A BADER CHRISTMAS

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On Christmas Day, 1947, five of the six Bader siblings reunited with parents, Rev. Carl George Sr. and Edna (Maudie), at their home in Lincoln, Nebraska. (Rev. Bader had been assigned to the Methodist church in Lincoln in 1944.)

By this time, Bobby, Ernie, Barbara, and Carl George Jr. were all married. Only 16-year-old Philip still lived at home. Jeannie flew in from California. 

Barabara was the only one of the Bader 8 who missed this reunion. Her husband, Art Jensen, was still in the Navy and they had started a family. In December, 1947, they might still have been on Midway Island in the Pacific, or they might have relocated to Long Beach, CA.

But the rest of the Baders were on deck on what looks like a bright, sunny Christmas Day in Lincoln! 

Decorating the front porch, above, from the left, are Philip and Jeannie, Carl Jr. (behind Jeannie), Bobby, and Ernie. With—of course—Doc, the dog, smack in the middle!

In this other group shot, we have Philip and Ernie in back, with Jeannie, Maudie, Norma (Bohlken) Bader (she and Bobby married in 1942), Nadine (Goyer) Bader (she and Carl Jr. married in 1946), and Carl Jr.

In 1946 or '47, Ernie married Charlotte (Carlie) Prather. 

She's not in the Christmas pics, but three days later, she and Ernie and some of his gathered sibs took a tour of the University of Nebraska campus in Lincoln. 

This is Carlie and Ernie (and, yes, he was that tall, at 6' 8").

Here are Bobby, Jeannie, Carlie and Ernie at UN. My guess is Carl Jr. who was also on this excursion, took the photo.

And finally, the car they all rode in on! I don't know whose car this was, but it looks like Ernie driving (or possibly Carl). 

That's definitely Jeannie putting on her lipstick in the front seat!

And who's the photographer casting his shadow on the car? My guess is Carl Jr.

NEW BADER PAGES

J. R. Bader in America

After a long, long hiatus, I'm finally back on the Team Bader blog!

Please notice the two new Pages I just added to this site (see tabs, above). "Baders from 1645" is an incredible chronology of Baders from 1645 in Hugsweier, Germany, to the generation that emigrated to America in the late 19th Century.

All of the information comes from our cousin Daniel Bader in Kaiserslautern, Germany. He sent me a long, detailed pdf document months ago, the result of ten years of research he and his wife, Manuela, have done in Germany, which I have (finally!) found the time to copy out and post, so everyone else can read it too.

The other new Page is "Baders in US" which begins with the generation of Baders that founded our branch of the family in America, and lists their families and descendants. I got most of this information from the 10-page Bader Family History that my Mom (Barbara Bader Jensen) wrote out in longhand a few years ago, based on the handwritten family history she inherited from her father (Carl George Sr). Mom also kept excellent records of everyone's birth dates through the early 1990s in her ancient Birthday Book, which I've plundered extensively for this list!

However, this document is woefully incomplete regarding recent and current generations of Baders. I've filled in where I could (with many thanks to our cousins Catherine Doyle Sullivan and Linda Trotter-Heger for sending me updated info on their branches of the clan). But there are still plenty of embarrassing gaps in my limited knowledge, so if anyone has anything to add or correct, please let me know and I'll fix it.

Also, remember, these are just chronologies of names and dates. There are still lots more stories to tell!

MAUDIE

1915

Happy Mother's Day to all!

This seems like a good day to publish some more of the letter/memoir "My Mother," that Barbara wrote somewhere around 1988, but left behind in her things with a note to pass it on to me. It's a loving tribute from a daughter to her mother—our clan matriarch, Edna Alice McAfee Bader (beloved to her children as "Maudie").

"My mother was gently reared in a middle-class family in New England. Born in 1893, she was the 2nd of 4 children born to George McAfee and Frances Cowell, both of Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia and wed in 1887 at Worcester, Mass.

"Mother did all the things young girls of that era engaged in. There were picnics, boating and ice-skating parties, sleigh rides, and church activities. Among Mother's swains was a young man she nearly married who went on to become the Fire Chief of the Worcester Fire Dept.

"My father was an impecunious but extremely well-educated young minister just up from Boston Univ. Divinity School on one of his first charges as assistant pastor to the Methodist Church in Worcester. He came from a well-to-do family in Fremont, Nebraska.

"Mother and Father courted and wed in Worcester, Mass. He was 27 and she 22 at the time of their wedding in July, 1915.

"Their 1st son [Bobby] was born in Worcester and their 2nd son [Ernie] in Boston. When their 2nd son was a few weeks old, they moved to Clay Center, Nebr.—a tiny village and a totally new environment for my mother.

"She pitched in as a loving and loyal pastor's wife, learned to cook, keep house, and attend her husband and young family, and partake in church activities.

Maudie on vacation, ca 1927

"Their 3rd child and first daughter [Barbara] was born while they lived in Clay Center, but delivered in the Methodist Hospital in Omaha, Nebr. My mother was to have a second daughter [Jeannie] and 3rd son [Carl George Jr.] before returning to visit her family in New England. It had been 12 years then since she'd seen her family and her native heath.

"My mother was strong of spirit, but frail physically. Finally, after a serious stomach operation the church parishioners raised funds—and presented my mother with a lovely wristwatch, and an even more lovely round-trip ticket to New England. I was 8 at the time and spent the period of her trip with my paternal grandparents [J. R. and Emma Elsner Bader] in Fremont, Nebr, along with my sister and younger brother. My 2 older brothers went to summer camp.

Clan Bader, 1946

"The hot and dry Nebraska summers, along with the harsh, bitter cold winters must have been totally foreign and forbidding to Mother. Nonetheless, she loved her husband and children and did all she could to make a good life for them all.

"Mother took us on long walks of a Sunday afternoon so Father could nap in peace. We would return to pop corn and make fudge before evening service. On Valentine's Day, Mother made little boats and baskets by folding paper. She filled them with candy hearts, popcorn, and gum drops. On May Day, she made paper baskets, filling them with candy corn, popcorn, and flowers, and hanging them on the front door for us to discover.


"Meanwhile, she sang in the church choir, acted in church plays, taught Sunday School, entertained at endless Ladies Aid socials and church suppers. She even "preached" once or twice, when Father was ill. In those days, the Methodist Church moved their pastors every 3 or 4 years, so she became acquainted with a great part of the state of Nebraska.

"Mother took care of the needs of us all. Not once through ups and downs were we ever deprived of her unswerving love and interest and devotion."

Barbara concludes, "I will never forget my mother or cease to miss her every day. I hope she knows how much she is loved and missed."

I know just how she feels! This post is for Maudie and Barbara, and all the mothers and daughters in our clan.



(Bottom photo, in back: Carl George Jr, Bobby, Philip, baby Mike, Art Jensen, Ernie. Middle: Barbara and Jeannie. Front: Maudie and Carl George Sr. 1946.)

SIBLINGS

Here's a great shot of five Bader siblings: Ernie (with Doc, the dog), Bobby, Carl George Jr., Jeannie, and Philip. The only one missing is Barbara.

I think this was taken in 1941, so that might have been the year she was in nurse's training at Mass General in Boston. If she had already moved out to California with Jeannie at this time, she would have come back with Jeannie for this family reunion.

My guess is the occasion was Bobby getting engaged to Norma Bohlken. Another snapshot in this group is dated Nov. 1941 (everybody is wearing the same clothes), and Bob & Norma married in May, 1942.


Here's another shot from this group. That's Bob and Norma in the middle, flanked by Philip and Jeannie. (I love those stylin' open-toed pumps Jeannie is wearing! Some day soon I'll do a post just on Jeannie's outfits; she was such a fashion plate!)

All these pictures appear to be taken on the grounds of the Methodist Church in Holdredge, NE., where The Rev and Maudie and the youngest Baders lived from 1940-1944.


Here are some undated photos of Philip and his mom (Maudie) from about  that same time. This is also their home adjoining the Methodist Church. (This porch figures in many, many Bader family photos.)

I don't know why they're both grimacing in the right-hand pic (maybe they were squinting into the sun?), but everyone looks more relaxed in the other one!


Um, I'm not exactly sure what's going on in this photo, but that's Philip again, fooling around!

Some wag (probably big brother Ernie) has scribbled this caption on the back:

"Latest thing in potted plants."

Or—

"What did you put in that last one, Mike?"

BADER TEENS

By the time they were teenagers, there was enough cash in the coffers for the six Bader siblings to get their portraits taken.


Some of these are school pics, some not.


Here's Bobby at age 17, ca. 1933, Falls City NE.




This is Ernie.

Grandpa (Carl George Sr.) writes on the back: "Ernie had these taken last fall for his applications." These might be his applications to college, in which case he'd be about 18, and this pic would date to around 1937.



Or it may be his applications for his first teaching job, which would date this post-college, around 1944? But I vote for 1937; he still looks so young!


(I also have a photo of him with the high school basketball team he coached, ca. 1940, so this might have been for his application for that job.)

Here is Barbara in high school, sometime between 1936-1940. I would guess she's about 15 or 16.



Barbara never liked this picture very much, but I think she looks very sweet, with her Peter-Pan collar and little Mona Lisa smile.

This is Jeannie in high school. I love this photo!


The original frame is marked very clearly, in Barbara's handwriting, "Jeanne, 1937, Wayne, Nebr."

So Jeannie would be about 15.



 

Here is Carl George Jr., at about age 18. Barbara writes on the back, "C. Geo, about 1942," when the family was living in Holdredge, NE.



The younger members of the family, anyway: by 1942-3, Jeannie and Barbara were already living in California.

And finally, here's a nice portrait of Philip. In Steve's handwriting on the back (writing for Barbara) it says, "Philip Bader, about 16, c. 1948," which looks about right, age-wise.


Of course, by 1948, all the other siblings were long out of the house, since, Philip was so much younger than the rest. (Carl Jr., closest to him in age, was 8 years older.) I include this portrait here so we can take a look at all the Bader kids at about the same age, in their mid-to-late teens.


I have a lot more pics of Philip as a boy in the early 1940s, which I will post soon!

HIDDEN TREASURES

So there I was, rooting around in my mom's things the other day, looking for something else, and I found these two items. I knew they had to go up on the blog!

This is a formal portrait of J. R. Bader, immigrant from Hugsweier, Germany, proprietor of the Bader Furniture Company, father of Carl George (Sr.) and founder of our family line in America.

There's no photographer's mark or any other identification on the photo, but it says "J. R. Bader" on the back in Barbara's handwriting (the very careful script of her later years, when writing had become a challenge for her). And look at his face: his expression looks so much like our "Grandpa Bader," Carl Sr. (Except for the mustache, of course!)

Again, no date on this photo, but J. R. Bader died in 1929 at age 65, so I'd guess this was taken sometime in the  mid-'teens or early 1920s.

Here is a page from the Marriage Certificate of our McAfee forebears, George McAfee and Francis Elizabeth Cowell. 

As you can see, although they may have met on Prince Edward Island, they were married in Worcester, Mass, where they raised their family—Harold, Edna (future bride of Carl Sr.), Mary Ellen ("Minnie"), and George Wyman.

It's interesting that both sets of great-grandparents married in the same year. J. R. Bader married Emma Elsner  on May 25, 1887, at  Arlington, Nebraska; George McAfee and Francis Cowell married September 24, 1887, at Worcester.

Love must have been in the air in 1887! Fortunately for all of us.

YOUNG BADERS

Here's a photo of Barbara, age 9 (ca. 1930).  Isn't she cute? Pictures of Barbara in her girlhood always remind me of Kiera when she was little—especially this one!


I assume this is a (badly hand-tinted) school picture; it's glued onto colored construction paper in the form of a small card, so this was probably a school project to make cards for the parents.


Inside, Barbara has written, possibly in crayon: "Me in a (...)" I can't make out the last word, but it might be "beret," which seems to make sense.




 Photos of the eldest Bader brothers, Bobby and Ernie, in childhood are just about nonexistent (except for those few I've already posted). But here's a candid pic of Jeannie as a young teen (of course, it's not dated!), probably mid-1930s.

(Btw, this wire-haired terrier appears in family photos throughout the '30s and '40s. I've always heard about "Doc, the dog," but I have no idea if this is the same Doc in all these photos, or if the Baders had more than one dog named Doc.)


 Here's a candid portrait of three generations of Baders. I don't know where of when it was taken, but judging from the age of Philip (far right), I guess maybe 1937 or '38.

That's clan matriarch Emma Elsner Bader (wife of J. R. Bader) in the foreground. Directly behind her is her daughter, Alma (Carl George Sr's younger sister). Behind Alma is Ernie, and to the right, younger brother Carl George Jr., Edna (Maudie), and little Philip. Carl George Sr. is standing at the left.

The two little girls (identified in another photo I have) are Joan Bader (in front of Carl Sr.) and her sister, Gretchen Bader (next to Philip). They are the daughters of Carl Sr's youngest brother, Jean Bader (he was the child sitting on the moon with mama, Emma, in that vacation postcard I posted awhile ago). Jean does not appear in this photo, but I assume that's his wife, Sara Marshall, mother of the girls, standing between Carl Sr. and Alma.

Here's another snapshot of little Philip and his Bader cousins. Gretchen (left) is one year younger than Philip (born 1933); Joan (right) is two years older (born 1930).

Below is one last image. I'm pretty sure that's Philip (with his very distinctive asymmetrical hairline!), but I'm not at all sure those are Gretchen and Joan in the photo with him. (But then again, who else would it be, so close to his age?) Nor do I have a clue where this was taken. Surely not a parish house; it looks like the steps to a library or some other public building.

But I post this because Philip looks so debonair and soulful for his age!

THE BADER 8

Two more sons were born to the Rev. Carl and Edna (Maudie) Bader, bringing the total number of the family unit to eight—the infamous Bader 8!

Carl George Bader Jr. was born Feb 3, 1924 (two years after Jeannie) in David City, NE. I've never found any snapshots of Baby Carl, let alone studio portraits. But when Carl Jr. was born, Maudie's eldest child was not quite eight years old, and her youngest not quite two. No wonder there was no time or energy (or probably money) for formal baby portraits!

Eight years later—almost to the day—Philip Arthur Bader made his appearance, born Feb. 11, 1932, in Falls City, NE. The photos of Baby Philip and Maudie, above, were taken August 11, 1932 ("6 mo. old that day," papa Carl has written on the back, "Wt: 19 lb 9 ounces.")

On the back of this photo (left), Carl writes drily, "A very good, sober one," and adds, "Our house in the background."


 By the time Philip came along, the dust must have settled a bit (his eldest brother, Bobby, was 16 already, his nearest sibling, Carl Jr., was 8), so these two studio portraits were taken.


 They are undated, of course. But the photographer's imprint is "Severson, Scottsbluff, Nebr," and Barbara reports that the family lived in Scottsbluff from 1933-1935, so I guess late '33 or '34.

Here's a rare, candid photo of some of the young Bader kids together. Judging from the apparent age of Baby Philip in the middle (probably not more than two, if that?), I date this photo ca. 1933 or '34. That's Ernie, 14 or 15, on the left, Philip, Jeannie, 12, and Carl Jr., 10. 

The bunnies suggest it was probably Easter. (Although Barbara always said that Ernie was a friend to all stray animals, so for all we know, these were his pets.)

Here's a more wintery shot of big brother Ernie and toddler Philip, probably taken in the same year.




As I said, photos of the Bader kids are rare, but once they get into their teens, there are a lot more to choose from. I'll post some of those next time.

McAFEE UPDATE

This just in: our founding McAfee ancestor was named George (not Harold) McAfee. This is the same person featured back in my very first blog, "Ancestors," and the rest of the info I posted about him is correct—including his marriage to Frances Elizabeth Cowell, and the births of their children. It's just the name I got wrong!

My bad—sorry, Team!

In the family history questionnaire that Barbara filled out a few years ago, she said her grandfather's name was "Harold." But in the letter/memoir, "My Mother," that I found among her things after she died—which was written around 1988—she refers to her grandfather as "George McAfee." I didn't know which name was correct until I was directed to info posted on genealogy.com, back on 2001, by Karen French, which I just discovered. (Thanks again, Daniel!)

Karen is a descendant of Edna McAfee's younger sister, Mary Ellen ("Minnie") McAfee and James Love. She also provides the dates of birth for all four children of George and Frances McAfee (which I have added to my "Ancestors" blog).  She says that George McAfee was born February 14, 1865, and that his parents were  John and Mary McAfee.

She doesn't say where George McAfee was born, but a U. S. Census document on FamilySearch.org, dated 1900, lists the birthplace of both George and Frances McAfee as "Canada Eng." Barbara was pretty convinced they met and married on Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, so it may be that they were both born there as well. I'm not sure now which generation of McAfee ancestors left Scotland for North America. But the plot thickens!

THE DOYLES

Thanks to Daniel Bader, here's a photo of Clara Bader Doyle, founder of  the other branch of California Baders.

Clara Barton Bader, born in Fremont, NE, 1898, was the youngest daughter of Jacob R. and Emma Bader, and Carl George's youngest sister. In 1921, she was studying at the Art Institute of Chicago. This portrait is dated 1923, when she was 25 years old.

In 1925, Clara married Thomas F. Doyle in Omaha, NE. Their first two children, Thomas (Tommy) and Sheila, were both born in Omaha, in 1925 and 1927, respectively. But by 1929, when daughter Sally was born, the family had moved west to Oakland, CA. Two more children., Millicent (born 1931) and Jerome (born 1932) were born in Oakland. Another daughter, Carlotta Ann, died in infancy.

Clara Bader Doyle was an artist, and a member of several Bay Area art and watercolor associations. Here's a link to a watercolor portrait of a friend that she painted in 1940.

This is the only image of her work I've been able to find on the web so far, but I did find this wonderful childhood photo that her granddaughter, Catherine Doyle Sullivan, posted to the Ask/Art website.

Catherine Doyle Sullivan, of Arcata, CA, is the daughter of Tommy Doyle and La Verne Heisen. Catherine is also an artist.

Sheila Doyle married Arthur J. Tormey in Oakland in 1947. Their daughter, Carlotta Ann Tormey, of Placerville, CA, is also a commercial artist. Here's her website

(Big thanks to Carlotta for sending Daniel the photo of Clara, above, which he sent to me.) 

Here are some photos of the Doyles out of Barbara's collection. That's Thomas Doyle in the center, with daughters Sally (left) and Sheila (holding the cat, right). They are flanked by Manley Christensen (extreme left), his wife, Alma Bader Christensen (Carl George's sister, right of Sheila) and Emma Elsner Bader (extreme right), who was Alma's mother, Thomas' mother-in-law, and grandmother to the Doyle children.

And here again is Alma, her nephew, Tommy Doyle, and matriarch Emma Elsner Bader. Judging from the age of the Doyle kids, I date these photos around 1940-1942-ish.


Absent from these photos is Clara Doyle. Maybe she wasn't on this trip back east to visit the relatives, or maybe she was holding the camera? But the fact is, I've never seen any pictures of Clara before now.

Thanks, Daniel!

STILL MORE BADERS

I hope everybody saw the great Comment that Philip posted, sharing info he dug up on the J. R. Bader family in Fremont, Nebraska.

Since then, Philip has made contact with Daniel Bader, formerly of Hugsweier, Germany (he and his family now live in Kaiserslautern, Germany), who  sent some wonderful photos of various Bader relations in America and Germany. Like the postcard above of the Bader Bros. furniture store in Fremont, Nebraska, owned by J. R. Bader and his brother, Fred Bader.

 In the last few hours, Daniel has added an incredible amount of information on the Old World Baders dating back to 1645 (!) in Hugsweier, Germany. This thread is taking on a life of its own, so click here to catch up with it!

 Here's another photo I love. This is a formal portrait of the children of Jacob R. and Emma Bader,

taken in 1901. That’s Carl George (our grandfather) and his brother, Ernest Frederick, in back. In front, there is Eleanor Olga (next eldest) in the middle, Alma Christina on the left, and Clara (the youngest) on the right.  (Youngest brother, Jean Richard, was not born until 1904.)

Daniel Bader promises us "still more Baders (noch mehr Baders),"  and I'll be posting more of the pics and text that he provides as we go along.


In the meantime—way to go, Philip!

And many, many thanks to Daniel! Thanks for joining the conversation.

SISTERS

This has always been one of my all-time favorite pics from the Bader archive. That is, of course, Barbara, with the fashionably bobbed hair, and her baby sister, Jeannie. Could they be any more adorable?

Barbara was born in 1921. Jeanne Frances Bader was born exactly one year and about two weeks later, on March 30, 1922.  This portrait is undated, but Barbara looks no more than about three, and Jeannie barely two, so I date it around 1924.

Married in 1915, Grandma ("Maudie") had five of her six children in eight years, from 1916 to 1924. I can't imagine how she did it! Especially moving around as much as they did as the family of a minister.  (Barbara remembered the family living in 10 different Nebraska towns between 1920 an 1944, as her father, Carl, was reassigned to new parishes.)

Formal portraits of the Bader children are rare. In fact, this is the only one I've ever seen, except for two studio portraits of Philip at about age two, which I'll post soon.  But Philip came along much later (eight years after his next-oldest sibling, Carl Jr.), and maybe the dust had settled a bit by then!

Here's another pic of Barbara that I love. She looks about the same age she was in the portrait (she still has the same haircut), but this is obviously just a candid snapshot in front of one of those ramshackle parish houses the children grew up in.

I found this photo inside an ancient newsprint notepad, tucked in between the last page and the cardboard backing. The notepad is empty except for the first page, where Maudie has pencilled in some notes about her will, and which daughter should get which of her few pieces of jewelry. I suspect these notes were written to herself long, long decades before a will was ever necessary.

Anyway, tucked in the back was this photo of Barbara. It had ripped in half, but was very lovingly taped back together. My guess is that Maudie kept this photo hidden in her things forever, and that it passed down to my mom in Grandpa's things after he passed away. If my mom ever even knew that this childhood photo of herself existed, she never showed it to me.

I love that gleam of adventure in her eye, and the way she's just about to start laughing! I think she looks a lot like Kiera, when she was that age.

Finally, here's another pic of  Jeannie and Barbara as very young girls. No date, of course, or any other identification, but I've found a couple of other snapshots of a large cabin in the woods, labeled, "The Bader cabin on the Platte River near Fremont, Neb." So I assume that's where this was taken, in a rowboat on the Platte!

I suppose some other Bader relation kept this cabin. Carl's four youngest siblings were all born in Fremont. His parents, Emma and J.R. Bader, and at least two of their adult children lived in Fremont for the rest of their lives.

Barbara doesn't look any older than 10, probably younger, so I date this around 1930. Pretty cute, huh?

BABY BADERS

Say "hello" to the next generation of Baders!


Pictures of Carl and Edna Bader's children as babies, or even young children, are very rare. So I was delighted to stumble across this grouping when going through my mom's things. These vintage snapshots are all plastered together onto a single sheet of thick black paper, which was probably a page in a photo album, once. They are undated, of course, and whatever may have been written on the back is mostly lost to the misty depths of time.


I recognized Edna right away in this picture. (Who was, by the way, fondly referred to as "Maudie" by all of her children for the rest of her life.) That "Hello!" is also in Maudie's handwriting. But which of her six children are these?

But I knew immediately as soon as I saw this photo:

This is first-born Robert Elsner Bader, born June 7, 1916, on the right, and second son, Ernest Birney Bader, born August 5, 1919, on the left.

40+ years later, in the early '60s, both Uncle Bobby and Uncle Ernie used to come stay with us in Hermosa Beach for the summer (they were both university professors in the Midwest). And they look exactly like themselves in this photo! I would know them anywhere!

This is the only photo in this group that was loose, and Maudie has written on the back, "My boys!" The only boys she had at this time.

Which mean the baby in these photos must be Barbara!

The time period is perfect. Barbara Anne Bader was born March 13, 1921. If these snapshots were taken in the summer of 1921, when Barbara was an infant, Bobby would be five years old, and Ernie two, which looks about right.

Bobby was born in Worcester, Mass., and Ernie was born in Malden, Mass. Barbara was the first of the Bader children to be born in Nebraska, where the family would live until the Great Migration westward to California began in the '40s and '50s.

In her letter/memoir "My Mother," Barbara writes that she "was born while (the family) lived in Clay Center (NE), but delivered in the Methodist Hospital in Omaha, Nebr." Some intrepid peeling on my part reveals at watermark on the back of one of these photos: "W.S. Reed, Kamera Kraft Shop, Clay Center, NEBR."

Maudie writes on the front of  this photo (above, right) "Doesn't she look like Bobby?" I was impressed with how much Toddler Ernie looks like baby pictures of Jeannie and Philip, that you'll see in the next couple of posts.

 Anyway, here's Maudie and her children, ca: 1921 — Bobby, Baby Barbara, and Ernie. I can't quite peel  enough of the black paper away from this photo to read the entire inscription on the back, but it looks like Maudie has written "She's (meaning, Barbara, I presume) sure the beauty of this group."

WEDDING BELLS

Edna Alice McAfee and Carl George Bader were married July 14, 1915, in Worcester, Mass.


 Carl George was assistant pastor at the Methodist Church in Worcester, so I assume that's where this event was held. It certainly looks like the entire parish turned out for the nuptials. In these snapshots, you can see how many people are crowding along the porch railing to watch.


Here's what Barbara has to say about their courtship and marriage in her 12-page letter/memoir, "My Mother":

"(Edna) was born and raised in Worcester, Mass. and was slated to enter Smith College following her high school graduation. Fate stepped in to prevent (it). One of her father's brothers in Scotland died, leaving a widow and young children. The money set aside for Mother's college education went instead to her widowed Aunt and family.



"My father was an impecunious, but extremely well-educated young minister just up from Boston University Divinity School on one of his first charges, as assistant pastor to a Methodist Church in Worcester.


Mother and Father courted and wed in Worcester, Mass. He was 27 and she 22 at their wedding in July of 1915.


"Mother was gently nurtured by both her parents. Her mother was one of those energetic women who couldn't bear anyone frittering about in her kitchen, so Mother learned nothing of cooking during her girlhood. She wrote, played the piano, did lovely embroidery, and participated in youth works and church activities. As a result, when she married my father, she could scarcely boil eggs."


Although, Barbara later reports that her mother "pitched in as a loving and loyal pastor's wife, learned to cook, keep house, and attend to her husband and young family." A family that was growing rapidly!

In less than ten years, Edna would give birth to five of her six children—but that's the next blog!

I love this image of the wedding party. I wish I knew who these people were! Years ago, Barbara drew this arrow pointing to Jimmy Love, who I think was a cousin of either Edna or Carl.  I'm not sure where the Loves figure in our family tree, although other portraits of Jimmy Love as a child are also in Grandpa (Carl) Bader's things.

ANCESTORS II

Meet Jacob R. Bader and Emma Emily Elsner Bader (with, I believe, their youngest son, Jean). They are the parents of Carl George Bader.

I just love this photo! It's a postcard addressed to Miss Alma Bader, and signed "Mama," and since I have some other snapshots of Barbara's Grandmother Bader (Emma  Bader) as a much older woman, I am sure this is her in this photo.

According to Barbara's notes, Emma Emily Elsner was the eldest of seven children born to Mary Elizabeth Unland and Ernest Elsner. They were married September 18, 1866, in Beardstown IL. Emma was born August 4, 1867, in Beardstown IL.

Jacob R. Bader was born July 24, 1864, in Hugsweier, Germany. He had three brothers and one sister (none of them named in my mom's notes). I seem to recall that family mythology said that J. R. Bader and/or his brothers made and lost several fortunes, but, sadly, lost more than they made.

Jacob and Emma married on May 25, 1887, in Arlington, Nebraska. Their six children were:

Carl George Bader (patriarch of our clan), born May 23, 1888, Nebraska City, NE.
Ernest Fredrick Bader, born Sept. 20, 1889, Nebraska City, NE.
Eleanor Olga Bader, born Nov 3, 1891, Fremont, NE.
Alma Christina Bader, born July 29, 1894, Fremont, NE.
Clara Barton Bader, born June 2, 1898, Fremont, NE.
Jean Richard Bader, born Dec 31, 1904, Fremont, NE.

On the back of the postcard, Emma writes, "Dear Alma,  If I were not so sleepy, I would write you what we have to eat here. This air seems to make Jean and I sleepy. Mama."

On the front, as you can see, she writes, "How do you like these, Papa thinks they are good." So I assume that's Papa—J. R. Bader—and youngest son, Jean, in the photo with her. Jean was born in 1904, and looks no more than about 10 years old (probably younger), so I date this photo around 1914, when Emma's dress and hat would be right in style.

"L.N. Pritchard, photographer, 437 Umatilla St, Grand Rapids, MICH" is printed on the back of the postcard, but I don't know if that means that's where this photo was taken. The setting looks like a photo booth at a fair or exposition, but I have no idea where or for what occasion.

Here's the youngest photo I've ever seen of Carl George Bader. On the back, it's dated 1908, in Steve's handwriting, so I suppose he was going through these photos once with Barbara, who suggested the date. That would put Carl around age 20, which seems about right. I think he looks a lot like Jim Bader (Carl Jr's son) in this photo.

And one more little piece of ephemera, found among Grandpa Bader (Carl)'s things. This is an old-fashioned calling card, saying that someone would be "At Home" to visitors at a certain time. Unfortunately, there is no name or date (year) to identify it; it might not have anything to do with our family at all. However, I found out that Frieburg im Breisgau is about 20-30 miles south of Hugsweier in Germany, near the French border, in the Black Forest. So if anyone ever wanted to do a really detailed Bader family origins search, this might be a good place to start.