My History, written in November 1998

Here is a sample of all I can muster to write in this post tonight from a short history report of my family, completed for an American Identities class, Black Studies, for my Anthropology Degree, I took as a freshman at YSU.

This paper gave me the opportunity to spend uninterrupted time with my immediate family. By meeting with my parents and grandparents as well as reading previously written snips and pieces of family history, I was able to see for myself their emotions and feelings. I knew that what they discussed and informed me was true. In certain cases, I saw their pain and frustration, but most importantly of all, I saw the joy in their hearts that has come from living their lives entirely for God.

I drove to my grandparents' nearby house and spent an entire morning with them. I could tell by their faces that my being there, quizzing them about their lives and the lives of their parents and grandparents meant a great deal to them. The following several paragraphs contain the information that they gave me.

My grandmother's mother was named after her grandmother, Sidonia Endress, who was born April 12, 1835. Sidonia Endress, as a young woman, met my great-great-great-grandfather, Joseph Zahner, at a place that continues to be unknown. Joseph Zahner was in in 1834 in Saint Gallen, Switzerland. He later became a smallpox expert following intense medicaly studying in Stuttgart, Germany. This next piece of information is almost unbelievable to me. However, I suppose the proof that my great grandma is distantly related to Winston Churchill is even less believable. My grandfather, with all the seriousness he could muster in a joke, said, "NO! Her folks (mening my grandmother's parents) are related to John Wilkes Booth." My grandma, whose maiden name is Helen Spencer, told me that her great-grandma had been a lady-in-waiting to the queen of Bavaria at the time when she met Joseph.

As young men and women do when they are in love and in these predicaments, Joseph and Sidonia eloped. The returned later after the marriage to the bride' parents and asked for their forgiveness. However, they were disowned. Joseph and Sidonia moved to New York and later to Newport, Kentucky. They had three children, my great-great-grandfather, Gustave, included. Joseph enlisted in the army as an intern during the Civil War. The side he took is unknown. He died within a few years due to influenza. The family that he left behind eventually could no longer survive living on the father's war pension. Sidonia went to New York, her three fatherless children in tow, and later back to Bavaria where she again pleaded for her parents' forgiveness. Like before, she was denied and sent away. In total despair, she committed suicide. Her two sons then were sent to an orphanage out of pity and her daughter became employed as a housemaid for a wealthy family. When Gustave, my great-great-grandfather grew older, he was sent to board on a farm near his new job at at bank. At 21, he went to New York around 1884 to look for employment. He began working for a man by the name of Paul Haller at the grocery store he managed. Through a chashier with whom he worked, he met his future wife, Margaaret. They saw each other in church each Sunday, and for their first date, they took a walk in Central Park.

Cahterin Haller's birthplace, Margaret's mother, was Baden-Baden, Germany. Catherin came to New York when she was four and continued to be raised there. She met her husband, George Brandenstein, also from Baden-Baden. It so happened that as he passed her on a sidewalk in New York, he coat button caught on her shawl. This led to another meeing, more talking, and a marriage. Growing up, Margaret lived near a slaughterhouse, had a pig for a pet, and saw a "black wagon" that would take children away who had contracted black diphtheria. The children never would return.

I discovered an interesting story about Gustave's brother, Frederick. As Frederick was coming back home from the Everglades, he got in the wrong part of the train- the "colored people's side"- and was chased out. not too long afterwards, he contracted malaria, became crazy, which led to him being placed into a straitjacket and to his death in 1905.

Gustave and Margaretn, married in 1887 in New York City, had five children, the last of whom is my great-grandmother, Sidonia Margaret, born in 1902 South Brooklyn. Eighteen year old Sidonia, as a cashier for a department store, met a Pennsylvanian soldier by the name of Herbert Sharpless Spencer. They eloped in Atlantic City in 1919, later returning to her parents, where they received forgiveness.

My great-greandfather had shifted from place to place as a child. When he was 16 years old, he enlisted into the service. Yes, he lied about his age. In a World War 1 battle, he was shot in the leg. Since there were trenches and no foxholes, he hid in the trenches until help came. He returned to the United States with his leg amputated almost to the hip, about 10 inches. All this when he was only 17 years old. While stationed in a New York hospital, he obtained a pass for the city, where he met "Grandma Spencer." They received $100 a month from his war pension.

Grandpa Spencer worked in the coalmines, with an artificial limb, to supplement the income of the family. Then, he got a job in Windam, OH in 1943. The family moved there, where Herbert worked for GF manufacturing, manufacturing warplanes. Did I mention that my great-grandma gave birth to eleven children? One died shortly after he was born, but my grandma, Helen, gre up with 6 sisters and 3 brothers. Their home was void of indoor plumbing. However, they did have a dry well and a hand pump. One of the most significant things about my grandma's family was that every year, Christmas was special. "Somehow, mom made it nice for us kids," my grandma said to me. Each child was given candy, one orange, and nuts. While World War 2 was going on, my grandma worked in a defense plant, none other as "Rosie the Riveter," on fighter planes for fourteen months. She said that there was plenty of work. Women of all ages worked side by side. My grandmother married a WW2 soldier by the name of William George Snyder.

Growing up, my Grandpa Snyder lived on a farm, driving cattle and horses to the watering trough, cultivation crops, harvesting, hunting, and fishing. Nothing was wasted- everything was used. The evening was fun for the family, especially in the winter. His parents read stories to him and his siblings, near a heating stove in the living room. Saturday night was "bathtub night." Cold trips to the outhouse were freqent. As were family worship times together. All five children knelt on the knees every night and prayed after reading the Bible.

My grandfather told me that his family always shared with their neighbors who had difficulty financially. during hte Depression, the family never failed to give out a handout, food, or shelter. One time, a afamily that was moving slep on the community's schoolhouse porch without permission. My great grandpa Snyder, as president of the school baord, asked them to stay in his family's house. Fifty-five years later, a girl asked my grandpa's Uncle Roy what "Snyder" he was. When he told her, she said that her family are Christians today because of how loved they were treated that one night.

The year of 1941 was the last time everyone in the Snyder family was together for Christmas. During World War 2, all three brothers were in the service together. At first,my grandfather wanted to be in the army very badly, but he decided ot wait. My grandpa was sworn in service March of 1943 and had an honorable discharge October of 1945. He recieved 5 battle Stars for the following: Normandy, Northern France, Ardennes, Rhineland, and Central Europe. My grandfather asked me if I had known that a U.S. Destroyer had been pictured on a dime at one time. I said that I had not known that. Then, he gave me something- a dime. As you can tell, my grandpa has a sense of humor-something that has been passed down to my dad and my brother. If only two pieces of mail were delivered to where he was, one was always for him, if not both. My grandmother never failed to send him letters- every day she wrote. They married when he returned to the States in 1945.