Kooky families and Good Food

I stumbled across this blog, Aunt Peaches, and smiled as I read about the far reaching story around a family tradition recipe for Apple Kuchen. What a great tribute to a kooky family.

I think a lot of us have stories like this that we just don't realize we have.

For a woman who could not hear and rarely spoke, Big Alice could communicate across an ocean with her facial expressions. In fact, it was not until Herbert’s mention in the parking lot that day that I realized she was deaf. In my mind, we had spoken dozens of times. Heck, we were pals! She played in my blanket fort. I fetched her unfiltered cigarettes from the patio. She saw me hide brussel sprouts into my napkin and didn’t tattle. I didn’t say anything when I saw her taking a swig off a wine bottle in the kitchen just before she took it out to the table. Herbert’s news that she was deaf came as shock. In vain I searched my memory for the sound of her voice.

Isn’t it strange how the very young and the very old have no problem communicating without words?

Her nickname, Big Alice, was misleading. The woman weighed as much as a wet hamster. The name came only after she had a daughter, dubbed Little Alice, whose daughter then became known as Tiny Alice. As fate would have it, Tiny Alice recently had a baby girl named Emma, which is a lovely name, but I was really looking forward to one day adding an entry to my address book under the name Infinitesimal Alice.

I'll be coming back to this blog. And yes, Peaches, people are like cook books.

My sister years ago took upon her and (her husband) the task of making a Family Cook Book, "Hot Rod Recipes", which went way out of the box. I still refer to it; some good food, good stories, good graphic art, and a great way to remember people who've gone and shuffled off this molten core.

Sharing the Joy

Another part of the joy of family history is getting someone else excited about sharing! My friend just recently started HIS own kind of Familyology blog, called Hin und Zuruck (There and Back). Not easy to stumble upon, not like this one...

Things/ Places we have in common: Alsace-Lorraine; Baden, Germany; Rohrbach as a name and place... we're trying to prove that we're distantly related, or to disprove it. Take a look at his site!

Henry E Winkler

The part of Germany called Saxony, in the region HESSEN on September 6, 1843 is where and when our immigrant Henry Winkler was born. He sailed to America perhaps as early as 1864 at the age of 21, met a lovely NY Girl named Caroline Ann Rohrbach, and married her in New York in 1871.

To the best of my knowledge, their children are as follows:

1. Phillip, born in New York on the 10th of October 1872 (my great grandfather)
2. Ann, born in New York on the 18th of August, 1874
3. Edward, born October 15, 1877 in San Francisco. Died in Richmond, CA July 10, 1929, buried in Colma
4. William, born in New York on the 19th of June, 1878. Died February 24, 1908 in San Francisco, Buried in Colma.
5. Fredrick, born on the 18th of July, 1880 in San Francisco. Also died in San Francisco, November 29, 1907
6. Florence, born the 21st of February, 1883
7. Frank, born the 2nd of April, 1888
8. Louise, born the 11th of August, 1889 (possibly 1890) Running on the asumption she married a Mr. Fields, died in San Francisco September 28, 1928 and was buried in Colma.
9. George, born the 28th of January 1892, died May 3, 1953
10. Amelia, born the 5th of July 1893

(whew!)

Henry and his sons had a carpentry shop in San Francisco and even built and serviced pianos. I have two remnants of work order / invoices from Winkler Brothers Pianos which was located at one time at 64 East Park Street in District 9 of the City.

We haven't been able to prove any link between this and the Winkler Pianos of the same vintage in New Jersey. It is quite a coincidence, though, seeing as Henry probably didn't travel alone and he did spend some time in New York, close enough to Jersey.

Henry and Caroline lived just a few blocks away from the shop, at 366 Park, since perhaps 1885. Phillip had a house at 23 Highland Ave, later at 364 Park. The neighborhood is still known as Holly Park.

On the 30th of June 1914, Henry passed away, leaving his devoted wife and the business in the hands of his sons.

Henry had previously purchased a large family burial plot in Colma, CA (where San Francisco goes to final rest) at Olivet Memorial Park, and was buried there. He gave others outside of the "Winkler" family his permission to be buried there, also, and we are still trying to determine their relationship. Some predeceased him. The 3 foot granite headstone marking it only reads "Winkler", no other names or dates ever made it on there. I am hoping to change that.