Rose Waldvogel

 I should title this: Rose and the Magic of Picasa. I've been scanning old photos and then cleaning them up using the editing tools on Picasa. It was free and it's worked out pretty well. I've even been able to touch up photos that have been written on. And the ones with tape all over them? Most of the time I can get it to fade into the background.

But what can I tell you about Rose? Well, Rose was my great-great grandmother. She was born in Toledo, Ohio on January 4, 1874 to Anna and Johann Waldvogel. She was the youngest of a very large group of children. We're thinking 13 (of course not all of them survived childhood). Here's the really cool part. She was the only one of her family born in the U.S. The rest of them were born in Switzerland.

She grew up in Toledo and married Edward Meinhardt on her 20th birthday. (Jan. 4, 1894). I have lots of sources telling where they lived. There was a family farm off of Temperance Rd in Bedford, MI. This picture shows her at the old homestead...

It was in terrible condition before I took the editor to it.  Writing on the women's aprons and across the top, tape, cracks and tears...Now it doesn't look so bad, even if it is a little out of focus.

No one's quite sure who the woman on the far left is. Maybe a relative, maybe just a neighbor. Next to her is Grandma Weltie (I know Rose Weltie was my great-grandpa's cousin, so this is probably her mom. Of course I have no idea what her name is and I haven't looked into it yet) Then in the middle is Magdalena Meinhardt. This is Edward's mother. And hooray! We have a name! (Even if it was written in pen over the top of her apron.) See the tall lady on the far right? Yup, that's my great-great grandma Rose. She was tall, even by today's standards. The little girl with them is Rose's daughter, my great-great aunt Laura.

Rose and Edward had 5 children; Edward, Ernest (my great grandpa), Laura, Aaron, and Alvin. Edward died May 8, 1905. She was now a widow with 5 young children. Edward Jr wasn't quite 10 and Alvin was only six months old. She never remarried (which was common in those days) but they managed. In later census records is shows that she took in boarders.

As she got older, Rose continued living with Alvin, his wife Virginia, and their daughter Arlene. They owned a little store on the corner of Samaria Rd and Lewis Ave. Rose lived in a small house behind the store. My grandma was 13 when Rose passed away in 1946. My grandma remembers her and still talks fondly of the "garage" house and how she always had a jar of cookies, usually oatmeal or sugar.

I can't imagine how things must have changed for her when Edward died. She must have been a strong woman to face raising 5 children on her own in a time when there weren't a lot of jobs available (or acceptable) to women. Rose was 72 when she died. She's buried next to her husband in Hitchcock Cemetery in Temperance, MI