THE GREATEST GIFT

These are my sweet parents - high school sweethearts, married in 1948, 25th anniversary, and today - 66 years of marriage and still going strong! (They are 86 and 85). The handwritten note was on the back of Dad's high school senior photo that he gave to Mom. The greatest gift they gave their children is that they truly, madly, deeply love each other.

Created with digital scrapbooking kit, "Love To My Mom and Dad" -BUNDLE by Scrapyrus Designs.

The Wedding of Anna Helena Helfrich and Glenn Lee Forward - A Heritage Scrapbook Page

WOW - it's been over two years since I last posted to this blog. Thought I'd share a scrapbook page I just finished. It's a "heritage" page about the wedding of my grandparents, Glenn and Ann Forward in 1918!! That's 94 years ago!! (click on the photo for larger view)

Created with digital scrapbooking kit, "Timeless" by Scrapyrus Designs.

The Simple Life

We think of these times before television, computers and other technology as the "simple life." However life during the Dirty Thirties certainly wasn't EASY!! I can't imagine how my grandmother kept her children clean when they had only dirt to play in and their only real bath was just once a week - on Saturday night.
This was the Forward Farm near Hugoton, Kansas.
l-r: JoAnn Forward, Mary Francis Chambers, Mary Jo Standridge, Wallace Standridge, Charles Forward, Wayne Forward.

Minnie and Martin Sessler

"Minnie" (Arminta Wright) and Martin Ullus Sessler

Minnie (Arminta Wright) and Martin Ulus Sessler were my Great Grandparents. They lived in Barton, Kansas where Martin was a Veterinarian  and Minnie was a full-time, stay-at-home mom to Ernest, Warren (my grandfather), and Cedric. 

Martin's father, Jacob Robert Sessler, immigrated from Mannheim, Baden, Germany with his parents, Adam and Johanna (Brandenburger) Sessler and his brothers and sisters. Jacob married Martin's mother, Mary Kuhn, in Lake, County, Illinois. Martin had 4 sisters and 5 brothers.

Minnie is a bit of a mystery. She was born in Missouri in 1872. The 1900 Census lists her parents as born in Pennsylvania. In 1876 in Davis County, Iowa, John Wright married Nancy J. Harrel, widow of William Harrel. Nancy was born in Indiana. If the Census information is correct, we can assume that Minnie's mother died sometime before 1876 and Nancy Harrel was not Minnie's mother, but was her stepmother. 


Some family members speculate that Minnie was part American Indian. I have not been able to confirm or dispute this claim. And I have not been able to determine who Minnie Wright's mother was.

A Love Story

My Great Grandmother - Jenny Morgan Helfrich Wessels

How I'm related: Connie Sessler - JoAnn Forward - Ann Helfrich - Jenny Morgan

ODESSA JANE MARY GENOFEVE MORGAN HELFRICH WESSELS
Such a long name for such a little lady. 

Odessa Jane Morgan was born on 4 Nov 1871 in Bronson, Bourbon, Kansas. She was the first of the eight children that were born to Levi George and Mary Ann (Turley) Morgan.


In the spring of 1886, when Odessa was 14 years old she went with her father, Levi and three of the older children, Jessie (12), Catherine (9) and Willie (8) to Morton County. They traveled in a wagon train with several neighbors.  It took them three weeks of traveling through rain, snow, hard winds and other discomforts of the cold weather to make it from Bourbon County in the eastern part of Kansas all the way to Morton County in the extreme south-western corner of the state.

Levi filed on a pre-emption claim close to the town of Frisco in Morton County and with the help of his children built a 12' x 20' soddy. They dug and cut the sods for the walls and used curved wood planks for the roof, covering them with sod and dirt.

When the house was built and ready, Odessa's mother and two brothers boarded a train and arrived in Hartland on May 1,1886 where Levi met them and took them to their new home.

The Morgans gathered cow chips for fuel to heat and cook with and hauled their water all the way from Frisco. The sod house was as cozy as necessary until a large rain washed away the dirt and sod on the roof. Their solution to this problem was to build a dugout. It was larger, two rooms, and had wooden sides and a shingle roof.

To make a living, Levi hauled freight from Syracuse, Hartland and Lakin for stores in Richfield and Frisco.  Odessa got a job at the T. B. Porter ranch on the Cimarron River and the whole family picked up dry bones, scattered over the prairie, which they sold for $10 per wagon load.  By autumn 1886 they had managed to save enough to buy a cow so they could have their own milk.

Things were looking good for the Morgans.  They had rented land  and houses all their married lives but now, at last, they owned their own home along with the land beneath it.  Plentiful rain gave a promise of a good yield from crops in the Spring of 1887.  And then one day while Levi was traveling to a nearby town to buy trees for planting to improve the claim, a tornado blew through the Morgan farm, destroying all the improvements on the place, including the family home.  Mary (mother) and the children were unable to save any of their belongings except for those they wore as they fled to a neighbor's house for shelter.  The next day Mary (mother) moved the family to an empty house on the Will Robinson claim. It wasn't long before Levi moved his family to the Vangundy farm on the Cimarron River where they stayed through the years of 1888-1890.

On March 13, 1892, Odessa (20) married George Nickolas Helfrich (age 32), the son of German Catholic Immigrants, Georg and Anna Maria (Scherer) Helfrich. She changed her name to Mary Genofeve, presumably for religious reasons, but throughout life family and friends called her "Jenny." George N. took his young bride to Ellinwood, Barton, Kansas where the Helfrich Family had lived for many years.

On Dec. 1, 1892 their first child was born. George William Helfrich lived 5 days and died on Dec. 6, 1892.  George buried the little baby in the St.s Peter and Paul Catholic Cemetery in Ellinwood, Barton, Kansas on Dec. 7, 1892.

In 1893 Jenny and George N. moved to Richfield, Morton, Kansas where George N. farmed and also served 2 terms as Morton County Sheriff, 1898-1899.  While in Richfield, five children were born to Jenny and George N.; Barbara Katherine, December 10, 1893; Henry Cornelius, May 10, 1895; Mary Gertrude, April 6, 1897; Anna Helena, December 8, 1898 and Teresa Francesca, June 19, 1900.

On Sunday, May 6, 1900 a terrible cylcone sweeped through the farm of William Helfrich, brother of George Nickolas, near Ellinwood, Kansas. The following is an excerpt from the "Barton County Beacon" printed May 7, 1900: "A half mile north of St. Peter and St. Paul Church stood the house of William Helfrich. There had been a meeting at the church in the afternoon and the aged father (George Helfrich) and mother (Anna Maria Scherer Helfrich) of William Helfrich and some other parties had just driven into his yard when the storm came upon them. The women had started for the house and the men were unhitching their teams when they were scattered in all directions.  Their horses and buggies were torn apart, the vehicles demolished and the harness torn from the horses. Mr. and Mrs. George Helfrich were picked up and thrown out on the prairie. The old lady died about 2 o'clock that night and the old gentleman is considered bery dangerously hurt.  Four of his ribs are broken and he is bruised up considerably. Mrs. William Helfrich had her hip bruised and a large piece of flesh torn from her thigh.  Her little girl had an arm broken. Their house, barn and other buildings were blown entirely away and everything in it."

The George Nickolas Helfrich family moved back to Ellinwood in 1900. Three more children were born: Sophia Christena, February 24, 1901; Anthony George, May 5, 1904; and John Engelbert, February 25, 1906.

A great sadness occurred in the Helfrich household when baby John died in August 1906 at age six months. Tragedy struck again less than two months later when on October 3, 1906 George Nickolas Helfrich was killed, reportedly in a train accident.

The following is an excerpt from the "Barton County Beacon" printed October 5, 1906: "Early Wednesday morning George Helfrich, a man about 50 years old, was killed by being run over by a train east of Ellinwood, his home. From the evidence before the coroner's jury it seems he had gone out east of town where he was running a threshing engine.  He had been drinking heavily and had created a distrubance with the crew. They got him quieted down but about 3 a.m. he got up and said he was going to fire up the engine. Instead, he must have started for Ellinwood down the railroad track and was run over by some passing train."

The family of George Nickolas Helfrich had the opinion that George met with foul play rather than being accidently killed by a passing train. George had just started a much sought after job as a threshing engineer early in the week that he was killed.  The family also believed that the company circulated the story that George had been drinking heavily to avoid paying the insurance money to the widow and seven small children.

Shortly after the death of her husband, Jenny (age 35) learned that she was pregnant with her tenth child.  The family lived in Ellinwood until the birth of Georgia Elnora, June 6, 1907.  Shortly thereafter, Jenny moved her family to Stevens county and proved up a claim in 1913.

Life on a prairie farm was hard, especially for a widow and eight children. Things were further complicated by Jenny's failing eyesight.  Jenny hired a man to help her with the farm maintainence and chores.  When he took advantage of the situation and of Mary, she fired him.  Jenny's 11th child, Dorothy Irene, was born January 10, 1913.

Jenny's father, Levi G. Morgan died in October 1916 and her mother, Mary Ann (Turley) Morgan died 3 months later, January 1917.

Jenny moved to Ellinwood in 1920 where she later met and married Henry Wessels on June 9, 1924.  Their marriage was cut short when Henry died of a heart attack on September 14, 1929.

Jenny lost two more of her children: Georgia Elnora died June 3, 1928, just three days short of her 21st birthday; and Henry Cornelius drowned March 14, 1935, after saving a child from the river.

Mary Genofeve Morgan Helfrich Wessels died Friday, May 12, 1950 at Tulsa, Oklahoma, the home of her daughter, Christena Marshall.  She was 78 years and 6 months old at the time of her death.  Jenny was buried in the Ellinwood Catholic Cemetery, by the side of her husband, George Nickolas Helfrich.

Moscow House in 1942

This is the house near Moscow, Kansas where my grandparents, Ann and Glen Forward and some of their children moved to in 1942. Wayne and Mary Ann Forward moved here after they married in 1951. Ann, Glen and JoAnn had moved into town (Hugoton) some years before.

(I love the chickens running around in the yard, and the rocking chair on the front porch.)

This is the West side of the Moscow house. Wayne is in the basement window.

The Forward Seven

35 YEARS - Wedding Announcement of Connie Sessler and Gregory Miles

Mr. and Mrs. W. Robert Sessler
of Amarillo, Texas
are happy to announce the marriage
of their daughter


Connie LeAnn
to
Gregory Lance Miles


son of Mr. and Mrs. Farrel T Miles
of Los Angeles, California
Saturday, the twentieth day of December
nineteen hundred and seventy-five
in the Los Angeles L.D.S. Temple


Reception
Saturday, December 20, 1975
from 7:00 until 9:00 p.m.
7806 Reseda Blvd.
Reseda, California

Open House
Monday, December 29, 1975
7:00 until 9:00 p.m.
home of the bride's parents
Amarillo, Texas

Marjorie Sessler Patterson

Marjorie Sessler

Marjorie Sessler Patterson

Marjorie Sessler and Bill Patterson

Rena Marjorie Sessler, the first of six children, was born to Warren and Beulah (Boaz) Sessler, on 13 Jun 1924 in Elkhart, Baca, Kansas. She lived in Pratt, Pratt, Kansas (1926) and Hugoton, Stevens, Kansas (1930) where she graduated from Hugoton High School in 1941/1942. She married Bill "Pat" Patterson, also from Hugoton, and they owned and operated a successful tile business in Phoenix Arizona for many years. They had three children: Kyle (1944), Charlotte (1946), and John (1950).

On Sunday, 2 May 2010, Marjorie passed away quietly in her sleep at her home in Sun City, Arizona. She was 85 years, 10 months and 19 days old. Survivors include her children, one grandson, Dane Patterson, three brothers: Robert (JoAnn) Sessler of Amarillo TX / Quartzsite AZ, Mike Sessler of Glendale AZ, David (Ann) Sessler of Phoenix AZ, one sister: Betty Tackett of Hugoton KS, and numerous nieces, nephews and other extended family members. She was preceded in death by Bill Patterson, brother, Harry Sessler, and her parents.

Aunt Margie was as kind and generous as she was beautiful. She was an intelligent and successful businesswoman who worked first as a secretary in Baltimore, Maryland and then many years as Bookkeeper and Office Manager of Phoenix Tile. She was loved by all who knew her and she is greatly missed.

Forward Farm 1930-1940

This farm, located 3 miles South of Feterita, a tiny town south of Hugoton Kansas, is where Glenn, Ann and their 7 children lived from 1930 to 1940. The twins, Maxine and Mildred, were 10 years old and the youngest, JoAnn, was almost one year when they moved here in 1930.The children's school teacher lived with the family during the school year. The parlor was converted for her bedroom and she ate her meals with the family.

Photo courtesy of Glenna Jean Forward Coulter. (Thanks Aunt Jean!)

Warren Martin Sessler

This is a photo of my grandfather, Warren Martin Sessler.
So Handsome!!

Sessler Family and Great Grandpa Henry Clay Boaz

front - Margie, Bobby, Harry
back - Warren, Beulah, Henry Clay Boaz

Warren Sessler, holding Bobby on the colt
with Margie and Harry in front

Harry Sessler

Harry Sessler - 1943

Uncle Harry Sessler ~ 1944

Harry Elliott Sessler was born 31 July 1926 in Pratt, Pratt, Kansas. He was the 2nd of six children (1st of 4 sons) born to Warren Martin Sessler and Beulah Maybelle Boaz Sessler. He graduated from Hugoton High School in the spring of 1944 as class Valedictorian. 

Harry served in the United States Marine Corp during World War II and enlisted on 18 Oct 1944 at Hugoton, Stevens, Kansas - Board #1; Service #950614; Registered Order #10305.  

He fought in the South Pacific and witnessed the deaths of his closest buddies. After the war he suffered from Post War Traumatic Stress and never fully recovered from it. 

He attended college in Stockton California but left after the first semester and then worked in Colorado on a bridge building job. He fell from the top of the bridge and suffered a head injury. He was mentally handicapped afterwards, partially because of the fall and partially because of his experiences in the war and post-war from the electric shock treatments he received in the Veterans Hospital. 

Harry lived with his parents until their deaths and then spent the remainder of his life in rest homes. He never married. 

The Sessler Family ~ December 1951

The Sessler Family ~ 1951

Greg Sessler ~ December 1951

Greg - 18 months

Greg - 18 months - Dec 1951

My Brother - Gorgeous Greg

1956 - Greg - 6 yrs

1957 - Greg - 7 yrs

I love these photos of my brother, Greg. In the first one he looks like he's such a little scrapper. He could be a character right out of the Little Rascals. I love how he is smiling big to show us his missing teeth. I hope the Tooth Fairy was good to him. 

And in the second photo he is such a lady's man. It makes you want to reach up and gently brush his hair back as you drown into his gorgeous blue eyes.

Connie Sessler - 6 months old

Feb 1954 ~ Connie LeAnn Sessler
6 months ~ 19.5 lbs 

Grandmother's Album of Baby Pictures

Mildred and Maxine Forward ~ b. 1920

What adorable babies!! Ann and Glenn must have had so much fun with these two cuties!!  A lot of work, no doubt, but so much FUN!!! I wonder if Ann knew she was having twins or if she found out when they were born.

JoAnn Forward ~ b.1929

This is a favorite photo of mine. Of course I'm a bit biased since this is my mom but you must admit she is a beauty with those gorgeous eyes and kissable little mouth! What innocence! 

My grandparents, Ann and Glenn Forward, had seven children: Maxine, Mildred, Jean, Dula, Wayne, Charles and JoAnn. Grandmother had the most wonderful photo album with baby photos of all her children and grandchildren. Whenever I was at their home I would ask to see the photo album. I would sit on their big bed with that huge album, slowly turning the pages, savoring each photo and storing the images in my memory. When Grandmother passed away that wonderful photo album was dismantled and all the photos were returned to the various families. The only baby photo I have from that album is the one of my mother, JoAnn. This photo of her sisters, Mildred and Maxine, actually came from my great aunt, Barbara Helfrich Webber.

I would like to recreate Grandmother's family photo album. So this is a request to my Aunts, Uncles and Cousins: Please send me your baby photos - the ones that were in Grandmother's album.  I promise to scan your photos and then promptly return your originals to you in perfect condition.

Thank you,
Connie

Barbara Helfrich Webber and Deloris ~ 1915

Before

After

Sisters ~ Barbara and Gertrude Helfrich

Before

After

Awesome hats!! Check out Girtie's hat pin!! These are clothes my granddaughters would love to play dress-up in! Heck! These are clothes that I'd love to play dress-up in!!

I believe this photo was taken when the family lived in Syracuse and before Barbara married in 1914. (In 1914 Barbara was 21 and Gertrude was 17.)

Sisters ~ Anna and Frances Helfrich

This was a tiny photo scanned from Anna's (Grandmother Forward) personal school photo album. If this was in 1914 (estimated) - Anna would be 16 and Frances would be 14-1/2. They went to school in Syracuse, Kansas. I'm not sure when they moved to Hugoton, Kansas but they were there by 1918 when Anna and Glenn were married.

This was a tiny photo scanned from Anna's (Grandmother Forward) personal school photo album. If this was in 1914 (estimated) - Anna would be 16 and Frances would be 14-1/2. They went to school in Syracuse, Kansas. I'm not sure when they moved to Hugoton, Kansas but they were there by 1918 when Anna and Glenn were married.

My Grandmother ~ 87 years

Before

After

Anna Helena Helfrich Forward, December 8, 1985 ~ 87 years old. 

My beautiful silver-haired grandmother with twinkling blue eyes.

Glenn Forward ~ WWI

l-r: Glenn Forward, Ray Kiever, unidentified

Forward Reunion - 1964

Before and After

This photo was taken 31 May 1964 at the Forward Reunion in the VFW Hall, Hugoton, Kansas.
l-r: Jean Coulter(42), JoAnn Sessler(34), Mildred Moser(43), Wayne Forward(36), Dula Hughes(39), Charles Forward(38), Maxine Phillips(43) - (ages as of 31 May 1964)

(As you can see, colored photographs are harder to edit. I'm not sure if I improved it much but I tried.)              

Sisters, Frances and Anna Helfrich ~ abt 1918

Before

After

Much of the detail in this photo (before) was almost faded away. This is what happens to old photos when light and air gets to them - not to mention that this photo is almost 100 years old!! But it is an awesome photo and I'm so thankful that we have the technology to scan and restore the details before they completely disappear!!

This photograph of Frances (Helfrich) Watkins and Anna (Helfrich) Forward (my grandmother) was taken about 1918 in Syracuse, Kansas. I wish I knew the story behind this photo. They look very somber/serious and Frances has a hankie in her hand. It feels like a sad picture.

Helfrich Siblings - abt 1930

Pictured are 6 of the 11 children of Jenny (Morgan) Helfrich Wessels. 

The names of her children are underlined. All others are either spouses or grandchildren.

Front-Back:

1st row: (grandchildren) Mary Frances Chambers, Wayne Forward, JoAnn Forward

2nd row: (grandchildren) June Standridge, Mildred Forward, Coral Chambers, Maxine Forward, Jean Forward, Dula Forward, Charles Forward, Hope Chambers, Wallace Standridge

3rd row: Dorothy Davis Brunson, Ann Helfrich Forward, Deloris Webber, Tony Helfrich, Tena Helfrich Standridge holding MaryJo Standridge (granddaughter), Kay Standridge, Gertie Helfrich Chambers, Glenn Forward, Bob Chambers, Henry Helfrich

Charles Lee Forward - Abt 1945/1946

This photo was taken about 1945 - don't know the exact date when Charles joined the Army but it was after the end of WWII. He tried to enlist during the war but the doctor told him that he had a heart murmur and would not pass him at that time. Also pictured are sisters, JoAnn (about 16) and Dula (about 21) *The girls look much younger than those ages so I will verify these dates with Charles and correct as necessary. This was taken at the "North Farm" where Glenn, Ann and JoAnn lived before moving to town (Hugoton). It is the present home of Wayne and MaryAnn Forward.

**If anyone has any additional information or corrections to the above, please let me know.

Kansas Cousins

Front: JoAnn Forward, Mary Frances Chanbers, Mary Jo Standridge
Back: Wallace Standrige, Charles Forward, Wayne Forward

Can you imagine trying to keep kids clean when all they have is the dirt to play in?! 

And no washers and dryers - just scrub boards, raw knuckles and clotheslines. 

I hope they had a bath more often than just Saturday night.

The Cousin Line-up:

Front to Back: JoAnn Forward, Mary Jo Standrige, Mary Frances Chambers, Wallace Standridge, Wayne Forward, Charles Forward, June Standridge, Dula Forward, Hope Chambers, Jean Forward, Maxine Forward, Mildred Forward, Coral Chambers.