Great Grandmother Dorothea Marx Hillmond Treise

     I don't know about you, but sometimes I put things away because I want to "protect" them from damage or because I just want to store them for a while until I have time to deal with them.  A few years ago, I put aside a book which contained a wonderful carefully folded black ribbon with a lovely design.  It was a piece of decoration from a hat or bonnet worn by Dorothea at her baby daughter Pauline's funeral.  The note accompanying the ribbon which was pressed between the pages of an old book was probably written by my grandmother, Winnie Treise Schaeffer. The book, for years, was on a bookshelf in the living room of Winnie's home.  &nbs If, indeed, the year 1865, is correct-----Dorothea was living in Germany and given the information I've found in my family genealogy search, it would mean Paulline (sp) died soon after or near the time her father died.  Dorothea's first husband, Eduard Carl Friedrich Hillmund may have died about 1864 in Prussia, while serving in the military.  

     In the Grant County History there is a short biography  of Dorothea's life before marrying Jacob Treise ca 1870.  He had been living in Philadelphia for several years but during a visit to his native land, Jacob was united in marriage to Dorothea.  Her late husband had been proprietor of a large hotel, and for five years a soldier who had died some time before.  Dorothea was the only child of Jacob and Fredericka (Kunemont) Marx, the latter of whom died when her daughter was six years of age.  In 1873, Jacob Marx came to the United States with Herman Hillmund, his grandson and Dorothea's son.  They joined the Treise family in Raymond Township, Stearns County, Mn.  Winne and her older sister, Charlotte aka Lottie, as well as a little boy, Amiel, who died in infancy were born in Todd County. They later moved to Stearns County but in 1883 they moved to Pomme de Terre in Grant County and later into Elbow Lake.   I have been fortunate to have a number of artifacts that belonged to previous generations of my family.  It's always such a humbling realization to know that I am holding and treasuring items that are 100s of years old!  It makes the stories of my ancestors very real and meaningful. 

Dorothea Marx Hillmund Treise

 

Dead End Photo Albums

I assume all of you of a certain age will remember the dead end letter department of the U.S. Postal service.  Since most of humanity uses phones, texts, emails, computers etc. instead of letter writing the art of communication has changed dramatically in the past ten years----yikes is that all of the time that has passed?  Anyway,  saving  photos on those devices as well as  our memory cards and  clouds in the sky are the usual method for preserving our memories these days.  Recently, I have had occasion to purchase at auction or in antique shops  a number of photo albums containing wonderful studio cards and photos depicting women, children, military men and newly wed couples usually dressed in their finery and seated in photo studio with ornate wicker, ferns, arty back drops and sometimes heavy drapery.  The clothing and décor give excellent clues as to the time period these very personal photos were taken.  I have admired the carefully coifed "dos" of the women or the outrageous hats they donned all for vanity.  Men's fashions don't usually vary greatly from one decade to another, although now and then a young fellow will display a touch of dash with a watch fob or rakish hat.  Children are particularly fetching because they, of course, are the most natural in their poses.  Some early photos have survived and they are poignant in their simplicity----no fancy clothing or furniture but rather a couple or single person looking out at us with a certain degree of sadness.  Usually, the new pioneers or emigrants  had these pictures taken in order to send something home across the vast ocean or to prove that they had indeed survived the journey and made it to the new land or new home across the vast American landscape.   Genealogists love photos and often use them as clues when trying to determine the time period depicted.  Unfortunately,  most of these wonderful historical photographs are never identified and the only clues as to location is the name of the photographer and usually the name of town or city where they were located.  Those old photos will never have names attached and even though they may have survived a hundred years, it is likely they won't survive another.  Their destination won't be a dead album department, but more than likely will be tossed in the trash and sent to a landfill or burned in a barrel.