after the other! How many things we have taken for granted! Wouldn't it have been wonderful to have your great grandparents sitting next to you at the moment of your grousing about the traffic? You know who I'm talking about, the very grandparents who lived in the 1850's and traveled from the East coast to Ohio.... Shall we do a little comparison? Our ancestors, out of necessity, traveled in the spring and summer to make sure they arrived before the snows. Today it's nothing for us to hop on a plane or drive home for the holidays ~ something unthinkable in the 1850s. Though some traveled by boat, most early pioneers traveled by wagon pulled by oxen, mules, or horses. On many days the wagon train would only travel ten to fifteen miles. On rainy and muddy days they might travel just one! What takes us one hour to drive today took our ancestors five to seven days to make the same distance. They moved by covered wagon that could not carry more than 2,000 pounds. Inside were hooks that hung from the wooden hoops running over the top from side to side. On those hooks hung weapons, clothes, milk cans, pots and pans, and anything there was room for. Today many of us take our air-conditioned motor homes on the road. Others of us travel by suitcase and meet a moving van at the other end, or drive an (again) air-conditioned U-Haul truck. Our last move from Germany was 15,000 pounds; we left another 10,000 in storage here in the States that met us at our new home. The front wheels of the wagon were smaller than the back wheels. This helped the wagon turn. Underneath the back wheels there was a bucket full of grease hanging from the axle. This was used to make the wheels run smoothly. Traveling with a bucket full of grease? Unthinkable! Traveling in a wagon wasn't an easy trip since there were many things that could go wrong. Wagon wheels would break or there would be no water on the trail. If they ran out of food they would need to hunt. Death from injury, disease, starvation and thirst was ever-present. (If we get a flat or run out of gas, we just use our cell phones to call AAA. Us?...hunt for our supper? Sure! Where's the nearest MacDonald's?) Wearing apparel? Traveling in today's heat will find most of us in shorts, thin shirts, and sandals. Our ancestors weren't so lucky: most of the time women wore plain, long-sleeved dresses. There were many kinds of hats but old bonnets were used for work and travel, and they were worn every day even in the desert heat. Women's footwear for traveling was high button up shoes and long stockings. In 90 degree weather, those clothing items don't appeal to me one whit, however, that wasn't all the women endured on their bodies. Add to the above with: drawers (like pants), corsets (almost like a vest to shrink their waist), shifts (like short-sleeved dresses), camisoles (like a vest with ruffles), petticoats (petticoats were worn so a dress wouldn't stick to a girl's legs). Men didn't have as many layers on: long-sleeved cotton smocks that they wore tucked into their woolen overalls. They wore these until Levi Strauss invented denim trousers (Levi's) in the 1850's. On cold days the men wore long underwear. The shoes men wore were laced high shoes or working shoes. I could go on and on in this comparison, but you get the idea. Isn't it time we began fully appreciating our lives today so we can begin to appreciate their lives yesterday? Family ... it's what we're all about. Thank you for allowing me to spend this time with you. I hope your week is filled with health, productivity, fun, and above all, filled with love. ) ( ) _.-~~-. (@\'--'/. Colleen ('``.__.'`) `..____.'