Death in a Cheese Factory!

My little endeavor to stay inside during the heat wave last week has taken down paths I never expected.  I am now getting deeper into researching both sides of my family.  My paternal grandfather had 14 kids in his family, my grandmother probably had 8 or so and on and on - you do the numbers.

I have been corresponding by email with someone on Ottawa, Canada - turns out we share the same great great grandmother so we would be third cousins - the person below is Ann Bean and probably our great-great-great grandmother.  Bill in Canada is sharing his photos with me.  This is on my mom's side of the family - England, then Canada, then Minnesota.  The photo was from a studio in Toronto.

Going to the German Schultz side is going to Germany!  Wow.  Johann Gustav Lau - I have been in contact with a person who has been researching the family tree for 30 years.  She says he maybe "fell on his head and died in a cheese factory"!!!

What she says about his tombstone in southern Minnesota - "notice that it is a chess piece".    I am getting confused as to which belongs to my paternal grandmother's side (Wolff) or my paternal grandfather's side (Schultz).  More gossip:  another female "disappeared", another male was "either drowned in the river or murdered", another child:  "*Note* Had twins, one lost at a picnic and never found - assumed kidnapping".
Of course the macabre and strange is always the most interesting.  Hundreds of others were faithful Lutherans, nondrinkers, close families and always there to help anyone in need - lest you get the wrong idea.

Back to the Sylvester side and another photo shared by Bill in Canada - my great great grandmother and her family.

So to get away from it all we met our good friends Beth and Jim downtown for lunch today.  What would I do without friends.  We will be attending their daughter's wedding in a couple weeks.  Beth was in my wedding and her mom and dad also attended mine.  Life is a full circle!

At the recommendation of a couple friends and my elderly neighbor guy I tried out the Aldi supermarket (a German owned company) - turns out Trader Joe's and Aldi are both German owned but by different brothers - per google!  It was exciting to buy "made in Germany" Deutsche Kuche Authentic German Spaetzle (Swabian Egg Noodles) - just as good as homemade.

I keep so busy that I am not even sure what I am doing tomorrow but I do know that I am retired and love it and I am lucky.