Happy Birthday, Mom!

I love my mom so much. She has been so great in explaining our histories again and again, giving me pictures to scan, and is generally a good sport about most everything.

Ana, about 1945

Ana, 1954, this is the pic that Ruth Stemm based a watercolor on

Ana, 1952, reprinted in 1972 apparently

Ana (and friend) 1951

Ana in Pennsylvania, around 1951

Sometimes, I feel that I'm nothing like my mother. Then, I'll see a photo (like the one directly above) of her and see my own face looking back.  Sometimes, I feel I'm never so like her as when I'm at my most graceful.

Left: Ana joking around, unknown date Right: 1951 Frackville PA

Ana, 1961

Ana, about 1997

Thanks for being my mom and thanks for helping with this genealogy stuff!

Jesse (Glenn) Weill and EAWII

Jesse Glenn Weill was the first wife of Ernest A. Weill II and the mother of Ernest A. Weill III. Ana and I suspect that the pic below is her. The man with her certainly does look like EAWII.

Jesse Glenn Weill

Top left: EAWII, top right Ken Emory and EAWII, bottom:EAWII is third from left

Chessie saved his obit. Her characteristic black album paper is a sure giveaway.

"Anna" is Aunt Anna, who Ana lived with when she was a teenager. Ana's name is spelled with 2 n's in this obit b/c that is what her parents named her (after her great aunt). Only later, when Mother Mary had a fight with Aunt Anna did she change her daughter's name.

Joseph Weill

So, I wrote about Joseph Weill a bit in the last post. He was born in 1880-1882 in Germany, the son of Ernest Alfonso Weill the first. His family would have come to the U.S. while he was still a young child. He was Grampere's uncle.

Joseph Weill, date unknown

Joseph Weill, unknown dates, the right hand pic is from an insurance conference in D.C.

His children were Josephine (~1911-1982) and Billy (b. about 1915 and killed himself around 1963) .

Josephine Weill, date unknown




I have a lot of pictures of her playing golf, but I thought this photo would be more interesting for you guys. Below is Josephine with Tom Ewell (of The Seven Year Itch). He was from Owensboro and they were good friends.

Billy Weill, date unknown

He was partner with his brother Lawrence in insurance. He died about 1961 or 1962.

 I thought his wife was Minnie Chapman. This letter was either written by Joseph or Josephine. Why would she be going by her maiden name? I'm confused now...I think perhaps his wife was some one else entirely.

More Weills

 

This a picture of Monroe "Beau" Weill. He was (is?) the son of Lawrence and Gertrude Weill. He was a contemporary of Ernest A. Weill III, and this is possibly a pic of him before shipping off to WWII. His name does not appear when I search for WWII veteran info, which may mean he's still alive. I have no birth or death dates for him or his parents. 

I do know that his father was Ernest A. Weill II's brother. Together with the third brother  (Joseph) they ran an insurance company in Owensboro, KY. I cannot find any trace of this company and do not even know the name of it. According to Ana, Joseph and Lawrence both remained Jewish, while my g-grandfather, EAWII, distanced himself religiously, and eventually left the insurance company. Jesse (Glenn) Weill also worked there briefly as a secretary. The couple were teased "mercilessly" by Joseph and Lawrence.

Chessie or Josephine or Grampere cared enough about this man to save his picture and his badges from his army uniform (can you tell which one got worn?) Yet, I and my family know nothing about him. Anyone have any info on this cousin?

John Bruce Weill

Bruce Weill was my uncle, son of Mary Lura Morgan and John Menaugh. Mary and John were married around 1946, after she divorced Ernest A. Weill III. She and John split around 1948, and she later got back with EAWIII.

Bruce, about 1949, back of photo says he's 2 yrs old

Bruce was born May 20, 1947. He placed on the Asperger spectrum, although Ana can speak more freely about his symptoms. Around 1963, EAWIII adopted Bruce and his last name became Weill.

Ana and Bruce in Pennsylvania, about 1949--this is the photo that Jude's pen and ink drawing is based on.

He entered the army and served in Vietnam. He started his tour in September of 1967. He died on March 24, 1968 in Hau Nghia Province, South Vietnam. The report on his service and death can be seen on any number of Vietnam Veteran's sites, like this one.  You can click on 'see full profile' to see more about his mission.

John Bruce Weill in uniform, about 1966/67, hand-tinted photo, by a Des Moines photographer

 He was awarded the Purple Heart, the Bronze Star, Vietnam Service, Good Conduct, and National Defense Medals.

I do not have an original newspaper clipping of his obituary. I do have this clipping about his Bronze Star, though.

He was a rifleman and specialist

More cousins!

Two of our distant cousins have extensive genealogy sites:

http://ancestralties.blogspot.com/

and

http://theancestorfiles.blogspot.com/

I know I will be referencing their amazing work! 

My Great-Grandmother, Ruth Stemm

I wanted to share with you all this booklet cover that Ruth Stemm (Morgan) designed the artwork for. The pamphlet describes how to make a necklace using Collingbourne's String. The booklet art was handled by Virginia Snow Studios, so we don't know if she was a contractor or an employee. The image below is an un-retouched scan, 1800 pixels wide and suitable for having professionally printed. If you would like a  cleaned-up version, let me know.
EDIT: For whatever reason blogger isn't displaying the size correctly. I decided the easiest way to deal with this was to just create a page on my own website. This is the spot for a larger, printable version!

Ruth Stemm's Signature is on the bottom right.

Below is a newspaper clipping about her, which shows her illustrating while Mary and William Bruce Jr. play around her. Interestingly, Mother Mary's middle name is listed here as "Lou." Perhapes Lura was too strange for the newspaper guy? Or, perhaps that's what called they her when she was little.

Clipping sent to Ana from her Uncle William Bruce, Jr.

Below is a cropped picture from the 1925 Morgan family reunion showing Ruth. I will post the larger picture when I discuss the Morgans a bit more.

Ruth Stemm-Morgan, 1925   

 

Here is another pic sent by William Bruce Jr. of Ruth. The picture is undated, but looks to be around 1950.

EDIT:  I also forgot the include the 1930 census for the Morgans. What is so interesting is that my g-grandfather (W.B. Morgan) is listed as the one with the advertising occupation, and Ruth is listed as having no job. When I told this to my mom, Ana, she was shocked and amused because family lore has it that my g-grandfather did NOT work. She and I both thought this might have been a cover so that few found out she was working in this era of homemakers. Funny though, they do not list any servants and are renting their house. This would not imply the $$$ and stature that we thought was there. I'm just glad that we have some scrap of her artwork and that we can know we come by our creative drives honestly! Here is a link to the larger copy of the 1930 census.

Line 75 is the Morgan's entry.

Start with the obvious

Ana M. Weill and Kenneth E. Heichelbech are my parents.

Ana is the child of Ernest Alfonso Weill III (1921-1998) and Mary Lura Morgan (1921-1990). Her siblings are Rhoda, Larry, Ernie (all three living), and John Bruce (1947-1968).

EAWIII ("Grampere") was the child  of Ernest A. Weill II (1887-1948) and Jessie Glenn (1895-1923). Jessie died within a year of EAWIII's birth. Her death certificate says she died from  apoplexy.
EAWII remarried to Chessie Compton (lived about 1900- 1983).

Ernest A. Weill II - 1919

 Chessie Compton as an infant, 1900?

Mary L. Morgan ("Mother Mary") is the child of William Bruce Morgan (b. 1886) and Ruth Stemm (b. 1892).  Her siblings are William Bruce (died in 2015) and Diane (death date unkwown).

Mary Lura Morgan and her brother, William Bruce, date uknown

Mother Mary and Grampere, date unknown. It's rare to see a picture of them together. 

Ken is the child of Mary William Knott (1900-1985) and Wallace Heichelbech (1900-1975). His siblings are Jim (still living), Bill (still living), and Elizabeth (1933-1939).

Wallace is the son of Albert Heichelbech (1870-1942) and  Emma Asadore Scott (1874-1960).  His siblings are Blanch (b. 1899), Alberta (1906-1963), and Hazel (b. 1910). They also had 2 infants that died, one in 1905 and one in 1911.  I do not know anything about Emma Scott's lineage.

The author with Mary W. Knott (Grandma Heichelbech), 1980

First post!

Hi everybody! I have been doing a lot of genealogy and worrying about the best way to get this info to you all. I have finally decided that a blog, going in (somewhat chronological) order, with pictures and links is the best way to go about it. This way, I can go through the info one step at a time, instead of bombarding you with a ton of info all at once.

I will try to keep everything labeled so that searching can be easy. I may leave things out sometimes. If you have questions or have new facts to add PLEASE leave them in the comments so that everyone can see them. If you would like scans or copies of anything, let me know, although I will attempt to post high enough quality pics here for you to print out or study closely. Blogger doesn't always display pics like I'd like. If you click on an image, it might be big enough to study it. To save, right click.Otherwise, see the genealogy page of my website.