Helbling Family (Click for Family Tree)

with blossoms today!

Queen of the angels,

One lucky girl from the parochial school would be chosen to carry the crown of flowers, and a number of others carried flowers as they walked in the procession. There was a special side altar during the month of May with a most beautiful statue of the Virgin Mary, looking down upon all with her loving, accepting gaze- one could feel the love all around her. A crown of flowers would be placed on her head once the procession of girls arrived at the altar, crowning Mary as “Queen of the May.”

After the Queen was crowned, the other girls in the procession would lay flowers at the feet of the statue. The flowers would be replaced throughout the month so they were always beautiful.

After school, some who were not so lucky to be chosen for the procession would sneak into the church, and lay our little picked clover flower crowns and dandelions at Mary’s feet. The weed flowers never seemed to be there the next day, although the other flowers were. It didn’t matter though- all the little girls not chosen for the procession knew that Mary loved them just as much.

Mary Theresa Helbling was lucky to be chosen as one of the girls in the procession at St. Mark’s Church in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1932, when she was seven. The caption in the family picture album states it was April, so maybe the procession happened on the last day of the month, or the month noted was in error. Either month, it was one of the high points of Mary’s long and faithful life. Even fifty or more years later, she was so very proud to have been chosen to be in the procession.

Having her beloved Virgin Mary to pray to was important throughout Mary’s life. She was proud of being named after the Mother Mary, but did not know that she was named for her great-grandmother as well, Mary Theresa Knipschield Helbling. There were many girls named ‘Maria’ or ‘Mary’ in the Helbling family. That name continued to be passed on through the generations, showing the importance of Our Lady and homage to her throughout the years among Catholic families, including  the May Day ritual.

Notes, Sources, and References: 

1) ‘Queen of the Angels” by John McDermott- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7SbG8JCO68

2) May Baskets were another tradition Mary spoke about. Small cones of rolled paper had a handle attached, and they were filled with flowers or sweets. The basket would be left on a door handle of a friend or neighbor, and young men also left them for girls they would like to court. See https://www.npr.org/blogs/npr-history-dept/2015/04/30/402817821/a-forgotten-tradition-may-basket-day

3) Helbling family photo album.

4) Of course, the May Day procession foreshadowed the sacrament of marriage, too, with many of the same trappings. Pun intended with the word ‘trappings’? Not originally, but maybe in a Freudian way. Nevertheless, all good little Catholic girls wanted to get married and have babies, and be a good mother like Our Lady.

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Original content copyright 2013-2015 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and pmm.

Helbling Family (Click for Family Tree)

Browsing my files for other photographs for other posts, I came upon this one that I had not really noticed before (more Heritage Ramblings). Anna May Beerbower Helbling was good at keeping photos in albums (lucky us!), and she labeled them well most of the time (even luckier us!). This photo was in an album from 1931.

Growing up in the northern St. Louis suburbs, Lambert Airfield was an integral part of life. The whole family would load up in the two-tone blue AMC Rambler station wagon, circa 1960?- and head out for the parking area across from the main runway at Lambert. We took popcorn and snacks, and watched the planes come in and fly out, and just talked as a family. As we got older, we didn’t want  to go with family, but instead went with boyfriends…

The history of the airport is interesting. It began as a launching base for hot air balloons in Kinloch Park. The Wright Brothers visited the field, bringing their aircraft and pilots on tour sometime between 1910-1911. President Theodore Roosevelt was the first president to fly, and he did so from Lambert in 1910. The first experimental parachute jump took place at the Kinloch base. The field was purchased by the Aero Club of St. Louis along with the old Kinloch Racing Track plus 170 cornfield acres, and became the Lambert-St. Louis Flying Field. A passenger terminal and hangars were built after the property was purchased in february 1925 by Albert B. Lambert, for whom the field was named. Lambert was the first St. Louisan to receive a pilot’s license, and a major supporter of Charles Lindbergh.

Charles Lindbergh played a role in early Lambert Airfield history before his famous flight across the Atlantic- his first job flying was ferrying air mail from Lambert Field. In 1927, Lindbergh had been at Lambert one week before he went to New York to begin his historic flight to Paris. “The Spirit of St. Louis” replica plane that hung in the concourse was always a favorite stop when we would go for a day’s visit to the airport, or to meet family- back then, you could be waiting at the gate for loved ones and watch them walk down the rolling open stairway and cross the tarmac from plane to terminal. That same year as Lindbergh’s historic flight (1927), the airport was sold to the City of St. Louis, and it became the first airport owned by a city in the US. The airport complex included a Naval Air Station (there are lots of pilots in the Navy) which became an active duty base during World War II and a base for manufacturing by McDonnell Aircraft and Curtiss-Wright.

This is how airplanes of that era looked:

G.W. Helbling was a prodigious reader, thinker, tinkerer (he developed a vibrating bed for his wife who suffered from bedsores likely due to diabetes and being bedridden), and man of many interests even though he never received formal education beyond the eighth grade. It is highly probable that he was very interested in flight.  He got married the year after the Wright Brothers completed their first powered flight in 1903, so was old enough to follow the developments of the industry. Knowing him, it is highly likely that he attended the Wright Brothers’ flying exhibition.

It is wonderful to have at least the caption in the photo album for this picture, but we do so wish there was more information. Had G.W. gone to Lambert sightseeing like his descendants did, or was he out there to pick up a fearless airplane passenger? Was he out there just to watch “those daring young men in their flying machines”? Or maybe even take a flight himself? We probably will never know, but what a treasure we have found in this image!

The old cars give us a comparison to see the size of the airplane hangars of the day. G. W. died in 1971, so he did see a lot of expansion and changes at Lambert-St. Louis Airport, including the addition of the iconic terminal built in 1953-6.

Below is Lambert airfield in 2010- with its 9,000 ft. runway and redesigned terminals, G.W. wouldn’t recognize it!

Notes, Sources, and References: 

1) Additional Lambert-St. Louis images: https://www.google.com/maps/uv?hl=en&pb=!1s0x87df36b4c56388f1:0x9dabcdbc663077a6!2m5!2m2!1i80!2i80!3m1!2i100!3m1!7e1!4shttps://www.panoramio.com/photo/91063151!5slambert+st+louis+airport+terminal+1959+-+Google+Search&sa=X&ei=PnQ2VcrmMvG0sAT814CIAw&ved=0CIcBEKIqMA4

2) Wikipedia articles:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lambert–St._Louis_International_Airport

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wright_brothers

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wright_Exhibition_Team

3) CardCow.com– a great resource to buy old postcards, and they generously allow posting of their images with attribution and a link.

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Original content copyright 2013-2015 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and pmm.

Helbling Family

Are you a Helbling descendant who is good with knives? Can you deftly carve a large turkey at Thanksgiving, debone a chicken breast in just a couple quick strokes, or gently filet a fish? Then you may have have some of the butchering talent passed down through the Helbling DNA.

Franz Xavier Helbling (1800-1876) and his brother Jacob (1813-1872) were butchers, and Jacob is credited with being one of the first butchers to have a stand at the Pittsburg market. (Yes, that is how they spelled Pittsburgh back in the day.) With both brothers being butchers, it is highly likely that their father, Franz Xavier Helbling, (1773-?), was also a butcher. Franz  had a son who became a butcher, but the family trade ended there.

I have found 4 IRS Tax Lists for 1862-3 for this family, and they show that there were more Helbling butchers than just these two in Lawrenceville, a suburb of Pittsburgh.

(Tax rates are 30 cents per head of cattle, 5 cents for a calf, 10 cents for a hog, and 5 cents for sheep.)

#1- September 1862

Francis Helbling- 6 cattle + 1 calf + 1 hog= $1.95 in taxes.

Jacob Helbling- 6 cattle + 1 calf + 1 hog= $1.95 in taxes.

Jacob Helbling- 4 head of cattle= $1.20.

#2- October 1862

Francis Helbling- 6 head of cattle + 2 calves for a total of $1.90.

Jacob Helbling- 6 head of cattle + 1 calf = $1.85 in taxes

Francis Helbling- 10 head of cattle +2 calves + 3 hogs + 4 sheep= $3.60 in taxes.

John Knipschield- 12 cattle + 1 calf= $3.65 in taxes.

(We do not know Mary Theresa Knipschield’s siblings nor parents- maybe this is her brother and why she came to America?)

#3- November 1862

Francis Helbling- 3 head of cattle for a total of $0.90 in taxes.

Jacob Helbling- 5 head of cattle + 2 calves = $1.60 in taxes

Francis Helbling- 9 head of cattle + 5 calves + 1 hog for a total of $3.05.

Jacob Helbling- 6 head of cattle + 2 calves = $1.90 in taxes

#4- October 1863

Francis Helbling- 7 head of cattle + 1 calf for a total of $1.45.

Jacob Helbling- 6 head of cattle + 3 calves = $1.35 in taxes

John Knipschield- 13 cattle + 6 calf + 4 hogs= $3.14 in taxes.

Robert Helbling- 4 head of cattle= $0.80

(Not sure who Robert Helbling is…more research needed.)

 Being a butcher in the 1800s was a lot different than today- no tractor trailer driving to the grocery store loading dock with cuts of meat that only need a little trimming for the expensive meat case. As can be seen from the tax lists, our ancestors had to grow their own meat, kill the animal, butcher the carcass, utilize and dispose of the offal (undesirable parts), and package it when the customer chose the perfect steak. Cattle back then were a bit smaller than today, about 1,100 pounds vs today’s 1,500 pound cattle; an animal that size was a lot to manage. A lot to feed, too, to get to that weight- they would have had to purchase hay and corn to grow those calves, or grow their own.

After dressing the animal, i.e. cutting off all the undesirable parts, the remaining meat cuts would be about half the weight of the live animal. Of course, back then they also ate parts we are not always inclined to eat, such as tripe, tongue, heart, etc. Being German, they probably made some amazing sausage out of the leftover parts, and head cheese too, so their yield would probably have been higher than today’s. (Of course, our industrialized livestock farming of today uses all those undesirable parts- they just don’t tell us what it is in. Often it is fed back to animals, one way mad-cow disease is spread.)

Our ancestors who farmed, which was a majority of those in the 1800s, had to do this too, but on a much smaller scale.

So, the next time you are wrestling a 24-kb Thanksgiving turkey as the whole table of guests watch, remember that culinary knife skills  may be in your DNA, and you can do it!

Notes, Sources, and References: 

1) Obituary for Rosina Wiesert Helbling, wife of Jacob Helbling.

The Pittsburgh Press, Nov. 30, 1907, page three https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=nhobAAAAIBAJ&sjid=CEkEAAAAIBAJ&pg=4329,6709035 &dq=helbling+death&hl=en

2) September 1862 Tax List: U.S. IRS Tax Assessment Lists, 1862-1918AuthorAncestry.comPublisherAncestry.com Operations IncPublisher Date2008Publisher LocationProvo, UT, USA

October 1862 Tax List: U.S. IRS Tax Assessment Lists, 1862-1918AuthorAncestry.com. Online publication – Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2008.Original data – National Archives (NARA) microfilm series: M603, M754-M771, M773-M777, M779-M780, M782, M784, M787-M789, M791-M793, M795, M1631, M1775-M1776, T227, T1208-T1209

[Ancestry.com is in the midst of switching viewer styles and I cannot get to all of the sources for each of the IRS records. Please let me know if you need more information.]

3) A Century of Georgia Agriculture, 1850-1950 by Willard Range, 1954.  https://books.google.com/books?id=s_GPG0k7XwUC&printsec=frontcover&dq=inauthor:%22Willard+Range%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=JusAVeOtHYuZNt3rg9AL&ved=0CC8Q6AEwAg#v=onepage&q&f=false

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Helbling Family

Some would say that family historians/genealogists are obsessed with the dead, and that perspective is somewhat understandable.

Some would say that family historians/genealogists find it hard to stop researching the dead and spend more time on the living- occasionally that is true as well, especially at 2am.

Some would also say it is just weird that family historians/genealogists remember the special days of the dead, such as birthdays, anniversaries, or death dates; that assessment may have some element of truth as well.

It can be argued, however, that the yearning to know more about those who have gone before, to hold them close in one’s heart, is really what drives those who spend countless hours searching for the minutiae of a life. It can be the need to tell an ancestor’s story, so that they are not forgotten; it can be a way to hold on to them just a bit longer, to not let them go “to the other side” just yet, especially for those the family historian has known in this life and loved deeply. It can be a way to not say a final “good bye” so soon, to help a loved one linger in the hearts of others for just a bit longer, too.

Family historians/genealogists also want to understand their inner selves more, to know where this trait or that look came from, and connect themselves to those who have gone before through these commonalities. How can we know our place in the universe without the context of our being?

Sharing the lives of our ancestors is a gift that family historians/genealogists wish to give to their own descendants, their collateral kin, and even the world- history is the story of every life, truly, not just those who fought wars or those who started them.

Becoming a family historian/genealogist is not always a conscious choice- a muse, an inner drive, or even the voices of our ancestors move us to travel along their journeys. We want to leave a legacy of that knowledge for those we love now, and those we will love in the future, even after we are gone.

Family historians/genealogists LOVE, and are a part of the chain of love that is family.

Today we celebrate the anniversary of the birth of Mary Theresa Helbling McMurray, a woman full of love.

Notes, Sources, and References: 

1) Family treasure chest of photos.

2) See also, “Sentimental Sunday: Mary Theresa Helbling McMurray“: https://heritageramblings.net/2014/03/16/sentimental-sunday-mary-theresa-helbling-mcmurray/

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➡ Beerbower Family, Helbling Family

Transcription:

Mr. Robert W. Beerbower,

and

Miss Anna Josephine Reiffel,

Married,

Tuesday Evening August the 23rd, 1898.

Indianapolis, Ind.

At Home:

After September the First,

920 Fletcher Ave.

Reverse- transcription:

21 years& 9 mnth- 10 days. at date of mar

– riage

This age refers to Josephine, as she was 21, and Robert 24, when they married.

Josephine and Robert’s second anniversary was bittersweet. They anticipated the birth of their first child in 1900, but sadly, Robert had become ill. He went to Denver for his health, but died there of consumption on 12 September 1900. Their daughter Roberta Pearl Beerbower was born the next month.

Thanks so much to Cousin SA for passing on this beautiful little card that came down through Robert and Josephine’s daughter Roberta P. Beerbower and then her son with James Franklin Wertz, Robert Eldon Wertz, and Robert’s wife. Robert had no children so sadly this direct line has ended. SA was so thoughtful to send it to me- she was actually born into the Wertz line, and Robert Wertz was her cousin, as his father James Wertz was the brother of SA’s grandmother, Annette Wertz Kinsey. She thought it should belong in with Beerbower memorabilia. It will be cherished!

[Editor’s Note:  I had one part of this post wrong. Cousin SA , was not a ‘married in’ as I originally wrote. The post has been corrected to show the true relationship.  Thanks for keeping the blog accurate, SA!]

Notes, Sources, and References: 

1) See other posts that include Robert Warson Beerbower:

Beerbower Family Bible Series, which starts here- https://heritageramblings.net/2014/12/31/beerbower-family-bible-dec-31st-1873/

Treasure chest Thursday: Roberta P. Beerbower Wertz-

https://heritageramblings.net/2015/02/12/treasure-chest-thursday-roberta-p-beerbower-wertz/

2) ‘At Home’ card currently in possession of author- thanks again, SA!

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Original content copyright 2013-2015 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and pmm.