Contagious Genealogy: A Pandemic

While I consider myself the resident storyteller of the family, I discovered the following 10-page memoir written by my grandma within one of our photo albums, and have to say she did a fine job illustrating key moments in her life.  I've transcribed what she wrote, keeping all spelling errors and edits intact. The only addition I made was noting her brother's name [Raymond] when she was referring to him in third person and only by pronoun and, of course, the contemporaneous photographs. I don't have any context as to what brought about this document or whether a more finalized version ever existed in some fashion. Edna (Dean) Millhouse, circa 1956. " [?], quite hilly West Virginia until the butter was a solid pound rolls at this point in time, we had no refrigeration but some time later did have an ice box and at that time we could buy 25-50 and 100 pound cakes of ice. Always had to be sure to remember to empty the drip pan, or we would have a wet mess to clean up. Ou...

My paternal great grandfather John C. Eggenberger may have been brought up hearing both French and German in his Wayne County, Ohio home in the 1870s, considering his parents were both immigrants from Switzerland; his mother from the French-speaking region of Eschert in Canton Bern and his father from the German-speaking region of Grabs, St. Gallen. But John's first official language was almost certainly (American) English, as was every other one of my great grandparents. However, there was one set of my maternal great grandparents who were saddled with the question of whether English was the most appropriate language for rearing two of their children. Chester Dean and his wife Beatrice were married in 1917 in Braxton, West Virginia. While their heritage could be traced back to many worldly places, the two were natural born citizens of the United States just like their parents before them. Chester only had an 8th grade education, and Beatrice only surpassed him by a few years, stay...

Ever wonder who you inherited your dashing good looks from, those cute dimples, or how about that thinning hair line and thick love handles?  This week, I'm exploring the origins of physical traits in my family tree. The first one that instantly comes to mind are my eyes. I know exactly who I got the color from versus the shape of them! Many babies' irises can be seen changing colors for their first six months or so. I was told my parents thought for sure I was going to inherit my dad's blue eyes, because they stayed that way even nearing the 2 year mark. However, they ended up turning hazel -- the color of my mom's eyes. (Left) Beatrice (Millhouse) Foltz; (Right) Kira Foltz Now, as for the shape of my eyeballs, I have my dad to thank for that! And I know this, because we have the same football-shaped stigmatism in each of our right eyes. Plus, a lazy eyelid over it, to boot! (Left) Gary Foltz; (Right) Kira Foltz My long lashes definitely came from my maternal side. But...