#52Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Week 4 - Education - from Attica White School to the USMC

Back in rural Michigan before 1970, many peple went to school in local one room schoolhouses. Such was the case for my dad, who went to South Attica White School for grades 1-8, from about 1942-1950. This school, whose name now evokes viseral feelings of contempt from WOKE culture, was named for the color of its paint, not the color of its students skin tones. In fact, there were at least a couple Jamaican, Hispanic, and other races represented in my father's classes, whch was not unusual for rural Michigan in the 1940's. He told stories of getting to school early, going in a window, and lighting the fire in the wood stove so there would be heat by the time classes began each morning. He told of a teacher, Mrs. Woodard, who passed away at the end of his 8th grade year there, and he being one of the older boys was chosen to be a pallbearer. I think she was buried in the little S. Attica Cemetery adjacent to the school. Dad went from that school to Dryden High School, leaving behind his local country friends for a more citified education. He graduated form there in 1954, and, along with a couple of his buddies, joined the United States Marine Corps. In the USMC, he furthered his education as a radio technician and electrical expert. Dad later also took an automotive engineering course through corespeondence school, and went on to work 30+ years inthe aerospace industry in southern CA. Years later, the old country school house were dad started his education was converted to a family home. Soon after that, it burned down, along with all the school recods, which were supposedly in the attic. I've never been able to find a picture of the actual school house.

#52Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Week 3 - “Out of Place”

My paternal grandfather, Edward Eick, was born in Dec 1884 in Warsaw, Russia, acccording to several documents he filled out. Although he was by all accounts German, he was born in a part of Russia, which was really Prussian or Polish. This was likely due to the migration of his ancestors in Russia several generations before at the invitation of Catherine the Great. 100 years later, by the 1880's the welcome for Germans was apparently wearing thin, and many were beginning to feel out of place, apparently, as they began immigrating back to Germany and to places west. My grandfather's parents packed up and left Russia for America in the fall of 1890. I have found ship records of the arriving in New York in November that year. Once again, how out of place young Edward must have felt. Soon after that, the family moved to Michigan. I know little about this move, but a few years after they moved, his younger sister died in Utica and then he lost his mother, as well. Both are beleived to be buried in Utica Cemetery in MI. Later, as a young adult in the Detroit area, Edward found work with the Parke Davis Co., at a farm. He worked there 20 years, earning a pocket watch which I still have, pictured below with my grandparents wedding rings. He married a woman in Detroit from an American English family, who married him on her 18th birthday in 1920, despite being fordidden by her parents from marrying any German. I suspect this was due to hard feelings related to the recent "war to end all wars." Twenty years later, the hard feeling arose again as my grandfather was trying to make a go of his own dairy farm in Metamora, Michigan. I've been told that the family almost went broke due to anti-German sentiments that developed in the late 1930's and early 1940's, and because of the family name and its association with an infamous U-boat captain. Once again, Edward must've felt somewhat out of place. Despite all the challanges in his life, and sometimes experiencing displacements in life, Edward worked hard and managed to run a successful "truck farm" an hour north if Detroit, and provided at least a subsistence farm living for his wife and three boys. He also served on the local school board, despite having no more than a 6th grade education himself. My father always told me that his father could read and write German, but didn't write English well at all. Finally, late in his life, while the rest of his neighbors moved on to indoor plumbing and such, Edward's sons set to work to build him an indoor bathroom so he wouldn't have to trek outside to do his business during the harsh Michigan winters. that was also about the time i met my grandfather, as pictured below. Maybe, for once, in his 80's Grandpa Ed wouldn't have to be out of place!

#52Ancestors in 52 weeks - Week 2 - Favorite Photo

The Neff Family Band, c. 1911 Although I do not play any instruments, I do enjoy listening and even singing along with some toe tapping country/gospel/folk music as often as I can. Perhaps it is due to these people in my roots! I wonder what the common string music was about 1910. I wonder if they played Arkansas Traveler? My g-ma, Mildred Neff, often talked about her dad and his brothers would play for barn dances, weddings and the like all over NW Arkansas and NE OK, from Fort Smith to Waldron to Heavener and back again. This faded photo, which features Worth, Johnson Fowler "Uncle Squire", Hugh and Frank Neff, along with their wives and three of the youngest members of the family, including my g-aunt Helen Neff. it is almong the oldest orignal photogroahs I have inherited from that side if my family. it is a reminder that these hardworking folks, however poor and poorly educated, carried a bit of their culture forward with them wherever they went.

#52Ancestors in 52 Weeks

I've joined a new writing challenge called 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks. Each week I will write an answer to a prompt about my ancestors. This weeks prompt is "I'd like to Meet..." My ancestor I'd most like to meet is my great grandfather, Charles Eick. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/6706130/charles-eick If I could meet him, I would have many questions, and probably unlock many mysteries in my family. Some things he might clear up for me is why he took his family and left Europe in 1890, details of the story of his journey across the ocean on the SSTrave, the loss of his first wife a few years after arriving in America, why they settled in Michigan after their New York arrival, and how long after? I would also like to know if his two of his sons were twins, or just lied about their birthdays. I'd ask what he did for work, and where some of the bodies were buried. (There are relatives, including one of his sons and a daughter that are supposed to be buried in Utica Cemetery, but there are no markers for them.) So, if I could meet one of my Ancestors, my great grandfather would be high on the list! Of course, I'd never settle for just one!