Things Remembered

This post is similar to "I remember Mama" in as much as it's about my grand parents. The more I search into their past the more I find out about their lives as teenagers.

First of all, I gleaned my grandmother's autographed book which she began on March 4, 1905, at the age of 13 1/2, living in St. Louis, Missouri. People were still writing in her little green book up through 1934, giving her an age of 42.

My grand mother's first page reads:

My friends I invite in my album to write,
But tearing out pages I call impolite.

Dorothy (Dora) Ostwald March 4, 1905

Her full name was Dorothea Anna Ostwald (going by the names Dorothy and Dora), born September 30, 1892 and died August 11, 1965. She was of German descent and the oldest of six children, one predeceased her and two more siblings died as infants. Life back in the early 19th century was hard and many children didn't live to the age of 5.

In 1905, Willie K. (her future husband, William George Koetterheinrich) wrote his first notes in her book. Being the same age, they must have attended school together. He was the typical clown who enjoyed horsing around. His nickname was skippy. I have no idea why or what it stands for. The only item I could find mentioning Skippy was a fifth-grader Skippy Skinnner, a highly popular American Comic strip written and drawn by Percy Crosby (1923 to 1945). I don't believe this would fit the time, so I'll keep looking.

I own my grandfather's photo picture book, all 1 x 1 1/4 pictures glued onto two pages, taken of him and his friends during his teenage years. There are several pictures of Willie with different hats which proved to me that he was a character.

Walking down memory lane during the 19th century is quite an experience especially when the people are related to you.

So if you get a chance, pull out those old, old pictures and flip through them. You will be surprised what you find.

Make My Day

My grandmother, Dorothea Anna Ostwald, bequeathed me her Seven Hundred Album Verse poetry book, copyrighted in 1884. It is by J. S. Ogilvie Publications, who published many of the Horatio Alger books, and eventually became Avon Books (founded in 1941) that we know today.

The lovely poems inside my antiquated book were written for the purpose of filling the pages of a friend’s autograph album, which was very popular back in the late 1800’s to the mid 1900’s. Now our children and grand children take these books to Disney World to obtain Character signatures.

I have my grandmother’s album full of loving and funny poems written by her friends and by my grandfather as he began courting her in 1907. I find myself laughing at some of the verses and admiring the penmanship of long ago.

Come spend time with me as we tiptoe once a month through the pages of the Seven Hundred Album Verse book.


I dip my pen into the ink,
And grasp your album tight.
But for my life I cannot think,
One single word to write.