by Jim Aufderheide
I am from the fourth generation of the Aufderheide family founded by Fred Aufderheide that has lived their lives in New Ulm. I live in the history of my family, seeing the people who knew my parents and grandparents every day, passing by buildings built with Aufderheide brick as I go about my life. It is hard not to be interested in those that went before!
I was motivated to document family history by my mother’s work. During World War II while my father was in Europe, my mom and paternal grandmother sketched a rudimentary family tree on a piece of freezer paper. I saw that from time to time as I grew up, and, when my mother died in 1991, the freezer paper came into my possession. That darned piece of freezer paper fascinated me, and on my retirement I started haunting the cemetery, the museum and the courthouse to learn more.
Frederick Wilhelm Aufderheide was my great-grandfather. He was a founding partner of New Ulm Brick and Tile Yards, the business that stayed in the family until the early 1980s. Fred’s son, Karl, was my grandfather. He owned and ran the Brickyard until he died in 1956. The concern was then operated by my father, Jack Aufderheide, my uncle Robert (Buddy) Aufderheide, and my uncle Bill Salter (married to my aunt Ruth Aufderheide). I worked at the Brickyard from a very young age, and continued working summers (I was a teacher) until the sale of the business. I basically grew up down there, and grew up on stories of the early days of the Brickyard. Again, history was all around me.
On the death of my folks, I tried to grab all their boxes of papers and notes, and some family pictures, and make sure they did not inadvertently get thrown during the housecleaning (every family historian’s worst nightmare!). Those boxes of scattered papers became a part of my family history collection. Having spent two thirds of my working life in computers (I was a media specialist and then a district technology director for a public school system), I put the freezer paper family tree on computer. As I began to add to the tree, initially I tried to just document names and dates; who was married to whom, when, birth dates, death dates. While that was really intriguing, I became more interested in who my ancestors were. What drove them? What were their interests? What were their stories?
The next step was to purchase a genealogy program for the computer where I could document not only dates and places, but include anecdotes, information about what they did during their lives, how they impacted their world. (Note to all who read this: if you buy a program, be sure it outputs files that can be read by other programs, so you can share information with other family members on a similar quest.) Having all the data on computer has really streamlined my organization. I can quickly search for information, compare people and families, quickly produce charts, basically manage the family history data.
The paper organization is more problematic. Currently I am using file drawers, and organizing in a mixture of family files and/or topic files. For instance, my family has a real history tied to the Brickyard that goes across single family groups. So I have a set of files of Brickyard data, notes, and pictures. Fred started several banks, so I have a set of files on banking concerns. The key for the organization is so I can easily find the materials I need. Eventually, I hope to digitize much of the pictures and files to insure that the information and pictures are not lost in time.
I am digitizing as I have opportunity, for achieving the quality I want takes time. To date I have digitized several hundred family photos, and tried to do it at a quality level such that anyone with the file could go to a photo place and get a quality picture made (I have tested several quality levels by scanning pictures, putting them on CD, and running down to the photo place to get a print to see what works best). I have scanned in a variety of obituaries and stored those for later inclusion. I have digitized newspaper articles and family notes for inclusion.
Of course, I wish I had more...more pictures, more stories, more information. While some families have been more than willing to contribute to a family history, there are, of course, some families who have no interest in family history.
One family I contacted had a family history box that a grandparent had gathered and they were on the verge of discarding it. The family agreed instead to send the box to me. What a treasure trove! The box included old family pictures, letters, notes on family history that the grandparent had made and gathered over the years. I am overjoyed at obtaining these treasures, which really added to that particular branch. During the course of time, for every success there is a disappointment. Having been involved in research of one kind or another most of my life, I realize that the research road is not straight, and it is full of surprises and dead ends. Such is life!
Through this research process I have tried to document my sources always so that anyone who follows could again find the primary sources I used to discover information. In an earlier time I was a debate coach, and ingrained into my students the value of documenting sources. I also taught the value of having two sources for data whenever possible, so I try diligently to do that as I document family history.
Hopefully, when I am done, if I ever get done, I will be able to print a book that includes family information, family trees and descendent charts, and a wealth of information on those that have gone before me. My plan is to include a CD with digitized copies of pictures, notes, my entire family history file in GEDcom format, and copies of articles and obituaries. I have talked with the people at the Brown County Historical Society and they are interested in a copy for preservation; the Aufderheide family was part of the fabric of the early days of New Ulm.
Too lofty? I don’t know. My thought is that if enough of this information can be reproduced, and given to enough people, the possibility of it being lost will be reduced. If enough people have the stories, know about the history of the family, perhaps that will be an immortality for Fred, Karl, Jack and the others.
I am from the fourth generation of the Aufderheide family founded by Fred Aufderheide that has lived their lives in New Ulm. I live in the history of my family, seeing the people who knew my parents and grandparents every day, passing by buildings built with Aufderheide brick as I go about my life. It is hard not to be interested in those that went before!I was motivated to document family history by my mother’s work. During World War II while my father was in Europe, my mom and paternal grandmother sketched a rudimentary family tree on a piece of freezer paper. I saw that from time to time as I grew up, and, when my mother died in 1991, the freezer paper came into my possession. That darned piece of freezer paper fascinated me, and on my retirement I started haunting the cemetery, the museum and the courthouse to learn more.
Frederick Wilhelm Aufderheide was my great-grandfather. He was a founding partner of New Ulm Brick and Tile Yards, the business that stayed in the family until the early 1980s. Fred’s son, Karl, was my grandfather. He owned and ran the Brickyard until he died in 1956. The concern was then operated by my father, Jack Aufderheide, my uncle Robert (Buddy) Aufderheide, and my uncle Bill Salter (married to my aunt Ruth Aufderheide). I worked at the Brickyard from a very young age, and continued working summers (I was a teacher) until the sale of the business. I basically grew up down there, and grew up on stories of the early days of the Brickyard. Again, history was all around me.
On the death of my folks, I tried to grab all their boxes of papers and notes, and some family pictures, and make sure they did not inadvertently get thrown during the housecleaning (every family historian’s worst nightmare!). Those boxes of scattered papers became a part of my family history collection. Having spent two thirds of my working life in computers (I was a media specialist and then a district technology director for a public school system), I put the freezer paper family tree on computer. As I began to add to the tree, initially I tried to just document names and dates; who was married to whom, when, birth dates, death dates. While that was really intriguing, I became more interested in who my ancestors were. What drove them? What were their interests? What were their stories?The next step was to purchase a genealogy program for the computer where I could document not only dates and places, but include anecdotes, information about what they did during their lives, how they impacted their world. (Note to all who read this: if you buy a program, be sure it outputs files that can be read by other programs, so you can share information with other family members on a similar quest.) Having all the data on computer has really streamlined my organization. I can quickly search for information, compare people and families, quickly produce charts, basically manage the family history data.
The paper organization is more problematic. Currently I am using file drawers, and organizing in a mixture of family files and/or topic files. For instance, my family has a real history tied to the Brickyard that goes across single family groups. So I have a set of files of Brickyard data, notes, and pictures. Fred started several banks, so I have a set of files on banking concerns. The key for the organization is so I can easily find the materials I need. Eventually, I hope to digitize much of the pictures and files to insure that the information and pictures are not lost in time.
I am digitizing as I have opportunity, for achieving the quality I want takes time. To date I have digitized several hundred family photos, and tried to do it at a quality level such that anyone with the file could go to a photo place and get a quality picture made (I have tested several quality levels by scanning pictures, putting them on CD, and running down to the photo place to get a print to see what works best). I have scanned in a variety of obituaries and stored those for later inclusion. I have digitized newspaper articles and family notes for inclusion.
Of course, I wish I had more...more pictures, more stories, more information. While some families have been more than willing to contribute to a family history, there are, of course, some families who have no interest in family history.
One family I contacted had a family history box that a grandparent had gathered and they were on the verge of discarding it. The family agreed instead to send the box to me. What a treasure trove! The box included old family pictures, letters, notes on family history that the grandparent had made and gathered over the years. I am overjoyed at obtaining these treasures, which really added to that particular branch. During the course of time, for every success there is a disappointment. Having been involved in research of one kind or another most of my life, I realize that the research road is not straight, and it is full of surprises and dead ends. Such is life!
Through this research process I have tried to document my sources always so that anyone who follows could again find the primary sources I used to discover information. In an earlier time I was a debate coach, and ingrained into my students the value of documenting sources. I also taught the value of having two sources for data whenever possible, so I try diligently to do that as I document family history.
Hopefully, when I am done, if I ever get done, I will be able to print a book that includes family information, family trees and descendent charts, and a wealth of information on those that have gone before me. My plan is to include a CD with digitized copies of pictures, notes, my entire family history file in GEDcom format, and copies of articles and obituaries. I have talked with the people at the Brown County Historical Society and they are interested in a copy for preservation; the Aufderheide family was part of the fabric of the early days of New Ulm.
Too lofty? I don’t know. My thought is that if enough of this information can be reproduced, and given to enough people, the possibility of it being lost will be reduced. If enough people have the stories, know about the history of the family, perhaps that will be an immortality for Fred, Karl, Jack and the others.
2 comments:
Not too lofty. To the extent that your work can be viewed on the internet (here?), not only your extended family will benefit, but perhaps countless others who are somehow related or who simply find inspiration to do similar work.
And however the information is distributed, future generations will thank you again and again for the work that you are doing now.
I relate to your "given to enough people the possibility of it's being lost will be reduced." It'the reason I've copied all this stuff and passed it on.
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