Tuesday, May 20, 2008

My Poetry

By Terri Hanauer-Brahm

May 22, 1983

My Father
I see my father in a picture,
Looking into his smile so free.
Feeling the love he held for me,
Remembering his time and dream.
Making him proud in his place beyond,
Letting him know I have found my goal.
Writing everything that comes to mind,
With my father deep in my soul.

May 23, 1983

The Wind
Feel the wind against your skin,
Listen to the whistling of the trees,
Breath the freshness that it sends,
Caressing everything with its breeze.

May 5, 1983

My Love
My love is for thee,
Thee who brings me happiness.
To you, I am yours,
Yours to give all my best.
My love overwhelms me,
Me who feels your every touch.
God giveth me to you,
You who holds so much.
Give me your love,
Love which holds no bounds,
And I shall return to you,
You who I have found.

May 18, 1983

Destination of Life
What are the destination's of life?
Are we going in the right direction?
Whose to tell the truth of our lives?
Are we there with no recollection?
Where do we go from here?
How are we suppose to know?
Is there a force to show the way?
Has he the power to help us grow?
Give to us the strength we need,
To find our destination,
For we are the children of life,
going through life damnation.

May 22, 1983

Watching
I sit and look out the window,
Watching the people in motion.
Knowing that all are so different,
Going through life with no notion.
Living only from day to day,
Always looking for the greatest happiness.
Receiving the good and bad of life,
Setting goals to have the best.

August 15, 1983

Happiness
Dusty roads going through my mind.
Driving on the particles of life.
Continuing into the light of love.
Following signs of all directions.
No awareness of fear or danger.
Going down the road of true happiness.

August 15, 1983

Endless Time
Oceans flowing through my veins,
Winds blowing through my mind.
Feeling nature take it's course,
Into the direction of endless time.

August 15, 1983

I Believe
I believe in dreams,
For they are forever new.
I believe in happiness,
For in life it gets you through.
I believe in myself for I know me,
I believe in you for all that I see.
Believing is the start,
Believing is all we need.
For believing is you and I,
With no jealousy or greed.

A Man's Eyes
I look in the mirror,
What do I see? Ugly.
I look in a man's eyes,
What does he see? Beauty.
How can I see ugly,
And man see beauty?
Are my eye's deceiving me,
Or do man's eye's only see beauty?
Whatever it is,
I hope that it never ends.

January 15, 1984

Dream Along With Me
Someone say, "Hello,"
Are you friend or foe?
Gifts of smile's around,
Shine from sky to ground.
Words of yesterday,
Brighten up the skies of gray.
Come along with me,
Feel the life of free.

Silence
Silence can be the sound of an empty room,
Or the awkward stillness of two people who just met.
Silence can be the sound of nothing.
Silence can be the alleyway at night.
Silence can forbid you to enter,
Or force you to leave.
Silence can be pleasant,
Like the stir of the breeze,
Blowing through the trees.
Or it can be a world full of dreams.

Friday, May 16, 2008

A new chapter is unfolding

As a small business owner in Retail Floor Covering sales, I have been affected by the economic meltdown that is unfolding across this country to the magnitude of being forced out of business.

My store was successful before the doors opened for business 3 years ago. I had loyal customer's who would stop by to watch the progress of the store being built, giving me encouragement and placing there faith in me that I would make it a success. And I did. I worked the first year and half all by myself, doing every duty that needed to be done. I was allowed to prove to myself that if I put my life in God's hands, he would bring the people into my life that I needed to help. And by putting my life in God's hands he made sure that I knew he would always be here with me.

Now I can fondly look back and see how truly successful I was. I had the most amazing people enter my life through my store. How fortunate I was to be able to experience the amount of success my store brought me in such a short period of time.

I can't be sad at the prospect of possibly closing my store. This was a chapter in my life that has a happy ending. I can honestly say that the people I was able to serve at Terri's Floors were satisfied with their end result.

I FEEL EXTREMELY BLESSED BY GOD.

I believe God has a more important chapter written for me that I must begin now.

I hope that anyone who reads this knows they are a child of God and he loves us all very much.

Thursday, May 15, 2008

My Daddy's Doodle's book created by Me 10/26/03































Newspaper article about my family research 1/16/08

Local news : Family research newspaper article

January 16, 2008
Long search for family heritage worth it to Prescott Valley woman
By Cheryl Hartz
Prescott Valley Tribune
With the new year, some folks may resolve to climb their family trees to learn about their ancestors. For those with no idea how to go about it, Prescott Valley resident Terri Brahm sets a good example.
Brahm did not know until after his death in 1981 her father, Ralph Uri Hanauer, had been in a German concentration camp.
“He never talked about it,” Brahm said.
But learning that fact from her grandmother led her on an eventual odyssey of discovery – to know more about those who died and to find surviving family members.
“You hear stories of Holocaust survivors, but usually not stories of those who died,” she said.
But “life intervened” as she raised a family, so she didn’t think seriously about gathering information until about 1997 after further conversation with her grandmother, who was in the early stages of Alzheimer’s.
In 2002, her Great Aunt Ilse told her her grandfather’s name (Ilse’s brother, Hans) and the name of the concentration camp where her father had been.
In 2005, Ilse’s best friend, Tutta, sent Brahm an heirloom bowl and plate from Germany. Hans, a wood apprentice, had given them to Tutta as gifts.
Brahm began to dig in earnest, for a specific reason.
“I’m so afraid the lineage ends with my granddaughter. She’s my driving force, so she will know her heritage when she grows up.”
Through countless letters and hours of computer research, Brahm traced her paternal family history back to 1727 and her maternal line to 1529.
What most interests her, however, is uncovering the tragedies of World War II.
“I have asked God for help every single day because I want to know the truth,” she said.
Her father, Uri Hanauer, was only 4 when the Nazis sent him and his mother, Ursula, from their home in Berlin to Theresienstadt in 1944. The Gestapo had sent his Jewish father, Hans, to the labor camp Gut Winkel in 1941, and to Auschwitz in 1943.
“Hans was murdered there,” Brahm said, when he was just 24.
She has copies of the train transport list from the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C., and copies of papers showing his prisoner number and death date. She still wants to find the arrest warrant so she will know charges for his arrest and how he died.
“I don’t know what his crime was,” she said.
Brahm knows the Nazis had ignored the family for so long because Ursula’s mother’s Christianity had “protected” them until she died.
“Families that were half Christian were supposed to be protected if they stayed away from the synagogue and as long as the Christian spouse lived,” Brahm said. “My great aunt told me, ‘Your grandfather was not supposed to die.’ I didn’t know what she meant.”
It turns out a member of the Social Democratic Party had warned Hans to stay hidden because of his affiliation with people not of the Nazi mindset. Nazis arrested Hans when he left his hiding place.
Brahm also has a letter Hans wrote to his wife, Ursula, while on the train to Gut Winkel apologizing for ignoring the warnings. He signed it, “Your sometimes a little stupid, Hans.”
“It hurts when I read the letter he wrote to my grandmother,” Brahm said.
Uri gained release in 1945, one of only 132 children of the 15,000 who entered the prison camp to survive. Ursula went free, as well.
Ursula’s father, Jonas Rosenfeld, had earlier been held at Rosenstrasse, but earned release when 600 Christian women, including his wife, protested that their Jewish husbands and children were wrongly incarcerated.
Uri Hanauer took the name Ralph when he became a U.S. citizen at age 12. He kept his past hidden from his children.
The past of Uri’s Jewish grandfather, Max Hanauer, brings more questions than answers for Brahm. She learned he lived in America from 1903 to 1906, surviving the San Francisco earthquake.
She knows he served in the German army in World War I, somehow had protection during WWII and didn’t have to take the middle name of Israel on his documents, as other Jewish men were forced to do. She has a photograph of him wearing a German officer’s uniform and playing chess with Russian soldiers.
She wonders why some of her family history is so well documented. She knows some of the family possessed great wealth and owned lots of property, but not what happened to it. She doesn’t have death dates for either Max Hanauer or Jonas Rosenfeld.
What she does have is stacks of paperwork, pictures and some antique jewelry her grandmother sewed into her clothing when she left home. The jewelry passed to Ilse. Ilse, a blue-eyed blonde, had lived with Tutta and her husband in Berlin, and shared an ID card with Tutta. The girlfriends would go out into the city one at a time. The Nazis never caught on.
Although the road to family knowledge has been winding, Brahm said the information is out there for the curious.
“Anybody who wants to can find out about their heritage,” she said. “It has paid off for me.”
A good place to start research, she said, is at the LDS free site, www.familysearch.org.

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

My great grandfather Max Hanauer

Max standing far right with Russian soldier's during WWI









Max after WWII

Max was born on March 23, 1880 in Wuerzburg, Bavaria.
Max was a brewer in Berlin before he came to America in 1903.
Came to America:Port of Departure: Cuxhaven, Hamburg, GermanyShip of Travel: DeutschlandArrived at Ellis Island: May 1, 1903Age on Arrival: 23 years oldMax had $365.00 cash when he arrived in America
Max was in America from 1903 to 1906. He was in Salt Lake City for a while with relatives and then went to San Francisco.
He survived the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake. He took 2 panoramic pictures of the devastation. He went back to Berlin in 1906(?).Max was a high ranking officer During WWI in Germany.He married my great grandmother, Frieda Teske on December 7, 1915.
They had owned a Raincoat Factory before WWII. Address: SW29, Zossoner Strasse, 2711
The factory was confiscated by the Nazi's and was destroyed by American Bomber planes during the war.
My great grandparents survived the war by hiding in a small cabin in Grunau. A woman named Lotti Mader owned this cabin. She was an employee of my great grandfathers factory.
Max had gone to Berlin every week with a rucksack on his back. Max wore a Bavarian costume with a great wrap, which covered his Jewish star. His neighbors in Grunau were told that the Hanauers came from the Bavarian country, where they had lost their home through bombs. It was a believable story because Max had spoken very well in the Bavarian dialect. He was born in Wurzburg, Bavaria, on Mar. 23, 1880.
Max had before the war belonged to the "Bayern-Verein" (Bavaria club). My grandfather Hans and his sister Ilse Hanauer were made to go each Sunday to this club. This club offended them both because Jews were not allowed.

Growing up

My birth announcement
My 6th grade yearbook from Wonderland Avenue School.

Friend from Wonderland Avenue School Sherry Goffin, daughter of
Carole King and Gerry Goffin.
Friend from Wonderland Avenue School Kim Washington

Friend from Wonderland Avenue School Jill Smith

Friend's from Wonderland Avenue School. Helen Carmean and Rae Dawn Chong,
daughter of Tommy Chong
Me and my grandpa Del's monkey in the paper.

My 9th birthday party with me at the left and my grandma ZG serving punch.

My 9th birthday party with my friends.

My cousin Tina and I at ballet class

Me at ballet class

Dancing at Herbert and Purcilla White's home.

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

My grandmother ZG as the star of "The Merry Widow"






My grandmother ZG pictured far right with some of her co-stars in a press picture.
She was the star of the play. My brother Kenny, cousin Dean and I were cast as her children in the play.

A scene from "The Greatest Story Ever Told".

My grandma ZG is standing behind the blonde woman

that is to the left of the left palm leaf.

Can you find Jamie Farr in the picture?




My GG Grandfather John Theophilus Gerber's 1864 Journal

This is a journal written by my great great grandfather, John Theophilus Gerber.
This was his second wagon train. His first trip on the Mormon Trail was from St. Louis, Missouri to the Great Salt Lake in 1854, when he was 17 years old and was made with his parents and siblings.

Mormon Pioneer Overland Travel, 1847–1868 Gerber, John Theophilus
Birth Date: 7 Apr. 1837 Death Date: 24 Dec. 1920 Gender: Male Age: 26 Company: William Hyde Company (1864)
Pioneer Information: returning missionary; married Anna Maria Knapp (Ruopp) en route Aug. 28
Sources: "List of Immigrants," Deseret News, 19 Oct. 1864, 18. Read Trail Excerpt Source Locations Ancestral File Source Locations Gerber, John T., Journal, in Journal History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 26 Oct. 1864, 3-9. Read Trail Excerpt Source Locations Mormon Immigration Index Source Locations

Mormon Pioneer Overland Travel, 1847–1868 Source of Trail Excerpt: Gerber, John T., Journal, in Journal History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 26 Oct. 1864, 3-9. Read Trail Excerpt: Elder John T[heophilus]. Gerber, a returned missionary, who crossed the plains in Capt. Wm. Hyde's company, kept a daily journal of the journey, from which we cull the following in his own language.
I joined Capt. Wm. Hyde's company numbering [blank space] souls and 62 wagons chiefly Perpetual Emigrating Fund Emigrants. We started from Wyoming this afternoon about 6 o'clock bound for G. S. L. City.
Traveled about one mile and camped on the prairie where the grass wood and water were good and plentiful. The weather was fine.
Wednesday, Aug. 10. I returned from Wyoming on business. The camp moved about 4 miles, and I returned to camp as the company was making their evening corral. At this camping place several independent wagons caught up with us .
Thursday, Aug. 11. The brethren in camp were busy weighing out provisions to the company.
Friday, Aug 12. This morning we buried a little child. The company moved about 9 miles and camped on a creek which was partly dry, but wood and grass was plentiful.
Saturday, Aug. 13. The camp moved about 12 miles and camped on a small creek where the wood and grass was good. A sister died after we had made our encampment.
Sunday, Aug. 14. Capt. Hyde received a dispatch to the effect that he should lay over, or make a very short drives, until Capt. Warren G. Snow's train would be close behind us, as the Indians are very hostile ahead. We buried the sister who died last night and also her little son and two other children. In the evening a heavy rain set in, accompanied by thunder and lightning.
Monday, Aug. 15. Nothing unusual to Camp life happened, there are were still a number of sick in camp, chiefly sufferers with diarreah [diarrhea]. It rained part of the day.
Tuesday, Aug. 16. I wrote out a list of rations for the company. Bro. John L. Smith lent me one of his revolvers to carry across the plains. We burried another brother. The day was stormy.
Wednesday, Aug. 17. Bro. John L. Smith tried out pistols in shooting at the target. Another person was buried. e traveled About 10 o'clock up a hill about a mile distant to a healthier place. The weather was beautiful.
Thursday, Aug. 18. We broke up our encampment about 8:30 a.m., traveled about 5 miles when we hauled for noon on a small creek where the grass was good and wood plenty.
Sunday, Aug. 28. During the past few days I have been very busy attending to camp duties, waiting on the sick, etc. Travelers reported that the Indians were very troublesome ahead. Bros. Jos[eph]. W. Young and Batey came from Bro. Snow's camp to pay us a visit. After they had counseled with Capt. Hyde and the brethren concerning our camp arrangements, I asked Bro. Young for permission to marry Sister Mary Knapp; he cheerfully granted the request. After attending Bro. [Daniel] Clark's funeral, we broke for camp about 1 p.m., and traveled 9 miles and camped about sundown near Bro. [Warren Stone] Snow's camp on the Platte river. Mary and myself dressed up preparatory to being married. We attended meeting in the center of the corral about 8 p.m. After singing Capt. Hyde made a few remarks concerning camp duties. Bro. Smith announced to the saints my desire to be united in marriage to Miss Anna Mary Knapp and asked if there were any objections. There being none, he performed the ceremony making Sister Knapp and myself man and wife. After this Bro. John W. Young preached and counseled the saints. After meeting a number of the Elders and Saints congratulated us. We retired to our tent with Bro. and Sis. [Carl Christian and Matilda Sophia] Schramm and Sis. L. [Lisetta Margrethe Elizabeth] Dolder took supper with us. I retired with my wife about 11 o'clock. The weather was fine.
Monday, Aug. 29. After attending the funeral of Sister [Mary Ann Jolley] Miller at 7 o'clock a.m., we traveled about 8 miles and nooned. In the afternoon we traveled, several miles further and traveled bout 7 miles from the Platte River, where grass was plentiful. We used buffalo chips for fuel. My wife complained of being very sore footed, she having walked nearly the whole distance since the company left Wyoming.
Tuesday, Aug. 30. We broke up our encampment at 7 o'clock a.m. I was appointed officer of the day to follow up behind the train and see that no one was left behind. We traveled 8 miles and nooned about 8 miles from Ft. Kearney. We resumed the journey about 2 p.m. and encamped an hour later on the west side of Ft. Kearney. We are now 145 miles from Wyoming. The mail has stopped running on account of Indian troubles along the line. Also emigrant and merchant trains have been stopped temporarily on account of the hostile attitude of the Indians. Here we also overtook Bros. A[rnold]. Bischoff[,] [Jacob] Burgener and J[ohannes]. Winckler and families who started from Wyoming with horse teams, they joined us.
Wednesday, Aug. 31. I assisted Bro. [Alexander] Ross in issuing rations to the company. We traveled 7 miles in the forenoon and six miles in the afternoon; camped on the Platte river where the feed was good and water plentiful.
Thursday, Sept. 1. Bro. [Jacob] Niifenegyer's [Nieffenegger's] child was buried. We broke up our encampment about 8 o'clock a.m., traveled 10 miles and nooned. In the afternoon we traveled 5 miles and camped near Plumb Creek. While making our corral, a number of soldiers (cavalry and artillery) passed us, accompanied by some Indians. We saw horsemen stations on the hill south of us.
Friday, Sept. 2. Mother [Jane Haddon] Lyne's [Line's] funeral took place this morning. We resumed our journey at 8 o'clock a.m., passed a camp of soldiers and some Indians on Plumb Creek traveled 6 miles and nooned. In the afternoon we traveled 10 miles and camped about dusk on the Platte river. The cattle were driven across the river to feed. About 500 Indians are reported to be in the camp within one mile of us.
Saturday, Sept. 3. Prayer meeting was held in camp at 7:50 a.m. We traveled about 7 miles in the forenoon and 9 miles in the afternoon and encamped on the Platte river where feed was scarce.
Today a woman in Mr. Batie's freight train was run over and instantly killed.
Sunday, Sept. 4. We traveled about 9 miles in the forenoon and six miles in the afternoon and camped for the night on the river where the feed was good. A rainstorm, accompanied by heavy thunder and lightning visited us.
Monday, Sept. 5. At 6 o'clock p.m. Sister A[nna]. Stayner [Steiner] was buried. We broke camp at 7 o'clock a.m. traveled 12 miles and nooned by a vacated station. All the ranchers and station keepers on the road so far have fled from the Indians. A Sister Smith was buried here. In the afternoon, in continuing our journey, we crossed Cottonwood Creek, where a few soldiers are stationed; camped three miles west of Hinman's range and drove the cattle into a pasture for the night. The weather was cloudy all day and a rain storm came up in the evening as we were making our corral and continued the greater part of the night.
Tuesday, Sept. 6. This morning the clouds disappeared and the rising sun and everything seemed cheerful again. After the usual morning prayer, we broke camp at 8:30 a.m., traveled about 4 miles and camped to dry our clothes. We found some nice plums and grapes. In the afternoon we traveled 8 miles, passed a deserted junction of houses and camped for the night on a nice little creek.
Wednesday, Sept. 7. We resumed the journey at 7 a.m. After the train had started, I stayed behind and caught a nice mess of fish which I presented to Bro. John [Moburn] Kay, a returned missionary who is very sick with rheumatism. We traveled 8 miles and nooned on Fremont Springs. In the afternoon we traveled ten miles and camped on O'Fallen's Bluff on the Platte. We saw a few soldiers and families traveling east.
Thursday, Sept. 8. We broke camp at 7:30 a.m., traveled about 9 miles and nooned three miles west of Baker's ranch. Here a child was buried. We passed some emigrants and met a small company going east. In the afternoon we traveled six miles and camped on a slough.
Friday, Sept. 9. We resumed our journey about 7 o'clock a.m., traveled 9 miles and nooned about a mile from the river. In the afternoon we traveled 9 miles and camped on the Platte.
Saturday, Sept. 10. Another Sister was buried. Bro. Paul A. Schettler in company with Bros. Jos. W. Young and about 15 other brethren started ahead with horse and mule teams for G. S. L. City, expecting to arrive at their destination in 16 days. Our camp moved at 7 o'clock a.m., traveled 9 miles and nooned on the Platte, where a young sister was buried. In the afternoon we traveled 9 miles and camped on the Platte. High winds prevailed.
Sunday, Sept. 11. We arose at 4 o'clock a.m, had prayer at 6:30 p.m. , resumed our journey at 6:45 a.m., traveled 3½ miles when we came to the old California crossing of the Platte. We traveled 10 miles in the forenoon and passed Buck Station where there is a small store. In the afternoon we traveled 10 miles and encamped on the river about dusk. Here fedd was scant and we used buffalo chips for fuel . We passed several small trains during the day. The evening was cloudy and heavy winds prevailed.
Monday, Sept. 12. We traveled 9 miles in the forenoon and nooned 1 mile east of Junesborrow. In the afternoon we traveled to Junesborrow and crossed the Platte river about a quarter of a mile below that place. In crossing the river, one of the wagons was upset, containing several persons, but none were seriously hurt. All the wagons had crossed over by dark and were encamped on the opposite bank of the river. Part of Capt. Snow's bank also crossed the river.
Tuesday, Sept. 13. It was nearly noon before our camp moved today, some of the cattle having strayed off from the herd. We traveled a few miles up Pole Creek and camped where feed was more plentiful. In traveling today we had to face a very heavy wind. The atmosphere was damp and chilly. Several of the brethren caught nice bunches of fish in Pole Creek. We shall travel to the head of this creek about 180 miles, distant then pass over the Black Hills about 100 miles south of Ft. Laramie, cross the North Fork of Platte river and strike the head of Bitter Creek which course we shall follow a few days. This is a new route, and , we travel over the same agreeable to council, as feed and water is more plentiful than on the old route via Ft. Laramie.
On account of my wife Mary taking very sick with a fever similar to typhoid I was unable to keep a daily account of passing events. Mary continued sick nearly three weeks and for some time she was so low that I had but little hope of her recovery. Dr. Mc Quin attended her. Every evening after camping and pitching our tent I had to carry her from the wagon to the tent and in the morning carry her back into the wagon, besides attending to the cooking and other camp duties. Game is very plentiful on this route. The brethren, chiefly the teamsters from the valley, are killing antelope nearly every day. On the 6th of October Bro. John L. Smith and myself took our rifles (I had Bro. [Jacob] Burgener's Swiss rifle) and went ahead of the train on a hunt after antelope. After getting 3 or 4 miles ahead of the train, we left the road and struck off to the right about 1½ miles where we met with some antelope. Bro. Smith shot at them twice with his Endfield rifle, but missed. I also had one shot but missed. About 2 o'clock p.m. I stopped to decoy antelope with a red handkerchief. This s[t]ruck the animal with admiration and it came within 50 yards of where I had taken a position where I leveled my rifle and shot it through. While I was engaged in shooting the antelope Bro. Smith got separated from me by taking a course with the intention of overtaking the train. I started in pursuit of him, and overtook him on his way toward the train which was then a long distance ahead. We returned to the antelope which was a very big one and after we had skinned and cleaned it we halfed it and each took part and started toward camp. We soon discovered, however, that we had undertaken too large a task in attempting to carry all of our meat. We threw down our loads and left the four quarters of our animal behind. We arrived at camp about half a mile after dark, after having traveled 12 or 14 miles on foot carrying some 18 to 20 pounds of venison each besides our rifles, ammunition and a navy sized revolver. We were not a little tired when we arrived in camp. While traveling on Bitter Creek we had a very disagreeable tasting water; generally it tasted worse than brine, being so heavily pregnated with alkali and saleratus.
Sunday, Oct 23. By this time Mary's health had improved greatly, so much so that she could enjoy herself walking ahead of the train in company with the saints when the weather was pleasant. The camp moved about 9 o'clock a.m. Mary got into the wagon to ride while I went ahead of the train with Sister Glogg taking some tea and rice with me to trade for some potatoes and butter at Coalville on the Weber River. We met several persons who came from the Valley to meet their friends. Products are very scarce here on account of late frosts nipping the vegetation, but I succeeded in getting some potatoes and butter. We crossed the Weber River and arrived at Camp about sundown.
Capt. Hyde in the evening read a letter of instructions from the presidency of the Church to the camp.
Monday, Oct 24. We experienced a stormy morning in camp; one or two sisters were buried on this camp ground. We resumed our journey about 9 a.m. My brother Lewis met me at first I did not recognize him. He made me acquainted with my brother-in-law Ira Jacob (husband of my sister Julia who died in confinement March 28, 1864). We walked together to Bro. Geo. Snyder's store where we bad adieu to the saints with whom we had traveled across the plains. My brother Lewis brought a wagon drawn by his steers, picked up our baggage and rode to Bro. Geo. Snyder's where we were hospitably received and made comfortable.
Tuesday, Oct. 25. After breakfast my brother Lewis, Ira Jacob and his sister Mary and myself and wife started on our way home to Mount [Mound] City (Midway) Provo Valley, Wasatch Co., 41 miles southeast of G. S. L. City. We arrived at Mound City about 6 o'clock p.m. after having traveled some 26 miles through canyons and over a summit.


Mormon Pioneer Overland Travel, 1847–1868 Source of Trail Excerpt: "List of Immigrants," Deseret News, 19 Oct. 1864, 18. Read Trail Excerpt: LIST OF IMMIGRANTSIn Capt. Wm. Hyde's Train. Which leftWyoming Aug.—, 1864.Ann and Pricilla Boyd, Henry Code, Daniel Clark and family, Elizabeth Denny, Ulrich Forrer and family, Erusla Korner, Susan Krebser. Jacob Wefenegger and family, Anna Steiner, Pius and Caroline Hirth, Doratha Schmidhause, Johanus Bosshard and family, Margaret Huber and family, Jacob Reiser, Johanes Meier, Heinich Bretscher and family, Barbara Knetcht, August and Louisa Kohler, Carl Schaal, Gottfried Lienhard, Anna Aberlye, Susan and Henrie Rebsamen, Elkee Jasper and family, Johan Zeoeifel, Saml. Wolfli [Wolfley], Habldus [Habidus] and Anna Faunenberger, Leopold and Anna H. Withlen [Wirthlin], Maria Rupp [Knapp or Ruopp], Catherine Sinnu and family, Lisetta Dolder, Rudolph Winklu and family, Eloza Ku[e]hni, Louis Bertrand, P.H. Dronbay and family, Louis Gerard and family, Michel Weyland and family, Ludwig Wolz, Elizabeth Jones and family, Elizabeth West, Ann M. Thom[p]son and family, Elizabeth Ruck, Joseph Howard and family, Wm. Archer and family, Wm, Norgeate, Wm. Moss and family, Ellen Kay, Chas. Cotterell, Robert Gale and family, Betsey Geeves, Mary A. Seaby, Hannah East, James Rapworth [Papworth] and family, George Coleman and family, William and Amelia Hall, Sarah Barber, John Arborne [Arbon] and family, Josiah Perren, Wm. Carpenter, Samuel Ridout and family, Geo. and Mary McKinley. Robert Smith and family, Wm. Bunce and family, Wm. And Isabella McNeal [Mc Neil], James and Maroni Smith, Andrew and Isabella Richardson, Henry and John Hagell, John Lines and family, Mary A. Bass [Voss] Phoebe Cockerhill, Anthony Haynes and family, John E. Ellis and family, Charlotte Hesman, Ann Turner, Emily Powell, Sarah Osborne and family, Elizabeth Jones, Mary Lowe, Caroline and John Kemp, Henry Adamson and family, Mary A. Ellis and family, James and Susan Ellis, William Richan, Alfred Ward and family, William Blake and family, Thomas Sayer and family, Mary and Emily Perkins, Mary A. and John H. George, Hannah Adams, Wm. Davis and family, Emma Hope, Mary A. Rawlings, Thomas Clifton and family, Diana Waller, Wm. D. Hobbs and family, Zillah M. Smith, Richard and Ann Hall, Amelia Brindle, Richard Russell and family, Oscar Workings [Wilkins], Henry Sutton and family, Wm. Lawrence, Thomas Thurgood and family, Henry Goodey and family, Mary A. Clark, Caroline Johnson, Wm. C. Spence, Sarah Burell, George Munford and family, Lucy Munford, Mary Ramsey and family, Wm. Dallemore [Dallimore], Euphenia Simpson, James Watson, John Sears and family, Mary Ann and John Barrett, Henry and Sarah Bridges, Louisa C. Cox, Alice Minchell, Sophia Warren, Mercy Symons, Maria Cook, Elizabeth J. Brown, Edward and Matilda A. Wherrett, Edward Southwick and family, Anna and Ellen Brown, Saml. Eslen [Nelsen], returning Missionary, John and Mary Ann Willis, Elizabeth Chittock, George and Joseph Willis, John and Mary Miller, John T. Gurber [Gerber], returning missionary.


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Mormon Pioneer Overland Travel, 1847–1868 Company: William Hyde Company (1864)
Narrative: William Hyde's Church train with 62 ox-drawn wagons left Wyoming, Nebraska Territory, on August 9. Wyoming was a Missouri river port founded in 1855 and used as the principal outfitting place by Mormon companies from 1864 to 1866. It was located 44 miles south of Omaha and 6 miles north of Nebraska City. Mormons were attracted to the port city of Wyoming because of its expansive staging ground and distance from Nebraska City. It was just far enough away from the rough elements and lures of Nebraska City, yet close enough that they could easily connect with the Nebraska City-Fort Kearny Cutoff. This cutoff was established about 1860 by military freight contractors and Nebraska City businessmen. It was the shortest route from the Missouri River to Fort Kearny and became a secondary route of the Oregon Trail. It ran 169 miles directly west and shortened the distance from the old Ox-Bow Trail by about 50 miles.
Most of the 375 people in Hyde's company were Perpetual Emigrating Fund emigrants. Because of Indian troubles, Church officials instructed the party not to go beyond Salt Creek until Warren S. Snow's company caught up with them; then the two companies were to travel together. On August 30 they reached Fort Kearny, where their numbers were bolstered with others for added protection. The army reserved grazing rights at Fort Kearny, and companies weren't permitted to camp within a mile of the fort. Beyond the fort the train passed abandoned ranches and way stations and sometimes met travelers fleeing eastward. Rumors about Indians made them edgy. At one time, 500 Indians were rumored to be within a mile of the company, but no one reported actually seeing them. Although small groups of Indians did visit the train, they seemed contented with the few gifts doled out by some of the travelers. Traveling on the south side of the South Platte River, they reached Julesburg on September 12. At this place they sent a telegraph to Salt Lake reporting that many of the cattle in Hyde's and Snow's companies had a hoof ailment and requesting that 50 fresh yoke of oxen be sent to help. Within days fresh oxen and teamsters were assembled in the valley and sent east to assist them.

Julesburg was the site of a French trading post and strategically positioned at the junction point of the Upper California Crossing on the South Platte. Here they forded the South Platte and followed a new route up Lodgepole Creek. This route took them about 70 miles south of Fort Laramie through the Black Hills (present-day Laramie Mountains). They decided to take this route because feed and water were reported to be more plentiful than on the usual route via Fort Laramie. The new route took them all the way to present-day Laramie, Wyoming. Here they joined with and followed the Overland Stage Road to where it joined with the Oregon Trail near Ham's Fork. Hunters were sent out after game to augment their short rations. The company reached Ham's Fork on October 16 and arrived on a cold day in Salt Lake on October 26. Some members of the company traveled south from Echo Canyon to Heber Valley and others went down Provo Canyon. An estimated 47 people died in this late-arriving company. This was one of the largest death tolls among Mormon wagon companies.

Grandma ZG Jordan and Grandpa Del Gerber

My grandparents business card




My grandma ZG and Grandpa Del





My grandmother ZG and Grandpa Del




My grandma ZG and Grandpa Del


My grandmother ZG divorced my grandfather because she suspected him of having an affair with one of he students.


Their divorce made the front page of the LA Times. My grandfather had a dancing dummy that he used to demonstrate dance moves. He brought this dummie into the court room and told the judge that his wife had seen him practicing with his dummy not another woman. This had caused the entire courtroom to break out in laughter. This act is what put their divorce on the front page.


My grandfather carried that clipping with him everywhere. Wish I knew where it went. I would have loved to have put it on this page.



I found the article on 12/29/11:








Documentation of my grandfather Hans' last 2 years of Life

This is the last communication my my grandmother Ursula had from
Hans. A soldier's wife who was on the train with Hans as he awaited to
be taken to the labor Gut Winkel. She had given my grandfather a pen
and paper to write this note to my grandmother and then she hand
delivered it to her. The woman had signed her name to the postcard
on the right side of the back of the card. Her name was Ester Binder.
Below is the translation of the postcard: