Sepia Saturday 216 Suits and hats and men's fashions 1923

Adelbert Behrndt and Sophia
Roth Behrndt  1923

Today's prompt of men in suits led me back in our albums to 1923 in Hokah, Minnesota where  Jerry's great grandparents Adelbert and Sophia Behrndt were celebrating their 50th anniversary surrounded by family.  That year on March 3 Time magazine made its debut, a vaccine was developed for whooping cough (pertussis), and Calvin Coolidge became US President upon the death of President Warren Harding who fell ill in Alaska.  On May 28, the US Attorney General opined that it is legal for women to wear trousers anywhere which fascinated me because I remember when pant suits became alright for women to wear back when we were still wearing only dresses and skirts, in the late 1960's.  But in this rural area of Minnesota, Hokah a name from the Dakota Indian,  Hutkan, was growing.  It was settled in 1851, became a railway village in 1871, was incorporated as a town in 1923. Still, news of current events would be secondary to the Behrndt celebration.  The families kept busy as  farmers, carpenters, lumbermen and banking and went about  their day to day lives. And Adelbert would don what was surely his only suit for the anniversary party or picnic at the home, a long time hard working farmer did not dress up.   But for this day everyone was dressed in their Sunday best, just like the  brothers in law gathered in the next photo.  

Brothers in law at Behrndt's 50th Left to right
Burl Kellogg, Charlie Behrndt (Jerry's grandpa), Phillip Frey  and
Otto Ziemann

I call attention to Otto on the far right, notice his straight upright stance; he appears at that same alert uprightness in every photo we have of him while others do not appear as formal.  Burl is a leaner in most of his photos and Charlie is merely tolerant of the posing. Forward quickly to 1930 and a photo  which has always amused us, Lottie (Jerry's grand aunt and Charlie's sister) appears to be holding her husband,  Otto,  upright as though he were a puppet and she had full control of the strings.  Jerry's grandma Esther, Charlie's wife, to the  right appears amused turning aside and talking to someone else with suit and hat.  It was the way things were, suit and hat were worn for gatherings.  I think we are much more at ease and comfortable today in jeans, and casual attire.   

1930 Lottie and Otto Zieman
Esther (Jerry's grandmother) to right

I found this last  information on men's fashions while  researching  1923

This is  my response to the men in suits and hats from our family photos. Check out what others have to show for the week at the link here.
http://sepiasaturday.blogspot.com/2014/02/sepia-saturday-216-22-february-2014.html

Train Wreck Sepia Saturday 57

Train wreck late  to mid 1920's Here in MN

Just a short one this week and rather late for me; here is a photo of the train wreck I mentioned last week.  We know nothing about it other than Jerry's maternal  grandfather, Charlie,   is the man standing with his arms crossed in front of himself and  to the left of a taller man in the back of the photo. You have to click on the photo to enlarge it and see this.   Last week I shared one of Charlie hauling debris with his team of horses and wondered if it might have been from this same wreck because one of the gentlemen, dressed in a suit and hat and  overseeing the process was observing in that photo too.  We can see this was an old steamer train, and the rail road line CM & St. P.may have been part of the Midwest.  We are not familiar with that either.  Wonder how they righted this giant locomotive without use of today's rigs?  Must have been a chore for many men.

Perhaps we can learn more about this photo and incident by taking it to a meeting of our local La Crescent Historical Society or digging through their archives.  We are not certain if this was here along the track of town, elsewhere  in the area perhaps a couple miles down the track toward Dakota or the other direction toward Houston.  But we were thrilled to salvage this from Aunt Marie's; it is on a board in an old wooden frame the back of which is nailed into the fame with bent over old nails.  Jerry tried removing the back board  very carefully, but only got so far as a couple nails would not dislodge so he felt better to leave it be and not damage it.  He has it hanging proudly in his little corner of the downstairs TV/rec room where he can view it from his recliner. Here's a closing sneak at that exhibit, not Sepia, just the way at ease where today he will be found watching the NFL playoffs--my  recliner is off to the  right where I will be rooting  for my hometown Steelers, singing Blackbird bye bye to the Baltimore Ravens! 

Train wreck photo on wall, Jerry's recliner

This is my Sepia Saturday post this week.  To see others, click on the title above to this post where you can link to our international community site and enjoy many other photos of people, places and times...

Sepia Saturday 56 The Model Ts and Horse Drawn

Charlie Behrndt driving horse team in La Crescent
Appx 1920's

This is my response to the horse drawn photo on the Sepia site, from the Library of Congress.   I'm back to sorting photos from Jerry's side, ones we rescued from his 93 year old mother's stacks when we moved her into the nursing home in September.  Among our many frustrations with her is the big unanswered question, "why  didn't she share any of this stash earlier so the family might have been able to identify people and events, when folks  were alive and around when there could have been discussions?."  Such is the theme song of her life, self centered, poor decisions with little care about others as I have written about before but this is not about her only as  she is the source of these photos....  Jerry has most fond  memories of his maternal Grandpa Charlie Behrndt and knows that Grandpa Charlie did not  like to drive instead leaving the driving to Grandma Esther a diffferent attitude for that time. Charlie preferred his horses, so when we found this old photo where Aunt Marie had written across the back, "Pa, moving rail road debris"  it brought a laugh.  Unfortunately it was not dated, so we can guess it is likely the  1920's and easily identified as winter or spring thaw.    We have a very old photo, mounted on a splintered wooden board, nailed into a frame, of a rail road wreck  that came from Aunt Marie; it shows the old steamer train well off the track in the snow.  Jerry has it hanging near his evening chair downstairs; it won't scan as is and I have not been able to get a good photo of it to share here, but we think it is the same event.  We recall Aunt Marie saying that Pa (Charlie) picked up extra money when there was something to be hauled.  Notice the  gentleman standing off to the  left side  dressed with hat, that same man and others dressed like that are present in the train wreck photo.   He appears to be some sort of official overseeing the process. 



Charlie Behrndt beside the Model T appx 1923

 This photo shows Charlie dressed up beside the family auto, Model T. Reportedly the family  was not at all wealthy, but for  farmers of this time to have an auto seems somewhat on the prosperous end of things to me.  There is some speculation that the auto may have been a gift to Charlie when he and Esther married a dowry from her parents, the Wetchens.  The back of the photo and the suit Charlie is wearing (seen in other photos of the same day)  indicate it was taken at his parent's  50th anniversary,  in  1923. There's someone taking the photo, whose shadow appears in the left.  Jerry loves this photo and wants to have it enlarged and framed to hang in the relatives' gallery downstairs.

One last auto photo for this post shows Charlie's in laws, or Esther's parents, Dietrick and Louisa Wetchen coming or going in their automobile.  Aunt Marie's writing  on the top; they lived in the city--La Crosse and had come out to the farm to visit Esther and the girls.  Guessing again that this is in the 1920's but no later than 1925 because Dietrick died  August 1925.  None of the color selections that  abound now for vehicles  were available back then and really the designs show little variation, although the pair of greats  are going  top down!

This is my first Sepia Saturday post of 2011; to see  others' contributions to our international community, click on the title to this post above. 

Sepia Saturday Week 43 Ziemanns (Click here for Sepia host site)

Week 43  but not for me as I have missed several sessions off and on now back at it sharing some of the recently discovered photos of relatives from  Jerry's side, photos we found while clearing out his mother's apartment.  I just wonder slightly why she did not pass these along to  her children long ago, but that fits her actions all along.  I have been very busy scanning and updating genealogy on his side for the grands, even though Jerry says he is not interested in this, when I scan and dig and write he is right here to look it over!  To me it's all history, which I love.   

Today's post shows one of  Jerry's maternal great aunts, Charlotte  Behrndt  (1882-1973) sister of his Grandpa Charlie, a woman who married Otto Ziemann (1885-1975), an oddity where the husband outlived the wife.  Charlotte, known as Aunt Lottie taught in the rural schools around Hokah MN.  I understand that the requirements to become a teacher were quite different in her day, but still this was an achievement for this poor  Minnesota farm girl.  They did not know they were poor so they went about their lives just fine.  It was a professional career and she would travel around the old roads driving old model t's and sometimes on horseback  to teach children in one room school houses through all kinds of weather. 

Wedding photo 1905

In 1905 she and Otto married and they lived in various places  in northern Minnesota as he was  a butcher, employed by meat markets and then hitting the big time as a salesman for  the George Hormel Company of Austin, MN with a  territory stretching from La Crosse, Wisconsin to Duluth, Minnesota.  They had two sons, Howard who went by Larry ( I don't know why?)  and Norman.  I have not yet found photos of the sons and their  respective families.   In 1922, they moved to La Crosse, WI where Otto opened his own meat market and grocery store that he operated until he retired in 1945.  Being a Behrndt girl, Charlotte was accustomed to hard work, so I suspect that city living felt like living  in the lap of luxury to her.





This next photo shows  Charlotte with her siblings and parents, Adelbert and Sophia Behrndt from a few weeks ago. This was at Adelbert's and Sophia's 50th wedding anniversary in 1923, oddly everyone is dressed in dark clothing, which would have indicated a somber event to me had it not been labeled on the back of the photo.  Charlotte is  the  2nd from the right standing and Charlie, Jerry's grandfather, her brother  is standing amidst his sisters behind the parents. There are those bigger women and smaller men. 

All the Behrndt's gather with Adlebert and Sophia in front

Charlotte and Otto Ziemann and Esther to the right

I  have not learned much about them  but they both lived long happy lives, even celebrating  50th and  60th anniversaries.  I especially a like this photo taken at the her Behrndt parents' home in Hokah, MN in 1930 where Otto is sporting the hat!  I have not yet been able to identify what family event was happening to bring them all together for photos.  Doesn't it look like Charlotte is holding him up from the back?  Typical of the women of this family, Charlotte towered over Otto.     Standing to the right is her sister-in-law, Esther, Jerry's grandmother and Charlie Behrndt's wife. You can barely see the little man to her side who is shorter than her too.

This photo is a newspaper clipping of their  50th anniversary in 1955.  He still has quite the head of hair and she looks lovely with her pearls and corsage. 

Otto and Charlotte Ziemann 65th anniversary

This last photo of them taken at their 65th anniversary in 1965 shows them differently, Otto is taller than Charlotte, which we know was not so all their lives.  Evidently she had shrunk significantly.  Also, it appears that they are  not quite as well or hearty as ten years previous at their 50th.  Still, recognize that they are survivors ,their  celebration was hosted at their same home in La Crosse, WI.  That's Aunt Lottie and Uncle Otto.

As always on this blog, click on the title above to get to the Sepia Saturday host site where you can then  click to see others' postings in this international event of the week!  Or click right here, if you prefer http://sepiasaturday.blogspot.com/2010/09/sepia-saturday-43.html