Hanaway cottage in Michigan

Source: L. Guinee, Stevensville, Michigan,

original photograph owned by P. Taylor

My beloved grandmother "Lucy Baby"

Hanaway cottage

June, 1972

Last Friday I took the day off from work and my cousin Terry and I went to our cousin's cottage in Michigan. I have been going to this cottage since I was a very little girl (which I admit was awhile ago!). I love the little cottage itself, but more than that I love the company that is always there. There is always someone to talk to, take pictures of, collect rocks with, go fishing with, walk the beach with, holy cow, there is always something to do!

Terry and I really lucked out with super weather, low 80's, plenty of sunshine, and very little humidity! My cousins Vicki, Susan, and Karla were there and we enjoyed a leisurely walk along the beach. We have been walking those same steps for over forty years and it never gets boring. The lake was smooth but the water was cold, as it is so very often. How we ever swam in it when we were younger is beyond me! I know, I know....you get used to the cold water.....right. We went out for a wonderful Mexican lunch. Afterwards, we went back to the cottage where we talked and laughed and giggled and talked so much about our family and the memories this special little cottage holds for all of us. We didn't run out of conversation, we just ran out of time.

The cottage was built about 1940 and has been in my cousin's family since 1941. It's really two rooms, one bedroom (with three big beds!) and one kitchen/living room area. It doesn't matter that there is not much room, we had the outside--campfires on the beach and bar-b-queing on the little cement porch in front of the cottage. Oh and who could forget those terrific spaghetti dinners we had! (Spaghetti dinners can ALWAYS feed a crowd!) Many times there would be over twenty five people spending the day and sometimes overnight....you just made do...after all we were family-the more the merrier!

The "neighborhood" is changing now. There are no longer little cottages in the area, having lakefront property on Lake Michigan is primo! What you find are mansions. Mansions that have so much room people don't even have to see each other let alone talk to each other. Mansions with cable and direct satellite television, microwaves, six bedrooms, three bathrooms, pools (why do you need a pool when the lake is fifty feet in front of you?), spa's, etc.

What are they missing???

So many family and friends coming in and going out you can't be sure who you saw. Kids running around getting underfoot. Men discussing the right way to clean a fish, filet it, and cook it for dinner. Teenagers united in taking a "real hike" on the beach because they sure don't want to be around their parents. Boys struggling to get the row boat to the beach without a motorized trailer! Girls laying on the beach trying to get a suntan without getting a sunburn. Women catching up on all the family news; showing off their children's newest pictures, demonstrating the new yoga pose they've learned, talking about where they hope to go on vacation or sharing the newest "easy" recipe with the girls. Everyone coming and going and no one wanting to be left out of any of it.

What are the people in those lakefront mansions missing???

The chance to make memories like these!

Hanaway Reunion, 2008

Well, the reunion was another success story. We had about one hundred and fifty people attend. The weather cooperated with plenty of sunshine, the food was absolutely delicious (I requested at least three new recipes) and of course the company---wow!
My great aunt Berniece was able to attend and she looked super! One of my second cousins brought a book of photos which included my GG grandparents when they were quite young. Of course I couldn't figure out how to take pictures of the pictures with my camera. I have done it many times before, but for whatever reason I couldn't get any of them to focus this particular day, so no luck. My cousin indicated she will try to have her son scan a lot of them for me and email them to me...that will work!
I walked around and visited and asked many questions of course. My nature. I was particularly interested in knowing about my GG grandparents home. What happened to it? My cousins Ronnie and Jerry were very helpful for they grew up across the road from Bert and Eva Hanaway! Ronnie told me that the house was torn down many years ago when someone bought the property. He said all that remains from when my GG grandparents lived there are some huge boulders that marked the entrance to the root cellar. Unfortunately, the house that my great Uncle Jim, Aunt Marge and Ronnie and Jerry grew up in burned down a number of years ago. Jerry still lives on the same property though which is terrific.
I believe that average age of the people who attended had to be over thirty years old. There were a lot of children but not the number from when I was a kid and went to the reunions. My G Aunt Berniece was the oldest and we had two babies that were born in May! It's really an older crowd now gathering and celebrating. Most of the younger generation isn't able to make the time to attend for whatever reasons. Too bad, because I can really see the reunion going away. The traditions and history of our family will be shared only among a few. I was so happy that six of my eight children attended, helped with the set up, take down, and clean up and had a really good time!
The raffles were a success. A number of adults and almost all of the kids left with goodies to take home. Beach gear, toys, automotive supplies, gas cards (we all could use those now), games, coolers, a digital camera and much more were raffled off. Thanks to my cousins Vicki, Susan, and Karla who did a GREAT job again organizing this reunion. When it came time to discuss who will take over and run the next reunion, there were no hands that went up. Another sign of what may be going away. Someone suggested that one of the prizes of the raffle should have been taking over the next organization of the reunion. What a great idea, although it came at the end of the day. Of course, I told my cousin if no one else steps up to the plate I will certainly do it. I can't image no Hanaway reunion!
I left the reunion very tired (it takes a lot of work to talk to people you know....especially when you have so many questions and so little time!). What did I take home? Smiles, and oh so many more wonderful memories....it just doesn't get any better than that!

Hanaway Family Reunion

Bert and Eva Hanaway
January 15, 1901

Wedding photo

I always look forward to the month of July. Not only to celebrate the 4th of July, which is always a fun time to bar-b-que and watch fireworks, but a month to remember and honor our ancestors who fought for our freedom. Like so very many other people, I have quite a number of relatives who fought not only in the Civil War but also the Revolutionary War.

Since 1956 my Hanaway relatives have held a family reunion in the month of July. My G Grandfather Marion Albert "Bert" Hanaway died July 19, 1955 and shortly thereafter, April 26, 1956 his beloved wife, my G Grandmother Eva passed away. Their eight children started the family reunion as a way of gathering together and celebrating their parents lives. Bert and Eva had 42 grandchildren, 141 great grandchildren, and at this point in time over 269 great great grandchildren. I'm not sure how many ggg grandchildren they have.

We are bound together by family roots. Hanaway family roots, Deneau, Boudreau, Senesac, Bowsher, Hockenberry, Donavan, Yarnell, Bunnell, Castner, and oh so many more fruitful family roots. We gather together to celebrate where we came from, to renew family ties, to meet and greet new additions to our family tree, to reminisce, to eat together, to laugh, take family pictures and catch up with long lost cousins. This year we are once again blessed to celebrate with Bert and Eva's youngest daughter and only living child, my beloved Great Aunt Bernice! How lucky we are!

Our numbers may not always be many. Some of our younger generations have yet to develop an interest in family members they are related to but may not know. They may not make a point of attending for one reason or another. Although I have always loved going to this event, I too remember when I was younger being a bit uncomfortable meeting a lot of relatives who looked familiar but I really didn't know. I would always gravitate to my many cousins who I knew very well. They were and still are a fun group to be with! There are never enough of those times so when a reunion comes around, you bet I'll be there. I'm also going to be involved! I'm really lucky that all of my children actually like going too!

As I have discovered in the last ten years of doing family research, I am not alone in my quest for knowledge of where I came from. Several other family members have taken to shaking our tree. I love to share discoveries and learn about new connections. I really don't mind being called the genealogy addict in our family! Happy times, here I come!

Given names, middle names, and surnames, oh my!

In my quest to find out as much information as I can about my family history, I usually search by surnames. It is just an easier and much faster method to identify my ancestors. However, there are quite a number of times after hitting a few brickwalls, that I've just used the given name and a birth date and bingo! there they are! Of course it doesn't happen all that often, but enough for me to almost automatically search that way when I hit a brickwall. Middle names are often unknown, or your ancestor just used an initial. I have ancestors who named their children; Marie Isabelle Boudreau, Marie Mary Boudreau, Marie Elizabeth Boudreau-all in the same family, the same parents. It can create a few struggles (and headaches) searching and connecting ancestors.
After receiving all of the Sommer information from Oakwoods Cemetery, I started a little research into this new "branch" of my family tree. What I found out pretty quickly was that several of my ancestors used their middle names instead of their given names. Upon receiving the marriage certificates and death certificates of several of my Sommer ancestors and reviewing federal census records, I quickly discovered that Jacob Sommer was Frederick Jacob Sommer and that James Sommer was Philip James Sommer.
Some people just prefer to be called by their middle name or a nick name instead of their given name. Such is the case with a couple of my first cousins who are known by their middle names. If I was to mention my cousin "Arlene," very few people, if any, would know who I was referring to. She uses the name Terry, short for Therese. My cousin was named after my beloved mother Arlene, but prefers to use a nick name for her middle name. Are you following me here? Imagine trying to find her on a census record one hundred years from now!
My GG Grandfather Marion Albert Hanaway was known by "Bert," short for Albert. He is listed as Marion Hanaway on some census records, and as Bert Hanaway on other census records. You just have to keep plugging away in your research.
Lesson learned: when you can't connect a family member with their surname try their given name and when you can't find them by their given name, well then try their middle name or even a nick name. It can certainly get a little complicated trying to find our ancestors!

Sommer family at Oakwoods Cemetery

Last Sunday my cousin Terry and I searched the final resting place of Katherine Ball, in Oakwoods Cemetery located here in Chicago. We searched and searched for Katherine's grave to no avail. I sent a letter to the cemetery asking for some help and Kim in the office at Oakwoods was kind enough to call me and give me a lot of information! So, this afternoon, three of my children and I stopped at Oakwoods Cemetery again believing we would be lucky and find our "missing ancestors".

Boy did we luck out too! My youngest son Jeremy, found a very large monument with the name Sommer on it. (Kids can move around cemeteries so much easier than adults!) Sommer is Katherine's maiden name. Katherine does not have a marker on her grave but, Kim told me that she is buried in the Sommer family plot. Not only is Katherine buried there but so are fourteen other relatives! Here is the breakdown...

Adults

Katherine Ball, Julia Sommer-----Katherine's sister, Phillip J. Sommer----Julia's husband, Frederick J. Sommer and his wife Elizabeth Sommer, Jacob F. Sommer and his wife Phillipina Sommer, William J. Buis and his wife Margaret Buis and Elizabeth J. Eberhart.

Children

Elizabeth Sommer, Anna Sommer, Frederick Sommer, Arthur Sommer and Ernest Sommer.

Wow! I took pictures of each and every marker. Of course I researched some dates of marriages and dates of death for everyone I could find. Once again I contacted Cynthia at Chicago Genealogy to copy as many of those death certificates and marriage certificates that she can find!

Searching Ancestry from my local library I was able to find many of these relatives on the Federal Census records. For instance, on the 1900 federal census Julia and Philip have two children Elsa (10yrs) and Philip (8 yrs). Frederick and his wife Elizabeth are also living with them. I believe that Frederick and Elizabeth are Philip's parents only because they had been married forty years in 1900 and Philip was 37 years old at that time.

I now have some work to do, putting all these relatives on my family tree! There's lots more research to do now as well, what with all these additional Sommer relatives and their descendants. Plus, I am not absolutely sure of how some of them connect to the others.