Tika & A Family Puzzle

Have you even seen a family group like this one? Welcome to the Samuel Wells Metsker family of Douglas County, Kansas. I invite you to spot what's really unusual about this family and then to post your comment. Who among you will be the first with the sharpest eyes?

Samuel Wells Metsker was born in 1838 in Blair Co, PA, and died in 1907 in Douglas Co, KS. He was the son of Jacob Metsker and Elizabeth Christian. The couple married about 1861 in Kansas and had eleven children:

1.  Alonzo Byron Metsker, 1862-1921, m. Nellie Capps.
2.  Clara Delvina Metsker, b. 1863, m. Isaac Hershey.
3.  Emma Florence Metsker, 1864-1884.
4.  Granville Harrison Metsker, b. 1866, m. Effie Martin.
5.  Ida Jane Metsker, b. 1867, m. William Warner.
6.  Kellie Leota Metsker, 1869-1940, m. Albert Jefts.
7.  Minnie Nevada Metsker, b. 1871, m. Edwin Jay.
8.  Oma Pierre Metsker, 1873-1873.
9.  Quincy Roy Metsker, b. 1874.
10. Sonora Tolena Metsker, 1876-1946, never married.
11. Urban Victor Metsker, 1877-1864, never married.

(This comes from the Fall 1994 issue of the Fellowship of Brethren Genealogists Newsletter. Submitter was Dolores Baker of Wichita, Kansas.)

Now Tika does not really care about puzzles or brain-stumpers or unusual family groups.  She never has.... even when she was a tiny puppy.  But we do!

Tika & Glass

I photographed these glass windows at the House of Seven Gables in Salem, Massachusetts, last May. Both my daughter and I were fascinated by the irregularities in the glass which, we were told, were original. Did you know that glass is made mostly from sand melted at a high temperature? This famous old house was constructed in 1668 so they knew how to make glass for windows, albeit crudely, even way back then.

In the earliest times and especially on the frontier, our ancestors' homes did not have glass windows. The reasons for this were two: it was heavy and fragile to transport and it was expensive to buy. Some places, some cultures, put a tax on the number of glassed-windows in a house.

Glass windows are a luxury that we today totally take for granted. Not so in days gone by.

"Phooey," says Tika. "I'd rather my glass be sandy places where I can run and go swimming!" 

Tika & Hawaiian Bells & Birth Announcements

Leaving Tika happily with Gramma Kay last February, we enjoyed some time in Kauai. We visited the museum near Waimea Canyon and I was fascinated by display of the Bell Stone. That's me tapping the stone and it really did ring like a bell!

Once home, and reading an old booklet Legends of Wailua, I learned much more about the importance of the Bell Stone to the ancient Hawaiians:  "Whenever the King wanted more men of strength to be added to his family..... he would send word to the common people that any expectant mother who knew (from their Kahuna) that she was going to have a son, would be permitted to walk the King's Path to the Holo-Holo-Lu Heiau and have her baby there. ............. After giving birth to the child, she would be sent back to her home as she was a commoner and could not stay in the Wailua (sacred) area. Her child, however, was left in the care of the priests.

After the birth, the baby's navel cord was cut and wrapped in a tapa cloth and placed in a crack in a big rock, called the Navel Rock, where it would remain for four days. After that time, the Kahunas would look to see if the tapa bundle was still there. If it was not, the Kahunas believed that rats had stolen the navel cord and since rats are thieves, the child too would be a thief and therefore the child would be executed. If however the cord was still in the Navel Rock it was a sign the child would be good.

When the cord was found intact, there was great joy and celebration. The Kahunas would march in a line on the King's Path to the Bell Stone. While marching they would chant prayers of rejoicing. Upon arrival at the Bell Stone they would chant different prayers while tapping the Bell Stone in such a way as to produce a ringing sound. This was the announcement to the people of Kauai that a child had passed the test and a new high chief had been born to a commoner."

Tika says to us, "And how did you announce the birth of your child?? And what if that baby had been a girl? And seems to me the Hawaiian genealogy is just as mixed up and uncertain as any other lineage."

Tika & Tombstones

Is it a good idea or not-so-good idea to craft your own tombstone? Think it depends on how long you want that memorial to last. This marker is for Calvin Chester Potter, 1909-1968, who rests in the Ocean View Cemetery on the west side of Port Angeles, Washington. I spotted this flat marker when walking in this beautiful ocean-side cemetery while visiting family.

The cemetery custodian explained to me that in the 50s to 70s it was common for folks to choose to make their own cement marker and stamps were used to indent the letters. This gravesite is obviously visited by family for somebody painted the letters with blue paint. Otherwise the words would have been pretty much unreadable.

My opinion: I think it's comforting and economical to make your own (or a loved one's) tombstone. But I also think they rarely last as long as commercial ones. This opinion is re-enforced by walking cemeteries and looking at the ones which have weathered unreadable. I recognize that some knowingly chose this option. But I fear that for too many it just happens. 

My point is this: Decide how long you want the marker to be readable and choose accordingly. 

Tika knows that she will rest in the pet resting place on our own property marked with a large black basalt rock. Tiz fitting for her.