Welcome to Glimpses in Time
I wanted to take this opportunity to welcome each of you to my new website. Some of you have been with me for many years while others have joined me …
#florencemo
Fred Rasa & the Bank of Florence
On April 8, 1918, the Bank of Florence was founded by a group of local businessmen in Florence, Missouri, a town of approximately one hundred men and women. The organization was formed with H.A. Bremer as president, F. H. Rasa, vice-president, and P.W. Buehler as cashier. Frederick Henry Rasa, (1873-1937) was a farmer, stock dealer, businessman, civic leader, and my great grandfather. While it remained financially sound, the Florence Bank directors made the decision to permanently close the bank on November 9, 1934. At that time the bank held $45,125 resources.
Grandpa Siegel & His Cars
November 5th marked the 135th birthday of Carl Christian Siegel, my maternal grandfather. To celebrate I wanted to highlight one of the things I have noticed while digitizing family photos- grandpa liked cars! There are many photos of Grandpa and his family with cars so I thought I would share a few today. Not being a connoisseur of old cars, I haven’t identified most so if you can recognize the make and model or have a memory related to it, shout it out in the comments. But first a little history behind automobiles….
A Year of Firsts
One of the first rules of genealogy, long neglected by genealogists is to write down your own stories. On this German Unity Day, as falling leaves and temperatures finally reach Alabama, memories of my Year of Firsts, thirty (!) years ago flood my mind. But the beginning of the story, like so many tales, requires me to go back a year earlier when I was in the spring of my fourth year of undergraduate studies at the University of Missouri in Columbia. A wanderlust had invaded my soul at an early age, but financial and academic limitations made me believe I could not afford to study abroad during my undergraduate days. As I was talking to my advisor and German mentor, Dr. Dennis Mueller, I mentioned I had dreamed of going to Germany for many years. He looked at me rather quizzically and said simply “why don’t you?”
A Nearly Forgotten Cemetery
How do you find a cemetery record that is not online at FindAGrave, BillionGraves or any other online database? Look it up in a book! Our ancestors were traced and recorded by amateur and professional genealogists for generations before us and often we are lucky enough to spot their footsteps and follow their lead.