My Grandfather's House

The grandfather is on my Dad's side, born in 1861, in Halbturn, Austria. His name was Karl Fischer. His baptismal certificate in Latin was Carolus Fischer.

The photo here came from Maria and Franz Kettner who live in the house and have resided there since 1960 -- 49 years. It is a ceramic plaque which hangs on a wall in their house. I have seen it there. It shows a one-story structure with the front door to one side, opening out onto the street. There is no front yard. Houses in Halbturn generally come out to the the public right of way.

The inscription reads Michael and Anna Fischer, who were Maria's parents. Anna, born Anna Holzapfel, was alive when I first visited in 1995. My Dad and I visited again in 1996. Sadly, Anna passed away in 2002 at age 94. Her husband, Michael Fischer, died from yellow fever contracted during WWII, but he hung on until 1950 at age 44, according to Maria's recent letter.

The house pictured here is at Budapeterstr. 37 and has always been a Fischer house since it was built in 1865. My grandfather was four years old when the house was built. It is more likely than not that he lived in this house from 1865 until 1885 when he left for the United States.

It is only reasonable to conclude that Josef Fischer (1828 - 1915) and Anna Himmel (1828 - 1902) commissioned the building of this house in 1965. Maria, or Maridl Fischer, the oldest daughter, was 15. Jakob Fischer, the next oldest, was 13 years old. My grandfather was four. Theresa, the next youngest, was two years old. Elizabeth Fischer was born two years after the house was built (1867). The youngest, Michael Fischer, was born in 1870 -- five years after the house was built.

Maria and Franz Kettner could not verify what years each of the children lived in this house. However, it is more likely than not that Jakob, Karl and Michael, the three grandfathers and greatgrandfathers of the existing lines of the Fischer family all lived in this house for some undetermined period of time. It would be nice to have proof or some documentation of every fact presented in a family history, but that is hoping for too much. "More likely than not" is a legal standard in the United States which means "preponderance of the evidence," a level of proof required in a civil case.

Maria has lived in this house her entire life. We can believe what she says about this house. Combined with the limited documentation that we have, we can say it is more likely than not that my grandfather lived in this house for several years before he immigrated to America.

Maria tells us this house was renovated in 1969 when it was expanded into a two-story structure. The photo of the present house is on the front cover of the book, "My Grandfather's House," published at www.lulu.com

Great Grad

This is a great photo received last night of a great hs "grad," Brian, 6' 3" tall from the Seattle area. He received academic honors and other awards. He's very popular. We have known him since he was crawling around on the floor and we see him and his parents, Carolyn and Michael, almost every time we have visited Laura and Steve over the past 17 years. He'll be off to college in the fall.

That's Laura and Steve flanking Brian in the photo. The first thing we noticed about Laura and Steve was the haircut -- shorter than we can remember. We like that look very much and hope you keep it up. Secondly, you both look so slim and trim and that's a good thing.

We know you are planning to visit us in North Dakota and we are really looking forward to that.

Charming Chase

Chase Cain and her Grandma Lois -- two peas in a pod.

We are starting our blog this year with a visit from Chase Cain -- our granddaughter. Chase visited us from May 13th until May 17th after finishing her Spring semester at East Illinois University where she is majoring in psychology. She volunteered that she aced all her courses aith a 4.o GPA. We are quite proud of her.

Chase brought a shcool friend with her -- Tiffany Kennedy -- who is majoring in elementary education. Both ladies are on the university's women's rugby team. Tiffany has a grandmother, Joan Kennedy, who lives in our community in Florida and Tiffany stayed with her grandmother. They did the same thing last year during Spring break.

They took some time in the sun our at the beach on Anna Marie Island, but the rest of the time they took in some rays at our community swimming pool. Any talk on our part about the sun not being a friend fell upon deraf ears. That is all part of being young.

Grandma Lois took Chase shopping at the De Soto Mall. Chase said she loves to go shopping with Grandma because she grew up without a mome and therefore without the shred experience of two females on a shopping adventure together.

We were both impressed with how Chase has developed and matured during her college career. We had lots of time to visit. Whatever the subject, Chase was very open and honest. She was assertive and never defensive. She readily admitted areas where she was weak and not knowledgeable. She listened attentively and contributed her thoughts appropriately. She was always respectful of someone else's point of view.

Although Chase wil be 21 years old on May 29th, we celebrated two birthdays -- Chase's and her grandmother's 80th -- by going to dinner at the "Island Cerperie" -- a cozy French restaurant which has at least a dozen different crepe desserts to choose from. Grandma and Grandpa each had a glass of wine, but Chase doesn't plan to start with alcoholic beverages any time soon. She told us she has seen what alcohol has done to people in her life and she can easily do without.

Chase's future plans include a master's desgree for sure. She was also talking about a possible PdD. With the job market as bad as it is, Chase thinks a good alternative to consider is staying in school a bit longer.