Week 5: Favorite Food

Week #5 – Favorite Food Week 5: Favorite Food. What was your favorite food from childhood? If it was homemade, who made it? What was in this dish, and why was it your favorite? What is your favorite dish now?

In case someone not related to us is reading this, I'll let you know that this is Jeanne writing this post. Neither of my sisters would ever claim this as their favorite! I'm a food lover so picking just one food or meal as a favorite is not easy. However, the one that stands out to me is a dish called Martha's Company Casserole. It's a recipe that someone gave to my Mom when I was young and she started making it occasionally. I think I am the only one in my family who actually LOVED it and requested it all the time! It's a casserole with ground beef, egg noodles, sour cream, cottage cheese, cream cheese, and tomato sauce. There are no secret, or really very special, ingredients, but for some reason it is just so delicious. I think it may be the combo of cream cheese, cottage cheese, and sour cream which I believe are the same three ingredients that make it one of Heather and Susan's least favorite! You can find the recipe here (not sure if this is the exact recipe that my mom has but if not it's very similar).
Anyone else have a childhood favorite that they want to share?

Surname Saturday - France

Our paternal grandmother's maiden name was France. Here is the history of the France name in our family.

Jeanne, Susan and Heather Grubb (that's us)

David Austin Grubb III (our dad)

Phyllis Gray France - Born July 14, 1911 in Ravenna, Ohio. Died August 2, 1965 in Cleveland, Ohio.

Carl Haymaker France - Born June 8, 1887 in Kent, Ohio. Died December 18, 1952 in Kent, Ohio.



Elmer Ellsworth France - Born April 22, 1863 in Kent, Ohio. Died December 10, 1935 in Cleveland, Ohio.



James France - Born June 20, 1820 in England. Died January 8, 1894.



John France - Birth/Death unknown

All photos were taken at Standing Rock Cemetery in Kent, Ohio.

Who Do You Think You Are: Season 2

Next Friday, February 4, is the season 2 premiere of Who Do You Think You Are on NBC. This season will feature another set of celebrities exploring their family history, including Tim McGraw, Vanessa Williams, Rosie O'Donnell, Ashley Judd, and several others. It's a fascinating show even if you are not a geneaology geek so check it out and let us know what you think.

Family Names

Many families like to reuse names from generation to generation. My brother is an example of the reuse of both first and middle names (David Austin Grubb IV). But I love how my husband's family has done this by using a first name as the next generation's middle name. The below example spans five generations.


Sadie (Bagley) Watts - my husband's great-grandmother


Anneliese Sadie (Watts) Harrison - Sadie's granddaughter


Moriah Anneliese Watts - Anneliese's niece


Amani Moriah Dukes - Moriah's niece

Wordless Wednesday - Happy 84th Birthday Bop!

Tombstone Tuesday - John and Hannah Ferris

The first cemetery we visited during our weekend in Kent, Ohio this fall was Newbury Center Cemetery. It's a small cemetery about a half hour north of Kent. Buried there are our 5th great-grandparents - John Ferris and Hannah (Black) Ferris.



Our family line leading back to John and Hannah:

Jeanne, Susan and Heather Grubb (that's us!)

David Austin Grubb III (our dad)

Phyllis Gray France - Born July 14, 1911 in Ravenna, Ohio. Died August 2, 1965 in Cleveland, Ohio.

Carl Haymaker France - Born June 8, 1887 in Kent, Ohio. Died December 18, 1952 in Kent, Ohio.

Cora May Haymaker - Born October 15, 1864 in Earlville, Ohio. Died May 12, 1931 in Cleveland, Ohio.

Mary Selina Burlingame - Born June 26, 1842 in Newberry, Ohio. Died November 19, 1926.

Mary Ferris - Born February 28, 1817. Died August 31, 1842.

John Ferris - Born May 19, 1782. Died January 18, 1870.
Hannah Black - Born April 15, 1787. Died February 24, 1875.

Week 4: Home

Week #4 – Home. Describe the house in which you grew up. Was it big or small? What made it unique? Is it still there today?

In the early summer of 1979 we moved into the house that we grew up in. At the time Jeanne was 5, Susan 3(almost 4), David 1 (almost 2), and Heather was still hanging out in utero(due in July).
It was a good sized house, and to us it seemed HUGE, with 4 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, and a full basement. It was a cream colored colonial style home with dark brown shutters and doors. From the outside, it was a very tame looking.
However, being a new build, our parents got to pick everything out, from the carpet colors to the bathroom and kitchen fixtures. My parents, for some reason, let "the girls" pick out their own bedroom carpet color and we apparently chose GOLD! Don't worry, the other bedrooms were light green, blue, and yellow! The upstairs hall bath had a blue sink, a blue and white marbled countertop, and blue toilet. Is anyone cringing yet?
Other than the fabulous decor, it had one fun feature that none of our other friends had (unless they had a two story home in the same neighborhood by the same builder) - a laundry chute! What a fabulous invention! Besides being a great way to get your laundry from the upstairs bedrooms to the basement laundry, it had about a dozen other great uses discovered over the years --Forgot to take something vital to the basement with you? No problem, just yell up the chute to someone willing to listen and have them drop the needed item down the chute to you! We threw many things up and down that chute over the years. We used the doors on each floor as mailboxes and sent "mail" up and down it on strings. Many conversations with our mom were had through the chute as she was often found at the bottom (in the basement doing the mounds of laundry we created daily).
Writing this makes me miss that house. Luckily I still live a few minutes away and when I feel nostalgic I'll drive by to check on it. I was shocked this past fall to see that the newest owners had the whole exterior redone and now it's BLUE! Maybe they wanted it to match the upstairs bath?

Where Dad Grew Up

Our Dad gave us a tour of his hometown this fall - Kent, Ohio. We used to visit Kent often when we were young, but the visits stopped as we got older. This was my first visit back in more than 20 years. Below is a picture of all of us in front of the house where my dad grew up.



We also saw the apartment building where he lived until he was four. Here he is posing in front...



And we even got to see the house where his grandmother lived. All in the same neighborhood (we walked from place to place).



There was one place that we all really wanted to see - but unfortunately it was no longer standing. When we were kids my dad used to tell us the story of the day that the four students were killed at Kent State. He was in a local bar and they were locked in for awhile given all that was going on. Unfortunately that bar is no longer there - so we had to settle for a visit to the Kent State book store instead.

Surname Saturday - Watts

My mother-in-law's maiden name is Watts. The history of her Watts family as we know it is:

Anneliese Sadie Watts - my mother-in-law

Lawrence Watts - Born April 26, 1923 in Petersburg, VA. Died July 1, 1980 in Browns Mills, NJ.

Ernest Watts - Born December 5, 1904 in Petersburg, VA. Died July 8, 1970 in Petersburg, VA.

Mary Watts - Born approx. 1885 possibly in Petersburg, VA. Died April 1923.

Mollie Watts - Born approx. 1855. Died July 19, 1923.


The information on Mary and Mollie Watts comes mainly from census records and an old family bible. Ernest Watts and his wife Sadie were divorced when Lawrence was young and so the history of the Watts family name was lost without his presence. On our next trip to Petersburg, we hope to find out more information about Ernest - since he lived there until his death in 1970.

Follow Friday: Frecklephoto

A few years ago, Heather came across a (sort of local) photographer's website and recommended contacting her to photograph Natalie. Luckily I listened and the result - a relaxed one hour session at a beautiful local park with an amazingly talented photographer and so many beautiful photos that I wanted to purchase all of them!
The photographer is Melissa Speelman and you can view her blog here! She's an art teacher who is obviously a very talented photographer. We love reading her blog and seeing the everyday family moments that she captures in her pictures.
Warning - once you start visiting her blog, you'll become addicted to it like we are!

Treasure Chest Thursday

When we opened up my great-grandfather's trunk - one of the things we found was my grandmother's safety patrol badge (pictured above). I can totally picture my grandmother helping kids cross the street (or any other duties that having that badge entailed)! I know my grandmother reads our blog - so maybe she'll comment here and tell us what she had to do to earn that badge?!

Wordless Wednesday - 5 Generations

Tombstone Tuesday - Pioneer Cemetery

We took a trip to my Dad's hometown of Kent, Ohio this fall. While we were there we visited four cemeteries (I was hoping for five, but the fifth was just a bit too far away). One of the cemeteries we visited was Pioneer Cemetery where some of our Haymaker relatives are buried. More to come on that in a later post. For now - here we are in front of the stone erected by the historical society in 1994 to celebrate the families that were the early settlers of Kent (including ours!)

Week 3: Cars

Week #3 – Cars Week. What was your first car? Describe the make, model and color, but also any memories you have of the vehicle. You can also expand on this topic and describe the car(s) your parents drove and any childhood memories attached to it.

Jeanne: My first car was a cream colored 1984 Chevy Celebrity. I got the car shortly before starting college in 1992. The car lasted only until the summer of 1993 when, on my way to work one day, the engine burst into flames. Needless to say, it was not worth what it would cost to fix it. As a replacement my grandfather found a good deal on a blue 1986 Pontiac Sunbird. I wasn't a name my car type of girl but my friend Heidi was and she had a "twin" blue car so she dubbed them Trudy and Judy.

Susan: My first car was a 1979 CJ7 Jeep. It was horrible brown/yellow/orange mix and said "Renegade" on the hood. My junior year of high school I got a job at Wendy's solely so I could buy a Jeep. This one cost me $2625 and was worth much less. It had so much rust that you could watch the road go by underneath your feet. Three speed, with no power steering or power brakes - so it was a workout just to drive. But I had one great summer driving around in a Jeep with the top down - so much fun! Come winter - not so much fun. And when the muffler fell apart - I gave up. Sold it for about $900 just a year after I bought it.



Heather: My first car was a hand-me-down car from Susan (cause the youngest of 4 kids rarely gets anything that didn't first belong to someone else first) and was a red 1987 Nissan Sentra. It had tinted windows, a sunroof, spoiler, and red plastic hubcaps...yep, it was a pimped out Sentra! It was a 5 speed, and around 1998 it stopped staying in 5th gear. It would just pop into neutral if you tried to put it in 5th. It was a good car while it lasted. I'm pretty sure I still owe our grandparents money for that car.



Clearly, we didn't come from a "buy the 16 year old a new car" type of family but we loved our first cars and all the quirks that made them unique--although could have done without the car on fire on the side of the highway in the days before cell phones incident.

What was your first car and what fond (or not so fond) memories do you have of it?

Historic Petersburg, VA

This fall we took a day trip to Petersburg, VA. My husband's family migrated from Petersburg to Brooklyn sometime between 1920 and 1930. Since we visited the grave of his great-great-grandmother (Lucy Bagley) in Brooklyn last spring, we decided to visit the address where she lived in 1920 before she left Petersburg.


We found Plum Street in the historic downtown of Petersburg. Both Lucy and her daughter Sadie were living on this street in 1920 (based on the 1920 census).


Unfortunately the house where they lived is no longer standing (above shows the empty lot.)

There was a house still standing (just barely) next door that I imagine looks a lot like the one where they once lived.



On the corner was a small church...



And nearby was the oldest black community in the United States (Pocahontas).



Petersburg was also the site of a lengthy siege during the Civil War. The battlefield was closing by the time we arrived, so we're planning a return trip soon to see all that we missed.

Surname Saturday - Manovich

Our mother's maiden name is Manovich - but we know that this was not her father's given name at birth. His parents changed their last name some time after moving to the United States from Croatia - so my grandfather has a birth certificate with Manovich on it - but he also has one with the name Umiljenovic on it. This post will cover the history of what we know about the Manovich/Umiljenovic name.

Diane Lee Manovich - our mother

John Joseph Manovich - our grandfather

Jakov Umiljenovic - born July 24, 1892 in Lika, Croatia. Died May 1978 in Whiting, Indiana.

Jakov Umiljenovic - father to the above Jakov - unknown birth/death

Below is the baptism certificate of our great-grandfather - born Jakov Umiljenovic (became Jack Manovich). This is the only proof we have of his parent's names. We're hoping that a summer trip to Croatia will help us find out more about our Umiljenovic history and family.

Follow Friday - Caleigh's Corner

We all have people in our lives that inspire us and these days - with technology - these can often be people that we've never actually met. One of those people is Holly Gray - mother to Caleigh - and a spectacular artist. Check out her blog Caleigh's Corner and support her fundraising efforts for Caleigh by visiting (and buying!) from her Etsy store made of Gray.

Treasure Chest Thursday - German Ancestry

While we were home for Christmas I was showing my husband's teenage cousin how to use Ancestry.com to find out information about her family history. She mentioned to me that her aunt had a folder of "paperwork" that contained important family names and dates. I was surprised to hear this because I had never seen this folder - and I thought I had shamed everyone in the family into showing me ALL important family documents. Turns out my mother-in-law thought she had shared this folder with me a long time ago. So I got a fun after-Christmas present - lots of family documents - including many baptism records from mid-19th century Germany. The below record is for Franz Radimersky - my husband's great-great-grandfather.

Wordless Wednesday - Our Grandfather - John Joseph Manovich

Tombstone Tuesday: Olive Almirah (Gray) France

Olive Almirah (Gray) France was our great-grandmother. She died before we were all born - but we've heard a lot of stories about her. In fact - our aunt has always said that Heather is Olive reincarnated.


Heather and Olive


Olive Almirah (Gray) France

Winter Memories

Week 2 – Winter Memories Week 2: Winter. What was winter like where and when you grew up? Describe not only the climate, but how the season influenced your activities, food choices, etc.

We grew up in Ohio so winter was, well, cold and often snowy. However, it's all relative. Those who grew up further North, even further north in Ohio, may be unimpressed with southwestern Ohio's degree of snow and cold. Regardless, we, like most Ohioans, are anxiously awaiting spring weather by at least February each year!

That's not so say that great winter memories didn't occur because they certainly did. When we were young, the anticipation of a possible day off school for a "snow day" was part of the winter season. There was one winter when we were all still in elementary school when we had several snow days in a row and Valentine's day fell in the middle of this. Since we were missing the fun Valentine's day parties at school my mom let us have our own at home. We made cookies and had a few friends and our cousins over to play. The exact details are pretty blurry to us now but it seems that watching MTV and building forts out of the couch cushions was part of the fun.

Another definite fun winter memory is going sledding! My grandfather would take us to a huge steep hill (no longer there, boo!) on the University of Dayton campus. We bundled up and brought our sleds and had a blast going down that hill! Thanks to the college kids who left stuff behind, we also discovered the exhilaration of flying down that hill on a cafeteria tray. Wow, those go fast!

Today in Ohio it's 26 degrees and there is snow on the ground but it's nice and cozy inside the house. Curling up on the couch with a book and hot chocolate sounds like a good idea.

Tell us about your favorite winter memories.

New Artwork!

Check out all the new artwork we've just added to our website. Let us know what you think.

Surname Saturday - Grubb

We've never done a Surname Saturday post before - so we thought we'd start with the obvious name - the one we were all born with! The history of the Grubb name in our family as we know it is:

1. Jeanne, Susan, Heather Grubb (that's us!)

2. David Austin Grubb, III (our father)

3. David Austin Grubb, II - Born April 3, 1910 in Wadsworth, Ohio. Died November 2, 1979 in Hendersonville, North Carolina.

4. David Austin Grubb - Born December 25, 1867 in Medina, Ohio. Died October 5, 1927 in Akron, Ohio.

5. Henry A. Grubb - Born October, 1835 in Manchester, Ohio. Died November 2, 1906 in Sharon Twp, Ohio.

6. John Grubb - Born most likely Pennsylvania. Died 1838 in Ohio.

Our current knowledge of our Grubb family line ends with John Grubb. We know that he married Margaret Keiser in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania. They moved to Ohio in the early 1800's and had at least 8 children before John died.

My father took a DNA test to try to determine if he came from the same Grubb line as many others here in the United States. His DNA did not match that of a main group of Grubb's that settled first in Brandywine Hundred, Delaware.

The next step in our Grubb research is to go to Cumberland County and retrieve a copy of the marriage license of John Grubb and Margaret Keiser. Hopefully that document will provide some information about John and Margaret's parents - and we may find the next generation of our Grubb family line.

Follow Friday - Lisa Leonard Designs

About a year ago we discovered the amazing website/blog of Lisa Leonard, a creative and inspirational mother who has her own online jewelery business.
For our birthdays in 2010 we purchased each other Lisa's Open Circle necklace. We chose to have each necklace inscribed with a different word (love, family, and sisters) in 4 different languages which are significant in our family history. The languages we used were English, Dutch, French, and Croatian. Lisa's store has many pieces that you can customize with your own family information. Go check her out and we know you'll love it!

Treasure Chest Thursday - DoDo's Trunk

Our great-grandfather came over from Croatia in the early 1900's. He always claimed that he swam over to the United States, but if he did, the trunk above came separately.

We recently asked my grandmother if we could see any old papers she might have. Her response was "Papers? I don't have any old papers." She then remembered DoDo's old trunk. We pulled it out of the garage and opened it up.



Every drawer was filled with old papers. There were letters (in both English and Croatian) dating back to the 1930's. Lots of exciting pieces of family history to look through and learn from. The youngest generation had to get in on the fun too.

Wordless Wednesday - Whiting, IN ~1937

Tombstone Tuesday: Henry A. Grubb

Henry A. Grubb is our great-great-grandfather. He's buried in Coddingville Cemetery, Medina County, Ohio with his wife - Harriet Randall. We visited his grave this fall with our father and brother (pictured below). The cemetery is located on a small country road and we almost missed it. It was cold and rainy that day - but we were glad we took the time to find it. Harriet's death date is missing from the stone and we plan to see if we can have that updated.

One of Henry's sons was David Austin Grubb. Pictured below are David Austin Grubb, III and David Austin Grubb, IV. The name David Austin appears to come from Harriet's uncle (David Austin Randall) who married Henry and Harriet in 1864.

New Years Traditions

For 2011, Style My Tree will participate in the weekly series, 52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy & History. It’s a joint effort between GeneaBloggers and Amy Coffin at the We Tree blog. Each week a new topic is introduced as a prompt for blogging about our own past and family history.

Week One: Did your family have any New Year’s traditions? How was the New Year celebrated during your childhood? Have you kept these traditions in the present day?

Being 3 sisters, and close in age, we share many of the same childhood memories surrounding New Year's Eve and Day. Our parents didn't go out much when we were kids but special occasions, such as New Year's Eve, were often one of the rare occasions that they did. For us, as kids, that meant a fun night with our cousins and our only real babysitters, our maternal grandparents. From a young age, we all knew that the life of any party was my grandfather. He was the source of most things fun - loud party favors, balloons, pop and the kinds of treats that we were not normally allowed to have (Hostess pies, candy bars, and ice cream floats). We played games (Charades was a favorite), watched TV, and generally got loud and crazy! My grandmother was there to keep things somewhat under control but when you have seven to eight kids 12 and under hyped up on sugar and able to stay up way past their normal bedtime, that's not an easy (or realistic) task!

Our grandparents, now in their 80s, continue to host New Year's Eve for any family who show up at their house. I believe that the party is considerably tamer these days though. This year our younger set of cousins (ones who missed out on the NYE parties mentioned earlier) spent the evening with my grandparents making homemade pizzas and playing cards.

No matter how the party changes over the years, we always appreciate New Year's Eve with family!