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Posts Tagged ‘U.S. farm history’

Thanksgiving After My Great-Grandmother Passed Away

Posted in Family History, Genealogy, Kalamazoo history, Michigan history, Mulder, Waldeck, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on June 12, 2018| 20 Comments »

Clara Mulder, my great-grandmother, passed away on 6 September 1953, as I mentioned on Discovering My Great-Grandmother. I posted her obituary on My Great-Grandmother’s Lifetime of Service.

Two and a half months after her death, the family gathered together for Thanksgiving at the home of her oldest child, Dorothy (Dorothea Rosa) Mulder Plott, and Dorothy’s husband, Conrad Plott. As of the 1940 census, they lived at 148 North Union Street in Battle Creek, Michigan. But my mother believes that they then moved to their farm in Pennfield Township and that this gathering took place in the farmhouse.

In these recently discovered photos (from an album my mother put together), the family can be seen gathered together at the Thanksgiving feast.

The bottom photo lists “Grandpa,” and that is Clara’s widower, my great-grandfather, Charles Mulder. “Mother” and “Dad” are my grandparents, Adrian and Edna (Mulder) Zuidweg. In the top photo, the man on the left, “Uncle Pete,” is Clara’s #4 (of 5) child, Peter Mulder.

In the top photo, “Mother,” “Aunt Dot,” “Uncle Chuck,” and “Vena” are Clara’s other 4 children (besides Pete). Dorothy, Edna, Vena, Pete, and Chuck, in order of birth.

Aunt Ruby was married to Uncle Pete. Most of the others are my mother’s brother and cousins. You saw them as children in Discovering My Great-Grandmother.

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My Great-Grandmother’s Lifetime of Service

Posted in Family History, Genealogy, Kalamazoo history, Kent County history, Michigan history, Mulder, Waldeck, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on June 5, 2018| 34 Comments »

When I was a little girl, my grandmother gave me a ring that belonged to her mother, my great-grandmother, Clara Waldeck Mulder. She told me it was her Eastern Star ring and asked me to take good care of it.

For years I’ve felt that Clara was a bit of a mystery to me as I knew so little of her. Then a few weeks ago, I found a photo of her while I was scanning an album and posted it in Discovering My Great-Grandmother.

The stars must be aligned right because two weeks ago I was scanning another album and found Clara’s obituary! You can see how loved she was by what is written about her.

 

I think the obituary is readable online, but I want to draw your attention to one particular paragraph:

She was a . . . member of Caledonia O.E.S. No. 97, a Past Matron of Caledonia Chapter, a member of the Past Matrons Association, and has been secretary of the O.E.S. for many years. She was also a member of Golden Star Rebekah Lodge, a Past Noble Grand and a member of the Past Noble Grands Association. An active member of the Caledonia Methodist Church, she served ten years as president of the East Caledonia Ladies Aid Society.

O.E.S. is Order of the Eastern Star. I used to think that Eastern Star was the women’s branch of the Masons, but the Wikipedia article shows that I am wrong. Apparently it is for men and women, although it is affiliated with the Masons. But I must say that the names of the top titles (using the word “matron”) sounds like it was for women. My great-grandfather was a Mason, so it made sense to me that my great-grandmother would be Eastern Star. Also, she was a Past Matron, so I think she was the presiding officer of her chapter at one time.

I read this far and got out the ring that Grandma gave me. I have taken good care of it, but age has taken a toll on the ring. The stone is no longer affixed to the band, and I am not sure if it can be repaired or not. I don’t want to take it in because I don’t want to risk more harm coming to the ring.

Since I had the ring out, I thought my friend Google could show me if the design was a common one or not, but I couldn’t find hide nor hair of the ring in my search for Eastern Star rings.

Then I read a little farther: Golden Star Rebekah Lodge. I didn’t know what that was, but I looked it up. The Rebekahs are a fraternal and service organization affiliated with the Odd Fellows. You can read about it here. So for kicks I looked up images of Rebekah rings. Sure enough, that’s what it is. Grandma must have thought it was Eastern Star because her mom was so entrenched in O.E.S. culture, and the R does look a bit like an E. Maybe the R is a bit  worn off, in fact.

Although I am not a “joiner,” I am proud of my great-grandmother for her lifetime of service. It was women like Clara Mulder that made life better for others in the first half of the 20th century.

 

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Discovering My Great-Grandmother

Posted in Family History, Genealogy, Kalamazoo history, Kent County history, Michigan history, Mulder, Waldeck, tagged , , , , , , , , , on April 12, 2018| 54 Comments »

Because my mother’s grandmother, Clara Waldeck Mulder, died less than two years before I was born, I always felt that I had missed out by not knowing her. It seemed as if our paths had almost crossed, but missed. By the time I knew what was what, Great-Grandpa was married to Margaret, a sweet lady who was a good great-grandmother. But I knew I had missed out on meeting the mother of my grandmother, the woman who once managed that scary and fascinating stove in the old farmhouse in Caledonia, Michigan. I knew Mom thought she was a good cook.

So it was really fun that as I was scanning the photo album my mother had made documenting her teen years I found a photo of Great-Grandma a year before she died.

How well I remember those aprons! When you cook, they are the smart thing to wear, although the tummy area always gets the worst of it because it’s convenient to wipe your hands there. They were a style of the past when I was young and newly married, but I still prefer an apron that really covers me up like that to one that ties at the waist.

Jeanne mentioned at the top of the photo is my mother’s cousin Jeanne who in a lineup of cousins is #2 to my mother, my mother being the oldest.

Their Grandma was photographed by Jeanne in the summer of 1952, and she would die 6 September 1953, at the age of 69 years old of uterine cancer. (Yes, her death certificate is posted here).

Great-Grandma Clara is pictured here as a young bride with her husband, Charles Mulder, my great-grandfather.

You know that lineup I was mentioning? Here is one!

That’s Mom there on our left with the big bow and Jeanne right next to her.

The littlest ones aren’t in the photo and probably not yet born, but this is a good start on all the cousins, the grandchildren of Clara Mulder!

 

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