04 March 2013

Family Resemblances



Do you see the resemblance of my four children and my paternal grandfather, James P Summers? 






James  was a handyman worker in Duluth, Minnesota. On weekends he would travel to the small surrounding towns and sing Irish medleys in his beautiful tenor voice in the local pubs to earn extra monies for his family.  On one Saturday he again was traveling by bus to sing in the next town.  Somewhere along the way the bus broke down broke down.   Even though it was a very chilly, rainy day he walked to get help.   When he finally arrived home he was struck with a chill which turned into pneumonia. At the young age of twenty six years, he passed away.  Now his wife, Catherine Nagle Summers (age 25), and four children (Mary Frances almost 7, William James age 5, Agnes Catherine 4, and Anastasia Myrtle not yet one year old, would need to survive without their loving father. 

Family resemblance to our ancestors does not stop with my paternal side.  The following picture is one of my maternal grandfather, Rolf Schmidt (on left).  On the right is my late uncle, Ralph Leroy Schmidt, and in the middle is a picture of my brother, Leroy Richards. 


The Schmidt tree is on my maternal side of my tree. Ralph Leroy Schmidt was my mother's brother. Interesting that the Schmidt Tree is traced back to 1530 in Aurich-Oldendorf, Aurich, Germany, previously part of Ostfriesland. There are relatives to this day living on the family farm. Truly amazing!