ca1830Maryland - Chapelier-Chappelear Ancestral Land - ca1700-

My Chapelier, Chappelear French Huguenot ancestors came from London England ca 1700. ISAAC CHAPELIER, JR., son of Dr. Isaac was born 03/16/1698, London, England (THSL) and died 03/1741, St. Marys Co., MD. He was apprenticed 09/24/1711 to Elias Arnold (Elie Arnaud his uncle or grandfather) as a weaver. UNDERWOOD" near Charlotte Hall, St. Mary's County, Maryland was the ancestral home. In 1774 both Elias and James, his brother. were assessed on the land books of St. Marys Co., MD. Elias had 292 acres in a tract known as "Underwood" or Wood's Pleasure" on the border of Charles & St. Marys Counties. In 1783 Elias executed a bond of £8000 of tobacco in favor of Mary Hilton, both of St. Marys Co. The tax books of Culpeper Co., VA show that in 1788 Elias began paying taxes on 100 acres of land formerly belonging to James Monroe. He paid personal taxes until 1794. Thus it appears our ancestors lived at Underwood from the early 1700's to about 1788 when they moved to Virginia, Culpeper Co which later became Rappahannock Co Perhaps they were tobacco farmers who moved to Virginia. I hope to do some exploring here in early April to see if I can find Underwood!

Inez Chase Glessner & Harry Chappelear Glessner 1952 Findlay OH

This photo was taken by Noah Elwood Weaver in 1952. This is how remember my Glessner grandparents when I visited them as a young boy. Inez Chase was born in 1888, on the Chase family farm in Liberty Twp, Hancock County OH northwest of Findlay. Her brother, Uncle Charlie Chase raised Shetland Ponies in the farm back then. The orignal deed to 153 acres which George David Chase, a native of New York b Saratoga Co 1792, settled in 1832, was signed by President John Quincy Adams. His son Justus, and grandson Justus Zedikiah, farmed the land. "JZ" married Minta Henry in 1880 whose parents James and Fanny were natives of Pennsylvania. Inez , JZ and Minta's third child, married Harry C Glessner of Findlay, OH. March 25, 1908 and they built a home, Craftsman Bungalow in 1911, 1228 S Main Street Findlay where my mom, Margaret Glessner then lived until they built a Tudor Revival home at 204 Glendale Ave S in 1928, just prior to the 1929 stock market crash. Photos of those homes are found in Families and Facades c2006, Paul and Bauman, Findlay Publishing Company. Harry ran the Glessner company after his fathers death in Nov of 1936.

Glessner Company Labels Mid 20th Century

Dr Drakes Croup and Cough Medicine was the original brand started by Len C Glessner. Softskin was a brand that my mom remembered packaging during the great depression with multicolored bags. The patent was later sold to Vicks I understand.
Pain a Lay is still marketed through Roberts Proprietaries in New York, New Jersey, and amazingly our family still receives royality checks some 40 years after Harry C Glessner sold the business. I have wonderful memories of visiting the family business as a teen, and riding the old freight elevator the Granddad Glessners right hand man, Dwight in the building pictured below.

Added April 9th 2011. Searching the internet I found an interesting link to the Findlay Antique Bottle Club Official Website/Blog

http://finbotclub.blogspot.com/2011/03/bottle-embossed-dr.html

Friday, March 18, 2011
Dr. Drake's Remedy and Trademark Law -- Findlay Ohio Items Show'n'Tell
By Marianne Dow

Glessner Medicine Company Findlay Ohio 1889-1962 Royalties ending 2014!

Glessner Medicine Company on E Sandusky in Findlay OH, 1930's 

Visiting the Therabiotics warehouse in Victoria MN during my work with Master Supplements in this century, continues to remind me of the family business, founded by Leonard Cowles Glessner in Findlay Ohio where my Glessner ancestors lived from the 1860's until the 1970's when my grandparents passed over.    born 3/17/1853 in Delaware OH, Len Glessner as he was known in Findlay,  died  11 Dec 1936, when he was hit by a car crossing the street in downtown Findlay.  He was my great grand father and began making Dr Drakes German Croup Remedy out of his Findlay home in 1889 and who founded the Glessner Medicine Company in 1905 as a stock company. In 1912 the word German was removed prior to the WW I as antipathy toward German people and the language in America built.

 He built this brick factory at 230 E Sandusky Ave in Findlay.  My brothers and  I. each,  visited in the 1950's when they were still bottling  product at this location. I have already posted a photo of the labels of products on another blog page.

. Pain a Lay, developed by Harry Chappelear Glessner, son of Len, from a formula used by dentists in St Louis, still has a following and sales, that I and my family receive residual income from even after the company was sold in 1962, when operations creased in Findlay after 73 years of production.

Nov 21 article in the Findlay OH newspaper announcing the closing of the Glessner Company.
I will be contacting Keith Roberts of Roberts Proprietaries in New York City and including a link to this blog that outlines some of the family business history.

For those interested in the history of the Glessner Products and Robert's proprietaries, there is an ending story for the last product, Pain A Lay.  In looking at my income records for last year...I work a 12 step program on money and spending (see DA Debtors Anonymous https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debtors_Anonymous) and have since 2001, when I was living out of my van, and was changing careers while being responsible for taking care of my mom, Peg Glessner Weaver who was 91, and soon to move out of her home and go into assisted living.  It was using the tools of DA and DBA, that I navigated through the issues of end of death to support my mom, who I had supported earlier in creating a living trust to avoid the legal hassles of probate and have clear boundaries around inheritance to avoid hurt and anger....A great program and I strongly support the use of PRG's Pressure Relief Groups  Spending records and spending plans etc .

And recently I  noticed the last Royalty my family received for the product was in March 2014. Always of a curious nature, I sought out Keith Roberts on line and Voila'  "the rest of the story" in an email from Keith Dec 16 2015 12:27 pm

"Dear Tom,

Nice to hear from you. What happened is that the manufacturing and warehousing of Painalay were in Lee’s factory in Los Angeles. The factory and its contents were destroyed in a storm in late 2013. Nothing was salvaged except the machinery, which we did not own. The product was damaged and could not be sold, and Lee was out of business altogether. A company that bought Lee’s assets discussed with me the possibility of selllng the Painalay name, trademark, and formulas to them, at a total price of $10,000, but after thinking about it they withdrew their offer before I could present it to the royalty holders. So, that’s the sad story. Glad your family is thriving. I now spend my time as an arbitrator and writer on economic, legal, and public policy issues. My book “The Origins of Business, Money, and Markets” was published in 2011 by Columbia Business School Press, and I just finished a year as chair of the ABA’s Judicial Division Lawyers Conference. Am now working on antitrust issues.

Keith"

And as another note form the spirit of my Glessner ancestors, Mike Boer from Oregon found the following in a book in Oregon and discovered my blog. This had to be before WW I and after 1905, as that is when the German - was removed from Dr Drake's Croup Remedy because of the war issues with the German's over the pond back them.  I note that Leonard C Glessner was the president (my great grandfather, and his first born son, Lewis William Glessner was the secretary then. From notes from my mom, Margaret Glessner Weaver and other research "Lewis served the secretary of the Glessner Medicine Company at 230 E Sandusky Ave, Findlay. He built a home on a lot on S Main,  a craftsman style at 1212 S Main. My Mom, Peg Weaver, remembered her cousins, Lewis’ sons,  Robert M Glessner b 1907, and John L Glessner b 1910r, moved to California, San Francisco area in 1925,  when Lewis disassociated himself from the family business and went west. In the 1930 US Census he was living at 55 Parnell in San Francisco,  Listed his business, as L.W. Glessner and son, Cosmetic Distributor.  28 years in occupation and 39 years of residence in California-San Francisco."

I notice this mentions a coupon for the Dr Drake's German Croup Remedy, and I have written back to Mike Boer to see if he has that too.  Fun to honor the spirit of my Glessner, Glassmacher, ancestors....

Visit to the Source of Theralac Shipping - Jeff P in Victoria

Wow, the sun is out and the temp made it up over 40 today. A great time to drive my green pony, AKA 1999 Dodge Caravan out to Victoria. Here is Jeff Porubcan, in the warehouse where product is shipped taken today during my first visit to the warehouse. Thanks Jeff for sending some products to my niece Valerie who is pictured here on this blog from this weekend. Glad she is a microbiologist and is interested in learning more. Enjoy the day!

Zabar's West Broadway Epicurean Emporium since 1934

Well, here is a real treat. I trip to Zabar's, a short walk from Val, Chris and Madeleines flat on W 85th and Amsterdam. Val Weaver Grosso, Madeleine Weaver Grosso and Melanie Brick Weaver and this author, Thomas Glessner Weaver after sampling dark chocolote! Phenols for prebiotic nutrition. And the cheeses and other foods to die for. Well, I just noticed and will have to return as I did not want to carry stuff back on the plane to Minnesota. There is a cardinal singing outside my window here in St Louis Park as I write. Wichozani, Mitakuye oyasin..

Artie's Deli Feb 22 Breakfast Pickles. Potato Pancakes, Lox Omelets

What better way to celebrate George Washingtons birthday than a walk to Arties Deli at 83rd and Broadway. Here are Melanie Brick Weaver, my sister in law from Sudbury MA, and Chris Grosso father of Madeleine Weaver Grosso my 2 year old grandneice, and Val Grosso, Val Weaver Grosso being my neice who teaches microbiology at Manhattan College in the Bronx. After two days of talking about our friends of intestinal fortitude at the Integrative Health Gathering at the Hilton in midtown, Lactobaccilli and Bifidobacteria, we started off this uptown feast, with traditional pickled cucs, peppers and tomato's and cole slaw (auf Deutsch kohl is cabbage) then some traditional fare, potato pancakes with apple sauce. My protein desires were fullfilled with a lox omelet. Wow, what a great way to celebrate real food. Then came the visit to Zabar's down the street. Wait for my next posting! Leb wohl! Best of health to you.

Integrative Health Digestive Balance Feb 21-22Master Supplements NYC Booth

Here is Dr Tom with Jeff Thurston sharing their enthusiasm for the Master Supplements and the patented sodium alginate protection for the Theralac and Enzalase products developed through Randy Porubcan founder of the company. It was fun for me to learn more about how effective the Theralac product has been for for some of the returning integrative health practicioners who support the balanced ecology approach to digestive health. I enjoyed a brief visit with Jeff Bland one of the keynote speakers, whom I first heard speak on functional and integrative medicine at the first American Holistic Medicine Conference I attended in 1983 in San Diego while on my Bush Medical Fellowship. Check the company out at www.theralac.com. I am grateful for the connections and the chance to revisit New York City.

Lodgekeepers Wood Cutting for Randy Peck Feb 15

Dave Johnson from Northfield cutting a large stump with Randy Peck looking on on Sunday Feb 15th, rural Rice County. Joe Mayer and Tom Weaver local MKP LKS headmen had a vision to support Randy and his lodge through the give away of the chan oyate, the tree nation. The standing ones have continued to support us in the give away of fire energy for the inipi ceremonies Randy has hosted over the past several years on the Rice-LeSueur County Line. Pidamiya Randy for your continued give away in service. Bob Senden and Kevin Elzia joined us to fill up Randys half ton truck and Dave's three quarter ton truck with wood. Thanks men for your service and Creator for the beautiful day. Mitakuye oyasin!

Chateau in Burgundy Aug 08 Dutch-American Family Vacation in France

Merci Famile in Burgundy Aug 2008 Marjolein and Peter, sister and brother from Holland, Harry MacLachlin my Carleton College friend who is married to Marjolein, with Evert Jan "EJ" from Northern Nederland with Nantes French Musician Helene with one of the Dutch teenagers looking on. Helene was showing us her CD of French folk music. I can play it in the van during our tour in June 09! The landscape and company and food were outstanding. I am looking to have a similar energy at our Carleton 40th reunion June 19, 2009 as I am promoting a Back to the Landscape tour with bread, cheese and wine. Check out http://apps.carleton.edu/alumni/classes/1969/fieldtrip in case you are connected to a '69 Carleton grad who you would like to share company with in the beatiful Minnesota Prairie Lakes Landscape. Bon jounee, Merci!

1830’s Nicollet and Darwin in the New World

1830’s Nicollet and Darwin in the New World. This map of the area of Minnesota where I was born, over the Straight and Cannon Rivers of the mid 20th Century. Joseph Nicollet, a Frenchman carried instruments of science and also accompanied by a botanist, Charles Geyer collected botanical specimens. Darwin sailed on the Beagle in the same era, published in English and became more well known. When I worked with botanist Don Lawrence in the 1970’s at the UofM Botany Dept, I discovered the 1976 work of the Brays Edmund and Martha, Joseph N Nicollet on the Plains and Prairies, as a translation of his journey living as a bridge person before the indigenous people, the Dakota of Minisotah before they were pushed from their land by the European settlers who brought the paradigm of land ownership to this area. Nicollet wrote his travel notes in French,
Titanka Tanninan Lake in Dakota is “Cannon Lake” of today; the landscape has elevation markings including 974 at the site of today’s Waterford, at the north end of the Carleton College Arboretum in today’s Northfield.
,

French Carleton Connection Burgundy 2008

In August of 2008, I was invited by Harry McLachlin, Carleton '69 to join his family at a Chateau for a family vacation near Vezeley and Avallon Burgundy. Harry McLachlin ‘69, with fellow Francophiles, Bob Aby ’67, Tom Weaver ’69, and Anne Jansen Aby ’67 met in the French village of Arcy-sur-Cure, Burgundy; where avid runner, Bob completed a race with mostly French locals. Harry shared with his European and American family the tastes, sights and sounds of rural Burgundy around Vezeley and Avallon. Bob received recognition for the runner having come the furthest distance for the race. Tom then headed south to Languedoc to research his Chapelier/Chappelear family Huguenot roots. (Tom W Photo)

1984 Vermont – French Connections Green Mountains and Middlebury College

Nathalie Branche, from Le Moulin near Poitiers France.who served as an au pair. With Son Nate and his mom, Susan at our home in St Cloud MN in 1984.

Nathalie was student of Jacques Gravier, U of Minnesota friend from 1969-1971 Centennial Hall Days who lived in Poitiers "back in the day". She spent the summer with us, first in Vermont, then driving back to MN with a ferry trip across Lake Michigan, to Minnesota.

In 1984 I was offered the chance, by a Rockefeller no less to be the campus doctor for this small college in the idyllic green hills and mountains of Vermont. The Summer Language School and the Breadloaf writing school are two programs that attracts scholars from all over the world, as least back then, We were provided with a home near the Covered Bridge north of town, near the Morgan Horse Farm Road. I remember training for my first marathon their and riding my bike to the office on campus everyday. Their was a great ice cream shop in the town built over a cascading stream. Also there was an artist named Woody wood produced a lot of cow images on bandanas and the like, that I still have! Ah that sweet derriere, and Dairy Aire.

I was reminded of that summer by a Carleton College classmate and friend, Owen Anderson, PhD creator of Educated Runner at www.educatedrunner.com/ today. He sent me an invite to his Vermont Running Camp today. Thanks Owen. Owen is a writer and speaks a variety of languages. I remember Owen and another friend Harry McLachlin who carried their French language books around while I was studying German during our years together at Carleton in Northfield in the prairie-lakes area.

In 1984 with Natalie Branch from LeMoulin near Poitiers France, we traveled as a family from Vermont up to Montreal and Quebec City to see the response of a French speaker with the Quebecois. I remember being in a MacDonald’s and Nathalies exclaiming “Dis is not French!”

When I Sing, I Pray Twice - Mitakuye Oyasin- Being One with Nature and Creator

Being welcomed around the fire below the Mendota bridge, shaking hands with everyone in the open circle- familiar faces from the 10 years of prayer in the circle of life and new faces. Grateful for Lisa Lisa Graham-Peterson's photos here and the willingness of Jimmy to have photos of the event to share our experience, strength and hope here at the center of the Dakota Universe. Thanks for the support around the tall tree singing with the drum, Ron Stranger Horse, Bob Lobin and Randy Peck. The sun glasses must add to the vocal essence and clarity. Pidamiyayedo. Mitakuye Oyasin.
For a 40 minute video of this check out: http://the-uptake.groups.theuptake.org/en/videogalleryView/id/1864/

Elder Wisdom Feb 7 Peace Through Acceptence Loving All Things

This last Wednesday, I joined some of my fellow S and M, brothers, Sales and Marketing, from our Volkart May Years, who supported each other as a business development team 2-5 years ago. Hal Marten and I went through training in data base update and the various aspects of VMA's tools. We talked of the "old times", when Jan May, the heart of the company in my experience still supported the folks in the call center. Brett Herring, who was not there to share in a sip of barley brew, a St Olaf grad whom I had worked with in the 2000 US Census was still a trainer then and those of us who would be locally outsourced to companies as a "Staff Now" participant. While at VMA I enjoyed working in a variety of companies, from medical device, to powder coating, parts for vendng machines while the home base had regular projects from software sales, Adytum to Cognos and the early mainstay, HP, until they merged with Compac and the calling for lead generation was taken in house. Such a variety, Ed Horner who had sold insurance, Jimmy Yanta, talked about his strong faith in Catholic Christain love. His dad recently passed over and Jimmy is raising 5 children and teaches them to honor the natural world. Joe Tilli, the irasible gesticulaing Italian and Hal and Jimmy were engaged in a "best practices inquiry" and it was fun to see how different each of us is, and how the hybrid vigor of the group was so successful. Rodney Botts, a Texan firmly on the other side of the tracks in Midland from George and Laura Bush, talke of his passion for a job transition group the meets at the Loring Park Dunn Bros Coffee each Monday nite.

My prayer and action for today - acceptence and love:
Elder's Meditation of the Day - February 7

"I can tell you that understanding begins with love and respect. It begins
with respect for the Great Spirit.All things- and I mean ALL things-have
their own will and their own way and their own purpose; this is what is to
be respected."
--Rolling Thunder, CHEROKEE
Everything on earth has a purpose and is designed special. No two things are
created identical. Sometimes in our minds we have a picture of how things
should be, and often what we see is different from what they really are.
When this happens we often want to control how things are, making them act
or behave according to our picture. We need to leave things alone. God is
running all things. How do we do this? In out minds we tell ourselves to
love all things and respect all things just as they are. Accept what we
cannot change.

Great Spirit, teach me the value of respect and help me to accept people,
places and things just as they are.

Pipe Ceremony - Honoring of the Ancestors

Mitkuyapi, Tehanshi Jimmy Anderson, the historian and cultural chair of the Mendota Dakota, B'dote, Mde wakantunwan Dakota Oyate shared the history of the concentration camp here, below the Ft. He is holding his new daughter in a blanket and joined by author and historian Bruce Anderson. I estimate 30- 40 souls joined in the prayer circle to sing and honor the ancestors who suffered here. The channupa, peace prayer pipe that Jimmy carries for the people was filled in a good way to traditional Dakota drumming and singing, and it was passed around the circle for the prayers to be released to the Creator.

An Instrument of Peace - Mendota Community Pipe Ceremony

Mitakuyapi, "My relatives) For the past ten years I have gone to the confluence of the Minnesota and Mississippi Rivers, in the coldest time of winter to sing and pray to honor the ancestors. This B'dote (Mendota in English) is the birth place of the Dakota Oyate (nation) and is the center of their Creation Story, much as Christians look to the Garden of Eden. Bob Brown Visionary of Mendota Dakota Community who passed over several years back, handed me his drum and tobacco years ago with the intention of sharing in a pipe ceremony that honors the mostly woman, children and elders that suffered in the concentration camp here below Ft Snelling in the winter of 1862-63. An estimated 300 died here during that winter. Here several of us gathered near noon Saturday, Jan 30 to build a ceremonial fire to pray for the spirits of the ancestors in a good way. The bridge in the background is the Mendota Bridge that spans the Minnesota River Valley near the Internatonal Airport. The red circle of flags honors the people who were banished to the Crow Creek Reservation on the Missouri River in SD, which was not a place to successfully farm and caused further great hardship.
Several of us created the fire and added prayers with tobacco offerings as the fire burned. It turned out to be a warm winter day with only a mild wind. Following will be other photos of the ceremony and some of the people there.

Pidamiya for your interest and understanding. Mitakuye oyasin.
For more information check out some links

web.mac.com/alliesms/Memory/FortSnelling_.html - 27k
discussions.mnhs.org/collections/2008/01/picturing-fort-snelling/ - 49k
www.dakota-march.50megs.com/onered.html - 22k
news.minnesota.publicradio.org/features/200209/23_steilm_1862-m/crowcreek.shtml - 41k

Glessner-Weaver Union of Families 1935

This the backyard photo at the Glessner home in Findlay, Ohio, likely staged my Noah Elwood Weaver my photographer granddad. Pictured
Noah Elwood Weaver, father of the groom, Margaret “Peg” Glessner, the bride, Paul H “Pete” Weaver, the groom, Leonard Cowles Glessner, Esther Emma Eicher (Aunt of PHW), Inez Chase Glessner & Harry Chappelear Glessner,parents of the bride, Mary Eleanor Glessner (Aunt of MMG) and Edna Helena Eicher Weaver, mother of the groom.
Day of the wedding Sept 1935, Glessner Home, 204 Glendale Ave S, Findlay. Len Glessner, white in front was the patriarch of the Glessner family. He had gone west to own three newspapers, Farmers City IL, Carlinville IL, and Sedalia MO, until the gas and oil boom of 1887 brought him back to work with his father Lewis Glessner in the Hancock Courier business. He later began to produce Dr Drakes Cough Medicine in his home and later founded the Glessner Medicine Company that manufactured a line of patent medicine products at their factory on E Sandusky Ave in downtown Findlay. Inez Chase Glessner bride of son Harry is to his left holding his arm, while the bride and groom are two his right.

Wedding Sept 1935 of Paul H Weaver-Margaret Mary Glessner

Paul H "Pete" Weaver and Margaret "Peg" Weaver were married in Sept 1935 at the downtown Presbyterian Church in Findlay Ohio. Photo by NEW in Glessner backyard. Peg always was grateful it was an open church wedding and they decorated the altar with fall flowers and foliage. They had met in Columbus Ohio, on a blind date for an orchestra concert. They had interests in music and the out of doors. Peg had graduated from Oberlin College in 1932, worked in Delaware at Ohio Wesleyan for room and board as the assistant to the Dean of Women and then moved to Columbus where she worked for the state YMCA office and later got a civil service job at OSU during the Great Depression. Having sung in High School Gilbert and Sullivan, the Oberlin Women's Glee Club, she soloed for the Broad Street Presbyterian Church in Columbus and preformed a solo at the Chicago worlds fair. Pete studied at Antioch for three years, and after he had his appendix removed in the Xenia hospital, he was clear he wanted to be a medical doctor and transferred to Ohio State. There he met Peg, and after marriage they lived on High Street in a upstairs apartment. Graduating with his BS and MD in 1938, he found an internship at Swedish Hospital, Minneapolis MN and they moved to the Loring Park area, Vine Hall on LaSalle Ave for a year, until he found a practice in the town of Faribault MN in 1939.

Jacob Weaver 1762-1835 Pioneer 1805-6 Montgomery CO Ohio

This home is the home where Noah Elwood Weaver was born in 1885. This is a recent, 2005 photo by TGW. The family settled on the 110 acre plot when in the early 19th Century, Jacob with his wife Margaretha Gebhart Weaver (1769-1848) came with their family from Pine Grove Twp, Schuykill Co PA. It is said they likely came in a Conastoga Wagon to carry on farming. Phillip, their 5th child, 1706-1851, married Magdelena Gebhart, and farmed the land. Son, Noah Weaver (1835 1929) who married Harriet Weaver 1856-1952 from Miami Co , had two sons, William who was the last to farm the land and my photographer Grandfather Noah Elwood who were born on the farm just up the hill from Miamisburg to the west. "Weaver Jacob, family to Ohio 1804 on Little Bear Creek (later sect 33 Jefferson Twp..and Sect 3 Miami Twp" The History of Montgomery County, Ohio by W. H. Beers & Company 1882. Jacob served in the War of Independence for the Colony of Pennsylvania and thus was awarded land in Indian Territory for his service. He is the son of Enoch Johann Weber who emigrated from Baden Wuettenburg Germany on the ship Janet in 1751.

Young Paul Henry Weaver reading the funnies.

Noah Elwood Weaver's variety of candid photos in his home and in the environs of the Greater Miami River Valley continues to be an inspiration to me. I was wondering how easy it was for a young tyke to fasten his shoes. Before velcro. Looks like a upright piano out of focus in the background.

Father and Son Reading by window Light

Here is one of the favorite images I have of my dad and granddad. Paul H and N Elwood Weaver. Imagining the patience of a father wanting to share special moments with his son and having the intimacy of this book reading. I flash back to a time, perhaps a similar age when my father held me on his lap while we shared in listening to Peter and the Wolf, as the music if different instruments was heard. I remember trying to share the same kind of energy with my sons, and wonder if they remember it at all.

Paul Henry Claywork at Desk West Carrollton Home

Here is another Elwood Weaver photo that has remarkable detail. Thinking of Dad's later interest in sculpture and oil painting and music, is a testiment to the liberal arts encouragement of the Edna and Elwood home environment in the early 20th Century. This was the time of the Wright Brothers and NCR's Innovations in business in Dayton. Elwood apprenticed at NCR around this time and the excitement of new ideas and technology a century ago likely influenced young Paul Henry in his yearnigs.

Christmases 1919 Paul Henry age 9 - Also 1922 Tree 321 Main Street West Carrollton

For me, the resolution of this photo that allows me to read the titles and see the details is very remarkable. At age 9, my father, Paul Henry Weaver reflects on the books and toys of the day. I am so grateful for the care and detail that Granddad Elwood demonstrated as a father of 34 years of age in 1919.  

Here is the home in 1922, with the tree in a different location.  I am grateful for Terry Neuberg at the West Carrollton OH Historical Society for inquiring about the photos Noah Elwood took with his large negative format camera when my father was a boy.   Not only is there a photo for 1919 indicated and there is one labeled 1922.  I will attempt to list what I see here, as it is an interesting view of life in OHIO nearly a Century Ago! 

GHew

Eicher Farm Brook- ca 1914 Spring Sunday Walk

Paul Henry Weaver, with Edna Eicher (right side ca 1914 with woman friend on left) for a Sunday stroll on the George Eicher farm east of West Carrollton. Now in a more wooded part of Cox Arboretum Metro Park of Dayton Ohio area called the "overlook", this was an easy walk up the George Eicher farm hill on a beautiful Sunday in the Spring a century ago.

Christmas in 1923 - 321 Main Street West Carrollton

One of a series of Christmas Tree photos by Elwood Weaver at their family home. Notice the books, Alexandere Dumas, The Three Musketeers, the copy published in 1923, Rand McNally translated from the French by Philip Schuyler Allen, U of Chicago. I still have the book inscribed "To Paul Henry Christmas 1923 Henry Eicher". An interesting snapshot of the ties and shoes a young businessman would celebrate at Christmas as well.

Indian Lake Weaver-Eicher Family Fishing Excursion - Binkly Cabin "Bink" Boat, Jacob Krietzer, farm laborer.

Page 35 NEW 1909-1916 Black Album. Indian Lake Aug 1915, with Edna Helena Eicher Weaver, Paul Henry Weaver, Henry Eicher, with "Bink" rowboat.   The Eicher Farm and Henry Eicher land were located in Miami Twp and a S & J Binkly were listed as   owners of a 111 acre farm Sect 15 Miami Twp near the F Eicher 102 acre farm. in 1885.  (See map below)

Cropped photo without Jacob, hired farm worker as first posted  "Indian Lake Fishing Excursion with a young Paul Henry – Noah Elwood Weaver, Edna Weaver, Paul Henry Weaver, Henry Eicher, William Weaver, Harriet “Hattie” Weaver . William continued to farm the Weaver 110 acres above Miamisburg and was the last of the family to do so. His mother Hattie (1856-1952) continued to live with him after his father Noah (1835 -1929) died. Henry Eicher lived in his house with a few chickens and a garden along the Alexandersville Pike East of West Carrollton, with his second daughter, Esther. His first daughter Edna and her husband Elwood lived in West Carrollton where he worked in the envelope factory and later as a accountant-comptroller for different businesses in the valley. Charles Eicher, Henry's only son, lived in Miamisburg where he raised his daughter Elizabeth "Betty" and his son William "Billy" Eicher.

 

Page 35 NEW 1909-1916 Black Album, full photo, 1915 with Jacob Kreitzer, farm laborer, NEW, Edna E Weaver, Paul Henry Weaver, Henry Eicher, William Weaver with fish, Hattie Weaver

Miami Township, Montgomery Co. 1885 showing Binkly and Eicher farms. 

Weaver Home West Carrollton Ohio 321 East Main St

Paul Henry Weaver, only child born to Edna Eicher Weaver and Noah Elwood Weaver was born in a rented home on Main Street Dec 24, 1910. Elwood purchased a home at 321 E Main in this line of homes soon there after, and his was the home I visited when I made the trek to Ohio in the 1950's. First at age five in an airplane, flying from Wold Chamberlin Field in Minnesota to Chicago then to Toledo where Harry and Inez Glessner, my mom parents picked us up. Then when I was 12 I remember riding back to Ohio with my Glessner grandparents in their car, and on other trip, I remember taking the train from St Paul down to Chicago and then to Ohio. Each time I would spend part of my time in Findlay, at the Glessner home on Glendale Ave and part time in West Carrollton. Elwood parked a big black Cadillac in this small garage and it was first time I saw automatic windows! He would drive to Ft Ancient and Miamisburg Mound, both exotic ancient American Indian artifacts that fascinated him and his youngest grandson.

Franz Eicher Naturalized Citizen 1840

This is the document I discovered that allowed our ancestor to become a US Citizen in 1840 after being here for seven years.
He married in 1843 and then settled on the lands of Montgomery County, Miami Twp. Bill Eicher did research back to Steinwenden Plalz and Susan and I walked around the small village with the Burgermeister, "Mayor" back in the late 1970's. It was the time of primageniture when only the first born sons, inherited the farms. So off they went, after the area was devestated by the Napoleanic Wars, to the new world and a new beginning in Ohio!

Elwood Weaver's rural photos - Courting Edna Eicher-

Edna Eicher is the tall woman on the right, likely on a Sunday walk on the George Eicher Farm, Miami Twp. This stream is now the glen at Cox Arboretum and mostly reforested. Note split rail fence in background. The stream travels under I 75, and has a culvert big enough to walk through, which I did with the Cox naturalist a few years back when I wrote and article for their newsletter with three of Elwood’s photos. I had a chance to work with the archivist, a naturalist and the director of Cox and I recommend the walk to the forested glen. Many large oaks are still there, remindful of the resilience of the Eicher family, like Franz, who walked across France in 1833 with his family, from Steinwenden, Pfalz (then part of the Bavarian Kings realm), to Le Havre, where they took a 3 mast ship to Baltimore MD. After staying with a relative in Hagerstown for a couple of years, Franz wrote of how he walked the National Pike to the Miami River Valley. He was likely an undocumented worker, as he became a naturalized citizen in 1840 as shown the document added below. He married a Bohlander in the Over the Rhein area of Cincinnati in 1843 and then settled in Montgomery Township.

Elwood Weaver's rural photos - Courting Edna Eicher-

Edna Eicher is the tall woman on the right, likely on a Sunday walk on the George Eicher Farm, Miami Twp. This stream is now the glen at Cox Arboretum and mostly reforested. Note split rail fence in background. The stream travels under I 75, and has a culvert big enough to walk through, which I did with the Cox naturalist a few years back when I wrote and article for their newsletter with three of Elwood’s photos. I had a chance to work with the archivist, a naturalist and the director of Cox and I recommend the walk to the forested glen. Many large oaks are still there, remindful of the resilience of the Eicher family, like Franz, who walked across France in 1833 with his family, from Steinwenden, Pfalz (then part of the Bavarian Kings realm), to Le Havre, where they took a 3 mast ship to Baltimore MD. After staying with a relative in Hagerstown for a couple of years, Franz wrote of how he walked the National Pike to the Miami River Valley. He was likely an undocumented worker, as he became a naturalized citizen in 1840 as shown the document added below. He married a Bohlander in the Over the Rhein area of Cincinnati in 1843 and then settled in Montgomery Township.

 Walk on the creek bed, George Eicher farm ca 1905.

Spring gathering with Flowering Dogwood- L -R,  Noah Elwood Weaver,____, Edna Eicher sitting, Charles Eicher, and ________??  Farm and woodlands around West Carrollton OH, Miami Twp, from Photo of Noah Elwood Weaver

The Rural Farm Life - Edna Eicher's Farm Orchard Roots

Another early photo, taken on the George Eicher Farm, in the lower part with the farmstead and orchard. Infant Paul Henry Weaver, first grandchild of Henry Eicher, and only child of Noah Elwood and Edna. Esther Eicher, Edna's sister who stayed single and took care of her father after her mother died. With Noah Elwood, likely with Edna taking the photo.

Elwood’s Courting of Edna Eicher- Rural School Teacher

Elwood captured the energy of rural Montgomery County, then farmland with small towns, like West Carrollton and Miamisburg on the interurban with his camera. Unlike Esther Eicher, he left very little written and many wonderful photos. I am grateful for this venue to share in some of them. Here is an early school photo, Edna Eicher, tall woman in white with rural school children, Miami Twp, Montgomery CO about 1905. Later his travels to the Black Hills and the hills and mountains and cites of the east were reflected through his lens. His curious and adventuresome spirit and openness to new ideas is something I still admire. And he lived until a ripe young age of 88. His second marriage continues to be an inspiration to someone who at 61 would enjoy finding a partner to share in my later years. Thanks for your give away Elwood. Your story still inspires from the other side! I think of Edna, calling in her students with a hand school bell. Our family kept one and it ring at Pelican Lake to remind us to come back for food during our youth on the sandy shores of Sunset Beach. Another story! The ringing of the bell. Never too old to learn something new.

1971 Hitch Hiking Adventure - Last Visit with Granddad Weaver and Virginia

Here is my last visit with Noah Elwood Weaver at Bethany Lutheran Village, Far Hills Ave, Dayton OH. He and Virginia lived here in assisted living after selling their home in West Carrollton. She passed at age 86 in 1971 soon after my visit and he two years later. , I was on a hitchhiking trip back from Mexico City, New Orleans, through Mississippi and Alabama for 6 weeks, as I took a hiatus from med school studies. (Note the Carleton Green and yellow sweat shirt under my Paul Bunyan shirt, and the stylish pants the never seemed long enough! ) Elwood's story of finding love at 60, after his first wife, my grandmother Edna, whom I never met, died from breast cancer during WW II. For me, his home at 321 E Main Street West Carrollton OH was the place of fresh cherry pie out of the oven baked my his second wife, Virginia Magee Weaver, whom Elwood married at age 60. She had stayed home to take care of her elders near the town of Wilmington OH, and went back to nursing school, and had met Elwood, so the story goes, through her nursing classmates who took care of Edna Eicher Weaver after she was treated for breast cancer. I never met Edna, and my Dad, would tell stories about her being a country school teacher, and how she was 6 feet tall, and her dad, Henry Eicher was 6’ 5”. It seems that the German height genes are carried through the Eicher-Weavers as well as the Glessners on my mom’s side. I also recall having to visit Aunt Esther, the single aunt, even over 6' tall. (see apple orchard photo to follow) who stayed to take care of her father, Henry Eicher on the old farm and then in a house on Alexanderville Pike east of West C. I have her diary, and she was very dutiful to take care of her father, and it is a diary of depression and sadness. I seem to recall she died alone in a residential home according cousin Bill Eicher, whom I got to know after visiting him in Kettering in 1984 on our way to Vermont and later in Florida when our family did the Disney World, Cape Kennedy, Everglades thing back in the early 90's. The Glessners will be another story!

1973 - My Start in Family Roots Research

With the death of Noah Elwood Weaver, the photographer and last to be born on the Weaver ancestral farm, my interest in family stories and the healing power of knowing thyself through family awareness was kindled big time! Our family went to Dayton Ohio for the funeral of my granddad Weaver. I remember being in a funeral home, and though I hadn't planned on it I decided to sing a song in his honor. No one seemed to mind, and in fact, I started getting to know the  Weaver side of the family then, as it had been mysterious to me, how my folks decided in 1938 to move to Minnesota, 600 miles from Ohio, to start a new life on the prairie amid the Minnesota Lakes. Over the years, with the interviews and stories, I learned more about how our people survived, and some of the "whys" and "hows" of my families peregrinations.


 Edited this Sept 2, 2013..................................

 My dad, Paul H Weaver MD, inherited his fathers photographic albums and put them in storage and never brought them out to the light of day.  I remember a big metal filing box in his garage where they were stored.  When he slowed down and was ill the year before his passing, I managed to get them out, one by one, and have him tell me the names of his relatives, so nicely captured on the images.  I remember the sense of my father, when he saw the photos, of going inside, and being pensive.   And it was difficult for him, as if old memories were triggered and he did not want to share his knowing!  

My suggestion to anyone, who wants to get more grounded in the truth of family history

1) Have your elders label all the photo albums while they still have the memory to do so.  Assertiveness is helpful.  For me, when my sons were born, and we were looking for family names to honor the ancestors, it was really a good time to ask each of our families.  My parents, started the practice of giving kids the middle name from one of the families on the family tree, thus in my case.

2) Get ideas by joining a genealogy society or group and even consider subscribing to Ancestry.com.

3) Find the family photos and start scanning them so you can share on social media 

For me, my parents, started a trend, honoring family names in the naming of their 3 sons:

Me - Named  Thomas "Tom" Glessner Weaver in 1947 , my next oldest brother John "Jack" Eicher Weaver in 1943,  and the oldest James "Jim" Cowles Weaver, in 1940....In each case, a family was remembered.  Glessner is my mom's maiden name and a German name, with the family emigrating to Pennsylvania in the early 1800's.  The Eichers from dads all German side, are from Rheinland Pfalz Germany emigrating in 1833, and the Cowles, from mom's English side, from Glouchestshire (sp?) to Hartford CT in 1635.

Back to Feb 2009 entry.

I remember Elwood, as always kindly, ever open to new technology. He had a large format camera and did wedding photos in his youth. See photos below at the George Eicher family farm, the limestone creek is now the glen preserved as part of the Cox Arboretum. I learned in my later research that he was the last Weaver to have been born on the Weaver family farm above the town of Miamisburg, the farm that had been deeded to Jacob Weaver by Thomas Jefferson, after his service in the Pennsylvania Colonial militia in the War for Independence. The first family tree I got, was written in pencil, from Esther Grossnickel who lived in a little house right off East Main Street, not far from 321 East Main, the house I remember visiting as a kid. Esther’s kindly manner and smile, kindled a hope and interest in learning about my family roots on my fathers side and that their might be an inkling of warmth behind the veneer of German stoicism. Great Aunt Mary Glessner, on my Mom’s side, a single woman, had belonged to the DAR after finding that Josiah Cowles (CT) and Moses Bixby (MA) both were in their respective colonial militias in the War for Independence. My Dad seemed to know nothing and have little interest in the Weaver history. So began my research and ancestral roots slouthing!

Here is a photo Noah Elwood captured of his wife, Edna and my father when he was a boy on the creek now preserved as part of the Cox Arboretum south of Dayton. In 1914 or so, this was part of the George Eicher Farm, where my grandmother was born and Franz Eicher settled back in the day.

Starting the Blogging Journey - Wild Herbal Foods

I was inspired by Linda Youcha, who moved to Mexico a while back and began a Google blog, to begin this blog to share part of my journey. This past week, I decided to learn more about some Wild Plant Food from the Amazon Rain Forest, as envisioned by the folks at Amazon Herb Company. As a little background, I met the Founder and CEO, John Easterling over four years ago in Davenport Iowa, home of the Palmer School of Chiropractic where he and some Midwest Amazon Herb Ambassadors, including Maryann Hesse , Lynn Mayfield and Ron Bond shared their powerful healing stories. It was then I decided to begin eating the 5 core products developed by naturopaths from four different countries to support human body systems. In addition to the (1) Shipbo Treasure Tea (and Una de Gato) I had began eating during the winter cold season, after picking up some of the Treasure Tea from Ted Harrison, a friend and elder from the ManKind Project, I started with the other four core products: (2) Fiberzon "intestinal broom", (3) Illumination "multiple herb nutritional suppliment", (4) Sumacazon "adaptogenic endocrine balancer from two ginseng like plants from South America, suma and maca", and (5) Aquazon "blue green and marine fucus nutrition." I now began a journey of inner health, with plants, that Cleanse, Nurture and Balance Body Systems". So here I am with Randy Peck of Northfield and Carleton College, who was recently honored in the The Carletonian, www.carleton.edu/carletonian Jan 16, FEATURE, Page 8, Making a LIst and Peckin' It Twice, where you can read about his moonlighting as Santa Claus. Together we sampled Treasure Tea and invited folks to the Zamu tasting at the Ramada Mall of America, Weds Nite, Feb 11. Go to my site. www.drtomweaver.amazonherb.net and click on ZAMU TOUR to register for the free tasting. When I have been sampling it, I find it mellows my "pop corn" like emotional field to be just mellow! Be well. More shall be revealed.