Joaniescomments031801

When I was a kid, my mom and dad told me a little bit about their parents and what it was like growing up for them. They told stories about my grandparents and great grandparents, and told me a little bit about how my ancestors came over here from Germany. I can even remember a little of my great grandfather, Joseph Bruch. He died when I was about 11 or 12. As a kid, there is just no way you can comprehend how different their lives were from ours. There is no way a kid can imagine the things a 97 year old man has seen or the changes that have come about in his life time.

My paternal grandmother died when I was 18. When I was still at home, I went with my mom and dad to see her every Sunday. She was a tiny little lady with horn rimmed glasses and this squeaky little laugh that I can still almost hear today whenever I think about her. And she loved to talk and tell stories. What I regret now is that I didn't spend more time talking to her. She would have been a wealth of information about our family history.   I wish I had spent more time with her.

My kids can't even imagine what it would have been like with a black and white console TV that only displayed 2 or 3 channels clearly. To them, life without VCR's, microwave ovens, and computers is just unthinkable.   What must be going through their heads when I tell them about grandma's old wash house?   She had to boil water on a wood burning stove, put it in a wash tub with a washboard and handwash all of the family's clothes. I think that she even had to make her own soap. At some point, my grandparents got indoor plumbing (yes, my parents used outhouses as kids), electricity, and a furnace that did a better job of heating the house than the old wood burner. So, actually, even they lived a little better than their parents and grandparents!

Grandpa's grandparents came with horses and wagons from Mansfield Ohio, first to New Vienna, Iowa, and then to Carroll County. Iowa was mostly prairie land back then, and they built log houses in any location within whistling distance of a church. There were still Indians roaming about, and I would guess that scared them senseless.

I read a Bruch family history written by a distant cousin. It told of my great, great, great, grandfathers trip on a ship from Germany to the US, along with his wife and children (my great great grandfather hadn't even been born yet!) A little later in the family history, it tells of their long journey from Ohio to Iowa. Ya know, I come from some pretty hardy stock!!

I thought I was pretty athletic for my age, and pretty tough because I walked up hill one mile in snow to get to a cemetery (cemetary, for the Missouri folk) in Mt Moriah, MO. Big hairy deal!! I rode in the car from GC Iowa to Mt Moriah! My ancestors make me look frail and sickly! Jim says I made the trip up there like a trooper. He's obviously never met Sebastian Bruch Sr.

I'm going to make more copies of the family history and save them for my kids. I want them to know what it took for their ancestors to help make things as easy as they are for us today. I want them to know they come from hardy stock, just like their mother. That there isn't much they can't do if they are willing to work at it. But most importantly, I want them to read it and realize what really matters in life, what they can live without and still be happy.   Their old mother learned a little about those things just getting to know our ancestors.

                                                                                                         Joanie
                                                                                                          03/18/01